Do What You Can't

Casey Neistat is pretty damn amazing. If you know him, it is probably from YouTube. Part of what makes him amazing is he is thought-provoking. He lets you see things, and think of things you may never have before with his use of video, music, and words.

Full disclaimer: I want to be Casey’s ghost writer. I don’t have the connections to ask him directly so I use the mediums I have available to me. I run a small media/marketing company called MediaMedia in The SF Bay Area and part of what we/I do is ghost write.

If you enjoy this, please let him know @CaseyNeistat. Tell him @JustOneJoey1 sent you.

One of my business philosophies is: when you do something amazing, put it EVERYWHERE. Casey does amazing videos, but it is also his insights that are priceless. I want him to expand what he does in to the written word, to tap in to a new audience, and give his old audience a chance to dig even deeper in to this genius creative’s mind (and I want to be the one who does it).

Once again, if you enjoy this, please let him know @CaseyNeistat. Tell him @JustOneJoey1 sent you.

Here is, verbatim, today’s video posted by @CaseyNeistat & @MaxJoseph. The video is absolutely amazing. I watched it, then I had my daughter watch it, then we had my wife watch it. It is that good. I want you to read the words because I think the power of these words is just as intense as the visual.

I think his ideas, his thoughts, along with his new CNN partnership, would make an amazing addition to everything he already does well. Think of it in the same manner as Anthony Bourdain. He posts a beautifully scripted article before his next episode airs, and it makes it that much more spectacular.

Enjoy.

Do What You Can’t

To the haters, the doubters, my 7th grade vice principal, to everyone who’s ever told anyone with a dream they can’t, this video (article) is for you.

Keep your head down.

Follow the rules.

Do as you’re told.

Play it safe.

Wait your turn.

Ask permission.

Learn to compromise.

This is TERRIBLE advice!

If I were to write an autobiography, a book about my life, one title that would work would be, Do What You Can’t, because that idea encapsulates everything I have ever done.

Like, when I wanted to move to New York City, and my dad was like, “you can’t, you don’t have any money.”

Or when I first said I wanted to make movies, and it was, “you can’t, you didn’t go to film school.”

I want to have a TV show, “you can’t Casey, you’re not pretty enough.”

And to go even further, if I were to characterize what this new generation of content creators and film makers, what we all do on YouTube and everywhere else is: we do what we can’t.

YOU CAN’T be an action movie filmmaker.

But, you get your parkour friends to dress up like video game characters, jump off some buildings, and YOU CAN.

YOU CAN’T have a talk show, but, you have a webcam and YOU CAN. The next thing you know you are interviewing the president.

YOU CAN’T fly around New York City on a magic carpet, but you get your electric skateboard, some PVC pipe, a great outfit, give Jesse a call, and YOU CAN.

You don’t need gear.

You don’t need trucks, or a crane.

You don’t need some big expensive camera rig that never works.

When you are a creator, you don’t need someone in your ear telling you what you can and can’t do, what you can and can’t say.

They call us gamers, influencers, internet famous, but we know something they don’t.

You can start a vlog, a make-up channel, or travel around the world with a gigantic piano playing at beautiful places for interested people.

When you’re a creator, all you need is your phone, an internet connection, and a good idea.

A story you want to share.

Something you need to say.

And then the rest is history.

If you do it right, you get to quit the day job, make friends from places you’ve never been. Meetups, collaborations, a life moving so fast, and so full, you won’t even have time to process it.

So to my fellow creators, I say, keep creating, keep doing the work, and never forget, you don’t have to listen to anyone, because in this new world, no one knows anything.

The haters, the doubters, are all drinking champagne in the top deck of the Titanic and we’re the fucking iceberg.

Do what you can’t.

by

Casey Neistat (@CaseyNeistat)

30 Days Of Genius Blog: Brandon Stanton (Humans Of New York)

Quite possibly one of the best “follow your dream stories” I have ever heard. Humans Of New York creator Brandon Stanton lays out the framework for dreaming wide awake. He may be one of the most selfless artists I have ever come across. He is nothing, the art, and its connection to the audience, is everything. How refreshing is that?

I have taken his interview on 30 Days of Genius with Chase Jarvis, extracted the information, and used it to answer common questions by readers just like you, who are looking to take their lives to the next level, or at least a different level than the one they are on.

