8 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started YouTube

Summary

The speaker shares unconventional growth tricks for YouTube content creation, emphasizing the importance of productivity and the environment's impact on creativity. They discuss the application of Parkinson's Law to task management, highlighting the benefits of setting strict time limits to enhance focus and efficiency. The video also touches on the significance of scriptwriting for engaging viewers and the power of simplicity in video content. The speaker advises against striving for perfection at the cost of productivity and encourages embracing the idea that the best ideas often come with the least friction. They also share personal experiences, such as the impact of their environment on their ability to create and the importance of taking breaks to overcome creative blocks. Lastly, the speaker warns against making decisions based on a few negative comments and stresses the need to understand and cater to the broader audience's preferences.

Takeaways

• 🕒 **Time Management**: Setting a strict time limit for tasks can increase productivity and urgency, as per Parkinson's Law.
• 🌟 **Environment Impact**: The environment in which you work can significantly affect creativity and productivity, with natural light being beneficial.
• 🎯 **Striving for Good Enough**: Aiming for 80% perfection is often sufficient for achieving results; the last 20% effort may not yield proportionate benefits.
• 📉 **Avoiding Perfectionism**: Consistently seeking perfection can lead to wasted time and hinder content creation.
• 📝 **Scripting Skills**: Writing scripts for videos is a powerful skill that can also enhance social media engagement and business communication.
• 📣 **Outlining Ideas**: Speaking your script ideas out loud can help refine them, making them more concise and engaging.
• 🤔 **Low-Effort Success**: Sometimes, videos that require less effort perform better because they follow the most obvious and least complicated ideas.
• 🚫 **Ignoring Negative Feedback**: Do not let a few negative comments dictate changes that could potentially alienate a larger, satisfied audience.
• 🌳 **Taking Breaks**: When stuck, stepping away for a short break can provide clarity and resolve creative blocks.
• ⚠️ **Creating Urgency**: To engage viewers, make them understand the importance of the content and the consequences of not paying attention.
• 📈 **Growth Plateaus**: During growth plateaus, revisiting what made past videos successful can provide insights into what the audience resonates with.

Q & A

What is the productivity hack the speaker uses to overcome the feeling of being stuck when creating YouTube content?

The speaker sets a timer for 2 hours to write a script, and once the time is up, they film, edit, and upload the video to their channel, regardless of its state of completion.

What is the principle behind the speaker's productivity hack known as?

The principle is known as Parkinson's Law, which states that a task will expand to fill the time allotted to it.

How does the speaker suggest improving the environment to boost creativity?

The speaker suggests that having a lot of natural light and a tidy environment can significantly improve creativity and productivity.

What is the speaker's view on striving for perfection in content creation?

The speaker believes that often achieving 80% perfection is good enough for results, and focusing on the last 20% can be a waste of time and may stop videos from being made.

What does the speaker suggest as a powerful skill for success on YouTube?

The speaker suggests that script writing is a powerful skill for success on YouTube, as it can be applied to social media, marketing, and emails to gain attention.

How does the speaker feel about posting a video that is not fully refined?

The speaker is a bit apprehensive about posting a video that is not fully refined, but they believe in the effectiveness of the productivity hack they are demonstrating.

What is the speaker's advice on handling negative feedback on YouTube?

The speaker advises not to make decisions based on a handful of negative comments, but to consider the larger audience that may be enjoying the content as it is.

Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of creating a sense of urgency in the content?

The speaker emphasizes creating a sense of urgency to capture and maintain the viewer's attention, making them realize the critical nature of the content being presented.

What is the speaker's strategy for overcoming creative blocks?

The speaker's strategy for overcoming creative blocks is to take a short break, go outside, and get some fresh air or nature, which often helps to clear the mind and resolve the block.

What does the speaker mean when they say that the best ideas often come with the least friction?

The speaker means that the best ideas are those that come to mind easily and naturally, without much struggle or overcomplication, and these ideas tend to resonate well with the audience.

How does the speaker justify spending less time on a video that still gets good results?

The speaker justifies it by pointing out that the effort viewers see is not always directly correlated with the results, and sometimes simpler, less time-consuming videos can outperform more complex ones.

What is the key takeaway from the speaker's experience with different Airbnb environments?

The key takeaway is that the environment in which one works can have a significant impact on creativity and productivity, and changing the environment can sometimes be the catalyst needed to overcome creative challenges.

