Archives for December 2015

In 2015, I…

• Finished shooting all the interviews for a feature-length documentary
• Nearly finished the first edit of said-documentary
• Wrote a feature-length screenplay with my dad
• Wrote the first draft of a second screenplay with my dad
• Learned many new skills (some of which I haven’t written about yet)
• Helped fund a Zen center
• Edited several short videos
• Moved to cross country
• Trained hard at two great gyms
• Re-started this blog!

Plus, a couple other things I won’t share publicly.

All in all, it was a great year.

In 2016, there are more projects to do, and skills to learn then I know how I’ll accomplish. However, my primary intention is to finish the documentary. Expect a trailer in the coming year.

I’m always hesitant to talk about projects publicly. The film industry is full of people who talk big, but never finish. Rather then join them, I make it a rule only to speak when I have something to show.

A few people have seen work-in-progress sequences from the documentary. Feedback has been positive. I’ve set myself up to have and even better 2016, by just finishing what I’ve started.

Happy new year everyone.

Watch More: My Dad & The Drudge Report

I’ve moved cross country three times.

Each time it’s gotten easier.

When I talk about moving, people often say, “wow, that must be really stressful.”

Not really. At this point it’s an adventure. I’m excited about where I’m going, and the life I’ll have there.

It isn’t stressful is because I have a system.

I’ve been using this system since I graduated college, but only recently discovered a name for it – lifestyle minimalism.

What Is Minimalism

Minimalism is the idea that experiences are more important that stuff.

To practice minimalism simply ask the question of all your possessions – do I really need this?

Moving is the ideal time to begin practicing minimalism because you’re already going to have to go through your possession to pack them. Each item you keep comes with an cost in packing space and transportation.

Some minimalists actually downsize by packing for a pretend move, just to figure out what they don’t need.

To begin…

Sell As Much As Possible

If you know you’re going to move, get online and start selling anything you know you can’t buy there and don’t have a personal attachment to or real need for.

If you live in a college town, this is relatively easy. People are always moving and need of new stuff. Furniture, kitchen supplies, lamps, old clothes – easy to sell.

Just get it down to what you actually use.

Keyword: you. My physical life needs beyond food and shelter are books, clothes, computer/film stuff, and kitchen stuff. What you need may be different.

Books used to be the biggest item. I’ve got boxes and boxes of books. Dozens new each year. Since I switched to kindle, I’ve compressed that down to one item. If I was to move again, I could pack even less.

Be Honest About What You Need

You’ll also notice there’s a juicer in the back of my car. Is that an necessity? No, of course not. But I like having it.

You probably have a few items like that aren’t necessities, but you use regular. That’s okay. The point of doing this process is to get rid of things that aren’t serving you. If you’re using something regularly and it makes you happy, keep it.

The items you don’t need, you turn into something far more useful – cash.

That leads to the second part of this process:

Buy What You Need When You Get There

If you’ve done a good job selling, you can actually buy everything you need in your new location without losing much money – and even make money in some cases.

Rather then paying movers, renting a truck, and creating a headache, just sell your furniture and get what you need when you get there.

Now admittedly – I don’t have expensive tastes. I’m also a bachelor. Adjust this advice to your situation. But odds are, the question “do I really use this?” will reveal something you can let go of.

As a rule of thumb – if you haven’t used it in a year, you probably won’t. And yes – having too much stuff is a first-world high quality problem.

Minimalism to Vagabonding

I first heard about this idea of selling all you don’t need and buying what you need when you get there from the book Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts.

Vagabonding describes the art of traveling the world with little more then a backpack. I’m not sure I’ll ever be down to a single bag (though friends of mine are, by choice), but every move I make, I pack less.

The point of the minimalist philosophy isn’t the amount of possessions you have. It’s to live a life free of clutter and with only on what adds value to your life.

This philosophy can extend to other areas of life. For documentary work, I have all my gear down to one bag. That means, when I have a shoot, I don’t have to think, “do I have it all?” I grab my backpack and go.

If you get nothing else from this, just know that moving doesn’t have to be a headache. It can an adventure. Just let go of everything that isn’t serving you.

Read More: Kevin Bortolin’s Zen Stories & Teaching

After Scott Adams linked my blog and said some very nice things, I figured it was time I read his book How to Fail at Everything and Still Win Big: The Kind of Story of My Life.

Scott’s book speaks from personal experience. The advice he gives is clear, actionable, and told through humorous and inspiring stories.

Since the test of any book on self-development is the change it inspires, I’d like to highlight the two concepts from the book – one which I was following, and one which illuminated something new.

Always Be Learning New Skills

In his book, Scott Adam’s suggests that every new skill you learn doubles your chance of success. You don’t even have to be great at each skill.

