The Long and The Short Of It

Episode 396 - Spring Cleaning

Transcript:

Jen: Hello, Peter.

Pete: Hey, Jen.

Jen: Well, the tulips are tuliping, and the flowering trees are flowering, which means it's spring here in good ol' New York City. And that means it's time for some good old-fashioned spring cleaning.

Pete: Oh. I mean, it's autumn here, but I like spring cleaning, so I'm happy to do some autumn spring cleaning with you. This is The Long and The Short Of It.

Jen: Does it ever blow your mind that it's spring here and it's autumn there? Like sometimes I think about that, and it's so weird.

Pete: Yeah. The one that weirds me out the most is when it's winter and summer. Those differences are so extreme. I'm like, "What do you mean you're at the beach? It's July. Like what are you talking about, Jen? It's so cold."

Jen: Right? And then, you go, "You're wearing a jumper? It's December."

Pete: In a British accent.

Jen: Wait, sorry, I can't do Australian. Anyway, it's spring here in New York. And inside the Career Collective, which is the online community I run for actors, we are spending the month doing what I call spring cleaning your marketing materials. So this is when you take a look at everything that is on your public-facing shelves, clean off the cobwebs, get rid of some things, and make some room.

Pete: Sounds cringeworthy.

Jen: That's so funny, because the cringe test is part of the process that I discussed with this group. Interesting.

Pete: So we're looking at things that are in the public realm and we're asking ourselves (I'm guessing) a series of questions around whether we want to keep these in the public realm. Is that right?

Jen: It's so right, Pete. Because you're talking to me. And I love questions.

Pete: The Questioner.

Jen: The ultimate Questioner. Okay, so I broke this down into three different steps. The first step is about getting intentional and purposeful. The second step is sorting and making decisions. And then, the third step is polishing things up.

Pete: Intentionality, sorting, and polishing.

Jen: Yes.

Pete: Alright. Should we step through them?

Jen: We should. And this will surprise absolutely no one (especially you, Pete), that the first two questions one must ask oneself when putting things out into the world are...Pete, can you fill in the blanks for me? What are the two questions?

Pete: I'm guessing they're, "Who's it for," and, "What's it for?" Is that right?

Jen: That's right, Pete. That's right.

Pete: Yay, I won. Bingo.

Jen: So, who is your intended audience? And for what purpose does this thing exist in their realm?

Pete: Yeah. So I'm looking at the things that I have that are publicly available and I'm asking myself, "Who is this for? Is this for a particular," I don't know, I guess in your world, "casting agent, a particular director," correct me if I'm wrong, "a particular audience that I'm hoping will watch it and get inspired?" And maybe in looking at some of them, I'm going, "Who it's for? I don't actually know if it's for the people that I want it to be for. So maybe that's part of why I need to think about, is it serving the purpose I want it to serve?"

Jen: And we talked about everything from like a very public-facing thing like a website, to an internal thing like an email or a proposal or even your email signature.

Pete: Interesting.

Jen: Your LinkedIn bio...like, anything that comes from you to someone else can be filtered through these questions.

Pete: I feel like there's a step zero, then. Like that, to me, is step zero of, "What are the things out there in the world that are public-facing?" Because it's easy to go, "The YouTube videos that I've got on YouTube, because they show me singing." But actually, I love that distinction that you made, which is, "Well, what about your email? What about your email signature? What about the bio on your Instagram?" I don't know. There's so many things that you might not have thought about as being touch points for people, that are available in a public realm.

Jen: Yes. And that was actually how we started the whole month, was making a list of things that could possibly qualify.

Pete: Like an audit, yeah.

Jen: And that's the benefit of working in community, is someone says something and you're like, "Oh, wait, I never would have thought of that, but yes." And in case this is helpful, one of my quick sayings that sort of helps people tap into what is marketing is, "Mindset is the story you tell yourself. Marketing is the story you tell other people."

Pete: Nice. I love that.

Jen: So yes, you're right. Like taking stock, knowing what's even on the shelves in the first place.

Pete: Yeah. Like, I'm selfishly looking at this through my own lens. Even though it's not spring, I'm always up for a spring clean, especially as it relates to the story I'm trying to tell others. And so, I'm like, but step zero, I need to know...I mean, gosh, if I looked or if I thought about all the different places that we have content, like podcasts or blogs or descriptions of episodes.

Jen: Right.

Pete: There are so many. I need to do an audit of all of the places that my work would even appear, in the first place.

Jen: Right. It's like when people do spring cleaning, some people take every single thing out of their closet first, just to know what's in there.

Pete: Are you that person?

