Wisdom Challenge: Day 5
Insights from Chapter 5–
Drink water from your own cistern,
Proverbs 5:15 (NKJV)
And running water from your own well.
Stay in your lane!
In the YouTube space– behind the scenes– you’d often hear people say stay in your lane. Usually the exchange is made between peers creating content in a similar niche.
There’s a lot of wisdom in this saying because when you’re a video content creator, the person you are is just as important, if not more, than the content you make.
There’s likely hundreds of other channels out there making content similar to yours but supporters choose to support you for you.
The Key to Success.
Growing a YouTube channel is not about fancy editing or flashy thumbnails. Of course, the quality of your productions should improve overtime but the foundation of any good content is the person actually creating it.
The most important thing you can do is learn how to be your authentic self. This takes some deep self-reflection and a whole lot of practice, but you’ll get it.
This is ultimately the skill that will enable you to confidently stay in your lane without being swayed by the actions of other people.
The Comparison Trap
So what happens if you don’t stay in your lane?
Well, there’s a good chance that you’ll find yourself competing with other content creators for no reason.
Instead of growing from mutually beneficial collaborations, you begin to see the person you’re competing with as a threat– you start adopting the mindset that ‘one more subscriber for him is one less subscriber for me’ and that’s not healthy.
I experienced both sides of this coin during my two years of being a YouTuber which really started to take off when I was in Mexico.
Self-Discovery
Ultimately, I deleted my channel either in late 2022 or early 2023. I’d contemplated it for months and there were a number of reasons why, but one of the top 5 was that I didn’t fully understand the importance of staying in my lane, being my authentic self, and not comparing myself to others.
But as they say, hindsight is 20/20.
Honestly, I don’t miss it though. I’m thankful that I had an opportunity to dive into video content creation for a bit because it allowed me to see that it’s really just not for me.
I prefer writing a lot better, and all the lessons I learned from being a YouTuber are just as applicable to this blog.
Peace & Poetry– is my lane; this is my own cistern.
If you’re thinking about being a YouTuber, or any type of content creator for that matter– Remember what you read here, and just go for it!
One response to “So You Want to be a YouTuber.”
[…] better to do your thing– to have a plan and stay in your lane like I mentioned in my post about being a YouTuber. On those days when you don’t have any motivation (and trust me they’ll come), […]