BANDWIDTH - Episode 133

I’m talking today about bandwidth, not in the sense of telecoms or internet speeds but instead in our ability to deal with stuff. From every day, day-to-day stuff, to work stuff to family stuff, and every little stress worry, and concern in between.

For a full transcript of this episode please go to the official website https://www.filmproproductivity.com/

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QUOTES:

I know that each of us has much to do. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by the tasks we face. But if we keep our priorities in order, we can accomplish all that we should. We can endure to the end regardless of temptations, problems, and challenges. Joseph B. Wirthlin

Who says I can't handle it? I can handle it," said Gregor obviously not handling it. Suzanne Collins, Gregor the Overlander Collection:

Confucius says Keep it simple and focus on what matters. Don't let yourself be overwhelmed.

A favorite quote of mine to end this section - The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks and starting on the first one. Mark Twain

Like water which can clearly mirror the sky and the trees only so long as its surface is undisturbed, the mind can only reflect the true image of the Self when it is tranquil and wholly relaxed. Indra Devi


SPONSOR:

This episode is sponsored by Petra Kolb


Season 10 Executive Producer: Christopher McPhillips from Artos Digital

2-time winners of 'Social Media Agency of the Year' at the Prestige Awards; Artos Digital specialise in marketing communications, coaching and personal branding. Owner Christopher McPhillips launched the business from his home in Bathgate and now works alongside his wife, Electra, for specialised event management and fundraising. Enjoying a broad portfolio of clients over the years, ranging from established enterprises to start-ups - a good fit for Artos Digital given their adaptable and agile approach. Christopher and Electra have combined their talents for three significant clients this past year: Reconnect, a SCIO who run the Regal Theatre in Bathgate; Pro2 Wrestling in Ayr; and Puppet Animation Scotland in Edinburgh.

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Web - https://artosdigital.co.uk

References: None

Thanks:

A Himitsu
Music By: Music by A Himitsu
Track: Adventures by A Himitsu https://www.soundcloud.com/a-himitsu
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Music released by Argofox https://www.youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE
Music provided by Audio Library https://www.youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8
Contact the artist: [e-mail]
https://www.facebook.com/ahimitsuhttps://www.twitter.com/ahimitsu1
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFwu-j5-xNJml2FtTrrB3A

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This episode is sponsored by Petracle.Hello and welcome back to Film pro,
Productivity and Success, the podcast thathelps creative people to live a more focused,
effective and happy life. My nameis Carter Ferguson, and this is
episode one hundred and thirty three.Bandwidth, White Noise. Switching channels and

(00:26):
tuning in. I know that eachof us has much to do. Sometimes
we feel overwhelmed by the tasks weface. But if we keep our priorities
in order, we can accomplish allthat we should. We can endure to
the end, regardless of temptations,problems, and challenges. Joseph be Worthling

(00:50):
unquote. So I'm getting pretty closeto the release dates on these shows.
I'll tell you this one was recordedyesterday. I wish I don't normally do.
I like to bank them and theproductivity wise, it's good to get
a loaded and done at the onetime. But at the moment I am
just run off my feet. I'vebeen swamped by this latest short film of

(01:12):
mine, The Traveler, and allis going well though on it, and
I know even at this point infact, by the time this goes out,
the crowdfunder I can say has reachedits goal, So we are storming
ahead, and thank you very verymuch to anyone and everyone who has contributed
to that, either financially or bysharing, the sharing the whole crowdfunding whatever

(01:34):
it is called campaign, that's theword I'm looking for. Your efforts are
greatly appreciated, and I will do, I think, a special show on
my experiences of making a short filmafter pretty much a three year gap.
And it's quite a serious attempt ata short film as well, so it's
I think there's a few lessons tobe learned from it, and I think

(01:56):
I'll chuck them together in a showif anyone's interested in hearing that. But
even with all that going on,I still don't really want to disappoint you
by dropping a show. So hereI am today with a topic that I
think the find kind of interesting.In last week's show, though, I
covered another topic that's little discussed.But if you can't recognize that it's in
place and potentially create strategies to dealwith it, then you very well may

