This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
What's up everybody, welcome. I'm so glad you're tuning in today. Very special episode. This is our weekly failure Friday segment. We've got a very special guest.
The principle of failure Friday is that we can learn as much from failure as we can from success, if not in fact more. So we put together a collection of short stories all about mistakes, missteps, disasters, and of course, failure. And I'm excited because today's short story features Jonathan Fields from New York City. Jonathan is a bestselling author, podcast host, former personal trainer and yoga studio owner. You'll actually hear about that shortly.
In a previous life, he was an attorney, a restaurant owner. He's done all kinds of stuff. He's also one of my best friends. We have known each other for more than a decade, spoken together at different events all over the country. And among other things, he has been part of all nine years of the World Domination Summit.
That's the event I founded. And when I started it, Jonathan was one of the first people I asked to come and keynote for the inaugural WDS. And he has continued to be part of it year after year. I could say a lot more good things about Jonathan, but I want you to hear from him. His new book "Sparked" was just released to much acclaim.
I mentioned it the other day on the show. I'll put it in the weekly recap email as well. And I asked him today to tell us one of his disaster stories. I said one because he's got a bunch of them like me and he gave us a really good one. I first listened to this story while I was running one day and I couldn't stop laughing as I pictured everything unfolding.
So I don't want to preview it too much. He's gonna tell the story much better than I ever could. I'll come back at the end to briefly wrap us up. Here is Jonathan Fields. [Music]
Hey, this is Jonathan Fields.
And this is one of my many, many, many, many, many, did I mention many, failure stories. So back in the early aughts, fancy way of saying the early 2000s, don't know why that came out that way, I was running my own yoga studio. And I got this note that the managing editor of one of the biggest, actually the biggest yoga magazine in the world at the time was coming to New York and they wanted to feature us in a story about this new emerging yoga scene in New York City. And I was so excited. This would be the crowning moment, our official welcome into the world of legitimate yoga.
We'd been a bit of an outcast studio on the scene up until that point. We broke a lot of rules. Some people loved it. Others hated it. We kind of loved it.
So I used to teach this signature class. It was called Sonic Flow. The name of the studio was Sonic Yoga. So it was based on that. And it kind of brought all these different things together.
My past life as a club GJ and my love of music and movement and breath. And I would pre-record the music onto a CD and I would beat match it to the rhythm and the breath of the class that I was about to teach. So everything was so synchronized. And by the way, yes, I said a CD. We're talking pre iPod here.
So I spent all the next morning on the day that this editor was supposed to arrive to take that big signature class. I was working on my music mix, got it all set up so it was perfect. It matched the flow I wanted to teach. And then I save it down to a CD so that I could use that later that night to guide the class. And then as I did normally when I did this, just to make sure it was all gonna work okay.
Couple hours before that class, before the fancy editor and all the people were gonna pack into the room that night, I cleared out the room and I'm in the practice room. I put on the CD and I just start practicing to it. I wanna do the whole flow myself. And everything's going great. It's sinking perfectly.
And I'm like, this is going to be amazing. And then we get about halfway through and the music starts to degrade into pure screeching static. I mean, this was awful. It wasn't even just a little rough. This was just, you couldn't even have it in your ears.
I don't think to myself, oh no. What went through my head was that the entire sound system had somehow shorted out and melted down. And I had this editor coming in and a packed class that was gonna mint us in the yoga world that night. So I literally run over to 48th Street in New York City, which is considered music row in the city. I buy an entirely new sound system, speakers, amps, CD player, mixer, cables.
I throw it in a cab. I run it upstairs. And I set to work madly installing the entire system myself. There's no time to ask or find anyone else. Plus I was a DJ in college.
So I kind of know my way around audio equipment or so I thought. And I finished off the final wiring, literally as the first students are beginning to enter the practice room for the big debut that night. And it's a packed class. It's literally shoulder to shoulder, mat to mat. This is my dream scenario.
I figure I've got the problem solved. This is just, I'm gonna let it go all my meditation and yoga has prepared me for this moment to just let it go and be in the moment, drop into it. And the editor is front and center on the mat directly facing me, taking the class before our sit down interview to follow. So I turn the lights down. I start teaching.
We're all vibing and flowing together, sweating up a storm. And it's amazing. It's everything I wanted it to be. And then halfway through at the exact same spot, it happens. The music devolves into total and utter chaotic static.
And in that moment, it dawns on me. It wasn't the sound system. I just burned a bad CD. Everyone's covering their ears saying, turn that off on this down. I run over, turn it off, throw in a random CD of music and just teach whatever I can to try and save whatever semblance of credibility that I have.
The whole thing is ruined. I'm mortified and waiting for the big public hit when the magazine finally comes out. And I sit down for an interview after and it doesn't come up by trying to explain this was not the normal experience. And, you know, it kind of gets brushed off. Couple months later, the episode finally hits the street and we're featured as part of what's kind of described as the progressive hybrid yoga scene in New York City.
Basically teed up as bastardizing the practice. And my disastrous class, which was indeed disastrous was featured as such. It was kind of a broad take down on the entire scene. Still, we made the pages of the premier magazine in the space and somewhere in there, they wrote these words, Jonathan Fields, a muscular dark haired guy wearing a baseball hat walks in and begins a rigorous, powerful vinyasa session accompanied by music. And that my friends was something to write home about.
[Music]
Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. That is the theme of failure Friday. And I am grateful to the muscular and fearless Jonathan Fields for sharing this story. Actually, he would say he's not fearless. He just does stuff anyway, which is kind of my perspective.
It's okay to be afraid of things. You just don't let fear make your decisions. Again, his new book is called "Sparked". Discover your unique imprint for work that makes you come alive. I have read an advanced copy.
I love it. I am telling everybody I know about it. So I encourage you to pick up a copy wherever you shop for books. You can also subscribe to his award-winning podcast, "Good Life Project", wherever you listen. And last but not least, his personal website is JonathanFields.com.
All right, that's it for today. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you for being out there. Whatever's going on in your world, I'm cheering you on. I'll be back again tomorrow.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. You are listening to "Side Hustle School". [Music]
From the "Onward Project".
