"fight like hell. this is it."

Dec 22, 2009

It’s easy to tell somebody to get into The Zone. Much harder to live it. But fight like hell to get there, regardless, every friggin’ day, or else you’ll never make it.

Mark Morris is a famous contemporary dancer and choreographer in New York. His dance company, The Mark Morris Dance Group tours the world, has its own large building in Brooklyn (not just the usual New York rented loft space), and has its own school for children. He’s successful, cutting-edge, critically acclaimed and really, really good at what he does.

I saw him being interviewed on television one evening several years ago. He said something that really stayed with me, something I always remember when I need a little jolt of inspiration. To paraphrase:

“When new dancers come to work for my company, I tell them, ‘This is it’. In other words, this is as good as it gets. They’re here to do their life’s best work, they’re not here just to fill time until WHAT THEY REALLY WANT TO DO comes along. And I only work with dancers who can sincerely operate at that level.”

I confess, I was doing ANYTHING BUT my life’s best work at the time. I was holding down a crappy, hack advertising job. Luckily times have changed since then, but at the time it was killing me, to be honest. Thank God they laid me off after not too long.

We’ve all been there. You know you’re capable of doing great things, being in “The Zone”, but every external marker out there indicates otherwise- that you’ll never get to do the “life’s best work” that you’re capable of. That your career will be nothing but drudgery and abuse, in exchange for what seems an increasingly meager paycheck.

Yeah, it’s a painful place to be. But it doesn’t last forever, not if you don’t give up. Not if you don’t succumb to all the overpriced, “treadmill-enabling”, external markers of success- fancy houses, cars, schools, vacations and “stuff” that you can’t really afford, that you don’t really need nearly as much as the guy in the next cubicle says that you do.

Fight like hell.

This is it.

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43 Comments

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vinny waren

15 years ago

brilliant! you should do a book etc..etc.

Michael Martine

15 years ago

Yes. Amen. Thanks.

karen linderman

15 years ago

Yes, good advice, but you forgot to mention that you have to have some clear goals in mind and a way to survive while you try to achieve those goals.

Oh and ‘this is it’ is just Mark Morris’ big ego talking. It’s as good as it is when ‘I’ say so. He and nobody else is the ‘end all’ ‘be all’. Just a stepping stone in life to get to the next level. If that is as far as you want to go, then ok stop there. But what I think he is really saying is, ‘for this moment, be here and only here and don’t wish for something else, otherwise you’re not giving your all.’ Which is what you should be doing in any job or life situation, whether it’s where you ultimately want to be or not.

Hugh MacLeod

15 years ago

Reply to karen linderman

Karen, I doubt if Mark Morris would have gotten so much out of his dancers for so many years if he told them, “Oh, this is just a stepping stone, whatever…”

Pat

15 years ago

This… I like. Needed a reminder of this.

karen linderman

15 years ago

No, no and either would Ballanchine. But you give your all while you are with someone great. It’s not the end or ‘as good as it gets’ because you are going to move on and re invent and re create from where you have been. I have learned great things from everyone I have worked with and also gave the my heart and soul while I worked with them. But a truly great teacher or mentor wants you to take what they have to teach or offer and re interpret so that ideas and philosophies grow and morph. (ps: I love Mark Morris, especially his Swan Lake. I dance so I appreciate what he does and Ballanchine too :))

Hugh MacLeod

15 years ago

Reply to karen linderman

Take it up with Morris 😉

That being said, the window for professional dancing is so short and intense, you REALLY HAVE TO be in The Zone to survive it for more than two minutes… “This Is It” will hardly be a novel concept to anybody in the game.

Teri D'Amico

15 years ago

Reply to Hugh MacLeod

Thank you for the words of encouragement, now all I need to do is believe in myself and my work!

Facebook User

15 years ago

Reminds me of the old Firesign Theatre bit: “How can you know what I mean? That’s metaphysically impossible.”

What I read is: ‘Don’t show up, unless you’re suited up.’

Indeed, ‘fighting like hell’ is many peoples’ best life’s work; it is the lubricant from ‘a position’ to ‘the position.’ It’s an endless fight, which is something perhaps the quote leaves out – maybe there wasn’t time to point out the obvious.

Even on long, boring learning plateaus, one has to ‘fight like hell;’ a point that’s not lost on dance (or music or plumbing or legal or teaching or …) folks bent on improving their craft.

