A Procrastinator's Guide to Finishing Things 

Yoooo! Thanks so much for watching! Just thought I'd write out the actionable parts of this video in full, to make it super practical: The Quantity over Quality technique: 1. If you're suck on trying to crack the perfect idea, shift your brief to just coming up with 30* average ideas (*adjust number accordingly). 2. Give yourself a time limit to do this in 3. Get cracking The idea is that we're trying to decrease our creative inhibitions and access the Flow State. Usually through quantity we can find quality. So for me, when I sit and come up with 40 ideas, usually 5 of those are okay. Basically: quantity leads to quality Rewards: • This is the idea that you motivate yourself with a reward for finishing Distraction Detoxes and Lockboxes • If the thing that gets between you and the finish line is distractions, you can forcibly remove them in a number of ways. For me, my phone is the biggest one, so I have a lockbox that I put it in. Other ideas in this realm are deleting social media apps and turning off wifi if you're not doing an internet-based project. Artificial Deadlines • This is where you set yourself a deadline in order to manufacture deadline energy: the motivation that comes when you need to finish work by a certain day. Accountability Partner • This is when you tell a friend "I will get this much of my project done today. Hold me accountable." And then they hold you to that standard. NOTE: if you're looking for an accountability partner, I have a whole accountability partner chat in my discord: discord.gg/y7jJGBRUJ3 the good people here will hold you accountable to finishing things Finish Tiny Things to Build Up The Muscle • This is where you finish little things around the house or in your daily life in order to get a taste for "finishing". Think: putting your laundry away or always cleaning the kitchen to the point of finishing. The idea here is that you build an identity around finishing, so, when it comes time to finish your projects, you've already put in the hard yards. Do it because someone said you can't • This is where you visualise someone you don't like (yes it's dark) telling you that you can't finish, and then you use that energy to finish in spite of them. I wouldn't recommend doing this too often, but damn it does work. Trust the process • This is where you try hold off on judging yourself until the work is done. This one is probably the least practical, and the most cerebral, but for me I use it in mantra form telling myself to "trust the process" when I start to freak out that the work isn't good enough. Visualise crossing the finish line • This is where you imagine how good it'll be to finish your project, really tap into that emotion, and use that to propel you through that last slog Reassess your work • There's every possibility that your work is actually finished and you're just holding onto it for a number of reasons. The potential actionable here is to release it into the world as is in order to ignite some finishing momentum

Cue the “I’ll put this on my Watch Later playlist” comments

I'm procrastinating by watching this video, rationalizing that it will prevent future procrastination.

"Done is better than perfect" is my new saving grace. Thank you so much.

Omg what you said in the end: "Leave the artwork unfinished and imperfect, just like life" that deeply moved something in me.

Sometimes it weighs on my mind how many amazing projects / art / music / book and other stuff never happened because people thought its not good enough anyways and therefore procrastinated. (Looking at myself here, too.)

I am so amazed at how well-made, in depth, positive but realistic, researched and impactful all your videos are. There is so much value packed in a couple of minutes and I'm so grateful to have found your channel. Thank you, your work makes a big difference.

How can somebody say so many true things in such a short amount of time 😂

I was listening to a podcast that said, “it’s important to live life by design rather than emotion. Basically, sticking to a routine is what allows us to be the healthiest version of ourselves (especially when you're fighting these demons ex. OCD for me). I’ve had to overhaul how I approach studying, working out and taking care of my brain (journaling) by practising mediocre consistency. Now I try to put in consistent 50-60% effort into my studying, exercise and journaling habit - to make sure I do it I began recording it and posting it on YT. Because historically I have a habit of going too hard, not being able to sustain the Herculean effort, giving up and hating myself. So now I’m trying to give a small, consistent mediocre effort everyday. And its crazy how it adds up.

Growing up in a perfectionist household, I got scared of starting things. I was soooo hard on myself, because I can only finish if I’m perfect. But THIS VIDEO HELPED A LOT. I feel relieved.

