The Long and The Short Of It

Episode 133 - Accomplishments

Transcript:

Jen: Hello, Peter.

Pete: Hello, Jen.

Jen: Well, today (on the day we are recording this) my studio is celebrating our one year anniversary of going digital. Woo-hoo!

Pete: Yay. Hurrah! One year, woof.

Jen: I know, it's kind of amazing. And to celebrate, I thought it would be fun for my studio community to create a catalogue of accomplishments, things that we have done together over the last year. And I have been finding the exercise of collecting these accomplishments to be quite amazing. So, I'd love to talk to you about collecting accomplishments.

Pete: Okay, alright. I feel like I could get down with this. I have some thoughts. This is The Long and The Short Of It.

Jen: Okay. So there's something magical in recognizing accomplishments that have been collectively created...

Pete: Mm-hmm.

Jen: ...whether they are large, like epic things, like we took the entire studio online in two weeks time, or small things, like we created a social program within the studio for established studio members to welcome new studio members.

Pete: Love it.

Jen: It's like a small and lovely thing. And it's interesting, because I'm finding it easy to go in and name the collective accomplishments. And if you had asked me to name all my own personal accomplishments for the last year, I'd be like, "I don't feel like doing that." But doing it on behalf of other people is so wonderful.

Pete: Hmm. Hmm. I mean, I feel like we need to dig into both of these things. One, which is: Why is it so hard for us to review our own accomplishments? Because I totally agree with you. I have helped clients do this before. I have done this with friends. And I love the process of hearing other people say, "Well, these are the things I accomplished.” Or me being like, "You accomplished this, and you accomplished this, and what about this?" And they're like, "Oh my god." But have I sat down with a piece of paper and done it for myself? No. No, I have not, because that would make me uncomfortable. Or, I don't know...uncomfortable, yeah, I would say that's the word. So, I think there's something in that. But, also: How we might create the conditions for us to do it as a group, or as a collective? I like the way that you sort of frame that as, "We as a team, or we as JWS accomplished a bunch."

Jen: Yeah. And what's really interesting...I brought it up on our team huddle today. And I said, "I'll read off all the things that I've got here. I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything." And I was missing a lot. And so opening the floor for other people to contribute, what they were able to clock as an accomplishment is also amazing. And I'm realizing there's something in this around...like as I was compiling the accomplishments, one of the things I felt for some reason was very important for me to do was to quantify the number of U.S. states, and countries that were represented within our studio community this year. Because prior to this, if you weren't on 38th Street, you couldn't be in the studio. But this year, we ended up having thirty-nine states and thirteen countries represented. And I painstakingly went through all of the past notes from the last year of classes, each time people were asked, "Where are you Zooming in from?" I went through every single one of those to compile this list. Why? I could have estimated. I could have said there were about forty states, and about a dozen countries. But I realize the reason to quantify the accomplishment of creating an international cohort of artists is not for me, it's for the people to see themselves in the accomplishment. If I left out one of the thirteen countries and called it about a dozen, that one person who was Zooming in from New Zealand wouldn't see themselves in this collective accomplishment. So, I realized that part of doing this on behalf of the community...or actually, the entire reason for doing this on behalf of the community is to allow them to see what they have made possible.

Pete: I love that. You also preempted my question, which was like: What do you think it's ultimately for? This exercise of like, "Let's capture our accomplishments," what's it ultimately for? And I tend to agree. I think you're right. I think it's about seeing others, and seeing ourselves, and seeing (I don't know if this is the right word, but like) evidence, like quantifiable evidence that we have shown up. There's something in that, for me. Like, we've recently done a few episodes on streaks. And I'm kind of like, "What's a streak for?" Well, it's almost the same. It's like a quantifiable way of saying, "I showed up, and I accomplished the streak. But I accomplished, if it's writing, words on a page." Whatever it is. And I feel like reflecting on accomplishments with a studio, or with anything (because I have a few examples I'm happy to share), is it's like a way of kind of quantifying effort, or quantifying showing up, or like quantifying being seen, or something like that.

Jen: Mm-hmm. You know, this is reminding me of a very brilliant blog post by a very brilliant human. His name is Nathaniel Sullivan. I think you've probably met him at some JWS event.

Pete: I have. I have, I have.