(02:20):
have a problem in what you're tryingto achieve. And it's all about gatekeepers,
and it's available to listen to rightnow. Who says I can't handle
it. I can handle it,said Gregor, obviously not handling it,
Suzanne Collins Gregor Or, the OverlanderCollection unquote. Intellige communications terms, bandwidth

(02:42):
is the volume of information that canbe sent from one connection to another in
a set amount of time, whichis calculated in megabits per second. Bandwidth
is an important factor when it comesto determining the quality of the speed of
a network or internet connection. AndI'm talking today about bandwidth, though not
in the sense of telecoms or internetspeeds obviously, but instead in our own

(03:05):
ability to deal with stuff from everyday, day to day stuff to work
stuff, to family stuff, andevery little stress and worry and concern in
between. Sometimes new problems can comeso thick and fast that they become like
a stress inducing white noise, andyou have to tune in and out of
one task at a time in orderto get past them. Life often doesn't

(03:30):
make this easy for you. Ofcourse, Confucius says, keep it simple
and focus on what matters, don'tlet yourself be overwhelmed. And of course
that's also very easy to say.I'm working, as I say, on
this short film at the moment,but it's a low budget and that innevitively

(03:51):
means that, as I am theinstigator of the project, I have to
tackle every task that's not dealt withby someone else and still drive the project
forward. And this leads to alot of tasks. I've got people helping
me, but often things just can'tproceed without my involvement in The trouble is,
of course, that being in themiddle of it all, people want

(04:12):
to talk to me about the stuffthat matters most to their department, that
matters most of them at the mostinopportune at times. And if I've spent
say, nine straight hours working onrisk assessments, and then I get a
call about a specific element of thefilm that needs my attention, I suddenly
have to kind of switch channels,switch my headspace around and deal with that
issue as best I can. Andsometimes I'll have several new questions or problems

(04:36):
raised by several different people simultaneously whenI'm already doing things like risk assessments or
negotiating for a location and worrying aboutthe fact that I've got ten props to
make and trying to pin down theinsurance, for example, And at that
point it starts to feel like whitenoise, and I can easily get overwhelmed,

(04:56):
or I did easily feel overwhelmed bythings. And of course that happens
when you're directing anyway, when you'reon the floor and you're directing and everything's
kind of at its final stage whenthings are filming, you hit with a
lot of questions. And if yourprep is good and I'm standing there and
I know why, pretty much everything'sgot to happen, I can answer these

(05:16):
things. But as we're building towardsthat, as the project's come together,
it's I don't have all the answers. It's quite often I have to stop
think and find that the answers.But tuning into each problem needs to be
done separately, and I have tobring order to the chaos that comes in
by tuning into these things, onething at a time, in order,
also in order of importance. Thisis the decision making process in my head,

(05:42):
in order to bring it all backunder control, and that control might
hold for only a bit before somethingnew then comes into overwhelm my bandwidth once
again. And in this short filmthat I'm doing, Neil, the director
of photography, mentioned to me theother day that I had reached a point
of task saturation, and I couldn'tdisagree with them because at that point,
the biggest stress I've had in thisfilm. For me, the biggest difficulty

(06:06):
is the art department. My background, originally it was I worked as a
designer for seven years. I workedfor longer than that, but I was
full time as a designer for sevenyears, and therefore it is kind of
easy for me to do the designelement of the films, but it's not
easy when I'm directing it, producingit, writer of it, and in
effect, to a large degree,production coordinator, coordinator, car coordinator,

(06:29):
location coordinator. All these things cometogether, and somewhere in amongst all this,
I'm the director. But yeah,my worry was coming on to set
that particular day he raised that wasthat I had forgotten something I could easily
have got to the point where Iwas tackling so much to do with this
production. It's a low budget thingthat I could have been the problem.

