Recently, I’ve been watching my brother pursue his passion, music.

And it’s been extremely inspiring, watching him

• research fundamentals

• read about core principles

• invest in books about it, and buying an Audio PC

it’s honestly so inspiring, especially because it reminds me of my journey.

See, I was lucky to start early.

I’m an emotional and creative person (having a strong feminine side), so I’ve always relied on my emotions and - INTUITION.

This meant

• I didn’t do stuff I hated

• I did what attracted me a lot

so when I saw a video from my best friend for the first time - I was mindblown.

The amazing mix of story, action, music and comedy inspired me like hell.

But at that point, I didn’t know how to make that yet.

And this was a time where mobile video editing Apps sucked, almost none could even have 2 layers of images.

Now ever since my childhood, I always watched Gaming YouTubers wanting to be them.

So…that was what I started with.

I had no clue, no skills, a shitty phone and a terrible recording App.

For a year, I made terrible Gaming videos…why did I continue?

I had a vision of becoming a Gaming YouTuber - which was enough to keep me going.

But I didn’t truly wanna be one. Gaming was just nice shallow dopamine and I wanted to be a YouTuber for the praise and money.

So at a certain point…that shallow motivation wasn’t enough.

In 2020, I quit Gaming videos and followed what my heart truly wanted - Skits and Movies.

This actually came from an old passion of mine, watching movies!

See, whatever medium you love consuming - it often turns out to be the medium you CREATE.

And it’s clearly shown itself:

That vision of becoming a moviemaker has pretty much stayed the same (with a few small additions and details maybe).

I was honestly lucky to find my passion so early in life, simply because I acted on Emotions.

But, I know everyone has some deep desire to create.

I’ve seen it with my friends many times:

Many of them have made a meme, a video or something else and had fun, but they never went further.

They were too afraid or had too little of a vision to go all in.

But if you set your priorities, values and goals right, anyone can pursue their passion (and stay on track)!

So here are

9 Principles to start and succeed in your creative journey

1. VISION

Probably the most important aspect of any creative journey.

You can even see it in my journey, did you notice it?

When I pursued a goal, I always wanted to be someone.

Gaming Videos → Wanting to be a Gaming YouTuber

Skits and Movies → Wanting to be a Moviemaker

I was always motivated by a seemingly impossible (for me at that time) vision.

But don’t just keep it down to you…make it bigger than yourself.

John F. Kennedy wanted to bring the USA to the moon, not go there himself.

Michelangelo created statues for the Glory of God and the Catholic Church.

Even monuments like the pyramids - they all came from a huge, ““unrealistic”” vision.

It’s counterintuitive - but a “unrealistic” vision will push you through anything, a ““realistic””, smaller vision won’t.

Don’t limit yourself with a vision., there is no vision that’s “too big”.

You need something so inspiring it’ll push you through literally anything.

And…

Visualize your Goals

This is different from a VISION.

See, this is about using the power of Visualization in general.

I’ve never realized this, but I have a seemingly infinite source of motivation.

And it’s simply because I always visualize

• how a certain shot will look

• how a fight scene plays out

• how cool something is gonna look

• how the finished video is gonna look

and even with this - DON’T LIMIT YOURSELF.

I’ve surprised myself with the shots I managed to realize so many times… that I’ve stopped limiting myself with crazy ideas😂

So…

If you’re a cook, visualize how the finished dish will look.

If you’re a writer, imagine the finished page or chapter.

If you see how something will look and you’re genuinely passionate about creating, you’ll do anything to achieve that.

I’ve found myself working up to an hour to create one shot that I just wanted so bad.

Use the power of short-term and long-term Vision!

2. Be intrinsically motivated

This is especially crucial for long-term journeys.

It’s alright to start with shallow, extrinsic desires like

• Love

• Praise

• Money

• A big house

• A lamborghini

• Getting someone

• Getting something

That’s how pretty much all journeys start.

But the key is so also have some deep, intrinsic motivation.

See, as you’ve seen with my Gaming YouTuber journey, shallow desires won’t keep you on track and you’ll end up giving up.

