A video for anyone feeling behind in life

Summary

This video script challenges the notion of feeling 'too late' in life to achieve goals. It offers two key reasons to believe that it's never too late: the value of diverse experiences enhancing creativity and adaptability, and the importance of consistency and patience in success. The speaker shares examples of individuals who found success later in life, emphasizing the benefits of maintaining a beginner's mindset and taking care of one's health to extend productive years. The script concludes with a promotion for Loom, a tool for efficient process documentation and team communication.

Takeaways

• 🕊️ The concept of being 'late' in life is relative, and opportunities can still arise with consistency and patience.
• 🚀 Early starters don't always succeed; success often comes to those who explore various interests before focusing on a specific field.
• 🎨 Diverse experiences can enhance creativity and adaptability, as highlighted by David Epstein in his book 'Range'.
• 🎾 Examples like Roger Federer show that starting later in life and having a broad range of experiences can lead to peak performance.
• 🤹‍♂️ The idea of 'kind' and 'wicked' learning environments suggests that diverse experiences are beneficial in more complex fields.
• 🎸 Learning new skills or taking time off to learn something different can improve one's approach to their primary interest, as the speaker experienced with guitar and piano.
• 🧘‍♀️ The importance of maintaining a 'beginner's mind' to stay open to new experiences and learning throughout life.
• 💪 The necessity of self-care to ensure a healthy and energetic life, which can extend the window of opportunity.
• 👵 The impact of habits on aging gracefully, emphasizing the importance of sleep, diet, and exercise.
• 🔗 The benefits of delegation and documenting processes for efficient teamwork, as sponsored by Loom in the video.
• 📈 The visualization by Jack Butcher that suggests many may be at the 'This is pointless' stage and need to push through for success.

Q & A

What is the main message of the Instagram post shared in the video?

The main message is that it's almost certain one is not too late to achieve their goals and that the feeling of being behind in life is often unfounded.

What is the first reason given in the video to refute the belief that one might be too late to achieve their goals?

The first reason is that the early birds don't always win, suggesting that starting late doesn't necessarily mean one cannot succeed.

Can you explain the concept of 'kind' and 'wicked' learning environments as mentioned in the video?

In 'kind' learning environments, feedback is immediate and usually perfect, like in chess or golf. 'Wicked' environments, however, provide confusing, incomplete feedback and information, making them more complex.

Why does the video mention Roger Federer as an example?

Roger Federer is mentioned as an example of someone who didn't start as early as his peers but still became one of the greatest tennis players, highlighting the value of diverse early experiences.

What is the significance of the 'Range' book by David Epstein in the context of this video?

The 'Range' book supports the argument that top performers in many fields are often those who started later in life, having explored various interests before specializing.

How does the video relate the concept of 'beginner's mind' to lifelong learning and adaptability?

The video suggests that maintaining a 'beginner's mind', an openness to new experiences and learning, can help individuals remain adaptable and continue to grow throughout their lives.

What is the importance of taking care of oneself according to the video?

Taking care of oneself is crucial as it can add happy, healthy years to one's life, making the concept of being 'late' irrelevant.

What are the two mega important habits mentioned in the video that can help ensure 'late' doesn't turn into 'never'?

The two habits are taking care of one's health and maintaining a 'beginner's mind', both of which contribute to lifelong learning and adaptability.

How does the video use the story of Jimmy to illustrate the point about being 'late' in life?

The story of Jimmy, who went from being broke at 32 to owning a successful art business at 42, is used to show that success can come at different times and that consistency and patience are key.

What is the role of Loom in the video, and how does it relate to the topic of the video?

Loom is a tool used for screen recording and documentation, which is highlighted in the video as a way to delegate tasks efficiently, allowing for more focus on personal growth and learning.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Overcoming the Fear of Being 'Too Late'

The speaker addresses the common concern of feeling 'too late' to achieve life goals by sharing the story of an artist who went from being broke to owning a successful art business. The speaker argues that the notion of being behind is often unfounded, citing personal experiences with learning skateboarding and guitar, and the realization that starting later in life can lead to greater success due to a broader range of experiences. The book 'Range' by David Epstein is referenced to support the idea that diverse experiences contribute to creativity and adaptability, contrasting with the 'early bird' mentality. The speaker encourages viewers to focus on continuous learning and personal growth rather than comparing themselves to others.

