Transcription
In 2023, I posted every single day. So, today I'm going to share the three biggest lessons that I learned, but the kind that'll help you stay consistent without sacrificing quality or burning you out. This is the Creators Desk, a show about the process, strategy, and day-to-day reality of building a career as a creator. I've lived it, and now I'm sharing everything I've learned.
Okay. So, when I first started that challenge, it wasn't about chasing virality or proving anything to anyone. It was about proving something to myself that I can build the discipline to show up, you know, even when I didn't feel like it. Cuz posting every day, I severely underestimated it first of all, but also when you do something every day for a year, you stop thinking about perfection, how good it is, and you really just start thinking about the process and how you approach it. And that taught me more about creativity and my own process more than trying to appease an algorithm ever could.
Number one, discipline builds confidence. You know, most people wait to make content until they feel ready and they don't post it until they think it's perfect or until they feel confident enough to film or whatever it may be, all the excuses, right? But honestly, you don't get confident before you start. When has that ever been true? You get confident through the process. And most people think the most fruitful thing about consistency is to feed the algorithm so you show up more. It's not. It's about building that trust within yourself because every time you complete a video, even a small one, right, you start believing in your ability to do it again and again and over and over and refine it and improve it. And that's where the real confidence comes from. It's not from the results, the vanity metrics, you know, the dopamine rush, from the likes, the views, and and all of that. It comes from the repetition.
When I first started this 365-day journey, I was stiff. I was uncomfortable. I didn't know what I was doing in front of the camera, you know? I was so awkward. I mean, just listen to this first video. "I'm posting on TikTok 365 days straight this year, every day." It's completely different than how I'm talking to you now. And I wouldn't have found that if it wasn't for the constant repetition of this process. So, here's what happens when you stay disciplined long enough. Repetition rewires your comfort zone. The first 10 times you post, you'll feel awkward. You'll feel anxious. You're not going to want to finish it. But you know what? The next 10, you'll feel more neutral. You'll feel less awkward about it. And after 100, it becomes clockwork. Maybe more, maybe less, but it starts to become second nature. And that is how confidence compounds.
Momentum replaces motivation. You stop waiting for the perfect day, the perfect idea or the perfect energy levels. You end up just building rhythm. You know, you start creating by instinct. You start creating by habit. And the more consistent you are, the less resistance you'll feel towards the entire process. And that's how you get your voice to show up. Consistency builds identity. When you do this long enough, you stop saying, "I'm trying to be a creator." And you start becoming one. You know, the identity shift is everything here. It gives you the confidence, the purpose, the discipline, and you can't fake that because there were plenty of days where I didn't want to make a video. I didn't know what I wanted to post. You know, I was tired over it. But in 2026, the creators who will win won't just be the most talented. They'll be the ones who are the most consistent, the ones who continue showing up even before they feel ready or it's perfect. It's the people who feel like this is second nature to them.
Number two, volume creates clarity. People love to say quality over quantity, right? I kind of agree. Only half of that is true because honestly, after having made so many videos, quantity creates quality. You can't refine what you haven't made yet. When I started posting every day, I wasn't trying to go viral, right? I was just trying to understand myself, what I actually enjoyed sharing, filming, what stories, what resonated with me, what resonated with the audience, and what didn't. And I learned way more from creating all of those videos than trying to make the one perfect video. And that's how quality starts to come, through the repetition. So, is it quality over quantity or does quantity create the quality? I think it's the latter.
So, here's what happens when you commit to that volume. Repetition reveals patterns. When you make a big enough body of work, you start to see the invisible thread that connects them all from your tone, your perspective, and you'll notice what feels effortless versus what doesn't quite feel like you. You know, those small observations within yourself, they start to define what your real voice is more than any algorithm ever could. and you try to mold yourself into something the platform wants and that will absolutely burn you out. What you need to do is experiment because experiment ends up building direction. And every time you do this, it's a rep, it's data, it's a test, you get to learn from your results. And over time, you stop guessing what's going to work and you start knowing what aligns with you and what aligns with the audience. And that is how you build your identity. You don't need every video to be a smash hit or be viral. You just need enough of them to learn from. It'll teach you what to double down on. It'll teach you what to be consistent with. But also, in that same breath, volume and how much you post, you can't do that mindlessly. You always need to learn from it. If you approach this correctly, the more you make, the clearer your learning will be and the clearer your vision will be and the stronger your storytelling gets.