(06:54):
So as has happened on pretty muchevery film I've done before. I am
the solution to all the problems,and I am also potentially the problem itself.
It's just the way things are.But task saturation, saturation, which
is The thing Neil specifically mentioned wasof interest to me because I was working
on this episode at the time,and task saturation is specifically designed as and

(07:15):
I've written this down, the perceptionor the reality of having too much to
do and not having enough time,tools, or resources to get them accomplished.
So I'll say that again, tasksaturation is defined as the perception or
the reality, so not necessarily thereality of having too much to do and
not having enough time, tools,or resources to get them accomplished. Very

(07:39):
much my situation in a short film. And in order to stay productive,
you must figure out what's the mostimportant, stay focused on what matters,
and create time to be creative.And I would say that creating time to
be creative is where this particular projectis is really really stretching me because I'm
dealing with all these technical things andI have to just jump in and out

(08:01):
of the directorial position. I amnot able to stay full time as the
director and have my mind fully onthat. I wonder what it's like to
be like that. I've never experienceda film. But anyway, he brought
this up, and he brought thisup well after it started on this episode,
so it's perhaps an opportune moment toaddress it, and I'll do a

(08:22):
show on the specific difficulties, asI say, of being lead producer,
director and a film production sometimes soonand perhaps another one to ask saturation.
But for now I've been distracted.Let's get back to bandwidth. So when
you feel that your bandwidth is stretchingout of control, there are a few

(08:43):
things that, just off the topof my head I've written down here that
you can do to get back togrips with it. I thought that this
would be of interest you if youfind yourself in this situation. On top
of my list here I've written downprioritize things, because not everything is urgent.
Things can be important, remember,but not urgent. They can be
urgent but not important. They canbe not important but urgent, and they

(09:07):
can be not important and not urgent. Then if you have trouble figuring this
out, I suggest you go backand listen to my recent episode on which
is called the focus Funnel. Andyou probably also want to look at the
Eisenhower matrix, which is where I'mgetting those specific lines. So I'm urgent
but not important, not important buturgent, etc. That's the Eisenhower matrix.

(09:28):
Anyway, check back on the focusfunnel. It was only a few
episodes ago, and you'll get thatcovered as well. Another thing if you
feel that you're getting bombarded with newinformation and request is don't feel the need
to respond to everything immediately. Youneed to control that urge to deal with
it as it comes in, andit's usually fine to finish what you're doing,
unless someone is flagging that the responseis extremely urgent, and it's fine

(09:50):
to focus on what you're doing andget to the next problem. Once your
first issue, the one you're dealingwith has been completed, is behind you.
Next up here, I've written down, write things down, and I'm
forever going on about this, butremember, and this is from studies that
I went out there, you areforty two percent more likely to get stuff

(10:11):
done if you write them down.And I won't go on about this again
here, but it's pretty essential.I'll only add that perhaps checklists maybe of
assistance if you are frightened about makingmistakes. And certainly I wish i'd got
to the point where I had Icould well, to be honest, I
kind of did I had. Thisis the props situation, because I'm handling

(10:31):
all the props on the film.I had weeks ago created prop lists from
the from the script at that time, and I hadn't looked at them again
until Thursday night there the night beforewe needed the props the next day,
and I had just been battling awayat the props I could remember. Then
I went down and I looked atall the props and I ticked them off
this list that was there, andthe only one that was left, and

(10:54):
I knew it was to be doneis I needed to create a graphic for
a telephone for shot which said callfield and it was indicated there was no
signal in that area. But thatinvolved me sitting down on Photoshop, which
I'm not great at, and makingthat up. So when I went through
my list, that was the onlything remaining. But the next day,
when I went in, I wasstill not one hundred percent sure I had

(11:15):
got everything, because that list waswritten, as I say, several weeks
ago, and I might have addedsomething to change something in a recent draft
the draft of the script, whichI hadn't But that was a good example
of how a checklist helped me tomake sure everything was there and everything as
it turned out was there on theday next time. My list here is,
don't be a perfectionist most of thetime. Remember good enough it's good

(11:37):
enough is enough, and always rememberthat done is better than perfect. I
right back in the first seasons,within the first ten episodes, I talk
about being a perfectionist and how youneed to get out of that headspace.
I used to think it was avaluable thing. I can remember being in
a job interviewer or an audition orsomething and they said what was my strength?

