This is a bit of a different discussion video in the way that it only applies to certain types of artists and creators. But I think it will be valuable for anyone that finds the struggle relatable.
⏰⌛ As an ADHD artist, struggling to find my way through the world, you sir are a god send. I know for a fact I'll be implimenting this into my life ASAP. Thank you for all the heavy lifting you've been doing in research and self discovery. Stay awesome
It's rare that you find videos like these, especially tailored for creatives. Thanks for taking the time to explain your own thoughts to this too. I've ran into similar problems across other social media platforms and as someone who is just starting out on youtube and trying to find my way, this vid was a really was a case of perfect timing. ⏰
⏳ I never realized that I have some attention deficit and particularly executive dysfunction until my daughter was diagnosed and starting working with the challenges. This makes a lot of sense. Thanks Curtis 😊
Whilst I am "retired", I have SO many "irons in the fire" that it seems to be impossible to do them all...I have a recording studio where I write music, I collect board and card games, I bake bread regularly, I play PC/Console games, I have a workshop where I make craft items from wood and I always need to prioritise quality time for my Wife, 3 daughters and like you, my own health needs careful monitoring. Spinning plates is what most often comes to mind! This was a very detailed, interesting and relevant discussion and a useful tool for achieving a potential solution. Thanks Curtis!
When you did the appointment explanation at the beginning, you had me. Went to the dentist yesterday at 3pm, wanna guess my productivity up to that point? I kept looking at the clock . . . the entire time. Yeah, issues. I think just understanding the problem goes a long way to solving it. My situation is not with the TH-cam algorithm, but your logic certainly applies. Thank you so much for sharing your discoveries. As a side note, I would suggest that if you are able to go back to the creativity first priority, you won't need to worry about the algorithm as much. Remember that the creativity got you going in the first place. Your videos will be better and people will feel it and respond accordingly. It will be organic, not forced. Forced never works with YT anyway. ⏳
Great to hear that you resonated with the video Lori! It's quite cool to see a comment from you becuase I found your Marvelous Designer videos really helpful when I was learning about the software a number of years ago. 😊 I appreciate the point about not having to worry about the algorithm when moving to a creativity-first priority, I think you're right about that. Hopefully it will let me feel more proud of the work (or at least connected to it on a more personal level).
@@CurtisHolt I was over-thinking this last night. I think another reason that I gravitate toward the planned project (your community videos) is that it is structured and finite. It has a process, beginning and end. There is that sense of accomplishment at the end. You finished something. With creative work, it is so often open ended and unknown. Makes it a bit more scary perhaps? One creative thing I keep putting off is a video about using Blender to build our house. I mentioned it in a comment on one of your other videos months ago. I'm going to get that done as a homage to you for your insights.
⏳ im setting up my own fashion brand as a 3D designer and i also have autism & likely ADHD - this video was massively helpful. Creator first, report after. "You're not creating a viral hit, youre finding a viral hit in your work" 🌟 can't let myself fall into long-term planning/ bookmarking (the dentist appointment comparison was spot on) and burnout.
I really appreciate that you are continuing to create TH-cam content despite it earning 30 times less income than your other projects. Your videos are fantastic and cover some topics that are difficult or impossible to find good information on from other sources. Please keep up the awesome work
For animating, I always use the mental preparation I call "Get him whatever he needs to get this done!" So I spend maybe an hour to get my beverages snacks meals clean my desk fill the image inspiration board, queue music and videos and eliminate the any possible excuses to delays or the dreaded distractions... maybe I'll just watch movies today... NO! Spending time to prepare positively is a great motivator for a rewarding task.
I've been working on a product for a while and currently having a problem finishing and releasing it. But after watching this video I finally understand the problem. Thank you so much for the insight ⏰
11:49 - YES, i had no idea other people's brains worked like this! ... i've always thought it had ADHD problems even going back to my childhood but was always scared to bring it up for various reasons. There are so many other points raised in this video that apply to my personal way of working and problems with production (albeit not in a pure 3D software way). Preparatory gains was a word that I didn't know existed that 100% applies to how my youtube life is right now and i've been doing it full time for 6 years.
