Meet Robert Peckyno

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Robert Peckyno. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Robert below.

Hi Robert, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
If I’m being honest – I probably haven’t or ever will ‘overcome’ imposter syndrome. I think of it as a normal response when you strive ‘above your station.’ To improve, you need to continually work with people who are better than you at whatever it is that you are trying to do. As a natural result of doing that, you will often feel a bit out of your depth. This does not mean that you are not good enough – or have no talent – or cannot accomplish the task – it just means that you are learning! Embrace it! Look inside and ask why it is that you are uncomfortable – what pieces of knowledge/experience/gear would improve your situation – and let that guide your path. Whatever it is that you do, the most important rule is to never stop evolving! Don’t ever get too comfortable…! As you grow, you need to continually find new mentors and opportunities.

Try and get honest objective feedback from people who actually work in your field and are successful at doing the thing you want to do. Seek out “experts.” Your mother might love your music, but will it work in a movie scene? If not, why not? Your game/project might be innovative, but will people want to play/participate? If not, why not? Your scientific research might have a solid hypothesis, but can it pass peer review? This is where your ego has to take a seat. Listen and learn from all feedback. You may ultimately choose to ignore it – and that is ok, but before you do – at least understand the feedback and give it a try. A/B test and find out who is right.

Finally, remember that everyone is (almost certainly…) human. Your idol, your enemy, your boss, and your lover. They all have their own insecurities and challenges, just the same as you. Don’t feel that you are unique or alone… History is filled with people just like you. No matter the field, you will find examples of some who have succeeded and many more who never achieved their goals despite an entire lifetime of trying. What separates the two? Often, it is simply luck… Don’t be too hard on yourself for not changing the world today.

When you look at others’ successes, remember they all started with failures and setbacks including all of the emotional and psychological baggage that entails. Know that vanGogh, Bach, Melville, Dickenson, and many others were mostly ignored during their lives, but their creations were rediscovered by history and today we can’t imagine anyone not knowing them. But, that fact meant nothing to their personal mental health struggles while alive…

There will always be a percentage of people who love everything you do and a percentage that dislike you for even breathing. Do your best to thank the first group and ignore the second… The rest is out of your hands. All you can do is create the very best work (and world) that you possibly can. Be the best YOU that you can be. You cannot be an imposter if you are truly being yourself!

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Greetings friends! I am an artist, composer, dreamer, educator, graphic/web designer, scientist, video editor, and part-time hermit. My undergrad was music business and I interned across Nashville at booking agencies, record companies, and performance venues. For several years afterward, I worked in copyright administration handling the paperwork for over 30000 songs.

I started my own record company in 1995 and have since released 10 albums and 2 EPs. My latest album “Astounding Stories, Vol. 1” is a prog rock geek bonanza retelling of classic science fiction stories from 1929. [Email me with the subject line “FREE ASV.1” and I’ll send you a code for a free download!]

I stream live on Twitch, Facebook, and YouTube part-time and have created a YouTube channel to serve as a portfolio and hub for my video work including live clips, instructional design, sync examples, and the game music from my Unity Store, etc. I’ve previously had the honor of producing hundreds of live events for the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion at Oregon State and have included my favorite event videography examples from that time as well.

Over the years, I have earned two Master’s degrees (Space Studies and Geography/GIS) and was lucky enough to get to work with NASA and ESA scientists on the Cassini mission helping to interpret and map the radar data. For many years, I taught the History of Outer Space and Introduction to Space Studies at OSU and UND respectively, and in 2018 I created the first-ever university course focused on the Women’s History of Outer Space studying early astronomers (e.g. Caroline Herschel), pilots (Bessie Coleman, Harriet Quimby, etc), mathematicians (Katherine Johnson, et al), and astronauts (Sally Ride, Valentina Terishkova, etc). I am currently putting all of these course materials into an online learning management platform that will be free and open to the public by the end of 2024. You can start now, however, by checking out the Women’s Space History Timelines on the website listed below.