05:02

🌱 Embracing Life's Timing and the Power of Consistency

This paragraph delves into the concept that life's timing is relative and that feeling 'late' is often a matter of perspective. The speaker uses the examples of Jimmy, who became a successful artist after years of struggle, and Steve Carell, who achieved fame later in life, to illustrate that consistent effort over time can lead to success. The importance of maintaining good health habits to extend one's productive years is emphasized, as well as the practice of 'beginner's mind' from Zen Buddhism, which encourages an openness to new experiences and continuous learning. The speaker advises viewers to focus on self-care and adaptability to ensure that they do not become stagnant in their personal and professional development.

10:02

🛠 The Importance of Delegation and Documentation in Growth

In the final paragraph, the speaker discusses the skill of delegating tasks to others and the importance of documenting processes for efficient teamwork. The speaker admits to having a DIY mindset but found that delegation can free up time for more critical tasks. The use of Loom, a screen recording tool, is highlighted as a favorite for creating instructional videos and documenting processes. The speaker shares a sponsored offer for a 14-day free trial of Loom's business plan for the audience. The paragraph concludes with a call to action for viewers to like the video for algorithmic preference and suggests other videos for further viewing.

Keywords

💡Opportunity

Opportunity refers to a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something or a chance for advancement or progress. In the video, the concept is used to convey that people often believe their opportunities are limited by age or timing, but the speaker argues that this is not necessarily the case, as demonstrated by the examples of individuals who found success later in life.

💡Diversity of Experience

Diversity of experience denotes the range of different activities, subjects, or fields one has been involved in. The video emphasizes the importance of having a variety of experiences, suggesting that such diversity can lead to greater creativity and adaptability, as opposed to focusing on a single discipline from a young age.

💡Consistency

Consistency in this context means the continuous and regular application of effort towards a goal. The video script illustrates the power of consistency through the stories of individuals who achieved success by persistently working towards their goals over a long period, despite facing initial setbacks or delays.

💡Feedback

Feedback is the response or reaction to something you have done. The video discusses two types of learning environments: 'kind' and 'wicked,' with the former providing immediate and clear feedback, and the latter offering feedback that is often confusing and incomplete. The speaker suggests that diverse experiences can be beneficial in more complex 'wicked' environments where feedback is not straightforward.

💡Beginner's Mind

Beginner's mind is a concept from Zen Buddhism, which encourages maintaining an open and eager attitude to learn, regardless of previous knowledge or experience. The video script uses this concept to argue that individuals who approach new experiences with a beginner's mind are more adaptable and capable of continuous learning and growth.

💡Delegation

Delegation is the act of entrusting tasks or authority to another person or group. The video mentions the importance of delegating tasks to others as a means to free up time and energy for more critical aspects of one's work or business, which can be particularly beneficial as one's responsibilities grow.

💡Self-Care

Self-care refers to the actions people take to look after their own health and well-being. The video script highlights the importance of self-care in ensuring that one can continue to pursue their goals and dreams, emphasizing that good health habits can add years to one's life, thus making the concept of being 'late' less relevant.

💡Adaptability

Adaptability is the ability to adjust to new conditions or changes. The video argues that having a diverse array of experiences can enhance one's adaptability, which is crucial in complex and constantly evolving fields where the learning environment is 'wicked' and feedback is not always clear.

💡Procrastination

Procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing action. The video script uses the concept of procrastination to illustrate a mindset where individuals put off starting their endeavors, wishing they had started earlier, which can lead to a false sense of being 'late' in achieving their goals.

💡Effort

Effort refers to the physical or mental energy exerted to do something. The video emphasizes the importance of consistent effort over time, suggesting that success is often the result of sustained hard work rather than the timing of when one starts.

