We recently had the chance to connect with Hank Schyma and have shared our conversation below.
Hank, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
Anytime I’m in a fun and creative work routine, like editing a documentary, I’ll look up and wonder what happened to the hours, days or weeks. It’s like that time is completely missing. When nothing new is occurring in life, the brain seems to delete the redundancy and the time flies. Variety has just the opposite effect. When I travel someplace new or work a job in different daily atmospheres, like storm chasing, or gigging with a band, all the different experiences register in memory and a year feels twice as long. During the redundant periods, I’ve found working in weird experiences preserves the time. Simple things like going to new restaurants or doing random weird things make life seem longer. The next time you’re shopping for groceries, toss an egg 5 feet into the air. Whether you catch it or not, you’ll probably remember trip to the grocery store for years.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a musician, adventure documentary film maker and I guess I can say “Author” now. My first book “Storm – Chasing Nature’s Wildest Weather” hits the book stores on Halloween. Perhaps a unique thing about my brand is that it’s all over the place and somehow works.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
I grew up thinking I was dumb and talentless. Years of effort made me a mediocre guitarist, a hopeless skateboarder, and a professional D-student. At 18, I ran off to L.A. to be a rockstar. Turns out I had a knack for surfing. Within months I was competing with locals and thinking, If I can do this, I can do anything. The lesson was quit wasting time on stuff you’re terrible at and lean into what feels natural.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
After 15 years of grinding in the live music scenes, quitting would’ve felt like accepting failure, and that was harder to swallow than the struggle itself. So giving up was never an option, even if I end up 70 years old still playing dives. I did make one promise to myself though: never be the balding guy with a beer belly, squeezing into leather pants and eyeliner, desperately trying to crash the latest music scene.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
Beating them at poker.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
That I was able to have deep philosophical conversations with reptiles.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://pecoshank.com
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PecosHank
- Other: https://geni.us/StormBook
Image Credits
Jonathan Stewert
Jason Smith
Jamie Winterstern
Hank Schyma
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
