There is a better way to live your life. 

I think a really important point is that - life is coming from you, not at you. - So don't create your life first, and then live it. Create it by living it, not agonizing about it. 🌞

"Never being content with what you have" is exactly it. Constantly "improving yourself" can become really exhausting and comes from a feeling that your not good enough or wont be happy until you're "better". Also I love the idea of only taking on what you really want to do. Why do something if your heart isn't in it? I strongly believe in not settling for anything less than what feels true and authentic.

When I was a young adult, I was diagnosed with an illness that profoundly changed the course of how I imagined my life would be. The symptoms (including fatigue, among others) forced me to carefully consider what was important to me, and what I could let go of and live without. None of us can do everything there is to do in life, so it is essential to determine what is meaningful to us, what provides us with purpose, what we feel we can’t live without, etc. While I would prefer to have never received the diagnosis, I am grateful for having the opportunity to learn such an important lesson.

6:00 The irony of the "too risky" narrative is that taking a risk includes the chance of success, but not trying at all guarantees missing out. Thank goodness all the people who created the music, film, books, helpful innovations, etc., etc. that have enriched my life didn't buy into that! 🤓 I love this Steven Spielberg quote: *"...your instincts, your human personal intuition-always whispers; it never shouts. Very hard to hear. So you have to every day of your lives be ready to hear what whispers in your ear; it very rarely shouts."* I've noticed the following help turn up the volume on my ability to hear what makes my life better: - noticing what interests me and giving it a whirl in real life in some accessible way (volunteer, take a brief class, borrow a friend's supplies or tools, permissionless apprentice, launch a beta product... - journalling with prompts Ali Abdaal's recent Change your life by journalling video includes some great classic prompts. Would also love to see Nathaniel's take on this! : - ) - *noticing and writing down any meaningful thoughts when I first wake up.* I've noticed my intuition often speaks loudest when I'm half asleep! 🤤😄

I don't like rushing through things either, it feels like a waste. I want to immerse, experience them. I want to get something out of the annoying and the difficult moments. If we can't enjoy or find meaning in the process, why are we even doing it?

There is a danger in Self improvement to become too self centered, and according to some psychologists the best way to be content and happier is to focus on others, doing things for others. Basically being useful and making others being better, we feel better. This Era of too much individualism is not good for us. Still I also create self-development content so I can say the point is to find balance, try to be better for yourself and people you love but be careful to not become too self-centred, and keep realize fullfuled life is a collection of people we meet and experience we have. 🙂

I love the idea of that if you listen to your gut, "you already know". I found that to be so true for myself. When facing hard decisions or struggles, it's usually not a matter of obtaining new information to convince myself of something, it's about creating space to be able to see the answer I already have. Most times, I do already know, I just can't see it clearly.

Absolutely agree with you. In theory. Because having the possibility to have those thoughts and eventually take these decisions comes from a privileged position. Most people in this world have to maintain themselves and a family with their work and can not chose to be slow, to do something artistic or spiritual. And still most don't have the education.

I'm in a part of my life where I feel utterly lost and don't know which direction to take. I want to break free from my old shackles and find my authentic self. I want to feel inspired and become obsessed with my purpose. I'm 28 and feel like I haven't lived a rich life. I think and talk in similar ways as you do, and it feels good to know there's someone out there who thinks and talks this way. It's always a pleasure to listen to you. I feel lucky to have viewed this video.

needed this video so much! your timing is always impeccable. been watching your videos for 5+ years and you've been nothing but a light for me. thank you for your insights, nathaniel

Just keep doing you, your journey is interesting to oldies like me, carry on with the authenticity, you won’t go wrong.

The synchronicity that this content has with my current job situation is beyong crazy. This video was an inspiration to me, so a big Thank you from Argentina!

I agree that slowing down, and living a more simple life, has given me so much happiness. Loved this video!

You can seldom feel limitless without having enough money

The timing! Oh my God! I had a mental breakdown last Sunday and was forced to take a week off. And throughout this week I realised I have to change the way I live and work to be being slow and doing what I love with love (and not stress). Planning to take the coming week off as well to figure things out. ❤

I f…. LOVE Eckhart Tolle ❤ His books changed my life and I’m more present and living my best life now. Greetings from Finland and hello to other Tolle fans!

