Poke the box
Poke the box- or how I learned to green screen.
Seth Godin has a great little book called ‘Poke the box’.
It’s about learning through experimentation. A box has a big red button- what happens it I press it? How about if I press it twice or five times really quickly?
This idea that we’re life long learners is an important one- but what does that actually look like? Watching the discovery channel? Binging youtube videos? Generally being curious?
I suppose yes, all of these.
And I think it’s about experimentation. It’s poking the box. Sure you might watch some youtube videos about the box, but you really just gotta prod the thing.
This is how I learned to green screen. I had to learn about lighting, distance, shutter speed, iso, frame rate, keying, colouring… in other words a lot of prodding.
I’m not super good at it now- but I know more than I did and can do more than I could.
Even though I know this from experience, I still find myself afraid to experiment. Maybe it comes down to stakes (or at least perceived stakes, which is all they ever are)
If I fail to green screen well, I don’t lose a lot; I can just try again. But if I start a new business on the other hand… well!
But what if we could treat the business like the green screen?
What is it to adopt an attitude of experimentation in all that we do?
To try without the need for perfection but to try toward knowing more than before.
That’s success in my book.
The Gene Wilder one
Abundance is magnetic.
My favourite people ooze a sense that there is more than enough of everything:
More than enough time, more than enough resources, more than enough opportunities, more than enough love- everything!
Abundance is the best.
And if the sentiment of “if you believe something is true, then so it is”- abundance is at our finger tips at any moment.
We always have a choice to orient ourselves to abundance. To communicate effectively with those we lead and love that there is more than enough. That the world is bountiful and it’s opportunities are awaiting you.
We don’t have to go out and change things to make this so. To quote Gene Wilder as the chocolate maker, “if you want to view paradise simply look around and view it.”
Go on, be one of my favourite people.
View the paradise around you.
Playing for keeps
It’s not what you achieve, it’s who you become in the process.
This is one of the most valuable lessons I’ve ever learned. It seems like a cute concept, but in practice it’s powerful.
For me it’s the idea of playing for keeps.
That means when you go after a big audacious goal, face your fears or push yourself beyond what you thought was possible, the real treasure at the end is who you are.
The person who tries and fails 1000 times is a cool person.
So is the person who has hundreds of difficult conversations.
Who you are on the other side of the big scary impossible is the thing you want, not the big scary impossible itself.
Playing for keeps makes you undeniable to yourself.
Playing for keeps is stepping up to a new challenge, looking back to all you’ve gone through to get here and thinking to yourself “this challenge ain’t seen nothing yet- it hasn’t met me”
This is all just for you, by the way.
Playing for keeps isn’t for others, so don’t bother trying to tell them. It’s about what you think about you.
And you get to keep it forever.
I’m a model
I’m a model.
Although people don’t take my picture for money and I’ve never been on a runway- I’m modeling everyday.
You’re a model too and it’s the greatest honour for us all.
Teachers especially are models. And anyone in a leadership position; guiding or teaching souls who are seeking growth.
Whether we like it or not, our behaviour is teaching people the way to be. I’ve always hated the phrase, “Do as I say not as I do”. I really hope people only ever use that as a joke.
We can tell people what to do all we want but our biggest tool for passing on knowledge is the behaviour we model.
It’s not for me to tell you what to model- I think it’s enough to know that we are always modeling to those we lead. We can pretty much guarantee that your attitude and behaviour around certain things will be passed onto them.
Do you model optimism or pessimism?
How do you greet your students and what does that tell them about the world?
How do you react when something goes wrong?
What do you model when you’re tired?
Do you model gratitude or complaining?
Abundance or scarcity?
The classroom is our runway and we have choices to make at every turn.
What will you model today?
20 years to be an actor
One of my tutors at drama school said something that shocked me.
Here we were, 20 young actors in our first year of training and he said “It takes 20 years to be an actor”
What!? But this is a three year course!
I didn’t get what he meant at the time, but 10 years into that journey I’m starting to understand.
Of course we were actors then and we still are. But I think what he was actually saying was much less controversial:
There is always more. Always.
The simplest acting exercises yield infinite and new learning across the years.
You re-meet the old with the new that you have now and the old becomes new.
And it keeps going like that.
I’m glad it takes 20 years, it’s the ride of a life time. I’d like to sign up for another 20 after that too.
There is always more- how good.
