How to make better work
The solution to overthinking and making work you're proud of
I made my best-ever video this last Saturday (May 27).
It was a video that wasn’t planned. It was raining and I didn’t even want to make a video at all. But I made it and while editing, I knew it was my best work yet. Now, on the surface, there is nothing fantastic about it. No special story, no special effects, no unique camera angles, nothing at all. It was just a talking head video with poor lighting.
What made it special was that I was able to apply all the basics of editing I’ve been learning: the cuts, the b-roll, the use of text, a few sound effects and I was even able to get the audio levels right. Add to that the fact I was able to film in just one take because it was unscripted.
Generally, I would say being able to bring out something good from a less-than-ideal situation made it special which brings me to the main point of today’s newsletter.
Very often we want everything to be perfect before we set out to do things when the truth is we already have what we need to start.
We overthink things. A lot!
It’s actually a problem called analysis paralysis. (I literally just found out now, but it’s a cool name for something that affects a lot of creatives)
It simply means we spend too much time overthinking a problem instead of acting on it. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve not (sometimes delayed) taken action because I was thinking of all the different ways things could go wrong.
I know you’ve also felt this at some point.
The solution is simple: start.
Of course, when you start, you’ll possibly find out that there are other problems. But it’s easier to solve these if you’ve already started. And most times, these problems that come up are usually different from the ones we spend all our time thinking about before we started.
We shouldn’t overthink starting our creative projects. So, go write that article, make that video, start that photo project, and paint that picture.
Don’t overthink it. Start. Figure the rest later. And by the end, you may end up making your best work.
Until the next one anyways.
Here’s the video I consider my best yet. It’s called: i don’t have a niche.
Quick Photo Tip
The one thing you need to take a good photo every single time is good light. Many people think it’s a good background, but it’s not. You can have a terrible background and you’ll still make a better picture with good lighting than having terrible lighting on a perfect background.
So, find where that light is coming from and place your subject there. If you’re indoors, a window is a good place to start.
That’s it for today friends. Hope you have a great week. And feel free to reply to this email. I’d love to hear from you.
Talk soon
x
ash.