Lessons Learned From Bloopers

Life has a lot of outtakes, and I feel like sometimes the mistakes are more fun than what was even planned. It’s the laughs and jokes in between takes or the ridiculous things said that you couldn’t be too hard on yourself about that you remember more than what the desired outcome was meant to be. Of course, we always produce a polished final version at the end, but I want to acknowledge the outtakes in this blog post.

One of my responsibilities at LendingTree is to manage and create content for our TikTok. As a team, we film weekly to add to our library of educational and entertaining videos based on the various lines of business LendingTree has. A few weeks ago, we covered how much people spend on fitness. Using our state-of-the-art gym, we filmed a masterpiece, which was a four-part series summarizing some points of the article the data originated from. (I have to shout out to our fantastic PR team for the content, the copy team, and our videographer for the final product because it certainly was an incredible team effort). When we do these filmings, usually the bloopers never go anywhere; I rewatch the clips as I edit, have a good laugh, and then get back to the task at hand; however, this time, I paused. These particular outtakes reminded me of a few important lessons I wanted to share. 

1. You always need your team
2. Take the time to laugh
3. Things don’t always go as planned
4. Take what you see online with a grain of salt
5. Be careful if you are mic’d up

Without the team, we wouldn’t be able to make the videos, write the scripts, survey people for our data, etc. They are pivotal to the final product, and a decent number of people are involved from start to finish. They are so crucial to our success at a high level, but there are also more minor things that I lean on the team for. When I need the bar pulled off of me and re-racked or a line delivered to me, it only reminds me of the great need for a team effort. It’s the relationships that will carry you the farthest, so give them the time and energy they deserve. My team could have definitely waited a little longer to pull the bar off of me if they wanted to, but thankfully they rushed to my aid.

Take the time to laugh. I had a case of the giggles for this filming, but if your heart isn’t in something, it shows. Laughter is also contagious, and sometimes we all just need a good laugh. You never know what kind of day someone is having and what they are carrying when they come to work. You also can’t take yourself too seriously all the time because you need to be able to laugh at yourself. People do silly things all the time, and rather than judging yourself, give yourself that grace and laugh. It also makes everyone else more comfortable to laugh with you than at you.

Things never go as planned. I usually try to come up with different scenarios of how things could play out, but they still don’t go that way. However, knowing this, I can still be prepared for the unpredictable by being comfortable that I can’t always control what happens. Sometimes the best thing you can do is just adapt. The treadmill didn’t speed up fast enough as a safety feature. We adapted the scene by already having it going rather than a cold start. Would it have been cooler if it had just sped up? Maybe. But it would not have been cool if I fell on my face.

Considering there were three of me superimposed in the final video, take everything you see online with a grain of salt. I wish I could have been a one-take-wonder with all that lifting, but sadly I was not. Our final products piece together videos and only show the best takes. There is a lot that gets scrapped at the end. This is important to remember because it’s easy to compare online, and it is easy to forget all the hard work that goes into things like this. It is great to admire work, but it is even better if you can look at something and see beneath the polish to know the effort and dedication that went into it. In life, we often think about some of the better things others have done or positive traits they carry, yet we are so hard and critical of ourselves. See the good in their final products, but also see it in yours.

And last, be careful if you are mic’d up. I say a lot out of pocket or crazy things sometimes, but this filming seemed on full display. I think it was because I had so much fun, but I am glad I am not always mic’d up. It always is interesting to hear what I say between takes because it is a period where I can be reflective about how I communicate. But it takes a lot to be introspective when you are trying not to cringe at the sound of your own voice.

Thank you for reading this edition of Streaming Consciousness, dedicated to the imperfect. I hope you enjoyed the bloopers and the lessons from them!