Press Start Week 4/4: Stop waiting

Week 4, we are done.

This short 30ish day project has taught me more in 4 weeks than the countless videos i’ve consumed in years.

The biggest takeaway from all this has been crystal clear.

“I should’ve started sooner”.

The crazier part is that I almost did, and I had the perfect conditions to do so.

But I thought I had time.

Let me explain.

Creating is not a new interest to me. I used to obsess over comic book art and would fill up notebooks when I was a kid.

So much so that I was actually asked to draw a cover of Yoshi’s island for a classmate into a big poster when I was in either 4th or 5th Grade.

But time passed and I stopped drawing for no real reason. Even though it’s something that I still enjoy to this day.

Another thing I liked was video-games and recording the moment to moment gameplay. (This was back in 2007) so imagine if I had done so and started putting stuff out there at that age.

That interest stayed, but I didn’t follow through on it until later (partially).

Finally came tech, vlog and self improvement content on youtube.

I loved this vlogging stuff, especially when it came to the tech and car content (remember this because I’m about to make you mad).

So to summarize here are the things I liked:

• Art
• Video Games
• Car Culture (mainly JDM)
• Video and video editing
• Vlogging with friends
• Tech
• Self improvement
• Basically anything creative that could combine the above topics

So, keeping all this in mind. Consider the following.

When I first joined the Air Force, my first base was in Okinawa Japan.

I was there for 4 years.

My first car was a R32 Skyline GT-R.

Also, my job sent me on a few trips around to different countries (with my friends).

Those friends also played video games and shared those interests.

Some of those same friends had other cool JDM cars that we would meet up and drive in.

A few of those friends also liked messing with cameras, and were proficient in video editing.

You getting angry yet?

Oh well I crashed the GT-R, and then I got an FD RX-7 afterwards.

2 of my dream cars in less than 3 years.

You can argue that I had the perfect conditions to create content that could’ve possible altered the trajectory of my life.

But I wasn’t prepared to take advantage of those opportunities because I wasn’t ready to do so.

I had to defeat my self doubts.

It only took me 9 years.

You can do it in 9 minutes, shit 9 seconds, if you just stop waiting for the “perfect” time.

The crazy part was that I was the one documenting our trips for the most part, but I never took the time to flesh anything out.

I didn’t think of telling a story and make something out of our experiences.

Part of the reason for me not engaging in any creative projects was the long work hours we were putting in. But my point still stands. If I didn’t have that fear of putting stuff out there, I would’ve started back in 2014.

In 2018 I even bought a set up to stream on Twitch.

I probably streamed twice, and that was it.

Again, the self doubts and the fear of putting myself out there kept me from starting.

I always thought, “I can do it later when the conditions are better” or I would make some other excuse.

When in reality is just needed to be done.

But I was afraid to put stuff out there.

So if I can make sure you leave with ONE thing, it’s to start now.

This project helped me figure out how to overcome obstacles and work through those excuses stemming from “the perfect time”.

To show you how easy it is to gain momentum by just showing up and taking small steps here’s the stats for the month.

Here are the metrics of the ideal Press Start project

Short form:

Goal: 84

Actual: 44

Short Videos:

Goal: 28

Actual: 5

Long form (Newsletter)

Goal: 4

Actual: 4

Long form Video:

Goal: 4

Actual: 3

Even though I only met the Newsletter requirement. This had a great impact on my page and me personally.

I was able to learn systems to be more consistent as well as learn skills to make more stuff.

You can see that overall this was a win.

I had no idea I would have so many people looking at my writing/content.

Hopefully this shows you that even if you don't meet your own expectations, the important thing is to start.

Even if you don't hit your mark you just need to continue showing up and stop waiting.

So get to work.

Thanks for reading.

-OG