Your content sucks

Bo Burnham.

Standup comedian. World class musician. Songwriter.

Genius.

I was watching an interview of Ryan Ng who was dissecting one of Bo’s music videos. 

In this particular video, the first shot is a zoom out from a closeup of his face. 

But there’s just one thing, the closeup is super grainy and pixelated.

It’s pretty obvious that Bo made this video himself. And since he didn’t have a crew, he just digitally zoomed in on his face during editing to get the effect.

As the Ryan was describing this, he said something that I had to write down:

“Have the courage to make it bad.”

See, Bo didn’t care that the zoomed in video wasn’t 4k. 

Heck, he probably filmed it on his iPhone. 

He just wanted the effect, made it happen, and sent it.

And it’s amazing. Honestly, it makes the video better in my opinion. It’s raw and edgy. Fits his brand. 

Now, you might say “Swanagan, I thought you are the Optimal guy!! How are you for this less-than-perfect style of creation??”

I hear you. 

But optimalism is NOT perfectionism. 

Far from it.

No, real optimalism is having a big vision and taking the small, incremental steps towards that ideal life each day.

It means hitting publish, every single day. Even when it’s not perfect. Especially then.

It is striving to find the best way to express the message and vision of your optimal self. 

But none of this happens if you are paralyzed by perfectionism.

Now, I’m not trying to bash big creators who spend $25k-100k per month on absolutely perfect content. That stuff is mind-blowingly good. And I love it.

But it’s not necessary. 

I’d rather focus on 80/20 principles and get my main message across while getting better at writing, talking on camera, etc.

Your time and resources are limited as one person. 

You just have to be efficient with the resources that you have RIGHT NOW for the optimal mix of actions that get you to your dream life.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. 

But if you want to win, you do have to send it.

Get some,

Swanagan