Please enjoy.

Following My Passion Should Be Easy, Right? Because I Love It?

Absolutely not!

In fact, that is the most common misconception I hear. If you are truly passionate about what you are doing it should be extremely hard. Why? Because whatever that “thing” is, you should be doing it all the time. Do not use following your dreams as an excuse to not work. Please. There are so many people out there that do just enough to be able to tell themselves and the people they are close with that they are following their dream, living their passion. Generally, those people are doing a little here, a little there, and getting very little to nothing done.

When I moved to New York, all I did was take pictures. All day, every day. I lived and breathed photography. Why? Because when you follow your passion, you need to completely immerse yourself in to it. It is a sacrifice you need to make in order to make something of your passion. I lived in an apartment with three strangers, in a room that barely fit a mattress, and I loved it. I was never there, so it didn’t matter. I was out and about, taking photos, refining my craft, and making sure I was better when I got home than when I left in the morning.

I never planned on having art that connected with tens of millions of people. If I did, I would never have been able to create Humans Of New York. I wanted to take photographs, and make enough money to be able to take photographs. That’s it. Get better every single day. Produce 4 pieces of content every single day. That’s it.

Forcing myself to create so much, 365 days a year, put me in a situation where I had to bust my ass. Those four pieces of content were not going to create themselves. If I didn’t work, I wasn’t producing, or getting better, or really following my passion.

If you are not working with passion, then you are not likely working on your passion.

In the world of art, that passion, or lack thereof, comes through in the work. It amazes me that on Facebook, basically a medium of stories from millions and millions of people, HONY stands out. I think that is because it is real. There is no bs, no ulterior motive. I tell stories of real people, their real lives, with a caring and attention to detail that they deserve, and people are drawn to it. Without that passion, both for putting in the work and caring about it, I truly believe it wouldn’t connect in the same way.

What Should My Goals Be?

I am assuming that you want to follow your passion because you think it will bring you happiness. I agree that it will make you happy, as long as it truly is your passion, but what that happiness is, is different for everyone. There is no one version of happiness.

My goal was to make enough money to keep doing what I loved.

I, personally, think that is a healthy way to start. That way, you are focused on the craft, the process, and the work. Pressure yourself to work hard, and keep growing. Like I said, come home better than when you left. Each day has the goal of being better than the day before.

Do not pin your values on external measures. I understand that there has to be a certain level of paying attention to money, but if you are not making enough, use that as a challenge to get better at your craft. Be so good they can’t ignore you. Keep pushing. Be competitive with yourself. Not hard on yourself, competitive. Make yourself work every day, all day, in order to get better. It is the one thing you can control. Put in the time, value your work, and constantly get better.

Working with passion, every day, pushing yourself to be better and better every day, will allow you to experiment, and take some risks. When you try something new and different, look back and see if it worked or not. If it did, keep it, if it didn’t, either refine it or trash it. That is the benefit of working with the intensity you are going to work, it is a constant evolution.

Think of it this way: if you get 1% better every day you work, and you only work once a week, that’s only a 52% increase a year. If you work every day, you are able to condense a year’s worth of growth in to a little over a month and a half.

50% better every month and a half?!?! Think about that!!!

What If I’m Scared?

You should be.

It’s a scary thing to do.

How many people truly follow their passion? They talk about it, but rarely do it.

We are paralyzed by the need to make something great, which keeps us from doing anything at all. Having the daily goals made my “goals” small, attainable, but difficult. Don’t think about the final product, the end game. Think about today, tomorrow, and maybe next week. That’s it. It is a growth process. Have you seen the movie Big, with Tom Hanks? What happens when you jump from 13 to 30? You skip all the growth, all the lessons, the skills, then you are just some 30 year old goofball. That’s what happens when you try to go to big too fast. Focus on the craft, the day to day, and bust your ass. Things come from that. Always.

Be better when you go to sleep than when you woke up. Goal accomplished.

Quotes

“It is such a blessing to be the first one bored with your own work.”

“Work without a motive.”

 

“The more I disappear, the more my work becomes.”

Brandon Stanton Links

Humans Of New York

Chase Jarvis Links

Website

Creative Live

iTunes Podcast Page

Joey Links

LinkedIn

Twitter

iTunes

YouTube