Do you want to be excellent at video production?
I’m sure you want to be good at it. But how good do you want to be? And what would it take to reach excellence?
I just read an article from the Harvard Business Review titled, “Six Keys to Being Excellent at Anything” by Tony Schwartz. It changed how I look at what I’m doing and how I want to work in this business.
I know a lot of people who are happy to just get by everyday. They want to do a good job but they are really just showing up enough to keep their jobs and feel okay about it.
I know a few people who pursue something much higher.
Sometimes I find myself looking at those striving to be excellent and put them down. I mean, really… who are they trying to fool? They’re just being cocky, strutting around with that “hey, look at me” attitude.
Then I realize what’s really going on. I’m taking them down to make it okay that I’m not operating at the same level as they are. Maybe I never will (sob, sob, sob…)
I remember turning 25 years old and feeling totally depressed because I wasn’t rich or famous yet. I was positive that I’d missed the window and it was all downhill from there.
That’s the same feeling as “maybe I never will”. Which is always followed by “so what’s the use of trying, who am I trying to fool?”
But I’ve had enough training in personal development to know that these feelings are a distraction designed to keep me from failing. Failure is painful and there’s a part of me that’s hell-bent to make sure I don’t feel that kind of pain every again.
Then I come across something like this article on excellence and another part of me remembers all the technologies I’ve mastered, all the productions that were voyages into the unknown that landed on safe shores.
And I know.
I know how to do this. I know how to be excellent at anything I choose. I just don’t always do what it takes.
Maybe that’s why this article caught my attention and why I’m passing it on to you.
That being said, here are the six keys from Tony Schwartz but I recommend reading the full article. He uses sports as a model for gaining excellence but I’m adding my own perspective using film and video production.
1. “Pursue what you love. Passion is an incredible motivator. It fuels focus, resilience, and perseverance.” What do you love about this business? What fires your passion for it? Spend some time considering what you get from it when you do it well. Here’s a hint – it’s not just money.
2. “Do the hardest work first.” Who wants to spend the time to read all the manuals, scroll through all the menu items, try every combination, push hard for more innovative concepts, do all the pre-production, learn best practices for work flow at every phase, apprentice to people who know more than you do, take everything to heart all the time? Come on, that’s just too hard.
3. “Practice intensely, without interruption for short periods of no longer than 90 minutes and then take a break.” How does this apply to production? Ever tried to keep a crew inspired and productive hour after hour, day after day? How do you treat yourself when the crunch is on? Lots of studies show that you’ll get more done when you take short breaks every hour or so. It seems most people think that’s just not true for production people.
4. “Seek expert feedback, in intermittent doses.” Who do you go to for expert feedback? Who do you trust to tell you the truth? High quality coaching is hard to find but worth it’s weight in gold.
5. “Take regular renewal breaks.” What do you do to relax? What renews you? If you don’t feed your body you’ll die. If you don’t feed your soul you’re as good as dead but you just don’t know it. This is a creative business so find out what gets your juices flowing that doesn’t involve a computer, the internet or any kind of camera.
6. “Ritualize practice.” Take the time to consider how you do your work. Get intensely interested in the process you use. How deliberate is it? How much is habit? What would happen if you changed your work flow with the intention of getting lots more done with lots less energy expended? What could you ritualize so it became invisible, effortless?
So that’s it. Six keys to being excellent at production. Interesting that it has nothing to do with which camera you’re shooting.
The article is worth the few minutes it takes to read. I believe Tony’s book is also likely to be worth the read. I’ve just downloaded the Kindle version to my phone. Here’s a link to check it out at Amazon.
The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working: The Four Forgotten Needs That Energize Great Performance
So, what do you think? How do you plan to be excellent and what do you think will happen along the way?