Outlines

00:00

🎬 Unconventional Growth Tricks for YouTube Success

The speaker shares their experience of writing over a million words for YouTube scripts since 2019 and the challenges faced. They introduce a productivity hack involving setting a 2-hour timer to write, film, edit, and upload a video regardless of its state upon completion. This approach is based on Parkinson's Law, which suggests that tasks take as much time as you allow. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of minimizing distractions, such as turning off email notifications, and the impact of environment on creativity, suggesting that natural light and a tidy space can significantly improve productivity. They also touch on the idea of accepting imperfection in content creation, arguing that striving for 100% perfection can be time-consuming and unnecessary, as viewers often do not notice minor flaws.

05:00

📝 Scriptwriting Techniques and Overcoming Creative Blocks

The speaker discusses their method of scriptwriting, which involves speaking lines out loud to ensure they sound natural and engaging. They also mention the importance of making the content concise and impactful. The paragraph highlights the phenomenon where lower-effort videos sometimes perform better, attributing this to the ease and lack of friction in coming up with the content. The speaker advises trusting one's instincts when choosing video topics but also emphasizes the need for research to understand the audience. When facing creative blocks, the speaker recommends taking a break, going outside, and getting some fresh air, which can help clear the mind and resolve the block. They also stress the importance of creating a sense of urgency in the content to keep viewers engaged.

10:01

🚀 Embracing Change and Avoiding Common YouTube Pitfalls

The speaker talks about the transformative power of embracing change and how it has significantly impacted their life and business. They discuss the importance of making viewers realize the critical nature of the content being presented to keep their attention. The speaker also shares a personal anecdote about receiving feedback on their video editing speed, choosing to ignore a few critics in favor of the larger audience that continued to grow. They caution against making decisions based solely on a few comments and the risk of alienating the audience that initially supported the channel. The speaker concludes by teasing a video that was written in just 2 hours as a testament to the effectiveness of the productivity hack they described earlier.

Keywords

💡YouTube scripts

YouTube scripts refer to the written content or dialogue that is used in creating videos for the YouTube platform. In the context of the video, the speaker has written over a million words of these scripts since 2019, highlighting their extensive experience in video creation.

💡Productivity hack

A productivity hack is a method or technique used to increase efficiency and output, particularly in the context of work or creative tasks. The video discusses a specific productivity hack involving setting a strict two-hour time limit for writing, filming, and editing a video script to enhance focus and reduce procrastination.

💡Parkinson's law

Parkinson's law is the adage that 'work expands to fill the time available for its completion.' The video uses this law to explain why setting shorter time limits for tasks can actually lead to increased productivity, as it creates a sense of urgency and reduces the time for distractions.

💡Digital Nomad

A digital nomad is a person who uses digital tools, particularly laptops and smartphones, to earn a living while traveling or living in various locations. The speaker identifies as a digital nomad, which influences their work environment and, consequently, their creativity and productivity.

💡Natural light

Natural light refers to sunlight that enters a space, which can affect one's mood and productivity levels. The video emphasizes the importance of natural light in the speaker's work environment, suggesting that it significantly improves their ability to create content.

💡80/20 rule

The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto principle, states that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. In the context of the video, it is used to argue that striving for perfection in content creation is often unnecessary, as the last 20% of effort to achieve perfection does not yield proportionate results.

💡Scriptwriting

Scriptwriting is the process of writing the screenplay or script for a video, play, or movie. The video highlights the importance of scriptwriting for YouTube content, noting that it not only improves video engagement but also transfers skills that can be used across various platforms like social media and marketing.

💡Hooks and setups

Hooks and setups are techniques used in writing and storytelling to engage and retain the audience's attention. A hook is an opening that grabs interest, while a setup is a narrative device that leads to a payoff. The video suggests that practicing these techniques in scriptwriting can help creators produce more engaging content.

💡Growth Plateau

A growth plateau refers to a period during which there is a temporary or long-term stagnation in growth or progress. The speaker discusses a personal experience of a growth plateau on their YouTube channel and how understanding the nature of easy and frictionless ideas helped them overcome it.

💡Low effort videos

Low effort videos are content that is created with minimal time and resources投入投入. The video suggests that sometimes these videos perform better than more labor-intensive ones because they follow the most straightforward and least complicated ideas, which resonate well with the audience.

💡Urgency

Urgency is the quality of requiring prompt and immediate action or feeling. In the context of the video, creating a sense of urgency in the content is crucial to keep viewers engaged and to prevent them from losing interest.

Highlights

The speaker uses a 2-hour timer to write, film, edit, and upload a video to increase productivity.

Parkinson's Law is mentioned, which states that tasks take as much time as you allow, emphasizing the importance of setting time limits.

The environment plays a significant role in creativity; natural light can boost productivity.

Striving for perfection can be counterproductive, as the last 20% of effort often yields diminishing returns.

The importance of writing scripts to ensure viewer engagement is compared to the film industry's approach.

Speaking sections of the script out loud can help refine the script and make it more engaging.

Low-effort videos that perform well often do so because they chose the most obvious idea without overcomplicating it.

When stuck, taking a break and going for a walk can help clear the mind and resolve creative blocks.

Creating a sense of urgency and high stakes in the introduction of a video can improve viewer retention.

Ignoring a small number of negative comments in favor of a growing audience is crucial for channel growth.

The power of scripting and its application beyond YouTube to social media, marketing, and emails is discussed.

Editing the first version of a script and then focusing on more dramatic words and simplification is a recommended process.

The video's author shares a personal anecdote about how embracing change led to a successful lifestyle and business.

The author emphasizes the importance of not making changes based on a few comments that could potentially harm the channel.

A productivity hack is demonstrated by setting a strict 2-hour limit from scriptwriting to video upload.

The author reveals a strategy of using hooks, setups, and retention tactics learned from scripting to enhance various aspects of communication.

The video concludes with the author sharing an idea that they had been wanting to incorporate into a video for 18 months.

Transcripts

since 2019 I've written well over a

million words of YouTube scripts and you

know what I still find making videos

hard but over that time I've discovered

some unconventional growth tricks that I

really wish I'd known sooner because

they unstick you when you're feeling

stuck and they enable you to just get

that video made and posted to prove the

power of this first one which is

probably the ultimate YouTube

productivity hack what I'm going to do

is set a timer for 2 hours and write a

script and then when that timer ends no

matter what state this is in I'm going

to film it I'm going to edit it and then

I'm going to upload it to this Channel

and at the end I'll reveal it to you

even if it's not finished which is going

to be interesting cuz sometimes my

scripts can take 8 to 9 hours to write

but I feel like showing you this

productivity hack in action will allow

you to judge whether or not it's

effective or not okay so let me explain

how this productivity hack works so you

can use it to Save hours way back some

dude came up with this idea that if you

give yourself a long time to complete a

task it will take you that long but if

you reduce your time half it even give

yourself a quarter of the time that you

would usually you still get the same

task done this is because with less time

there is more akes and urgency so it

causes you to focus on only the things

that get the task complete whereas if I

gave myself 8 hours to write then i'

