I Know the Way Out, Take 1

This is the image that Animaker picked for a guy falling into a hole.

Loretta and I enjoy movies, television, and books, which oftentimes shows up in our speaking and teaching. One of the stories that Loretta tells is from an episode of The West Wing called Noël (Season 2, Episode 10) that originally aired on December 20, 2000.

In the episode, Leo McGarry, the President's Chief of Staff, is worried about Josh Lyman, a Deputy Chief of Staff. In order to assure Josh that he supports him getting help, Leo tells a story about a guy falling into a hole, which ends with the guy and his friend in the hole and the friend saying, “Yeah, but I’ve been down here before, and I know the way out.”

As we've been brainstorming ways to encourage clients to try 28 Day Burnout Antidote and dispel some of the myths about what it takes to break out of burnout, Loretta mentioned "the Leo and Josh" story. This led to us wondering what a short animation of this would be like, kinda like the Dr. Bréne Brown on empathy video.

Cute, right?

So I started poking around, looking for an online tool to help bring this vision to life. I checked in with our web designer, Mel, to see what she recommended. She's used Animaker, so I checked in out. Not wanting to pop on a subscription until I checked it out, I tried out the free version by uploading the transcript from Leo telling Josh about the guy in the hole, and here's what I got back:

This video is the animated version of the story that Leo tells Josh. You should watch it.

Not exactly what I wanted and also, not bad considering I used a free version of software and spent less than 15 minutes on it. I call it I Know the Way Out, Take 1.

I'm sharing this for a few reasons:

1. The practice of iterating has helped me break free from the paralyzing fear of perfectionism. This one minute video exists because I wasn't afraid to ask for some help to find and use a tool to create a first version of it.

2. I used what was available to me to produce a short animated video. I didn't want to spend any money yet on a subscription, and I also didn't want to invest lots of time and energy on this experiment. I often encourage clients to start where they are with what's available to them. Here's a receipt that I practice what I preach!

3. Although I'm not an animator or an AI expert, I am curious and encourage others to follow their curiosity. Here's another receipt that I practice what I preach.

4. The next iteration will be better because I've gotten one rep in. I will also spend more time, energy, and money for a version with more features before the next iteration. I'd like to use audio of Loretta telling the story, create avatars of us to use in the animation, and actually spend time refining and editing. I Know the Way Out, Take 2 will be closer to my vision than Take 1.

Loretta and I aren't professional designers, and Thought Kitchen is a teeny business so we DIY in creating social media, slide decks, handouts, and in the future, short animated videos to deliver lessons in a different format with the intention of becoming more accessible to learners of all styles.

We are legal professionals who have both experienced our own periods of burnout that were so overwhelming neither of us were sure we would get out. Each of us did, and we eventually found ourselves together at Thought Kitchen, where we've created 28 Day Burnout Antidote especially for legal professionals who feel stuck.

If you're stuck in the burnout hole, it's ok.

We’ve been down here before, and we know the way out.

Join us for 28 Day Burnout Antidote