(12:00):
And I remember what was saying,I was a perfectionist. And I
have regrets about saying that now becausenow the older me knows that being a
perfectionist is really it's nice to bea perfectionist. It's nice to try your
best to do well, but verygood. If you're very good, it's
extremely good. It doesn't have tobe perfect. And also you can you
can polish stuff later even if youget just enough, which is not what

(12:24):
you should aim for. You say, he should eiver your best, but
it doesn't have to be perfect.You can always pick things up, tidy
them, and there are sometimes solutionslater. I'm not saying fix it in
post, but please remember trying notto be a perfectionist and that done is
better than perfect. Always next onmy list here, and I'm never particularly

(12:45):
successful with this, although it's workedwell with on the short film working with
Christina Littleton, whose co producer onit is to delegate. If you don't
have, if you don't have todo this yourself, then you can pam
it off. That's maybe the wrongphrase. You can hand it off to
someone you trust, and if it'snot someone you trust, just treat it
as a holiday from that problem,because oftentimes a problem will come back to

(13:09):
me after a week or more incomplete, sometimes not even started, or just
generally left up. And that timeaway from the problem, though is very
helpful, and it's a nice toget a holiday from it because that allows
me to do other things. Sodon't be afraid to delegate, even if
the delegation might come back and biteyou somewhere down the line. And that's

(13:31):
honestly my opinion on this. I'mnot reading this from some Internet whatever essay
or something. That my experience isthat when I delegate stuff, fifty percent
if it comes back incomplete or damaged, only only the stuff I've delegated to
brilliant people comes back as sorted outand done. Well finally, not finally,
Sorry, I've got more. I'vegot another page, well, not

(13:52):
quite a page, another four afterthis. Don't let the stresses of overwhelm
bring you down. The more downyou are, the less able you articate
with new things. And when thosenew things are coming thick and fast,
you might short circuits, say somethingyou shouldn't perhaps, or just throw in
the towel on the whole thing.And in the creative world there's usually no

(14:13):
blueprint for what we're doing, soit's really hard to get stuff done.
Just remember it's not easy. It'srecognized it's not easy. But don't let
it bring you down. There's alwaysanother day next up. Take a break.
Sometimes I just need ten minutes tosort my thought thoughts out and get
myself together and to get back ontruck track. And taking a break will

(14:33):
often get you back in tune withhow things are going to come back to
that analogy about radio signals, etcetera, and bump you out of the
feeling that things are getting on topof you, and that taking a break
can happen even if somebody's pressure onyou. You will find if if it
comes down to a kind of acrucial point that people will be demanding you

(14:54):
to make a decision immediately, andthat's exactly when you should take a little
moment to think for yourself and thenmake the decision after that moment. Do
not let allow yourself to be reilroadedby people who do not know what you're
dealing with. Next up, Ihave if you feel you've come well.
Of course, if you feel likeyou've gone out of tune and all you
start to hear it is white noise, then these tips might work, but

(15:18):
reducing the amount of information getting toyou could help. Yeah, this is
my point. Switch off any appsthat bother you, put your phone on
silent, come off social media.I just shut them down. I do
it very very regularly. And allof these things will help you to stay
in tune with what's important and gainyou more time to focus on the things
that matter. Get rid of anydistractions that you can. Second last here

(15:41):
on the list is prepare because ifyou know that you have a busy period
coming up, I low My notesare just for your information. I've written
busty period. If you get abusy period coming up, get on top
of whatever you can early that way, when all the parts start moving near
the time, you aren't having todeal with simple things you could have been

(16:02):
should have done weeks or days before. And that brings me back to that
list, that breakdown I did ofprops way three four, three and a
half weeks ago. This whole projectincidentally has come together in six weeks from
for me saying I'm going to shootit to actually being completing on filming.
It will complete un filming a weektoday as you listen to this and a
final thing on the list though,it's when it's when switching between tasks or