By his own admission, Scott is not the world’s best artist, writer, or comedian – but the combination of those skills lead to Dilbert. Add business skills, and a knowledge of persuasion and hypnosis, and it’s easy to see why Scott Adam’s has reached the level he has.

This lesson was affirming for me, because I have spent a lot of time pursing special interests that seem like they have nothing to do with my career, yet are now applying to my work. One has become a feature length documentary currently in post-production, and another is becoming a screenplay.

In Scott’s view, no activity is a failure as long as your gain new skills from it, and build the systems that will eventually lead to success.

Energy is the Metric to Measure By

Biggest new lesson I got from Scott Adam’s book is make choices that maximize your person energy.

A mental light-bulb went off when I read:

The main reason I blog is because it energizes me. I could rationalize my blogging by telling you it increases traffic on Dilbert.com by 10 percent or that it keeps my mind sharp or that I think the world is a better place when there are more ideas in it. But the main truth is that blogging charges me up. It gets me going. I don’t need another reason.

This is the reason I blog as well. It’s the reason we do most things. Making art gives us energy.

Reading this, I realized there were activities I’d been postponing because I didn’t consider them “real work” or didn’t think they would pay off. In avoiding doing them, I was actually draining my energy AND not getting them done.

Now, I indulge that voice that calls me to do something just because it energizes me to follow it. Ironically, it’s these pursuits that have lead to the biggest gains.

To maximize your energy, Scott suggests establishing healthy habits – diet and exercise – that rely on systems, not willpower.

This personal energy metric offers a new perspective on how to approach the day – everything from batch-prepping meals, to exploring new hobbies and skills.

Curing the Incurable & Affirmations

In addition to the above advice, Scott Adams shares very personal stories about how he nearly lost his drawing hand, and his voice.

I won’t spoil how Scott overcame two “incurable” career-ending medical conditions, but between that and the chapter on affirmations, I’ve got new inspiration for a few “impossible” intentions of my own.

Highlighted in my copy is:

The pattern I noticed is that the affirmations only worked when I had 100 percent unambiguous desire for success.

I’ve got at least one such affirmation I’m working with. Wish me luck.

Saying Thank You

One last piece of social advice from Scott Adam’s book – say thank you. Thank you goes a long way.

So, as I sit here eating a some vegetarian food cooked two day’s earlier to ensure I have healthy habits, writing a blog post that gives me energy, with work open in another window that will teach me new skills, it’s worth saying – thank you Scott, for writing a great book that’s already inspiring positive changes.

If you could see yourself as someone interested in having healthy habits, learning new skills, and doing activities that bring you energy, this book belongs on your shelf.

P.S. After you finish Scott Adam’s book, check out his Persuasion Reading List, to discover how to communicate what you’ve learned. I’ve met at least one author on that list. They’re the real deal. Worth reading.

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You can get How to Fail at Everything and Still Win Big: The Kind of Story of My Life by Scott Adams on Amazon here.

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Read More: Joining the Vanguard: A Weekend of Survival Skills with Atomic Athlete

A recent article in Bloomberg says that Netflix is shifting it’s strategy from streaming Hollywood content to producing it’s own. Likewise, Hollywood is becoming reluctant to sell to Netflix. In the article’s words:

The media companies have been sending a message that they hope to sell fewer of their TV series to Netflix, which they now believe is bad for their business. Not coincidentally, Netflix has been sending its own message that it won’t plunk its money down to buy just any old junk programming. It has been a verbal sparring match over which side is less reliant on the other.

It’s clear what’s going on to anyone who has read Who Owns the Future? by Jaron Lanier – studios and Netflix are competing to see whose service will own a monopoly on the market – what Lanier calls a “siren server” – the way that iTunes monopolizes music, and Amazon monopolizes books.

For the individual filmmaker, this is good and bad. While many marketplaces allow unknown creators to distribute in ways not possible before, others are notorious for underpaying artists.

Thankfully, distribution is as democratizing as much as filmmaking. Just as anyone can make a film, anyone can publish and sell it online.

The challenge is going to be connecting connecting with audiences (which has always been the challenge, really). You’re going to see more films get made because they serve a community, rather then studios trying to get communities to serve their films.

Data will play a huge role in this. Services like Netflix can target niche audiences in a way not possible before. For the individual filmmaker, it might be wise to differentiate yourself and own a niche, rather then trying to be all things to all people.

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If you’re interested in the future of film…

Further reading:

• Who Owns the Future? by Jaron Lanier
• Average is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation by Tyler Cowen
• Hope For Film: From the Frontline of the Independent Cinema Revolutions by Ted Hope

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Read more: Standout Film from the Austin Film Festival 2015

This November, I attended Vanguard, a weekend intensive of man-skills and training put on by Atomic Athlete at a ranch just above Austin, TX.

