(Warmup) Practice Session #3

Thanks for checking out my show notes! I’ll be utilizing this to clarify and elaborate on points that I didn’t convey as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources.

Intro.

I’ll be interspersing all of this with the transcription from the audio, which will be displayed like this:

[00:21]

CK: Heyo, I’m CK and you’re listening to Practice. This is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but also the purpose behind it, I’m basically practicing podcasting and speaking in general. I’ll be talking about my experience with this process along with various lifestyle practices as well as theories and ideas behind the virtue of practice itself.

Well, you’ll be listening to here is my third recording for this podcast, which was originally recorded on the 15th of March, 2020 going along with the whole theme of practice, I’ve since determined this to be the third of three warmup episodes, and the others as well as the first real episode should be available in the feed shortly.

As I mentioned in previous episodes, I’m borrowing from the agile software development methodology and adapting on the fly. Aside from this intro and outro, everything will be unedited, so my progress will be fully transparent. So I hope this will be of some interest, especially if you’re curious about getting into podcasting yourself or if you’re looking to broaden your perspective on self improvement.

For more details, check out ForcesOfEqual.com/practice and feel free to hit me up on Twitter cKdisco And with that, we’re on to the third and final warmup episode.

I created that intro the week after the third recording session, which is the episode where I decided to designate the first three episodes as warm-up episodes.

Warming up.

So, here is where the original recording starts:

[01:13]

CK: Okay. Hello everybody, and welcome back to Practice. This is episode number three and we’re here… Another week has gone by and we are back with Pam.

Pam: Hello hello.

CK: And so like I think about doing these sessions like every day. And I come up with all these ideas, but then when it comes down to it, I totally forget what I want to say and what I want to do.

So, fortunately, I wrote down a couple of notes for this week, but I- first, I want to go over what I’m thinking now. So we’re keeping the whole process agile and adapting on the fly. And so I’ll go over with Pam here live what I’m thinking. So now we’re on the third episode, and so I’m kind of thinking that these are my warmup episodes.

And so, you know, going along with the whole premise of practice… there’s- using like a sports metaphor or even any kind of event or performance there’s the warmup phase. So I’m going to take that concept and I think I want to use these three episodes as warm up and have the next episode be kind of like the official live launch of the show.

Pam: so are the first three episodes not going anywhere?

CK: I’m still going to publish them. So I haven’t published any episodes yet, and I’m still working out all the logistics of podcasting and all the marketing and content stuff. And learning about how to produce a podcast and publish it. So there’s a lot of things that I’m going through and stuff that I want to get right on the outset instead of just kind of choosing something because I need to do it and get something published, you know, immediately or something.

I’d rather know that what I choose to use is what I want to use going forward. So I want to make sure I had those things down and I’m getting very close.

So, that’s where I explained the whole premise of designating the first three episodes as warmup episodes.

Settling on podcast hosting.

[03:45]

CK: So this past week I’ve picked out hosting for the podcast and I was going back and forth with that because I’m in the web sphere, so I know web development and hosting and stuff like that.

[04:05] So I was wondering if I should host it myself or host it with the host that I’m already hosting my websites with. And so I was looking at all the pros and cons with that and decided on using Castos. I think that’s how it’s pronounced, or it’s Cast O-S. And they’re a podcast hosting platform and they’re tightly integrated with WordPress, and I really like what they’re offering.

And so I’m going to move forward with that for hosting. So I have that locked down. And now that I have that, I know that I can get these episodes published and out there. So hopefully I’ll get these three warmup episodes out this coming week.

I’ve since discovered that the first way I pronounced Castos was correct. Not Cast O-S.

Still working out other logistics.

[04:30]

CK: And so that’s kind of another thing I want to mention with the podcast moving forward.

Is that, you know, I kind of want to have some kind of format so that listeners will have some idea of what to expect and look forward to. And so one of the things that I do want to implement that you actually recommended on the first episode is setting some kind of goal to go over for the next week.

And I was apprehensive about that at first, but I like the idea, which I mentioned. And now that I’ve had a little time to mull it over and think, think through what I want to do with this podcast, I want to use that and set a goal for the podcast itself.

And so for this next week, my goal is to publish these three warmup episodes. And finish up the web presence as much as I need to to be able to launch the next episode sometime next week.

Pam: Okay, so we’re going to get preseason out and then you’ll be ready for prime time.

CK: Exactly.

It actually took me yet another week to get these first three episode published, but they’re up and available for public consumption now!

[06:17]

CK: So we’ll see how that goes. And… Yeah, so how did I get into that?

Pam: Um, you were just talking about what the format is going to be like going forward.

CK: Yeah. So what do you think about using the first three episodes as warm-up.

Pam: Um, I mean, it’s… It’s all practice, right? So, um, I don’t know that you really need it to be differentiated as warm up.

CK: Oh, okay.

Pam: It’s, it’s part of the, of the whole process. And unless you are going to like differentiate them and like these aren’t really episodes, this is like before we launched, then I think that it makes, um, more sense to just be like, this is what it is. And like show everyone the actual process that you went through and, and that, you know, it’s a little messy at first and that’s okay. And that then you find your flow rather than it being like, okay, the first three were, you know, they’re not real, you know?

CK: Yeah. I definitely hear you. Here’s my thought process around it- is that these first three I’m kind of figuring out what I’m doing. And so for the next one, the one that I’m thinking is going to be the actual, you know, launch per se, is going to be more structured.

So I kind of wanted to use these first three and- to help me get used to talking live and on the fly and get more comfortable with that, which I feel more- a little more comfortable with as we do this every week and as every week goes on.

And I like that aspect of it, but I also want these episodes to be more structured so that they’ll be easier to listen to on one hand. And on the other hand, there’ll be more informative and useful. So I’ll be losing a little bit of the live on the fly aspect. So that’s kind of how I want to differentiate these first three episodes from the next ones going forward.

And on that note, I still want to keep some of the, you know, on the fly, ad-lib, improvisational kind of stuff. So another thing that I want to implement into the structure of the podcast is some kind of like maybe Q&A, whether that comes from you or the audience so that I can continue practicing speaking on the fly and coming up with whatever I want to say in the heat of the moment.

So does that sound good?

Pam: Yeah. I mean, I think, um, there’s a way that you can, um, if you still want to release the first three episodes, the- the preseason episodes, you could differentiate them, but I totally get not wanting the first episode to be the Practice episodes.

CK: Right. Yeah. And I feel like if I come out with a more structured episode along with the three warmup episodes, then it’ll give listeners a better idea of how things are developing.

And you know, I ha- already haven’t released the warmup episodes, so… kind of makes sense to bundle it that way in my mind.

Pam: Yeah, and as long as you’re not, um, like if we came back next week and you were like, okay, now the first four are practice, and then we came back the next week and you were like, no, just kidding, the first five are practice, I’m never gonna release this, then that would be one thing. But there is something to be said for, um, figuring out what you’re doing and getting a format down and getting comfortable talking and making it something that will be a good first impression.

I’m still working out all these logistics, but this should give you a good sense of where my thought process is at the time.

Still trying to figure out how to demonstrate my self-coaching process.

[10:51]

CK: Right. Exactly. So on that note, in terms of the format, what have we mentioned already… having a goal and then also having like a Q&A or something like that.

And then a lot of this is based on my own self-coaching, I guess. So I’m not sure how to explain this, but a lot of what I’m trying to do here with the podcast is kind of maybe an example of how I approach things and solve problems and structure projects. Or develop strategy and stuff like that.

So I guess a lot of this has to do with showing how I go through the process. And this is very different because usually I’m on the computer and developing a process with a lot of research and analysis and not doing stuff on the fly like this.

So, on one hand, it’ll give listeners some insight into how I approach things, but on another hand, it’ll help me go through this process in a different way and maybe develop my own processes and expand my knowledge base and perspective in- to- how to tackle different problems.

So I definitely want to have some kind of. Segment around this whole process. I guess it goes hand-in-hand with the goal for the next week, so yeah, I’ll have to hash that out a little more, so maybe..

Pam: You’re talking, when you’re talking about self-coaching, you mean self-coaching on this process or all of this in general?

CK: Yeah, I mean, this process and all of this stuff in general. Because I’m, you know, just all about learning and productivity and efficiency and just general functionality.

