We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jacob Zacharia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jacob, so great to have you on the platform. There’s so much we want to ask you, but let’s start with the topic of self-care. Do you do anything for self-care and if so, do you think it’s had a meaningful impact on your effectiveness?
Hey thanks for having me. Great question, self care is an inimitable part of my life. Without caring for the self, we are unable to effectively interact with, let alone care for, anyone or anything else: Over the past three years I’ve developed a mindfulness and meditation practice, which has allowed more space for equanimous navigation of the craziness in every day. The most important thing I’ve learned over the development of this practice is the difference between equanimity and indifference; equanimity being the ability to keep a level head and make calculated decisions no matter the circumstance, as opposed to indifference which relinquishes personal responsibility and agency: it’s the difference between taking an active and passive role in your own experience. Being able to name and give credence to the affects we come across, particularly when under stress, empowers our sense of personal agency, strengthening that muscle, so to speak. Life will always throw obstacles at us; what matters most is how we respond to them. Gratitude and realism have been at the forefront of my practice; I ground myself in all the things in life I have to be glad about and from there, difficult situations appear much less difficult.
Another guiding principle that has been central to the intersection of my self-care and efficacy in business has been the Sufi concept of the Three Gates: this concept of the Three Gates gives a roadmap for effective and positive communication; the idea is that anything worth saying must pass through three gates before being deemed worthy of being said. The first gate is, “Is this statement true?” If it is true, it goes onto the next gate. The second gate is “Is this statement necessary?” If it is true and necessary, it goes onto the third gate: “Is this statement kind?” If the statement meets all three of these criteria, then it is worthy of being said. This principle has helped me navigate tough decisions, and find better ways of communicating. It has greatly improved the quality of my relationships, and greatly improved the efficacy of my leadership and teamwork.
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?
Sure, I am a studio owner, sound designer, and audio engineer working out of Corner Store Studios in Manhattan. I’ve been lucky enough to have a career in bringing stories to life through sound. Essentially, my job is to find the essence of what I’m working on, and figuring out what sounds and manipulations of those sounds will evoke the feeling that is being sought after. What’s most exciting is finding new ways of thinking about sound, and solving the puzzles that are presented in the creative work I’m given. It’s also a ton of fun working with new people on different projects and challenging myself to elicit emotions in new ways and find the *right* sounds for each project. There’s never a dull day!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Fantastic question. First and foremost having the confidence that you can apply the aptitude for learning new things to any challenge is essential. Trusting that there is always an answer, even if it’s not clear at the moment, and that with enough resolve it is possible to find that answer, or the path to that answer, is an irreplaceable quality that all other skills can stem from. This comes from a sense of knowing yourself and your strengths. Piggy-backing on this, my second essential quality would be knowing when to ask for help, and being comfortable enough to do so. It can be scary to admit when we don’t know something, or that we are wrong and need more information, but asking questions and staying curious is the most healthy way to learn anything. The best pieces of advice my father gave me are 1. “You can say anything to anyone, as long as you say it with respect” and 2. “It’s ok to be afraid of what you don’t know: be afraid, and do it anyway”. This quality can only be developed through practice, and allowing yourself to be uncomfortable in the moment, so that you can become comfortable from having asked and learned.
The third essential quality is the understanding that multi-tasking is impossible: if you want to do something well, it deserves your full attention. Humans cannot split their attention to focus on more than one task at one time. There are ways to automate tasks to allow for them to be done without your attention, freeing up space to focus on what is the most important thing at that time, but that is not multi-tasking. Committing to the most important task at any given time, and seeing it through to whatever conclusion it may bring, is another essential skill. Developing this one is difficult, especially in today’s environment of instant gratification, striving, and constant stimuli. It is therefore essential to be able to make a concrete decision about how to effectively use your time, and stick to that; not get caught in “what if’s” or “if only’s”.
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
Set a goal and work backwards: what is the ultimate thing that you are trying to achieve? Envision it, what does it look like when it’s happening in its most ideal form? See yourself doing it in your mind’s eye. Then reverse-engineer the steps it takes to achieve this goal. Break it down into its component parts, and figure out what needs to happen when. Play to your strengths, and the strengths of the people around you: if there is a certain skill that you feel is the most important for you to develop to achieve your goal, then focus on that, and find other people whose strengths compliment yours. Become knowledgeable enough about all of the component parts and how they interact to at least be able to have an educated conversation with all necessary people that you may need to involve in the endeavor of achieving your goal: Don’t waste time becoming an expert about every little thing. Focus on your thing, and learn enough about the adjacent component parts to attract and keep the people you need to help you achieve the goal. Sometimes you cannot be both the person with the idea and the person who executes the idea: be ok to fire yourself from jobs that you are not the best person to do, but make sure that when you do, you have someone better than you at that job to fill in that role. Pick the tasks that matter the most, and then pick the tasks that fulfill you the most, find the intersections, and find the other people who can help fill in the gaps. For example, when building my studio, we determined that for the best sound quality, we needed to make sure that our room had the proper sound proofing and treatment to create the most ideal listening environment in the space we have: I am not great with math, I am not an expert in the science of spatial acoustics, and I am very bad at construction; If I had tried to learn all of this, it would’ve taken me months or years to get enough information to be able to effectively design, let alone build, that ideal listening environment. So I identified the necessary tasks and personnel germane to achieving my goal, I found them, and I hired them, and now I have a great sounding space. This would not have been possible if I had tried to do it all alone.
Contact Info:
- Website: cornerstorenyc.com
- Instagram: cornerstorestudios
- Linkedin: Jacob Zacharia
- Other: email: [email protected]
Image Credits
Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah
