Dear friends,
Here’s a video which will either prove that unplanned things are a disaster or celebrate the victory of spontaneity over drudgery - depending on your perspective!
I’m greatly enjoying experimenting with YouTube. I’ve been intrigued by the platform for years. However, with doing so much video work professionally, it’s always been one thing too much.
There is a great opportunity in the platform, but it’s unbelievably competitive. Rather than seeking results, I am instead focusing on maximum fun.
If I can find a format I enjoy, the doing part will take care of itself.
The psychological challenge is that you must prepare for three years of work to get to the starting line.
This holds true with many “online practices” - whether a newsletter, podcast or an online business.
That’s why I wrote these reminders:
Concentrate on process, not outcome
Think in decades, not days
If you’re having fun, you’re succeeding
Hard work compounds
Helping people is joy
“Amateur” derives from the word love.
Learning is winning
Experimentation builds skill
Press record and see what happens
Consistency is a product of fun
My current focus is on experimentation and seeing if I can create something every week.
On my desk is a card which says:
Build a filming habit
This helped last week.
Though I hope to create focused videos (like this one on resistance), my time was squeezed by life, clients and the tedium of German bureaucracy.
However, by pressing record and having fun, a different type of video emerged.
It taught me that while having intention when starting something new is helpful, sometimes throwing out control teaches you far more than you assume to know.
Too often, our lofty ambitions break our consistency.
A raggedy sense of fun, a haywire approach, and the decision to “shoot from the hip” can be your best friend when life is trying to get in the way.
Lesson?
Keep the fun in it!
If you’re starting something new:
Yes, try to give your best.
But for God’s sake:
Do not let perfection be your enemy.
Get started.
Make it rough, dirty and raggedy.
But just get it moving!
Too many of us are so afraid of appearing we’re failing that it prevents us from trying in the first place.
But the “failure” is the education.
“The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.”
― Stephen McCranie
As for me, it's likely that three years from now, I won't have published a YouTube video in years!
But I will know I tried rather than living with that dreadful feeling of unrealised dreams.
In any case, it has already made me a better filmmaker.
It taught me that content creation is a type of art form.
My creative challenge to you:
What are you avoiding that you know you want to do?
Write it down.
What is the smallest possible step you can take by next Saturday?
Take it.
Next Saturday - drop me a line and let me know how it goes!
Repeat.
Do that for a year, and you will invite new joy into this difficult world.
Remember: to give your gift is not just the privilege of a life; it is a responsibility.
Maybe, just maybe, what you have to give is the very thing that someone out there most needs to hear.
If that can make the world just that little bit better, is that not worth pursuing?
In my estimation:
That is something worth fighting for.
Have a great weekend, everyone, and see you next week.
Jim
This week's new unreleased song, “Fliers for the Dead”, is for my paying subscribers.
Thank you all - every penny is going back into my new studio recordings. I really feel that I’m doing my best work!
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