I'm glad to see your comment here! I always appreciate your input and it seems our personalities are often orbiting around similar issues, and we're both just wondering if we're crazy. 😂 I'm not sure if anyone else has used the term 'preparatory gains' before, that combination of words just made the most sense to me. It made more sense than 'long term gains' because it's not even necessarily about the time investment, more just 'knowing' that something needs to be *prepared* for the future - a moving target in the back of your mind. I'm glad you found it insightful, and hopefully it will help you to reflect on your own workflow in the future. 🙂
Oh man. Relating to every ounce of every word you spoke in this video. I keep finding my self in a loop where i make one video that serves the algorithm and that video does well and hence i switch to an art based video coz that's what I inherently like to make but the algorithm doesn't like it. So i think maybe I'm just a bad artist. So i make another video for the algorithm. And i feel like I'm just in a loop where i make one for them and then make one for me. Which I'm fine with really. But it took me a moment to realise that i was doing that. And this video just confirms that I'm not the only one suffering from it. I don't know what you expected from this video when you made it, but trust me you've just helped out a bunch of creators in the blender space by sharing your years of experience here. Appreciate it a lot man. One of your best videos till date ❤ Also ⏰⌚ 😅
🕓 Look mom, I'm in the video! This video is so valuable, you basically read my mind and explained the chaos I fluctuate in better than I ever could. That time folding effect is so real, my personal visualization of this is that I feel trapped between two spiked walls (points on the timeline, like the moment I start my day and an appointment or deadline hours later), and the time interval compresses further and further, the spiked walls get closer and closer to me as a consequence. It's a trapping sensation and I feel like I constantly have to keep an eye on the spikes, that makes me incapable of doing anything in the meantime, as I live in fear of getting distracted by my creativity and getting crushed. Whenever I remove structure and anything that leads to micromanage my creative self, I thrive and produce tons of stuff, whether I'm coding, reading and learning, doing 3D work, etc. The Dyson sphere example is brilliant and I will also try to implement a more relaxed policy where I can freely express my creative bursts. Also, the manager person has to stop being an asshole and accept that they need to be more of a reporter, accomodating my nature💕 I can also relate to the child talent issue, I was so used to being praised for my intelligence by all the people surrounding me, including those who were my mentors in music, math and other non-school activities I was involved with. As soon as I started university, everything changed and my way of thinking out of the box was penalized, I felt like an impostor. It actually led me to a period of severe depression and it took a while to recover. Thank you for making a video like this, creative individuals, especially neurodivergent ones are constantly exposed to many issues and external pressures, you did a great job piecing so many things together
⏲What an excellent discussion! So many dimensions that you highlight resonate with me. Being of an older age, I have been through this reflective process many times and generally end up with similar realizations about myself. I am a person that has interests and aptitudes that span left and right brain functions. Similar to how you describe recognizing that you have multiple versions of yourself, I have captured it as knowing that I have a need to shift my modality. Examples may be shifting from R&D creative, to business owner, to music creator, to project manager, to financial advisor, etc. I have noticed that I need dramatic shifts in modality to keep myself engage, though I am highly organized, so I do have an overarching objective defined in the back of my brain. It is definitely an art of finding the right balance of level of detail. If the overarching plan becomes too detailed, I fall into the paralysis of analysis. Not enough detail, and I meander. I feel that you are spot on about create first, edit second (too find that viral content you have already generated).
Precisely that, and very well worded! I feels like I can’t effectively create anything when a plan becomes too ‘high resolution’, but despite that, there’s always some kind of grand direction sitting in the back of the mind. Thank you for the comment! 🙂
I feel like this video has a lot of research behind it. Some people that are very important in my life have ADHD and I appreciate the perspective of someone who has it. Different ideas and techniques are always appreciated when trying to help folks figure out how to work through things. Also, some of this is mad crazy deep and looks like it required a crazy amount of introspection. I doubt this information was easy to come across.
⏳Incredible video, Curtis! as a "formerly gifted" child turned "wow he can do so many things" artist (i.e. a creator with an attention "disorder,") this really struck a familiar cord in helping me organize my thoughts on my recent creative block. being able to explain issues is an invaluable step in overcoming them - some yogic traditions even position that its all you need to do to overcome them. the bookmarking analogy makes a lot of sense to me, and the creative work compass is a great way to analyze the priority differentials. thank you for doing the work of identifying this challenge and for explaining it in an accessible manner. thank you thank you thank you!! please keep up the great work that you do (especially the "thinking deeply about these concepts" part) and I hope you are able to monetize outside of youtube, bc even though this vid might not gain the traction that it deserves due to its subject matter, it is invaluable to artists like me who are inspired by your work and words. and now im off to work on my late commissions, albeit with newfound understanding of the creative block that's been keeping me from doing so haha. much love! live long and prosper 🖖
⏰ Man, finding content on the metal process is incredibly difficult. I'm going to give this all a shot Curtis and see how it goes. Thanks a ton man. The amount of value I get from videos like this is always high. Post whatever you want, I love hearing it and feel like we share a lot of the same headspace as well as same problems that come with it. ⏳
you really just uploaded this as a direct answer to me wondering if i'm feeling burnt out yesterday. perfect timing and some good insights as always! ⏳
⏳I can't relate to the creator part of it, but the bookmarking problem, yes. Whenever I have projects with deadlines (aka school mostly) all other projects just kind of die. I haven't figured out a good solution yet, the eternal quest for good time management is still afoot
Intriguing approach - I'm excited to try it! Sounds like high creative output and hence draining. I imagine meditation in the morning and evening would help recharge, focus, keep panic in check and acknowledge the progress. Apps like jira, trello or asana would be good to keep track of the random developments at a glance or miro if you want a organic map like the one you made.
i do both professional music performance and production and graphics and interactive design (i know) - the interesting thing is is how important street cred is to get shows music wise or get advertisement via sharing online when working with graphics and interactive work. However, production for both music and graphics art takes a lot of a concentration, creativity, thinking outside of the box and healthy attitude to get right. These two things are of course intertwined in some aspects when you thinking about it but in terms of spending time correctly on both social media, free partner ships, networking, strategically positioning yourself with other crews and studios, and then also sitting for 12 hours to learn a new tool or build a computer even..whewwww. This is hard to balance when you got bills breathing down your neck and family that needs attention.