(16:27):
channels, as I'm using in thisanalogy, give yourself a ten minute tuning
in period if you can, andthis will help you to stay on top.
Just it isn't easy to snap betweentwo difficult things and two difficult wavelengths
if you're dealing with really, reallydifficult tasks. Okay, so that analogy

(16:47):
I'm using today kind of stretches outfurther. I'll leave it there for now,
as I'm really still up to myneck in it with this film.
I do hope what you've heard today, though, is interesting to you.
It's certainly the way I think aboutthings, and if you're in a similar
situation to me, perhaps you cantry some of these techniques out. A

(17:08):
favorite quote of mine to end thissection is the secret of getting ahead is
getting started. The secret of gettingstarted is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks
into small, manageable tasks and startingon the first one, Mark twain Une.
So, as I reached the endhere, I'm just wondering, has

(17:30):
anyone noticed the deliberate error in thisepisode? Has that one noticed a certain
change of tone as we come tothis section of the episode. Yes,
my mic didn't work. It's whathappened is audacity, which is what I
use to record the show. I'mhoping this works now. I'll have to
listen to this back in a minute. It's updated just as I went to

(17:55):
record this episode, and I allowedit to update, and what it did
is an the update. It reset all of the places it was to
record from etc. Back to thedefaults, which is just in the laptop
itself, which is a laptop,microphone, and away from this my much
more expensive and pretty microphone and mixerset up. So yeah, that's been
a possibly a difficult episode to listento, and that the quality has been

(18:19):
lowered, but I unfortunately, dueto the situation I'm in with this film,
I don't have time to rerecord it. So that's it. Possibly is
a worthwhile lesson and exactly what I'mtalking about here in task saturation and overwhelm,
etc. That I missed that,so I'll leave it in. I

(18:41):
was going to rerecord it, butI'm going to leave it as that.
I mean, if I was torerecord it, I'd need another thirty or
forty minutes just to get it together, so I can't face that at the
moment. But yeah, I'm gonnaI'm not going to give you a call
to action today. I only hopethat if you find yourself in a situation
that, like I've outlined here inthis episode, that these few nuggets of
information of advice I've given you willhelp you to extract yourself from it.

(19:04):
And just finished, just now wassaying thanks again to everyone who committed to
my crowdfunder for the Traveler. Weexceeded our target and met two further stretch
goals over the twenty one day period. And for anyone that's interested, I'll
do a special report episode in acouple of weeks time and next week's show
will happen, providing I don't getentirely swapped by the filming. Incidentally,

(19:29):
and I'm not guaranteeing it at thispoint, but if it doesn't happen season
ten, we'll continue with the finalthree shows starting the week after that.
And that The problem is, I'min studio next Saturday and Sunday. I'm
shooting on Wednesday. I've got ascene that's been dropped from one of the
days, and another little moment withPaddy, the main actor. These need

(19:53):
to find another day to happen,and I need to coordinate all of that.
So it's not the days I'm filmingthat on this sally the problem.
This is earlier the problem. It'sall the prep and organization that's got to
go round about them. But ifI can, I'll be back next week.
If not, it'll be the weekafter. Let me enter today though,
with some words about task saturation fromIndrat Devi, who said, like

(20:15):
water, which can clearly mirror thesky and the trees only so long as
its surface is undisturbed, the mindcan only reflect the true image of the
self when it is tranquil and whollyrelaxed. Now take control of your own
destiny. My friends, stay calm, keep them on shooting, and join

(20:37):
me next time on Film Pro Productivityand Success. The music that you can
hear right now is Adventures by eHimitsu and the executive producer on this season
is Tristopher McPhillips from afterss Digital.You can view the show notes for this
episode on the official website film ProProductivity tap dot com, and you can

(21:00):
also follow my personal account on Twitterand Instagram that's at Fight Underscore Director,
or follow the show itself on Twitterat film pro prod Pod or on Facebook
at film pro Productivity. Please continueto support the show by subscribing, spreading
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