That's actually related to the concept of self-actualization. The content/satisfaction for one's life is never about those external stuff attached to their life, whether it's about how many countries you have traveled to or how many fancy houses/cars you own; but rather, it's about doing meaningful things aligned with your personal values and contributing to the community and ultimately the world. If an ideal world ever exists, I would picture it as a paradise where no one ever needs to worry about physical aspect of their life, but focuses on creating arts such as painting or films to fully express themselves.

Im remember 1964 , 1974, 1984 , 1994 , 2004 , 2014 , and here i am in 2024. Do i have any regrets ?. Yes i wished i had enjoyed my youth more than i did. Instead of taking it all too seriously. I live a quiet peaceful life today.

every word you said resonated deeply for me. I often find that there is almost zero blueprint that applies to most self employed jobs these days. There are too many moving parts. But that’s the beauty of it. I’ve only recently learned to embrace the uncertainty and to look for freedom in the lack of structure.

Why am I listening to life advice from a professional malcontent? One minute you love your new apartment in Paris. The next you're leaving to be alone.

I LOVE this topic SO MUCH! (Lifestyle design) Thank you for sharing your thoughs b/c something you said has me seeing things differently today: your insight on slowing things down. My goodness, I'd never considered doing THAT before. I feel that that simple tweak may very well be the thing I need to do in order to improve my life (get me out of feeling "stuck" & on autopilot). You reference it in terms of the creative process, and yet it is so fitting for every aspect of life, and life in general, as well. All that we see in the grand scheme of "creation" took time and was/is developed slowly! Ah, I feel quite empowered by this perspective shift 🥰 Thanks Nathan!

Beautiful! I keep seeing more and more people talking about this - actually asking yourself what you truly want and going for it. More people living their own lives ✨

Optimizing towards productivity makes sense early in life, when things like 'can I pay rent' and 'can I buy groceries' are at the forefront. I think it's important to acknowledge that this is the reality for a lot of us. But once you become more stable and successful, it opens up room for optimizing in more human focused ways. I think it's important to respect and thank the past version of ourselves who worked their butt off to give us the mental space (a luxury!) that we now enjoy.

wild how much ive been thinking about this myself lately. love hearing your perspective on the same thoughts!

This resonated 🙌🏾 literally been in this season of life where I’m reprogramming my attitude toward productivity because it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that for life to feel meaningful or somehow validated, you have constantly be busy & productive. And also, if you want to indulge in anything other than work like hobbies or passion projects you have to “earn” that time. Love, love, loved this video 🦋✨

Having what you want and wanting what you have is the difference between a goal orientated life where you spend your time and energy chasing your own tail, and a contented life where you have time for enjoyment and for stopping to smell the flowers even if it means you can’t have a new car or to retire early. Quality of life can’t be bought, it doesn’t matter how much money you have or how successful or driven you are, you simply have to FEEL it and appreciate what you have. Joie de vivre.

I did read your newsletter about this last week and it got me thinking as well. How I see it, is things could always be better, but things could always be worse, too. I feel like balance is important here and listening to your guts, like you said, because you know exactly what you need to feel better about the life you have or want to have. Rushing things isn't going to help, being mindful is. Just like focussing on quality will pay off more than focussing on quantity. One step at a time whilst appreciating the simple, happy things you already have.

I hope you’re okay. I miss watching your videos.

Thank you so much for this message, really in tune with what I needed. Bless 🙏🙏🙏

I need money for my normal life, even though I am not too bad off... so I am not in the position to choose what I want...

Oh I like that so much Mr. Nathan! Lifestyle Design! Yessssss. Appreciate what you share and what your Dad and Mom share! Ya'allz are super amazeballs! LOVE to you and yours!

This is SPOT ON - Wonderful how you capture Zeitgeist spontaneous as you are 🍀

Thanks for making this video, I really resonated with everything you said. Been on a path of maximizing productivity and efficiency for some time now so that I can get more time to do the things I like. But I’ve realized now that it’s more important to enjoy the time that you have rather than maximizing the minutes. It’s less about the metric itself than the quality of the moments we experience.