Great insights, thank you for sharing with the community. I definitely have many interests, and I have to fight back against the "Only create X, that will get you the most money/followers/clout." I agree that creativity requires a certain amount of "instability" or "chaos" to be truly creative. Rigidity or pure randomness doesn't feel the same *cough* AI *cough*.
I totally that deadlines and having many expected projects in a long queue absolutely kills my will do work on it. I really like "shooting in all directions" with creative stuff, but I think this is hard to implement for larger projects that will just take longer. You do want your indie game to be done in 2 years instead of 10 for example. Funneling energy into one thing can be important too. Also I think that there is a general problem in our ability to split up abstract task into manageable ones. I totally agree that you wanna only focus on the task/creative motivations of this very day and not think about everything on every day the next week. But maybe there are other techniques to make you feel more in the moment, which are suited for big projects as well.
I wish I could like this 5 times. Great conversation and I have shifted towards the video first mode over time and killed my excitement of technology. Didn't even realize this happened.
Hi Curtis, This is a really helpful observation. I've noticed myself losing momentum in the way you describe, without really any idea of what the cause was. Thank you for identifying the issue, discussing it honestly, removing the stigma and proposing a solution! I will definitely try wearing two hats (creator/reporter) in future. ⌚🎩x2
Great video!. Also im recovering from one criative burnout. ANd already for one year. I used to love Blender and making art and now i lost almost al interest
wow ok, as a more experimental artist with ADHD, this video captured and communicated a lot of thoughts and feelings I had, many of which I wasn't even aware of. definitely going to implement a lot of these strategies and considerations into my own creative workflows :] tyvm for making this video 💖⏳
I hate when i make stuff and nobody really looks at it, its hard to get people to look at your stuff no matter how much effort you put in, it's demoralizing, that burns me out
⏳That TH-cam Algorithm really gets in the way, too. =/ It’s amazing that you’ve managed to work through and realize these issues. I wish I had the answer on how to keep creativity first and videos second…🙁
Some great nuggets in here! I think I avoid creative burnout by keeping it as a hobby. Not very helpful as advice though lol. Perhaps if I keep on hobbying, I'll start finding viral hits in my work :D I also really enjoyed your breakdown of the memory phase, and I appreciate hearing how it applies to your workflow as a YT content creator, very fascinating to me, a nice 'behind the curtains', or 'behind the cranium' even :D And now, a small rant about "gifted programs". I really enjoy the language of 'validation buffer'. On top of that psychological pressure of being considered superior to your peers, there's the resultant social isolation. Segregating kids into programs based on 'intelligence' guarantees a narrower selection of friends, a reduction in the possibility-space of friend-making if you will. I had to UNDERPLAY intelligence often to get along socially in high school. I had friends in gifted and I know what they went through. I was also envious, since I thought I was smarter, but ego does as ego does. And who knows, my envy could have impacted some friendships. I was also in a special program; French Immersion, which represented only 2 classes out of a dozen or so, for each year. At that time, and in the high schools that I knew of, "Frenchies" were considered nerds out of the box, making it an upstream swim to make friends in the standard program. It took years of learning to wear all sorts of masks to make friends from all the 'tribes,' from nerds to goths to jocks and stoners (even though I don't really believe anybody is any one thing, in fact identity is an illusion, but that's not the subject today). Learning to adapt to a variety people is pro-social, and has helped me greatly as an adult, since the world has ALL sorts of people. In conclusion, I think it's unfair to make it hard for kids to make friends. Ok rant over.
⌛A more junior/beginner perspective: The way I understand it is: for that specific creative type, the most effective mode for us is to create things we are randomly interested in. Which, as results, includes some gems and some not so great stuff. That's the only way to stay in the flow state. The trap is: When such a creator makes something that performs better than everything else, they try to only make such projects, in order to only make gems, and end up stagnating. I guess we need to allow ourselves to make bad art as well.
Great stuff. The algorithm is all about the audience, but creators cannot be all about the audience cause then they lose the original input they're offering to the audience, they just become a mirror of the audience's expectations. Same thing applies to music performers/artists. Those who constantly try to repeat a successful record that was well received, they quickly fall into a self cliche trap. Those who stay creative for the long run dare to challenge their audience's expectations and reinvent themselves over and over.
I can't work if I have an appointment... I always wakeup before the alarm, but I can't stop using the alarm because I can't sleep if I don't have an alarm😂
nice video thank you Curtis! I find that hard, if i am doing a work related thing, i find it hard then to do normal tasks, i like to keeo things separate, maybe my OCD'ness :)
love this discussion!! And looking forward to more of those short term experimental stuff!! I think I find more value from that content as well!! :-D Passing this along to a few parents and family who are raising a child prodigy genius. Going to try and apply to myself as well.
This video was so hyper-specifically targeted and hyper-specifically helpful for exactly me right now. Thank you! (And also thanks Ben Levin for leading me here). ⌚🔖
I've had the problem of being the promising young lad and then struggling in a more structured environment later on, and so I felt very called out as you kept referring to your friend Ben
@@CurtisHolt I think the challenge even for social media non-content creator types is to transition from the free creative mode you described to larger scale projects. Last year I made a kaiju monster and then a scene and then an animation with elaborate physics that took so long to calculate I eventually drifted away from it because I got sick of waiting to recalculate on every change I made to see of it worked.
