Believe and you will achieve.

As the final weeks of university and our work placements are upon us, I want to reflect on the challenges I had to face head on and how I managed to overcome them the best I could. While learning more about this industry and what is expected of me.

These past few months have been pivotal for me and my development. Not only within graft and learning how to realistically work in the media industry, but within myself also. Constantly challenging my self-doubt and self-sabotage, as I lack in confidence to believe that I am more than capable to do the work expected of me and to a high broadcast standard.

In this blog…

I will be reflecting on my time spent producing the second season of Queen’s Alumni Anthologies podcast. Finding out that the more challenging aspects to my placement was not the technical nor creative side of things – rather it was how I dealt with stress that led to a lack of confidence. To help me reflect I will be using the Gibbs’ Model of reflection, as previously used, to help my personal growth and focus on an action plan after graduating. 

Description:

For the whole academic year, I have been working towards the second instalment of the Queen’s Alumni Anthologies podcast. Other than Aileen, who helped me with the first initial contact to the interviewees, I was a one-man band. My role consisted of emailing and organising a date for the interview, research, presenting, production and editing. Safe to say that my podcasting production skills are advanced and at a professional level now. However, I created difficulties for myself by not having the confidence to put myself out there, which limited me to reach my full potential in certain situations.

Feelings:

Over the past few months, I have learnt that this is a fast paced and stressful industry at times– especially when you have a full podcast series to deliver. I am the type of person to take on a huge workload and stress myself out. Which ultimately leads to my decline in confidence as I doubt my capabilities. Over time I have figured out that I must trust myself, most importantly, and trust the process. With the right mindset, an organised pre-production plan and finding the confidence within myself to overcome the stress, I have realised that it all works out.

“Whatever theming can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

Napoleon Hill

Evaluation:

You would think that going into this work placement with previous experience of podcasting and the success of the Galdem Podcast, that I would be oozing out confidence. Starting my placement, I got news that I will be interviewing big names, such as Mark Simpson and Annie Mac. As time went on some of my initial plans from the beginning were changed and were out of my control, which led me to firstly stress out and worry even more. In semester two I started to come to realisation that this is just the nature of this industry. I started to then change my mindset and realise that I can deal with these problems and work to overcome them.

Analysis:

I think it is safe to say that I was constantly critical of my work and the direction of the podcast was going in. Stressing about interviewees unable to make it and dropping out, unfortunately this happened with Annie Mac. Reflecting on this, getting worked up and worried about an interviewee dropping out was not helping my confidence and progress further. Even though I was looking forward to interviewing a big inspiration of mine for this podcast, I had other options and I overcame this by being proactive. I started by looking to a plan B and getting into contact with them to organise a date. 

Conclusion:

This overall work experience has taught me to trust myself and my abilities to deliver a high industry standard podcast. To focus on the now and not to dwell on interviewees dropping out – it is all a part of life and what will happen if in future jobs. I found that I am my own worst enemy at times and that I need to think positively, keep calm and most importantly, give myself the credit when due. This is still a working progress, but I am proud of the work I have produced so far. Being organised throughout did help me get through this – scheduling meetings, focusing on a pre-production and production schedule all added to this. I have also learnt a lot about myself and my lack of confidence in this work placement and I am grateful I have faced them now, rather than later.

Action Plan:

Looking to the future I have now realised that I am more than capable to succeed and the only thing holding me back, from reaching my full potential is myself. Interviewees will cancel and my initial plans might not work out the way I expect. Since starting this experience, I have mainly learnt that I need to give myself credit for the work I am doing. Rather than dwelling on what is out of my control…

References

Figure 1 – https://www.mymcmedia.org/blog-self-sabotage-and-inaction/ [Accessed 24 March 2022].

Figure 2 – https://www.qub.ac.uk/about/Leadership-and-structure/Faculties-and-Schools/Arts-Humanities-and-Social-Sciences/WorkRelatedLearning/alumni/ [Accessed 24 March 2022].

Figure 3 – https://helendenheld.com/tag/gibbs-reflective-learning-cycle/ [Accessed 23 March 2022].

Figure 4 – https://www.redbubble.com/i/sticker/Confidence-is-key-by-DareDreams/62544741.EJUG5 [Accessed 23 March 2022].

Figure 5 – https://www.airportchristianfellowship.org/2018/12/24/out-of-my-control/ [Accessed 24 March 2022].

Figure 6 – https://www.dynamoforintermediaries.co.uk/news/looking-future [Accessed 23 March 2022].

Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford: Oxford Further Education Unit