Hours Behind the Minutes
December 16, 2019
Dan Thurmon
Show Stopping Performance. Life Changing Message.
The truth about anything you enjoy, admire, or aspire to achieve, is that there is a process and investment you don’t see. This two minute video takes you backstage into the pursuit of excellence and delivers ideas to help you attain and appreciate more of what truly matters … to you!
WATCH THE VIDEO.
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO.
READ THE TRANSCRIPT.
What you see is not what you get. It's a fraction of what was offered and what is required. This week we're Off Balance On Purpose in San Diego.
What you see, experience, and enjoy is misleading. Take these weekly, two-minute videos, for example. It's just two minutes, right?
Each week, after I get an idea, I invest at least two hours to write and shoot the script, by myself, usually at sunrise. Then I select the best clips, upload those and label them for easy editing, which takes maybe another hour.
Then my son, Eddie, downloads the files, as well as, my notes and suggestions. He chooses the music to fit the piece, which takes time, and then the editing process starts. Cutting, color correction, audio adjustments, graphics. From start to finish, provided there's no unexpected issues, that process on average add another three hours of time and energy.
Once the video is finished and approved, my wife, Shay takes over. She optimizes the video for each platform, adds close captioning, schedules the uploads, crafts the email, and will contributed another 2-3 hours before it's "done." Then our daughter, Maggie, uploads to Instagram.
That's about eight hours invested, plus the years of our respective learning curves, so that you can get the value of all that thought and creative work in about two minutes. Now, you could say the process could be streamlined or that the standards are too high. But that's not the point. So what's the point?
Doing something well is never easy. The challenge is to make it look easy, so that the result arrives unencumbered by additional baggage. The truth about anything you admire, enjoy, and appreciate, is there's a process and investment you don't see.
Don't fool yourself thinking that you can get the results without the process. Savor the experiences with the appreciation that it's harder than it looks. And do the work without telling everyone how hard it is. Because if you do, you've missed the opportunity to deliver the magic.
Have a magical holiday, and I look forward to another year of learning and growing together… Off Balance On Purpose.