Jen: Nathaniel is so smart. And he wrote a blog post (I want to say it was like January or February, I'll find it and I'll put it in the Box O' Goodies), about naming the things you've accomplished, but then completing the sentence by adding "so that". And when you add "so that", you make it about other people, not about yourself. So it could be like, you know, "This year, I was a guest on four different podcasts, or whatever it was. I was a guest on four different podcasts, so that these hosts could bring new ideas to their audiences." So then, it's not about me. I'm recognizing that I'm a part of it, but it's more about the impact. And I thought that was so brilliant. Because so many of us feel weird, awkward about naming the things we've done. It's like, "What for?" Well, when you add the "so that", that's literally the answer. So that other people could benefit. So that ideas could spread. So that people could be served, etc, etc.

Pete: Ooh, that's good. I feel like I need to add this to my process. So this process that has come into my life this year was actually instigated by my partner, Tracy. She, in us both working from home like everybody has been for the last year, has seen sort of the ups and downs of being a freelancer, and riding the wave of the dip, and all the things that you and I have spoken about on this podcast in terms of like creative practices, and breaking streaks, and having streaks, and being fired up, and having all these projects but then like being in holding patterns. Like, all of it. She's seen it all. And one day...it was in January, actually. She was like, "You know what I think we need? I think we need a win wall." And I was like, "What is that?" She said, "Basically, it's just going to be a wall where we stick index cards for each month. So January, there's a card. February, there's a card. March, there's a card. We each have our own column, and we capture little wins for the month as we go throughout the month." I can see it from where we're recording. There is a a win wall in our spare bedroom that just has like dot points of things that have come up that are essentially accomplishments that we are proud of. And what's made it something I can commit to is, I think, similar to what you were saying at the start of this. Which is, it's for or with another person. It's like, if I lived on my own and had a win wall, like me, Pete Shepherd, I would feel strange about that. I probably wouldn't do it. But Tracy saying, "I've seen you do a lot. And so let's capture some of that for your own sanity, especially when you're in the dip." Like, that has been super helpful. And vice versa, for her. Because she's, you know, a human being who goes through the dip herself. And she now has the ability, we can look at our wins at the end of the month and go, "Huh. We did accomplish quite a lot this month, even though it didn't always feel like it." I mean, even in hearing myself say that, it reminds me of the streak episode where we talked about swimming. And we talked about, those days where you don't feel like doing it are often like the 1% or the 2%. And so the capturing the wins, capturing the accomplishments, it's almost like a way of zooming out and looking at the macro and being like, "Actually, sure there were some dips, but look at all this great stuff."

Jen: Yes. Okay. I have a logistics question about the win wall, because I'm kind of obsessed with this concept and might need to borrow it. When a win makes it to the wall, how often is Pete saying, "I need to add this win to Pete's column," versus Tracy going, "Well, you know what, Pete? That's a win. You should add that to your column on the win wall."?

Pete: Mmm. I think it's...I mean, I'll guess a percentage. I feel like, it's probably 70% the latter.

Jen: Mm-hmm.

Pete: Is, yeah, is me saying, "Tracy, you should put that on the wall," and her saying, "Pete, you should add that to the wall." However, I think we're getting better at now saying...instead of saying, "You should put that on the wall," actually (more like a coaching posture) saying, "What do you think you should add to the wall from the last couple of weeks?" Or, "What could you add to the wall?" And waiting to see if they think of something. And, you know, if Tracy asked me that, I might be like, "I don't know. I guess Jen and I recorded some more podcasts, and blah, blah, blah." And then she'll say, "Oh, and what about this?" And she'll add in a prompt. So it's kind of like asking the question and holding the space first, before then adding a prompt or adding your two cents.

Jen: Okay. I think I'm understanding that it's not solely about acknowledging the wins as they come, but implementing a practice of reflection where you are guaranteed to find the wins.

Pete: Totally.

Jen: If the assignment is, "What are the wins of the last week," as opposed to, "I only put something on the wall when, in the moment, I'm clocking it as a win," that's great. Thank you. Thank you for that.

Pete: Yes. Sorry. Sorry, logistics. Yeah. It's very, like, arbitrary. We might just be sitting around on a Sunday and be like, "You know what? We should look at the win wall, it's been a couple weeks." Like, it's very haphazard. But it is, "Let's capture from the last week, or two weeks, or whatever the timeframe is, because we have one per month." So yeah, it is a process of reflection. You're right.

Jen: I'm thinking about when my studio goes back to the brick and mortar.

Pete: Yeah.