So yeah, I mean, I love to contemplate different ways to go about things, and I think it’s useful to share these processes. And. It may help listeners develop and improve upon their own processes.

So it’s kind of insight on one hand and to how I might approach performance coaching, which is something that I’m developing and kind of using this platform to keep me accountable.

So I think that’ll go hand in hand and kind of help people see where I’m coming from.

😰 Man, I’m really having a tough time articulating this aspect of the process that I want to incorporate. Of course, I’m still practicing the act of conveying my thoughts accurately, but I think there’s another factor in my difficulty with this. And that’s the notion of divulging my pursuits.

Just talking about my pursuit with performance coaching out in the open like this is quite anxiety-inducing for me, because I typically don’t reveal anything I’m doing until it’s done, or at least fully hashed out in some fashion that I deem appropriate to be launch-worthy.

The ease of transitioning from preparation to action.

[14:09]

CK: Okay, so that’s all the talking points that I had

Pam: Uh, well, I wanted to, um, let you know that watching you go through this process and being invited to participate in it with you has inspired me and I have been revisiting a lot of projects that I abandoned and thinking about new ways to keep them going because they’re all things that mean a lot to me. But it’s like, you know, I tried it and it didn’t work the way I did it, so I gave up on it.

And, um, so I think that there’s a lot of value in what you’re doing in showing people the process behind creating something creative and in, um, just like showing people that you don’t have to know what you’re doing to start something. Because that’s like the big thing is that I’ve, I’ve mulled over all this stuff for years. Like this is all stuff that we’ve talked about for the last decade, right?

And it’s always like, well, I don’t know how to do it in a way that it will make money. Or I don’t know, do it in a way that won’t take a ton of time. Or like, you know, there’s all these, um there’s all this resistance because you start thinking about what could this project be that could generate income, that could, um, be, you know, fulfilling that could help people. And then you like start to spin out on all the- all of the potential for projects or all of the pressure that you put on projects.

And. It’s been really great to watch you do this and just know that like it’s just something that you’re creating and it could turn into something. It could not turn into something like- I mean, you’re very motivated and driven, so whatever you do, you will turn it into something, but that you don’t have to know that like this thing is going to be my career.

Because that that’s the pressure that I put on myself, is that anything I put time into, like it’s got to generate income. But it doesn’t, right? That- that pressure ends up, um, preventing me from doing the things that I know will be fulfilling for me and will allow me to benefit other people.

CK: Right. Yeah, I love that. And you know, when you focus more on how much money you can make off of something that you want to do, you begin to delve into, you know, emotions around motivations that aren’t in line with why you want to start that in the first place.

So, yeah, I mean, there’s so many ways that you can get derailed off of your- your vision and you know, all these excuses you can come up with, all these obstacles you might be forseeing.

So yeah, the- I keep talking about the- man, this theory is so hard to remember- the transtheoretical model of behavior change. But, yeah, it’s like I keep saying, I’ve been in the pre-contemplate- or the contemplation and the preparation phase for so many of these things, and I’m finally taking action on this one thing and it’s causing me to take action on everything else, which is awesome.

✔️ It’s all about the process and getting into action mode!

[17:35]

CK: And like you were saying, you know, you know that I’m going to be getting something out of this or developing something out of this. And even if nothing comes out of this podcast specifically, it’s already sparking all this creation around all the other things that I’ve been wanting to do and just, you know, things I want to do in general.

So there’s definitely value to what I’m doing here. And like I keep saying, I haven’t published these episodes yet. So, you know, we’re kind of talking to people in the future, but okay, now my mind is going crazy places, but… but like, I’m kind of already envisioning things in the future and you know, being in a mode…

So that’s another thing, you know, like we were just saying, we’re talking- we were talking about how we’re seeing things go wrong in the future for what we want to do. But now I’m in this production mode that I want to be in, and this action mode… so I’m kind of seeing future things in a different light.

And you know, I’m seeing through a different lens because I’m in this action mode. And so things that I was seeing before as obstacles are, you know, less of obstacles now. And so, yeah, it’s how it has to do with mindset.