Thanks for bringing this conversation up🗣!! External conditions change- and in this century, arguably faster. If we focus on searching for enjoyable qualities in those external things, we might end up switching indefinitely when those things do change. Leading to a constant new search. Instead, if we turn the focus inwards, to the source of the state of mind of happiness, liking and disliking, passion and hate, we might gain more tools to gain a happiness that is more resilient to the external shifts. It is a nuance, but a key one. Thanks for your content!! You are one of the best raw human experience observer-catcher-articulator-communicator! 🙏

I've thought about that, that you can not neccesarily rush the creative and artistic process of something wether that be a video, painting or something completely different. It takes time to figure out how to make more time to be more of an artist and less of a machine depending on what type of creative pursuit one takes on.

thanks for sharing these thoughts

I agree that deep inside we always now what we like or dislike, but than comes scary part - to tell myself loud that I fucked up - I don’t like this job, city, way of living, this man or woman in my life. To say to myself that I was wrong and I need to look for new path. It is really scary. But once it is done - it feels very nice.

Hey Nathaniel 👋, I think it’s safe to say that a lot of us (myself included 🙋‍♂️) grew up being taught to live our lives a certain way, only to realize that the life we’ve been taught to live doesn’t reflect the life we would actually want to live for ourselves. But once we come to this realization, we end up feeling curious about whether or not there’s more to life than just the life we’ve been taught to live. Although I noticed that this is something a lot of people can resonate with, I feel like I’ve heard way too many stories of people who have lived their lives dismissing that curiosity only to regret their decision at the end, which I realized is the very last thing I would want for myself. Ever since I discovered certain RU-vid channels like yours, I realized that I also share that curiosity to redesign my life into something even better, and I couldn’t be happier with myself for honoring that. I’d like to think that I’ve learned a lot about myself, as my curiosity has taught me to really dig deep into learning more about who I am as a person and what kind of life I would truly want to live for myself. Sending you lots of love!!! ❤️❤️❤️🤗 Ritchie

Your point is correct in theory but if you have a mortgage to pay and you are on a salary scale you are going to stay in that job you hate as you need to pay for things.

Really valuable input. Especially the part about knowing what you like and what you don't - not always as easy to live by as one might believe. Thank you very much!

I think this video is a little naïve. I’m a fan of Nathaniel and his work and I think he generally seems like a nice bloke but I will say not everyone has the luxury to do something they enjoy for work. For many many people, it serves as a means to an end. I have many colleagues who have to support a family and can’t afford to swap to something they’d rather do, other people rely on them. Not everyone is creatively minded either - there’s many people who work because they have to earn money, I know I certainly do. I find lots of joy and beauty in other areas of my life but I’m yet to find it with work. I’m hoping one day I will be privileged enough to find something I enjoy that can offer me a decent lifestyle but so far it alludes me, and for some people I know, that dream seems actively impossible.

"But if you really ask your gut, you always know. You know already if you like or dislike something. And you can spend all the time you want trying to convince yourself otherwise, but you know."

This was very timely for me. I needed this reminder😌

love your video Nathan, thanks!

Thank you for this video and honestly I think this kind of expressing your thoughts through video, for me, it is much more impactful than if I just read this on my email. One of the things that I really, really appreciate about you, is your honesty and I feel today the same level of honesty that I felt 6 years ago when I started to follow you. It fills me with joy to know that you have maintained your high level of honesty. I consider it an indispensable and valuable human quality.

Yes yes yes, I love your videos, you ALWAYS KNOW but sometimes... you'd rather avoid the discomfort of facing the truth about yourself. So you practice disengaging from your own life till it becomes so dull you have no choice but to actually listening to yourself. Kind of like the quote: your growth is proportonial to how much truth about yourserlf you can accept without running away. The thing is that I don't think growth is optional in life, you kind of choose how hard it is for you by to what degree you learn to be comfortable in the uncomfortable.

I enjoyed listening to this. Clear and lucid advice.

Siempre te he identificado como un hombre independiente 👏🏻 y sin duda, eres mi referente e inspiración 🙏🏻😊

You decide what you are willing to settle for What a powerful thing to say

Ah, I loved this video🤌🏻🤍

We know more than we think. We just need to get quiet and listen to our inner selves.

Thank you. I really needed to hear this that you or in this case, I am responsible for creating the life I want and that we already know what we don't like

I always love your videos and your thoughts on life !

You are a wise young man!

