Ho‘ohana Aloha

It’s funny how words can get to mean their opposite. I can say that after a year of working on an independent book (in the truest sense of the word—independent of a publisher), I have a clear idea of what makes something “indie.” It is a devotion to one’s perspective, and a willingness to do the hard work necessary to see the work through on one’s own terms. It takes belligerence to not compromise and foolishness to not think it necessary. It requires a willingness to be earnest about what one wants. Most of all, it requires time, care, and perseverance. Truly independent work runs on stuff that is the opposite of the ennui, malaise, and apathy associated with “indie.”

Going down the independent route isn’t necessarily better, only different. But, after a year of walking this road, I have so much more respect for those that go after what they want on their own terms.

He was commenting on another quote, from How Indie Labels Changed the World by Richard King. [From The Guardian]:

Since then the word “indie” has been appropriated for other uses, and often employed pejoratively. Whether to describe a film, a coffee house or, as I once overheard in Brooklyn, a property, it covers a patchwork of tropes and influences. At its most self-absorbed, which is often, indie suggests a carefully curated daydream life, the kind that might be enacted, with just the right degree of ennui, on the set of a Wes Anderson film.

I’m with Chimero, for as I understand it, ennui is a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement, and it’s a stretch to imagine those things in “the right degree.” It was interesting too, that Chimero used the word belligerence versus diligence or perseverance.

From where I sit, there is no doubt about it: Solo work is often necessary, and the self-reliance and self-discipline required to achieve it can be a difficult struggle. You must keep your eyes on the prize and go the distance. Hopefully, you love the work itself as you do it.

Add this one to your Ho‘omau index (Chapter 4 in Managing with Aloha: Bringing Hawaii’s Universal Values to the Art of Business) for understanding the power of diligence.

The Banjo Player

Steve Martin made the comments around twenty minutes into his 2007 interview with Charlie Rose. They were talking about how Martin learned the banjo.

“In high school, I couldn’t play an instrument,” Martin admits.

“I remember getting my first banjo, and reading the book saying ‘this is how you play the C chord,’ and I put my fingers down to play the C chord and I couldn’t tell the difference.”

“But I told myself,” he continued, “just stick with this, just keep playing, and one day you’ll have been playing for 40 years, and at this point, you’ll know how to play.”

… If you collapse Martin’s skills into a flat list, he sounds like a Renaissance man, but if you take a snapshot of any particular point of his life, you’ll encounter relentless, longterm focus on a very small number of things… Read more

My Ho‘omau Index is here, on Talking Story. Most recent article there: Ho‘omau, as nature teaches us to do