I should preface this all by saying I am not naturally gifted in survival skills. I spend most of my time indoors in front of a computer. However, I think it’s important to learn a basic understanding these skills, and that the mindset gained from them translates to other areas of life.

The topics covered included:

• Butchering & preparing animals for meat
• Rifle training
• Handgun training
• Self-defense Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training
• Trauma medical care
• Obstacle-course run
• Rappelling
• A talk on the legal realities of using force

There was also a lot of camping out in the cold, hiking, drinking beer, talking by the campfire, and a big feast of delicious meat killed and cleaned earlier that day. All in all, a weekend well-spent.

Here’s the skill by skill breakdown:

Butchering Animals

If you’re going to eat meat, you should know what goes into it. The process of humanly killing animals we were shown involved stunning them (yes, with a hammer, like in the picture) and then slitting the throat. If that makes you uncomfortable, you should probably go vegan.

The farm owner leading the class described his goal as to have happy animals with one bad day. I felt a bit queasy beforehand, mostly because I was concerned we’d do it wrong and cause unnecessary harm to the animal. Thankfully, each kill was swift, and the process went well.

Rifle & Handgun

I went into the weekend having never shot a gun, and was nervous as hell beforehand. I mean, you can kill people with these things, right? Thankfully, the instructors walked us through everything from how to draw and hold your gun with proper stance to more advanced drills.

This demystified guns for me. I noticed the process of gun training is very similar to learning any other skill, from barbell movements to martial arts. I could see how, with committed training, one could go from civilian to soldier.

Most of the other participants had not only shot before, but brought their own guns. However, there were several other newbies there. By the end, there were no nerves, just fun.

Self-Defense Brazilian Jui-Jitsu

I had already trained in Krav Maga, so this section came most naturally. Plus, martial arts is just fun.

It was interesting to see where Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu differs from Krav. Most Krav is designed to be easy to execute under pressure, so they’d have the first half of a Jiu-Jitsu response and then go to punches, whereas Jiu-Jitsu would execute a more complex grapple to go to ground.

The nice thing about Jiu-Jitsu however is that it’s easier to deescalate a situation. There was one move we were shown in particular that could easily stop a fight before it happens.

Again, the drills covered took people from total basics to things even those already skilled in martial arts could practice.

Emergency Medical Care

I hope I never have to use these skills, but I’m going to be most thankful I know them if I do have to use them. Trauma medical care included CPR, and tourniquets for serious wounds.

I learned that CPR no longer requires you to “tongue-fuck a stranger” as our instructor put it – just do the compressions. The insturctors had some helpful ways for remembering the correct pace for compressions – apparently the 100 BPM of “Another One Bites The Dust” or “Stay’in Alive” is exactly the right for giving those 2-inch pushes on.

This section may be the least flashy, but the most useful in an emergency. The EMTs teaching the class were incredibly knowledgeable, grounded, and presented the skills in a memorable way.

Rappelling

I didn’t think much about the rappelling… till I got up there. Then I noticed my body really didn’t like the idea of stepping off a four story ledge.

The interesting thing about rappelling is there’s no safety mechanism. You hold the rope behind you back and if you left go, you just fall all the way to the ground. The key is to let go a little bit and allow yourself to fall slowly. You literally have your life in your hands.

There’s something really freeing about this. Most activities have a lot of safety built in. Doing something like rappelling builds a lot of self-trust, because you see you can handle things totally on your own. It’s your hands that decide what happens to you.

Overview

One thing that stands out at Vanguard is the quality of people. Many of the participants were former military, EMTs, martial artists, and gym-goers. They were people who enjoy pushing themselves physically and learning new skills. There were no complainers. People had a great attitude, and built each other up. If nothing else, it’s worth going for that.

Another thing that impressed me was range of training. They managed to find drills and activities that challenged everyone, from the total newbie like me, to experienced people with military training.

If you’re someone who isn’t familiar with survival skills, this event would make a good introduction. If you’re familiar with one or two of the topics covered, there is bound to be new information in one of the classes. Even most of the trainers were only experts in their skill and benefited from the other areas of training.

Plus… it’s one weekend. Where else are you going to pick up this many new skills in two nights? If any of the above sounds like something you’d want to learn, this is the place to do it.

All photos courtesy Atomic-Athelete. Disclosure: I have trained at Atomic Athlete, and know the organizers personally. They’re great guys, and I wouldn’t write about the experience if I didn’t like them.

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P.S. I made a short film that deals with survivalism in the media. It’s kind of a funny story. You can watch it here.

Read More: Standout Films from the Austin Film Festival 2015