Always enjoy watching your videos and seeing your perspective on life. In this video I missed seeing all the lovely imagery you usually put in your videos. Not a criticism,just an observation. Be well

damn. loved this. needed this.

I am a perfectionist. And it is a bad thing. I spent and go on spening All my life getting unsatisfied with the things I do, achieve. It is never enough. And yet, I do things badly as I think anyway it wont be perfect. I tried to avoid it but it is so stronlgy bound with me character I cannot do it. When I try to do it, it feels like faking.

Maybe I need to give this a rewatch, but I struggle alot about living my life. You mentioned that I know in my gut I don't like something, I don't think I have ever felt that way. The things I enjoy all came from constantly putting more effort into them. I honestly wish I could just experience life, and do it all, but I can't so I am doing what I know which is electrical engineering which is what my dad does. Am I into it? Kinda, but I don't have another path to switch to where I am like "hell yea," Is there any thoughts on how to exactly solve this, to help answer this question? I have tried following a program Matt D'Avella did, and I have done a few others and it still left me lost and I don't know, and I just really need some help. I am sick and tired of being depressed, anxious about making the most of my life, and I so badly want to change that, but I have no idea what to do.

Is this Tim Ferriss-inspired?

Great video Nathan!!!

Nath what a great video. Needed it

Thanks bro, very inspiring!

May I know your video size? Does RU-vid allow this size? It looks great :)

Right. Einstein disproved simultaneity in The General Theory of Relativity (so, strangely enough, the common sense of objectivity has be disproven all together. There only exists a consistency between frames of reference. Things exist TO other things, but only to them, even if it be all of them). So, the way you live your life, is the way the world exists, since things exist TO observers (other negative things need not exist to you; and since the world only exists TO one(s), you quite literally determine the fundamental principles of the universe). Its a wonderful world we live in...🤔😉😁

Would you have a syllabus of your video editing course (how many hours is it) and how might it be different from your Visual Storytelling course with Johnny Harris? What type of animation editing do you offer? Does your video editing course also cover faceless video editing, which I assume you do considering that it has animation?

I’ve learned to see my cortisol in the morning and how to manage it ❤

Bro did mushrooms or somethin’ 🤣 Nah I love your message and this new direction. I look forward to seeing your growth in the coming years.

I will do your paperwork. :D That's something I

Bravo!🎉

This vdeo really spoke to me

Very inspiring

Hey Nathaniel, this was such a great video and such a pertinent topic you spoke on. I hope you find the most quality life you were created to live!! 🫶🙏 you were made for such a great purpose - I know you will find what that is and pursue it with your whole being.

Beautiful

why dont you do fundraisers anymore?

stop seeing me, Nathaniel ahahaha

Hey Nathaniel, really nice video ! I was wondering if I could help you with Best Quality Editing in your videos better than your Editor with good pricing and also make a highly engaging Thumbnail which will help your videos to reach to a wider audience ? Pls let me know what do you think ?

@5:39 yuuup

It is funny to see that this obsession of productivity is sooooooo american. We French people have understood a long time ago that it is not what life is about...

what a good video, I was almost in a transe of deep thought

Nath lets grab a coffee together at beans on fire

Young Nathaniel,we all know you hsve have money swishing around in your background. Youre not going to starve or die of exposure in a ditch. Some people are. When i was your age I was caught in a trap,I couldnt break out. At 30 I made that leap into the unknown. And i didnt crash and burn. The roulette wheel stopped on red and i had just over 30 years of a wonderful life. There were dark undercurrents but everyone has those. But did i "design my lifestyle". What a strange concept. I did not. I now feel that i chose a path,since the other path,the approved societally suggested one,didnt work for me. But now dark forces are ranged against me,its payback time for those good years and its out of my control.

Hello!

Can somebody summarize what he's saying? This just went over my head.

There are people who have to do things they hate and work in jobs they hate just to survive LIFE because they have no other options to live except for the things they hate doing.

Interested in more videos like this - probably could boost your reach too ☺️💗

is this the lay off video they got? lmao

I hate Newsletters

Gonna end up living the worst life possible

First!

Hey Man , really nice video ! I was wondering if I could help you with more Quality Editing in your videos and also make a highly engaging Thumbnail and also help you with the overall youtube strategy and growth ! Pls let me know what do you think ?