💡Loom

Loom is a tool mentioned in the video script for recording screencasts and sharing them for documentation or communication purposes. The speaker highlights the utility of Loom in creating a knowledge base and facilitating efficient delegation and communication within a team.

Highlights

The video aims to address feelings of being behind in life or too late to achieve goals.

Two crucial reasons are given to counter the belief that it's too late to achieve goals.

The 'early birds' concept is challenged with personal anecdotes and the idea that starting late can be beneficial.

The book 'Range' by David Epstein is cited to argue for the advantages of late specialization and diverse experiences.

Tennis champion Roger Federer is given as an example of someone who started late and achieved great success.

Different learning environments are discussed, with 'kind' and 'wicked' environments affecting the value of early specialization differently.

The importance of diverse experiences in 'wicked' learning environments is emphasized for adaptability and creativity.

Personal experiences with learning piano and its impact on guitar playing illustrate the benefits of diverse learning.

The concept of 'beginner's mind' from Zen Buddhism is introduced to encourage continuous learning and adaptability.

The idea that being 'late' is relative and can be overcome with consistency and patience is presented with examples.

The importance of self-care for maintaining health and productivity as one ages is discussed.

The necessity of documenting processes for efficient delegation and teamwork is highlighted.

Loom is introduced as a tool for screen recording and documentation, which the speaker uses for business and content creation.

A 14-day free trial offer for Loom's business plan is mentioned for the audience.

The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to like the video for algorithmic recommendations.

Additional video recommendations are provided for further viewing on related topics.

Transcripts

- I wanna share an Instagram post with you.

This comes from an artist who lives

just about an hour from me up in Fort Collins.

"32 broke living with my parents

"and washing dishes for money.

"42 own a business selling millions of dollars

"of my own art."

This is a video for anybody

who feels like they are behind in life.

And it's also a video for anyone

who feels like they are too late,

that the window of opportunity has closed for them.

In this video, I wanna give you two crucial reasons

why it is almost certain

that you are not too late to achieve your goals

and whether this whole feeling of being behind

is, in many cases, complete BS.

Reason number one is that the early birds don't always win.

I remember being 15 years old

and trying to learn to skateboard for the first time.

Specifically, I was trying to learn the kickflip

and I just couldn't get it.

I practiced for hours on end,

but it just would not come to me.

And meanwhile, all these kids who were 12, 13, 14

were easily getting it,

which led me to have a thought

that I'm sure you have had in the past as well,

"I wish I had started skateboarding

"when I was six years old.

"If I had done that, now I would have

"10 years of experience under my belt or nine,"

I'm not so good at math when recording videos.

"and I would be basically a pro by now."

I'm sure you've had that thought in the past

and I'm sure you've had it for other disciplines.

I've had it for a guitar as well.

I remember when I was learning to play barre chords,

my fingers hurt so badly and I wished

that I had just started playing guitar a few years earlier,

so I'd be awesome now, right?

And this was especially present in my mind

when I started blogging and trying to build an audience.

I remember being 20 years old,

I've been blogging for about a year

and I was really struggling to bring people to my blog.

And then I found another blog

being run by a kid who was just 16 years old.

And not only did he have a huge audience,

but he was also making over $1,000 a month

in passive income.

Meanwhile, I'm making no money on my blog

and I'm getting eight bucks an hour

to work in the IT department on campus.

So I remember finding his blog

and kind of kicking myself thinking like,

"Why did I wait until I was 19 years old

"to start my website?"

"I'm too late, this guy started when he was 14 years old.

"That's when I should have started."

But now that I'm 30 years old,

now that I've gone through a lot more life experience,

I don't catch myself thinking this way anymore.

One of the reasons for that

is it kind of, if you think about it, it's like a reverse

wishful thinking style of procrastination,

like when we procrastinate, we put things off

so our future selves have to deal with them.

And this way of thinking is just like putting it off

onto our past selves, except for it doesn't actually happen.

In either case, we don't want our present selves

to deal with the hard work required to get the results.

