Practice #26 - What I am Doing to Become a Self Improvement YouTuber

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,240 I've heard time and time again that the niche of self-improvement on YouTube is 2 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:11,760 extremely crowded, it's an extremely crowded market and it's impossible to 3 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:16,380 get into. It's impossible to break into. But to be honest, I do not care. I don't 4 00:00:16,380 --> 00:00:24,240 care at all. Like people told Hamza that and guess what? He made it. And so I want 5 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:28,200 to basically walk you through everything that I'm doing to become a 6 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:37,240 self-improvement YouTuber. So over the... sorry. To start, let's go back a couple 7 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:41,840 months to the towards the end of summer when I started a podcast. This was the 8 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:47,920 first really action that I started to take to really hone or to really 9 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:51,120 practice my skills and to start to become a self-improvement YouTuber. I 10 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:56,120 started a podcast and I was posting daily. Eventually after 15 days I made it 11 00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:02,240 to daily one-hour episodes. So I was posting daily for one-hour episode. So 12 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:08,480 I was getting one hour practice every single day. And this was the first major 13 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:12,200 step to becoming a self-improvement YouTuber because this allowed me to 14 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:17,480 practice actually speaking and getting... translating my thoughts into words and 15 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:22,400 translating it effectively. And so I was doing this every single day for practice. 16 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:28,640 And then after a while I realized I was plateauing. So then I... the next step was 17 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:33,160 to improve the quality because I was improving the quality through quantity. 18 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:39,240 But after a while I plateaued. So the quality was plateauing as well. So then 19 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:44,000 the next step was to start editing the podcast. And this really didn't... well 20 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:51,680 actually no. Let's go back. Then I switched to only recording once a week. 21 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:57,760 And this definitely helped because then I was able to really focus on all the 22 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:03,480 different aspects like editing and also planning out, scripting out. And I realized 23 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:08,640 quickly that scripting was not for me. I did not like scripting the videos. I would 24 00:02:08,640 --> 00:02:12,440 rather just get the extra practice of learning how to actually communicate 25 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:17,240 effectively into a camera so I can translate into a real world... into a 26 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:23,560 real-world scenario. And so at this point I'm... I switched to 27 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:27,680 podcasting once a week. But then I realized that there's no discoverability on 28 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:33,880 the podcast. So then I switched to YouTube. And on YouTube I was posting... I am 29 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:40,000 posting once a week. And let's rewind before I get into this. I also want to 30 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:48,400 talk. Around maybe episode 80 I started posting... so after I got to episode 80 on 31 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:54,280 the podcast I started posting three TikToks every single day. Short-form 32 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:58,280 TikToks. And so now I was getting practice in the long-form one-hour content 33 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:04,600 as well as short-form less-than-a-minute content. So I was practicing two 34 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:09,720 different skills. Short-form content and long-form content. And then after maybe 35 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:17,760 20 to 30 days of this or 40 I don't know... of this I completely stopped. I 36 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:23,640 unlisted everything from my YouTube channel and started fresh and really 37 00:03:23,640 --> 00:03:30,880 focused on three things. Recording, idea generation, and thumbnail and edits. 38 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:35,680 That's four things. So I was... I was focusing on recording and idea 39 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:40,920 generation. Those were my two biggest things. So to do that I went back to 40 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:46,480 posting daily one... okay not daily one hour but daily episodes on the podcast 41 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:52,400 just for practice. This is one of them. This is practice number 26 I believe. So 42 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:59,960 over the past 26 days I've been posting daily on the podcast just 43 00:03:59,960 --> 00:04:03,640 practicing my recording ability. Because I realized after I stopped doing the 44 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:08,920 daily one hours I still wanted to practice my recording skills so I 45 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:14,720 continued doing daily posts. So this is helping improve my daily recording or 46 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:19,600 my... this is helping improve my recording skill which is the number one skill for 47 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:24,920 YouTube. And then the next thing... the next biggest skill that I realized I needed 48 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:32,120 to improve was idea generation. Because you can have an amazing recording, amazing 49 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:37,680 editing, amazing thumbnail but if the idea is bad then it sucks. Like the video 50 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:43,280 is not gonna go well. And so that's why idea generation, like having good video 51 00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:48,560 ideas, is the second best skill, second most important skill for YouTube. And 52 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:53,520 this my philosophy may change over time but right now this is what I believe to 53 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:59,480 be true. Idea generation and recording are the two most important skills for 54 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:06,360 YouTube. And so for the idea generation I literally just sit in my room, set a 55 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:12,800 timer for 20 minutes, and literally just jot down any thought that I have of the 56 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:16,600 best YouTube titles possible. YouTube video, self-improvement YouTube video 57 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:22,840 titles possible. And then after at the end of that I like star the best ones 58 00:05:22,840 --> 00:05:29,560 and then I quickly sketch the like a thumbnail because coming up with great 59 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:35,480 thumbnail concepts I quickly learned is very important as well. So