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“What do you mean, you’re a ‘process guy’?”

Hey there!

In another video, I mention what a challenge it is for me to be open to riffing and improv and playing, and how I have to work at leaving room for that, because, as I said, I’m a process guy.

What the heck does that mean? Well, there are two types of people in the world: process people and options people. I’m a process guy. Here’s why:


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Hope this helps!

David

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Raw YouTube Captioning

hey there it’s David H Lawrence the 17th
and in one of the other videos that I
made in this series of one video a day
for the entire year I mentioned I guess
just kind of casually I mentioned yeah
you know I’m a I’m a process guy not an
options guy so I need to know the step
by step and somebody wrote me an email
saying what what what does that mean
your your process guy what is what is
that what you know tell me what that
means
okay so there’s lots of ways to divvy up
people in the world and one of the ways
to sort of assign an approach to things
to people is either you’re an options
person or you’re a process person and
it’s really a spectrum there’s you know
there are people that are toward one end
or the other I’m pretty pure when it
comes to being a process person but as I
was watching the playoff games go Rams
I’m sorry I’m kind of excited that
they’re going to be in the Superbowl and
that they’re playing New England and I’m
wearing my Cleveland Rams
anyway I was noting how coaches and
players and people who have to adjust
need to know what their options are but
they have to be processed people because
they have to come to a conclusion and
have a step-by-step plan that’s what
those big pieces of paper are that you
see Sean McVeigh holding over his mouth
as he’s talking to Jared Goff in his
helmet so what are these two things
options people are people who want to
know all the different options that they
have at their disposal all the different
things that they might possibly do the
creative ways they can do things can I
do this maybe a little bit of that some
of this over here wait what’s that off
in the distance oh that’s kind of cool
maybe that’ll be a part of it where as
process people are people who want to go
from step one to step seven whatever
where one is I don’t know anything about
this and step seven is I’m world-class
at it or step one is I’m just getting
started and step seven is or 10 or 15
whatever it is I’m done it’s complete
and it’s a success
so options people tend to spend a lot of
time considering all their options and
sometimes that leads to inaction it
leads to yeah I can’t quite decide so
I’m not gonna do it process people once
they get the process they’re off to the
races but sometimes they don’t know
maybe they could have tried something
else maybe there was a better option you
know maybe you decided okay I’ve got the
process I’m gonna do it but if you just
looked around and said oh oh wow wait
hold on maybe that would work with my
process so I am much more to the side of
a process person I I would love to know
what the like I love looking up things
online how to do things
I love sites like II how and how stuff
you know how stuff works calm places
like that and when I tend to provide
support and consultation I tend to
provide it in a process thing rather
than an options well you could do this
or you could do that or what would you
like to do you know so I think it was
when I was talking about you know
coaching versus consulting I think
there’s already that where that email
came from so my question to you is does
that make sense what kind of person are
you are you an options person purely
just very artistic tell me all the
different things maybe I’ll do it maybe
I won’t of course I have an option right
or are you a process person and how
close to either end of those things are
you
it can affect how you do your work so I
want to know that in the comments below
just let me know
there’s no negatives or positives that
will kill you if you’re one or the other
you are what you are and I just like to
help celebrate that with you all right
so if you want to sign up for this
channel go ahead and click on my head if
there’s no head there then go ahead and
click on a subscribe button it’s
somewhere on the page and if you want to
see the last video I made go ahead and
click on that icon right there that
little of that little you know HD screen
and it’ll play it for you cuz that’s
what it does I’m David H Lawrence the
17th I thank you so much for watching
and I will talk to you tomorrow

9 Responses to “What do you mean, you’re a ‘process guy’?”

  1. Arnold January 21, 2019 at 7:25 am #

    Wow, I used to be both (process and options) when it comes to acting. After training with a certain acting coach and after watching this video, I don’t think I’m much of either now.

    Most of my work now comes from a place of “let’s just see what happens”.

    After going through my script(s) a few times, different emotions become invoked, which makes for a different and unpredictable “performance” each time, if I give myself permission to just be/feel.

  2. Ed January 21, 2019 at 7:26 am #

    Hi, David!

    Good thoughts. I agree the processes are on a continuum. It’s kinda how humans work. Few people are completely one thing to the exclusion of all else—although many think they are or want to be.

    For me I’m the type who is process to the point that I want to know how something works, what are the parameters, tab-A goes into slot-B, to produce the desired outcome. Once I know the fundamentals I am an options guy. I want to be able to tweak things to suit me and, perhaps, make the process better.

    This helps a lot when things go wrong. I’m not floating at sea because I don’t have a widget or the widget broke. I can make it work with a whatchamacallit.

    -Ed

  3. Christopher Buckner January 21, 2019 at 10:51 am #

    At my last job my supervisor said I was very “process oriented,” so I’m definitely more of a process person. My wonderful and amazing wife tends to look at a situation and then adds as many layers of complications as humanly possible, which probably makes her an options person. This subject was fun to think about. Thanks for the video.

  4. Emma January 21, 2019 at 7:03 pm #

    I like to start at the options end of the spectrum, and once I have decided on the best option given what I know at that moment, I switch to process. If I then discover the process isn’t working after a few failures to achieve success either of the desired end or even on one step in the process, then I’m back to options. As I considered the option on Jan. 1st of watching your daily videos as part of my investment in myself and my creativity, the process has resulted in some quality time for thinking about questions I perhaps hadn’t ever considered pondering. And I have a satisfying and productive thing to look forward to every day!

  5. Thomas Kan January 21, 2019 at 7:58 pm #

    David,

    I think I am a more process person as I like to do things step by step.

  6. Terri DeKett January 22, 2019 at 3:25 am #

    I am definetly a process person. I like to go from point A to point B with no distractions. I am usually surprised when someone points out my options.

  7. Alexandra Harrington January 22, 2019 at 9:00 pm #

    I would say that I am about 70/30 options/process ( I think?!)…but I REALLY appreciate my teachers being process people!!

  8. Mary Zajac January 25, 2019 at 12:44 pm #

    I see that I am a process person. I like to go from A to Z and know all the steps it takes to get me there. Especially with my “friend” technology. I like to know how to get to where I am going and then be able to follow the steps to get me there again!

    Thank you for these daily videos! I look forward to them.

  9. Ben January 28, 2019 at 6:40 pm #

    Process baby!

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