Just so that I can start the day with a small task that I can actually finish and feel useful at the same time: - Alice Neel's work and Introduction: 0:00 - "The harsh truth": 1:58 - "Why we stop": 3:39 - "Write a bad book first": 4:33 - "Perfectionism and self worth": 8:31 - "Still feeling no closer to finishing your project?": 11:45

Just realized there's a myth I had to give up to get better at finishing but a lot of ppl still believe: "A Really Good Idea will practically finish itself" like I had the feeling that a great idea had its own momentum that would carry me along. (Spoiler alert not true lol) It's more like mining for a diamond and occasionally having the mine collapse on you 😂

I genuinely can't express my gratitude for letting me discover your videos and your channel. This is another video filled with education, lessons, and motivation that I probably couldn't get from others. Thanks for another great video man! I hope you keep doing more of these kinds of videos❤️

The irony is that it took me about an hour to finish this video because I kept getting distracted by other things. BUT I FINISHED IT EVENTUALLY

The stories you use as examples always fit in so well with the points you're trying to make! Love the message in the end, kinda comforting to know that!! I need to put more emphasis on repetition but I get bored way too easily lol. Thanks for sharing your insight and giving me a skill to work on!! :)

Damn I needed this, I am productive AF in my current career (accountant) but I really really want to paint, I think about it daily. And I've got at least 20 paintings started over the past 5 years but I've never finished a single one. I'm going do challenge myself to make one small piece of art every day, love your stuff 💜

In animation school; our professors really drilled into our heads: "Finished; not perfect". After 5 yrs of working in the undustry, I still struggle with applying this mindset to my work. This video was a lovely refresher on that; thank you. :)

It is very much a privilege to be able to have the mindset that ones worth is not ones work. Because for many of us our work is our only means of survival and so the existencial dread that comed with doing anything can be absolutely crippling

Also, for the hack when "your project is finished". Since it's finished, there is no need to work on it anymore; however, you can still change a couple of things: slightly embellish a part of the website here, rephrase a sentence there, optimize a code here, It might even allow you to enter the "flow state" and finish a couple more things. Works the best for small parts of your projects.

As someone that’s a super procrastinator aswell, I’ve always had the mentality to finish whatever i started, I learned this when I was 14 watching anime. I couldn’t bare the feeling of not finished an anime and starting a new one. Because of that I was able to finish every anime I started, and this translated into my life on finishing whatever task or goal I start on and making sure I complete it.

I hope u know that by talking about your experiences and sharing your thoughts you really help people. This, with the help from my therapist, makes it easier to deal with perfectionism and self doubt. I’m currently trying to complete my artistic diploma and feel stuck. Your videos give me some hope. Thank you!

I won’t lie, the second I saw the title I exclaimed (out loud, my family looked over) “OH NO, A DIRECT ATTACK ON ME!” 😅

There is a lot of pleasure going back over a body of work too. I put cartoons on Instagram for a year or so, they still make me smile!

You are truly the best mentor/coach/cheerleader any creative person could ask for. Your videos are comforting and encouraging…and also a good kick in the pants. Thanks, Cam. (And as soon as I saw that graph, I was like, “But it’s missing the overwhelming spike of joy at the end of finishing!” 😃)

As a gunna, and not much of a do’er, I absolutely needed this today. Another gem of a video, thank you SO much ❤️

This really is self-help in its most pure and nontoxic form. The ideas you shared are simple and actionable and applicable to most situations. Also your content is so excellently edited/curated - these are literally the only videos on RU-vid that my ADHD-addled brain can sit through, fully engage with and absorb information from. Thanks so much for your channel!

Coming back to this video in a moment of stress in my life... IDK what it is, but your advice is so helpful, and the delivery is so kind and gentle.

I love these tips. I am someone who is always very excited to start something new. But when my doubts kick in I feel so much anxiety and dread. A TedTalk video I saw last week also had some great insights when it comes to procrastination. Apparently there is a healthy balance between procrastination and precrastination (as the speaker said) that actually sparks more creativity. Very interesting stuff!

3:15 "The more you finish projects, the more projects you finish in the future. The reason? It's because finishing is just another skill." Wow!

Oh no, I accidently clicked the dislike button. Or to be honest, just to see what would happen, because I don't see that many dislikes anymore. Now I get it, and I think it's a huge step forward for the mental health side of creators ;-) (for those of you who don't know: it says: feedback will be submitted to the creator - or something like that) I quickly changed my opinion and liked the video and will share it with a lot of people. I absolutely love the video. When you say: 'The more you finish projects, the more you finish projects in the future' you surely hit the nail on the head. My first book took me over 5 years to finish, will recently I finished a new manuscript in only 2 months. Love your videos (and your book!). Keep sharing your wisdom, Mr. Struthless.

“I hate the idea of my mortal execution ruining the fantasy of the perfect idea.” LITERALLY

I love how you wrapped the Alice Neel story into this video. You’re an excellent storyteller.

