How to Change Your Life In A Year

At the time of writing this newsletter I'm turning 29 years old.

Usually around my birthday I often tend to reflect on the year I've had.

Did it go well, did it go bad?

Was I getting closer to the person I wanted to become?

There's a lot of thoughts that come along with getting older.

One of the main thoughts I've had revolve around my reflection of who I was a year ago at this exact moment in time.

I try to remember if this past version of me ever imagined what the year ahead would look like.

This year I know for sure I didn't.

You see exactly a year ago I was working a job that I hated.

I was working a high paying tech sales job for one of the biggest tech companies in the world.

On paper I made it.

I had a good paying job, a car and lived in a nice home.

But I was miserable.

I was questioning my life every day asking the same thing: "is this all there is to life?"

I thought this was the peak of my achievement, that I "made it" by normal standards.But I wasn't opening my mind to the possibilities.

I always wanted to do something creative for my work.

Something that let me earn money through music or film.

For a time I ignored it, settling into my daily routine of clocking into work.

Cold calling 8 hours a day talking about "cloud storage options" with a faked tone of excitement.

Needless to say it wasn't for me.

So I took on work on the side as a video editor for a fitness YouTuber.

I would spend my day waking up at 4am to get on a bus to get to the gym, then spend my day from 9-5 working this job I hated.

From 5pm till midnight I would edit his video for the week.

The whole time I was doing it I was miserable for the day until I got to clock off and edit the next video.

As difficult as it was, I was enjoying it because I was doing something I loved, while getting paid.

I thought, what would happen if I took this on full time?

And at the time of my 28th birthday, I decided that I wanted to quit my 9-5 tech sales job.

Most people around me thought that was crazy.

Like who in their right mind would give that up?

Giving up the comfort, the money, the stability?

Well that's what I did.

For the following year I decided to make a big change to pursue something more fulfilling.

I wanted to make it so video creation was my full time source of income

"I can do it" I thought to myself.

During my time working part time on it I was making good money editing for other businesses and creators.

What happens if I learn how to use a camera, and the technical sides of filmmaking?

I spent hours watching youtube tutorials, spent my savings on courses to learn how to film.

I found new work as an editor for other YouTubers and brands.

But with this came a new challenge.

I was constantly undervalued and asked to perform above and beyond anyways.

Clients asked for me to deliver videos in a shorter time frame, but with more details and intricacy in the edit.

We would agree on terms for how much my services were worth, then the client would decide to change it up last minute.

Undercutting my pay and changing the scope of work

It was debilitating and I struggled with plenty of self doubt early on.

I was doing good work but getting nothing in return.

And I wondered if I could ever make progress as a creator in the way that I wanted to, while still making a living.

So I changed things up again,

Deciding to take on other projects that were commercial based.

Not requiring the long hours required of YouTube editing.

This required me to really look into my business:

• the sales to get new clients

• the marketing and creating my own content (on social media)

• project management for client deliverables and my own brand's projects

• financial management to keep track of money.

Locking in everything and learning how to do it all myself.

These were important things to take care of.

But a lot of times these were all the things I didn't want to do.

Either because I was lacking energy, or experiencing waves or depression, or I was afraid to fail.

I knew at the end of the day that these were extremely good things to do for me and my business.

Yet I was always surprised by the amount of emotional and physical resistance that came with it.

I should be doing this but I'm not.

So I struggled for a while until I figured out the steps to hack that process.

1. Finding one thing to focus on

It wasn't until recently that I had started narrowing in my focus on the things that I was doing vs what I should be doing.

Instead of trying to pursue different business ventures all at once, I focused on one thing at a time.

The end goal that I envisioned in the next 5 years was to become a full time content creator.

With my own channels and audiences that supported my creative work.

So I locked in on that.

I decided to not take on clients that demanded my time 24/7 while undervaluing my work.

If it didn't meet the requirements of either 1. adding to my business portfolio, or 2. pays me what my services were worth I wasn't having it.

I asked myself "what habits or daily activities will help me become a full time content creator in the next 5 years?"

Writing, filming, editing consistently and as part of my daily routine was part of it.

I later included time blocks in my day for idea generation and developing ideas further.

These daily habits help me develop much more clarity in my goals, as well as my thoughts and ideas as a creative.

So determine what you want to work on, and where you see yourself in the next 5 years.

Find the habits that will help you get there, and determine if you are willing to commit to those habits.

2. Forcing yourself to do it

As I mentioned earlier, I found a lot of resistance when it came to sticking to those habits.

Finding excuses is easy when you feel a wave of exhaustion or life gets busy.

• "Take a break, you deserve it"

• "You don't want to burn out"

• "You should have fun more"

I find myself coming up with excuses a lot especially if I'm tired or I took on too many responsibilities.

But most times when I do the thing I need to do, or said I was going to do, I usually find that it's not as hard as I thought.

Forcing yourself to sit down and do the thing, instead of worrying about doing the thing, helps a lot.

Even writing this newsletter or filming a video, once I sit down and start I find myself entering a state of flow.

It gets easier over time.

And that's all you need to make progress to be honest

3. Find ways to make the journey enjoyable

The road is going to be a long and hard one (that's what she said).

When you start working to a better version of yourself it's going to take a long time to figure things out.

It's also going to be a lonely one.

So finding ways to enjoy the process is going to be important.

Find ways to make your editing process easier, or making your writing process go smoother.

Remove the things that cause friction, like a messy desk getting in the way of your laptop and keyboard.

Find a quiet place to jot down your thoughts.

Reward yourself after tasks with a nice cup of coffee or with a good meal at the end of the day.

Try to cater this approach towards who you are and your goals.

I like to find quiet time right after making a morning coffee to sit

In a year I guarantee that you'll experience a significant amount of change if you follow these steps.

Because even the younger version of me never would have imagined where I would be now.

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I'll be announcing some digital products that I use to speed up my creative workflow soon so stay tuned.

Catch you guys in the next one.

Peace.