We just want the results themselves.

But the other reason I don't think this way anymore

is I've realized over the years,

that all the other little things I've been trying to do,

little experiments and offshoots often come back

and help me become even better at the main thing later on.

And I am not alone in this.

In fact, the book "Range" by David Epstein

makes this its central argument.

In this book, David Epstein argues that in many fields,

the top performers aren't the people

who started practicing when they were two years old.

In fact, it's actually the people

who got started a little bit later in life

and spent their earlier years exploring

and trying lots of different things.

The tennis champion Roger Federer is a great example.

The book talks about how he didn't get quite as early

of a start as a lot of his peers

and he spent his childhood

playing lots of different sports, not just tennis.

But nonetheless, he came up and eventually became

one of the greatest players of all time.

And this happens in a lot of different fields.

People do some exploring when they're younger,

and eventually, they hone in on a field

where they start to practice, start to be consistent,

but they have this base of other experiences from their past

that they're able to draw upon to be more creative

and more adaptable than the people who only worked

in that single field since they were little kids.

Epstein also points out that there are

two different kinds of learning environments,

or maybe there's a spectrum of learning environments

with two different extremes,

kind and wicked learning environments.

So in kind environments, feedback is almost immediate,

and it's usually perfect, as well.

In chess, for example, when you make a move,

you get perfect feedback.

There's almost no hidden information.

Golf is also a great example and it's worth noting

that Tiger Woods is sort of the prototypical example

of somebody who is a champion who started off

really, really early on in their career.

But most fields are not like chess or golf.

Most fields are bit more wicked.

The feedback you get from them is often confusing,

it's often incomplete and the information available

is also often incomplete, as well.

These are much more complex learning environments.

And in these kinds of environments,

people who have a diverse array of experiences

are often much more adaptable.

And I've experienced the benefits

of these little experiments and diverse experiences myself.

With guitar, I remember taking a bit of time off

to learn piano for a little bit.

And when I came back to guitar,

I realized that learning piano actually changed

the way that I look at the fretboard.

It's actually now much easier to look at the fretboard

in ways to help me to build chords.

That was pretty tough for me in the past.

And with business, with content creation,

all these little different things I've done in the past,

like dabbling with website development

or dabbling with graphic design,

all these different things have come

and made me a better content creator overall.

So if you feel like you're kind of behind in life,

I think there's a better question to ask yourself,

which is, "Am I constantly learning?"

"Am I constantly pushing myself forward

"in interesting directions?"

Because if you are,

it's very possible that what you're doing right now

is going to loop back around later on

and help you with the next thing.

It might take a bit longer than you want it to,

but it doesn't mean that you're wasting your time.

Reason number two that you are probably not behind in life

is that the term late is kind of relative, isn't it?

See, I think a lot of the anxiety that we feel

around being late or feeling behind in life

is this idea that the window of opportunity

has closed for us,

but in many cases, that absolutely isn't true.

Jimmy is a perfect example of that.

"32 broke washing dishes living with mom and dad,

"42 running a successful art business,

"making millions of dollars."

So really, it just takes a lot of consistency and patience.

Steve Carell is also a great example.

He didn't get his first big break, "The Office,"

until he was 43 years old in 2005.

Before then his career really hadn't taken off at all.

And the common thread between these two people

is that they were consistent

and they put an effort for a very long period of time,

which eventually did pay off.

Jimmy has another post on his Instagram

talking about how he started being serious about art

all the way back when he was 20.

And if you dig into Steve Carell's career,

you'll find that back in the late 1980s,

he was acting for a traveling children's theater troop.

So they both put in a ton of effort and they were patient,

and eventually, it did pay off.

Now, in addition to that patience and that consistency,

there are two mega important habits

that you need to practice in order to make sure

that late doesn't turn into never

for whatever it is that you wanna do.

The first is to simply take care of yourself,

because while it's true that we are all going to age,

how gracefully you age

is almost entirely dependent on your habits,

how well you take care of yourself.

