So I did something crazy last month after being egged on by my On Deck community of Course Creator Fellows.
I made a YouTube Video every single day in May
So what made me do this?
The Spark
The first thing that happened was a incredibly epic proper intro and long-winded conversation with one fellow in particular, Sir Steven Wilkinson.
By the end of our discussion, he had blown me away with some serious truth bombs .
I had been looking for a better, more coherent way to balance sovereignty with community in my own mind and in my own aims, and we connected as fellow seekers and travelers (he much farther down the path of wisdom and truth seeking than I).
He had mentioned that he was thinking about taking part in a video challenge (as he'd always been averse to video as a medium ) after the idea was thrown out there by another couple of Course Creators, Ryan Chadha and Dom Zijlstra.
So I haphazardly blurted out that in order to find the Holy Grail , King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table had to set out into the forest at the spot that looked darkest to him.
His reaction sealed my fate.
⚔️ Lesson #1: Never bust out King Arthur lore on an Englishman unless you're dead serious about follow-through.
We ended our conversation because I had to go teach a class, but he dropped a video for me to watch in the chat first.
That was on April 30th.
On May 1st, Steven (a money, investment, and business guru) posted this in the Slack chat for all of us taking part in the challenge (via Craig Burgess on Twitter)
I had all the fuel I needed , and it was go time.
One Turn of the Flywheel
May 1st was a Saturday, and I had no idea what the hell I was going to do, but I had to fit this new adventure through the keyhole️ so the world could open up on the other side (this is a recurring theme for me).
So I made a video introducing my YouTube channel.
Lesson #2: If you don't know where to start, then start where everyone else does.
That weekend was rough. I knew that I had content that I wanted to start putting out there, but I didn't have a plan, really. I just had some amorphous aim.
So on Sunday, May 2nd, I decided to clarify my aim to myself. I found this video to be one that was particularly useful and a bit of a guiding light for the rest of the month.
I had outlined my primary aim.
When I was done I realized that the act of aiming and deciding what to aim at are part of the SAME process.
We all need to get comfortable doing both simultaneously in the 21st century.
✨ Lesson #3: Aim as you create.
In fact, this is what I'm doing right now as I create this very blog post.
I realize now that that's what Jocko Willink means when he says that "discipline is a pathway to creativity."
⚙️ The Grind, or Staying Spun Up
When Monday came around, I knew the only way for me to get through weeks one and two of the #EveryDayInMay challenge were to double and triple down on my strengths, and create more 1-Minute Lessons.
So I put together two new series based on courses that I had taught in the past and that I knew in, out, up, and down.
The first was on Statics. The second was on Strength of Materials.
I realized that the path to my future was rooted in my past.
♊ Lesson #4: When there's no one left to copy, mimic an older version of yourself.
I was grinding. Every. Single. Day.
But I started to feel momentum. It started to get easier. I was finally #buildinginpublic.
The Dip
The dip is real, and I felt it.
What kept me going? Accountability from my #ODCC1 fellows. Support from my family. The act of #buildinginpublic itself.
There is no great mystery here, it's just about getting your system set up.
️ Lesson #5: Leverage community as a force multiplier for fuel and accountability.
The easiest way to do this is exactly what we all don't want to hear. Build. In. Public.
⚒️ Breakdown? Breakthrough.
Only AFTER I got through the dip, things started opening up.
I started coming up with new ideas for YouTube series, and I finally had the fuel and momentum to be able to accomplish them.
So I started outlining them in my to-do list.
I kept adding stuff to it.
I realized there was so much content that I needed to manage and keep track of, it was becoming overwhelming.
Then it clicked.
I actually NEEDED a content calendar now...
I had hear about content calendars, but they'd always felt overwhelming. But that's because I was putting the cart before the horse.
I had actually been focusing too much on strategy - my #1 strength - which brings me to the last lesson.
️ Lesson #6: Sometimes the darkest part of the forest is on the other side of your greatest strength.
⛳ Conclusions
In conclusion, I peeled off six lessons from completing 31 videos. They are:
⚔️ Lesson #1: Never bust out King Arthur lore on an Englishman unless you're dead serious about follow-through.
Lesson #2: If you don't know where to start, then start where everyone else does.
✨ Lesson #3: Aim as you create.
♊ Lesson #4: When there's no one left to copy, mimic an older version of yourself.
️ Lesson #5: Leverage community as a force multiplier for fuel and accountability.
️ Lesson #6: Sometimes the darkest part of the forest is on the other side of your greatest strength.
But perhaps most importantly of all, I faced my fears with like-minded people, and we all entered our own part of the forest in search of our own Grails.
And I'd like to think that we all found a little treasure at the end of the #EveryDayInMay Rainbow .
Cheers,
Greg Loughnane
June 10, 2021
Lessons Learned from the #EveryDayInMay ODCC1 Challenge