Update: Do the Hard Thing

It’s been 10 days since I posted Do The Hard Thing: You Can’t Afford Not To. I want to give you an update! I did the hard thing once, but then I did it a few more times. Guess what! It got a little easier. Now, it doesn’t take me 4 hours and 52 minutes to post a 1 min and 3 second video! Go me. I have figured out a little more about how to do it, what each platform requires, what I’m allowed to do and not allowed to do. Here are a few things I’ve learned and mistakes I made:

~I can use royalty-free music from Pixabay for every platform including regular YouTube videos, but not for a YouTube short if it’s over one minute long. Why? I have no idea. It’s just the rules.

~In Garageband, I can add distortions and effects to my voice after I record. That’s cool!

~I lost a whole project because I didn’t save it and had to do the whole thing over again. How many times have I learned this in the 47 years I’ve been on the planet? Many. Very many. I’m sure I’ll do it again, too.

~No one has called me a heretic. I just started introducing myself as Pastor Jen though, so stay tuned.

~I learned what a hook is, and what a niche is. I knew what those were in real life, but not in the social media world.

~My idea of a viral video is getting 50 views. So basically I’m a superstar now (by my standards).

~My mic is amazing. I normally hate the way my voice sounds, but I actually like it with this mic. It was an amazing investment.

~With the exception of the mic, I am using only things I already owned. Laptop, phone, programs, etc.

~Now I want to record my own backing tracks music. It turns out, the more I do creative things, the more ideas I have! Not enough time!

~I have to be careful not to get validation from how many views I get from a post, it’s so easy to fall into that trap! I’ve been a consumer of social media, not a creator. So I never thought about engaging with posts, staying to the end, leaving a heart or a comment. Now I think about those things. I also have to set a timer for social media, because I can get super caught up. Prayer time, study, talking to God, and chores have to come first or I’ll never get to them.

I do love to learn, so I feel happy and terrified about jumping into new territory.

I just wanted to share with you my journey of learning and doing the hard thing. This is the year we learn to do the hard thing. We won’t back down, we will keep pushing forward and break the cycle in our lives.

What cycle? Lately, I have been identifying patterns in my behavior and asking God what is the cause of the patterns? I’ve been asking Him what is going on inside me that causes me to react or behave that way? I’m noticing I have a problem with follow-through. I have big dreams, but I drop the ball sometimes in execution. The Lord showed me that I have a fear of failure that I didn’t know I had. If I don’t know how to do something, or if I’m not sure which direction I should go, I just freeze and don’t do anything. Basically, unless there is a clear “right” path, I won’t make a choice. I talked about this a little bit in the previous blog. Once the Lord addressed that in me, I’ve been making progress with not allowing fear to affect my decisions as much as it used to. I’m learning to just make a decision and move forward. Now, I find myself not worrying as much.

Let me know if you’ve been doing any hard things lately! And what have been the results? We will close the gap and lower that ignorance tax!

Do the hard thing. You can't afford not to.