🐺⏸It's great to hear you talking about it now. I've been through that 2 persons technic since a while but I have found I sometimes need to go back to having both really separated. The Creator in me sometimes gets overwhelmed by "the plan" and need to get it off its mind and handed over to the Manager in me. I planned on doing a reboot at the end of the month and this video helped me seeing another aspect of the creation process, what you call the reporter ;) With that part in mind I found I'm on the right track, thanks to you ;)
I'm not a creator as such, I do art to keep myself mentally balanced. ( without my art I'm just a grumpy old man 😏). Very good info in this vid - made good sense to me. ⏰
⌛⏰I realized that I have unintentionally adopted a dual-personality approach. It certainly makes tasks easier to handle, but at times I find myself relying heavily on one over the other, which can pose mental challenges when trying to regain balance.
That’s not really how it works for us. In fact it’s the opposite in this line of work. We create projects in small intense bursts. All of my highest grossing and most downloaded projects have been created in the span of a few days, up to two weeks maximum. My most popular addon was originally created in two days, the core work for future updates done in phases of up to 2 weeks. That’s raised over $10,000 in donations despite being a free project, not including an additional 5 figure sum for a single paid content pack to test the feature. The longest video I’ve taken to make took a few weeks on and off, the ‘What is Blender crash course’. It did not perform well, and raised a grand total of £10. One thing you learn pretty quickly doing this kind of work, is that time investment does not guarantee success. In fact, misplaced time investment inhibits success. If you create fast and frequently, you will create more overall. More tools, more resources, more stuff to help people. More chances for reward, more opportunities to expand on something in the future.
🗓️Interesting way of thinking about it. I inadvertently have gone back and forth between short term and long term planning to keep myself motivated, and I think the way you explained it could be very helpful.
⏱ That is absolute gold, Curtis! I think I absolutely fell into a similar trap. And I can relate to the clever kid / prodigy trap you talked about. I felt like shot out off the education system utterly unprepared for the realisation: Oh, wow, nobody's waiting for me. That led /still leads to feelings of nihilism. I have two inputs that might resonate. * One more tactic you can use: Outsource reporting stuff that you don't like to do, e.g. video editing. * You could try and not get validation from "the general audience", because that makes it dependant on the algorithm. Instead have a group of people you actually know and care about, have watch parties (online/off)...? I found teaching to be really well suited for me. Because there I get instant feedback and reward for my creativity whilst having no boss. Again: Great video, I'll try this approach for writing the book I've been writing on and off for *looks at the watch* 8 years.
Thank you Curtis for making this video. Definitely it helped me sort out several thoughs I had. I will definitely think more about certain stuff that's going on in my creative life. And I wish you best luck finding your way, whatever it will mean for the future ⏳
Nice advice but could you make a shorter version because this is all to much to remember. I have got to the stage where I can reproduce most tutorials I watch but I really need to use all that knowledge to make animation movies. I need to storyboard but I can not find any inspiring tuts on how to make one and then use it to make a short movies. I have many stories in my head but find it hard to put them to paper.
⏱️ TH-cam has quickly become almost unsustainable for me in a time vs. effort vs. money thing, not to mention the flood of new clickbait channels. The switch you speak of is real, and the time suck required to “maybe” please the algo and make the work worth it is getting so high that I’d do better just working extra hours at the day job (also 3D.) Patreon is another story. I’m all in on that but need to produce a backlog I have currently lol. You’d also hit it with the “rockstars.” They often can’t perform well in the workplace as they seem to be too distracted with their own “content” to play well on the team.
I used blender alot in the past, mostly just for messing around, after taking Uni classes very seriously I found myself unable to be inspired/motivated lately. Even tho this video is aimed at very active creatives I found myself relating with the ADHD tendencies with goals and how hard time management can be 🕔
It’s becoming increasingly uncomfortable- looks like you spying on me 🫣. And not only spying but reading my mind but not like actual spy - more like therapist digging into my mental issues. Great video though, thank you and keep it going! 🕰️
This is a bit of a different discussion video in the way that it only applies to certain types of artists and creators.
But I think it will be valuable for anyone that finds the struggle relatable.
⏰⌛ As an ADHD artist, struggling to find my way through the world, you sir are a god send.
I know for a fact I'll be implimenting this into my life ASAP.
Thank you for all the heavy lifting you've been doing in research and self discovery.
Stay awesome
Thank you, I’m glad this resonated with you. ☺️
It's rare that you find videos like these, especially tailored for creatives. Thanks for taking the time to explain your own thoughts to this too. I've ran into similar problems across other social media platforms and as someone who is just starting out on youtube and trying to find my way, this vid was a really was a case of perfect timing. ⏰
⏳ I never realized that I have some attention deficit and particularly executive dysfunction until my daughter was diagnosed and starting working with the challenges. This makes a lot of sense. Thanks Curtis 😊
Whilst I am "retired", I have SO many "irons in the fire" that it seems to be impossible to do them all...I have a recording studio where I write music, I collect board and card games, I bake bread regularly, I play PC/Console games, I have a workshop where I make craft items from wood and I always need to prioritise quality time for my Wife, 3 daughters and like you, my own health needs careful monitoring. Spinning plates is what most often comes to mind! This was a very detailed, interesting and relevant discussion and a useful tool for achieving a potential solution. Thanks Curtis!
