Get It Done

It’s Tuesday!

But like a waaaaaaaaaaaaay later Tuesday then the last time I send out a newsletter.

A few things to make your day better:

1) That delicious audio attached to this. Wow. My favorite audio.

2) A new WheezyNews Video in that old Wheezy style went live today!

3) One of the videos that inspired me from the very beginning. Perhaps THEE video. Ze Frank’s video about Brain Crack. I’ve talked about it before but it’s really come up in my mind recently and it has a lot to do with what I want to talk about below. (I say talk, but really, I’m typing. Sorry about that. If only there was a way to attach audio to this… oh wait. Maybe next time.)

And look at the top 2 comments on that video!

Anyhoo…

Get It Done

It’s a bit ironic to title this issue “Get It Done” after months and months of not writing anything. But whatever.

I often like to say 2 different phrases:

Perfect is the enemy of the good.

Done is better than perfect.

But I don’t think that’s right anymore. Now in my mind it has become:

Done IS perfect.

I just gotta be more extreme, bro. Nah, that’s not really it. I simply believe that since achieving perfection is impossible I can define it however I damn please.

And for several months, years even, I have felt like I let my brain crack grow. If you haven’t watched the Ze Frank video, allow me to explain.

Brain crack is all the stuff you want to do but you hold the perfect version of it in your brain instead. It’s so much easier to think about how awesome the thing will be than to actually do it because when you do it it will inevitably not live up to what’s in your head.

Now, I’ve certainly made a lot of stuff these past few years. But mostly main channel videos, and often they aren’t what I REALLY want to do.

It’s a weird place to be. I created a dream career for myself and now after 17 years of doing it it has become a distraction to what I really want. But it’s ALSO what I really want!

I get worried that the big videos aren’t going to be good enough so I reserve my energy only for them. I stopped doing silly WheezyNews videos. I stopped doing this newsletter. I haven’t worked much on other projects I want to do, like make a movie.

And the main channel videos often feel more like an obligation than what I truly want.

What am I DOING?!

I’m sitting on ideas. I’m reserving space for later. This is stupid. This runs counter to everything that got me started and everything I believe.

A few days ago I did an experiment. I told myself that if I saw an unfinished thing… I’d do it. Right then. No matter what else I was in the middle of, no matter how much energy I had, no matter how long it would take (though I had to stay within reason).

Little things in my task list like scheduling appointments. Random decluttering around the house. Or even bigger video-related stuff.

It felt AMAZING. I was reminded how addicted I used to be to the feeling of just getting stuff done. Not just DOING stuff. Not loving the process. Not being proud of what I’ve done. But finishing it!

It feels so good.

It could be seen as a cynical thing. “All that matters is being done, not the quality of the thing or even if it’s helpful at all.” I understand that. But I disagree.

Repeatedly getting stuff done has reinvigorated that pattern in my life. I feel so much more productive lately. Maybe it’s a mood. Maybe it’ll fade later, but I firmly believe DONE IS PERFECT.

When you get a bunch of little things done, not only does it free your brain to move on, it makes you addicted to the feeling of being done.

Creatively, if I write a movie (I’ve finally started scripting instead of outlining, by the way and it’s going good) and GET IT DONE I can finally move on to another movie. And another and another, learning stuff along the way. Getting better.

The alternative is sitting on my idea and never moving the needle. Lying to myself that thing I’m going to make is going to change the world! When most likely it’ll be fine. Or terrible. But that’s better than the status quo. Because that means it’s DONE!

Listen, I obviously didn’t plan out this newsletter and I’m making this up as I go. I think we can all feel an obvious conclusion coming on. Something about how this issue may not be perfect but at least it’s bladity blab blah blah

Craig

P.S. That documentary I’ve been working on has been done for a while. We’re sending it to film festivals and it was just accepted into the Green Bay Film Festivel. WOOH!