And now before we get to number three, here is a word from our sponsor. If you're enjoying this so far and you want to go even deeper and build the foundational systems that make this all possible, I built an online academy called Content College. Inside you'll learn how to plan, write, film, edit, and post with a creative system designed to help you grow without burning out. And it's more than just courses. You'll also be getting my color grading preset, my sound effects pack, my templates, worksheets, and how I film and edit my videos from start to finish. And it just starts there because there is so much more inside. And I'm not just showing you how I make my videos. We'll be working on your videos together. Every step of the process, the skills you need that won't be affected by an algorithm. If you're serious about taking your content to the next level, check out Content College. You'll find the link in the description. Now, let's get back to number three.
Number three, momentum beats motivation. See, anybody can get motivated, but momentum is what keeps you consistent. When I first started posting every day, I thought I needed motivation every single day to create. Boy, did I run out of motivation quick. You know, over time, I realized the days that I felt least inspired or least motivated going back to the drawing board ended up yielding me my best work. And that's because just showing up will build your creative momentum. And momentum is what keeps you going when your motivation and inspiration run out, right? Obviously, easier said than done, but you don't stay consistent because you feel inspired. You stay inspired because you don't want to ruin your consistency.
So, here's what happens when you build momentum instead of chasing inspiration and motivation. Action fuels emotion. The creative flow state comes from actually doing and not consuming or waiting. The moment you start filming or writing or editing even, your brain switches gears. This is when it starts to feel good. That process gives you dopamine. You know, finishing gives you confidence. It feels so good. It is addicting. That momentum removes overthinking, overanalyzing, perfection. It gives you rhythm. And when you're in rhythm, you stop debating over every decision. Where should I film it? How should I look? What should I wear? All of these things. You just start to care about the expression of creativity. And this growth just continues to compound from all the data that you're collecting from what you enjoy making and what people might enjoy from you.
Discipline becomes automatic because momentum turns consistency into a muscle memory. You know, it becomes part of your routine. You don't have to fight the resistance every day to do it. You just do it and it becomes part of your life because this system, this repetition will carry you through the days that you just don't have it. And this is what separates creators from the ones who post and who just do from the ones who hope. And from there, you just keep growing. You just keep learning. You just keep improving. And that is a secret to creating sustainably. And all of that isn't dictated by a platform or what the algorithm is telling you what to do because like I said, if you chase that, you will absolutely lose yourself, your identity, and what you're really doing this for, which is creative expression.
All right, that's everything I have on today's topic, but now it is your turn. At the end of every episode, I answer a handful of questions submitted by you for a rapid-fire Q&A. And all of them were picked and sorted by my team. So, I'm seeing them for the first time right now.
How do you stay creative under pressure? Wow, that's a good one. Life is what gives you the inspiration, right? And it's an active pursuit. It's an active process. So, what do I do when I feel an overbearing amount of pressure? I stop and come back to it.
I get this question a lot. How is my account yellow on Instagram? So, last year Instagram had this awards called rings. There were 25 rings winners. And one of the cool perks of being a rings winner is you can turn your profile into any color you want. It's a pretty cool perk, and it's yellow because I use big bold yellow font on all my videos.
Do you film horizontal and crop into vertical? This video right now, because it's landing on YouTube and I want to make other short-form clips, I will film horizontal wide enough so that I can still crop in and make 9x16 vertical clips. But if I'm making videos strictly for, you know, vertical social media, I'm turning the camera and I'll film it all vertically.
Can you still blow up on social media solely from photography? Absolutely. You know, there's so many great carousel dumps of just beautiful photography. And, you know, maybe the appetite of how people consume photography is different. Sometimes people like being shown a before and after or what the location looks like and what your photo looks like. And there's a couple of photographers that are like, "This is what my eye sees versus this is what my camera sees." There's different ways to serve your photography now. And you can absolutely still continue to win and grow on social media through photography in my opinion.
The last one. Do you think the power of the new iPhone is enough for beginner content creators? Absolutely. The quality of your camera, whether it's on your phone or a camera like this, does not change your ability to tell a compelling story that connects with a human being. People are connected to emotion, not how HD your video is or how great the color grading is. It's about storytelling. It's been this way since cavemen. And you've seen paintings on the wall. It's been in scriptures. It's been everywhere. Is your phone also high quality enough to look incredible from the color grading and great cinematic composition and depth? Yes. As well.
Well, that about wraps up the Q&A and everything this far. For the people who made it all the way to the end, comment banana down below. Let's confuse everybody so I know y'all are the real ones. And before you go, make sure you subscribe to the free APCC newsletter for digestible content creating tips sent to you weekly, as well as highlighting some of our community's creators. And also be sure to like, subscribe, and turn on the notification bell, and come back in two weeks, same place, same time. Anyways, I'll see y'all next time. Peace.