When you did the appointment explanation at the beginning, you had me. Went to the dentist yesterday at 3pm, wanna guess my productivity up to that point? I kept looking at the clock . . . the entire time. Yeah, issues. I think just understanding the problem goes a long way to solving it. My situation is not with the TH-cam algorithm, but your logic certainly applies. Thank you so much for sharing your discoveries.
As a side note, I would suggest that if you are able to go back to the creativity first priority, you won't need to worry about the algorithm as much. Remember that the creativity got you going in the first place. Your videos will be better and people will feel it and respond accordingly. It will be organic, not forced. Forced never works with YT anyway.
⏳
Great to hear that you resonated with the video Lori! It's quite cool to see a comment from you becuase I found your Marvelous Designer videos really helpful when I was learning about the software a number of years ago. 😊
I appreciate the point about not having to worry about the algorithm when moving to a creativity-first priority, I think you're right about that. Hopefully it will let me feel more proud of the work (or at least connected to it on a more personal level).
@@CurtisHolt I was over-thinking this last night. I think another reason that I gravitate toward the planned project (your community videos) is that it is structured and finite. It has a process, beginning and end. There is that sense of accomplishment at the end. You finished something. With creative work, it is so often open ended and unknown. Makes it a bit more scary perhaps? One creative thing I keep putting off is a video about using Blender to build our house. I mentioned it in a comment on one of your other videos months ago. I'm going to get that done as a homage to you for your insights.
⏳ im setting up my own fashion brand as a 3D designer and i also have autism & likely ADHD - this video was massively helpful. Creator first, report after. "You're not creating a viral hit, youre finding a viral hit in your work" 🌟 can't let myself fall into long-term planning/ bookmarking (the dentist appointment comparison was spot on) and burnout.
I really appreciate that you are continuing to create TH-cam content despite it earning 30 times less income than your other projects. Your videos are fantastic and cover some topics that are difficult or impossible to find good information on from other sources. Please keep up the awesome work
For animating, I always use the mental preparation I call "Get him whatever he needs to get this done!" So I spend maybe an hour to get my beverages snacks meals clean my desk fill the image inspiration board, queue music and videos and eliminate the any possible excuses to delays or the dreaded distractions... maybe I'll just watch movies today... NO! Spending time to prepare positively is a great motivator for a rewarding task.
I've been working on a product for a while and currently having a problem finishing and releasing it. But after watching this video I finally understand the problem. Thank you so much for the insight
⏰
11:49 - YES, i had no idea other people's brains worked like this! ... i've always thought it had ADHD problems even going back to my childhood but was always scared to bring it up for various reasons. There are so many other points raised in this video that apply to my personal way of working and problems with production (albeit not in a pure 3D software way). Preparatory gains was a word that I didn't know existed that 100% applies to how my youtube life is right now and i've been doing it full time for 6 years.
I'm glad to see your comment here! I always appreciate your input and it seems our personalities are often orbiting around similar issues, and we're both just wondering if we're crazy. 😂
I'm not sure if anyone else has used the term 'preparatory gains' before, that combination of words just made the most sense to me. It made more sense than 'long term gains' because it's not even necessarily about the time investment, more just 'knowing' that something needs to be *prepared* for the future - a moving target in the back of your mind.
I'm glad you found it insightful, and hopefully it will help you to reflect on your own workflow in the future. 🙂
Oh man. Relating to every ounce of every word you spoke in this video. I keep finding my self in a loop where i make one video that serves the algorithm and that video does well and hence i switch to an art based video coz that's what I inherently like to make but the algorithm doesn't like it. So i think maybe I'm just a bad artist. So i make another video for the algorithm. And i feel like I'm just in a loop where i make one for them and then make one for me. Which I'm fine with really. But it took me a moment to realise that i was doing that. And this video just confirms that I'm not the only one suffering from it.
I don't know what you expected from this video when you made it, but trust me you've just helped out a bunch of creators in the blender space by sharing your years of experience here.
Appreciate it a lot man. One of your best videos till date ❤
Also ⏰⌚ 😅
⏰ Thanks for the info Curtis! I watched the entire video. I can certainly relate to some of these things.
🕓 Look mom, I'm in the video!
This video is so valuable, you basically read my mind and explained the chaos I fluctuate in better than I ever could.
That time folding effect is so real, my personal visualization of this is that I feel trapped between two spiked walls (points on the timeline, like the moment I start my day and an appointment or deadline hours later), and the time interval compresses further and further, the spiked walls get closer and closer to me as a consequence.
It's a trapping sensation and I feel like I constantly have to keep an eye on the spikes, that makes me incapable of doing anything in the meantime, as I live in fear of getting distracted by my creativity and getting crushed.
Whenever I remove structure and anything that leads to micromanage my creative self, I thrive and produce tons of stuff, whether I'm coding, reading and learning, doing 3D work, etc.
The Dyson sphere example is brilliant and I will also try to implement a more relaxed policy where I can freely express my creative bursts.
Also, the manager person has to stop being an asshole and accept that they need to be more of a reporter, accomodating my nature💕
I can also relate to the child talent issue, I was so used to being praised for my intelligence by all the people surrounding me, including those who were my mentors in music, math and other non-school activities I was involved with.
