I think it’s fair to say that most videos on the internet are pretty much a complete waste of time. I mean sure there’s plenty of good educational videos and entertaining content available, but if we look at the scope of the internet as a whole i bet the percentage of actual quality video is abysmally small. Yet I find myself constantly getting drawn down the so called rabbit hole of YouTube channels almost daily, giving my precious time to whoever can capture my attention span for a few minutes. I guess you can say its a bad habit I need to work on. But in spite of this, every now and then I’m fortunate enough to run into a video that sticks in my mind and stays there, constantly poking at my curiosity in a way that challenges my core beliefs and values. One in particular caught my attention this week, and in a way that I was not expecting at all. And of course it came from the YouTube legend, PewDiePie.
Now listen. I get the guy has been around for a while, and he’s not everyone’s cup of tea. I definitely was not a fan of him for a long time when he was first getting started. But I’ve seen him mature over the years and some of his most recent videos really show this quality in him, especially now that he’s a father and living in Japan. It seems he’s really taking a great approach to life and seems very content with where his career has taken him. Which leads me to the video I saw of his the other day.
Now that he’s mellowed out a bit, he’s taken on some new hobbies and challenges that I consider out of the ordinary. This one in particular was drawing.
The concept of his video was that he would simply document his growth over 100 days of trying to draw every day. That’s it. Just any attempt at something on paper every day was all that he was asking. Simple enough, right?
Here’s the thing. To someone that’s not a natural artist, drawing is not easy at all. I can say this first hand. I’m an awful artist. And it seems he was too, at first at least. Over the first few weeks the drawings were a bit rough, but he kept after it and though the weeks he was able to add more and more technique, speed up the process and grow more confident in his art. Nothing was award winning or out of this world challenging, but he pushed himself to try something different every time and always tried to improve.
It might sound too simple, and maybe it is, but something about his sincerity stuck with me after watching this. He’s not trying to become an artist. He’s appreciating the art of learning something new and challenging himself to do something outside his comfort zone. There was no contest, nobody he’s trying to impress or show he’s better than. It was just a man that wanted to see if he could do it, and he even had some fun along the way.
Watching this whole process unfold brought a sincere smile to my face and genuinely made me appreciate someone taking on a new challenge with a smile and general appreciation for the unique challenge the situation brings. It’s not often that we go out of our way to do things that challenge us, and less often still that we decide to stick with it for 100 days. Seeing someone take that approach so optimistically was a welcoming experience for growth, and I believe helps invite others to do the same. It’s honestly what caused me to start this 28 day post run. Just because I think it would be good for me, and I love it, so why not?
I guess that’s all I had to say on it. The message lines up fairly well with my Ippo post and I wanted to keep that vibe going so there it is.
As always, thanks for reading. Rock on, stay strong.