Waiting to be Picked
…or How You Don’t Need Permission
copyright Steve Oakes and Martin Griffin info@vespa.academy
Waiting to be picked
Sometimes we all imagine there’s a gatekeeper waiting to assesses their credentials…
…before finally giving us permission to do the work we want to do.
Some examples from the last few years:
copyright Steve Oakes and Martin Griffin info@vespa.academy
Waiting to be picked
One student who claimed his plan was “to make millions trading bitcoin”, so he was applying to do Business Studies at university.
When asked about how his trading had gone so far, and which app he was using – it turned out he’d never done any trading of any type.
He was waiting for ‘further training’… but he could have started immediately.
copyright Steve Oakes and Martin Griffin info@vespa.academy
Waiting to be picked
One student wanted to apply to do Creative Writing at Warwick – the country’s foremost university for the course.
When their teacher suggested they start by looking through all their finished pieces and choosing the best for a portfolio… it turned out they hadn’t written anything.
‘The course will teach me how to write,’ they said, ‘then I’ll start writing.’ But they should have already started.
copyright Steve Oakes and Martin Griffin info@vespa.academy
Waiting to be picked
One student wanted to compose music for movies.
Their teacher asked to hear something they’d composed. They hadn’t composed anything because ‘they didn’t know anyone who’d made a film that needed a soundtrack.’
Their teacher suggested they compose an alternative score for an existing film in their spare time. They didn’t. They were waiting, imagining, and not taking action.
copyright Steve Oakes and Martin Griffin info@vespa.academy
Here’s another example…
Seth Godin
Writer, Marketer, Entrepreneur
…tells a story about an aspiring film student
copyright Steve Oakes and Martin Griffin info@vespa.academy
Waiting to be picked is normal
We all have this tendency to want to wait to be picked.
We’ve learnt it over the years. We’ve waited in line to be picked for a sports team.
We’ve auditioned for a role in a school play and hoped we’re picked.
We’ve applied for jobs and waited to be picked.
copyright Steve Oakes and Martin Griffin info@vespa.academy
But a technology revolution has happened. We don’t need to wait to be picked anymore.
If we want to publish a book… we don’t need an agent or a publisher. We can do it on Amazon.
We want to release an album… we don’t need a record-company executive to pick us. We can just record it and put it up on Soundcloud.
If we want to make a movie… the camera on an iphone has a higher spec than the cameras used to make The Blair Witch Project. We can just make a movie.
copyright Steve Oakes and Martin Griffin info@vespa.academy
What should this student do?
Seth Godin
Writer, Marketer, Entrepreneur
…tells another story about a student hoping to be picked. What advice do you think he’s about to give? “I said what I thought was obvious…”
copyright Steve Oakes and Martin Griffin info@vespa.academy
Seth Godin
Writer, Marketer, Entrepreneur
copyright Steve Oakes and Martin Griffin info@vespa.academy
Pick Yourself.
copyright Steve Oakes and Martin Griffin info@vespa.academy