7 Ways I Stay Consistent and Resilient on YouTube
Showing up on YouTube isn’t easy. But key mindset shifts have helped me overcome the lows and consistently commit to the long game of YouTube.
Almost anyone who has ever published on YouTube understands how challenging it can be. You’re constantly trying to come up with new ideas, being resilient when your best ideas flop, avoiding comparing yourself to others, and creating while trying not to worry about what other people think. As the quitting YouTube trend swept through mega creators this past year, smaller new creators were left looking for inspiration to stay, not leave YouTube.
Even as a tiny channel new to YouTube this year, I often get asked how I stay consistent on YouTube. From my experience on YouTube, here are the mindset shifts that push me to publish on YouTube every week, despite the results or what other people might think.
1. Everything is a remix
Do you find yourself forcing new ideas? Remember, the best ideas are already out there waiting for you to remix them.
Creators love the catchcry of ‘create, don’t copy’. I used to be one of them. It’s what I’d suggest to my personal brand coaching clients. I now understand it’s an ignorant perspective. I’m all for credit where it’s due, but as Mark Twain said:
“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope.”
As they say, we’re standing on the shoulders of giants. Every idea builds on ideas that came before it.
In Steal Like an Artist, Austin Kleon quotes Kobe Bryant having said:
“There isn’t a move that’s a new move.”
Bryant used to study tapes of his on-court heroes. He wanted to perfectly emulate them but, he couldn’t. He wasn’t them. He didn’t have their exact body type - so he couldn’t copy them as precisely as he might have hoped. Instead, serendipitously, he adapted - making the moves legendarily his own.
The goal of remixing ideas, of course, isn’t about imitation or plagiarism. It’s about inspiration. Find what’s worked for others, either in your niche or from something seemingly unrelated, and put your spin on the record. Add your unique point of view.
2. Everything is an experiment
One of my favourite pieces of YouTube advice is mega YouTuber Ali Abdaal’s 1% rule - aiming to get 1% better with each video. It’s the sustainable strategy for success. It takes the pressure off while still constantly improving. Your 1%ers aren’t about your views or subscriber count. It’s controlling what you can control - like an experiment. It might be as small as using a new prop in your video. Over time, tiny changes can have a huge impact.
In The Diary of a CEO, marketing guru and YouTube star Steven Bartlett promotes out-failing the competition. This isn’t about embracing failure. It’s about actively seeking it out - developing a relentless focus on experimentation:
“Failure and invention are inseparable twins. To invent, you have to experiment, and if you know in advance that it’s going to work, it’s not an experiment.”
3. There’s always more to the story
Did you know Bill Gates went to one of the only schools with a state-of-the-art computer? It’s often an overlooked detail in his success story.
Don’t compare yourself to other people’s success. Or your beginning to someone else’s middle. Even YouTube's number one creator, Mr Beast, posted hundreds of videos before any gained traction.
Many big creators tell you how they grew their YouTube subscribers fast. Most spend less time talking about the years invested with seemingly little results. For some, one video changed everything. Others might have had a significant profile on other social media platforms that supercharged their speedy traction on YouTube. Either way, everyone started somewhere. Those early days, when it felt like no one cared, created rewards they reap today. If they did it, so can you.
4. Play the infinite game
If you feel like you’re failing on YouTube, your lens of success might be too short-sighted.
In Simon Sinek’s book, The Infinite Game, he highlights that there are two kinds of games:
Finite Games
Finite Games have known players and fixed rules. They have agreed-upon objectives that, when reached, end the game.
Infinite Games
Infinite Games are played by known and unknown players with no exact rules. How players choose to play can change at any time. There is no finish line, therefore no such thing as ‘winning’. This creates an infinite game. The primary objective becomes to keep playing, perpetuating the game.
Rethink playing the game of YouTube to ‘win’ on the platform. Play to keep playing. Let’s next talk about why that matters.
5. Show up for yourself first
There’s a general idea in social media that 90% of people on social media are lurkers, 9% are consumers, and 1% are creators. By creating on YouTube, no matter what your results, you’re doing what most people aren’t willing to do.
With every video, you’re developing your problem-solving skills, lateral thinking, technical skills, storytelling and communication skills.
By showing up on your YouTube, you’re a presenter in practice. Once again, you’re doing the things most people are unwilling (or too scared) to do. Research shows that 75% of people fear public speaking more than death. So, with each video, you’re facing a fear head-on many others won’t.
6. What gets scheduled gets done
You can have all the motivation in the world, but in reality, what gets scheduled gets done. Schedule YouTube into your routine. Schedule each stage - planning, filming, editing and publishing. Time block these activities into your diary. Pick their positions strategically. Are you most creative after your morning or lunchtime walk? Research ideas and start scripting after this. When are you the most alert? Film during that time - and, so on.
Honour your commitment to yourself the same way you would a meeting with another. Don’t feel guilty about prioritising YouTube. Urgent tasks have a way of disguising them as important. Ask yourself, what’s more important to the infinite game? If an athlete misses one training, does it immediately impact their success in the long term? Unlikely. If they make this a habit, however, they’re likely to become a very different athlete. One missed ‘training’ session on YouTube adds up. So, set your YouTube up for success via your schedule.
7. Adopt a neutral mindset
Whether it’s a ‘successful’ video or a flop, a positive comment or a negative one, adopt a neutral mindset.
The science says we’ve evolved for an innate negativity bias - it kept us alive. Now, even negative comments are said to stick like Velcro while positive ones slip away like Teflon. I prefer to take the approach that it’s all Teflon.
Being neutral to the wins and the losses, the praise and the criticism means you show up for your art, despite the critic's acclaim or ridicule. You play the game for the love of the game.
Andy Warhol famously said:
“Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”
So, stay calm and keep creating.
