How I hit my YouTube wall. And how you can fix it.

I hit a wall on YouTube. 

You might have hit a wall with YouTube or some other creative activity. 

But there is a way around it. And the fact that you can even see this YouTube video is a sign my solution for hitting the wall, procrastination, overthinking or stopping doing the things you want to do. 

How I hit my YouTube wall. And how you can fix it.



TRANSCRIPT: (CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE)

THIS IS THE TRANSCRIPT - CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE!

This dad from Hampshire tried making a t-shirt mask for himself on his YouTube channel.

My ears aren't coping very well with the elastic bands 

So I’ve hit record... Is the mic working? Yeah.

I... I’m looking for any excuse not to make this video.

You'd have seen the title, I’m going to call it “I’m stuck!” 

I think I’ve completely hit a wall with YouTube and instead of pretending that it's not happening and putting out some old videos that I had lined up...

I’m going to sort of put out an old video that I’ve got lined up.

I am going to sit and talk to the camera.

I’m going to force myself to talk to camera with no script and no bullet points, no autocue or teleprompt, and maybe I should slow down talking?

I feel I’ve got to talk really quickly to keep your attention and to stop the viewer audience retention graph from plummeting.

For this video I don't care about that.

Obviously I do care, I want you to keep watching.

I want you to be entertained.

I’ve completely hit a wall this week and last week.

I’ve never sat down and talked to camera before like this.

[MUSIC]

I feel really uncomfortable doing this! 

I don't even know if I’m going to publish this video so if you do see this video you'll know that I have somehow managed to get past my YouTube wall.

I know what my wall is - I know what's... what's built this wall, this obstacle.

Well the first layer of the wall is... is perfectionism obviously that's...

that's always there.

Usually it's feeling overwhelmed... well no I do feel overwhelmed... that's the second layer... so the first layer is the perfectionism.

And that is that I want the video to be structured in the best way possible, so I bullet point it out, I make a list of the videos that I want to make, and I make a list of the kind of things that I want to say in each video.

And that leads to my second layer of the YouTube wall, which is this one, have a look at this! 

This is my Notion database, so I used to have cards on the wall here.

I wonder if I’ve got maybe I’ve got a clip of what my wall used to look like.

I think it's in - funny enough - I think it's in my last procrastination video.

There if I freeze frame it here: each card on the wall, each index card represented a video that I wanted to make, and I would just have this wall of guilt which...

which isn't helpful and it didn't help me get through each of those ideas.

Mainly because when I wanted to add to them or change them, it's a bit difficult writing it on an index card when I’ve already written a giant title on it.

So I followed Ali Abdaal’s example of creating a database on Notion so I have an electronic card for every video, and this is really helpful because when I have half ideas for the script, or ideas for things that I want to do in the video, I can just type it straight into the electronic card.

And then I can move that card along from idea to script to shooting it editing it and finally you know making a thumbnail and writing description and publishing it.

This looks convoluted but it's really helped me to get a lot of ideas out and it's also taken away the feeling of overwhelmed, because I know that if I have something else to add to that video I’ve got a place - I’ve got one place to put those ideas.

Before these cards I had this big document. 

This is my social media calendar document.

It's a bit of an ironic title because there's no calendar in here at all.

It started off with me planning out videos and then it became into this big old receptacle for everything - every fleeting thought goes into this document.

I still use this from time to time just to brain dump ideas, but at least I can then put them over into Notion and I’ve got one card there for every single video idea that I want to make.

The downside of this organization is that I... I don't know where to start.

Well I do know where to start.

The problem with this system is that it actually makes it too easy so I could make any one of these videos... so which one do I do first?

I’m overwhelmed. I’ve shot a load of videos and I’ve even edited some more videos that are ready to be uploaded and published, but then I’ve got to make thumbnails and write descriptions for them.

I’m going to show you what I use to get out of this rut and if you're watching this video now it's worked because I’ve used this method! 

Last year I... I hit a wall like this for... I had other reasons for not doing stuff very suddenly and I got my camera out I got... I actually got my phone out and I started filming myself and I started filming the process that I use for getting myself around hitting a YouTube wall.

My system is called experimental Nano chunking.

I hope I can keep using the uh the jingle that I made for it.

And the way that nano chunking works is that, well it comes from Tony Robbins book Awaken The Giant Within.

He talks about chunking which is: we take a big project like making a YouTube video or writing a book, and you break it down into more manageable chunks.

This isn't good for me because I still ended up with a load of tasks, so I took it to an extreme and I created the nano chunk and - thank you - the nano chunk is breaking down a task to the tiniest tiniest tiniest task possible and adding a “what if” before it.

So “what if I were to pick up my pencil?”

If you break down your big chunk into a tiny nano chunk, I guarantee it works and to prove it here is how I made a YouTube video using nano chunks.

