THE LEARNING PHASE
I’ve been really in my head since the holiday’s began. It’s nothing bad going on in my life. I’m just always busy or moving and I’m just in my head a lot lately. I barely talk for real because I’m always thinking about life. I’m always fidgeting or I’m always in my thoughts and looking at YouTube. For some reason when I wanna think I sit at my desk and I watch YouTube. Seems counterproductive but it’s just how I operate.
You ever have an idea and you’re not stuck but it seems like you have 1000 options and 1000 places to start and it overwhelms you to the point you feel like you’re going crazy or that you start to feel fear and doubt come in? In my case I come up with these really great ideas but I panic at the thought of not having time to complete all of them and then I have to narrow down which ones I’m going to proceed with and which ones I’m going to abandon. The fact that I have to abandon really good ideas makes me anxious.
I use to be able to create my way through everything. When in doubt just create create create. It’s always been my answer for things. But coming into this year I’ve realized that just creating not bringing the best out of me. The creating aspect for me is the easiest. I have to go into unfamiliar territory. I have to learn.
You gotta dedicate an amount of time to learn learn learn. Sometimes we get so caught up in the routine we have creatively and meeting deadlines and goals that we don’t dedicate to learn new things and techniques that will help us grow and become even better at what we do. Once your routine becomes redundant that means it’s time to learn new things. If you’re not taking time to learn new things then you’re agreeing to be stagnant and when your routine is the same and nothing changes it becomes more difficult to create. Yeah you love it but then slowly it becomes a chore. It becomes work.
I’m in the position of a leadership role in what I do. Didn’t look at it that way because I used to believe that being a leader meant more work and attention. I’m the type that likes to be in the background. I had to accept the fact that the creative things I’m apart of I got those things off the ground and started them. I can’t just start something and then not pilot the plane or put it on autopilot. I have to learn new things and bring it to the table for my family that I work with. I have to be the point guard. Learning new things allows me to become a better leader and gives me more confidence in being a leader. With these projects I’m working on with my team that will be released in the Spring I’m aware that just creating and sitting in the background won’t do me or my people any favors.
Learning especially from a creative’s point of view is how you stay relevant. When you’re stuck in a routine the game is just passing you by. It’s always important to get your reps in whatever you do but it’s even better if you take the time to learn during the reps. Things change so quickly in the world. You blink once and you in the back of the race. Build upon what you already know. Your talent and skill is a building. You don’t just stop working and building the property. You keep building until it’s finished and build another building. That’s what learning is. Learning is building and stepping out of your comfort zone. Opportunities always come to those who are always willing to learn.
The more you learn the more ideas come to you. You’ll see different aspects of things that seem to be the same. Learning is the key to innovation and innovation leads to constant checks.
I’ve recently just started focusing on YouTube and the things I’ve learned about it have me amazed and now it’s easier for me to put up content. I’m learning about editing. I’m not the biggest fan of editing still but now it doesn’t feel like torture because I do it more than often and I learned more about it. Now that I started YouTube I’ve started to learn about streaming platforms and how they work. I was really amazed at how I was able to not use YouTube consistently for all these years. I left a lot of opportunity on the shelf because I was complacent.
I’m really okay with taking a break from everything and just learning new things. I’ve done it before. Chill out for a month and just treat everything like school. Take notes. Watch other people do what I want to learn. Quiz myself on it. Test myself on it. Ask questions and then I experiment. Nothing but good can come from it.
Stop leaving your greatness on the table. First you focus. Then you learn. Then you’ll have the type of fun you never thought existed.
Peace.
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