The Long and The Short Of It

Episode 282 - Beginner Again

Transcript:

Pete: Hey, Jen.

Jen: Hello, Peter.

Pete: My brain hurts, my brain hurts, my brain hurts.

Jen: Okay...why?

Pete: Because in the last three weeks, I want to say, I have learned so much about a brand new, I guess, skill that I had no muscle in whatsoever. I've been training a new skill and learning a whole new series of skills, and it's been exhausting, thrilling, hilarious, time consuming, overwhelming, anxiety-inducing, and joyful. And I feel like there's probably some sort of episode in here.

Jen: What a smorgasbord of feeling...can't wait to hear what this new skill is. This is The Long and The Short Of It.

Pete: The smorgasbord, yeah. I'm now like questioning, is it a skill? I guess it's sort of a skill. So, let me give some context and we can work out if it's even a skill. But I've been learning a lot, I guess is the point. Alright, so for context, I, as I think a lot of our listeners know, spend most of my time working with leaders and companies, and running live workshops, virtual and in-person, around helping these leaders be better leaders, be more effective in the way that they lead their teams and cast visions and coach their peers and blah, blah, blah. So that has, for the longest time, served me really well, to be able to do that with people in-person or in virtual settings. And one of the things that has always been on my mind, that has sort of come to a head in recent months because of the scale of a few of the clients I'm working with, is, what does it look like to have a pre-recorded version of some of the workshops that you run? That, A., people who take the workshop can then have in their back pocket to refer back to if they forget something or they want to revisit something. But also, B., a lot of these organizations have a desire to include like all employees in leadership development but don't necessarily have the budget or the capacity to send hundreds of thousands, in some cases, tens of thousands of employees through these leadership programs.

Jen: Right.

Pete: So a long way of saying, I've been working on these pre-recorded workshops. And I started with my little webcam and my little podcasting mic.

Jen: Yep.

Pete: And you know, it was probably about six months ago now. And I got these programs going, and they were really well received, a few of the tests that I did. And so I've invested more and more time and energy into pre-recording courses, and ultimately putting myself on camera and talking to myself, essentially, in my study at home. Anyway, in the last few weeks, I said, "Stop it. That's enough." I've been talking to my friend Josh, who runs a video production company. I've been talking to our friend Kirsty, who is an Emmy Award-winning producer. And I'm like, "It's time for me to level up my studio. I'm going to get a fancy camera. I'm going to get proper lighting. I'm going to take this seriously, because my clients are taking it seriously. And it's time for me to level it up." So I was like, "Great. All I need to do is get a camera and away I go." Oh, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. Jen Waldman, when I say I've been deep down the rabbit hole of video production, I mean I've been deep down the rabbit hole of video production. So that's, I guess, the context. And I have so much more I can say, and I'm happy to say, but I'm talking a lot. How do you react? What am I missing? Does that make sense?

Jen: Oh, Pete. I've been there, my friend. I have been there. The first thing that I hear is...oh, there is a term for this in the psychology world. I will have to find it and put it in the Box O' Goodies. But it's essentially this idea that we see someone do something and so we make assumptions about how simple it would be for us to do it, and then we attempt it and we realize we absolutely cannot do that. The study, like the famous study about it is people watching a video of someone doing the moonwalk, and even an instructional video about the moonwalk. And then, they're like, "Yeah, I could do the moonwalk." And then, they try and they can't do it. And it kind of sounds like this is your moonwalk, where you're like, "I just need a camera, and I'll know how to use it."

Pete: Right, right. That's very true. It's interesting because I feel like the (without trying to toot my own horn) skill of speaking to a camera, of breaking down my workshops into like five/six minute chunks, I feel like I've gotten really good at that. And I know a lot of people that really struggle with that component, so I was like, "Oh, I've got the hard part down pat. All I need is some hardware. I just need a great Sony SLR camera."

Jen: Right?

Pete: Ah, and I apologize to all the video production listeners we have out there that are like, "You idiot, Pete. We do so much work that you don't understand." Because it's true, you do. And I had absolutely no idea. So, I'm calling myself out. And I guess the reason I wanted to bring this up is I think the thing that has been so fascinating, like you mentioned the smorgasbord of feelings, is just the roller coaster of being a complete beginner at something all over again. And the frustration but also the thrill and the joy of troubleshooting, "How do you get the right settings going on this camera?" The pain of recording an hour's worth of content and then realizing the microphone wasn't plugged in. Like I have done it all, in the last two weeks. I've made every freakin' mistake you could possibly imagine...and I've absolutely loved it. That's the wild part, is like, completely learning something from scratch. And to be clear, I'm sure I'm like 3% in to what video production actually is. But for me, that's been a huge 3%. It's just been so thrilling and fun and frustrating, and I guess a healthy reminder for me to like look for opportunities to practice beginner's mind or to learn new skills and to put ourselves in situations where we are completely humbled.

Jen: Yeah. Okay, let me ask you a question.

Pete: Alright, alright, alright.

Jen: What has shifted, changed, evolved in you that has allowed you to find the joy in this thing which ultimately does produce consequences for your life? I imagine...and this is me projecting.

