The Long and The Short Of It

Episode 373 - The Six Points of Focus

Transcript:

Jen: Hello, Peter.

Pete: Hello, Jennifer.

Jen: You know, sometimes in the work that I do with actors, I create frameworks that we use and I'm like, "There's no way this could apply to anything other than acting." And the other day, I was looking at something I had made and I was like, "Wait a minute, I bet other people might find this very useful." So today, I want to share with you something that I call The Six Points of Focus.

Pete: Oh, I thought you were going to say The Six Points of Contact, which I feel like is something else that you've said before. But, color me curious. Six Points of Focus. This is The Long and The Short Of It.

Pete: Did I make up The Six Points of Contact? Did I make that up?

Jen: No, you didn't make that up. But that's The Five Points of Contact. So now, I realize it's like The Twelve Days of Christmas. Six points of focus, five points of contact...

Pete: Two purple doves, and a partridge in a pear tree. Alright, great. It is coming up to the festive season. So, let's go.

Jen: Right. So okay, I run this online community called The Career Collective. I'm sure I've spoken about it from time to time on this show. So, The Career Collective is essentially a community of actors who are working on career strategy. So, in-person at my studio, I do all the craft work. And then, in the online studio within The Career Collective, I do all the career strategy and career building work. And when you are building a career, whether you're an actor or an executive coach or a leadership expert or whatever you are, it can sometimes feel overwhelming to know how much goes into building a thriving, successful, sustainable and ultimately fulfilling career. And it's like, "Ah, I have so many things I have to focus on all at once." So, what I wanted to do was create a framework that allowed the artists that I work with to look at their career as having different segments or different points of focus. I'll drop the image in the Box O' Goodies, so people can see it. I think about this like an aperture on a camera. You can change the aperture and the thing that's in the foreground might be in sharp focus, but that doesn't eliminate what is in the background. And you can shift the focus again and make the thing in the background become in sharp focus, but that doesn't eliminate what is closest to the lens. And as we're building our careers, sometimes we have to focus on one thing very sharply, and then something else has to go into soft focus. So, that's like the premise.

Pete: I'm already obsessed. And I'm making a bunch of assumptions as to how this could apply to anyone, not just people in your community. But before I get to all of those, let's hear it. Because yeah, I mean, the feeling of, "Where do I even start," or, "What do I even focus on," feels universal.

Jen: Okay. So right now, listeners, I'm sharing my computer screen with Pete, so he can see what the image looks like. Because I am going to have to say these in a certain order. But Pete, I want you to back me up. There's no order.

Pete: No, there's no order. But I also want to say...this is a world first, team. Jen has brought some sort of slide deck / image for our podcast today. We're in new territory here. She's brought assets to the table.

Jen: So Pete, can you maybe describe what this looks like?

Pete: I mean, I think you described it well, which is the lens of a camera, like an SLR high-quality camera when the lens isn't fully open. It's kind of like partially open. And so, there's these different segments overlaying the lens. One, two, three, four, five, six different sorts of puzzle pieces, sort of like segments of the closing of a lens. Did that make any sense, people? I don't know.

Jen: Well, if you're a subscriber to our Box O' Goodies, you'll see what we're talking about. And if not, sorry about it. You should have subscribed.

Pete: Get on over there.

Jen: But the reason I wanted to show you this is because, like I said, I'm going to have to say these in an order. But when I say in no particular order, I really mean it. Because at any given moment, you might need to focus on one of these things over the others. But here are The Six Points of Focus. In other words, what Jen thinks a person needs to consider when building a career that is sustainable, successful, and ultimately fulfilling. Okay, here we go. Number One: Mindset. This is the story you tell yourself. Number Two: Marketing. This is the story you tell other people. Number Three: Industry Knowledge. This is your awareness of the landscape that you are navigating as a person building a career, so the who, what, why, where, when, and how of the industry or the market that you're working in. Number Four: Skill and Craft. This is both the objectively technical pieces of the kind of work that you do and also the subjective part of yourself that you bring to your work. Number Five: Network Building. This is also known as making connections, introducing yourself to people, fostering relationships. And Number Six: Artistry and Inspiration. This is how you fill your own tank and keep yourself motivated.

Pete: I'm obsessed with this.

Jen: So as I'm saying it out loud, I'm realizing, "Yeah, this ain't theater specific."

Pete: Oh my god, it's so not. Anyone who's interested in thinking about their career with intention should pay attention to these six things. So, should I just pick one and ask you some questions?

Jen: Yeah. Well, maybe let me just say one other thing before we do that.

Pete: Please.

