 You know, as a smartphone filmmaker, coming up with creative video ideas isn't always easy. There have been times where I had no clue what to make a video about. I had this feeling actually last week where I felt empty and uninspired. Now, usually I have a list of video ideas, but sometimes I feel that these ideas aren't good enough and that people watching the video might not get a lot of value out of it. You need to know that I want to give my audience the best viewing experience possible, but sometimes I set my expectations way too high and I put a lot of pressure on myself because of that, especially because my audience is growing rapidly. We are almost reaching 100K and it feels so unreal to have so many people watching my videos and I feel blessed to have you guys be part of my life. I feel responsible to help you become better at making videos with your smartphone and I love doing it. I love teaching and I don't think I would ever go full time back as a nurse and work for someone else. I'm having so much fun and since I started my YouTube journey two years ago, I feel that this has been the right path for me and it has shaped my mind to think more openly. There are many challenges as a content creator on YouTube and one of them is staying creative. Now, how the heck do you stay creative? Well, in this video, I will share with you five strategies that worked for me to becoming more creative. Strategy number one is to reduce social media. I think this is one of the biggest distractions for my creative mind. I'm still a victim of this and it's hard to avoid the temptation of social media. There are times where I had it under control and other times where I didn't even realize that I was consuming so much. All of a sudden I have my phone in my hand scrolling through Instagram and that is a bad habit to develop. Now, here it comes. My last week's average screen time was around six hours per day, which was way too much. Well, I could deduct one hour since I use some of the apps for creating my YouTube tutorials, which is considered work, but I'm still shocked to have around four to five hours screen time per day. When analyzing my screen time, I spend most of it watching YouTube videos. I guess watching my own videos is allowed, right? Now, I enjoy watching some of my favorite filmmakers on YouTube that create inspirational content, but it can be overwhelming. There is no way my brain can process so much information. Another problem is that by watching other YouTubers that are in the same niche as I am, I start comparing myself. I'm such a loser. You know, people say don't compare yourself with others, but it happens automatically. Doing so results in doubting yourself and thinking that my content isn't good enough. I feel insecure and start to have these circle of thoughts where I fall into the trap of overthinking everything and in the end I start to procrastinate and do nothing at all. So what I did to reduce the consumption of YouTube is to set a limit to 15 minutes per day and use that time to answer your comments. Everything else isn't really necessary. YouTube is a great place to get inspiration and gather the information, but it can be quickly overwhelming. Facebook is actually also a place I spend a lot of time. The daily average I spend on Facebook is 21 minutes. As you know, I run a private smartphone filmmaking group which you can actually join if you're interested and we are pretty active and I get a lot of notifications. And these notifications give me those endless amount of immediate rewards that stimulate my brain and release that dopamine because it not only negatively impacts my concentration where I interrupt myself constantly, but also the feeling of not living the moment. Doesn't matter if it's Facebook or Instagram or TikTok, you just aren't in the moment. So the best way I deal with it is I turned off all notifications and only check my Facebook messages once every morning. Now I highly recommend you check your screen time and analyze the apps you use most often and ask yourself if you actually really need to spend that much of time on it. This way you can set a limit or even delete the app so that you can focus more on what's important and avoid distractions. Strategy number two is to take a break. Now, when your mind is at stress, you will certainly find no ideas. In that case, the best way to clear your mind is to just go out for a walk. Leave your phone at home, don't listen to any music, just feel the present moment. If you feel relaxed, the ideas are more likely to come. It's important that you take multiple breaks so that you can fill up your energy which makes it way easier to continue your task. Now, when working under pressure, you feel like you can't waste any time. I also feel that way, but having a break can really recharge your batteries and allow you to stay creative and I have to keep reminding myself that. Whenever you feel stuck, just take a quick break, go outside or have a coffee just away from your screen to rest your eyes and clear your mind. Now, strategy number three is to set a deadline. I committed myself to put out a video every Friday and by staying committed and setting myself a deadline, I'm more likely to complete the project. And by producing content every week, that is what drives my business. And this is really important to understand and by reminding myself that it helps me keep going. By having a video every week, I can look back and see the progress of how my videos have improved over time, which keeps me motivated. By not having an upload schedule, the chances would be much higher to not put in the work and procrastinate. Now, if you're like me, I try to have my videos as perfect as possible, even though good would be enough. And by having a deadline, there are no excuses and I will have to put that video out, even if it's not perfect. And that is okay. There will always be imperfections and mistakes and that is part of the learning process. While you create your videos, you will have to find out what works and what doesn't, which in the end will also train yourself each time to become more creative and try out new stuff. And strategy number four is to surround yourself with creative people. I like to surround myself with creative people that are motivated and have a positive attitude. Many of my creative friends help me see things from a different perspective, which allows me to think more outside of the box. When my team and I are doing a video project together, we start bouncing ideas back and forth, which helps me think more creatively. I like to surround myself with people that are better than me. This way I can learn constantly from them. What I like most about the people that I work with is that we are always having fun and when we're having fun, we are more creative and are in the project together, no matter what challenges we face. And that is also a part of how I stay creative, surrounding myself with creative people that are motivated to go beyond their horizons. Now for my last strategy, number five is to go easy on yourself. I'm being way too hard on myself sometimes and there's no need for that additional pressure because in the end, you should be having fun, right? When creating your videos. It's just best to let the creative juice flow and don't set the bar too high, otherwise you will quickly feel unmotivated. Make the video as good as you can and appreciate the work you did because creativity doesn't wait for the perfect moment. Thank you so much guys for watching. Hopefully you found some strategies useful that you can implement into your life to be more creative. If this video helped you in any kind of way, make sure to leave a like and let me know in the comment section below. Now, if you're new to my channel, it would be much appreciated if you could subscribe as this will help the both of us. All right, that's the end of the line. Stay creative guys, keep the juice flowing and I will see you in the next video.