We were lucky to catch up with Jack Wardale recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jack, we’ve been so fortunate to work with so many incredible folks and one common thread we have seen is that those who have built amazing lives for themselves are also often the folks who are most generous. Where do you think your generosity comes from?
Definitely my mum. Watching her act so selflessly to the betterment of others really inspires me to give as much of myself to others as possible. I’m a firm believer that leading with love and compassion can encourage others to do the same.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Hello! My name is Jack Wardale, and I am currently finishing up my PhD in Psychology while being a freelance content creator and brand strategist. My life journey started in Norwich, England, but I moved to the United States at 18 to pursue higher education. I currently reside between Blacksburg, Virginia, and Los Angeles, California.
For me, the most special part of my job as a PhD student is being able to disseminate empirical findings that are applicable to everyone. In the self-help world, there are currently a minefield of ‘pop psychology’ books and gurus that are often founded on personal experience, rather than empirically-backed research. As someone who studies psychology, I feel responsible to help people understand the difference between scientific studies and opinion. In a digital world where what is factual is becoming ever harder to discern, it’s a sincere privilege to teach people about psychology and the profound impact it can have improving one’s well-being.
In my spare time, I also love to create content. Five years ago I started a really embarrassing YouTube channel due to my best friend Mitch telling me it was ‘the future’. He wasn’t wrong, but my content was terrible. It actually still exists on my YouTube channel because it’s a reminder of how much I have grown as a creator. For anyone else, it is sure to give you some comic relief. Although I was awful, I loved it. Being in such a logically-driven environment in school, it allowed me to exercise the creativity I didn’t know I had. The opportunity to create something from nothing and make people feel something excited me like nothing else. So I kept going, and each video I got a little better. The rest, as they say, is history!
Combining content creation and psychology at first felt too disparate to combine, but after seeing how short our attention span has become due to the rise of short-form content, it has been interesting to dissect what makes content ‘engaging’ through a psychological lens. It has afforded me the opportunity to help brands strategize their content in order to improve engagement using psychological principles. Sometimes creators get preoccupied creating the most aesthetic product, but it is just as important to understand why a prospective consumer would engage with a piece of content. Arguably the biggest trend in social content has been the shift from high-quality, aesthetic content to lower quality, narrative driven content, often referred to as UGC (user-generated content). It is no surprise as social beings that we are more likely to engage with people than brands who hide behind their product or service.
Moving forward I hope to combine my love for creating and my passion for psychology to ultimately make people happier.
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?
I think the three skills that have enabled me to grow have been empathy, the capacity to problem-solve, and time management.
Empathy is something I preach to everyone, as I think the capacity to actively listen and care for others is something that can really deepen a relationship and improve your capacity to connect with others. To improve this, I think we have to be actively willing to take the time out of our busy lives to think about those around us. I think we think we care, myself included, but we really have to challenge ourselves to take that extra step, even if it feels a little socially unconventional. I think society has perpetuated that we should feel fine all the time. It’s why our programmed response to someone asking us how we are is ‘I’m good thanks, how are you?’ I believe we have a responsibility to love others on a deeper level in order to liberate others to be vulnerable.
Problem-solving has been critical in my journey. The sooner you accept that things can and will go wrong, the sooner you will become proactive rather than reactive. This is not me saying become a pessimist, but rather being critical enough to foresee potential problems and have already come up with a solution. I think graduate school certainly helped me sharpen this skill, since we were religiously told to scrutinize research and propose a more rigorous way to conduct the study. I also think my own personal failure has developed this skill. Over time I have changed my relationship with failure. At first, I took it personally, but after dealing with failure countless times, I now see it as an opportunity to problem solve.
Finally, time management is something I am still working diligently on, but is something I cannot endorse more when it comes to personal development. I like to think I am superman at the best of times, but unfortunately I have been reminded far too many times that I am not. It took a lot of time mismanagement and letting people that I love down to really reconsider my own time and how I allocate it. I am still a work in progress, but I challenge you to shift your mindset from “I don’t have time” to “I didn’t make the time”. There are extra hours in the day, but you must be critical of where you currently spend your time. Not only will you find an increase in productivity, but find more time for those you love. I highly encourage time blocking. I’m someone who will jump between different things but telling myself I am only working on one thing per hour has been incredibly beneficial.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I’m always open to connecting with other individuals. I think creating content is such a blessing because it can connect you with so many different people from different industries as we live in an age where a digital social presence is universal in importance.
I am always looking to collaborate with other creators, but I’m also open to connecting with those who are just starting their journey. I didn’t have a mentor in the creative industry when I started, so I am more than happy to be that point of contact for others and save them some time.
Without trying to pitch, of course if you are a brand currently struggling with your digital presence I would love to connect. Although social media can feel like an uphill battle, there are some simple cost-effective things that you can do that can transcend the presence you have online to build an engaged audience.
You can connect with me on any social platform @wardalejack
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jackwardale.com
- Instagram: @wardalejack
- Facebook: Jack Wardale
- Linkedin: Jack Wardale
- Twitter: @wardalejack
- Youtube: Jack Wardale
Image Credits
Georgia Fowkes
