Not Saying Anything Can Be Just As Impactful
How simply doing something can inspire others to join in
I'm not a natural writer.
I'm not one of those people who has been journaling and writing short stories since they were a kid. In fact, the last time I wrote something longer than an email was during my university years, and that was a decade ago. The reason I started my website and newsletter is not because writing feels natural and easy, but because I want to share the years of knowledge I've gathered that has helped me, and is not currently helping anyone while stuck inside my head.
As a new writer I've often found myself in a creative rut. I'm ashamed to think of the countless days I've wasted. Whether due to procrastination, distracting myself with other busybody work, or any reason that has made it difficult to just sit down and start typing (in fact, I'm supposed to be working on my next article about David Lynch's memoir, but here I am...).
Just like everyone else, I've ''searched'' the internet for answers. And what easier form of answer is there than watching YouTube videos? Hence it's not a surprise why my feed is overflowing with videos titled 'If you're ambitious but lazy, watch this!'. That type of content is extremely hit and miss. Sometimes you find genuine inspiration, but most of the time you feel motivated for a grand total of 30 seconds.
About an hour before I wrote this article, I watched one of the aforementioned videos, this one titled If You’re Creative But Lazy, Please Watch This. I needed something to accompany my instant noodles (ironically as I'd been too lazy to cook anything), so I said what the heck.
The video essay is from Luc Forsyth, a photographer turned documentary filmmaker. Compared to other similar videos, I honestly liked this one. He actually demonstrated how he got out of his creative rut, through the use of his photographs and film. It felt genuine.
But the purpose of this article is not about creativity, how to get out of a rut, nor about the video itself.
There was a brief 10-second segment that I found very interesting, and worth sharing.
Around the 4:00 minute mark, Luc talks about sinking his life savings into a creative workshop with a photographer as a last resort to break free from his laziness cycle.
''On the first day of the workshop I was all set to sit down and have these deep talks about the industry and which editors I should reach out to first, which we did for a little bit, but pretty soon he realized what the issue was. So he told me to go get my camera and then we jumped in a rickshaw, this was in Bangladesh, and we went into the old city and just started shooting. At first I didn't know what to do so I just kinda followed him around and eventually felt a bit silly and started taking pictures too, even though it was awkward.''
What I found fascinating is that the photographer friend didn't necessarily tell Luc what to do. He just started taking photos, which lead Luc to follow suit.
Over the next few hours, Luc took a staggering 700 photos. He didn’t learn about photography or planning his projects. Instead he learned about taking action.
''When the workshop ended 10 days later, I stayed behind in Dhaka and kept doing the same thing, but by myself. It wasn’t comfortable, or fun really, but I was doing the thing. And after weeks of that, I felt like a totally different person.''
The message here is that sometimes you don't need to tell someone what to do in order to get them to do it. Just by doing the thing yourself, it might naturally inspire the other person to join in.
If you find yourself in a position where you want to help a friend, coworker, or your partner, try this approach instead of telling them what to do. Start by doing it yourself and invite them along. They might follow you around and fumble, but after a little while they might just find the momentum to get going all by themselves.
Sometimes silent action is the most powerful tool you can use.
So thank you Luc Forsyth for inspiring me to write this article, without even needing to tell me.
Thanks very much for reading!
If you have any feedback, ideas, suggestions, things I can improve, anything at all, please let me know!
Heck, if there’s something I can help you with, I’ll try my best!
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See ya next time!
Matthieu