Jen: If I am cleaning out my closet? Yes, I do. I take out every item of clothing. Unfortunately, most of it ends up going back in the closet. I find it really hard to part with clothes, but that'll be a podcast for another day.

Pete: It's a separate episode.

Jen: So, those were the first two questions. But then, I like to add on two more. The third question, which some people find unbelievably freeing, is, "Who is it not for?" We've talked about this before, that sometimes you feel this FOPO pressure (fear of other people's opinions pressure) from someone who has nothing to do with the thing that you're making.

Pete: Yeah.

Jen: And the example I always use with my clients is, you know, they're actors, so they have headshots that they use as a marketing material. And who it's not for? The one that got away. It's not to prove how hot you are to someone you dated once upon a time.

Pete: Oh, that's so good. That's such a good description, a good example of who it's not for. Or even, I can think about your clients, their headshots are not for me. So it doesn't matter what Pete thinks of the headshot, because it's not for him. So, don't worry about what Pete thinks.

Jen: That's right. And then, the fourth question is, "What does it need to do for me, the person who made it or the person who's sharing it?" Sometimes, it needs to do something like offer you leverage in a certain way. But sometimes, it's like an internal thing, like it needs to make me feel confident or needs to make me feel proud.

Pete: Yeah.

Jen: So, "Who's it for? What's it for? Who's it not for? And what does it need to do for me?"

Pete: I love it. That's intentionality, yeah, in four questions. Brilliant.

Jen: Right?

Pete: Alright. So that's step one, being intentional by answering those four questions. I love it. Talk to me about step two. I wrote down "sorting".

Jen: Yeah, sorting. And in that sorting process, making decisions.

Pete: Oh, nice.

Jen: Now, I have used many different sorting methods over the years, lots of them that I like. This year, I decided to use a framework from Gretchen Rubin's book Outer Order, Inner Calm. So if part one was four questions, part two is three questions.

Pete: Nice.

Jen: And in Gretchen Rubin's framework, she asks these three questions, "Do I use it? Do I love it? Do I need it?" And if the answer to all three of the questions is, No," then you get rid of it or donate it. But if even one of the questions gets a, "Yes," then you can keep it.

Pete: Okay. So, you just need to be able to answer a, "Yes," to one of them.

Jen: Right. So, I'll give you an example...or I'll give you a couple of examples, because it's been kind of fascinating to apply this on the macro and the micro. So I have clients who are working on spring cleaning their resume, as an example. And they're going line by line through each piece of information on their resume, saying, "Do I use this information? Do I love this information? Do I need it?" And if the answer to any of those is, "Yes," then it stays. But if it's like, "I never use this information, I don't love that it's on there, and I don't really need it," then it can go, and you can create more white space on your resume.

Pete: Nice. Okay, I love that. I mean, the Gretchen version feels like a more robust version of the famous Marie Kondo, "Does this spark joy?" For those that don't know (the five people that don't know Marie Kondo), she wrote the viral book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, which is such a great book and worth reading. The very, very, very simplified premise is, you pick things up in your house and ask yourself, "Does this spark joy?" And if the answer is, "No," you throw it out. And there's a lot more to her method than that, but that's the crux of it. And personally, I love that, as someone who tries to keep a pretty minimal life. But I also like the one you outlined, the Gretchen framework, because, I don't know, in a resume context, for example, "Does this line in my resume spark joy? No." But does it need to? Probably not.

Jen: Right.

Pete: Because maybe it's something I need to be able to communicate, the thing I'm trying to communicate to the people I'm trying to communicate to. But it doesn't mean I love it. It doesn't mean it sparks joy. But I still need it.

Jen: Right. Well, the thing I really enjoy about the Gretchen Rubin framework is that even though the word "love" is in it, it's kind of an unemotional process. Whereas, "Does this spark joy," for me, feels like my internal life is like definitely moving as I think about that.

Pete: Yeah. When I think about resume, I'm like, "You know, does the bachelor degree that I have bring me joy? No. But is it something that I'm going to use on a resume, if I was producing a resume? Probably, yeah."

Jen: Yeah. And then, you can zoom out and use this on the macro. Like, "What are all of the platforms that I'm on? Okay. Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, my website, YouTube. Do I use it? Do I love it? Do I need it?" And if you find that one of those is getting a, "No," for all three of those questions, then lucky you, you're free. You can get off that platform.

Pete: Do you weight any of those three higher than others, just out of interest?

Jen: I don't. I'm not sure that she designed it to be weighted. Because if any of them get a, "Yes," it counts. Like, I'm thinking about my LinkedIn right now. Do I love it? Absolutely not. Do I use it? No. But do I need it? Yes. Because I have been contacted by people through LinkedIn. And then, we've taken those conversations off that platform. And some of those things have evolved into wonderful relationships and in some cases collaboration. So yes, I do need it, but I don't use it and I don't love it.

