The No Waste Creator

As an artist, the life you’re living is one of the most valuable assets you have and you’re wasting it if you’re only creating. If all you do is think about and make videos, how do you expect to have anything unique to say? And if you have nothing unique to say, how do you expect to be able to stand out from the crowd?

Artists of the past would take time off between projects. Modern artists don’t take time off until they burn out. The current mindset is work, work, work, post, post, post… burn baby, burn. Hard work matters, but it’s not a differentiator when everyone else is working hard too. If you want to separate yourself, you need to become a “No Waste Creator.”

This idea originates with James Cameron who classifies himself as a “No Waste Filmmaker”. He won’t waste the potential of an idea because of extraneous factors. He knows exactly what he wants and will push his budget, cast, and crew to their fullest potential in pursuit of his artistic vision. For Jim, this ethos of getting the most out of what he does spans beyond the movie set.

“Most filmmakers demand your work be really, really good. With Jim, his idea of really, really good is perfect.” — Scott Ross, film executive, 1998

Don’t Waste Your Life

James Cameron has not wasted his life. Whenever he’s not writing or directing a film, he’s making every second he has on this planet count. There’s no better summary of this than in a 1994 profile by Premiere Magazine:

“Between pictures, Cameron played - and played hard. He went diving, flying, ballooning, anything that put a little space or speed between him and the ground. Everyone who knows Cameron has a story about him and fast cars. "I go to Jim's party in my brand-new Acura NSX, and Jim looks at me and says, 'Nice car,' " says [actor Lance] Henriksen. "When Jim says, 'Nice car,' that's a challenge. So I said, 'Jim, why don't you take it for a spin?' Jim takes it out for ten minutes, and when he comes back all the rubber on my back tires is gone."

Fast planes are good too. Actor Bill Paxton tells of a time Cameron, shooting a video, lashed a camera to the wings of an ultralight plane, undid his seat belt to get a better grip, and pointed the plane straight down. "He goes into a 3,000-foot dive and drops to three feet off the deck," recalls Paxton.

"If you're going to hang out with Jim," he adds, "you better have your life insurance."

What you experience as an artist is a big part of what makes you unique. It’s where you get perspective, form opinions, and feel emotions… all of which should be reflected in your art. The creative process itself is the act of processing your abstract thoughts and feelings and presenting them in a way that others can experience. If your entire life is creating, you become one dimensional. If you consume what everyone consumes, think like everyone thinks, and do what everyone does, then you become just like everyone else. And if you’re just like everyone else, you won’t stand out.

When most people hear they need to “live their life” they think they need to do something like book a trip across the world or jump out of a plane but it doesn’t always have to be that drastic. It can be as simple as trying a new restaurant, hanging out with someone new, or even taking the long way home. To live your life well is to pursue novel experiences.

The takeaway here isn’t to do something new that you can document and turn into a video. You want to follow your curiosities outside of creating, because they are what make you distinct. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you do that by being different. And in order to be different, you need to tap into that which makes you unique.

Don’t Waste Your Uniqueness

James Cameron has made action movies about cyborgs from the future, aliens from far away planets, and the sinking of the Titanic, but despite that, each of his films are deeply personal. They are a unique blend of his adrenaline junky nature, and love for science and exploration. He’s the only person on this planet who can make what he makes.

Early in his career James was faced with a daunting task, he had to write and direct a sequel to the beloved classic, Alien. Instead of trying to give the audience more of the same, he decided to take the sequel in a different direction. What was originally a tense, claustrophobic sci-fi horror movie became an action film inspired by the Vietnam war with family dynamics at its core – a repeated theme throughout his career. The outcome of deciding to take his perspective on the war he watched happen growing up and infuse it into a story about aliens led to the creation of one of the greatest sequels ever made.

“Ultimately you have to put your own emotional, philosophical, [and] artistic stamp on anything you do.” – James Cameron, 2017

To stand out from the crowd, you need to make something no one expects. You won’t find those ideas by looking outward, you'll find them by looking inward. There’s a lack of originality on YouTube today because everybody’s looking outward. They want to know what’s working for everyone else, so that they can do the same thing. That can work in the short term, but it’s not a way to build for the long term. Just ask Ryan Trahan.

By all accounts Ryan was a successful YouTuber, millions of subscribers, hundreds of millions of views, money rolling in, and a growing team, but despite all of that, something was off. The way he was approaching YouTube felt exploitative. The goal was to find ways to get his audience to watch his videos so his views would go up and he could make more money. This wasn’t nefarious, he didn’t set out to exploit people; this was the by-product of him following the lead set by his favourite creators. When Ryan came to this realization, he made the decision to pivot his YouTube channel and make content that is more congruent with who he is as a person. With that in mind, he went into 2022 with a smaller team focused on making what he calls “redemptive content.”