that actually 60 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:41,440 the three most important skills is recording, idea generation, and then 61 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:48,880 great thumbnail and also great title. So great title and thumbnail. And so that 62 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:53,600 that's what I'm doing. I basically take the best ones and then jot down a quick 63 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:59,720 thumbnail sketch. And then what I just recently did today which I really 64 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:03,440 enjoyed and I really thought was beneficial was instead of just sitting in 65 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:09,240 my room, I but actually before I say this let me let me say over the past 66 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:13,840 couple days I have been doing a daily one-hour walk and this helps like clear 67 00:06:13,840 --> 00:06:19,120 my mind, get rid of brain fog. But then today was the first day that I actually 68 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:27,200 had set the intention for my walk. The goal for my walk was to come up with a 69 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:33,680 structure for a future video, a future video which may have already posted by 70 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:40,200 the time this gets scheduled. Maybe not, I don't know. It's gonna be all about how 71 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:47,880 to build a physique in high school. And so that future video I wanted to kind of 72 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:52,560 map out and structure out all the key elements that I want in it. So that was 73 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:56,160 my goal for the walk but since I had an hour-long walk that only took like 10 74 00:06:56,160 --> 00:07:03,280 minutes, I had other things I wanted to get done. So I brainstormed seven new 75 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:09,840 video ideas and I actually came up with eight instead of seven. So video titles 76 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:14,040 so I actually started brainstorming the video ideas on my walk which actually 77 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:20,840 they were flowing out like crazy and that was very good. And I came up with eight 78 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:25,400 ideas over the course of 50 minutes which doesn't sound like a lot but that's 79 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:31,760 good in my opinion. And then on that same walk at the end of brainstorming all 80 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:37,280 the ideas I literally just jot down all of the thumbnails. So if you're watching 81 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:41,040 on YouTube, this is the notebook that I brought. It's like literally a pocket size. 82 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:47,720 It's like this. It's literally smarter than my hands and I'm not sure if you'll 83 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:54,680 be able to see. Yep, right there. Here's some of my sketches for these past and 84 00:07:54,680 --> 00:08:00,600 actually you'll be able to see these in real time. You'll be able to see the final 85 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:04,960 thumbnails of these. Actually I didn't sketch out the thumbnail for this video. 86 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:10,200 This was the only one but if you go to yesterday's episode it's gonna be called 87 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:15,400 or it was it's gonna be called how to heal your mind after high school. 88 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:21,920 This is like the thumbnail sketch that I came up with for that one so you can 89 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:26,880 you can see how it came out but that's pretty much what I'm doing to become a 90 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:30,920 YouTuber and well actually I completely ignored the editing and thumbnail part. 91 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:36,840 So another thing that I'm doing is I fast every single day until 10 a.m. so I 92 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:41,320 wake up at 4 a.m. and I fast until actually by the time I actually eat it's 93 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:47,040 probably around 11 o'clock so I fast until 11 o'clock every single day and I'm 94 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:50,480 not sure if it's very sustainable because I've definitely lost a lot of pounds 95 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:56,360 but the thing is that it's extremely it's helping me a lot because I go outside 96 00:08:56,360 --> 00:09:03,200 or I go work out in the morning I do my weights and then and then right after 97 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:08,080 that I come home and come into the basement and just edit. I literally just 98 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:11,760 edit or make thumbnails that's that's what I do in the morning and then in the 99 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:18,240 afternoon working session after the walk I record or finish editing or whatever 100 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:22,640 needs to be done at that day I get done but I only recording the afternoons 101 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:26,920 because I don't want to record at like six in the morning when everyone else is 102 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:34,040 asleep but that's pretty much what I'm doing to become a actually no it's not 103 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:41,640 even all yet so I'm actually gonna show you I'm gonna pick up my webcam I'm gonna 104 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:46,600 show you right here let me turn off the light real quick sorry this video if 105 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:49,320 you're listening to on the podcast you should probably go watch it on the 106 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:55,840 YouTube channel James Radzinski because I'm showing on the video in that corner 107 00:09:55,840 --> 00:10:00,800 it's in construction right now but my dad is painting it and then eventually I'm 108 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:07,120 gonna move my desk over and put up blackout curtains and have it completely 109 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:13,440 isolated and that's gonna turn into my office so that's basically my plan for 110 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:18,280 like my new workspace because right now I'm kind of just in the basement with a 111 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:23,520 curtain behind me like I can lift this up and you can see like behind but I'm 112 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:28,960 just in the basement which is fine it's definitely worked for the time being but 113 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:34,440 I'm gonna be working over there and it's gonna be way more isolated and I'm gonna 114 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:38,240 set up a couch in the corner and put a tripod in front of it so I can have a 115 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:44,000 different background a better background so look out for those in the next month 116 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:49,800 maybe hopefully it'll be done by like by February I don't know it depends on how 117 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:54,760 long it takes to to buy all the blackout curtains and all that stuff but 118 00:10:54,760 --> 00:11:18,000 that's what I'm doing to become a self-improvement YouTuber.