And it’s awesome that I was able to inspire you and you’ve been my only audience so far. So that’s a pretty good batting average.

Sometimes, if quantity = 0, then quantity > quality.

[19:24] Pam: I think it also ties into something that has come up now twice in the last week in my world. Um, which is that creative people like in film and TV, um, they need to create things for the sake of creating it and know that- that creating that could turn into an opportunity.

So we were watching Hot Ones and Issa Rae was the guest, and one of the questions was how to get your script seen by somewhat important so that someone will make the show or movie. And she said, make a trailer. Like that’s the way to get it out there.

And I was also talking on Twitter with our friend Selena, about a scripted podcast that she wants to do, not because it would like turn into an income stream, but because it would be an example of her writing ability.

So it’s just like create your magic and put it out into the world and it will lead to additional opportunities.

CK: Right. Yeah. I mean, if you don’t have anything that you’ve created, then there’s nothing, I mean, there’s nothing for people to see or hear or consume somehow so that- you have to do that first. And once you do it once, you have that, you know, accomplishment, and then you can improve upon that. And keep improving and improving, and that’s how you get better, and that’s how you can eventually get whatever your goal is.

Pam: Yeah. It snowballs. Every experience gives you an experience and leads to additional skills and connections and opportunities, and just putting yourself out there gets you a lot further than not.

Pam is so good with providing examples and real-world applications of what I try to convey!

Dogsitting tangent.

[21:06]

CK: Great points. Okay, so man, we have 10 minutes left. What else can we talk about?

Let’s see. So, okay, I guess there’s another goal that I want to get done by next week, and that’s to create the intro and outro music for this podcast, and that’s kind of another area where I’ve been stuck in preparation mode.

And… Is that the dogs?

Pam: Yeah. Sadie just shook and jumped off the couch.

CK: So, for our listeners, we’re dogsitting right now, and we may have that going on from time to time, cause we tend to see dogs that often for our friends. We have like a rotation of 15 to 20 dogs that we’ll watch when our friends go out of town.

Pam: So we will post photos and video on Instagram

CK: There you go.

Pam: Where you can see them.

CK: Yeah. I have to figure out where to put the Instagram presence… Yeah, work that out too.

Pam: Someday.

Finger drumming. I said “drumming.”

[22:14]

CK: Yeah. But yeah, the music, so I’ve just started getting back into music towards the end of last year, like November/December 2019. So it hasn’t been that long – maybe three, four months… five months. And I’ve been learning about beat making and just science of sound in general and music theory.

And so I’m starting to get into the deep end with this stuff, and I’m not really producing music. So I’m also practicing finger drumming, which Pam thinks sounds dirty, but that’s what it’s called.

Pam: Yup.

CK: You guys can look it up. I’ll link to it in the show notes.

It’s awesome. But it’s kind of basically what it sounds like, but I’ve been practicing on my hardware and learning.

Oh man…

Pam: Sorry. The 12 year old boy in my head is…

CK: Yeah… Pam’s got a dirty mind.

This is what originally sparked my fascination with finger drumming:

Here are three different styles of performance that demonstrate the range of these pad/button controllers:

You’re going to suck for less time if you start now.

[23:26]

CK: But yeah, so I’ve been practicing and learning, but I haven’t been doing much on the producing side with the music. So this next week I wanna start getting into the producing and see if I can come up with a quick and easy intro/outro for this podcast. So that’s another goal.

Pam: I think that’s a good goal because, um, there, that’s something that I struggle with too. You know, when I was doing the, um, like learning how to do storytelling for Equanimity, the other podcast, um, I was definitely in a mode where I was like taking classes and reading everything that I possibly could about storytelling.

And that was really valuable, but at what point are you just learning to avoid doing. And like, ’cause there’s no, there’s no like finish line, right? You don’t go, well, I learned everything. Now I can go make stuff. Like you have to make that decision.

And um, you know, I think there’s a little bit of a gray area where you start creating while you’re still learning and that stuff that you create isn’t any good, but you have to start doing, just like with Practice, just like with this- with this podcast. You have to start doing or else you’re never going to get out of the learning

CK: Right. And you have to start somewhere. Everybody has to start somewhere. And the quicker you start, the better- the quicker you’ll improve,

Pam: Yeah. You’re going to suck for less time if you start now.