Pete: Project away.

Jen: Listeners, let's call this what this is. This is Jen projecting herself onto Pete. My guess is that ten years ago, it would have been less joyful to have something with stakes attached where you make that many mistakes. I'm just curious. And if that projection is off, turn off the projector. Thank you.

Pete: That's an interesting projection. I'm trying to work out, in this moment, if it fits. Here's what comes to mind, let's see if this fits the projection. The thing I realized where I was able to find joy, even though it was so frustrating, is, A., I have more perspective. I guess I've had more years of...like you said, ten years ago I didn't probably have the perspective of what I have now. And my business was in a very different place, i.e. it didn't exist ten years ago. But I think the other thing is, as I've (I won't try and project to every listener) gotten older, I have done more and more things that I know how to do.

Jen: Mmm.

Pete: I spend more time running workshops that I know how to run. I spend more time doing exercises that I know how to do. I spend more time hanging out with people that I know how to hang out with. I spend more time...like, on and on. I read books that I know how to read. Like I'm so good at doing things that I know I'm good at, or at least comfortable in. That, I don't think when I was younger, I spent as much time in things that I was good at. I think maybe I was experimenting more. Or I just wasn't as skilled in everything, so it meant that everything felt a bit new and beginner-ish. It was like learning a new sport. Which when you're younger, you know, you try like every single sport when you're at school or whatever, and you're like, "Oh my god, I'm terrible at baseball. But hey, I've got a bit of a knack for basketball. Like, I can't play the flute. But I'm actually pretty good at the drums." Like, it was like that all over again. And I don't know if I've felt that for a long, long time. So, I don't know if that fits your projection. But I just think that, for me, it was a reminder that...or I guess I was called out that, gosh, I've been living in my comfort zone a lot. Even though I don't feel like I have been, I think I probably have been.

Jen: Yeah, that rings really true for me. At the beginning of the year, I made a list of things I want to do in 2024. Just like, you know, just a list of things. And one of them was, "Get a new hobby."

Pete: Oh, yeah.

Jen: Simply because I want to learn some new skill. And unlike you where the stakes here are a little higher, for me, you know, I named it a hobby because I'm like, "It doesn't matter if I ever get good at it, but I want to find something that I don't know how to do and learn how to do it." But I really resonate with this idea that when you're younger, you're not good at a lot of things so that's just sort of the water you're swimming in. And then as you get older and you find your way, you do a lot of things that you're pretty good at and that you get rewarded for.

Pete: Right.

Jen: So, that's really fascinating.

Pete: Yeah. The reward part is interesting, right? When you run a business and you find services or offerings that are of value to people and, you know, you're good at them, you're like, "Oh, I'll just keep doing this one." So, it's really healthy to remind ourselves that there's still so much fun on the edges. And by the way, these courses might crash and burn in six months, and I'll go, "Well, that was an experiment that didn't quite go to plan." I don't think that's going to happen, but it could, and I still think it would have been worth it.

Jen: Hmm.

Pete: So, one of the things...I don't know if this is unique to me, but this is how I've thought about it a lot because so many people have said some version of this to me, which is, "Oh, you should just outsource these kinds of things." Right? Like, "This is what video production companies are for. This is what having an assistant is for, is helping you upload these videos and all these things." And I deliberately haven't, because I enjoy the process of figuring something out. And it reminds me of when we started this podcast, and I decided to edit the podcast for the first fifty-odd episodes.

Jen: Yeah.

Pete: Because I enjoyed the process of figuring it out. Like I wanted to understand how it works, because I like that. I guess that inner nerd in me likes to try and figure that out. Now that got to the point where you really generously helped me let go, and now we have Sarah who's way better than I ever was. But I liked the process of figuring things out. So I don't know if that's just like a quirk I have or if that's a common thing that most people have that maybe we've just forgotten. But I enjoy that process of figuring it out.

Jen: Okay, well, I wonder if it's worth looking at outsourcing from a slightly different lens. Because when you and I started podcasting, we both took a workshop on podcasting. So even though you were doing the editing yourself, there was some specific curated information to be consumed. And please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you told me that you...well, this is so meta...that you bought a course to learn how to make your course look and sound better. So you outsourced the having to go and find all the information to someone who already had it, but you're not outsourcing the application of the information. Does that sound accurate?

Pete: 100%. Yes, yes, yes, yes. And again, I don't know if this is a quirk of mine, but this is something I do in many domains, which is find people who are really good at the thing I'm trying to learn and learn from them directly. So whether that's like having a strength coach to help you figure out what exercises you should be doing when you're six-foot-seven and you have a hunch...they know better than me which exercises to do. And then, I'll go and do them, and I'll learn them, and I'll apply them myself. The same is true with the podcast, you're right. We had the podcasting fellowship, which Seth Godin and Alex DiPalma ran. And in this instance, I had my friend Josh Janssen, who runs an incredible video production company here in Australia. And he also referred me and recommended me to this online course called The Dream Studio Course, which was meta in the sense that I was watching a course while also building a course, which was actually really helpful to see how they structure it. But also, it was like, "Literally, here is three different types of cameras. Go and buy one of these three. Here are three types of lenses. Pick one of these three and buy this." So it made some of the decisions a lot easier, which helped me because otherwise I would have trawled the internet, like researching forever and hiding in a rabbit hole of research. So, it was quite prescriptive. And yet, I still managed to make so many mistakes along the way. So yeah, it's like learning from an expert. I mean, we've talked about this before. It's like, who do you know that can help you build skill and capability in a certain thing?

