THINKING IS GREAT. I love thinking. I bet teddy bears are so pissed that they can’t think like us. Except Ted, obviously. Speaking of which, Ted is a great example of not overthinking since it’s a movie about a talking bear who gets married to a human woman. #LoveWins. Unfortunately, though, we don’t always follow our gut. Sometimes when we’re passionate about something or in some kind of bind, we tend to think a lot about the “what, where, when, how, and why” of the situation, to the point that it becomes unproductive. It happens to the best of us. Overthinking is a natural enemy of efficiency because it prevents us from getting things done. A Bawse should know when to take the time to think something through and when to simply make a quick decision.
Going in circles will never get you anywhere (unless you’re the Earth, in which case you’re alllriighhhttt). For example, your boyfriend tells you he wants to talk. Before you call him, you spend forty-five minutes thinking about how the conversation will play out. What if he cheated on me? What if I accidentally cheated on him and I didn’t realize it? Maybe I was drunk? Maybe he has pictures? Maybe I’m on TMZ! Or what if he has cancer? OMG! He’s actually a robot. I knew it. I’m dating the robot from Big Hero 6! None of these thoughts are helpful. What you need to do is simply pick up the phone and call your boyfriend. And when you do, you may feel silly and realize how much time you wasted worrying when he asks, “Can you drive tonight?”
When it comes to creating my weekly YouTube content, I try my best not to overthink it. I could never make two videos a week if I sat at my desk and thought about every single frame, shot, and sentence over and over again. My weekly videos would turn into yearly videos. Therefore, when I partner up with companies to shoot branded content, it’s always a little bit of a struggle on my part. For legal reasons, I understand why companies have to focus on minor details and chew them over. People love to sue, especially in America! I also understand that companies have big production budgets, so they feel obligated to spend money on all the small details that I don’t think are all that important when it comes to online content. We’re from different worlds.
I remember one particular video shoot that followed a very basic story line. I was supposed to do an intro, surprise someone, and have a conversation with them. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. The next few hours were spent shooting this very simple video even though the shoot could have easily gotten done in thirty minutes. Why did it take so long? The set designer was constantly adjusting a plant or vase that would end up completely blurred out in the background of the shot. The videographer wanted three different shots of a basic motion. Now, all of this is fine. I get it—you have cool toys you want to play with. But simply having the ability and equipment to do something doesn’t justify that it should be done. And all of this overthinking was causing the story line to suffer. There were times when I was the only person in the room who had the ability to say, “Ummm, hey, that shot ruins the entire surprise.” The response would be, “OH YEAH! … that.”
The story should be the priority, first and foremost. Can the audience follow what’s happening? Are we making it clear? Because if we aren’t, then it doesn’t matter if this Steadicam shot with strobe lights and a well-positioned plant in the background look great. It’s important to recognize when time is being wasted and to take a step back. Taking a step back is so important. In fact, we should make it a viral dance video online. TAKE A STEP BACK, NOW TAKE A STEP BACK. AYYYEEE! I can already see it hitting a billion views.
Oh wait, I guess that’s similar to “Lean Back” by Fat Joe. Fine. Whatever. Take away my joy, Joe.
Humans have a tendency to overcomplicate simple things because we overthink them. But if you take a step back and remember your priorities, it becomes easier to make a decision. When you’re in these situations, I encourage you to ask yourself basic questions while keeping your priorities in mind. If you care about money, ask yourself, “Does this job pay well?” If you care about mental health, ask yourself, “Does this job make me happy?” Ask questions that align with your priorities and ignore all the other noise. If your priority is an amazing product, it doesn’t matter if fourteen people worked hard on it or if you spent a ton of time on it. The question you should ask is, “Is this an amazing product?,” then base your next actions on that answer. Sometimes we overthink something to avoid the fact that there is no feel-good decision to make. The first time I had a major problem with one of my employees, I drove myself crazy overthinking the issue. Why do they keep making this mistake? What can I do differently? How can I penalize them? How can I train them better? I went to bed every night thinking, There’s just no solution to this problem. But, in reality, the solution was to fire them. I just didn’t like that solution, and therefore I refused to consider it. But overthinking things didn’t help them or me. Sometimes the right thing is also the hard thing.
The next time you find yourself going around in circles, ask yourself, are you a Ferris wheel? What about a merry-go-round? Can you please confirm that you are not a merry-go-round? I’m assuming you are not (if so, jealous! Ponies are dope). In that case, stop going around in circles and instead take advantage of your valuable time and make some tough decisions. Step out of the complicated maze you’ve created and take a one-way street to Clarityville. Things can be simple when you take a step back.
TAKE A STEP BACK. NOW TAKE A STEP BACK.
Eff it. Fat Joe, I am coming for you.
MAKING MISTAKES IS COOL. There seems to be this misconception that making mistakes makes you weak, or stupid, or somehow less of a person, but the truth is, making mistakes brings you one step closer to success. No one has the answer key to life and so when we want to accomplish anything, whether it’s learning a new braid or becoming the CEO of a marketing company, we must make mistakes along the way. It’s the only way we can learn what works and what doesn’t. The person who invented the first phone didn’t create an iPhone 7, and I’m sure the first person to invent the parachute had a few bruises. If you’re making mistakes, you’re making the necessary moves to figuring it all out. If you think there are ten possible ways to do something and you just made a mistake, congratulations. You’ve just discovered that #4 doesn’t work. That’s progress! If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not taking any steps toward accomplishing a goal. Mistakes. Are. Cool.
Mistakes don’t exist just to make us feel bad about ourselves; they are opportunities that we should not ignore or shy away from. People pay thousands of dollars in tuition to learn lessons at college, while all the time mistakes are lingering around for free, ready to school us. The goal is to recognize our mistakes, learn from them, and try to prevent them in the future. To do this, I’ve come up with four important steps.
TAKE OWNERSHIP
Taking ownership of a mistake is like attending a class—it’s the only way you’ll learn something from it. If you cannot admit to a mistake, you’re skipping school and wasting your tuition. Owning up is difficult for a lot of people because it requires disarming defense mechanisms such as pride, fear, and ego, just to name a few. As a result, people resort to insane behaviors to address mistakes without taking the hit. For example, if you were supposed to submit a project by 4:00 P.M., here are a few common ways to NOT take ownership:
BLAME GAME:
“I didn’t hand in the project because Carl from human resources didn’t remind me. He said he would.”
DEFLECT:
“Well, Samantha didn’t hand in her project either.”
DENY:
“I didn’t know there was a project due today.”
IGNORE:
(At 7:00 P.M.) “Here’s my project. Bye.”
Not only is this behavior frustrating for people who work with you, it robs you of the power to come up with a solution. If you admit to making a mistake, you can work on fixing it, but if you deny the entire thing, who’s going to solve the issue? A Bawse does not use defense mechanisms to get out of cleaning up a mess they made. Nor do they take half ownership for things. Here’s an example of half ownership:
HALF OWNERSHIP:
“Hey, I’m sorry my project is late. Carl was supposed to remind me, but he didn’t. But even still, I’m really sorry.”
BAWSE OWNERSHIP: