A Problem Solver Mindset

It’s been 3 weeks since working for a media production company, and I’ve learned 3 important things that have helped me and I believe can help you if you’re starting out in any field of work as well.

The first one, working smart. When the first week of work in the media production company began, I had a set goal in mind which was to give my best and meant passing all the outputs on time, less revisions etc. I was happy as everything went smoothly and my head even told me how impressed he was since it was my first time editing the videos that they were asking for. Although it was during the second week where I noticed my workflow starting to get slower. I felt pressure on my shoulders as my superior questioned how I was doing because he noticed the minimal videos I would be passing. I was even having trouble getting their templates right and that frustrated me. My first mindset, to pass my best work, was causing delays in my work. I decided to pause and figure out the problem and decided to work smart, which was researching on how to do the edits simpler. Once I did, my workflow had gotten faster!

The second thing I learned was to double check my outputs before passing it. I can’t tell you the countless times I’ve passed my output and uploaded it in the company's shared drive, to have my superiors and colleagues message me that it was either the wrong link or my videos coming out with grammar errors. Luckily, we do have a copywriter checking on the videos we editors pass but, it’s always better to check first before exporting or handing it over.

Lastly, is clarifying instructions. Most people would be terrified to ask questions, but I encourage you to ask questions if the instructions aren’t clear. There was an instance where I had passed my video and I had overlooked a grammatical errors in my video. The copywriter commented on the video and tagged our supervisor to have it checked. Not knowing what she meant by tagging my supervisor, I went to revise the video with her comments in mind. I exported it and then uploaded it, for it to only be revised again! I could have saved more time having been patient or simply asked what she meant.

The whole experience so far has reminded me to always look at the situations as a way to grow as a person and learn from my mistakes. Having a proactive and problem solver mindset has really helped me and makes me look at situations like this in a different light.