As soon as I started university, everything changed and my way of thinking out of the box was penalized, I felt like an impostor. It actually led me to a period of severe depression and it took a while to recover.
Thank you for making a video like this, creative individuals, especially neurodivergent ones are constantly exposed to many issues and external pressures, you did a great job piecing so many things together
⏲What an excellent discussion! So many dimensions that you highlight resonate with me. Being of an older age, I have been through this reflective process many times and generally end up with similar realizations about myself. I am a person that has interests and aptitudes that span left and right brain functions. Similar to how you describe recognizing that you have multiple versions of yourself, I have captured it as knowing that I have a need to shift my modality. Examples may be shifting from R&D creative, to business owner, to music creator, to project manager, to financial advisor, etc. I have noticed that I need dramatic shifts in modality to keep myself engage, though I am highly organized, so I do have an overarching objective defined in the back of my brain. It is definitely an art of finding the right balance of level of detail. If the overarching plan becomes too detailed, I fall into the paralysis of analysis. Not enough detail, and I meander. I feel that you are spot on about create first, edit second (too find that viral content you have already generated).
Precisely that, and very well worded!
I feels like I can’t effectively create anything when a plan becomes too ‘high resolution’, but despite that, there’s always some kind of grand direction sitting in the back of the mind. Thank you for the comment! 🙂
⏳️ I love seeing how you map out your own thinking. Inspiring.
I feel like this video has a lot of research behind it. Some people that are very important in my life have ADHD and I appreciate the perspective of someone who has it. Different ideas and techniques are always appreciated when trying to help folks figure out how to work through things.
Also, some of this is mad crazy deep and looks like it required a crazy amount of introspection. I doubt this information was easy to come across.
⏳Incredible video, Curtis! as a "formerly gifted" child turned "wow he can do so many things" artist (i.e. a creator with an attention "disorder,") this really struck a familiar cord in helping me organize my thoughts on my recent creative block. being able to explain issues is an invaluable step in overcoming them - some yogic traditions even position that its all you need to do to overcome them.
the bookmarking analogy makes a lot of sense to me, and the creative work compass is a great way to analyze the priority differentials. thank you for doing the work of identifying this challenge and for explaining it in an accessible manner.
thank you thank you thank you!! please keep up the great work that you do (especially the "thinking deeply about these concepts" part) and I hope you are able to monetize outside of youtube, bc even though this vid might not gain the traction that it deserves due to its subject matter, it is invaluable to artists like me who are inspired by your work and words.
and now im off to work on my late commissions, albeit with newfound understanding of the creative block that's been keeping me from doing so haha. much love! live long and prosper 🖖
⏰ Man, finding content on the metal process is incredibly difficult. I'm going to give this all a shot Curtis and see how it goes. Thanks a ton man. The amount of value I get from videos like this is always high. Post whatever you want, I love hearing it and feel like we share a lot of the same headspace as well as same problems that come with it. ⏳
you really just uploaded this as a direct answer to me wondering if i'm feeling burnt out yesterday. perfect timing and some good insights as always! ⏳
Thank you for making this video, this is me. I feel like I know what I need to do now! ⏰
Thanks Curtis! ⏰ Especially the mental bookmark thing resonated with me. If I have an appointment coming, I can’t do anything before it that day.
⏳I can't relate to the creator part of it, but the bookmarking problem, yes. Whenever I have projects with deadlines (aka school mostly) all other projects just kind of die. I haven't figured out a good solution yet, the eternal quest for good time management is still afoot
Intriguing approach - I'm excited to try it! Sounds like high creative output and hence draining. I imagine meditation in the morning and evening would help recharge, focus, keep panic in check and acknowledge the progress.
Apps like jira, trello or asana would be good to keep track of the random developments at a glance or miro if you want a organic map like the one you made.
i do both professional music performance and production and graphics and interactive design (i know) - the interesting thing is is how important street cred is to get shows music wise or get advertisement via sharing online when working with graphics and interactive work.
However, production for both music and graphics art takes a lot of a concentration, creativity, thinking outside of the box and healthy attitude to get right. These two things are of course intertwined in some aspects when you thinking about it but in terms of spending time correctly on both social media, free partner ships, networking, strategically positioning yourself with other crews and studios, and then also sitting for 12 hours to learn a new tool or build a computer even..whewwww. This is hard to balance when you got bills breathing down your neck and family that needs attention.
Great insights, thank you for sharing with the community. I definitely have many interests, and I have to fight back against the "Only create X, that will get you the most money/followers/clout." I agree that creativity requires a certain amount of "instability" or "chaos" to be truly creative. Rigidity or pure randomness doesn't feel the same *cough* AI *cough*.
I totally that deadlines and having many expected projects in a long queue absolutely kills my will do work on it. I really like "shooting in all directions" with creative stuff, but I think this is hard to implement for larger projects that will just take longer. You do want your indie game to be done in 2 years instead of 10 for example. Funneling energy into one thing can be important too.
Also I think that there is a general problem in our ability to split up abstract task into manageable ones. I totally agree that you wanna only focus on the task/creative motivations of this very day and not think about everything on every day the next week. But maybe there are other techniques to make you feel more in the moment, which are suited for big projects as well.
