The other night Jay Leno ended his interview with Barack Obama by saying:
“This has been one of the best nights of my life.”
No doubt, being the first host to have a sitting president on your show was a career highlight for Jay Leno.
And understandably so. It was a solid interview where both men ‘held their own’, had friendly conversation and engaged the viewers. Jay Leno has hosted The Tonight Show since 1992. And, while I’m sure he’s had many career highlights – I was really happy for him to have had this highlight – especially as he moves towards the end of this gig as Today Show host. A couple of things came into focus for me watching this show: PRACTISING YOUR CRAFT Jay Leno has ‘practised’ on many guests before this interview. He’s been honing his skills for thousands of hours. He’s interviewed the biggest names, he’s a masterful interviewer and he was as ready as anyone could be to host this interview. Assuming we still have many thousands of hours left on the planet… what skills/vision for our lives do we want to spend time mastering? CAREER HIGHLIGHTS In his newest book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell explains that studies have also shown that excellence at a complex task requires a minimum level of practice, and experts have settled on 10,000 hours as the magic number for true expertise. Outliers: The Story of Success I started to think about my career highlights – and while I’m sure the best is yet to come for me – there are a number that stand out for me already. (Will save those for another post!). My notes to self:
- What am I practising?
- What have I put thousands of hours into becoming a master at?
- What am I (or do I want to) put time and energy into today that will influence my future career and life highlights?
