The High Achiever's Dilemma: Overcoming the Pressure to Outperform Yesterday - I Will Not Lose Podcast #0032

Transcript

[00:00:07.410] Yo, what's up? Good morning. Good evening. Good night. Good afternoon. Whatever time you're
[00:00:14.630] listening in, wherever you're listening from, shout out to my Spotify listenership, Apple and
[00:00:19.350] Google Podcasts, Stitcher, YouTube. If you're watching in, what's up? Coming live from my
[00:00:26.280] voice to your phone, headphones, TV, or car stereo. Your attention could have been anywhere
[00:00:30.680] in the world, but it's here right now. Take a moment and recognize that it's now, right now.
[00:00:35.580] Whether you're right now is working, running, exercising, cleaning, laying down, flying,
[00:00:40.320] driving, be grateful we're alive, baby.
[00:00:43.440] Failure can be frightening.
[00:00:45.180] So remember, success is all about going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm,
[00:00:50.740] as Winston Churchill reminds us.
[00:00:53.320] Welcome to I Will Not Lose podcast, where we set out to prove everything is learned
[00:00:56.940] from failure.
[00:00:57.880] As long as we persevere, recognize it is one step closer to success, we're good.
[00:01:03.180] I'm your host, Tony Ortiz.
[00:01:04.740] we're going to jump right in. Theme of the episode today, man, we're going to talk about
[00:01:10.040] the challenge of constant improvement. So how do you conquer that challenge of constant
[00:01:15.580] improvement? What do I mean by that? Whether you're a creator and there's a bunch of other
[00:01:23.340] professions that deal with it, but you constantly have to be on the top of your game, constantly
[00:01:28.280] feel that pressure to be the best. Even if it's not to be the best, sometimes you just can't
[00:01:34.620] stay as good as you are. Like depending on what you do, you have to improve. You have to
[00:01:40.960] continually learn and educate. And that goes for a lot of things. So whether you're, you know,
[00:01:47.800] myself, I'm a designer, podcast producer, but I grapple with the question, how am I going to top
[00:01:54.940] the last one? Like every single week, every week, I'm like, man, you know, well, how do I do what I
[00:02:02.360] did last week again this week you know but I'll reference Eminem's struggle he said in uh 23 years
[00:02:11.630] ago in the way I am he says uh you know something like I'm not going to be able to top what my name
[00:02:17.610] is and it's like here was somebody early in his career struggling with the idea of having a hit
[00:02:25.370] single and not being able to top it. So it's crazy that he brought us another 23 years. And
[00:02:33.490] I won't say he constantly improved the whole time. There was ups, there was downs. But
[00:02:38.290] overall, he gave us more after that. Pretty impressive. So the idea of constant improvement,
[00:02:51.560] It does have its benefits. It can cause some stress. So obviously, the benefit is high production, high output, especially in Western society. We love to see it. So even if you apply it to sports and you're an athlete that's constantly getting better numbers, you know, that lasts for a certain amount of time.
[00:03:13.890] And if you're fortunate enough to be a sport in a sport where you can play professionally, there's all sorts of endorsements and monetary values that can come from being better at what you can do.
[00:03:27.750] But that causes stress. You know, you always want to add more, you know, whether that's adding a new service or expanding into a new social media.
[00:03:39.290] we always want to add on to the upkeep that we have to do but yeah that has a benefit it can
[00:03:47.060] expand your brand but just make sure you're able to manage the stress if it becomes something with
[00:03:53.020] you know an octopus with so many legs and so many different directions that it causes a ton of
[00:03:58.460] stress just be careful and know what you can manage there's all sorts of things where you
[00:04:05.880] know, I want to step further. I'm like, you know, this would be super cool if we did this,
[00:04:10.420] if we just had four camera angles and, you know, echoes and air horns. But you take a step back
[00:04:18.430] and you say, OK, what can I manage? How can I manage constant but slow growth and improvement?
[00:04:25.210] Not everything has to be a banger. You know, you're going to burn yourself out if you're
[00:04:29.410] trying to put out the absolute best thing every time, you know, um, that, see, that comes off
[00:04:38.670] weird. You definitely want to do your best and try to put the best thing out, but just because
[00:04:44.330] you try your best doesn't mean it's going to come out and actually be the best. So these are things
[00:04:49.530] to keep in mind. Um, I spoke about the parallels between podcasting, but even in my design career,
[00:04:58.910] You know, everything is the pursuit of a higher benchmark and different high achievers and different professions also feel this.
