"All the work we do, no matter how intricate, holds an underlying essence. A core identity or fundamental structure, like a skeleton supporting flesh. Some might call it an "is-ness.
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If a child draws a picture of a house, it may have a window, a roof, and a door. If you take away the window and look at the picture, it's still a house. If you take away the door, it's still a house. If you take away the roof and the outer walls, and leave the window and the door, it is no longer clear whether it's still a house."
There's a reason why we're told tales of Steve Jobs' turtlenecks, Phil Jackson's mind tricks, and Zen-Masters that can cut through obfuscating excess:
We have a craving for simplicity in a world increasingly flooded with information and inputs.
Strategy is about making decisions while throwing in a healthy serving of closed doors, and with our conditioned habit of clinging to the "extra" around us, we seek tactics instead of saying goodbye to the unnecessary.
But like the Rubin quote above states, there's usually a 'just right' in that pile. A "middle way" between excess and scarcity, if we're to use the Buddhist term.
Essence, by other names, can be "brand," "reputation," or "personality."
A focus, a theme, a north star, a brand all give you something clear to guide your work and effort. They tell you what to do, and what not to do.
And when these things are consistent, and memorable, they allow your audience to recognize and put "I understand this" or "this resonates" or "I trust that this has value" hooks in it.
Without this focus, your work (as well as you, yourself) can be forgettable. All over the place. Weak.
What's helped me keep things simple is thinking of those terms (essence, brand, etc.) as a formula of 'Story - Promise - Experience'.
The story of this/you, the promise you're making, and the experience the world has with this/you.
If it's not immediately clear, there's some questions that might help narrow things down.
What To Ask To Identify Your Promise - Story - Experience (Essence)
- 1) What is the "thing" (art, business, your life, etc.) that's the focus here?
- 2) What is the thing you want to promise for *this*?
- What are you guaranteeing?
- What is beyond debate here?
- Ex: My ‘Prescription Magic’ post’s promise was ‘the ability to change your life for the better with magic’
- 3) What is the story of you, or your business?
- What led up to this
- What is the idea you're working on, etc.
- Ex: The story was essentially an experience that planted the ‘magic might be real’ seed in my head, which ultimately led to my own practice
- 4) What is the experience you want to have?
- What is the experience you want others to have when they experience *this*?
- What is the experience people are already having with this (if this is something that already exists that you need to make better)?
- What is the mental experience (feelings) and the physical experience others have, or that you want others to have with this?
- (Note: Your intentions for someone’s experience will always have to meet the reality of that person’s unique experience. And one may be different from another’s. So, the experience is an internal idea (one that you can impact) and an external idea that you ultimately have no say in)
- Ex: The experience I aimed for was a step-by-step set of instructions for working magic through sigils, as well as Saint Expedite petitions, designed (hopefully) to answer most, if not all of the questions someone just starting might have as simply as possible
- 5) What is everything that doesn't support these three things?
- Perhaps the most important question to remove layers that are obstructing the “essence.”
- Ex: In the case of the ‘Prescription Magic’ post, a bunch of “theory” on how magic works, instructions for working with systems of magic that are more dangerous, and long, non-practical romantic monologues about living a life of magic would all have done damage to the ‘Promise - Story - Experience’ I was aiming for
How To Use PSE For Different Purposes
- If it's meant to guide your life, and personal behavior:
- You want to make sure you understand how others experience you already to ensure you're not deceiving yourself and putting people off
- If it's meant to guide your business:
- You'll want to delve deeper into strategy and ensuring what you have in mind resonates with your (prospective) customers
- If it's meant to guide your art:
- If these things don't come to you at the beginning of a project, you may want to work, gather data and raw materials, and then use the focus of the categories/questions to shape it into a finished product
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If You Only Have Raw Data/Scraps of Work And No Real Direction
- What is your story (in general), as it relates to this work, as it relates to this business (as long as you need to gain clarity)?
- What are the strengths here? What are you already doing well?
- How can you make these things stronger?
- What needs to be cut to make these strengths stronger?
- What are the patterns?
- What do these threads have in common?
- What are your weaknesses here?
- What is giving you the most trouble?
- Would it be better if you just got rid of it?
- Would it be better if you just stopped doing these things?
- What would need to be true for this to be worth keeping?
- What would need to be true for an audience, another person to have the worst experience with this/you?
- Maybe the experience should be the inversion of this?
What Are The Benefits of All of This?
Benefits For Life
For me, it simplifies life.
It gives me a quick focus when I apply it to my own life. Something I can glance at to know whether I’m on, or off-track.
It tells you what to do and what not to do, and who you want to be in the world, and for others (The “Experience” others have with you is probably the most important part when it comes to this).
In short, it’s strategy in three ideas.
Benefits For Art
If you're creating art, there's something to be said for craftsmanship, and releasing your "best" work. But "best" is a moving target.
And if you're always tweaking and never releasing, you may miss the moment that would've allowed your "good enough" to actually be great.
As an example: I was floating through LA when Dr. Dre released "Kush," and I heard it on the radio.
People thought they would finally get his ‘2001’ follow-up album.
But it didn't happen.
Instead, he missed that moment, and the songs from that time just linger in unofficial Youtube videos showcasing what "could've been."
Some Examples of PSE In Action
There are many things made with no discernible essence.
Some things are all-over-the-place, which can sometimes work.
And sometimes the elements at play don’t get set in stone until after a project is completed.
But below, I’ve included examples that I feel are relatively set (including my site here).
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‘Two Dreams’
Promise:
- Practical ways to improve your mental health using divination, magic, and Buddhism
Story:
- After a mental health crisis, I slowly rebuilt my life by learning how to use divination, magic, and Buddhism in my own way, to improve my life and mental health
Experience:
- (Hopefully) easy to read and understand instructions for using divination, magic, and Buddhism in your own way to improve your mental health
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For me, having the above direction makes it easy to determine what *is* and *isn’t* the right direction for a piece of content: “Does it subtract from someone’s mental health?” is a clear guiding principle.
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‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’
Promise
- You'll get an indulgent album, dripping with ego, manic highs, and relationship strife
Story
- You'll see the fruits of group recording sessions in Hawaii where seemingly everyone was involved in making the music
Experience
- Lush beats and samples, ego and mania-fueled raps, and guests that were the best-of-the-best in 2010
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‘Yeezus’
Promise
- An out-of-left-field, genre-melding Kanye album, produced with the help of Rick Rubin
Story
- Rick Rubin reduced the number of songs on the album and helped finish what is a big departure for Kanye's music
Experience
- Kanye beats meet industrial beats, with divisive moments that include "Black Skinhead" and "Blood On The Leaves"
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‘Illmatic’
Promise
- You'll finally hear the debut of Nas that was in the making since 1991
Story
- The most anticipated rapper of the generation finally releases his debut full of his perspective and view from Queensbridge projects
Experience
- A brief album of poetic lyricism and storytelling from a fresh voice, paired with beats from some of the best producers of the moment
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‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’
Promise
- You'll get the most anticipated rap album of the generation by the rapper that many don't want you to support
Story
- A man shot 9 times, hated by Murder Inc., that makes melodic street rap, finally releases his debut album
Experience
- Aggressive music directed at opponents, with the support of G-Unit, Eminem, Dr. Dre beats, with some built for radio and club success songs as well
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‘The Creative Act’
Promise
- You'll get advice on the creative process and how to live a creative life
Story
- You'll get advice on the creative process by a man that's proved his creative value in public for decades
Experience
- Short chapters offering different perspectives and advice to take and apply to whatever you're working on right now
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‘SAVE ME’
Promise
- A short, darker, more artistic project from Future
Story
- Future collaborated with Henri Alexander Levy on the art direction, and created a shorter, darker album about his life and celebrity
Experience
- Mostly dark beats that give a glimpse on the darker aspects of Future's fame
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‘Honestly, Nevermind’
Promise
- A sound and direction Drake never took before in his career
Story
- Drake makes an electronic dance album about relationships
Experience
- A moody album full of singing (and rapping) about relationship woes, with an "I can still rap rap" reminder at the very end
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'The Blueprint'
Promise
- You're getting a how-to in making a classic album
Story
- Recorded quickly, Jay-Z connected with upstart producers to craft a soulful album that just happened to release on 9/11
Experience
- Soul, and chipmunk soul producers paired with some others hot at the time made an album that people wanted from Jay-Z since 'Reasonable Doubt'.
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'Stillmatic'
Promise
- A Nas comeback album
Story
- Energized by being jabbed by Jay-Z, Nas writes "Ether," and earns himself a place at the top of hip hop again
Experience
- Perhaps the strongest Nas album since his sophomore release, Nas delivers a knockout blow to Jay-Z while showing a similar promise and gift of storytelling that he showcased at earlier high points of his career
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‘Detox’
Promise
- Dr. Dre will release his follow-up to his highly influential '2001'
Story
- Dr. Dre is a meticulous worker with incredibly high standards, and will only release another classic album
Experience
- It doesn't get released, and we end up with the album, 'Compton', which comes and goes with the currents
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Mach-Hommy
Promise
- A rapper that never shows his face and charges high prices for his work
Story
- A Haitian-American from New Jersey falls in with the Griselda camp, and his talent, and presentation ends up making a name for him
Experience
- Lyrically dense projects over sample-based beats, that offer scarce amounts of personal information, with coveted, low supply - high price physical versions of his musical output
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Much of these are music examples, but you could do this for marketing campaigns, art galleries, or your own life.
And you could always put together a playlist from a previously released album, taking away songs and seeing how differently you perceive that piece of art. But I’ll leave that for you to do if you want to experiment with how presentation can change the “Promise - Story- Experience.”
It’s easy to reflect on our experience with an album, or a painting, and critique some of its elements, but hopefully that gives you a better appreciation for how others experience what you put out into the world doesn’t always adhere to what you had in mind for it.
But it’s still worthwhile to aim for one deliberately instead of handing the world an ‘I was just winging it’.
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Putting It Into Perspective/Wrapping It Up
Ultimately, the "essence" is still going to be a subjective thing.
Some will think a work of art is cohesive, while some think it's a bunch of things all at once.
Some will think you're an asshole, and some will think you're thoughtful.
It's important to remember that time is likely to change, or at least tweak these three elements.
The story of Jay-Z's album changed once those planes flew into the building.
The experience someone might have with your work is "boredom" when you wanted it to be “engaging.”
We can't ultimately control every reaction someone has to us, or our work.
But I hope that this exercise helps you avoid any attempts at being everything for everyone. And that all of this gets you thinking strategically, so you can operate within some guardrails that allow you to make it to the finish line, whatever that may be, and look like for you.
We can decide what seeds to plant, and in what row of dirt to plant them in, but we ultimately can't control the weather. Life wouldn't really be life if we could.