Taking a digital detox to reset… 📚💡✨

To be completely honest, I’ve been feeling a bit burnt out and mentally drained recently.

I took on a 12 hour endurance challenge in May, recently started this newsletter and been really busy day to day creating content on 5 different platforms as well as balancing production work with brands.

I wrote this post a few weeks ago after taking a holiday (sorry it took a while get out!), here are the 3 things that I did that helped me the most.

Phone off 📲

It took me at least a week to fully get used to this but I scheduled my videos, put my autoresponder on and turned my phone off.

No checking in, no distractions, two weeks away from the world.

A few things came up while I was away but I didn’t miss out on anything (which I think I feared most) and the things that came up got resolved.

Most of the things that distract us day to day just aren’t that important, they easily become addictions and they sap our energy.

Energy that can be used in better ways.

Reading books 📚

I read regularly anyway (usually in a morning) I see it as a hobby that helps me, it rejuvenates me and helps me see the bigger picture. On my break I read…

Broken Open - David Clark.

The incredibly inspiring life, work and journey of an ultra runner who turned his life around from addiction and alcoholism. I couldn’t put it down!

The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway.

I’ve been making more of an effort to read more fiction and classics. They are the classics for a reason and they tend to move me deeply. What a book this is, about life’s hardships and never ever giving up. Plus it’s super short and very easy to read!

My Wonderful World of Slapstick - Buster Keaton.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Buster Keaton’s work and take a lot of inspiration from his stunts and visual storytelling. This book goes behind the scenes on his journey moving from a vaudeville act to one of the World’s most iconic movie stars.

Running 🏃🏻‍♂️

I ran pretty much everyday while I was away, it always seems to balance my mind and body and I always seem to get good ideas and creative sparks.

I don’t go mad, just a 30 minute run at a nice pace but it works wonders.

An essential moving meditation.

Switching off and slowing down made me more present with family and those around me, it took a few days to fully relax but I felt like I was less on a treadmill and more able to slow down and enjoy the stillness.

I mean what’s the point in chasing around working if you can’t enjoy it!!

I hope this helps 🙏🏻

John

PS - If this helped you in anyway, please forward to someone else that it may help or consider joining the mailing list. I write these posts to share an honest account of what I’m learning and facing each day as a video and content creator in the hope that it helps others.

Why comments are a goldmine for ideas… 💡✨

Coming up with good ideas can be a battle at times.

People seem to ask this question a lot.

I use a few different ways to help me brainstorm new ideas but recently I was gifted an idea by simply observing a comment that someone made.

The video did really well.

This is what happened…

I was watching the Man United game, they had just made it through to the Europa League final where they would play Tottenham.

I was sat with someone who supported Arsenal (Tottenham’s biggest rivals) and they said jokingly - ‘Come on UNITED!! I’m now a Man United fan!!!’

That was my idea.

Quite simply “Arsenal Fans getting ready for the Europa League final”

I did a transition of me changing from an Arsenal shirt to a Man United shirt.

It was quick, to the point and very relatable which resulted in a Reel with really high engagement.

VIDEO HERE! https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJ6wU39qiuU/

It’s the same with the comment section of a video.

Comments are a goldmine for ideas. If people are talking about something, it means it resonates with them, making them more likely to watch and share it!

Plus, social media is full of unfiltered, funny, and insightful opinions.

I have dropped an example of this below in my own content where I took the comment directly and made a video around it… Just click on the photo to view 😬

I had never done this before but it worked really well and enabled me to bring the people who watch my videos feel part of them.

If you are stuck for ideas test it out, it might get you thinking differently and pull you out of a creative rut.

I hope this helps!

John

PS - If this helped you in anyway, please forward to someone else that it may help. I write these posts to share an honest account of what I’m learning and facing each day as a video and content creator in the hope that it helps others.

Can you make them watch twice? 👀🎥

A few months back I had a video go viral on facebook reels, the strange thing is I had already posted this exact same video (made back in 2022 during the World Cup) it performed ok but then I made this small tweak and it reached over 2 million people.

It was one of my fun edits where I come out of the TV.

I realised that the video was way too long.

The action happens, the surprise/ridiculousness of the player coming out of the game and into my front room.

Then I just stand there and walk off, nothing interesting happens after that point.

I went to repost the video and realising this I got rid of the final 6 seconds because it was completely unnecessary.

The hard cut, giving the audience something amazing/interesting/unique whatever it is and then cut the video at the height of the emotion.

This resulted in people watching all the way to the end, which of course the algorithm loves.