Pete: Yeah. Okay, so maybe I'm just projecting my own social media bias on this, because I'm thinking, I don't know, like take Instagram. Do I love it? Absolutely not. Do I need it? No, I don't think I do. Do I use it? Yeah, I do. But I'm like, I think the reason I use it is because they're designed to be so addictive. So should I not weight the "need it" part more, in that context? Maybe. Maybe this is like, "Paging Dr. Freud." Maybe this is Pete's own analysis that he needs to do after the fact.

Jen: So that's basically step two, is you sort and you make decisions. "I'm keeping this. This one's going." Sometimes, you realize you're keeping something and eventually you're going to want to replace it with something else, so it's a for now. And that's fine, because this is not spring building. This is spring cleaning.

Pete: Yeah. So, this is also the step we get rid of them, I'm guessing, if the answer is, "No."

Jen: Correct.

Pete: Nice. Take out the trash.

Jen: Yep.

Pete: I was just trying to read my own writing, when it comes to step three. Is it "polishing"? Is that what I wrote down?

Jen: Yes, that is correct.

Pete: Okay.

Jen: So the polishing step is essentially to take what you've decided to keep and make sure it's in good shape and that it passes the cringe test. That now that you know you're keeping it, that you feel good about keeping it.

Pete: Yeah. "Is there anything I can do to polish it and make it better?"

Jen: Right.

Pete: This is such a sidebar. But as it relates to polishing, I was having dinner with a friend the other day and he was telling me about his partner's job and how she has access to this machine that is used to sterilize and clean things. She's a scientist. And he was like, "Have you seen these things in action?" And he pulled up this video of this like what looks like a tiny little pool of water, and it's vibrating at a frequency that is so fast but so minute that you can't even really tell. And in these videos, they take like pieces of jewelry or dirty beakers and they just dip them in this water. And the dirt and the grime that just magically washes off them, because the water is moving at such a frequency, is mind blowing. And they pull out like the jewelry and it looks completely brand new. Like, you talk about polishing. I'm going to put a video to this in the Box O' Goodies, because it is strangely satisfying seeing how clean these things get just by dipping it in water. So anyway, that's what I'm envisaging with this step. I'm like dipping my marketing materials in this little vibrating water and I'm pulling it out, going, "Oh wow, it looks so much better."

Jen: But actually, that's a great way to think about it. Like, "If I really take this thing that I have now said is useful to me and metaphorically dunked it in oscillating water, how can I improve it?"

Pete: You know what's crazy about some of the videos? You go, "Oh, that doesn't even look that dirty," before they put it in. And then, they put it in, and you're like, "Woah, that was filthy."

Jen: Yeah. So the reason I think it's important that people go through this polish step is often you finish making the decisions and then you immediately jump to, "And now what can I add, add, add, add. New, new, new, new." And if you really want to get your marketing house in order (or get whatever house in order), you have to make sure that the things you're keeping are in good working condition and are able to do the job they're supposed to do, which you identified in step one.

Pete: Nice. So, we have a three step process for spring cleaning / autumn cleaning our marketing material. But I'm sure there's people listening to this podcast, going, "Oh, this works for things that aren't necessarily my marketing material. Maybe this applies to my own internal systems, my own internal Google documents, my own internal inbox system." I don't know. Like there's got to be other things that we are using or surrounded by, where we can benefit from a little bit of spring cleaning.

Jen: You know, Pete, I had not even connected that dot. But I make a joke a lot that I'm a digital hoarder, that I like throw nothing digital away. But can you imagine how much I could get rid of, if I just spent one day in my own Dropbox, applying, "Do I use it? Do I love it? Do I need it?" I would have terabytes freed up.

Pete: You wouldn't need a new laptop that you keep buying.

Jen: I love it.

Pete: I do love the conclusion you make at the end of your step, which is to not do this process to then add more shiny things. I've been thinking so much about the phrase, "Do less." And how, when I'm talking to a client in my world about, "How do I navigate a difficult conversation," ...I swear I've had so many of these conversations, of late, with a leader. And as we're stepping through the situation and maybe talking about a framework to use in it, "Ask more questions. Listen more," I came to this conclusion the other day with this client, I was just like, "You know what? You've just got to do less. Let the conversation breathe. Let the other person speak. Don't feel like you need to solve everything. Just do less." And I'm kind of thinking about it in the same way with the beauty of a spring clean, is it allows us to free ourselves up. It allows us to do a little bit less, so that we can then have more impact. It's like, do less to have more impact.

Jen: I love that. And that is The Long and The Short Of It.