Listening to podcasts is one of the things we love to do over long drives. It makes the time fly. I tried out a new one called Nerdist over the weekend. The guest in this episode was Jordan Peele.
This was meant to be for comic relief. Something amusing to listen to as we drive. I was surprised when I jotted down four different ideas for blog posts over the course of the 60 minute episode.
The first thing this made me think about was my consumer diet. How much stuff that I consume is fruit and veggies and how much is chocolate cake? The healthy stuff for me is that which I can derive one or more blog posts from. This particular podcast was picked because I thought it would be chocolate cake. I think it was this surprise that got me thinking about how I allocate my consumption diet.
Second, Jordan Peele walked away from his sketch comedy show Key and Peele at the height of its popularity. He said he could have kept doing these and there was likely even more and better sketch comedy to come. There was more success to be had in something he'd already figured out how to do well.
Jordan and his partner walked away though. They felt they had done what they wanted to do with this idea, at least for the time being. They believed they had other things to put out into the world. In Jordan's case it is the horror movie Get Out, which is getting rave reviews.
Do we do things because we know we'll get applause or is the applause a happy accident after we've created something?
Jordan Peele could have kept getting that applause every week. Instead he took the leap into the directors chair for the first time and made a movie that he really wanted to see. Pandering for applause can only take us so far. Eventually the audience will move on. Our best chance to sustain the success is to keep leaping and learning, putting the story that is in our heart and head in this moment into the world and continue to be pleasantly surprised if the applause follows.
Being a Force for Good 