How do you ensure that something is “new” or different enough from your previous attempts while avoiding quot-filling of being “weird and novel for the sake of weird and novel”.
In my case, my most persistent and annoying problem is getting commissions (I make music videos). Most of my previous attempts to solicit commissions involved Instagram in one way or another (posting reels of my portfolio, doing to-camera analysis of music videos, posting inspiration/moodboard videos, posting previous work, running advertisements).
There came a certain point where trying to think of relevant content I could produce once a week (forget every day) was just untenable. I ran out of ideas for reels which served the core goal (i.e. I went from discussing Spark’s appearances on 1970′s French Variety Shows to a reel about the history of the Pierrot Clown—aren’t I trying to get music video commissions?[1]) So what could I try different every day? I’ve already tried chasing up people the old fashioned way—asking them if they want a video.
Should I download TikTok and try that? Or is that just another cached thought where “Instgaram” is replaced by “TikTok”
My knree jerk reaction is to try something really new and weird, like, yell at the full moon. Or post something so incendiary it goes viral—like approving something everyone hates. Or to directly email Taylor Swift’s agency and ask them if she’s looking for a new music video director (I don’t know any of her songs, hence why it is radically novel). None of that is likely to work though, it’s just quota-filling, being new for the sake of being new.
The tenuous connection was I did a video about David Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes, where he wears a costume inspired by Pierrot (And Ingmar Bergman’s Sawdust and Tinsel) - so that was a sequel to that. But it shows you how hard it is to come up with “new” things on a theme.
My knree jerk reaction is to try something really new and weird, like, yell at the full moon. Or post something so incendiary it goes viral—like approving something everyone hates. Or to directly email Taylor Swift’s agency and ask them if she’s looking for a new music video director (I don’t know any of her songs, hence why it is radically novel). None of that is likely to work though, it’s just quota-filling, being new for the sake of being new.
In my experience, it is mostly quota filling for big, persistent problems. Most of the things I tried for my migraines and procrastination worked partially at best. But if you do enough of them, you will stumble on a solution. (Maybe multiple solutions you need to stack, but if it works, it works.) You couldn’t have guessed beforehand that it would work. If you could, your problem would have been solved long ago.
And if you keep trying one new thing a day, let alone for a particular problem, you will go through so many ideas that you’ll hit on a success even if the odds are 1 in a hundred.
Also, if you can’t come up with any ideas that look good to you, but you can’t just quit, then it is time to lower your filters and do something weird. Babble more and prune less.
EDIT: That said, a lot of my problems aren’t something I’ve seriously tried to solve before. Either because they’re new or because I’m lazy. These problems are often resolved on the first serious try.
How do you ensure that something is “new” or different enough from your previous attempts while avoiding quot-filling of being “weird and novel for the sake of weird and novel”.
In my case, my most persistent and annoying problem is getting commissions (I make music videos). Most of my previous attempts to solicit commissions involved Instagram in one way or another (posting reels of my portfolio, doing to-camera analysis of music videos, posting inspiration/moodboard videos, posting previous work, running advertisements).
There came a certain point where trying to think of relevant content I could produce once a week (forget every day) was just untenable. I ran out of ideas for reels which served the core goal (i.e. I went from discussing Spark’s appearances on 1970′s French Variety Shows to a reel about the history of the Pierrot Clown—aren’t I trying to get music video commissions?[1])
So what could I try different every day? I’ve already tried chasing up people the old fashioned way—asking them if they want a video.
Should I download TikTok and try that? Or is that just another cached thought where “Instgaram” is replaced by “TikTok”
My knree jerk reaction is to try something really new and weird, like, yell at the full moon. Or post something so incendiary it goes viral—like approving something everyone hates. Or to directly email Taylor Swift’s agency and ask them if she’s looking for a new music video director (I don’t know any of her songs, hence why it is radically novel). None of that is likely to work though, it’s just quota-filling, being new for the sake of being new.
The tenuous connection was I did a video about David Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes, where he wears a costume inspired by Pierrot (And Ingmar Bergman’s Sawdust and Tinsel) - so that was a sequel to that. But it shows you how hard it is to come up with “new” things on a theme.
In my experience, it is mostly quota filling for big, persistent problems. Most of the things I tried for my migraines and procrastination worked partially at best. But if you do enough of them, you will stumble on a solution. (Maybe multiple solutions you need to stack, but if it works, it works.) You couldn’t have guessed beforehand that it would work. If you could, your problem would have been solved long ago.
And if you keep trying one new thing a day, let alone for a particular problem, you will go through so many ideas that you’ll hit on a success even if the odds are 1 in a hundred.
Also, if you can’t come up with any ideas that look good to you, but you can’t just quit, then it is time to lower your filters and do something weird. Babble more and prune less.
EDIT: That said, a lot of my problems aren’t something I’ve seriously tried to solve before. Either because they’re new or because I’m lazy. These problems are often resolved on the first serious try.