This Sucks. - But they don't know that.
You have to believe in yourself and your work.
Recently I read an article by my friend Jay Casady on LinkedIn. The premise of the article is that him and a friend went to a movie together, The Big Short, and came out of the movie with two different opinions on what was good and what wasn't. Realizing that they had different views and different opinions, Jay noticed that there really is no true definition of good. So let’s talk a little bit more about that, and take a look at how that affects professionals and the ability to be proud of their own work.
Remember that one time... oh wait, you weren't there.
In the article from Jay, him and his friend Brian had grown up together but were never really the same person or enjoyed the same activities.
“Growing up, Brian and I weren’t necessarily interested in all the same activities. For instance, he participated in theater while I participated in sports.”
So when they went to see the movie, they went into it looking for completely separate things. Jay just wanted to have a good time and go escape the real world for a couple of hours while Brian was really excited to see how the story would develop and how to movie would systematically come together. So right from the start, they were going to have different opinions on whether the movie was good or not because they expected different things.
If we take a moment to dissect that a little bit, it's pretty easy to say that most people will have varying opinions on things, even just slightly. But what creates those opinions is where the real truth lies. If somebody who was severely affected by the housing market crash, say for instance my father who works at a plumbing company, and somebody who was not affected nearly as much, say a gas station attendant; they are going to go into the movie with a preconception as to what they think they are going to see. My father being as brilliant as he is, would probably go into the movie wanting to find out what happened as well as a movie can tell him. He would be very interested in the real life stories that occur. The gas station attendant on the other hand would be more like Jay, somebody who is going into the movie with no preconceptions, who just wants to go see a movie with a very A-list cast list.
When they come out of the movie and discuss it, the attendant is going to have comments about the acting and pretend to talk about the cinematography and camera work just as any other ill-informed citizen would, and my dad might make a couple remarks like that, but if they were asked what they thought about the experience of the movie, their reactions would be vastly different. My dad would have an entire conversation on the financial and business aspects of the movie, and the attendant might say that he can’t take Steve Carell seriously because he was a big fan of the office. There is nothing wrong with either scenario, but it just goes to prove that neither one of them had a clear definition of what was good, but rather their past supplied them with an idea of what they would consider to be a good outcome after watching the movie.
Good enough, good enough.
Okay stay with me here. First off, press play on this incredible video and then come back to the reading:
The biggest takeaway from this video is that whatever you are doing is hard. It is going to be difficult to finish and it is going to be difficult to feel good about what you did. There is a big moment in any goal where most people look at it and they see how bad they have done or how bad it is. This is something that just happened to me. I created a video and looked at it the next day and absolutely hated it. It got a point where I was more upset about that, than I was about anything that had happened in the last couple of months. I wanted to completely give up on that project, and I wanted to make something else. And then I went into a folder of ‘motivation’ that I have, and watched this video. This video got me through. And it continues to help me through in other projects as well. Simon makes a great point to mention that the projects that we do are truly good enough for what they need to be and there is nothing wrong with that.
I can’t find the exact video, but I saw something a couple weeks ago and the talent said,
“Never let perfection stop you from doing something great.”
(Link is for an article I found on the same subject.)I know more than most of how hard it can be to try to be perfect. To try to make sure that there is nothing wrong. But the truth is that that is unreasonable. There is no need to be perfect. There is a need to be great. There is a need to be unique. But being perfect is a goal that nobody will ever achieve so why put that much stress on yourself?
The ‘other’ person is your greatest asset.
As a content creator the biggest issue with my work is that I am always trying to get feedback from other professionals and from people that are like me. And while this is nice… it’s a little bit redundant. I know if I made a technical mistake. I know if something looks weird. I see that little shadow in the back that bothers the hell out of me. But… does the customer? If you get the most beautiful shot in the world and to me a color is just barely off, is the client going to know that? The answer is absolutely not. The last project I did, I showed my family before I had even added transitions, coloring, effects, and post production work and they absolutely loved it. They thought it was great! I told them about all the stuff that I was worried about, and they literally had no problems with the final edit before post work. Which for whatever reason I never remember. It happens every time. I show them a final edit and they love it and then I show them the final post edit and they love it, but they don’t really understand the differences between the two. They agree that it’s nicer, if just marginally, but they don’t understand why I beat myself up over something they would not have noticed if I didn’t point it out.
The truth is that it is more than okay to be hard on yourself, and to be hard on your work. But that shouldn’t stop you from realizing that 90% of the people who see your finished work, or who see a transformation, or who see they way you have progressed aren’t going to notice the little things. If you are practicing a new drill in a sport and you gain a ton of energy and success, they aren’t going to notice that you may have let your foot slip by a centimeter at one point. I have realized that I can be as hard on my work as I want technically, but in the end, how it relates to the audience, and how it relates to those around me matters a whole lot more than how I think it looks.
If you are like my father, find someone like the attendant. If you are someone like the attendant try to find someone like my father. It really is that simple and it really is that helpful. Try to get different opinions from people who aren’t remotely in the same interests of you. That exact statement is why I still send my work to my high school best friend every time I make something. Just like Jay and Brian.
This was a longer blog, and honestly it got a little bit wordy, but hey, that’s me. I talk a lot. The biggest thing that I want everyone to know is that whatever you are doing, and whatever you are trying to accomplish you can do it, and once you get to that point you should be very proud of yourself. If you set a goal to run 14 miles and you run 14.2, don’t be upset that you didn’t run 14.3. You go to your goal! Be happy! Celebrate YOURSELF and your achievements. “If there is no enemy within the enemy outside can do no harm.”
Till Next Time,
Jake Matthew Morrow