We've all seen people in their 40s

who look and act like they're in their 60s,

and vice versa, we've also seen people in their 60s

who look and act much younger,

they're a lot more energetic, much more exuberant,

much more mentally sharp.

Think about it, if the habits you adopt today

add 10 additional happy, healthy years to your life,

then what the heck does late mean anyway?

If I'm gonna live 10 more years

because I have great health habits,

that's 10 more years I can spend playing the guitar,

doing whatever it is that I want to do.

And in that case, late really doesn't mean anything.

So seriously, try to take care of yourself.

I think about this a lot more now that I'm 30

and it's gonna be more and more important as I get older.

And the same is true for you.

Make sure you're getting eight hours of sleep at night.

Make sure that you are dialing in your diet,

making sure that it is balanced,

and ideally, get some exercise every day, as well.

The second mega important habit to practice

is something called beginner's mind.

This is a concept from Zen Buddhism.

The way I originally read about it in a book

from Mark Benioff, the CEO of salesforce.com,

and essentially, beginner's mind means

going into new experiences

and trying to drop your preconceived notions.

You wanna listen actively and assume that you always have

something new to learn from every new experience.

And we all know people who got through school,

they got their job, they get comfortable,

and they sort of drop this.

They kind of think that they already know everything

and they become much more part-headed.

And once you become like this,

you become much less adaptable

and your doors really do truly close.

But people who practice beginner's mind,

people who are always open to learn

from new experiences and from new people,

they are much more able to adapt and to learn new things

and to progress all the way through their lives.

So yes, it is true that you cannot get back

any of the time that has already passed.

None of us can do that,

but it doesn't mean that you are too late.

It doesn't mean that the doors of opportunity

have closed on you,

and you would be insanely surprised at what you can do

by adopting beginner's mind

and practicing it for the rest of your life,

by taking care of yourself,

and by consistently putting an effort

into what it is that you wanna do for a long period of time.

There's this fantastic visualization by Jack Butcher

that I wanna show you here,

because it is very possible that you are right here

at the This is pointless stage,

and you just need to put in a bit more effort.

Now, before I go, I wanna share

one of the most important skills that I've learned

over the past few years,

as both my business and my YouTube channel have grown.

And that is a skill of delegating to other people,

which has classically been very difficult for me.

I've always had this very DIY mindset,

but I've also found it very rewarding

because when I can give my work

to other very talented people,

that frees up my time, my energy

for other more important things

that I can do to grow this business.

And one of the most important things that my team and I

have realized for working as efficiently,

as effectively as possible,

is that we need to document our processes.

So now we have this entire knowledge base

where I've created instructions on everything

from how to connect to our video editing server,

to how to publish a video to YouTube.

And while sometimes I do just write out these instructions,

most of the time I actually record my screen

using a tool called Loom.

Now, Loom is sponsoring this video,

but I reached out to them directly

and asked to work with them

because Loom is seriously one of my favorite tools

and I use it almost every single day.

Loom lets you almost instantly start recording your screen,

your camera, or both either on their desktop apps

in the browser using their extension,

or on your mobile device.

It is asynchronous video messaging for work.

And I absolutely love the fact that anytime

I need to document something or send a message to my team

showing them how to do something,

I can near instantly record my screen,

and then the link to the video

is automatically put on my clipboard.

So I can just pace it into our messaging app,

and they see it right away.

They also have some other cool features

like automatic transcriptions,

and even a button to remove filler words, like um and uh,

and lots of words that I probably used in this video.

Like I said, my team and I use this every single day.

They have 14 million other users.

And if you would like to give it a try as well,

the team over at Loom is currently offering my audience

a 14-day free trial of their business plan

with all these cool features.

Just click the link in the description down below,

or the one on screen right here to get started.

If you enjoyed this video,

a like for the algorithm would be very much appreciated.

And you may also wanna check out this video right here

on seven books I think everyone should read in their 20s,

or maybe this video over here

on how to stop overthinking everything.

Check one of those two out

if you want something more to watch,

Thanks as always for watching,

and I will see ya in the next one.