Sailing, sailing, sailing

April 17, 2013

We have been sailing for five days, and they have been an absolute blur. Not only is the ship preparing for the last port before debarkation and the students are taking finals, but our team is trying to wrap up final interviews and videos that need editing still. We've taken on the extra project which has also put extra strain on an already pretty full plate.

Most of my days have been spent editing either in our little cabin on deck three or in the Eagle's Nest on deck 6 behind the Union. I've finished the episode for South Africa, which you can see on Unreasonable.is/atsea (if you'd like to keep up with the entrepreneurs' journey), and I edited the Fireside chat between Daniel and Jeff Hoffman, the founder of many companies, including Priceline.com, currently colorjar.com, producer of horror films such as Cabin Fever and all around great mentor.

I actually took notes while I edited Jeff's fireside chat because he had such great advice. I actually really related to his childhood story of being told no. He wanted to drive a Ferrari and his friends and mom laughed and said that he never would. Why? Because there's only a very small percentage of the population that drive ferraris and he would never be one of them. Why not? He decided that if someone was being successful, then why not it be him? If he wanted to do something and didn't now how to do it, he'd learn it and surround himself with teams of people who knew how to do it.

I remember when I was little that there was no bigger motivator for me than people who told me I couldn't do something. "Girls don't play the drums." "Film school is a waste of your potential." Working hard and following my passions has gotten me to a very happy place in life so far. Jeff was very big on the fact that there is no rule book. There are rules in life that our society made up, but they aren't to be followed by everyone.

He also talked about finding a good mentor. He noted that the best mentor is someone you, of course, look up to or admire, but they also need to share your values and live a life and live in a way that you want to live. Why would you take advice from someone you don't want to be like? Even if they're rich or highly successful, if they don't value family and you do, their advice and road to success isn't going to lineup with your values. You'll find yourself miserable.

He had great advice on leadership and how to build a team. I felt very inspired to continue my studying of leadership. I've been reading Drive on this journey and Matt got me a book called Leadership and The New Science which compares managing people to chaos theory and quantum mechanics...right up my alley. I'd love to be a good leader someday. All of my aspirations: directing, owning a business and being a momma (someday) require me to know how to be a good leader. The advice i took to heart was that integrity is one of the keys. You've got to practice what you preach and know your values so that you can live them out and people won't question your motives when push comes to shove.

Anyway, I didn't mean for this blog to be all about my learning, but it's really been great to glean so much from great people who weren't meant for me, but offer me advice anyway.

This last leg of the trip has also included some fun. There was a ship-wide talent show, a drag show (which was fantastic), a media junk food thank you dinner, and a closing time themed reception for the faculty and staff.

This is the last long sail, and once we get back on the ship to get to Barcelona, we're thrown into a whirlwind of shooting, wrapping editing, and packing all of our stuff. There are just three days on the ship before we are kicked off in Barcelona. The Unreasonable team launches straight into an event, and the media team will shoot for two more days before moving into a flat where we will all hunker down and finish our deliverables,

Matt and I have decided not to go to Unreasonable at State, so we will be a part of the team staying to finish deliverables, then finish our extra video, then we'll be flying home bright and early on May 5.

Wrapping up this time is definitely bittersweet. I don't want to leave. This is where we've settled and it's comfortable, predictable and scheduled. All of our resources are here and all of our work is lined out for us. It's been a nice break to focus on a single project for so long and to get to know our interview subjects intimately because of how deep into their lives and businesses they've allowed us. It won't feel right not to interview them weekly and follow them on their adventures in a new country every few days. It'll also take some getting used to to be away from our bonded crew. We've built a family with this vide team, and it'll be sad not to see one another at breakfast every morning and happy hour in the afternoons. What are we going to do with ourselves?

It's new shipboard reality has coasted a spell on us. We've got a travel bug, we've got more confidence and we've been inspired to reach for our dreams. My emotions are all over the place and I'm mostly sad to leave, but I'm also excited about what's next. The world is our oyster, as someone not of my generation might say, and we're ready for it. Well, maybe after a couple weeks off to reset our lives.

Tomorrow, we land in Casablanca, Morocco and begin another bout with culture shock. I can't wait.