You Have Enough

I wish I could create videos and publish them on YouTube. I wish I had a real camera. Plus, a teleprompter. Oh, and colored LED backlights that don’t flicker on video. And a “proper” background. And an editor. And a producer. And a Lamborghini. And a space ship.

There are so many things that I could use to make videos, or that would make making videos easier. The fact is, I have more than enough to make videos. If you have a device that you can use to watch videos, then you almost certainly also have everything you need to create videos.

That’s just hardware. I’d also like to know how to edit better. I have a ton of video and audio recorded that I’m painfully learning how to stitch together to showcase the information that I want to share. That part is still going pretty slowly. I’ll keep at it, but I also have a great deal to say that can be shared simply by speaking, without the extra equipment or techniques.

You. You are enough. You can be more than merely “enough,” but you are, at minimum: Enough. You need nothing else to start. Learn as you go, make mistakes, correct, improve, repeat.

Above all, start.

These are things that I need to hear when I was languishing in Wish Hell; and, if I need to, then I’m betting that someone else does, too, and that’s another fantastic incentive to start. Plus, once I start, that means that I can continue, that I can improve. You can only improve by doing. There is only so much benefit you can get from reading, watching, and studying. You must do.

Part of that is scary: One of the things I’m afraid of is making things that aren’t good enough. In my mind, “good enough” all too often means “perfect.” The actor John Wayne once said that, “’Good enough’ is good enough, ‘cause ‘perfect’ is a pain in the ass.” Perfect is unattainable, unachievable. Impossible. Once I’m done, it won’t be perfect.

It will, however: Be. It is.

Once you get past the self-criticism, the absolutely valid desire to improve on the next video, the self-doubts, the inner voice telling you it looks like an 8mm home movie shot by a second grader riding a cocker spaniel through a car wash…there’s another feeling that follows and maybe even rides right beside all those:

Accomplishment.

I did it. So can you.

So: Go. Do. Make something awful, if that’s what you can do now, but do it!

That is the only way you will ever get better.