I wish I could like this 5 times. Great conversation and I have shifted towards the video first mode over time and killed my excitement of technology. Didn't even realize this happened.
Hi Curtis, This is a really helpful observation. I've noticed myself losing momentum in the way you describe, without really any idea of what the cause was. Thank you for identifying the issue, discussing it honestly, removing the stigma and proposing a solution! I will definitely try wearing two hats (creator/reporter) in future.
⌚🎩x2
Great video!. Also im recovering from one criative burnout. ANd already for one year. I used to love Blender and making art and now i lost almost al interest
⏰ the bookmark idea really resonates. Thanks
⏰Thank you Curtis, this is very insightful !
wow ok, as a more experimental artist with ADHD, this video captured and communicated a lot of thoughts and feelings I had, many of which I wasn't even aware of. definitely going to implement a lot of these strategies and considerations into my own creative workflows :] tyvm for making this video 💖⏳
I hate when i make stuff and nobody really looks at it, its hard to get people to look at your stuff no matter how much effort you put in, it's demoralizing, that burns me out
⏳That TH-cam Algorithm really gets in the way, too. =/ It’s amazing that you’ve managed to work through and realize these issues. I wish I had the answer on how to keep creativity first and videos second…🙁
Some great nuggets in here! I think I avoid creative burnout by keeping it as a hobby. Not very helpful as advice though lol. Perhaps if I keep on hobbying, I'll start finding viral hits in my work :D
I also really enjoyed your breakdown of the memory phase, and I appreciate hearing how it applies to your workflow as a YT content creator, very fascinating to me, a nice 'behind the curtains', or 'behind the cranium' even :D
And now, a small rant about "gifted programs". I really enjoy the language of 'validation buffer'. On top of that psychological pressure of being considered superior to your peers, there's the resultant social isolation. Segregating kids into programs based on 'intelligence' guarantees a narrower selection of friends, a reduction in the possibility-space of friend-making if you will. I had to UNDERPLAY intelligence often to get along socially in high school. I had friends in gifted and I know what they went through. I was also envious, since I thought I was smarter, but ego does as ego does. And who knows, my envy could have impacted some friendships. I was also in a special program; French Immersion, which represented only 2 classes out of a dozen or so, for each year. At that time, and in the high schools that I knew of, "Frenchies" were considered nerds out of the box, making it an upstream swim to make friends in the standard program. It took years of learning to wear all sorts of masks to make friends from all the 'tribes,' from nerds to goths to jocks and stoners (even though I don't really believe anybody is any one thing, in fact identity is an illusion, but that's not the subject today). Learning to adapt to a variety people is pro-social, and has helped me greatly as an adult, since the world has ALL sorts of people. In conclusion, I think it's unfair to make it hard for kids to make friends. Ok rant over.
⌛A more junior/beginner perspective: The way I understand it is: for that specific creative type, the most effective mode for us is to create things we are randomly interested in. Which, as results, includes some gems and some not so great stuff. That's the only way to stay in the flow state. The trap is: When such a creator makes something that performs better than everything else, they try to only make such projects, in order to only make gems, and end up stagnating. I guess we need to allow ourselves to make bad art as well.
Great stuff. The algorithm is all about the audience, but creators cannot be all about the audience cause then they lose the original input they're offering to the audience, they just become a mirror of the audience's expectations. Same thing applies to music performers/artists. Those who constantly try to repeat a successful record that was well received, they quickly fall into a self cliche trap. Those who stay creative for the long run dare to challenge their audience's expectations and reinvent themselves over and over.
I can't work if I have an appointment... I always wakeup before the alarm, but I can't stop using the alarm because I can't sleep if I don't have an alarm😂
nice video thank you Curtis! I find that hard, if i am doing a work related thing, i find it hard then to do normal tasks, i like to keeo things separate, maybe my OCD'ness :)
⏳This is a thoughtful video that's given me much to think about. Thank you for your generosity.
love this discussion!! And looking forward to more of those short term experimental stuff!! I think I find more value from that content as well!! :-D Passing this along to a few parents and family who are raising a child prodigy genius. Going to try and apply to myself as well.
Thank you, I’m looking forward to it as well, and I hope other people find the video useful! 🙂
⏰⌛️As a person with Autism, this made complete sense,
Good talk, thanks for sharing. ⏰
Thanks for video!⏰
This video was so hyper-specifically targeted and hyper-specifically helpful for exactly me right now. Thank you! (And also thanks Ben Levin for leading me here). ⌚🔖
Thanks this is great content, insightful ⏳
I've had the problem of being the promising young lad and then struggling in a more structured environment later on, and so I felt very called out as you kept referring to your friend Ben
Oh gosh, sorry if I freaked you out a bit. 🤦♂️😅
@@CurtisHolt I think the challenge even for social media non-content creator types is to transition from the free creative mode you described to larger scale projects. Last year I made a kaiju monster and then a scene and then an animation with elaborate physics that took so long to calculate I eventually drifted away from it because I got sick of waiting to recalculate on every change I made to see of it worked.
