The Thirty-View Video jordanmarsh6, April 26, 2021April 5, 2023 Have you ever noticed how social media pushes you the most popular things? Think about it: the most popular videos and posts are the ones you are more likely to see. We see the viral Tik Tok, the viral YouTube video, and the most shared tweets. We see these things at their peak. It makes sense of course. If millions of other people thought it worth their time to engage with that particular piece of content, then it is likely that you will too. We get a certain amount of social currency from being aware of the most recent trends. I had a moment though a couple months back, when YouTube suggested a video to me that had under 30 views. It was a kid. Probably around 14 years old. He was playing his guitar and singing. I wish I could even remember the song. I tried to find the video again but of course it’s not that popular so it is difficult to find. I watched that kid play though, and he was really good. I thought for a minute about what that kid’s dreams were. He probably loved playing and wanted millions of people to listen. I’m sure he wanted it all. I felt this odd connection with him. It was almost a relief to see someone starting their journey, rather than seeing them at the peak of it. I appreciated his effort to get that video on YouTube, and I was grateful I got to watch him play. Here’s a common problem I run into when I consider what I want to accomplish: I look WAYYYY into the future and it stresses me out. With this blog for example, I have envisioned everything it could become. I could make videos with each post, I could start advertising on Facebook, I could make an app that helps people prioritize what they want to accomplish, I could write a book instead of blog posts each week, and on and on and on. It’s like I am pulling myself in so many directions, and thus not doing anything because I can’t make progress towards the next simplest thing I can do. I have a theory for why this is: it’s because when we look around for examples, we often see the finished product. We don’t see the iterations that likely went into that product. There are exceptions, as always, but I would venture to guess that there aren’t many. This is why I was so grateful to watch that kid’s thirty-view video. I didn’t have to be painfully aware of how successful he was. I could witness him going through the process, rather than seeing him at the final destination. That gave me hope that I could stick to the process too. You might be frustrated by all that you can do, and then not do any of it because it overwhelms you. There is power in focusing on the next smallest step you can take. Self Improvement