The Unwritten Rule
This post is an excerpt from my last video of the calendar year, reflecting on how I managed to script, film, and edit 133 YouTube videos (that’s more than 2 a week!) in 2022 alongside my full-time job as a Scientist, Professor, and University teacher. Hopefully there’s a kernel of truth buried amidst the aphorisms that may prove useful for your productivity heading into 2023…
The most mythical figure in all of sports - Michael Jordan - 6 time NBA champion, arguably the GOAT, greatest of all time (and definitely the coolest sneakers of all time).
Incredible athleticism, skill, grit to win, and one of the most (wrongly?) quoted in inspirational speeches given at corporate events and graduation ceremonies:
“The key to success is failure”.
“Missed more than 9000 shots…”
“Lost almost 300 games…”
“Missed 26 game-winning shots…”
“This is why I succeed”.
Odds are you’ve heard all this before, and I think in many ways this is great marketing that tries to simplify the truth.
Whether he had a forgettable season marred by injury - say the 85-86 season when he broke his foot, or a season for the ages in 92-93, winning the first three-peat in his career, beating the Phoenix Suns in the finals (you can tell I just finished a re-watch of The Last Dance)…
MJ consistently added new tools to his game, new weapons in the arsenal, every single season. Instead of just relying on athleticism, he added a mid-range game, a three-point shot, an iconic fadeaway, passing… if you look at clips from early in his career, it almost looks like a completely different player.
Winning three championships in a row, twice, when every team is trying to take your place, dethrone you from the top - takes an incredible amount of mental fortitude along with physical resilience. Sure failure can be a strong motivator to improve, but it’s when you have success that you’re most vulnerable to complacency.
What does all of this have to do with Science, Technology, Education, or productivity in general? That the process of learning new skills is most valuable when it’s not immediately obvious why you need to do so. It’s during peacetime when it’s not so obvious how you should be “defending your territory”, and unbeknownst to you, quickly squander any lead you may be holding on to.
Outside of this blog, Twitter, or my YouTube channel, my day job’s going fine, (maybe better than fine depending on who you ask). I had no real pressure or incentive to communicate on these online platforms or or take them seriously for a full year. All I knew was that I needed to be constantly learning new things every year
New technologies.
New communication strategies.
New ways of staying competitive in my field of academia.
Out of all these ventures, YouTube is the thing that takes up the most amount of time (and I can only do this in my “downtime” after hours). I had no formal training in making videos, but it seemed like the direction the whole global economy was moving in, so I decided to learn, one video at a time. Over 1000 subscribers 12 months in is a milestone worth acknowledging and I’m very grateful for every single new subscriber this year, but it’s not a victory lap, there’s still so much more to learn. Better sound design, animations, and scripting - more compelling concepts for videos that impact more people.
I’ve just launched a new weekly newsletter about science, technology, and education - “Crossover connections” on Substack, to force myself into the habit of weekly writing, to find the loose strands and lost connections between concepts we didn’t think were related. For others it may be in a completely different arena - learning more efficient note-taking skills, file management systems, becoming familiar with AI, the same lesson holds true:
A commitment to improving bit by bit, year over year, even when we’re at our supposed “peak” is one of the most sustainable ways for developing long-term success
You don’t have to be Michael Jordan to make it work in your context.
What are your productivity goals for 2023? Have you figured out a more efficient way to do your existing job so that you can take on more responsibility and extra duties? Here’s hoping that we all have the leverage to slow down, reset the counter, and look around the landscape before taking on the next challenge.
Thanks for reading along this year - more in 2023.
Talk soon!
Jack.
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If you’re interested in seeing the full video, outlining the 7 lessons I learnt uploading 133 videos in 2022, growing my YouTube channel from 0 to 1200 subscribers - you can access it here, or via the thumbnail below.