Jen: We had this...we had a call board. In the theater, we call it a call board. And other people would call it just, you know, a bulletin board or cork board. But, we had a call board. And I had these little...maybe you remember them. I had these little quote cards in a box.

Pete: I remember.

Jen: And when people come to the studio, they would grab a quote card. And the idea originally was that they would take it with them. That they would open it up, and it would have an inspirational quote, and they'd be like, "Ah, that's inspiring. I'll take that with me." But what started happening (without any input from me) was people would open their quote card, and then if they thought it would benefit other people, they would pin it to the call board. And it became like this sort of inspiring thing to look at. And I'm realizing, when we get back to the brick and mortar space (hopefully later this year, fingers crossed), that we could add a win wall to the studio.

Pete: Yeah.

Jen: Where, it's just like part of the practice of coming to class. It's like your weekly thing that, you come to class and you add a win to the win wall.

Pete: Mmm.

Jen: I frickin' love that idea.

Pete: Okay, my brain is exploding in all sorts of directions now. Because I'm realizing that someone else, that you and I both know, has implemented this in my life, and I didn't quite realize that's what it was until just now.

Jen: Wait, wait, wait. Tell me more. What are you talking about?

Pete: So, our mutual friend Kirsty Stark...who we've mentioned a few times on his podcast, truly brilliant human being and changemaker. And we have a Slack space with myself, Kirsty, our friend Mary, and our other friend Michael. And we've run workshops together in the past, and we set up the Slack group, and it's just maintained rhythm and engagement from all of us because we like interacting with each other. Anyway, Kirsty created this channel, I want to say over two years ago, called #dailyawesomeness. And the idea, as you might imagine, is to post something awesome from your day. Now, it definitely doesn't happen every day. But on any given week, I would say, at least once throughout the week, one of us will post, "This awesome thing happened today." And sometimes, it's...if it's Kirsty, it's usually one of the TV shows she was producing won another international award. Like, there's a running joke that she just keeps on winning these international awards.

Jen: Keeps winning the awards.

Pete: Yeah. So, it's usually, "I won another award. Or, the show won another award." And, you know, sometimes it's something simple, like me saying, "I went and had a swim at the ocean." But I'm recognizing that she kind of had a virtual win wall that we've had in place for the last few years. Which is us sometimes capturing big accomplishments, to your point earlier, but sometimes just capturing a little micro accomplishments. Honestly, sometimes it's super uncomfortable to be like, "I don't know where to put this thing, but it feels like something positive, like something I've achieved. Because of that, I'm going to put it here."

Jen: This reminds me of one of our teachers at the studio, Steve Pacek, who is also one of my oldest and dearest friends. His small group classes all have their own Slack channels. And one of the channels he creates for every class is based on Benjamin and Rosamund Zander's book, The Art of Possibility. The channel is called #giveyourselfanA.

Pete: Yes.

Jen: And after every class, he has people post in #giveyourselfanA, for why they get an A for the work they did.

Pete: Oh my gosh, that is so good. I'm obsessed with that.

Jen: Isn't that good?

Pete: Yeah. Yeah.

Jen: Okay, so what I feel like we're landing on here is that it's important to catalogue your accomplishments. Because, one, it requires reflection, which is always a good thing. "What did I learn? How did I get here?" Any time you're able to reflect, you can start building the motivation you need to move forward. Two, is, it helps to build community when you allow your accomplishments to center on the collaboration that it took to get to the accomplishment in the first place, and then the impact that that accomplishment has on other people. And I realize we didn't talk about this, but you and I have been smiling a lot and laughing a lot during this episode. It has made us feel good to talk about accomplishments, and that is worth something.

Pete: Yeah. Yeah. And I realize that there is, I feel like, a strong connection between accomplishments and gratitude. And I feel like what we (anyone who instigates a process of reflection and listing accomplishments) are essentially doing is kind of saying, if it's about someone else, "I am grateful for this thing that you did. And let's name it." Or, "I'm grateful for, you know, almost grateful to myself for this thing that I managed to accomplish." And there is enough science and research (that we don't need to go into) on the power of having a gratitude practice, which literally can change the lens through which you view your life. You look for the things that you have, as opposed to the things you don't have. You look for the things that you've done, as opposed to things you haven't done. I think that's ultimately what we're describing, is gratitude.

Jen: Accomplishments as gratitude. I like that. That is The Long and The Short Of It.