I'd probably be more specific based on the type of online video, the audience, and the platform. The online video space has grown so much since then, it's impossible to give such global advice.

Yeah I should be better about that but I'm just having fun and also lazy.

Lowkey pulling for movie of the year

“You think you know better than every TV manufacturer?” YES DAD I DO.

And yes. I played him the Tom Cruise and Chris McQuarrie video and he said “I don’t understand a single word they just said.”

We’re on this planet for a blink. Don’t spend it laboring for a measure of success that is so far off that you keep delaying your happiness.

Instead, move the goal post closer. And you can always move it back.

I just mean - don’t forget. Don’t become so entrenched in the daily minutia (sink is clogged, report is due, laundry needs folding) that you forget to LIVE.

But hey you know what? I want you to give permission to yourself to be selfish.

If you are honest with yourself about what you want, try your all to get it. Try hard. And not in a “hustle culture, get up at 5am and run three miles” kind of way. (I mean unless you want to.)

Before, I resented taking “money gigs” that were “beneath me” because I “wasn’t moving towards my goals.” Now I’m just happy to be there!

I know my metric of success is selfish. It doesn’t include “give x amount to charity,” “make art that changes lives” or “have children.”

And let me tell you. Since I re-defined my personal definition of success, my happiness went up a thousand-fold.

Every day that I am able to wake up in this city and profit off of creative ideas in my own little brain, I win.

Every day I feel successful.

Does that sometimes mean teaching at a conference? Yeah. Does that sometimes mean running around with a gimbal at an event I was hired to cover? Yeah.

The odd time it also means directing an incredible project with a decent-sized crew and a solid budget.

I decided that being a “successful filmmaker” meant that I had the ability to exist as a human living in LA, surviving entirely off of work that involved shooting or editing.

Quite literally just being able to afford shelter and food within LA County limits. A tangible goal.

This is what I thought for years. Beating myself up. Until I decided to make a change. Some might say I “lowered my standards.”

I say: I made it easier to be happy.

I threw away my old goal and decided on a new metric of success. (By the way - you can do this too, right now.)

Or even better - what if I DID reach my goal, and then still inevitably died? The world would keep spinning.

The only difference would be that I paid the salaries of my film crew for a month or two, and maybe a handful of people spent 2 hours enjoying my finished film.

First let’s consider: what if I died “unsuccessful?” In 500 years, nobody would even remember me, let alone care that I died unsuccessful. Just me. And I'm long dead.

Unfulfilled. And for what?

Because I didn’t set the right goal. I spent my whole life feeling like a failure.

This was the philosophy I had for years. “Make a film” was the goal, and I felt like shit every year that ticked away without that goal met.

I felt unsuccessful. I was unsuccessful.

I still haven't made a feature, but I'm now successful. How?