Paul Yu

2024/5/18 Saturday

Notes from my stream of consciousness writing #88

• The advice from Timmy yesterday was that when it comes to making videos, personal experience and personal thoughts are king. Don't just spew out advice from books, speak from personal experience or give your honest take on something. Then the video can't be copied or replicated by others. You stand out. It's harder to do that with advice videos because that means I have to try out the advice beforehand, but they would make for better videos for sure.
• I've been slacking on going to the gym lately. The past 3 weeks I only went 2-3 times per week. Really need to step up my game, although my left wrist is still not completely healed from its sprain.
• Scheduling doesn't mean I follow it, especially if I sit on the couch. Once I sit on the couch I don’t want to get up. If I want to follow my schedule, I should not sit on the couch.

2024/5/17 Friday

Notes from my stream of consciousness writing #87

• A tip from Chris Williamson: text your friends whenever you're thinking about them. Just say, "Hey (name), I thought of you and hope you're doing well." Very simple. I like that a lot.
• Another tip from Chris Williamson was to say what you want from someone. Not saying what you want is breeding resentment. So tell people what you're thinking: what you want from them, what you think about them, when you like something they do, and when you don't like something they do.
• Do these brain dumps help with my reflection or gaining insights? Maybe, but the benefits feel subtle. I've been doing them every morning for a week now, can't say I've seen a huge benefit.

2024/5/16 Thursday

Notes from my stream of consciousness writing #86

• During my super helpful call with Chase, he was getting me to make my YouTube video on the spot. My topic was, “content you watch affects you”. When I was stuck on what to say next, Chase asked, “Why do you think that or why is it important to you?” Very useful nudges.
• Chase also said to get more specific and personal. Instead of “TV with family” say “spending some quality time with my mom”. I do agree the second one has a better feel than the more generic first one.
• So the two takeaways from my call with Chase this morning are to get more personally specific and ask yourself, “Why does this matter?” when you get stuck trying to script.

2024/5/11 Saturday

Notes from my stream of consciousness writing #81

• Timmy said, "If you work on YouTube full-time you'll eventually be paid full-time." That's encouraging to hear, coming from a full-time YouTuber.
• I need to treat YouTube like a full-time job like Timmy said. That means working on it at least 4 hours every day.
• I want to stream flute and Tekken more. And also read. That leaves me little time for watching YouTube.
• Maybe reading is better than YouTube for video ideas, I don't know.
• Kong said to end your videos abruptly. Maybe I'll cut out my outro mid-sentence like Nate Black.
• Timmy said making what you want to make is important because otherwise, you'll burn out.

2024/5/10 Friday

Notes from my stream of consciousness writing #80

• I really gotta get faster and picking a video idea and moving on. Rank my ideas and just go for the highest ranked ones first. Otherwise I'll keep wasting so much time picking a video idea.
• Waking up at 7 am these days to alarm but still not productive most mornings. Let's try doing these SCWs (stream-of-consciousness writings) first thing in the morning.
• I've been scheduling my day in the morning but I haven't been following them – ignoring making a video and just watching TV or checking phone messages.
• White guy at the gym respected me for doing pull-ups. I guess I'll earn more respect from more guys as I get more muscular.

2024/4/19 Friday

Notes from my stream of consciousness writing #79

• Woke up at 5:00 a.m. starting today. Hamza does it, yes, but the reason I'm doing it is because of Niels, my accountability partner. He asked me, "How can you outwork me, Paul?" And he's right, I can't outwork him if I keep waking up at 8:00 a.m. or later when he's getting up before 5:00 a.m. every day.
• At best, my day will start off well and I'll have a fully productive day. At worst, my day will derail later but I'll have at least got shit done in the morning.
• I don't care if Hamza outworks me but Niels keeps pushing me and I know him personally so the same message is much more powerful from Niels. The power of having a hustler accountability partner I talk to daily.
• I should be in bed by 9:00 p.m. at the latest, so I have to start getting ready for bed at 8:00 p.m.

2024/4/15 Monday

Notes from my stream of consciousness writing #78

• How can I do better? How can I do more? Yesterday I sat on the couch after lunch and did not follow my calendar. Sitting on the couch is a death sentence to my productivity. So the solution is to not sit down on the couch. Maybe I can sit on the floor and stretch for a bit before getting up and leaving, but probably better to avoid the couch altogether.
• At least I've been limiting my YouTube watch time for the last 3 days, I should keep that up and also cut out most of TV too.
• I should plan social things twice a week.

2024/4/14 Sunday

Notes from my stream of consciousness writing #77

• How can I do more? How can I do better? Plan my day/time block before I start my day/after I make my daily video. If I leave it blank, that's a recipe for disaster/lazy ass day.
• If you want to gain muscle, work out after breakfast. If you want to lose fat, work out before breakfast. Shit. I want to do both…

Work Out Before or After Breakfast: What to Eat | Signos

Ashley Pitt, CPT, Pn1, helps you choose between fed and fasted morning workouts based on your performance and weight loss goals.

SignosAshley Pitt, CPT, Pn1