My main camera broke and I almost let it stop me from creating. Instead I grabbed my iPhone and filmed anyway. This video is a meditation on what a dance session with my crew taught me about perfectionism — and a Korean fashion concept called C and C (trying, but not looking like you are trying) that reframed how I want to approach everything I put out. Sometimes the best thing you can make is something that has nothing to prove.
Full Transcript
I don’t really know what the purpose of this video is other than to just share a meditation that I was going through. It is currently 9:04 p.m. on a Sunday, December 22nd, and I decided to just turn on the phone and just try to make a video, not relying on the equipment that I invested into to make videos. I just sent my Osmo Pocket 3 back to DJI because it’s not working properly. For some reason the gimbal, when I put it on FPV mode, it does this — it like, it gets curious. I think it’s going to take like 9 to 11 days before I get it back and before I could start making YouTube videos with it again. It’s okay. I wanted to try making a video on my phone, like, why should I let that stop me when I have an iPhone where I can share an idea? And that’s the whole purpose of this channel and how I want to approach content.
I was sitting like, okay, I’m not going to have my Osmo Pocket 3 for 9 to 11 days apparently, and so does that mean that I’m just going to not make content? I was thinking to myself, that could be a limitation. Why can’t I just film something on my phone? And, um, I’m eating a hot dog. Mhm.
I was dancing with my friends the other day, and I’ve been a dancer for like 19 years. I used to dance with Jabbawockeez — that was my first, like, professional job after barely graduating high school. But dance has always been something very personal to me. And the other day I was sessioning with my friends, Hybrids Dance Crew — my brothers Jesse Sykes and Joey the Jam. And when we session, and when we dance, we have a very intentional practice with our movement. We set intentions before we enter into a freestyle, because with dance you’re able to just process a lot of emotions, you’re able to meditate on a lot of things that you’re processing in your consciousness overall. And one of the cool things that they mentioned is, okay, like, when we do our rounds, when we throw rounds, let’s have a “don’t have anything to prove” pocket. And I really like that.
I was actually watching a fashion video where it — it brought up — hold on, I want to find it actually. It’s from this guy named Wone. The video is “Why Koreans Dress Better: Six Fashion Tips.” And there is a principle that he mentioned that kind of captures this — C versus C and C. And I guess in Korea there’s this idea: C is trying and looking like you’re trying, or C and C is trying but not looking like you’re trying. So this was kind of the intention for the rounds that we were throwing in our dance.
And as I was freestyling and dancing, I’ve been watching my rounds, ‘cuz when you record yourself in your movement I think it’s a really great way to just study yourself from an outside perspective. Sometimes, like, we can express ourself with words on these videos, we can write in journals, but you’re able to learn so much more about yourself when you observe your beingness in a different lens, in a different state, whether it be through dancing or singing or whatever it is that you’re expressing yourself through. Yeah, I was just studying my rounds and trying to tap into that “don’t have anything to prove” pocket.
The last couple of videos I’ve been experimenting with different things — I’ve been experimenting with thumbnails and storytelling, and I’ve been studying a lot of YouTube things, like how to grow on YouTube, how to make a video that people will like, that will increase retention, all those types of things. ‘Cuz it’s been so long since I’ve been on YouTube. But I really like this idea of the “not have anything to prove” pocket, where I just turn on the camera and I just talk. I like leaning into that, not for the sake of again going viral or getting a bunch of followers or getting a lot of likes or anything. I — I think my soul just needs that. My soul needs to express itself in a way that just doesn’t have anything to prove. It’s just being.
One of the things that I used to say all the time on my old channel is, welcome to Artist of Life, this is a place for me to be myself and thrive in an environment where I can be myself. I still want to nurture this pocket — this “don’t have anything to prove” pocket. Translate that from dance, that meditation that I did in my rounds with dance, and like that, into how I’m also approaching YouTube. So yeah, here I am. Thanks for watching if you did, and excited to make more content, whatever that’s about — about ADHD, about being multi-disciplinary, about, I guess, my life philosophy as a 28-year-old business owner, entrepreneur, who’s failed so much in his life but also has experienced a lot of success, a lot of wins, who has loved and lost, all the life things. Yeah, don’t have anything to prove. Just be. I guess that’s my message to my future self, or my — myself, my reflections, my future versions, past, present, and future. Yeah.