We remember things we enjoy
For something to light an audience up it has to light you up first.
I think the same with my students; If I want them to get excited about something, then by golly I better be excited about it first.
We have to find our way in. It may not be immediately obvious, but there is always a way to bring it to life for you. If actors can do it each night in the same show hundreds of times, then so can you.
In an interview, Andrew Scott mentioned the lines he has no trouble remembering are the ones he has fun saying.
Those flying colourful insults and hilarious punch lines.
Actors never forget those lines.
So to help him learn lines he’s looking for the delight in all of them.
It’s the same with all our work.
Find the pleasure in all of it, plug into it and help others find it for them too.
Muddy vs. Complex
When is something detailed and when is it just muddy?
As actors we want complex work. We want layers and intricacy in the characters we portray- this is the stuff that mirrors real life most accurately.
We don’t, however, want things to be muddy.
I’m wondering about the difference.
What makes something muddy, unclear and imprecise? And what makes it complex, layered and intricate?
Real life can look and feel messy- so art should as well, right?
Well I think art is actually different to life. Aaron Sorkin said he’d been criticized for the dialogue he writes as it doesn’t feel ‘authentic’.
He retorted that real life can be boring- we don’t want to watch a couple of guys discuss what pizza they’re going to get.
Art is framed. We show this moment- not that.
Art is crafted. We need to be able to understand it to digest it and be moved by it.
So yes, be muddy. But be clear in your muddiness; certain of the uncertainties.
Don’t let yourself off the hook- are you being lazy or have you orchestrated this?
There is always room for us to ask deeper and find more.
How cool.
Do an impression of me- PLEASE!
There’s that idea that imitation is the highest form of flattery. If someone likes an artist’s work, they imitate it.
I also think impersonation is similarly flattering. We find ourselves doing impersonations of people like Robert De Niro or Christopher Walken.
Some might find it strange or even offensive if someone is impersonating them, or creating an impression of them.
I guess it can be offensive if it’s done in order to belittle or make fun of; but even then I think it can still be flattering. We can merely remove the person’s intent and look at what they are doing:
They are doing what you do. They are making themselves the way you recognisably you are.
That’s fantastic.
It means what you do is not only clear, but it’s unique, recognisable and it sticks.
You can’t buy that.
You earn that by being you. An impression is the bold cartoonish outline of the bundle of specificities that make you.
I’d much rather be impressionable that generic, abstract or forgettable.
Yes! Do my voice, copy my mannerisms! What are the types of things I say?! Yes go on, say ‘em!
That’s called a stake in the ground.
Being right
We all want to be right.
This is what most arguments are really about. And for me I’m much more likely to fall into this trap with people close to me.
Rarely am I going to argue with a stranger- I’m okay with them being ‘right’ because it affects my life less I guess.
I look back on moments where I so badly wanted to be right- those arguments really didn’t serve me. Even when I do end up being right, who even cares?
For me, it’s the wrong orientation. When it comes to being with others, it’s care and curiosity that wins.
One definition I have for intelligence is being flexible with your beliefs.
Have you ever looked back on videos of yourself, or old emails and texts where you are whole heartedly defending something that makes you cringe now?
In retrospect we look back; “Well, of course I was wrong about that!”
But of course when we were in it, it was a firmly held belief.
The orientation of wanting to be right mightn’t age well.
Remaining kind and curious always does.
This opens the possibility for learning and (even better) opens us to the word view of another and connects us.
It isn’t about being flakey in your beliefs or being a push over.
But it’s about keeping agile and flexible. Curious, kind and connected.
That’s far better than being merely ‘right’.
Eureka
Where does ‘a ha!’ come from?
I was listening to a brain scientist talk about his process recently.
He had written over 300 peer reviewed papers- not only is that a lot of work but it’s a lot of seeking and discovery.
That orientation alone is powerful:
I’m looking for something. I’m trying to figure it out.
With this kind of focus, you’re bound to discover something.
Something that has stuck with me is his explanation of how the ‘eureka’ moments happen for him.
He says he lays all the data points out, all the bits are spread out clearly in front of him, and the subconscious does the rest.
He doesn’t think his way to ‘a ha!’ but he lets go of the reigns to allow for it.
The ‘a ha!’ moments feel different to the black and white ‘work’. They rush upon us like any creative idea.
Our job, then isn’t to seek it, but to lay everything out to allow for it.