My friend Chad wrote a great scene for our sitcom the other day, and I was feeling the pressure to hold up my end, but damn, writing is tough. Especially comedy.
Then I started reading Amy Poehler’s book, and right off the bat she took a very honest look into her own struggle to get the book done. Not helping: she was trying to write it while going through a divorce, taking care of two young kids, and producing and starring in her own TV show. What she was able to write was lots of emails to her increasingly impatient editors with subjects like “HOW DARE YOU!”
She was overwhelmed. But then she wrote something very profound:
So what do I do? What do we do? How do we move forward when we are tired and afraid? What do we do when the voice in our head is yelling that WE ARE NEVER GONNA MAKE IT?
Well, the first thing you do is take your brain out and put it in a drawer. Let it tantrum itself out. And then you just do it. You just dig in and write it. You write and then cook something and write some more. You put your hand on your heart and feel it beating and decide if what you wrote feels true. You do it because the doing of it is the thing. The doing is the thing. The talking and worrying and thinking is not the thing.
Because what else are we going to do? Say no? Say no to an opportunity that may be slightly out of our comfort zone? Quiet our voice because we are worried it is not perfect? I believe great people do things before they are ready.
