What should I work on next?

Hi Friend 👋

This week I finally took a real break somewhere in the mountains. To reset and recover from the last few months. So if I haven’t responded to any of your messages—that’s why.

It’s amazing how much clarity you can gain from spending time outdoors, moving more than usual and leaving the phone behind.

If you feel like a potato buried deep underground under a pile of commitments do yourself a favor and schedule a few days away. If that absolutely isn’t an option at least give yourself an evening or morning away from any screens, ideally outdoors.

But now let’s continue developing our ideas.

💛 Valentin

Choose Ideas with Confidence

After last week’s brainstorming session, you might be staring at a list of ideas, wondering which one’s worth your time. I’ve certainly felt stuck like this before. Looking at a long list, unsure which idea to deserves priority.
But I discovered a very simple method to overcome that creative block:

The one page idea development. 
Coming from none other than Paddy Galloway, the top strategist behind some of YouTube’s biggest channels. In a conversation with Jay Clouse, Paddy explained his full process of vetting ideas for clients. For our purposes, let’s focus on one step you can do right now. Even if you never hit publish before.

On a single piece of paper

• Sketch out a rough thumbnail

• Write a basic title

• List 2-3 reasons why this will work

• Add a Logline:
  A brief summary of the content idea, that states the central concept of it.

Once you’ve filled the page, you’ll instantly get a feel for whether this idea has potential or belongs in the trash. To take it a step further, I like to compare it against another idea. That could be a different version of the same idea or a completely different one. Seeing them side by side immediately reveals which one is more exciting.

This is an example from a video I’ve been meaning to make but keep procrastinating on.
On that note, I’d love to know, which of those two options looks more interesting to you?

Because, of course, that is really the final step to vetting ideas.
Getting unfiltered feedback. Having everything on a single page makes it easy to share and get a quick response on whether it resonates or not.

Now it’s your turn.
Go thru your list of ideas. Pick one and develop it on one page. It’s a quick, creative exercise that let’s you move forward with confidence.

When you're done and need feedback, I’d love to see your one-pager! Share it with the community on IG or hit reply to send an image.

My favorite things this week

Henry Kidman chronicle of building a glambot

Jack Septiceye sharing his experience at NYComicCon

Becca Farsace on the waveform podcast

What did I miss? Is there anything you saw I should know about?

PS: Are you a graphic designer or do motion graphics?
For next year I’d love to add more visual style to the Orbit Universe
and I’m looking for creative collaborators to bring it to life.
If you’re interested let’s set up a chat!