Jen: This is reminding me of a series of exchanges I recently had with my client, Jeremy...who I know listens to this podcast, so he'll be chuckling along.

Pete: Hey, Jeremy.

Jen: So, Jeremy needed to improve his audio on his self-tape equipment for auditions. And I said to him out of the gate, "Go to B&H," which is this famous New York audio/video store. It's amazing. It's incredible. And he did not go to B&H. And he did sort of like his own makeshift thing, and he sent me a sample, and I was like, "I'm not sure if it's exactly...like, we're getting closer. But like, why don't you just go to B&H and talk to the experts and show them a sample?" And so, we went back and forth several times. And then finally, he was like, "Damn it. I'm going to B&H." And then he texts me when he gets there, and he's like, "I should have just done this right out of the gate. These people actually know what they're talking about. It's so amazing." And now, you know, he's gotten all the equipment that he needs.

Pete: Hmm.

Jen: He would have saved himself several weeks.

Pete: But that's juicy. I feel called out. I hear myself, I see myself in Jeremy. Because I have done videos for clients for years. Like way back prior to COVID, I was recording certain videos for certain clients. And at the time, I told myself a story that the video camera that I had that I plugged in and the podcasting mic that I had was great and fine, and it was serving the clients just fine. And I had a few conversations with people about, "Oh, maybe you should get like better equipment for these videos." And I was like, "Nah, I don't need it." And now, I said this to you before, I literally looked at one of my videos from like six months ago and I was so annoyed at how bad it looks. Compared to what I now know, I'm like, "Oh my god, what was I doing? I wasted so much time and energy. I'm such an idiot." So yes, I hear you, Jeremy. I feel that. So I feel like there's a, you know, "When the student is ready, the teacher appears." Is that the saying?

Jen: Right, something like that.

Pete: And the student was not ready for a long time. You have to go around in circles a few times in order to be then ready.

Jen: You know, for the last, I don't know, maybe decade or so, I've made this commitment to myself that once a year, I will invest more money than I am comfortable with on a learning experience.

Pete: Oh my God, that's so good. Yeah, that's exactly what this was.

Jen: Yeah. And every single time, not only has it been worth it for my personal growth, but when it's been related to my business, it paid me back almost immediately.

Pete: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, I already think this has been worth it, just for the learning and the experience of feeling like a complete beginner again. Because that idea and that dancing, like, "You're such an imposter. You're such a fraud. What the hell do you think you're doing," I find it kind of like healthy to go through that again, and to be a complete beginner, and to revisit what it feels like to not know how to do something.

Jen: Yeah.

Pete: Especially when I spend a lot of my time with clients that maybe feel certain similar feelings about how to lead a team or how to coach somebody, or, you know, things that I take for granted that they perhaps don't feel as skilled at. So I just think it's...I mean, I think humility is so healthy. And I feel like learning experiences humble us in the most beautiful ways and the most absolutely frustrating ways. Gosh, ask my wife what mood I was in last week. But I made it out the other side.

Jen: I love this idea of being a beginner again. It's making me want to share one other possible lens shift on this, which is intentionally going back to basics or the beginning of something you're already actually quite good at. And I've probably shared this story on the podcast before but, you know, when I was...well, on more than one occasion, I've had a significant enough injury that I couldn't dance. And this was during the days when I was a dancer. And when I was in college and this happened, my mentor essentially required me to go back to all the Level 1 dance classes, so that I could relearn all of the basics. And this is something I was quite good at. It completely changed my understanding of dance. Because I had learned it at such a younger age, I just sort of like took for granted that I knew it. So then as an adult, understanding the mechanics of dance...at that time I was, you know, twenty or twenty-one. I'd learned to dance when I was three.

Pete: Wild.

Jen: So it was like, it was just amazing to be a beginner again, and then use that to find more nuance and depth and richness in something I was already good at.

Pete: I absolutely love that. And I agree. I think there's no better time to be a beginner and attempt to learn new skills. I don't know who needs to hear this, but just tactically, the conversations I had with ChatGPT to help me troubleshoot were so ridiculously helpful. Like, "These are the exact settings I have on my camera. This is the exact lens. This is the exact position of the camera, how far it is away from me. What am I missing?" And ChatGPT like was coaching me through setting up my studio, and it was so freakin' helpful. So like, there are so many tools and online courses like I took that are designed to help us learn these skills or revisit old skills, that I just think, seize the moment. Let's go and learn some stuff.

Jen: Love it. Time to be a beginner again. And that is The Long and The Short Of It.