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22: We Can’t Make This Up

  • Send your questions in on Twitter
  • Weekly fitness update: my weight isn’t great! But I’ve started going Simple & Sinister. Trying to do a daily workout. The approach is that it’s moderate exertion instead of some programs where failure is pretty much the goal for each workout.
  • Wally has some mimosas at a bridal shower

Laughing at the hardship

From I Can’t Make This Up:

“In life, you can choose to cry about the bullshit that happens to you or you can choose to laugh about it. I choose laughter.”

Have you ever been bullied or have you been the bully? Kevin Hart says he was bullied as a kid but knew that it was important to stand up for himself. Even once. Take the beating and then move on. They’d rather find someone who won’t put up a fight at all.

We’ve both been bullied. I talk about when I was sort of bullied. Wally talks about when he was definitely bullied.

Bully by association. There was a time that I was sort of the bully, but not really.

Take action!

  • Try to laugh at it. It won’t work for everything. But think back to the hardships you’ve been through in the past that you laugh about now. You can find strength in that. Hopefully it gives you some perspective
  • Stand up to that bully. If you’re one of our very young listeners and you’re being bullied, remember to stand up for yourself. Now that I think about it, it’d be better if I didn’t give this kind of advice. Talk to your parents about this.
  • If you’re the bully… grab the other kid’s bag and throw it over the fence. Just like Wally’s bully did. It sounds like a very strong move.

Our parents were right

From I Can’t Make This Up:

“It turns out that the things I hated most as a child are the same things that serve me the most as an adult.”

Keep a schedule. Kevin Hart says that his mom would maintain a very strict schedule to make sure that he was in the right places at the right time. She would rather take the bus 2 hours than ask for a ride. Hart learned how valuable this mindset was.

Find a group of people who you meet with regularly. It doesn’t have to be church, like me and Wally went to growing up. 

Take action!

  • Be like my dad: run, sit in the sauna, eat beef broth. I’m slowly turning into my dad, as we all are. My dad was in the Navy so he established the habit and can’t really go a day without working out. He loves that routine. I started using the sauna to relax after hearing Joe Rogan and Tim Ferriss mention it more than a few times. I should’ve just listened to my dad.

Kevin Hart is persistent

From I Can’t Make This Up:

Persistence: More than anything, my willingness to be persistent is responsible for the success I’ve had. My mindset is: It’s okay to fail, but it’s not okay to quit. Struggle, rejection, failure, and doubt break most people. Your goal is to learn from these challenges without letting them diminish your motivation. The secret to accomplishing this is simple: Let yourself be driven by your will to succeed rather than your fear of not succeeding.

We talked a lot about persistence in our Grit episode. This book is great because you get to see how many obstacles he runs into and how he overcomes them. Wildly successful people make it seem easy. It never is as easy as it seems. Hart knows he’s lucky. He also knows he works very hard to keep a lot of irons in the fire.

Take action!

  • Remember that the answer to ‘Luck vs. Skill’ doesn’t matter. Kevin Hart says he got lucky. He also says he worked hard to get lucky. If you’re frustrated when comparing yourself to other people’s success, remind yourself that it takes luck. If your head has become humongous because of your success, remind yourself that you got lucky. In either case, go work hard again.
  • Remember that this moment builds into the next moment. Hart gives a lot of insight into the television industry. He talks about his experience with TV pilots. He started learning that auditions matter even when you know you won’t get the part. Because there’s a chance that someone watching you will see you again. If you can make a good impression the first time it can help down the road.

None of these look like Kevin Hart

These aren’t the first three attempts either. I’ll keep at it. I also need to post the latest podcast episode, where me and Wally discuss Kevin Hart’s I Can’t Make This Up.

He talks about persistence so I’ll have to show some.

The power of the first day on the job

I’m reading The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan sheath and they talk about the first day on the job. 

What was your first day like at your current (or most recent) job? Is it fair to say that it was not a defining moment?

It got me thinking about my different first days. Some are way better than others. At my first job in New York I definitely had the situation described in the book. I pretty much set up my computer and that was all I had to do. None of that “you’ll be pushing code to production by the end of your first day!” business. 

