Month: February 2022

“You don’t really need a niche, Christian.”

This thought has been nagging at me lately. The past few posts were my attempt at writing some sort of advice column for beginner content creators. While that’s all well and good, and all the “experts” say that you NEED a niche, lemme tell ya…

It’s awfully restrictive!

So until further notice, I’m going back to writing more of a personal blog. Much like I did for Authentic August. I’ll still write posts encouraging you hesitant creatives to take the leap and just make the thing that only you can make. I’ll still share what lessons I’m learning on how to take our creativity from chaos to career. But I’ll also write about what I’ve been pondering lately. I’ll give life updates and discuss future plans. I’ll share what’s on my heart.

I always seem to get to a point where I realize I’m not creating from an authentic place…

So from now on, I’m just gonna do me. Unapologetically.

• I’ll sing and rap the songs I’ve been writing but locking away because they aren’t recorded well enough, or at all.

• I’ll talk about the habits I’ve been implementing to become more fit and healthy.

• I’ll share my newest adventure with you: becoming a Mindvalley Certified Life Coach! (Your boy still needs to get his coaching hours in, so hit me up if you’re interested!)

• And much more!

Ultimately, I am designing my life.

So instead of “advice for content creators,” my would-be niche is LIFESTYLE DESIGN. With a splash of Music. A little dash of Coaching. And a whole lotta LOVE.

Because at the end of the day, everything I do is an expression of my love for you. For you, reading this. For my family. For my friends. For my partner-in-life, Ashley. For myself.

I want you all to feel free. I want you all to be happy. And if there’s a small way I can make that happen for you, then I am at your SERVICE.

Gratefully Yours,

Christian Quiwa

P.S. Click on all the hyperlinks to get a taste of what’s coming!

If you’re a creative person, then you’ve probably struggled with judging your own art. I would know because I’m the same way. I’ll say things like, “I’m my own worst critic,” or “I’m a perfectionist, so it’s not good enough.”

To make matters worse, not only do we judge what we create, we’re even critical of when we create. We promise ourselves to write, draw, or make something “every Saturday,” or “each morning after breakfast.” We schedule out the “perfect plan” that would guarantee we’re creating on a consistent basis, only to forget, miss, or flat out avoid our own creative “appointments.”

And then what happens?

Disappointment. Guilt. Self-deprecation. That little, mean voice in our heads saying, “Yet another failure.” Or, “You never do what you say you will.” Or maybe something like, “You’re such a loser and you should just quit.”

If we’re not careful, we’ll actually listen to our negative self-talk, and then we quit on our creativity for weeks, months, or even longer. So what can we do? When self-judgment has led us astray, what can we do to get back on track and start creating again?

“Simply begin again.”

This phrase is as powerful as it is simple.

“Simply begin again” is a phrase found in mindfulness meditation and popularized by meditation teacher and author, Joseph Goldstein (watch this short clip of his explanation). Here’s how it works:

In basic meditation, we’re invited to sit and focus on our breath. Without training, our monkey minds can only maintain focus for maybe two or three breaths before getting lost in thought again. In those moments when we realize that we’ve been lost in thought, Joseph teaches us to “simply begin again.” Rather than reprimand our monkey minds for wandering, simply acknowledge that we’ve been lost in thought. Then simply return to the activity of focusing on our breath.

Focusing on Our Creativity

In meditation, we focus on our breath; in art and content, we focus on creating. So in the same way that the monkey mind pulls the meditator away from the focus of her breath, our self-judgment often pulls us away from the focus of our creativity. Simply begin again. Whenever we get lost in our negative self-talk, simply begin again. Whenever we’ve been distracted from our craft for many months in a row, simply begin again. Whenever life gets in the way and we feel like we’ve forgotten how to do whatever it is that we know deep inside we are called to do…

Simply

Begin

Again.

If you’re new to creating content, you’ll quickly realize that it’s important to post or publish consistently and frequently. But as a complete beginner, it can be difficult to even CREATE that much. Lucky for us, there’s a simple method for creating MORE content, and it’s something I learned from one of my favorite childhood activities: renting movies.

From DVDs to Content Strategy

As a young kid, every Friday or Saturday night meant renting a movie at Hollywood Video. We would rent a DVD or two, watch the movie as a family, and then everyone would call it a night. Except me. While everyone else was making their way upstairs, I grabbed the control and clicked on over to the “bonus features.” Here, you would find additional “bonus” content about the movie and its creation. These “features” would include things like bloopers, director/actor commentary, and other behind-the-scenes footage. If I liked the movie, I usually wanted to know more about it. Even though I had just spent two hours watching the movie, I’d spend another hour going through all of the extra content about the movie.

As new content creators, not only should we make our “movies” (or our main content), we should also spend some time making “bonus features” (or our side content). Here’s why.

When Quantity is Better than Quality

To state the obvious, in the content world, content is king. This means quality content is supreme king. But if you happen to be brand new to your craft – whether you make short films, paintings, TikTok videos, or in my case, blogs – you might lack the skills necessary to make high-quality content. So we make up for this lack in quality by increasing our quantity. And since we’re already making our “movies,” we can easily increase the quantity of our content by creating “bonus features” about these movies.

Let’s say you’re a songwriter. Your “movie” would probably be the actual recording of your new song, shared on Spotify and/or iTunes. But some of your “bonus features” could be a YouTube video detailing the meaning behind the lyrics, a behind-the-scenes tutorial of how you recorded the song at home, or even just an acoustic version of your song, performed live for Instagram. Whatever your craft is, there are all kinds of “bonus features” you can make surrounding your existing content and/or your ongoing projects.

Quality is the Long-Term Goal

While creating “bonus features” can tide you over until your next “movie,” don’t let them become a distraction from your main craft. Find a healthy balance between creating both types of content. To have long-term success as a creative, it will be more important to develop the quality of your content. After all, no one will want to click over to the bonus features if it’s a terrible movie!