[00:05:07.070] You know, if you're a medical professional, you have to constantly update your skills and your knowledge.
[00:05:12.850] I mean, there was a doctor. This is not somebody I know, but I'm just speaking metaphorically.
[00:05:17.270] There were doctors that, you know, they thought they were the only person that you could get information from.
[00:05:22.670] the internet comes along something like a web md comes along and now you're no longer the person
[00:05:28.330] to get the information from you have to maybe give the diagnosis but there was a time where
[00:05:34.210] people are coming to doctors with their own diagnosis and the doctor has to use critical
[00:05:39.530] thinking skills but you always have to be on top of your game and get better because technology is
[00:05:46.370] going to improve. If you're a software developer, IT professional, the pressure to keep up with the
[00:05:53.250] new security or the new software or the new way of doing things, the new technology, the new
[00:05:59.350] equipment, it can be a hustle, man. It can be a hustle. If you're an athlete, even if you're not
[00:06:07.410] in the highest of competitive sports, the idea is to get better, to learn. Even if you're just
[00:06:14.590] training a little bit, it's great to add on. And you want to set a goal. If you're recording,
[00:06:21.970] you should be recording your statistics. And if you're just going along for the ride, that's fine,
[00:06:27.430] but there should be some growth. There should be some improvement and learn to manage that stress.
[00:06:33.560] If you're an entrepreneur, you face the challenge of growing your business,
[00:06:38.020] improving profitability. Your competition is out there, innovating, trying new things. So
[00:06:44.700] you need to make sure that you're able to keep up and manage that so the trap of comparison
[00:06:53.950] um you don't want to get trapped comparing your old work it's funny there was a jay-z quote he
[00:07:01.530] said um i don't really care what you used to do unless that affects your future pay something i'm
[00:07:08.440] messing it up it was on the blueprint three you guys know what i'm talking about uh besides if i
[00:07:13.400] got it right i'd probably get a flag for copyright anyway but the goal of that lyric is to say
[00:07:21.100] you're not really measured by your past successes it's what are you doing right now how did what you
[00:07:27.420] did allow you to empower doing something better now if you're not in a constant struggle you
[00:07:34.340] can't come five years you know eminem can't go and lay on a verse from 23 years ago say the way
[00:07:40.900] I am was a great song and just stop there. It doesn't work like that. There's nothing.
[00:07:47.060] Well, there's very few things that you can do once and that they pay you forever and create
[00:07:51.820] generational wealth. So that's not what we're talking about, but it can lead to self-doubt
[00:07:57.300] and creative roadblocks. If you're constantly comparing yourself to something that you had in
[00:08:02.680] the past um personal experiences um you can have self-doubt that the last thing that you did is
[00:08:12.860] going to be the best thing that you did you know you put together a design or you put together a
[00:08:18.960] piece of production or you have a fire guest on the podcast and you think man there's no way i'm
[00:08:25.500] going to be able to top that everything was so perfect but you don't stop you remain resilient
[00:08:31.420] you know you have to stay resilient in the face of constant improvement what i know personally
[00:08:37.600] myself constantly outperforming myself in something like running i remember right around 2018 19 i was
[00:08:46.600] really heavy into running and there was an app strava that lets you track your runs and it gives
[00:08:55.380] you little medals and you can get addicted to the gamification of your runs and your workouts
[00:09:00.720] So I found myself constantly trying to run faster and faster, you know, which comes with having to keep your weight down in order to keep it.
[00:09:09.920] It's not just getting out and running every day.
[00:09:12.680] It's diet and all these sorts of things.
[00:09:14.980] So I was absolutely obsessed and the need to constantly get better.
[00:09:20.880] It was to the point where if I didn't perform, I would get really upset with myself.
[00:09:26.860] So, I mean, you have to stay resilient if you're in it just for.
[00:09:30.720] the ride. Sometimes, you know, I actually when I run now, I record it, but I don't get too caught
[00:09:38.200] up in the numbers. If I I'd rather take my dog with me and have a great run and enjoy it and
[00:09:43.940] still get the benefits of it without recording everything and being stuck to that. So, I mean,
[00:09:51.020] whether you're looking in sports, you look at somebody like LeBron James, who was at the top
[00:09:56.880] of the game coming into the game. And you don't think that he deals with the struggle of having
[00:10:03.160] to improve every season and be LeBron James season after season. I mean, it's insane. So
[00:10:10.860] to maintain high basketball standards, he's got to be resilient. You look at somebody like Beyonce,
[00:10:18.120] you know, the Lemonade album came out and it was like this was the greatest body of work.
[00:10:27.810] how is anything going to be outdone you know she has her hand at everything beyonce this is great
[00:10:34.190] and then you know you follow it up with a coachella performance um you can see the details
[00:10:40.430] of that in her homecoming documentary she kind of lays out that uh so if you want to get an idea
[00:10:46.950] of her resilience in the face of just constantly performing constantly surmounting whatever you
[00:10:56.650] were and becoming something better. You know, if you're an entrepreneur, you're somebody like an
[00:11:02.230] Elon Musk, you know, the only CEO I would say I wouldn't say fell off. But if you think about like
[00:11:08.770] a Bill Gates, who he really made enough money to kind of fall back in the scenes, do some charity
[00:11:14.510] work and do some things there, but not really take a front end. But somebody like an Elon Musk
[00:11:22.610] going and trying to constantly aim to have the next innovation you know buying a twitter and
[00:11:28.770] whatever happens with that it's not looking great but this is him reaching out and trying to do
[00:11:36.300] something like i said you're not always going to be up it's it's not like a linear jump nothing
[00:11:43.000] works like that where you just get better get better get better get better there's going to
[00:11:48.040] be times where, at least in content creation, you're going to kind of be stifled and you might
[00:11:54.820] hit a creative block. And if you get into a point where you're looking back at your past successes
[00:12:00.060] and you're saying, man, if I can't do that again, I'm going to get discouraged about even doing
[00:12:05.180] this. Imagine if Eminem gave into and didn't channel that into his lyrics and express the
[00:12:13.220] way that he was feeling about that and just stopped and then there's another two decades
[00:12:17.960] of music that we just don't get so keep creating man stay resilient you have to have your own
[00:12:25.040] personal strategies for dealing with the pressure um some of the stuff that i deal with is just
[00:12:30.840] trying to take it lightheartedly like not taking anything too serious um it's real chill with the
[00:12:37.860] podcast to just be able to talk, reach out to the airwaves. And I don't get too worried about
[00:12:44.300] saying the wrong thing because I don't put the pressure to be this awesome orator. I'll try my
[00:12:53.320] best and continue to improve and get better. But some episodes, they're just going to fall
[00:13:00.380] flatter than other ones. It's just the way that it works. You don't get discouraged about bad
[00:13:05.880] numbers or whatever, however you're objectively measuring your, uh, performance, but other
[00:13:15.160] personal strategies besides not taking things too seriously, you have to celebrate little wins.
[00:13:21.580] Like you have to celebrate small wins in order to appreciate the big wins. If you're constantly
[00:13:28.100] fishing for that next huge uh you know banger and everything is all about creating the next
[00:13:36.060] absolute hit is you're you're gonna disappoint yourself like you're not even gonna have fun
[00:13:41.880] creating it's it's crazy how much of a negative impact setting unrealistic standards for yourself
[00:13:48.660] can have but you set realistic expectations you say okay i'm just gonna do 20 to 30 minutes
[00:13:56.180] podcast episode. After that's done, I'm going to take a break, recharge my creativity,
[00:14:02.700] edit the episode down, reach out, get feedback from my network. But every perceived failure,
[00:14:11.220] you look at it as an opportunity for growth. You stop getting scared to make mistakes.
[00:14:16.920] You can really move with the freedom of being able to take on risks. I don't think
[00:14:25.930] Elon Musk cares, or at least he shouldn't, what happened. I'm not going to say he shouldn't. Let
[00:14:33.490] me rephrase that. Not that he shouldn't care what happens with Twitter, but if he makes
[00:14:37.990] one bad business decision, we can hang him up on the cross for it. But that's in lieu of a bunch
[00:14:44.790] of other decisions that he's made. The man wants to colonize or at least send a trip to Mars. So
[00:14:51.970] he's got goals beyond goals. He's not really worried about each step, if that makes sense.
