Failing in public
Hey there, happy Sunday!
Last week I talked about the concept of building in public, this week I want to talk about and share with you what it's like to fail in public.
For a few weeks I'd had the idea to challenge myself to make one video everyday for 100 days.
My thought process behind making a daily video was that I needed to get better on camera and put the hours into making videos. I'd hoped that by making a video everyday I'd learn quicker, reaching the point where I could then make great videos.
But I failed to factor in two things:
1) My personality can't carry a video
Initially I thought that I would be able to set out a few bullet points for every video and just riff on those concepts. It quickly became clear that I don't have the type of personality to capture attention through riffing on camera.
Instead I need to focus on crafting a narrative, writing a tight script for my videos and increasing production value.
Which leads me onto the second point.
2) It takes so much time
I underestimated how long videos take to make. From the sidelines you never stop to think about how much time goes into making a video. You watch a 10 minute video and move on with your life but often there are a lot of hours that go into making just one video. Too many hours for me to find every single day.
Accepting that I'm not the kind of person who can make captivating videos by riffing, I need to focus on the production quality of my videos. The edits need to be tight, I need B roll and a coherent story to communicate my ideas.
Something thats impossible for me to create every single day alongside freelancing, learning and general life things.
Whilst it hurts to admit defeat, I'm glad I learnt the lesson quickly and didn't power through burning myself out and creating a situation where I came to hate making videos.
I'm now more excited than ever to make videos and share ideas, just at a lower frequency and higher quality.
Stop trying to be Original
(Video)
This Weeks Finds
I.
Spotify’s Open Access Platform
(Article)
Spotify are working on adding the ability for creators to distribute their own subscription podcast on their platform.
What's most interesting about the move is that Spotify are letting creators plug in their own infrastructure and taking no fee from the podcaster. This will help subscription based podcasts distribute their content easily.
As for Spotify it seems they are playing the long game as they try to become the go to place for all things audio.
II.
80/20 is the new Half-Ass
(Article)
The 80/20 rule is something you hear about a lot when trying to perform at a high level in multiple areas. This short opinion article makes some interesting counterpoints to following the 80/20 rule.
Personally I think finding a balance is best, go really deep in 1 - 2 areas and 80/20 the rest.
III.
Invest in your brain
(Tweet)
This Weeks Idea
Instead of always trying to make great decisions sometimes it's better to start with what you want to avoid:
“A lot of success in life and business comes from knowing what you want to avoid: early death, a bad marriage, etc.” - Charlie Munger
End Note
If you’re enjoying the Sunday Filter then I’d really appreciate if you could share it with a few friends. You can send them over here to sign up.
Have a great week!
- Stephen