And so, yeah, I mean, it’s all about incremental learning and going slowly and learning little by little and you know, ramping up when you can, but. It’s all about gradual process- the gradual process.

On documenting the process of agile podcasting.

[25:10]

CK: So yeah, I- there was something that I- I just lost. Um, Oh yeah, so I was kind of talking about it before, but one of the segments I want to have with the podcast is to talk about podcasting and the process that I’ve been taking.

So like I’ve been- the stuff I’ve been learning over the past two weeks now is stuff that I haven’t really seen out there on the web in terms of just getting a podcast up and going quickly.

So like if I knew all the stuff that I know now that I was just researching over the past two weeks, I could have had the first episode up within the first week. So I think that kind of information would be useful for people. And I have notes already and I could- I’m thinking about making like a resource for podcasting and putting that up on the site.

It’ll be up on ForcesOfEqual.com. Eventually.

But, yeah, I don’t know if I want to make that another goal for this week. But yeah, I think, yeah, this whole process is enlightening me to podcasting and best practices and stuff like that, that I think would be useful for someone else. If you’re listening, you’re interested in getting out something like this, which I would definitely recommend.

I know we keep talking about how this process has already been beneficial for us, and we haven’t even published anything yet. And you know, if you want to follow along or do something similar, I’ll publish the information, so you’d be able to do that. But yeah, I would definitely recommend it because even just kind of talking to yourself and getting out your own thoughts and just kind of releasing them into the wild and reflect- reflecting upon them is very useful.

So like even if I don’t end up publishing any of this stuff, which I will, but if I don’t, this process has been so beneficial already. I know last week I talked about like the journaling and reflection process according to Stoicism and yeah, I mean, I think it’s all about just reflecting. I don’t think we do that enough.

You know, we just kind of go about- go along our day and we’ll react to things and mostly by reflex and automation and habit, but we don’t reflect enough and take time to pause and think through things a little more. So yeah, I mean, this whole process has been great for me in that sense, and I think it would be great for anybody else who wants to try it.

So, yeah, I’ll definitely have resources on how you can get up and going yourself, even if you don’t want to share it. But I would definitely, you know, recommend that you do and I will eventually.

Okay, let’s bring it home.

[28:39]

CK: But yeah. So how should we wrap up.

Pam: I don’t know. You need a tagline

CK: Not too-da-loo?

Pam: Not too-da-loo.

CK: So hopefully by next week I will have these three warmup episodes out and I’ll have a better structure and format moving forward, and I’ll have some intro and outro music. And we have- will we have dogs next week.

Pam: Um, maybe

CK: We may or may not.

Pam: Not sure.

CK: So is there anything else you want to talk about?

Pam: Nope. I think I was everything.

CK: Okay, so yeah, I’m having fun with this process and we’ll get these warm up episodes out and keep on going and keep on improving and practicing. So until next

Pam: There you go: keep on practicing!

CK: Keep on practicing…

Hmm…

Pam: It works

CK: You think so?

Pam: Cause you want people to listen, which is practicing there.

CK: Do people say that?

Pam: No, but that’s why it’s your thing.

CK: Yeah… It’s

Pam: Maybe… They might say it.

CK: Yeah, we’ll think about it.

Yeah, I’m not, I’m not against it.

So for now, keep on practicing. See you next week.

I see what Pam was saying here now, and I can’t believe I didn’t see it at the time. I ❤️ this kind of wordplay.

It’s a double meaning of “practicing.” There’s the dictionary definition of practicing which is basically the performance of an activity on a regular basis in order to improve. And there’s the clever verablization of the name of this podcast where “Practicing” refers to listening to Practice!

Outro

[30:21]

CK: Okay. I was kind of all over the place in this one, but you got to hear my thought process about how I’m releasing these initial episodes. In spite of the disjointedness, I feel like I’m starting to find my groove with this whole process. So thanks for listening to the third warmup episode of Practice and make sure to check out the detailed show notes at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice and feel free to hit me up on Twitter @cKdisco.

That’s all for now. So make sure to check out the first real episode to see how I continue to progress.

Too-da-loo! ✌️