It reminded me of an episode of the Scriptnotes podcast: 317 First Day on the Job. In my attempt to make a not-bad podcast with Wally, I’ve listened to a lot of other, much better podcasts. Some I listen to and think oh ok someday we can get to that. 

Scriptnotes is excellent. I know we won’t get to their level and that’s fine. They have so much knowledge about filmmaking. I’m glad they’re sharing it with the world. This is one of those podcasts that makes me happy that podcasts are free, for the most part. I just started paying for their premium version ($2 a month) to dig into the archives. 

I’m more interested in writing in general than I am in film. If you like writing or film or hearing about the inner workings of Hollywood, you should listen to Scriptnotes. 

Oh yah, that specific episode. They break down different ‘first day on the job’ scenes. Most of them make the first day seem like a rush of overwhelm. One scene they go over is from The Devil Wears Prada. That’s how I felt the first day I worked at Subway. My first day at a fashion company was more like, well, setting up my computer and heading home early. 

SHAKE IT UP

Every day this week I’ve filled my shaker bottle with some powder or another and headed to the gym. I want to have that kind of consistency with creating content.

I said I’d post something daily. I haven’t followed through with that. I do want to create content for this blog weekly. I have been creating things this week, though.

  • Video: The Power of Moments: Video games, wrestling, and TV (10 mins) – I made this thinking I’d get back to doing very frequent videos. People are subscribing slowly and that feels more good than the thumbs downs feel bad. So there’s that. Video is a fun format.
  • Daily emails. I started writing a daily email to Wally. It’s something I’m trying out. Instead of doing the outline for the book of the week I just sent Wally some thoughts. I’ve been subscribing to some daily newsletters to see how they write. There’s an informality I really like about it. It might have to do with expectations. Typos are okay in emails. It’s okay not to have so much structure.

I’m going to try sharing an excerpt, a quote, and some thoughts from things that I’m reading. I’ve been consuming a lot of books.

Time to shake it up!

21: Not Caring What Other People Think is a Superpower

Check out my other post about this book.

Sun’s up WHAT’S UP. Welcome to ANOTHER-ANOTHER-ANOTHER episode of Active Recall. We used to need an intro. Now we need a better intro. 

This week’s book is Not Caring What Other People think is a Superpower. Ed Latimore (@EdLatimore) can actually hit hard. He’s a boxer. He can hit hard with his words as well. I really enjoyed this book.

Ed’s site: https://edlatimore.com

The Knowledge Project: Ed Latimore (A better podcast that had Ed on as a guest)

  • Why you should practice gratitude like practicing a jab. Ed Latimore is a boxer. I’m guessing he’s throwing jabs daily. I was listening to The Talent Code and there’s a quote there from Yo-Yo Ma about practice. Skip a day and he can notice, 2 and his wife notices, 3 and the world will notice. Gratitudes can be similar. Think of things that make you grateful every day.
  • You can’t be angry and grateful at the same time. This makes it very concrete. When you feel anger and frustration building up, think about what you’re grateful for. It helps.
  • Why even the best boxers have coaches. In team sports, it’s clear to see that coaches focus on strategy and the players are focusing on tactics. You can go a long way by being great at the tactics. As you get higher and higher you need an understanding of strategy. Mike Tyson has one-punch power, but he needed a trainer day-in day-out to teach him how to get in range and land that shot. Whatever project you’re working on, do you have a way to know that your overall strategy is a good one?
  • Strategy and tactics are both important. Coaches cover the strategy and the players work on the tactics. This ties into the three models of practice. When using the music model or the sports model, you’re usually practicing tactics. With the chess model, you practice strategy. 
  • Warren Buffet’s 2-list strategy. Write down 25 things you’re working on. Circle the 5 most important. The other 20 are now your most challenging distractions, because you can justify working on them since there’s some good.
  • Why you need to have a plan (even after you’re punched in the face). The difference between a dream and a goal is knowing the steps in between. That’s planning. If you’re trying to be the single best boxer in the world, you know it will take genetics, luck, and a ton of hard work. The goal doesn’t always need to be “single best”. 

In two years, let’s say you want to be a full-time videographer. What steps do you need to follow? Who’s done it in that timeframe and what can you replicate from their success? 

Check some of that out, and MORE! On this episode of the Active Recall podcast with Walter and Francis. The duo second only to bob and weave.