The Easy School of Hard Knocks

Hello, my name is James. I sell suffering. It's probably the last thing that anyone would want to buy, but its value is priceless.

Join Sana and me as we discuss suffering: what it is, how to have a proper perspective on it, and why it's essential for us to accomplish anything of value in this life.

"You're not being that person because you have the resources; you're being that person because you're open to receiving those resources."That is one of the nuggets of wisdom you'll find in this episode of The Easy School of Hard Knocks Podcast.

http://performancemindset.co (Jarrod Haning) is a performance mindset coach, a fellow musician (Sana insisted we include the viola among the ranks of legit instruments, so blame her) and all around great guy.

Jarrod is also the author of https://www.mindsetperformance.co/book.html (The Thinking Patterns of Success), currently on pre-release. I put my name on the list to be notified when the book is available and will soon devour the awesome bonuses he provided.

I've been following Jarrod's work on social media for some time and really appreciated his take on the COVID-19 issue that has literally shut the entire world down. So I wanted to have him on the podcast to pick his brain on how to have a healthy response to this. Whether you believe the response by governments around the globe is warranted is irrelevant; the fact is the world is different.

How you respond to your circumstances will define your future moving forward.

Here are a few highlights from my chat with Jarrod, and a few comments from Sana too.

-Why the mass quarantine and global shutdown is actually a safety net for many...-Everyone needs to reinvent themselves; entrepreneurs don't need jobs, they create jobs-The two questions you need to be asking yourself right now:Who do I want to be right now? (Not what do I need to do, i.e. bills, mortgage, etc.)

What would I need to believe in order to be that type of person?

-No one knows what the future will hold-Call friends, ask what they need, start conversations-Money is a byproduct of the conversations you're having-Become a provider to your competitors, past clients, current clients, etc.-And much more

How appropriate that my first guest on The Easy School of Hard Knocks podcast is my own wife. Her name is Shafieh Dorry, but everyone calls her Sana.

I don't know how many times Sana and I have been in conversation about any number of things...life, politics, perspective, suffering, what have you... and I just wished we would be recording our conversation because she has so much value to share with others.

Sana is a person who has suffered and been victorious at varying points in her life, but she doesn't wear her feelings on her sleeve, and she doesn't use her experiences as a ploy to gain pity or sympathy. She has lived and survived and has much wisdom to share with others as a result.

Sana and I are deciding what role she may play in the future of this podcast. Although that remains to be seen, I'm glad we were able to sit down and record a quick chat.

In it, you'll hear:

The meaning of the name "Shafieh" and why everyone calls her Sana

Why she is a member of Iran's "forgotten generation"

Contrasts between Iranian culture and Western culture

Why she identifies w/ the Iranian culture 26 years after moving away from Iran

And much more...

If you'd like to help us defray the considerable costs of obtaining a visa for Sana to live with me in the United States, I invite you to check out our page where we've created some fun stuff for you to partake and help out with a donation. jamesandsana.com

I recently featured my friend and pastor Tim Conkling on my sister podcast, http://www.thetrumpetjungle.com (The Trumpet Jungle).He spoke, rather eloquently I must say, about the root cause of performance anxiety.

With all due respect to the Rev. Dr. Timothy G. Conkling, I must take issue with several of his key points and I want to set the record straight.

Performance is something I take very seriously. Flawless performance I dare say is the only acceptable performance in my view.

I've heard countless lectures on dealing with performance anxiety. A few years ago, I hosted a podcast and even produced an entire course on performance anxiety.

All the "experts" say pretty much what Tim said in the trumpet podcast. "Check your ego at the door. Forget your mistakes. Live in the present."

That all sounds good and it's not like I was going to rudely disagree with my guest on the podcast, but can we check in to reality for just 15 minutes before we return to the altruistic fantasy that what we do is some sort of service to humanity?

We've more or less settled on the magic number of 10,000 hours it takes to master a craft (thank you, Malcolm Gladwell.) An instrument, copywriting, painting, podcasting, what have you.

That's 10,000 hours of back-breaking work. Tears, sweat, probably a little bit of blood thrown in there too. And that's just to achieve mastery level. God knows how many more tens of thousands of hours will be invested in our craft when it's all said and done.