[00:15:00.050] I can't tell you what he's thinking, but I'm just saying, if you want to have a mentality
[00:15:05.970] of resilience, that's what I would be thinking. Push forward, keep going. But I don't know. I
[00:15:14.750] would just say, you got to be resilient because you're going to have ups, you're going to have
[00:15:19.710] downs. You keep pushing. You keep on aiming for constant improvement. It's going to happen.
[00:15:26.890] You know, make sure you appreciate the journey of growth. Don't focus too much on past successes
[00:15:32.980] and you'll be all right. All right. So I wanted to give you guys a heads up of some things we
[00:15:39.530] have coming on. Recording this on a Sunday. I'm recording this on a Sunday. So a couple of things
[00:15:49.590] this friday coming up i'm going to have john rocker uh i'm gonna have him over we're gonna
[00:15:55.910] record so that'll probably come out in a week or two after that uh that's exciting just putting
[00:16:02.190] the finishing touches on heidi markow's episode so an idea of some guests we have coming up uh
[00:16:09.210] that'll be exciting let's see what else we got going on it's summer man it's officially summer
[00:16:16.090] so concerts are in big shows i'm a big comedian fan big comedy fan so i'm gonna be going and see
[00:16:25.350] andrew schultz at the wind creek july 28th i haven't checked i got my tickets a little bit
[00:16:31.470] ago but i know the seven o'clock show sold out so see if you could still get some tickets uh bill
[00:16:37.270] burr i believe he's coming to the ppl center so that's gonna be fun i got uh two of the some of
[00:16:43.690] the greatest comics on earth lined up to go and see them.
[00:16:48.570] This will be dropping hopefully on June 5th,
[00:16:51.930] but June 10th in power 610 day, 610.
[00:16:57.490] A couple of things happening 610.
[00:16:59.250] It's going to be a big day for hip hop.
[00:17:02.210] I'll pull the flyer up in a second and pull it off.
[00:17:04.850] But I also wanted to mention on 610 a town slim is dropping.
[00:17:09.890] The competition is three.
[00:17:12.170] I'm sorry, competition is slim three.
[00:17:16.200] That's dropping on 610.
[00:17:18.380] I got the flyer up here for the Hip Hop Showcase hosted by Nice Jones and Bardalis featuring Black Dre, Don Dala 500, Johnny Bills, Eric RXSE, Shinali Rodriguez, Call Me Vince, Johnny Ortiz, Macville, Dylan Murphy and more.
[00:17:41.480] So this is actually the first time.
[00:17:43.360] it's a free event and it's an amazing showcase the first time in the history of the summer
[00:17:48.140] concert series that hip-hop is going to be part of the live series so that's going to be at west
[00:17:53.660] park 610 uh 610 so let's make history other than that um i think that's all i got for announcements
[00:18:06.160] uh sponsorship i'm going to be sponsoring that empower 610 day i don't know they'll have some
[00:18:14.470] sponsorship available but as far as the shirts that they're going to have pressed up i know they
[00:18:18.990] have to have them done by the time this episode is dropping so big shout out to nice jones and
[00:18:24.210] bardalis for putting that through big shout out to all the artists that are going to come through
[00:18:28.170] and perform bring the family through that's going to be great um yeah this is i will not lose
[00:18:35.510] podcast where we set out to prove everything is learned from failure we must persevere and
[00:18:39.970] recognize it as one step closer to success. To support the show, visit the website shows.acast.com
[00:18:46.510] slash I Will Not Lose. Subscribe on your favorite podcast player, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google
[00:18:53.150] Podcasts. Click that follow or that subscribe, the notification button. If you're on YouTube,
[00:18:59.290] watch in every week. Share the episode link, leave a comment. Your contribution is appreciated.
[00:19:05.090] I would love to hear your experience and your strategies for dealing with the pressure to constantly improve.
[00:19:11.490] So if you want to drop something in the comments, we'll share that in a future episode for sure.
[00:19:19.790] Thank you for listening.