Added this to my watch later playlist a month ago and i just finished watching it and the amount of notes i wrote down are a looooot and the likelihood of me rewatching this is also a loooooot

You can always count on a struthless video to be an absolute banger

I really needed this reinforced, thanks for the video. I read a quote the other day that hit me like a ton of bricks. It said "If you chase two rabbits you won't catch either one" and I realized the reason I don't feel satisfied or accomplished is because I am currently chasing about 5 rabbits. I haven't caught one yet and am really out of energy changing direction all the time hopping (no pun intended) between projects. I have been saying that quote to myself over and over to help me stick to one thing and finish it and this video was like an elaboration on that quote. Thanks for helping drive the point home and make it memorable!

I get so much joy adding this to my Watch Later playlist every time I see it.

I saw your video on "The Stallion Theory" a few days ago. I re-created your form - and stuck to it. Published something that day based on the constraints. A few weeks ago I had promised to release acoustic only versions of my songs. By release... finish recording, mixing, and mastering the song. I released two dutifully. Then, started my third, guitars tracked, scratch vocals tracked.... over the past two weeks, I recorded bass guitar, electric guitar, shakers, a scratch key track to give my friend and keyboardist as an idea, a few tracks of backing vocals, a tambourine.... it's sounding pretty good. And then, this morning, a friend online says, "I thought you were releasing purely acoustic songs right now." I muted all the extra stuff and thought, "Damn... this sounds good and is almost complete. Finish it today." And so... vocals to be recorded with a deadline of this afternoon. Mix and release on the weekend. Sorry about the novella. It was a long way to say, I appreciate your advice.

Tysm for your videos! I've lately been procrastinating in a slump with unfinished school assignments itching to be done, and a daily average of 6 hours on tiktok. Your amazing videos have helped me put my thoughts to action ❤❤ tysm

Dude... my head just exploded! For real! Thank you! Thank you! Off to work.

Thanks for featuring Alice Neel. She is an alumna of Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, PA, an all-women's art college - same one I graduated from, many years later, although I am way less famous. It's a great school!

struthless consistently posts the most unique and original content on this platform. no “productivity/motivational” videos will ever inspire me like these & i’m so grateful for his creations.

This is the type of video I watch twice in a row to really absorb it. Thanks again for another great one.

I don’t even know how I found this channel but I’m so glad I did. They way you deliver genuinely useful info in such a palatable, entertaining, humbling way and thread in a beautiful story at the same damn time, like bruh. You’re a g 💫

Somewhere in the past I watched a video about you doing those crane drawings everyday. Seeing it again here it clicked in a much different way. This time my brain immediately went "oh you are tricking yourself into being able to practice every day. By making it one singular thing you will always be able to draw it yet also want to spice it up, you give yourself a stable foundation". I'm gonna try that myself. And of the hacks you brought up the proving someone wrong one is that one that works best for me. Someone says I can't do something and I'll bend over backwards to prove them wrong. Thanks man.

The little story at the end brought tears to my eyes :,)

As a major procrastinator i deeply appreciate the work you are doing with this channel. Never stop doing these videos friend...

This reminds me of the humans of New York photographer. I have one of his books because he’s a huge inspiration to me. So many people have stories we know nothing about and he is able to capture the dark and raw side of humanity. Also, I’m sure many (including myself) would love to see that video project you have months of footage of, even if it’s unedited. I love travel videos! And I’m the same way with projects at times, I start things I don’t finish, but there’s so many things I enjoy and want to try or do, but I just have a lot of bricks and foundation and not many finished houses 😢 I feel the same way about my portfolio. I’ve been using this year to produce more bodies of work so I can get into some art shows later this year! Usually, I get excited about something else or lose the inspiration to jump back in. Lately though, life has been pulling me away (lots of deaths and funerals in my life rn) so it’s been causing me burn out and a need to step away. But, when everything is stable I do struggle to get to the finish line. It’s like right there and I want to scream because it sucks and I get bored and I’m sick of working on it lol.

I have to say you have become my favorite youtuber for creative advice. You just seem genuine and your advice is really not just a repetition of dubious self-improvement techniques, but your problem solving process is actually well thought out and and rooted in practicality. You videos never dissapoint, keep it up

How awesome is this video! An important word mentioned it's a marathon. Need to invest the time to get the result too.

The "write a bad book first" is such fantastic advice. I've been writing short stories since middle school but never really finished any because I just lost motivation, ideas, or plain thought they would be bad. Now my goal is that even if it's horrendously cliche or full of plot holes or poorly written I'm writing one story that is 100,000 words (novel length). I'm at 43,000 words now which is 5 times farther than I've ever gotten. Will I ever publish this book? Maybe. The important thing is that I want to finish the story. The strange thing is that by taking the pressure off to write an original masterpiece I'm actually really happy with my writing for a first draft.

literally one of the best channel i’ve ever come across

Thank you so much for this video. It’s 3:08 in the morning I’ve been feeling depressed and worthless most of the day. But when you said to write two crappy pages a day. About making something mediocre just because you can. It really clicked with me. I’ve struggled for so long with perfectionism and comparing my work and art with people that are decades in the field. I think I will try and finish old artwork. After I get some sleep.

love this vibe!