“There's exploitative work and there's redemptive work and I feel like YouTube inherently is exploitative. You can exploit [retention] you can exploit people's tendencies to stay if you do this and that or you can make the storyline something that is literally actively energizing them and making them think about what their perspectives are and adding to their lives. You can have the same outcome with the two [types of work].” – Ryan Trahan, 2022

This pivot didn’t mean that Ryan was moving away from the popular challenge videos that people wanted to watch but rather he was changing how and why he made that type of content. Instead of trying to get people to undermine each other in pursuit of winning money, he traveled across the country for 30 days, funded entirely by a penny and the generosity of strangers. Instead of highlighting the worst parts of humanity, Ryan showcased the best it has to offer.

This focus on redemptive content over exploitative content worked. The 30 Day “Penny Series” garnered hundreds of millions of views and grew his channel by over 2.5 million subscribers in a single month. Ryan’s decision to take his content and infuse his personal perspective on the current state of YouTube into it led to him creating something unique and, having more success and recognition than he’s ever had.

Your uniqueness as an artist is your greatest strength. There’s nobody on this planet who can do a better job of being you, than you. This is the reason why copying your favourite creators is a bad strategy, you’re foregoing your greatest strength to try and replicate someone else's. They will beat you, every time. If you want to be bigger than Ryan Trahan you won’t do it by trying to be Ryan Trahan. The most subscribed to YouTube Channels in history all got there in different ways. MrBeast wasn’t trying to be the next PewDiePie, who wasn’t trying to be the next Ray William Johnson, who wasn’t trying to be the next Smosh.

“I really look at who is daring to buck the convention and really tell stories in a [filmmaking] language that they have founded… Those are the kind of movies that really excite me.” – Steven Spielberg, 2023

Don’t Waste Your Opportunity

When making Aliens, James Cameron could have just played it safe and done what everyone had expected. But if he’d done that, we wouldn’t be talking about it today, it would have just been another average sequel. Your career as an artist is defined by what you make of the opportunities you’re given; by your “lucky breaks”. Now more than ever, you make your own luck because unlike Jame Cameron, you don’t have to wait for a producer to give you financing or ask you to write a screenplay. Thanks to the power of the internet you have the tools at your disposal to script, shoot, edit, and distribute your own movie from the comfort of your bedroom.

“There are many talented people who haven't gotten to fulfill their dreams because they over-thought it or they were too cautious so they were unwilling to make the leap of faith.” – James Cameron, 1998

It’s easy to get caught up looking at those who are ahead of you and wishing you had more budget or resources to make a better video but here’s the thing… a great video isn’t dictated by your budget or resources, it’s dictated by your creativity and resourcefulness. In order to one day have endless resources and a lot of budget, you have to do a lot with a little bit first.

Today, MrBeast has over 160M subscribers and is known for spending millions of dollars on his content. But back in August of 2017 he only had 1.5M subscribers and little money to spend. At the same time, Logan Paul was daily vlogging to an audience of 10M subscribers. If MrBeast had launched a daily vlog to try and compete with Logan he never would have surpassed him. Logan had more money and resources at his disposal, Jimmy wouldn’t have stood a chance. So instead, he took advantage of the one thing he had that Logan didn’t… time. On August 19th, 2017 MrBeast uploaded a 17 hour video titled “Saying Logan Paul 100,000 Times”. Jimmy spends millions of dollars on his videos today because it enables him to make videos no one else will. But before he had millions, he made the most of his situation and still found ways to make things no one else would.

Wherever you are in your journey as a creator has advantages and disadvantages. This is true if you have one subscriber or if you have 100M subscribers. Becoming one of the greatest creators in history doesn’t start when you get 100M subscribers… it starts right now. The actions you take today will dictate the trajectory of where you’ll end up tomorrow.

“You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results.” – James Clear, 2018

It’s Up To You

Anyone can become a No Waste Creator. It doesn’t matter how many subscribers you have or how much money you have in the bank. It’s available to anyone who wants to embrace the mindset.

A No Waste Creator doesn’t waste their life. They seek out experiences which collectively create a point of view that no one else has. They know that time away from their art actually makes it better.

A No Waste Creator doesn’t waste their uniqueness. They lean into all the things that make them different. They know that in order to create something new, they can’t just be like everyone else.

A No Waste Creator doesn’t waste their opportunity. They use the constraints of their situation to their advantage. They know that it’s up to them to rise to the occasion and make the most of it.

Being a No Waste Creator isn’t for everyone. Carving your own path is hard. The easy decision will always be to follow the crowd, to keep your head down and act like everyone else. But if you want to be a trailblazer, you’re going to have to blaze your own trail. Every day presents you with an opportunity to take the first step on your own path… whether you waste it or not, is up to you.

“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.” – James Clear, 2018