Welcome back to another newsletter!
I’m pausing the mandatory weekly fashion because of how insular I currently feel right now, and I can’t stand the notion of putting out content when I don’t have something to say. So going forward, expect newsletters whenever I feel called to put them out.
I’m also in a rare mood where I feel like talking about politics less, so let’s turn on the creative talk!
As always, the format is simple:
- Ideas I’m thinking about
- Resources that are upgrading my quality of life
- The latest from me
Let’s get into it.
Ideas
You can’t push a story faster than it wants to unfold. Creativity is like life. You can force things much as you want, but you have to let life unfold naturally. At the same time, when things are at a standstill or not moving fast enough, it’s equally essential to take it more seriously by allocating more time, energy and money towards it to ensure that it’s moving forward (from Mark Bone in a resource mentioned below).
Be willing to scrap amazing cinematography for a trash-worthy shot that better tells your story. In Casey Neistat’s course1we both get $20 off if you use this link, but you should buy this course even without my link because it’s that good., I watched him opt for a total throwaway shot that was pointed out the floor, used it for 8 frames because it helped move the story forward, then later scrapped beautiful footage because it didn’t. Story beats beauty.
Feel the excitement now for whatever you’re creating. It’s likely that once you’ve actually achieved what you’re after, you’re not going to be as excited since the journey of creating something within your reality is where the ultimate joy resides. So if you’re excited about something in the future — don’t wait! Be happy now as if you had it, even if you don’t have it yet. Because the process of bringing something that you desire into your reality is the best part of the whole experience. Currently, I’m most excited about upgrading my setup. By year-end, the plan is to invest in a 16” M1 Max Macbook Pro with top-of-the-line specs, a Sony A7IV and 2 full-frame lenses — and it brings me joy just to visualize them in my mind’s eye.
When you get good at doing hard things, they can become fun. I put off addressing photography within Lightroom for about 8 months, but now that I’m getting comfortable with the application and have a rough understanding of what to do, it’s a much different experience. I’m able to achieve flow more often and photography as a whole is becoming less of a chore and more and more of an enjoyable activity.
As much as I wish I could create non-stop, 24/7, all day long — it’s almost impossible as a creative. Work as much as you’re physically, mentally & emotionally capable of, and maximize that window by spending it on the top priorities and in the best state you can be in. But don’t destroy yourself inside for not being able to work all the time — almost no one can. Do the best you can with what you have and do what you can to create a great internal and external environment to assist in maximizing every minute you’re investing and how long you can keep at it, and you can sleep well knowing you did the best you could.
Sometimes, you need the world to get crazy as fuck to wake the whole world up. When it doesn’t hurt bad enough, people stick their heads in the sand. When it starts to affect every facet of their reality — gas prices, war, CRT, grooming kids, censorship, taking away rights, etc. — that’s when people wake up from their slumber to question what’s going on and start getting involved.
Another shot, another drink or another hit isn’t going to fix your challenge — it just postpones it. After the numbing from the drugs and alcohol wears off, you’re still going to have to confront the pain point in your reality which drove you to suppress it. Since that’s the case, to save yourself time, skip the avoidance phase and deal with the challenges head-on now — no matter how painful it is.
Resources
Casey Neistat’s course.2Again, we both get $20 off if you use this link, but you should buy this course even without my link because it’s that good. Just finished part 2 and what an incredible opportunity this course was. It was a total landmine of wisdom, especially for advanced creators who can discern all the subtle nuances within his process. Such a privilege to watch one of my favourite creators on earth make a video from start to finish. (You even get to watch his entire process for filming and editing this!)
How to Make Better Films with Mark Bone & Peter McKinnon. Peter’s making a documentary right now and is having a challenging time with it, so he asked Mark Bone to give him advice… and they filmed part of it to share some of the wisdom with us. I’m learning a ton from Mark Bone’s videos right now in regards to documentary filmmaking and storytelling, but instead, I’m applying it to my unique style of content creation.
Walking Dead Season 11B. I feel bad for any of the people who stopped watching in S7/S8 (arguably the worst seasons) because ever since season 9, the storytelling and pacing have been badass. Absolutely loving this final season. I’m sad that it’s not going to last forever, but they’re bringing this show to a close in a great way.
Braveheart. How in the world did I wait so long to watch this movie? If we had more men like William Wallace, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re currently in. Such a badass film and story. “Freedom!”
The latest
I got to meet Pierre Poilievre, the upcoming leader of the Canadian Conservative Party and if all goes well, the future Prime Minister of Canada! A clip of the interaction was posted on his YouTube/socials, and the Toronto Sun even reposted it afterwards. Such a sick experience on so many levels. A video from my perspective is coming soon!
That’s all for now. Until next week, be well.
Much love,
—Josh