just end up on Discord chatting to

people or on my phone or singing it's

getting on in public it's known as

Parkinson's law and it's backed by

science so the next time you start

making a video set a time limit that

might be for ideation or writing or

editing you need to make sure it makes

you feel almost uncomfortable and

witness yourself achieved productivity

levels you didn't think were possible

always turn your email off cuz it's uh

you're just going to get the distracted

2 hours isn't that long uh where was I I

just distracted myself talking to you

moving us on to the next hack which I

recently discovered enabled me to write

faster in a more creative way and it

actually made me happier too and it's

why I'm currently sat in that chair

writing so let me explain how this

simple trick works I am a digital Nomad

that is basically a posh word for a

homeless man who lives in airbnbs each

month I move to a different one one

month I put my airb be and I walked in

and I started working on scripts but it

just felt like I was typing through

treeo I couldn't come up with any ideas

I struggling to string words together

and this went on for an entire month now

I just thought I was burnt out or tired

but I wasn't it come the end of the

month I had to move to another Airbnb

into the one that you can see on screen

right now and I started typing and it

was like the floodgates had opened it

was the easiest I've ever found making

videos and that's where I'm sat where

I'm sat right there that's not

comfortable posture always look after

your posture because I realized that the

environment you're in plays a massive

part in the ease of creativity and for

me in particular having a lot of of

natural light streaming into the room

totally transforms my ability and my

productivity and it's not just me

Roberto Blake recently tweeted something

similar so if you're feeling stuck try

writing outside or by a window or just

tidy your environment and you might just

find it changes everything fast let me

explain the next thing I wish I new soon

as fast as I can so I can go back to

writing this script but it's important

that I explain it and I stopped doing it

myself because it just stops videos

getting made but it comes at a bit of a

cost that concerns me so let me explain

look at this picture it looks great

right you'd probably hang it on your

wall well I would if I wasn't homeless

now let's compare to this picture it

looks great too right but which one do

you prefer the first one took 10 hours

to produce the second took 12 would you

pay more for this one than that one

probably not this is YouTube through and

through we spend our lives trying to

perfect our content but the truth is

often getting it to 80% is going to be

good enough to get results that final

20% we fraternize over often doesn't

have enough impact with our viewers to

be worth the effort and worse if you

consistently strive for what you believe

to be Perfection it wastes a ton of time

and it could actually just stop you

making videos and that is the whole

point of this game and let me tell you a

little secret in my most viewed video of

all time I'm out of focus I don't even

think anyone ever commented on it so

that's the strategy I'm going to be

using on this script and it kind of

scares me cuz I've not posted a video to

film booth for a while and I don't want

people to be like oh he's lost it

bringing us on to the next thing you'll

wish on you soona because if you can

just accept this to be true this happens

this happens and this happens and I know

it does cuz that's the data of people I

work with and I have hundreds of wins

all caused by the same change they all

made so I want you to imagine there's

this one skill you can learn to explode

on YouTube it won't just blow up your

channel but also your social media your

business it's going to help you find

editors writers it'll even land you more

dates I'm not even kidding you can use

it on Bumble tea and it's why I have no

matches too handsome for this stupid app

anyway it's also why in Hollywood when

they make 99% of films they don't give

actors a list of bullet points to just

riff and tell the entire story from

instead they write a script to ensure

that viewers are always 100% engaged and

invested cuz if they're not they get a

massive flob apart from the classic

French film from the 1920s that was a

bullet points shut up in the comments

you now YouTube's the same but here

writing scripts is 10 times more

powerful because when you practice Hooks

and setups and retention tactics you can

then use these in your social media

posts to get attention as well as your

marketing as well as your emails so

writing for educators is the most

powerful YouTube skill on the planet you

just have to get over the initial

learning curve and you will be on the

FasTrack road to successville Tennessee

oh it's got a match Julia from

successful Tennessee it's not real is it

Julia is not she's not real here's a

little tip of writing so what I'll do is

I'll write a few lines and I'll go back

and I'll just present them out loud like

I'm talking to you like he just went out

there and documented himself doing it

and the results were incredible you can

kind of hear it in your own voice and

then I'm always usually thinking at the

same time can I make this paragraph a

bit shorter can I make it simpler but

often what I'll do is I'll just write

the first version and then I'll go back

and then the second round where I'm

starting to edit it that's what I'm

thinking more dramatic words is this

entertaining is it informative and how

do I make this shorter and more to the

point and let's kind of it okay so the

next thing I wish I'd known sooner it

would have helped me post content more

often and make better videos that got

more views with less effort much less so

let me explain have you ever made a

video and you just kind of like rushed

it out you put way less effort and

thought into it and it absolutely took

off and outperformed all those other

higher effort videos you've made in the

past what most people do when this

happens is instantly tell themselves oh

good I don't have to put much work into

my future videos now the viewers want

that but the reason people think this

low effort video has worked so well is

incorrect now I realized what was

actually happening here when I went

through a bit of a growth Plateau so

years ago I blew up pretty fast and some

of you sexy Legends who have been

watching me for years you might remember

and then like most of the- moment

channels My Views suddenly slowed down

and I was kind of

like one day I was trying to find a