Thanks for sharing the view, Hugh. As you illustrated, it is a jungle out there.

Mary Anne Davis

15 years ago

Amen.

Ben MacLeay

15 years ago

I was an All-American sprinter in college and I can honestly say that the move from high school to the next (and for me final) level was astounding. Everyday of my freshmen year practice was the new hardest workout I had ever done. I would have been fried if I held back for tomorrow. This post is not about stunting growth, it’s about Ethan Hawke in Gataca swimming out with no regard for how he is going to get back.

My wife and I now own a dance studio and employ nine teachers, this will be my new rally cry. This is your passion, this is your life, This Is It.

Unlike what Karen is saying (but I do love opposing comments karen 🙂 we need way less people in dance “growing” and “re interpreting” and way more dancers leaving everything on the stage and in the class room. We need more writers writing their last epic work rather than just pumping out another post.

Thanks Hugh, I needed this.

Moe

15 years ago

Hugh, I must tip my hat to you.

Your work restores my faith in humanity. The ratio of wise to fool is constantly dropping in this exploding population. (Reminds me of an excellent interview on youtube with Branford Marsalis and his students – look it up).

For some of us, we can go months, even years without crossing paths with a wise man even once.

Troubling place to be for someone with any wisdom in pocket.

Thanks, your work is more than just “this”. It’s part of the soul of mankind.

Alice Bachini-Smith

15 years ago

Great post, Hugh.

“Not if you don’t succumb to all the over priced, “treadmill-enabling”, external markers of material success–”

Exactly.

Hugh MacLeod

15 years ago

Reply to Alice Bachini-Smith

Alice, yeah, I like the term, “Treadmill-Enabling”. Describes a lot of things.

Might need to turn it into a cartoon, one day 😀

Barbara French

15 years ago

Thanks Hugh. That’s a powerful thought for starting the New Year.

I thoroughly enjoyed viewing your work at Supernova. Look forward to more of your inspired jolts in 2010.

Hugh MacLeod

15 years ago

Reply to Barbara French

My Pleasure, Barbara… Thanks, and Happy Holidays! 🙂

Facebook User

15 years ago

In a perfect world, we really have to live every moment with “this is it” attitude. But I think that in real world this point rather comes after some (probably a lot of) “this isn’t it” experience.

Maria Brophy

15 years ago

Yes, THIS IS IT. And I’m not practicing or rehearsing. My best work must be done NOW.

This is a powerful message. No wonder it’s been re-tweeted so many times.

Reminder to me to stop “practicing” and get working on my best work. Thank you.

Wogan

15 years ago

I dunno. “This is as good as it gets” really strikes me as a defeatist mantra. “You’re not there yet” holds a lot more promise.

“Effort is the distance between dreams and reality” <– That doesn't apply if "this" is where IT is. If you are where you want to be, I don't see how you can ever be impelled to move forward.

However, if "this" is NOT it, then there's every reason to fight like hell to get where IT is. All the better if IT is a constantly shifting goalpost.

~ Wogan

Hugh MacLeod

15 years ago

“I don’t see how you can ever be impelled to move forward.”

Wogan, in my experience, when you’re in The Zone, YOU DON’T NEED somebody else telling you what to do in order to move forward. It just happens of its own accord.

Even a great teacher (like Morris) can’t do it for you. All he can do is help get you into The Zone, so you can do the heavy lifting yourself.

Wogan

15 years ago

Reply to Hugh MacLeod

? Nowhere did I mention that you need other people to pressure you to do anything.

It really seems like more of a “groove” than a “zone” – especially if a “zone” is that place in which things just *happen*. And one of the characteristics of a groove is that it goes somewhere.

It’s when stuff stops, when it gets “as good as it’s going to”, that you should start worrying. That was my point.

~ Wogan

Theresa

15 years ago

Thanks, Hugh.

Yesterday I read Jonathon Morrow’s amazing post on fighting for your ideas (http://www.copyblogger.com/fight-for-your-ideas/), and now there is this.

IMO people are getting distracted by Mark Morris and the “as good as it gets” line. Job, hobby, life – “This is it.” It’s not a call to stagnate, it’s a call to embrace what you have rather than saving your best effort for a theoretical ‘someday’.