So I’m stuck on... I’m stuck on this.

You can look over here: Make a CPAP mask... not a CPAP... make a FACE mask with a t-shirt.

It's a really simple dumb idea.

It's something I really want to do.

I really want to make a mask and I really want to make a video.

Why can't I just make a video of me making a mask?

I’ve completely turned it into something bigger than it is, but I’m stuck and I’ve been sitting on this idea for about two weeks now.

It's not because it's not a good idea it's... it's the exact opposite.

It's because I know it's a really good idea and something that I really want to do.

The resistance is that thing that when you have a good idea, everything in your brain and body will conspire to stop you from doing it.

And there's all kinds of biological reasons why we're programmed this way.

Basically by doing something you really want to do, that represents change, and change biologically represents death because you might change something and it might not work out and then you will die!

That's how we're wired so I’m gonna use this system now to- to free me from this block.

I hope it frees me from this block!

I’ve done some free writing just to bring my brain - look six pages of things in my head!

Got to the nano chunking list, and this is my first nano chunking task:

I’m gonna break down all the tasks down to the absolute tiniest level.

“Open the t-shirt script” so I’ll do that now.

That's really important when you're nano chunking to only write down one thing at a time - only one tiny task and cross it off.

It's a little achievement for each step, so my next step would be “print out what I’ve got” 

I’ll write down “print out t-shirt ideas”

[MUSIC]

So I’ve got all my t-shirt ideas then the next step would be to read them.

That's all, just read them, so I’m gonna get a nice drink and just read through them and I don't have to do anything else apart from sit down get a pen.

[MUSIC]

Can I just say, because I know I’m recording here.

I so didn't want to read through these that I’ve ended up actually writing and actually writing the script instead of doing what I should be doing which is reading these but that's okay because I wanted to read these to get to this!

It sort of works.

Oh sometimes this happens.

You get started on the nano chunk task which was for me to sit down with a nice drink and to just read through what I’ve got, and then all these other things pop into your head of all these other things you should be doing.

But if one comes up like “I need to get my glasses” what I do is I write that down as another task and then cross it off there and then, so if other things start popping into your head like “oh just need to check that” or “I need to get that” write them down as nano chunks and do them in order.

And then you'll have to go back to the nano chunk that triggered all these other thoughts.

Make the tasks even smaller, even more ridiculous.

Get my glasses.

Okay so here's an example now the kind of stuff that will come up.

To just stop you from doing what you're doing! 

I’m on a point now where I want to find a clip that I want to put into the video and I know I’ve got that clip on an email, so I’ve gone into email and I’ve just seen a email from my accountant and I’ve just spent 20 minutes reading it and replying to it.

So I’ve been thrown off the nano chunking horse: what I should have done is to write down as a nano chunk, open the email and do that afterwards, so I have the impulse I do it - so I’ve fallen off the horse - it's okay - don't give yourself a hard time.

But write down as soon as you can, on to your list, and then cross it off.

I don't know why I write some things on the nano chunk as capitals.

Works out some kind of anger or something.

Another good tip for the nano chunking is to write down nano chunks that aren't very difficult, so instead of “write three pages of script” I’ve put something a bit more easy, which is to just “do writing for 25 minutes”.

That's just... that's just “write”.

It doesn't matter what the outcome is - it's just the process.

If you can make your nano chunks about the process rather than the outcome, you'll find it even more easy.

There I’ve done it! 

I’ve actually written it's one, two, three, four, five pages of scripts.

I... if my task had been “write five pages of script” I just would not have done it.

Thanks to nano chunking [JINGLE: NANOCHUNK!]

The task was and I quote “open the t-shirt document in google docs” 

That's all I had to do just open the document, and then when you've done that, well you could just do the next nano chunk task...

And when you break down the tasks down to the tiniest tiniest nano chunk, just do that chunk and before you know it, a five page script! 

So now I’ll need to nano chunk the next task.

I even ended up shooting the video! 

That's how powerful the nano chunking is!

Respect the nano chunking!

Not only did I end up making the video, two days later BBC News got in touch.

They wanted to use a clip for the six o'clock news bulletin that night.

[BBC NEWS REPORTER:] So people can make them at home using anything from old t-shirts to bedding sheets.

Two of these guys are gonna get the chop - quite literally.

This dad from Hampshire tried making a t-shirt mask for himself on his YouTube channel.

My ears aren't coping very well with the elastic bands.

If I hadn't made it and made it right now, that would not have happened.

It's another reminder of make your stuff now because it turns out we need it.

I’ve put all of these videos into this playlist it's called “make your stuff now” at the moment.

There's a link up here if you click on the “i” or- or down in this description.

Can you please help my daddy get 10,000 subscribers. Just click in his face. Thanks bye! Alright, this is gonna be the proper one, right?

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