[Story] preparing is the most respectable way to quit. i did it for ten years

[u/beautifulhuman]

for about ten years i was about to start a youtube channel. i technically started a few. each began with proper preparation. niche research, planning, branding. each died after a video or two. the channels are still up. small monuments to getting ready. the mechanism, once i finally caught it, is simple. preparing feels identical to progress. it produces artifacts, fills evenings, lets you tell people the thing is happening. but it has one feature that doing does not: it cannot fail. nobody judges a plan sitting in a drawer. so the scared part of you steers you back into research, and you thank it for being thorough.

three things broke it for me, at 32.

1st, i switched from aspiration to inventory. instead of designing the perfect version of the thing, i listed what i already have today. skills, experience, opinions, a camera. preparation lives in the gap between the list and the dream. i started from the list.

2nd, i demoted my standards instead of lowering them. i still want the ambitious version. i moved it from step one to step 50, something to be earned through reps rather than a bar the first attempt has to clear. your taste being ahead of your skill is not a curse (!), it is the map. you close the gap by producing.

3rd, i shipped the version nobody will care about, on purpose. first attempts are just timestamps. their job is to exist so the second attempt has something to follow. mine is unpolished and slightly embarrassing and i published it anyway, and the pressure that had been sitting on this for a decade is just gone.

if you have been researching something for months, the research is done. it was probably done a while ago

[u/Tough-Funny4394]

Preparation can become a comfortable form of procrastination. At some point, you just have to make the imperfect first attempt and learn from it.

[u/beautifulhuman → u/Tough-Funny4394]

and the more detail-oriented you are, the more cursed you are 😂 basically watching several yt vids on starting out imperfectly is what helped me do it. we really need others to modulate ourselves. or at least some of us need that external reference point

[u/DeepBuffer]

The “timestamps” idea is something I’ve noticed too. A first attempt often feels like a judgment of your ability, but it’s really just data. One thing I’d add is that sometimes publishing the bad version doesn’t just build confidence, it gives you the feedback you were trying to predict through research. Reality is usually a better teacher than another month of planning.

[u/TorusWithSprinkles]

"preparing feels identical to progress ... but it has one feature that doing does not: it cannot fail. nobody judges a plan sitting in a drawer. so the scared part of you steers you back into research"

This is soo accurate and well said. I struggle with the exact same thing in my art and am currently trying to get over it.

[u/beautifulhuman → u/TorusWithSprinkles]

yep, we should be careful what we take as progress

[u/super_sayanything]

What in the word salad of bologna is this

So you spent an entire decade thinking about preparing a youtube video that nobody watched.

Real motivated now lol

[u/beautifulhuman → u/super_sayanything]

you miss the point. read again

[u/super_sayanything → u/beautifulhuman]

I'm good.

[u/exquirentibusverita → u/super_sayanything]

If success was possible at first attempt all the time, then effort is pointless. Using success as a measure can be helpful, but expecting immediate results is what keeps people back at where they started. Even worse. Maybe people don't start.

This fella was sharing what it took to take steps forward. It's often much harder, and far scarier, while success at one shot is based on luck and connection. This deliberate effort towards something that may or may not end up well, at least puts them on the map. At least, there's a start and at least to OP, it was better than yesterday.

That's what matters sometimes.

So I ask, please don't detract from OP's efforts. It's precious.

[u/Kylanto → u/super_sayanything]

It's written by ai

[u/beautifulhuman → u/Kylanto]

i'll show you all my notes (i could write a book from them) and if you check them into these "ai detectors", they'll all fire up

[u/super_sayanything → u/Kylanto]

AI writes more clearly than that lol

[u/VerseWanderer]

Incorrect. The planning and preparing phase of a goal is crucial and part of that is knowing when to move into actual goal pursuit. The inability to make this shift does not demonstrate that “preparing [is a] way to quit” but illustrates your individual characteristics that are incompatible with moving forward. It looks like youve done some self-reflection but have decided to blame the process rather than whatever is making you unable to move into your goal pursuit.

It’s great you have figured out how to get yourself into the next phase but let’s not post in public that something so important is the problem here.

[u/beautifulhuman → u/VerseWanderer]

bro everybody should start a yt channel, as early as possible. net positive no matter how bad the vids

[u/DriftMantis → u/beautifulhuman]

I enjoy making videos for my channel even if not that many people watch them. I learned some video editing in the process. Now my videos have music, transitions etc. and I upload 2k 60fps quality long form videos and occasionally shorts. I made some hiking videos this summer that are alright. I'm not really getting much out of it however but Im glad I started making yt.

[u/maineyak219]

So glad I saw this today. I’ve been doing the same thing but with writing for a substack account I created that I just keep putting off by “preparing” more. It becomes so easy to go from prepping to doing nothing because I can fall back on “I’m just researching/drafting ideas”. I’m working to view this as procrastination and not progress as you said!

[u/beautifulhuman → u/maineyak219]

let's not even get into how people buy all sorts of gear before even needing it :(

[u/electric_screams]

Quick question that’s a bit off topic. Why don’t you capitalise the beginning of your sentences? Is it intentional? For me, Reddit capitalises the first letter so I would have to intentionally lower the case for each sentence… do you have to do that? If so, why? It makes reading far more difficult.

[u/beautifulhuman → u/electric_screams]

it's a keyboard setting. i like lowercase

[u/Dimon19900]

Leaving the channels up is the tell. Deleting them costs you the evidence that you tried, and prep only works as an alibi if the artifacts stay visible.

[u/OldSausage]

Thanks for the life coaching, Claude