Imagine if Alice started her paintings with the body & background 😳 Amazing example of the journey taking you somewhere unexpected & it turning out to be awesome 👌

You're a huge inspiration to so many - just hope you know that! As an artist and designer I just needed an example that people care and want to learn about creative topics and that's valuable. Other than that I personally love every single one of your videos without fail!! Literally never disappoints I get so excited to watch your videos.

Man I needed this vid! Thanks 💛

Killing it with the content as always

Love your videos. They‘re so well narrated. :)

I needed this! Thank you

Muchas gracias! I love it!

At 9:40 you mention one of the themes of the book “Mindset” by Carol S. Dweck PHD. She is a psychology professor at Stanford and the book is about “Fixed” Vs “Growth” mindset. She drops gems like “Never tell a child they are smart because as soon as they are challenged in school with tests and quizzes, they have lost their identity. This keeps them from trying new things and only ever staying in their comfort zone. If you are going to complement a child, compliment the actions they took to gain the intelligence. This helps improve morale and keeps them challenging themselves since failure is no longer and indication of their perceived inherent value” It has changed my life and I know you will love it.

Yes! So much great content! Thank you

wonderful! spot on!

Great topic. Thank you!!

Loved it ! As always, very interesting and motivating ! 💥🧡

I've been "working" on a mobile game for almost three years now, and have been trying to finish it for the past several months, but I just didn't have any motivation to work on it any longer. Truly, this video made me realized that it doesn't have to be as good as I want it to be. After all, it is my first public game, and its arguably much better than most mobile games. It is finished. Now I feel so much less guilty about thinking about other things.

truly needed this

Another amazing video, thank you!!!

I love this! Thanks Cam 🙂

For me, personally, the main reason for abbandoning projects always was lack of exitement. Basically, as soon as the exitement/challange runs out, and all there is left is making the boring stuff, be it turning a stack of papers covered in jotted down ideas and scribbles to actual book, or to actually make a game after figuring out how to script all the necessary mechanics, I leave it be. Time limits don't work, because "it's personal project, nothing hinges on it being completed in time" and rewards don't work because... well, sure I can have the cookie after I am finished, but I cold also have the cookie now, and finish that later.

that final tip you included and how it wrapped up the story... was definitely an "oh" moment for me. i'm gonna go... sit and absorb that for a while lol.

Brilliant video. Thank you!

Love your videos, very helpful. Thanks for sharing your wisdom!

This was so helpful thank you!

That was beautiful. Thank you.

I'm going through this exact process. A few years ago now, I was focusing on pure output, starting with cranking out ink drawings for Inktober and trying to update my Instagram with SOMETHING, and there is no through-line with any of it, because I want to do everything! Currently I'm working on reference drawings I can come back to a bit at a time, and hopefully it will add up to a more developed drawing than all those one-offs.

This is brilliant. I flippin' love your channel. Plus, half way through your book and it's mind blowing! Huge congrats on such an epic achievement.

Needed this, thanks man :)

That was very helpful. Thank you!

Thank you ❤ I really needed this video.

Thank youuuu!

Full of gold as usual, really needed to hear that last part, thx Cam 💚

I love your book so far

thank you very much for that video! really needed that

bro thanks for this.. really needed this 💜💫

I REALLLLLLLLY needed this video

Really nice! Thank you 😊

I love this man... so deep. Thank you.

I love your video’s. Thanks for sharing your experience.

amazing content, thank you

Thanks so much, your videos are awesome, on point & fun!

I haven't seen one of your videos in ages - brilliant, hit the spot - thanks 🙌

I'm always excited to watch your videos and this was a banger! I appreciate content like this because I feel like you're clear, concise, and to the point without dragging it out/skimping on details. Can't wait to see what's next!

Thank you so much 💜 I always get so much out of your videos.

This was such a beautiful video..Thanks alot man

You always stimulate me to get back on track. Thank you so much!!

Such an awesome video - I love how you deep dive into these topics and really break them down

Amazing stories and tips!

I really needed to hear this thank you so much for this video! ❤

One of my favorite videos that you’ve done so far; very encouraging and I loved the unfinished artwork story!