Day One

Last month, I wrote an article about an underlying anxiety I had been feeling which caused me to evaluate my routine. I found myself focused on maintaining my present self, rather than focusing on my future self. Something was holding me back, and I realized that I was grappling with the fear of discomfort I knew would endure if I wanted to push myself a little further.

Learning things about yourself can be humbling, but realizing that while you can recognize things about yourself, you never really "learn" how to avoid certain behaviors in yourself. At best, the realization is frustrating, and at worst...defeating. And it dawned on me - or rather - I finally admitted to myself that I can only get through the self-inflicted frustration and feelings of defeat by taking one step toward the thing I am uncomfortable about.

So that is exactly what I did.

DoHardThings: The Podcast

What I shared in the article last month was that I had gotten fired up about my involvement in a series of Point of View interviews (POV) that I have been hosting with Chip Pieper on my team. Chip was driving these interviews in a response to the pandemic as a way to “spotlight” AWS partners through quick-hit video conversations designed to help AWS sellers, customers and anyone else learn a little bit more about the people – the names and the faces – behind the logos we work with. I felt like this was the perfect time to go deeper.

The DoHardThings YouTube Channel is more than a podcast...we will use it to host an on-going series of conversations, with episodes dedicated to INSPIRE, INFORM & IMMERSE. I will definitely be looking for guests. If you have any ideas or interest, please contact me.

• Taking the INSPIRE angle, my goal is to talk with guests who have: DONE hard things, are DOING hard things, and are getting others to DO hard things. We'll explore motivation, passion, obsession, and how they inspire themselves, and others to do amazing things.
• The INFORM interview series will consist of "The 10 Minute POV", and will be led by Chip Pieper. These sessions are quick 10-minute discussions that will let us hear directly about “WHY” consulting partners, people and customers are partnering with AWS to help build their businesses and achieve their objectives.
• The IMMERSE series, led by Paul DeLaria and Roajer Gilbert, will feature deep dives into harder to understand cloud concepts and technologies using a simple straightforward builder approach. This will most appeal to solution architects, as they be will talking with our partner's solutions, using demonstrations and proof-of-concepts that are relevant in today’s cloud-first development models, and how they solve business problems.

Now...The Hard Part

I thought the decision to DO something was hard. I had no idea how much of a learning curve it would be...just to set up the channel! I definitely immersed myself, and even then...it is taking me TIME to get comfortable with it. I am quite interested to look back on this over a few months, or years...to see how far we will have come.

I also realize...talking into a camera...is weird. It is disconcerting when you know that everything you say is recorded. In the beginning, you are also overly aware of what your FACE is doing when you talk. No matter how natural you tell yourself to be...I am certain that I will need quite a few turns of the crank to start to get comfortable to be natural. There is clearly an art to holding a conversation, which I have not mastered AT ALL. I also tend to think faster than I talk, often forgetting the words I want to say, because new thoughts are piling onto the thoughts I am trying to get out of my mouth...and when I am searching for those words...I might say UH, or UM a few times. I'll be working on that for sure.

The quality of the recordings will improve over time. I am learning how to tinker with camera settings, audio settings and streaming and through broadcast services. It really is a heavy lift, but I am super intrigued to learn this new...skill? Or is it Technology? Whatever it is...it's begun.

We have a number of POV's that we have recorded over the last few months - Chip and I are uploading them as I write this. My job will be to find and schedule more INSPIRE conversations, with the famous and the unknown. Chip and I are also busy scheduling MANY more INFORM sessions for the "10 Minute POV's", and they will lead to the IMMERSE sessions with Paul and Roajer.

In the meantime, please check out the inaugural DoHardThings Episode 1 - This episode is with my Partner Development Leader counterpart, Ray Null. We both are doing our first "podcast" discussion, and we talk a little bit about Partner Development Managers, Partner Success Managers...and just touch on what the basic differences are. We further explore the importance of leveraging discipline in our personal life, and the impact it has on our professional life. I asked Ray to do this with me, because he is getting ready to complete his very first Ironman (IMAZ) this coming November 22 in Tempe, AZ. I have been training with him and that experience has been incredibly motivating to me.

If you are interested in seeing more, please subscribe and check in as we bring new content to the channel.

#DHT

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