Another Monday, explorers. Thanks for being here!
If you recall, nine logs ago, Danny challenged us all - in 10 weeks, accomplish a singular goal, small or big. We loved the interaction we got on that one. Hearing everyone’s aspirations written out.
As you might’ve inferred from the text and graphics above, we’re checking in! With ourselves, and with you. Did you reach your goal? Are you still working towards it?
Captain McMahon, what say you?
Time flies, huh? Two months ago I challenged all of you to try nudge your life in a new direction. Whether you’ve taken a half-step forward, a leap, or decided to flank left a few paces, that’s all OK! The way I see it, we should all be grateful to just keep walking.
By the end of March this year, I was down in the dumps about where my time was going. Since a child, I’ve had a pretty non-stop itch to create stuff, and since becoming a professional video editor - I had zero time to make stuff for myself.
I’m not going to suggest the last two months have opened up a new world of opportunity for me. But what I have done is: lay the groundwork.
Everyone here - your time is valuable. It’s always in our best interest to ask ourselves “how can I be offering this value, but still allow time elsewhere?” In identifying why your time is valuable, you can discover new approaches to using your 24 hours. Some of you are experts at advice. You could offer consultancy, like Tejas. Some of you are great motivators. You could offer coaching sessions, like Sean. And some of you are great leaders. You could move into supervising, which is what I’ve done.
The past couple months have introduced me to a new role: supervising editor. In an ideal world, it means I oversee post-production for various content creators, while rarely having to get my own hands dirty. With skills in people management and critical thinking, it’s a no-brainer. I offer value to content creators, teach junior editors the ropes, and have time for my own content.
However, I did the numbers - and in the 53 days before I set this challenge I posted 13 short-form videos and 4 long-form videos. In the 53 days after, I posted 12 short-form videos and 4 long-form videos. With technically more time, I actually posted less. I even made less TikTok views - with 2,113,100 before, and 1,752,300 after.
The pessimist in me could see this as a failure. As a step in the wrong direction. But instead, it suggests that more time =/= more product. Instead, it means a more refined, stronger creative vision. A lot of the work I’ve made in the last 53 days have been some of my proudest creations.
So look – I won’t pretend it’s been buttery smooth. I’m still figuring this shit out. But I know this was the right step for me. I just wish I had the confidence to, earlier.
How has your life changed recently? I’d love to hear!
I’ll cut right to the chase - I reached my goal… kinda.
Two months ago, verbatim, my promise was: In 10 weeks’ time, I’ll make it a point to define a clear trajectory, and what I truly desire to be in the world.
Call it wishful thinking, or the fact that I had put off writing my section to the last minute, but something about that goal never quite fit itself into place. It was simultaneously a small goal, and a gargantuan one - define a trajectory, AND what I want to be?
Like most things, as soon as that thought was written, I never thought about it again (until just now lol). I went about my days, doing my routines, experimenting with content, eating, sleeping, playing with more content, and repeating.
Things had gone back to normal, and the thought of defining the rest of my life for the foreseeable future never crossed my brain. But something about falling into routines of making content - each one experimentally different from the last - stuck out to me.
In thinking about whether or not I reached my 10-week goal, I realized that I’ve been trying to define my trajectory ever since I picked up a camera.
As evidenced in my year of posting every day on TikTok (which I’ve never talked about before), I never really niched down. Sure, I landed on “self-improvement,” but the frequency of the cycles and phases my content went through made sure each piece was stylistically different from the last.
What’s more, my work from my youth was also all over the map - from vlogging to Canon T3i-era filmmaking, to close-up card magic tutorials, I’ve always tried new things when it came to content.
This 10-week goal was actually an 834-week goal.
All because I wanted to know who Sean Oulashin was NOT ONLY as a creator but as a human being.
The answer to “did I complete my 10-week” goal is yes and no. I did, because I now know that I’m a creator with the ability to create pretty much any kind of video, but I’m still en route to where I want to be.
The best part is: we’re all on that journey together.
Can you believe that we have been writing Out West now for half a year?? It genuinely felt like yesterday when I called Sean and Danny about this small idea I have about creating a newsletter. The hope was that it didn’t take too much out of our already jam-packed day and that if we want to scale later, we can!
Rather than creating the BEST newsletter, we emphasized perfecting the process. And heck – here we are, six months later.
I also pledged in Danny’s two-month challenge, putting myself to the test to see if I can post a long-form video, once a week, consistently. Not worrying about views, subscribers, and even quality (to an extent).
I just wanted to create a solid process.
And… It worked! For the first time in my life, I was able to post consistent long-form videos on YouTube, week after week. Some were great! Some weren’t but who cares, a foundation has been built.
They say that when motivation runs dry, discipline is what carries you forward.
The most successful thing in my life is my TikTok account. It’s funny to say, but that visual resume has opened the doors to every opportunity I have today. I attribute most of that success to the mindset I had which was, “treat TikTok like another one of your college classes - Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and the weekend from 9-11am is your time to make videos, nothing else. If you don’t feel like it… sucks. Just like class, you had to show up.”
At some point, every great artist, athlete, and achiever had days where they didn’t want to do their craft, but it’s those days where you push forward and forge that mindset.
Without consistency, you can’t build a feedback loop, something essential for creating an evolving brand. In the past six weeks, I was able to measure what I did right and wrong and now able to adapt my process for the better.
I’m beyond proud of myself for posting consistently. There was lots of lost sleep, panic edits, and weighing stress but now I have a data set and can decide what my next steps should be.
If you’re a creator just starting out, forget the views, subscribers, and vanity metrics.
Creating a bulletproof process is always step one.
What about you? Did you reach your goal you told us 10 weeks ago? If you didn’t… are you the same person you were 10 weeks ago? Why, or more importantly… why not?
Let us know! We love talking to you guys in the comments, so leave one!
See ya next week. Stay frosty :)