On our community tab we asked you guys, “In what way does YouTube provide you with meaning and purpose?” We had some very thought provoking answers, but one really stuck out:

Do you feel like this? You want to make it on YouTube, but you feel like the rollercoaster of ups and downs is just feeding your anxiety, obsession, depression or just simply making work/life balance an impossibility. Is so, this is for you.

Know Your WHY

I’ve personally been on YouTube for 16 years. SIXTEEN. I’m pretty surprised by this actually because I’m not really the type of person that sticks to something for that long. I’m more the type of person that climbs the mountain and then gets bored or I get frustrated with the process and just give up. So I really don’t know how we got here, but here we are! I think part of why I’ve been able to stay on here for this long is because I have a Deep-Seated Why. Even going back to my ministry days, I’ve always had a great love for changing lives. It has looked different as my work has looked different, but it has been our foundation at Video Creators and has really kept me going despite the challenges. This has also kept my channel from being all about views and subs. That becomes debilitating over time. But if I can look and ask myself, “Am I spreading my message and helping other people spread theirs?” Then, I see where I’m succeeding and find more motivation.

Do you know your why? If so, right it down! Put it on your wall if you want, but make sure to keep it in front of you. Doing so will drive you to keep going and to keep yourself in check. This “why” can evolve over time and that’s ok. If you feel stale and just don’t care anymore about your why, revaluate! And, by the way, we aren’t talking about subs, views or money. (Those are results, not your why.) Find the joy that you are working towards that is disconnected from your results. (But we realize, this isn’t easy to do when those analytics are right in your face.)

Zoom Out

Zooming out on your analytics can be incredibly helpful. We did this recently for a client. We showed them their year in review and what succeed the most was actually the stuff that they had the most fun doing. Zooming in on your analytics can definitely do more damage than help to your mental state.

But we are addicted! We want to see that #1 video confetti! But when we don’t get it, we get that let down. That rollercoaster can have high highs and low lows. But at the same time we don’t want to get off of it! So what do we do? How can we handle analytics in a healthy way? Post the video. Make a tweak if you need to, but then wait 30 days before you really analyze your video. And only look at your channel as a whole quarterly. It’s incredibly helpful to allow yourself that time to remove yourself emotionally from the content before you analyze it. PLUS, it’s a much better use of your time to do it this way. Instead of spending your time dissecting analytics the moment it is complete, go do everything else you need to do! Go run your business, spend time with your family or work on new videos. Your time will be so much better utilized if you analyze videos less often.

This will also help you set realistic goals. Maybe you just focus on hooks this month. And you are going to try to make your audience retention during your hook just 10% better and see what happens. This will also help you mentally instead of simply letting YouTube tell you if your video is good or bad.

Take a Break

Sometimes it’s addiction that keeps us coming back and sometimes it’s fear. We are afraid to step away. I mean, what if we stop and no one cares? People often wrap up their value in their work. Do you define yourself by your channel? If you stopped doing it, would you feel like less of a person? Honestly, taking a break usually is a great thing for your channel. People are excited to see you when you return. And when you do return, you come at it with fresh eyes and new ideas just flow.

Power Tip

Did you know that in YT Studio? You’ll get to see not just what videos, but now also shorts, and lives – all broken out by content for the past 7 days!

Use this for inspiration and keep an eye on what’s happening in your space. Change it up and try a new format of content that your audience is already loving.

Keep changing lives!

Tim Schmoyer

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