patent in all the biggest videos as to

why they done so well so that I could

try and make this comeback and I said to

someone all my best performing videos

were the easiest ideas I ever came up

with they practically wrote themselves

and that is when it clicked when coming

up with ideas or writing or editing the

best ideas are often the ones that come

to us with the least friction this is

why those low Foot videos people make do

really well because they went with the

most obvious idea and didn't over

complicate things and it worked so the

next time you get stuck anywhere on

YouTube just ask yourself this is this a

struggle because it just doesn't really

work and I'm trying to force it or

should I just go for something more

obvious and put that on the back burner

for another time but a word of warning

this doesn't mean make what you want you

still need to research and research

research and find the right videos to

make and understand your audience but

when you have that down trusting your

instincts could be your secret Source

but what if things get so tough you just

can't get unstuck so I'm halfway through

the time limit now and things have been

going pretty well but I've got to a

point where I've just kind of hit a

block I'm struggling to come up with a

way to make this more interesting so

that you guys will hit the like button

hit the like button hit the like

button but this next thing I wish I knew

sooner you're going to love because it's

going to get me out of this mess it's

going to get you out of overwhelmed too

and the best thing about it is you just

stop writing and the even better thing

about it is for me I get to go on one of

these there she is my baby these are the

best things about to buy so sometimes I

just fly around and buy on these things

at night when I'm Bor try and set like a

record for the time I'm getting around

the marina R today I'm going to try and

get a 112 to defeat Mark rley I've never

even seen a 113 if you get that

reference you need a comment here we go

112 typing a storm on the line the key

is to not kill anyone it's a bad idea to

kill people in the UAE ladies believe it

or not this is actually the hack flying

around on one of these and now I will

stop wasting time flying around on my

core scooter and I'll go back to explain

why you should do it too but first maybe

one more LP yeah move it bu you all

right stop here all right so I've wasted

about 10 minutes but every time I ever

get stuck writing or doing anything

creative now I simply stop go outside

get a bit of nature go for a walk 10

minutes later I come back and everything

just seems to have worked its way out

when we're too close to our content it's

very hard to see obvious answers

sometimes to that little break makes all

difference anyway I've got to get back

on with this script cuz time is ticking

the next thing I wish I knew sooner I

found very hard to come to terms with

but I can honestly say it Chang my life

and without this I'd have no following

or no business and those things built me

a pretty cool lifestyle where I can

travel the world and do whatever the

heck I want when I want and this change

happened because I embraced it and it

works like this if I told you not to put

your hand in the fire because it might

hurt versus don't put your hand in the

fire because it's going to melt your

fingers to the Bone and it's going to

cause you to scream in agony and it

might mean you can never swipe right

again which person are you going to

listen to on YouTube if you want your

viewers to pay attention you have to

make them realize why what you're about

to say is critical so they don't just

ignore you use your words to create a

feeling of urgency and pump up the

stakes of what will happen if they do

drift off I mean let's just rewind this

video and listen to what I said when I

set up the entire section of this

video but I can honestly say it changed

my life and without this I'd have no

following or no business and those

things built me a pretty cool lifestyle

where I can travel the world and do

whatever the heck I want when I want and

this change happened because I embraced

it and it works like this can you see

what I did there if you make it sound

like they're going to get an average

result or just solve an average problem

you're going to get an average response

okay there's the time up is it as

refined as I'd like no is it as funny as

I like not really is it a bit too long

yes is there submits I probably would

have just completely cut out definitely

but there are some fun moments in there

and there was one thing that I've done

where about 18 months ago I came up with

the idea for it and I finally found a

place to put it into a video I think

you're going to like it but before I

reveal it you I just want to hit you

with one more thing I wish I'd knew

sooner because this is a real Channel

killer and sadly it's called by people

like you so let me explain so when I

broke out on YouTube every video got the

same handful of comment Ed this editing

is too fast and you know what they were

right I actually thought it was too fast

too but the thing is the channel was

growing faster than ever so what am I

supposed to do listen to the five or six

people saying it's too fast or the

hundreds of thousands who were saying

nothing in fact all they were doing was

watching and growing the channel at a

pretty amazing rate so I just stuck to

it work when you're a smaller channel in

particular it feels like one comment

represents your entire audience so the

trap to avoid here is not to make

decisions based just on these people

everyone has different tastes things are

subjective so just keep that in mind now

if you get loads of comments saying the

same thing there probably a sign but be

careful because if you make a change

based on them only you might actually

wreck the thing your viewers loved in

the first place so now it's time to

reveal the video that I wrote in Just 2

hours so that you can judge Parkinson's

law for yourself but first there's just

one other small issue so by sharing all

of this stuff that I wish I'd known

sooner with you I'm hoping I can

FasTrack you and stop you making

mistakes that took me years to work out

the thing is these are only a small

selection of them so you need to make

sure you stop making these and a handful

of others too but the good news is this

video here is going to teach you what

those things are and stop you making

some of the biggest mistakes on YouTube

but Ed how do we watch the video you

wrote as fast as you could well you just

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