And we're supposed to believe we do it for others? I'm not buying it.

play WW quote

In the series finale of Breaking Bad, Walter White finally concedes his true motivation for getting involved in the drug trade. For well over a year, he's told his wife Skylar that he did it all for his family. He's personally done or organized mass murder, he's lied to his own wife countless times, he's literally set fire to everything he touches. And it's all justified by his desire to provide for his family in wake of the death sentence he received with his cancer diagnosis.

And now, his own death being but a few hours away, he shares this moment of clarity with his wife (who's life is forever ruined) where he acknowledges that he indeed did it all for himself.

Would that we all had this clarity in our motivations, particularly when it comes to public performance: speaking, playing, acting, singing, what have you.

So, having a better understanding of why we perform, along with a sterling example of that motivation, let's take a deeper dive into some of Pastor Tim's points from The Trumpet Jungle podcast.

What's at the root of performance anxiety?It all comes down to you giving a shit what other people think of you.

Why would you care what anyone thinks about your abilities as a performer? They didn't put in 10,000 hours into your craft, YOU DID. If they criticize you for making a mistake, screw them. What do they know? Nothing about performing at a high level, that's for sure. If they did understand, they would know better than to say anything, right?

In the event that some slob criticizes your performance, and believe me they will, especially if you make a mistake, it's important that there is no confusion on what you're dealing with so you could perform for them.

The air conditioning was too high; it was turned off. You didn't get to properly prepare because your kid had a meltdown before you left the house. Someone in the back of the room was making a distracting noise.

Like any of this is your fault. Reminding people of these circumstances which are completely out of your control will perhaps make them appreciate what you're doing for them, but I wouldn't count on it, at least in my own experience.

Tell them anyway. One can only hope they'll think twice before criticizing another performer without thinking about how difficult it is to do what you do. You just might be saving a fellow virtuoso performer the headache of dealing with their gripes in the...

Have a good day!

It seems so easy, doesn't it? But how many times do we try to pump ourselves up to do something great, only to find ourselves farting around on Fakebook at 10 am, wondering when the motivation to really work will finally arrive, telling ourselves we're grateful to even have a job?

And the cycle repeats itself day after day...

If that sounds like you, this pamphlet may be helpful to you. You see, motivation is great, but without a system in place to channel that motivation, it's not long before it becomes discouragement -- even despair if this cycle repeats itself too many times.

What you need is a set routine for your morning. Something you anticipate, something you look forward to happening, and eventually your mind and body literally aches for if you don't do it.

This episode will give some guidance and suggestions on setting your own personal morning routine. I use many examples of my own routine, but they're just examples. Over time, you'll eventually find what works best for you.

Sign up for the free webinar on how to craft your own Personal Identity Manifesto. Visit jamesnewcomb.io for the details!

Discovering your "true self" is so...cliche - yet essential at its core. I asked myself, Who are you, and what do you do? Here's what I came up with.

I host a free webinar every Friday on how to build your own Personal Identity Manifesto. Go to jamesnewcomb.io for all the details!

Success and Failure. Redefined.

Read (or listen to) my brand new ebook Success and Failure for FREE!

Just visit https://jamesnewcomb.io/ (jamesnewcomb.io) for all the details.

In December 2014, I was given an opportunity to perform Handel's Messiah for a choir made up of expat's in Seoul, Korea.

I'll allow the title of the episode to explain how my performance went.

In spite of the unpleasant experience, in hindsight, I see how it set in motion a chain of events that led me to my current profession.

Key takeaway from this story?

If you're not feeling it, just take it down an octave.

Today's episode is an excerpt from a recent episode of The Trumpet Jungle podcast, where I featured a stellar young trumpeter named Patrick Oliverio. Patrick was awarded First Place in the graduate division of the National Trumpet Competition in 2017. I asked him what he does to prepare for an important performance such as that one. This is what he said.

You can hear my entire conversation w/ Patrick at https://jamesnewcomb.io/patricko

P.S. I used two "pop" filters for today's episode title.