So…what are intrinsic motivations?

The key with them is - everyone has a unique one (or unique ones).

But if you wanna figure yours out, think of a vision that’s

• as selfless as can be

• the highest version of yourself you can imagine

• bettering the world in many ways

and that gives you that deep, fulfilling feeling.

That will give you insane, never-ending motivation.

3. Follow your Passion, no matter what

This is a tough principle if you’ve

• invested a lot of time into a path

• suddenly lost passion in a field

and you’ll probably try to save it (even if it’s dead).

Because dropping (or “wasting”) what you invested so much time into hurts.

And for me, it was that way with Gaming.

But I want you to recognize something:

You didn’t waste that time. In fact, if you invested a lot of time into it, those insights transition over to your new pursuit.

Me with gaming is an ideal example because it was both the medium of videos.

But even if you completely switch your medium, it’ll still work.

If you wrote for ages, but switch to painting, you’ll still have a stronger and more effective mind.

I personally use my writing skills from Twitter (and this newsletter 😉 ) to write ideas for videos down - works amazingly!

But now to the main point - How do you always pursue your Passion?

Well, it’s simply - Whatever excites you most in the moment - Do it!

This means drop all the work (that you can) and do what you truly want to most.

This might mean

• quit your old job

• your grades get worse

• your Twitter Growth worsens

• your friends think you’re weird

and sometimes it will fail.

But I can guarantee it will feel amazing to pursue it.

Even in content, stopping to produce the same old content and creating completely new stuff will refire your excitement for it.

It’s important to cover your basic, survival needs but whenever you can, pursue what you truly want to.

4. Accept it’s gonna be tough

Harsh truth, but it will never be easy.

One of my favorite quotes about it is from Michelangelo:

“If people knew how hard I worked for my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.”

I recommend you read at least a few books about the lives of successful, famous people.

You’ll see just how much struggle they had to go through and how they could have bad periods for years.

I recommend reading

• “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield

• “The Agony and the Ecstasy” by Irving Stone

• “12 Notes: On Life and Creativity” by Quincy Jones

all of them capture what it takes.

• many 1000s of hours

• a decade or more of struggle

hell, even after success, it will still get tough.

But that’s exactly why it’s so worth it!

At least 70% of my videos sucked and I was frustrated working on them most of the time.

The first few years will be difficult, but if it’s worth it to you, you will stick through.

If you know that it’ll be tough, you’ll be prepared.

In an age of instant gratification, be someone who stays persistent even with little to no rewards (for a few years).

5. Grow alongside your Passion

This step isn’t always necessary for success.

Most

• business owners

• content creators

• Hollywood celebrities

have never done deep Inner work - and still succeeded.

That’s mostly because they unconsciously do tactics that bring success:

• Investing a bunch of time

• Visualizing their later Life

• Being extremely persistent

most people don’t do that naturally, so they hopple their way to success.

Hell, I did all of these pretty much accidentally too😂 

Personal Growth might not be necessary for success - but it sure is beneficial.

I’ve been

• meditating

• contemplating

• watching channels like Actualized.Org

pretty much daily for the last 3 months.

And it’s had an amazing impact on my content and way of thinking!

Even just watching content about your passion can have huge effects.

The more information you bring into your mind, the better and more connected it’s gonna be.

Invest a lot of time into yourself!

6. Set up good systems and backup

Yeah, I used to hate this idea too.

I know that I want to pursue my passion, so why would I ever make a backup plan?

But then I realized how long this would take…and I’m not nearly at the stage where I could become financially independent.

See, many people go from 0 to 5000 followers and 10k/month in a short time.

But, what you gotta realize is:

A) That’s most likely not fulfilling (or passionate) work.

Hell, some people work +10 hours a day and rush everything, trying to make money as quickly as possible.

Yes, you get a bunch of money, but you’ll have hated the process, all for a bunch of money. That doesn’t really fulfill you.

B) They already have a bunch of expertise.

