Trust The Process

What kind of person are you? Are you a more fly by the seat of your pants person or do you prefer a plan? I admit, most of the time, I like a plan, but I like to be able to work it quickly, or at least, I did.

After several weeks of working on videos for our first rehabilitation promoter course, I think I finally discovered a process that works for me. It’s been a fight. I admit I don’t like it. It takes way too much time! In fact, when I decided to time the process one day so I could set some realistic expectations for a day of work, I was surprised by the time it took to film a short video. It took me up to four hours to film something that would take the participant thirty seconds to two minutes to watch. This doesn’t include the time that went into preparing the script and the time that will go into editing the final video later. I don’t like it. It takes too long. It’s not fast enough.

Or maybe more accurately, I didn’t used to like it. I’ve discovered that if I work the process, the end results are better. There is less time in rerecording after initial recordings because I followed the process, which makes sure I know what I want to say before I record it. Why take the time to work on the scripts with consistent wording and content if I’m not going to follow them? The process also ensures I review the recorded video against the script after I’m finished to make sure it lines up with the script and there isn’t anything to distract from our content.  Frustration decreases, too, because I followed a system I’ve discovered that works for me, instead of taking short cuts.

I’m deciding each time I work on this to resist the urge to fight or short cut the process because I don’t like it, but instead I choose to embrace it because I know it will produce good results. There is more to this process that is also changing and growing me. Hmmm, there are some other lessons in there too, but I’ll leave that up to you.