Finally, I am currently learning to program in the augmented reality space via Unity. This past summer, I built and promoted an augmented reality treasure hunt (the yARrrr Pirate Adventure) in Seattle. 85 teams hunted over three days and captured over 300 pirates – each of which led players to one of 25 local West Seattle sponsoring businesses.

Today, I am looking for ways to use my skills to give back and help others to succeed while continuing to grow, learn new skills, and be a better human.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1. Never stop learning!! It is surprisingly easy to become complacent as you age and to get so caught up in life that you simply stop learning new things. No matter what it is that you do, there is probably a better way to do it than there was 20 years ago. New software, new sounds, new editors, new AI tools, new tastes, etc… Your methods might work for you, but is there not a better way? If you haven’t tried, then you don’t really know. If you hear someone talking about a tool that you think you can use for your own work, check it out and play around with it for a bit. That is a valid use of time! (see #3 below)

The best way to learn is through practical application. So, while you are going through tutorials online or taking classes or whatever – maximize your time efficiency and try to produce a finished product at the end of it that is for YOU! If you want to learn web design, build your own brand a website… If you want to learn video editing, start by making some videos for yourself… Whatever it is, don’t wait for someone else – Learn it yourself and use your own story as practice. You can learn anything you want to at any time and you are never too old. No matter what it is, the more you practice, the better you will get!

It’s like the old saying,
“I’d love to learn French…, but it will take me 10 years…!“
“Well… how old will you be in 10 years if you don’t learn French? Turns out it’ll be the same… So you might as well start learning today!”

2. Never stop moving and connecting!! This one is a bit harder for some. Think of any adventure video game you’ve ever played. If you want to battle bats or rabbits, they are probably in every zone – but if you want to advance your character and get special abilities or find special mobs – you MUST go to different zones/areas. The real world is not all that dissimilar. If you want to work in Country Music, you probably don’t want to move to Los Angeles… but instead to Nashville, Memphis, or Branson. Showtunes are better on Broadway than in Miami. Similarly, if you work on high-end computing, Seattle is a much better choice than Omaha. You get the idea. Whatever it is that you do, there probably is a hub for this work somewhere. You will have a lot less resistance and trouble if you are where the action is… Go there. Find a way to meet everyone! It is very hard to evolve in a vacuum and 100% impossible to succeed in one. Network!! I hate that word, but sadly it is what it is – the best opportunities (and almost always the first opportunities) come from knowing the right person or being in the right place. Every person in your field that you directly connect with (and actually get to know more than just social posting a thumbs up…) exponentially increases your odds of finding work (and possibly success!).

3. Never stop!! If you do one thing a day towards your goal, you will be surprised at how far you have progressed in a year. Do it for five years and you’ll be amazed!! It doesn’t have to be huge or take 9 hours. Maybe you need a graphic, a photo, a social post or a connection with someone else in the field, one paragraph of text, one new track/overdub on a song, one new grant application, one new upload to your online store, or even one hour of practice / fooling around / intentional relaxation. All pieces of the puzzle are necessary, but you can assemble them in any order you want. Choose something you can sort out today and get to it!

Don’t let the trials of life stop your progress. I tend to give real disasters one full day of frustration release – e.g. spend one day being fully and immersively upset and caring for your mental health – then tomorrow, get the *$%#&% back to work!

The only constant is change. Tastes change. Allies change. Opportunities change.
When I was young, I managed a Blockbuster video store and could not imagine that a company so large and powerful could disappear from relevance so fast… The music business of today is VASTLY different than the music business that I learned during my undergrad at MTSU in the early 90s… You can bemoan it. You can complain about it. You can wish till the end of time that things were the ‘way they used to be.’ – but that mode of thinking will only result in time steamrolling over you. If you want to stay current, you have to give up trying to make things into yesterday and instead try to prepare for tomorrow. (e.g. You might consider spending some time learning about augmented reality now…!)

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I am always open to tangible opportunities for collaboration. This could be music, production, instructional design, space lectures, videography, graphic design, augmented reality, events, non-profit support, or anything else that is interesting and fun.

Connect and message via any of the platforms listed below.

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