Many of the people you see blow up and become rich in a few months - they have way more experience than you.

Of course, don’t make this a limiting belief, but if people have

• nurtured a skill for years

• experience in marketing, SEO, etc.

they have a big advantage.

So, the key is not to look at them and say “I can do it in little time too!”

No, the key is slowing down and setting up a slower, but sustainable plan.

This might mean

• getting a 9-5

• trying in school

• not making much money

• strategizing and planning

And Hey - I’m just telling you what me and my brother are already doing😂 

And it’s allowed us to

• enjoy our work

• invest in ourselves

• pursue our passions

while before, our whole lives were about Twitter and making money (not fun).

A slower, sustainable plan will allow you to gain the upper hand long-term and love the process.

7. Embrace REAL Failure

Yes, we all love this point.

It’s become a platitude at this point.

But the thing is - we all have a deep, programmed fear of failure.

And I’ve noticed this a lot recently:

When I start a new project or tap into the unknown, I get that inner resistance and discomfort.

Now, people on Twitter get it wrong.

True failure isn’t

• losing a client

• having a post flop

• failing to reach a daily goal

sure, that’s failing at something, but it’s not really that important or big.

No, real failure brings that deep discomfort with it.

Stuff like

• starting a new passion

• your first Twitter space

• writing terrible content at first

• getting awful results for 2 months

• starting that new project you want to

the key is - true failure should always be a part of your journey.

Ironically, most people experience true failure in the first months (when starting to write).

But then they get comfortable and never get real learning experiences.

Real failure feels really exciting, while also really uncomfortable.

This means, yes, you will always struggle, but you’ll grow way more than if you only made small mistakes.

8. Never lose track of your goals and passion

I’ve never mentioned this before, but…

I fell off track with videos a few times.

Either because I procrastinated finishing a video or simply lost interest for a bit (happened with gaming a few times).

But now, I’ve been working on videos almost daily since last May.

This is because I create what I deeply want to.

For me, Creativity and Crazy Scenes were always my main passion in videos.

Ever since I’ve gotten back to them, I’ve never gotten bored or disinterested in videos.

So what you wanna do is find out your Values with your Passion.

Ask the question: What brings me the most fulfillment and fun while pursuing my Passion?

This can be anything, multiple points too

• novelty

• morality

• integrity

• creativity

• philosophy

• spirituality

• emotionality

find out whatever it is and never lose track of it!

Using your values means you can create your most amazing creations.

9. Watch content for your passion

A big point many people miss out on.

So far, I’ve only watched 10 videos or so about creating better videos.

And they’ve already made a huge difference!

I know it’s fun to just create (deliberate practice) and that’s important too!

But trust me, that extra research will make a huge difference.

It’ll also make creating more fun!

So, some common things you can research are

• ways to spice up creations

• new techniques and strategies

• ways to keep flow and creativity

• ways to avoid common unnecessary mistakes

just start researching more!

10. Be Patient, Persistent, Playfull and Pragmatic

These are some last core characteristics I wanna show you.

All of these are important, but of course, you won’t build them in a day.

But I want you to realize some core ideas for your journey:

• 95% of time, there’ll be no gratification

• Don’t take your passion so seriously, play with it like a child

• Pure, deliberate, unperfectionist practice gives the most progress

• Bad Projects will become masterpieces with enough time and effort

• Over time, you start loving the procress of creating, not just the result

They key with all of this is:

It won’t be all fun and easy work - but the longer you pursue it, the more fun it’s gonna become.

Hell, I’ve pursued mine for 4 years and I still have boring, bad days.

The key is to embrace that and - if you are in love with creating (even if it means a lot of work), you’ll work through all this.

Keep these 4 characteristics in mind!

And I think that’s about it.

I was in total flow while writing this😂

Whatever you pursue, I really want you to stay on track.

Yes, there’ll be struggle, boredom, frustration, etc.

But it will be so worth it to simply keep going.

You’ll see how fulfilling and rewarding finishing a big project will be.

For now, I hope these helped you and I wish you a great next week!

Until next Saturday!