You can see each post below-

Original video 👇🏻 (11 seconds)

https://www.facebook.com/reel/265356022635863/?s=fb_shorts_profile&stack_idx=0

Cut down video 👇🏻 (5 seconds - more than half of the original!!)

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1162812375263300/?s=fb_shorts_profile&stack_idx=0

This taught me that you can’t have ANY dead space in a video.

Not even a fraction of a second!

People are busy, they don’t care. They have other content, notifications, messages vying for their attention.

So get to it.

My most viral videos all have a watch time that is more than the length of the video. Quite simply because they have watched it more than once.

The screen shot below shows another video that has over 80 Million views on YouTube shorts, the average view duration is double that of the video meaning people are watching twice.

Use your audience retention graphs to learn, refine and find errors in your videos.

Don’t give them a chance to swipe away.

The platform loves you for it because you are keeping people on the platform.

It will keep pushing out your video to more and more people.

Quite simply, can you make them watch twice?

PS - If this helped you in anyway, please forward to someone else that it may help. I write these posts to share an honest account of what I’m learning and facing each day as a video and content creator in the hope that it helps others.

Commit to a body of work... ✨

My friend recently sent me a podcast with the filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (on the Joe Rogan Podcast, a highly recommended listen!) Link Here 👇🏻

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxGtxPV1xoc

Robert spoke about a conversation that he had with Steven Spielberg, who was getting huge critics for his films at the time. Steven Spielberg!! 😮

He asked him, how do you deal with it, how do you keep going?

He said - “Don’t blink, commit to a body of work”.

This simple truth hit me hard.

Meaning. Do the work, it’s enough.

Imagine just making stuff without needing external validation?

It hit me because it’s a battle I face each day.

What if the video you’ve spent hours making doesn’t do well? Do you give up? Do you stop because you’ve missed the mark?

What if that one video, post or project inspires just one person, helps just one person, makes them smile. Maybe that one person wants to hire or work with you?

(I have experienced this a few times when a client has referenced a video that I thought had bombed, ‘we want something like this…’)

It was always about creating, learning, taking your content game forward and putting good stuff out in the world. This is where the enjoyment lies.

We can only do our best, this is your duty.

Let go of the outcome.

Robert Rodriguez made a whole movie on 7k. A whole movie!!

Imagine what you will learn and become if you just took action without need for anything else?

Imagine if Steven Spielberg didn’t build his body of work?

Create the body of work that only you can create, and do it now! The work is enough.

I hope this helps… 🙏🏻

John

PS - If this helped you in anyway, please forward to someone else that it may help. I write these posts to share an honest account of what I’m learning and facing each day as a video and content creator in the hope that it helps others.

I was scared to post... 🥲

In 2023 I posted a video I captioned - ‘Playing on the wing’.

I had filmed the footage almost one year before but I delayed editing it because I thought it was a bit too ‘out there’ or ‘weird’.

I had buried the video in favour of others that I thought might get ‘millions of views’ or follow a particular trend.

The usual nonsense that holds us back. The fear or what people might think?

My wife (and cameraman, sorry camera-woman!) brought it up…

‘What about that wing video… I thought that was good?’

It was a nudge to get to work, (still a little reluctant at this point!)

I made the video. Long story short, it became a hugely successful video.

The lesson I learnt - the best content comes from you, YOUR uniqueness.

The video👇🏻⚽️✈️

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cx5nU4PKtVQ/

Ask yourself.

What is it that only you can do? (I have learnt this can be a few things mixed together)

Of course its important to have an understanding of trends and whats working, but sometimes we need to get out of our heads and into our heart.

Take note of what interests you or pulls you in, maybe makes you laugh, smile, cry. Makes you feel something!

For me this is -

⚽️ Football and football skills (which lead me to being a football freestyler!)

✨ Magic

🎭 Performance (I have always been drawn to performers on stage and screen. Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Harry Houdini, David Blaine also circus jugglers and acts from the vaudeville era)

🎥 Visual effects and how videos/films are made

🤣 Funny meme videos (not going to lie I love a good funny meme compilation on YouTube!! It can spark ideas)

🎨 Surrealistic art/video - one of my favourite videos is the Coldplay Music video for Up&Up which has inspired quite a bit of my content.

I will finish this with a quote I recently noted down from The Bhagavad Gita-

“Nothing is ever lost in following one’s own Dharma, but competition in another’s Dharma breads fear and insecurity”.  The Bhagavad Gita 3:35

I hope this helps… 🙏🏻

John