The Myth of the Training Montage

Whether you’re watching The Karate Kid, Mulan, or Rocky, the trope of the training montage is designed to show characters getting good at something quickly.

This is a problem because these montages, from classic movies which we’re all likely to have seen, teach us that real-life success is supposed to come as quickly as it does in the movies. When it inevitably doesn’t, it can be discouraging, as is often the case when we’re taught to expect one thing and something else happens instead.

These movies also fail our expectations when they show training to be an exciting event. Training is probably going to be boring, and it’s definitely going to be hard.

Good.

No one is cheering you on when you’re learning HTML at night after a full day of work.

No one is there to pick you up when you stumble during a practice drill that’s lit by moonlight.

No one is there when you’re combing through the 2000-page textbook trying to find the specific sub-section of the tax code you’re looking for.

When you finally build that app, or throw that game-winning pass, or get that Big Four job, those are the moments of glory, and they should be savoured. These are the peaks of life, and they are separated by incredibly long valleys.

The valleys aren’t meant to be “troughs”—they’re not bad, they’re just necessary. Most of your life will probably be spent becoming good at something. You might not be passionate about that thing for the first few weeks or months, but you keep at it. You know your work in the valleys will pay off.

So enjoy the challenge, and await the mountains.

                                                                                                                                       

Hey, thanks for reading. This post was inspired by this Zen Pencils comic and a conversation with a good friend. Sorry if this post isn’t as good as the others, but the idea of enjoying the process felt like it was an idea worth sharing (and TED hasn’t asked me to do a talk yet). Besides that, I have 2-3 other posts that went unpublished and I didn’t want to make a habit out of it. Anyway, constructive criticism appreciated. 

The productivity benefits of keeping peanut butter at your desk.

Everyone is always looking for the next great productivity boost, but I bet nobody has ever considered the productivity benefits of keeping peanut butter at their desk.

To my knowledge, there are no benefits. In fact, many workplaces would probably forbid this because of nut allergies.

One of the things people caught up in a business or leadership culture often get bombarded with are “productivity hacks”, which are simply ways you can be more productive.

To be fair, some of these are great. Taking breaks every hour by going for a walk or doing another light physical activity is scientifically backed.

The vast majority of these hints are sourced from successful entrepreneurs/leaders/people. These tips work for them. They may not work for you.

For example, there are apparently people who get by on a series of 20-minute naps throughout the day to a total of four hours. I once asked a somnologist, a sleep doctor, if this would be possible to do. Once she stopped laughing, she said absolutely not. But if you somehow tried it and it somehow did, then sleep doctors and evolution be damned.

By all means, research ways to get better. Do not let the success other people have with their methods deter you from finding and using your own. Do not let their methods discourage you from doing your work. Other people might read faster or calculate more quickly, but that doesn’t mean your efforts count for nothing.

You accomplish the same goal in a different way. However you get there, it’s still called success.

P.S. This is my 20^th blog post, and you may have noticed that the format of my title has changed. This is because I’m working on creating more compelling headlines, which is part of being a better blogger. As you also may have noticed, I’ve begun to post much less frequently. There’s been a shortage of material lately, and if it doesn’t inspire me, I wouldn’t want to try and force the feeling on you just to meet a weekly quota.

I would never have come this far without readers who inspire me by sharing their stories as I share mine. The fact that I’ve been able to entertain, and dare I say even help some of you, is an honour and a privilege I take seriously. So, whether this is your first visit or you’ve been with me from the start, thanks for reading, and C-Suite Dreams!

Editor’s note: If you have a topic idea, I’d love to hear from you! Suggestions can be made in the comments section or on Twitter @JeremyDeMello.