Jen: I think of this on both the macro and the micro. Like as you're looking at your career from a 30,000 foot view, all of these things come into play. But even if you're working on something very micro within your career building, for example, if I have an actor who has said to me, "I really am interested in pursuing this particular role in this particular show," I can look at that pursuit of this micro goal through each of these focal points, to determine whether or not they're on the right path.

Pete: Yeah. Like, "What story are you telling yourself about this role?" Interesting. And, "What story are you telling the people that you're trying to get this role from or with? What's your industry knowledge of this show or this job or this role? What skills are you bringing to the table? Who do you know that could help you network? And yeah, what is your artistic inspiration or energy-giving motivation that will enable you to show up in the best possible way?"

Jen: Right.

Pete: Just workshopping a live example, alright. Yeah, I can dig that. Do you have a sense of which one we neglect the most? That's like immediately where my brain goes. Like, I feel like some of these, everyone will be like, "Of course." And then, some of these, people will be like, "Oh gosh, I feel called out. I don't want to talk about that one."

Jen: It's so fascinating, Pete, because yes, I have a hunch. And then, I start working with someone, and I'm completely wrong.

Pete: Oh, really? Okay. So, it varies depending on the person.

Jen: It completely varies. And even this month in The Career Collective, everyone is focusing on a goal role this month. And so, I asked them, "When it comes to a goal role, how might you prioritize these points of focus?" And literally every single person had a different answer. I will tell you that the one that people find the scariest, so they are most likely to try to avoid or attempt to convince me that they don't need, is the Network Building.

Pete: Yeah. I was going to guess either that or Marketing. Five or Two, those feel like the ones that people would hide from. Myself included, by the way. Myself included.

Jen: What's interesting with the Marketing is everybody knows they need it, but a lot of people have created marketing assets without first asking themselves what they want those assets to do for them.

Pete: "What's it for?" "Who's it for?"

Jen: So with the Marketing, I find that people are having to do a lot of backtracking. And with the Network Building, I'm finding people are still at the starting gate.

Pete: Yeah, that would make sense to me. What about the one that people are down with the most, or excited about the most, or comes the most naturally? Do you have a sense of which one that is?

Jen: I think in my business, Skill and Craft.

Pete: Totally. That was what I thought, too.

Jen: Yeah. But also, that's why I come into their lives. So I might have a biased view of this, because the reason I meet most of these actors is because they're seeking skill and craft training.

Pete: Yes, that's true. I might also have a bias. And the thing I was thinking was people who start businesses or people who take certain jobs, the story I make up is it's usually because they love doing that thing. Like I start a bread making business because I love making bread, I love the skill and the craft of making bread. I don't start a bread making business because I love network building with other bakers, I don't think. That's the story I make up. So I feel like Number Four is kind of the reason we have a career in the first place, because we start following a particular craft or we start honing certain skills, or we've built them at university or in some other way of studying. "Well, this is now my career. I focus on this particular subject matter expertise, and I can get my head around that." I feel like for a lot of people listening perhaps (and me, once upon a time) are like, "I didn't know there were five others."

Jen: Right.

Pete: You know? "I just thought it was all about skill and craft." For me, I think that is true.

Jen: Honestly, having this framework to work with has been a real game changer inside the work that I'm doing in The Career Collective, because it almost forces you to turn over stones that you could have pretended you didn't see in your path. Where it's like, "Okay, there's this goal that I'm setting. And I'm putting all of these pieces in place. And like, I'm ready to go." And then I, as the coach, might ask, you know, "What are some of the tools you have in the mindset box, for when the going gets tough?" And they're like, "Oh gosh, I haven't thought about mindset in relationship to this thing." Or I'm like, "Who are the major players that are associated with this project?" Or like, "What is the history of this project? Where did it come from? How did it even get to this stage?" And they're like, "Oh, I didn't really think to learn that." So it helps with the answer to the question, "What can I do next?"

Pete: Right. Yes. It feels like a good checklist for a coach or a mentor or a friend to help you with, if and when you find yourself pondering your career. And I wonder, practically, how else do you think about this? Is this like, "We should be thinking about all six of these every day." Is this, "Try and do something from each bucket of these once a week." Am I getting too granular with how I'm thinking about this? Like, how do you think about activating and practicing this on the kind of micro?

Jen: Well, it may surprise no one to hear me say, it depends.

Pete: Of course. Here's me asking for the specific questions. And you're like, "Well, it depends."

Jen: But it's true. Because everyone is so different. This is something I have learned over and over again in recent years and in working with so many actors at once on the career piece of it. So like, I mentioned that this month in The Career Collective, everyone is working on a goal role. And I asked them to select one of the points of focus, and to tell us what it's going to be that they're going to hone in on this month. And every single one of these is represented within the group. And then, there are some people who are like, "I don't want to focus on just one thing. I'm focusing on two things." And then, other people who are like, "I've got to change it up. And so, every day I'm going to do one small task within one different point of focus." So, it's really like hard to be prescriptive about it. Whatever works for you. And I think it helps people have a bit of a reality check, as to how much work actually goes into attaining the kind of work that is at the level that they are aiming for. You know? In my industry, sometimes you'll hear people say things like, "Why isn't this happening? I'm really talented." And I'm like, "You are. And that is one sixth of it."

Pete: Yeah. Oh, I like that.

Jen: So, it's like a gentle reality check.

Pete: Yeah. Talent alone won't get you where you want to go. Industry Knowledge won't get you where you want to go in your career. Mindset won't get you where you want to go in your career. You need to have them all, as part of a whole. Each is as important as the next.

Jen: Yeah. I mean, I say all the time that marketing is so, so, so, so important in our field. And no amount of incredible marketing will ever make up for a lack of chops.

Pete: Yeah.

Jen: So it's like, you know, we need all these things.

Pete: Yeah. Can I ask a personal question?

Jen: Yeah.

Pete: Which of these ones makes you most uncomfortable, like in your career and based on your very successful business and where you find yourself at the moment? Have you thought about applying this to yourself? I'm sure you have. Which of these is like, "Ooh, okay. I feel like I'm neglecting that one a little bit."

Jen: For me, it is probably Skill and Craft / Network Building, where I could be putting more focus. I love learning. So, I'm trying to up the game all the time.

Pete: Yeah. I feel like Skill and Craft is kind of like never ending. You know? If you're constantly in pursuit of learning new things and honing one's craft, there's no kind of end state to that one.

Jen: Yeah. And I am trying to challenge myself this year to think a little more outside the box when it comes to making new connections and introducing myself to people. So, I had identified that as a point of focus. And so, I'm putting a little extra juice toward that this year.

Pete: Yeah. This is genius, by the way. I think about some of the conversations I've had with people at certain points in their career, in a work context. And they are sort of like, "What do I do next? Where do I go next? Maybe I'm looking for a new job. Maybe I've been made redundant. Maybe I'm like questioning whether this is the right path for me." And I think in so many of those examples, you're kind of just looking for something to latch on to, to start chipping away at. And I feel like this is a tool, a practical tool that you can give someone, to go, "Oh, I can start to chip away at this, to feel like I'm moving in the right direction and contributing to creating the career that I want to create."

Jen: And the inverse of the question you just asked me, Pete, it's also a good reality check for where you're really crushing it. Where it's like, "Okay, where do I really have a good handle on how I am working toward the goals that I've set for myself?" So like, in my case, I'll say my Industry Knowledge is pretty good. And I have lots of great sources that are helping me to stay with a finger on the pulse of what's going on in my industry. So I'm like, "Ooh. Good job, Jen, on that." And the Artistry and Inspiration, I go to the theater like almost every night. So okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but definitely a couple of times a week.

Pete: That's awesome. And this is a live example of your point, which validates it (hello, confirmation bias), which is that this is different depending on who you are and where you're at. Because for me, I actually think Number Six - Artistry and Inspiration - might be an area where I'm a bit weak. And like for you, you are. You're constantly messaging me, like, "Sorry, can't record tonight. I've got a show to go to." You just constantly go to shows. And I, only in the last couple of months, went to a conference, where I shared a few lessons and learnings on this podcast. And as I was sitting in the audience, I was like, "I haven't been to a conference on leadership and workplace culture, as a participant to just take notes, for maybe ten years." And it was confronting to admit that. So I think that, for me, is an opportunity of like, "Where are you surrounding yourself with inspiration and artistry, in the realm of the work that I do?" It feels like an opportunity for me.

Jen: And I've got to say, Pete, I know you think that what you do in terms of your marketing is like kind of simple. I think you are a marketing genius. Your marketing is so good. Any time you send me something and you're like, "Please take a look at this," the stories you are telling other people about the work you do are chef's kiss, crushing it.

Pete: Well, that is definitely not something that I would have given myself top marks on. So, thank you.

Jen: You're welcome.

Pete: Wild, wild, wild. Alright. Well, I mean, I have some takeaways from this. I'm going to go start looking at how I might insert some Artistry and Inspiration into my career and work. And I encourage listeners to look through this list...which isn't actually a list. It's a beautiful diagram that Jen will put in the Box O' Goodies. And ask yourself, "In order to get where I want to go in terms of my career, which of these areas should I be focusing on right now?"

Jen: And I think I'm just going to read it out one more time in a different order. Because in no particular order, here are The Six Points of Focus: Industry Knowledge, Skill and Craft, Artistry and Inspiration, Marketing, Network Building, and Mindset.

Pete: And that is The Long and The Short Of It.