3 Thoughts from Naval That You Can Apply to Your YouTube
1. Find What Feels Like Play for You, but Looks Like Work for Others
This is one of my favorite quotes by Naval Ravikant, one of the prominent thinkers of the 21st century.
I feel that when we are trying to do something simply because it needs to be done, we’re doing ourselves a disservice:
- If you’re starting a channel because your business needs it — don’t.
- If you are recording a video because you haven’t posted anything in a while — don’t.
- If you do some basic editing just to do editing — don’t.
You actually want to do these things as they excite you, or don’t do them at all.
I recently had a call with a successful podcast from the Religion & Spirituality area. These guys are rocking it on all cylinders, but it has come to the time where they don’t want to deal with anything except for actual conversations. What they proceeded to do was look for an agency that can take this load off their shoulders. And they found us, people who perceive daunting services for them (aka work) as something thrilling for us (aka play).
In the greater scheme of things, I would argue that whatever you’re doing, and whatever providers or people you’re trying to hire, you need to understand whether they’re actually playing in this thing — not just working at. Cuz when someone genuinely enjoys what they do, the work itself becomes a source of energy rather than something they have to force themselves through.
And this brings me to another idea from Naval.
2. Inspiration Is Perishable
Naval argues that inspiration is perishable.
He argues that you can’t have a happy life that is completely scheduled. You can only be at your best and learn at your best when you have a hit of sheer curiosity — genuine curiosity — to do something, especially something along the lines of creation. Whether it’s reading a book, watching something, learning something, or brainstorming ideas, I feel that we are most productive when we are genuinely curious.
Einstein said that all knowledge begins with wonder.
If you force something on yourself, you won’t ever produce your best work.
Hence, in the context of YouTube creation, I think you should act on that feeling ~
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- Write when you want to write.
- Draft ideas for your videos when an idea genuinely excites you.
- Work on video production when you feel inspired to create.
- Research new podcast guests when someone genuinely sparks your curiosity.
Just yesterday, for example, I saw a video with a DJ playing on the roof of a restaurant near the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. I immediately reached out to him because I wanted him on the show.
I didn’t schedule that idea. I didn’t have it in my content calendar.
I simply saw something that made me curious — and I acted on it.
And to draw the line here, I think this is one of the biggest advantages of creating content today: you don’t always need to know what you’re going to create before the curiosity appears.
You just need to be ready to follow it when it does.
3. If You Are So Smart, Why Aren’t You Still Happy?
A lot of times, we want to believe that there needs to be a sacrifice of happiness to be successful, or that you need to sacrifice success to be happy.
Naval found that, in reality, they go hand in hand.
If you’re happier, you’re going to be more successful. If you’re more successful, you’re going to be happier.
There is no trade-off.
For me right now, running my two YouTube channels — Beverly Lab for my business and Be Yourself for my personal brand — has become a way to align my state of happiness with my pursuit of success.
Furthermore, this way of thinking has led to a very interesting transition in my business.
You know how we were doing trailers for podcasts?
This same acumen, this same skill set, is now applicable to the new types of services that we offer: conference and event promotional trailers.
What started as sheer inspiration when I was watching The Diary of a CEO trailers and thinking about Hollywood-style trailers has now found its application in the market, where it’s truly appreciated and valued.
And that’s probably the biggest lesson for me here.
You don’t always know where an idea is going to take you.
Sometimes, you simply notice something that excites you, follow that curiosity, turn it into something you enjoy doing — and eventually, the market tells you that other people value it too.
