Learning From Masterclass
A dear friend of mine gave me the most wonderful gift for Christmas. She asked me what would be something that would enrich my learning and support me with my goals. I thought about it for a while, and then it came to me: a subscription to Masterclass. I have been contemplating subscribing for some time, but to be honest, we try to limit the number of subscription services we have in the Yarborough house. I already had a Skillshare subscription, so I wasn’t ready to sign up for another. When my friend offered it to me as such a generous gift, it voided that obstacle.
If you aren’t familiar with Masterclass, it is a subscription platform hosting tutorials and lectures pre-recorded by experts in various fields. Names like Hans Zimmer, Judy Blume, Wolfgang Puck, Malcolm Gladwell, Shonda Rhimes, Steve Martin, etc. Classes range from many different creative arts disciplines to subjects like cooking, science, sports, politics, and leadership, just to name a few. Additionally, Masterclass has curated segments from various classes under one topic. For example, “The Influence of Others,” “Dialogue for Screen and Stage,” and if you want to be in the kitchen improving your culinary techniques, “Eggs.”
So far, I have watched the entire class of British Formula One racing driver Lewis Hamilton. In Formula One, he has won a joint-record seven World Drivers’ Championship titles (tied with Michael Schumacher). He holds the records for the most wins, pole positions, and podium finishes. As one of the few persons of color in Formula One, Hamilton has used his platform to make the sport more inclusive and diverse for other people of color and women.
Now you might be wondering what I have in common with a Formula One race car driver? Well, his class is “A Winning Mindset.” Even though I have no desire to go around a race car track, I appreciate his passion for his career and learning about it. Beyond that, I want to hear what he has to say about successfully accomplishing life goals, because I strive for that too.
I believe that we can learn something from anyone if we just try hard enough. I think all life experiences, regardless of how random or non-related to our own lives and interests, can offer some reflection into our own life. That is the beauty of our human connection— our shared humanity— and I don’t think that should ever be taken for granted.
I learned a lot about Hamilton I didn’t know before, but the knowledge nugget that stuck with me is when he said that failure is a necessary part of any growth process.
He said, “If you don’t fail, how can you know to do better?” That was a lightbulb moment for me. While a common and acceptable mantra of improvement work is “fail fast and fail often,” I think failure still carries a negative connotation. But what if it didn’t have to? What if failure can be understood to be not only necessary but positive? Wouldn’t it make the next time failure happens not feel so shitty? In other words: failure shouldn’t be avoided; it should be embraced. Thanks, Lewis Hamilton, for giving me that insight and paradigm shift.
From what I have browsed on the platform so far, Masterclasses seem to range in 10-18 class sub-topics. Most video segments are single front-facing interview style in format. Although sometimes there will be complimentary B-Roll or a demonstration video to further illustrate something or give more visual interest. Also, most classes come with some additional supplementary materials or worksheets that subscribers can download to help apply what they are being taught in the class.
While I did watch Hamilton’s class all the way through, now I am starting to bounce around. I’ve begun Hillary Clinton’s class on Resilience, Nas’s class on Hip-Hop Storytelling, and I’m currently watching a course on Graphic Design by award-winning graphic designer David Carson. I will go back and finish these classes. I typically watch on my iPad in the evening before bed, and I want to complete some of them on my desktop so I can take notes and download some of their class materials.
What I appreciate about Masterclass the most is how it peels back the curtain on process. As a creative entrepreneur, I find this very inspiring and motivating. We often see those we admire and think they just showed up that way. We don’t see years of work, practice, setbacks, and, yeah, some serendipity that had to happen to get them to the point of who we see them as now. I applaud the presenters for their vulnerability and openness to share their journey so that others such as myself might learn something from their insights and experiences.
In the Power of Habit, I read about Michael Phelps’s process to prepare him for his Gold Medal wins. It involved thousands of hours of training and lap practice in the pool. But we don’t ever see the lap practice. All we see is the medal stand. Likewise, I saw Ed Sheeran mentoring young singers on The Voice last season. He revealed that every major record company rejected him three times, and even his current record company rejected him the first time they heard him. His point: practice your craft and don’t give up.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I enjoy failure stories or relish others’ struggles and setbacks It’s just learning more details about the journey’s of people you have come to admire— their successes and failures— makes them human. They are no longer “superhuman” or the perfect packaged finish product presented to us.
Even though I may never win a Pulitzer Prize one day, I still value learning the skills of how I could. After all, it’s never about the destination. It’s about the journey. The process is everything.
