You know the feeling, right? Staring at the blinking cursor on the blank word document? Or fiddling around with a few video clips in an editing software, not getting anywhere because nothing looks cool? Feeling stuck is the worst.

Bad habits are the bi-product of our breakneck, capitalist culture. A truck spits out Co2. We spit out bad habits.

When did you realize you won’t be a world-renowned prodigy? Maybe you realized it when you turned 20 or 30 or 40. Maybe it became clear when you stopped understanding TikTok lingo. Maybe it sank in when someone much younger than you was in charge.

Have you ever practiced a free throw? Or a six-foot putt? There are the things in sport that look so easy, but when you stand under the hoop or over the ball, a universe of possibility opens up. And most of those possibilities result in misses.

Uh oh. There was a hiccup. Plans changed. Someone forgot the skateboard. Whatever it is, here’s my three step process to deal with changing plans on a video shoot.

I have a friend who is quite successful. Projects and opportunities and connections and money flow his way freely. What impresses me most is how quickly he forgets about his failures.

Even if we only achieve 1% of our intended goal, we still receive 1% of the benefits. Not anything to brag about, but something is still something. Second, and most importantly, every tiny action we take builds a habit.

A staple in our culture has always been the theater. It’s taken different shapes over the centuries, but humans have always gathered to see a show.

I’m here to argue that video is becoming the new email. Not in a way that it will be used for daily communication, but in a way that if you don’t learn to use it, you’ll go extinct.

In order to make more money as a freelancer, you have to be willing to leave money on the table. You have to be able to say no to money when it’s offered to you.

To become really good at something, the novelty needs to wear off. Creators can get too excited about the novelty of the work or the project, then create a worse product because of that.

CEOs and productivity YouTubers flaunt their monochromatic daily uniforms all the time. These guys wear the same grey tee shirt and New Balance shoes every day of the week, claiming they’re saving their decision-making energy.

I knew I could deliver a solid pitch or whip up a decent creative concept in no time at all, with little preparation. So I took on more clients than I should have. When one client dropped me for lack of attention, I networked my way to two new ones. And it wasn’t until a few years in to this turn and burn and churn that I realized this wasn’t a recipe for success.

The old saying goes What would you do if you couldn’t fail? It’s a fine enough question, asking people to dream a little a bigger. Maybe it inspires people to face their fears, or suspend disbelief for long enough to see that something is possible. But I’ll ask you this: What would you do if you couldn’t succeed?

As a producer, you need to be consistently moving tasks and vendors and bookings forward, every chance you have, in order to get the production ready in time. There’s no time to get lost in a doom-scroll session because you didn’t take breaks. 

My favorite place to find locations for videos is through Peerspace. Peerspace is like Airbnb, but for film locations. People can list their homes, studios, bars, offices, or open fields as locations for rent on Peerspace.

I haven’t accomplished as much as my January Self had hoped. There’s a list on the first page of a notebook I keep in my backpack that has a lot of uncrossed-off items.

Lower the barrier to entry. And then remove the ceiling. This is the business model that a video game called Fortnite pioneered, and after a smashing success, countless other games followed. And this is the business model that can help digital creators make more money in the digital age.

I hate voice notes. iMessage has this terrible feature where you can click and hold to send an audio recording. People use it as a way to hide.

I have a friend who is getting into production. He’s gaining the skills to be a good producer. But he hasn’t produced a shoot entirely on his own yet. And therein lies the predicament.