Hugh MacLeod

15 years ago

Reply to Theresa

Theresa, you got it in one.

Morris isn’t saying, “Working with me is as good as it gets… because I’m FABULOUS”.

He’s saying, “You’re here to do your life’s best work”, as a challenge to the dancer to go into The Zone.

But only the dancer can go there… alone.

Daren Burns

15 years ago

Reply to Theresa

Yes…Theresa, your statement is right on the money.

In Seinfeld’s movie “Comedian”, which I recommend to any creative person, Jerry states “This is it”, to a young comedian who’s ambivalent about his life choices.

“This is it”. Your work, now, is the important part. Everything else follows and falls into place.

Bob

15 years ago

Hugh, great piece! It’s like you crawl into my head and suck out everything that the little voice tells is right (but is often over ruled by the big boss survival brain).

Do you have this print available to purchase?

Claudia

15 years ago

A little glib. That’s fine if you’re IN your field and trying to build up to the BIG THING, so you need to give it your all to get there. But if you’re, say, a novelist and you have to support yourself some other way while you’re working on your book, shut up.

Hugh MacLeod

15 years ago

Reply to Claudia

Claudia, the people who say, “I don’t have to give it my all because I haven’t made it yet”, rarely get there. They’re the glib ones, if you ask me…

Stephen - Rat Race Trap

15 years ago

Hugh, great article and commentary. Why do people have to nitpick and miss the larger point; take a few words and twist them out of their context?

I thought it was great. Thanks for sharing it.

Hugh MacLeod

15 years ago

Reply to Stephen - Rat Race Trap

“Why do people have to nitpick and miss the larger point…”

Short Answer: Because it helps them feel absolved of any responsibility to have to “Fight Like Hell”, to have to say to themselves, “This Is It”.

Much easier to sit on the sidelines…

Cory Bagozzi

15 years ago

Hugh, you just rule

Martha Hart

15 years ago

Thanks for this, Hugh – turning it around for all my soc/med contacts… bought 2 copies of your book, blew away the folks I gave them to.

Working at a day job that’s draining me, wrote a book this year 15 minutes at a time – in doc-office waiting rooms, getting up an hour early, not watching tv. Zero-tolerance on excuses.

Quote from great photographer Walker Evans: “Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long.”

Happy holidaze… thanks for sharing.

Carl Nelson

15 years ago

Wonderful post Hugh.

And, yeah it’s easier to complain than getting out there living it.

If it’s not worth fighting for, why are you doing it.

Matthew Dollinger

15 years ago

Hugh,

Thank you for writing this post. I too had to be shown the door in a previous position to find my “this is it” which I believe I have (at the moment… is that a contradiction then?).

Anyway as an executive coach I can identify with this completely and have already sent it on to those I work with. Have a wonderful holiday and thanks for sharing.

Matt

karen linderman

15 years ago

“Why do people have to nitpick and miss the larger point…”

Short Answer: Because it helps them feel absolved of any responsibility to have to “Fight Like Hell”, to have to say to themselves, “This Is It”.

Wow, That is unbelievably shallow and sad. Is that what you think of the people who post to your blog? That it absolves them of any responsibility to have to ‘Fight Like Hell’ to have to say to themselves, “This is it.”

Why do you think people even spend the time to read your posts and respond to them?? It is a conversation and a way to have dialogue with others in a virtual space.

It takes some back and forth conversation sometimes for things to be understood by all, especially if you are not precise with the word and really, who is?

Hugh MacLeod

15 years ago

Reply to karen linderman

Karen, I don’t think it is shallow and sad. I think it describes a lot of Nitpickers out there. I think the world is awash with them.

Actually, I’ve already forgotten what we were arguing about 😀

Adrian Dayton

15 years ago

I think this is awesome.

This is it.
Carpe Diem.

Most people live their lives wishing they could be brilliant or passionate about what they do- your post is a great reminder that it is the ONLY way to live our lives. At least that is a good goal for the coming year.

Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around every once in a while you might miss it. -Ferris Bueller

Catherine Lathwell

14 years ago

I just put this one on my wall paper.

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Mariana N. Blaser

14 years ago

Yeah, I’m in the “fighting like hell” part, and when I reach the “this is it” moment I’ll tell you, ok?

Thanks so much for this post. I totally relate to it. 🙂

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