⏰ Pretty helpful video
🐺⏸It's great to hear you talking about it now. I've been through that 2 persons technic since a while but I have found I sometimes need to go back to having both really separated. The Creator in me sometimes gets overwhelmed by "the plan" and need to get it off its mind and handed over to the Manager in me. I planned on doing a reboot at the end of the month and this video helped me seeing another aspect of the creation process, what you call the reporter ;) With that part in mind I found I'm on the right track, thanks to you ;)
Great Video.
I'm not a creator as such, I do art to keep myself mentally balanced. ( without my art I'm just a grumpy old man 😏). Very good info in this vid - made good sense to me. ⏰
⌛ Thank you, this is definitely life-changing.
Love your nails Curtis! :)
Thank you!
⌛⏰I realized that I have unintentionally adopted a dual-personality approach. It certainly makes tasks easier to handle, but at times I find myself relying heavily on one over the other, which can pose mental challenges when trying to regain balance.
⏰ Interesting findings ..
⏳
⏳️
⏳Interesting talk, but wouldn't this dynamic aproach decrease gains from discipline, because you will follow your impulses instead finishing projects?
That’s not really how it works for us. In fact it’s the opposite in this line of work. We create projects in small intense bursts. All of my highest grossing and most downloaded projects have been created in the span of a few days, up to two weeks maximum.
My most popular addon was originally created in two days, the core work for future updates done in phases of up to 2 weeks. That’s raised over $10,000 in donations despite being a free project, not including an additional 5 figure sum for a single paid content pack to test the feature.
The longest video I’ve taken to make took a few weeks on and off, the ‘What is Blender crash course’. It did not perform well, and raised a grand total of £10.
One thing you learn pretty quickly doing this kind of work, is that time investment does not guarantee success. In fact, misplaced time investment inhibits success.
If you create fast and frequently, you will create more overall. More tools, more resources, more stuff to help people. More chances for reward, more opportunities to expand on something in the future.
@@CurtisHolt That's a different point of view than I used to hear. Thank you for your answer. I will have to rethink my aproach.
🗓️Interesting way of thinking about it. I inadvertently have gone back and forth between short term and long term planning to keep myself motivated, and I think the way you explained it could be very helpful.
💯
⏰️
⏱
That is absolute gold, Curtis! I think I absolutely fell into a similar trap. And I can relate to the clever kid / prodigy trap you talked about. I felt like shot out off the education system utterly unprepared for the realisation: Oh, wow, nobody's waiting for me. That led /still leads to feelings of nihilism.
I have two inputs that might resonate.
* One more tactic you can use: Outsource reporting stuff that you don't like to do, e.g. video editing.
* You could try and not get validation from "the general audience", because that makes it dependant on the algorithm. Instead have a group of people you actually know and care about, have watch parties (online/off)...?
I found teaching to be really well suited for me. Because there I get instant feedback and reward for my creativity whilst having no boss.
Again: Great video, I'll try this approach for writing the book I've been writing on and off for *looks at the watch* 8 years.
I just watched the new spider verse movie and I don’t think I’ll be burned out for a couple months lol
Love that! So much inspiration 💪
⌛
🕰️
🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑
⏲capture the freedom of creation, and then benefit from it.
🕰 Brilliant speech.
Thank you Curtis for making this video. Definitely it helped me sort out several thoughs I had. I will definitely think more about certain stuff that's going on in my creative life. And I wish you best luck finding your way, whatever it will mean for the future ⏳
Nice advice but could you make a shorter version because this is all to much to remember. I have got to the stage where I can reproduce most tutorials I watch but I really need to use all that knowledge to make animation movies. I need to storyboard but I can not find any inspiring tuts on how to make one and then use it to make a short movies. I have many stories in my head but find it hard to put them to paper.
⏲kinda helpful as a scientist and considering my professional content as academic/scientific articles or other things
⏱️ TH-cam has quickly become almost unsustainable for me in a time vs. effort vs. money thing, not to mention the flood of new clickbait channels. The switch you speak of is real, and the time suck required to “maybe” please the algo and make the work worth it is getting so high that I’d do better just working extra hours at the day job (also 3D.) Patreon is another story. I’m all in on that but need to produce a backlog I have currently lol.
You’d also hit it with the “rockstars.” They often can’t perform well in the workplace as they seem to be too distracted with their own “content” to play well on the team.
Some food for thought, great video, thanks! ⏱
⏲⏲⏲⏲⏲ Curtis i m relating 1000% with what you were saying thank youououou
🕑🕑🕑 that was one of the best vids i've seen about this topic, thanks for sharing your exp., helped me a lot!
⏲ I feel included ; )
I used blender alot in the past, mostly just for messing around, after taking Uni classes very seriously I found myself unable to be inspired/motivated lately. Even tho this video is aimed at very active creatives I found myself relating with the ADHD tendencies with goals and how hard time management can be 🕔
Yet again very insightful and quite relatable. ⏱️
It’s becoming increasingly uncomfortable- looks like you spying on me 🫣. And not only spying but reading my mind but not like actual spy - more like therapist digging into my mental issues. Great video though, thank you and keep it going! 🕰️
⏳
👍🧭🕙
⏳
Thank you so much bro this is life changing
⏲
🕰⏳
⏲
🕑
🕛🕧🕐🕜🕑🕝🕒🕞🕓🕟🕔🕠🕕🕡🕖🕢🕗🕣🕘🕤🕙🕥🕚🕦⏰⏲🕰🧭