You know, we live in a paradoxical age. Nobody has time to do anything. I mean, you can probably even outsource coming up with a list of things to do in your life that can be outsourced! And yet, we all think we could do almost anything, fix almost anything – if only we had the time.
But what if the things that most need fixing are the very skills that make up your life? I think it’s our actual life skills that some of us actually need fixing up. I know how to do lots of stuff – but some of it real badly. What I really want fixing up are some of my basic life skills, and… oh yeah, in keeping with my culture’s paradox, I’ve only got a minute or so to do it! Lucky for me I discovered the fun website OneMinuteHowTo.com.
OneMinuteHowTo.com is the brainchild of American webmaster, podcaster and photographer George L. Smyth. George told me his girlfriend was the inspiration for the site a couple years ago. She’d ask him how something was done and he’d reply at considerable length. Usually sometime after the one minute mark he noted her eyes started glazing over. That’s when he got the idea for a podcast site to which anybody can contribute. The challenge is to tell the rest of us how to do something in about a minute.
Which are my favourite podcasts on his site? Well, first, I thought I’d start with the basics. Most of us think we are pretty good cooks but I realised my culinary skills might need fixing up after I had friends over who accused me of trying to poison them. Who knew you could wreck Kraft Dinner? (True story.) In his podcast HOW TO MAKE THE PERFECT EGG, Chef Cary Wolfson tells us the secret of making the perfect hard boiled egg. I often make hard boiled eggs, but half the time the shell won’t come off easily. It’s so basic a skill you may think it’s unnecessary to relearn but it’s a skill that I guess I needed fixing up. And I really did learn how to do it in under a minute. So, kudos to Chef Wolfson!
OK, Audio Addict, do you think this site promotes the idea that the only life skills worth fixing are those which can be fixed up in a minute?
No, not really. Well, no more so than the rest of society today which does seem obsessed with the quick fix – in part because experts make stuff look so easy and in part because it caters to our multi-task-driven short attention spans. But I think most of us (including the contributors to this site) know that most worthwhile life skills actually take a little longer to perfect than just a minute! I suspect that the ratio is probably something like this – the more it means to you the longer it will take to perfect.
And so to raise the ante, my next life skill that I wanted fixing up had to really mean something to me. OK. I’ve been working on my novel for a few years now – like everybody else I know. And it’s a lot harder than it looks. Or is it? Author Paula Paul’s podcast HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL on oneminutehowto.com purports to tell us exactly how to do just that. But can such a life skill be learned in a minute? Well, IMHO, this podcast is very good for someone just starting out but you could argue there are many novels that break her overly simplified formula. Or even if you do accept it, once you get going, I’d have to say this is obviously another life skill that takes a little longer than just a minute to learn! To be fair, I’m sure Paula knows that too and did very well to try to condense a lifetime’s work into less than a minute. And that’s what the site is really all about, of course – it is an engaging, entertaining way to introduce you to various life skills without causing your eyes to glaze over. Its self-imposed minute limit is really only a challenge for its contributors – not necessarily an expectation of achievement for its listeners. (Hey, if you do really learn something to perfection in a minute then that’s a pure bonus!)
The funniest podcast I found on the site (and I must admit to date I have sampled only a fraction of all those available) is HOW TO TALK LIKE A PIRATE with Capt’n Slappy and Ol’ Chumbucket – co-founders of the now famous annual Talk Like A Pirate Day (September 19th). Definitely a unique life skill worth fixing up, and one I could absolutely learn to perfection in under a minute, ahoy avast arrr!
When I asked the site’s creator if he’d ever turned down any potential contributors, he told me just one. Seems it was all about tying down your partner. (I presume this refers to techniques other than tying them to you with binding promises!) George had no personal objections to it but “politely declined” the pending podcast as it might’ve got the entire site unfairly labeled as not so family-friendly.
OneMinuteHowTo.com has lots more fascinating life skills presented by guest contributors that you can listen to in about a minute, all expertly introduced by George (who turns his hand to a few How To podcasts himself). Details on how to contribute your own expertise are also listed on the site. Just recently it passed its one millionth download! Congratulations to George and to all of his fellow podcasters. It’s definitely my favourite on line audio resource of the month and one I know I will return to again, whenever the urge to “fix up” more basic life skills takes hold!
Your comments, in need of fixing up or otherwise, as always welcome to theaudioaddict[at]hotmail.com
