- Mental health is defined as a person's condition
with regard to their psychological and emotional wellbeing.
If you're a content creator, in addition to all of the other
things that you have to manage when it comes to your mental
health, you also have the added work of creating
and publishing content.
You have direct feedback from anonymous people on the
internet and we all know how abrasive anonymous people on
the internet can be.
You have to be mindful of what you say publicly,
so you don't accidentally end up getting yourself canceled
or end up making yourself undesirable to brands
if you are someone that wants to do this professionally.
If you're a competitive person, you might constantly be
comparing yourself to other content creators and the
performance of the channels of other content creators.
What I'm trying to say is as a content creator,
in addition to all of the other things that you have to
manage in your life, when it comes to your mental health,
you're adding additional layers to the things that you have
to manage, just because you're a content creator.
In fact, mental health, as a content creator is such a thing
that even YouTube has articles and videos about it.
So it's a recognized thing.
And if you're currently feeling like you're overwhelmed,
like you're burned out or like, you're not enough,
you're not alone.
I've personally burned out several times throughout my
career as a YouTube content creator,
and it's my fault because I tend to take on a bit much,
and I tend to enjoy doing a lot of things myself.
And because of that, it can bring on a lot of additional
stress and things like that, that ultimately end up
resulting in overwhelm and burnout.
So, I want to share with you the things that I do to make
sure that I'm taking care of my mental health as a priority.
And, of course, help you avoid burning out or other issues
if you are a new content creator and you're just starting to
walk down this path.
And we're starting right now with the first tip,
create first and consume last.
I'm sure you've heard YouTube is a long game and that's
because YouTube is a long game.
It's something that you're going to do for an extended
period of time.
You need to publish videos on a somewhat regular basis.
And of course, because of the constant evolution
of YouTube and social media in general,
you also have to be in a constant state of learning as well.
And because there's so much awesome content on the internet,
it's really easy to open your phone and sit there
and just start flipping through YouTube or TikTok
or Reels or whatever the thing is that you're into,
and you just blow tons of time that you could
have been creating.
If you create first and you consume last, or at least later,
then what you're doing is you're giving yourself the
opportunity to prioritize the content that needs to go out
on your channel and making sure that it gets done.
And when you're making sure that it gets done,
then that's going to reduce stress and anxiety
when it comes to your upload schedule.
This will help you always be ahead of your content,
or at least making sure that you have videos going out
on a regular basis instead of having your upload day
approach, and you're thinking to yourself like, oh no,
I'm not going to be able to publish this week because I
didn't make any content.
Now people are going to give me a hard time in my community
because I'm not giving them the content they need.
And then the other people in my space,
aren't going to respect me anymore.
And then everything's going to fall apart.
YouTube is going to hate me.
The algorithm's going to stop pushing my videos.
You get the idea.
But what I'm trying to express is that if you prioritize
making the content and making sure that you have content
that is ready to go out on a regular basis,
then you are going to massively reduce the amount of stress
and anxiety that comes with having a consistent upload
schedule and mixing that schedule into your regular life.
Which brings me to the second tip, schedule everything.
Here's what I mean.
As a content creator, you are a content creator.
You might also be a student,
or you might also be an employee,
or you might also be a dad or a mom,
or a brother or a sister or a friend.
And all of these other things take time out of your life.
So because of that, just like you would schedule
a dentist appointment or a doctor's appointment,
or just like you wake up and go to work and school every
day, because those are things that are scheduled
into your life.
If you schedule the process of creating content into your
life and you stick to that schedule,
then you won't miss any uploads.
You will not have times where you're not consistent because
you are prioritizing making sure that you're getting content
out through the scheduling that you have.
Doing this will not only help you stay organized,
which is great for your mental health,
but it'll also reduce stress and anxiety because when upload
day comes, you're going to have content for upload day
instead of feeling like, oh no,
I didn't get it done this week.
Or, you know, oh, I gotta hurry up and make something
so I can get it out, you know?
So you're not going to have feelings like that,
that you're going to have to deal with.
The third item on the list when it comes to your
mental health as a content creator is making sure that
you're networking with other content creators.
This might sound obvious as I'm saying it,
but as a solo content creator,
if you're making videos by yourself and you don't have
anybody else in your social circle that's making content
for YouTube or for the internet, then you probably feel
really isolated and really alone on your, on your adventure
as a content creator.
Getting to know other content creators is really helpful
because you start to create a peer group of other people
who are having similar experiences to what it is
that you're having.
You can share and vocalize these experiences that you're
having with the other content creators that you know.
You can ask them questions about their stats.
You can sit there and play on video ideas and get feedback
through your video content, your thumbnails, your titles,
you know, all the stuff because you have other people
that you can reach out to that are doing the similar thing
that you're doing.
The idea is to just not walk the path alone,
so that you can get that support, so that you can get that
feedback that you need when it comes to the content that
you're putting out.
When it comes to networking with other content creators,
there are Facebook groups like
Brian G Johnson's Tube Ritual Group,
Derral Eves Video Makers and Marketers Group.
I have a group called YouTube and Video Tips.
There are others as well, but the thing that you want to
look for when it comes to a Facebook group when you're
trying to get to know other content creators is
you're not looking for a place that is going to have people
watching your videos for you, watching their videos,
or subscribing and subscribing, like, any of that stuff.
What you're looking for is you're looking for an active
group of people that are supporting each other
in terms of helping people with the problems that
content creators typically have.
In addition to Facebook, if you are a Reddit user,
there are Subreddits like New Tubers, YouTubers.
I have one that isn't very active.
If you want to help me make it active,
then you can just go to Y Tubers on Reddit.
But there's a sub Reddit for gamers.
And there's a, there's a lot of them.
Like if you go to Y tubers, I actually have a sidebar
on that one.
And then it actually has links going to other Subreddits
that you'll enjoy as a content creator when you're trying to
network with other creators.
In addition to that, I have a live stream,
every Saturday at 9:00 AM Eastern that I invite you
to come and join.
We have a lot of content creators that hang out there
and they chat.
They show up every single week and they get to know each
other through that conversation.
A lot of friendships have been made there.
A lot of collaborations have come out of the live chat.
But with my live stream, when you come and hang out there,
you get to learn more about YouTube, which is great.
Just like watching this video right now.
But then you also get to network with other content
creators, which makes the whole thing really awesome.
But getting to know content creators will help you
not feel alone or not feel isolated or not feel like
you're the lone soldier, you know,
fighting the battle there.
(laughs)
It just kind of helps you, you know,
just connect with other people that are doing what it is
that you're doing, so that you can get that feedback,
so that you can get that just interaction from other people
that also love what it is that you love.
The next thing on our list when it comes to managing
your mental health as a YouTube content creator is always
remembering that your YouTube channel and you
are two completely separate things.
I know it sounds obvious that I'm even saying that,
but a lot of content creators, you know,
people that are just getting started,
people that do this professionally,
they attach their self worth to what's happening
on their YouTube channels.
So if they're getting a lot of comments, a lot of feedback,
things like that, everything's awesome.
They're relevant, they're important and all that.
But then as soon as the channel takes a dip or it starts
to decline or they're just not getting that feedback
that they used to get, or whatever the thing is,
then they'll start to feel not worthy or that they're not
enough, or that people don't like them anymore,
and things like that.
And that can do a real number on your brain when it comes to
your mental health.
If you attach your self-worth or your wellbeing to your
YouTube channel or the performance of your YouTube channel,
I guarantee you that you are going to introduce a ton of
unnecessary stress into your life.
And look, if you're somebody that's doing this
professionally, like this is your work,
just like it is mine, then it's even more important that you
don't connect your self-worth of what it is that you're
doing, because yes, of course, you know, if things are down,
then it can have an impact on your bottom line and all of
those things, but at the end of the day,
those things are not you.
And the, the bigger that you can make that gap in terms of
that connection, the better off that you're going to be.
Because if you connect your self worth to something that's
controlled by an algorithm, then you're essentially going
to be letting the algorithms determine how you feel
and how you exist throughout your day and throughout your
life while you're a YouTube content creator.
So try to remember that you are not your channel.
Your channel is simply a reflection of you and the things
that you love and enjoy.
That perspective will help you through the dips.
And as a quick side note,
dips are a natural part of YouTube.
The next step on this list is to not look at your
YouTube Creator Studio App all the time.
If you are a new YouTube content creator,
you may or may not know that they have an app called
YT Studio, where you can check your YouTube analytics.
You can answer comments in there.
You can mess with your videos if you want to,
in terms of titles and thumbnails and everything.
Really awesome app.
However, it can also be really addictive in terms of opening
it up several times throughout the day,
looking at your real time stats,
clicking into specific videos,
looking at their real-time stats,
and looking at other stats there.
And because of that, it can be something to where you're
constantly going into it.
And the funny thing is we'll do that,
but in terms of like your real-time count,
the only reason that that would change throughout the day
is if you happen to have a video that substantially takes
off, you know, compared to the other videos that you have,
or if you just published a video recently.
And in either one of those situations,
looking at your app once or twice in the day is going to
help you be able to identify that activity and then take
any action on it if you were going to take some type of
action on it.
And look how I mentioned to schedule things earlier
in the video, you want to add your comments as part of that.
So what you want to do is with your Creator Studio App,
instead of obsessing, excessively opening it, you know,
several times throughout the day,
what you want to do is you want to just have a scheduled
time that you go in there and answer your comments,
maybe in the morning, maybe again in the afternoon,
so that you just have those times that you go in.
And when you go in to do that, that's when you can check
your real time or any other stats that you want to do.
And by doing that, what you do is you give yourself time
to where you're not sitting there looking at the app
all the time.
And instead you can use some of that time to come up with
video ideas or something else that's going to help you move
your YouTube channel forward.
The next tip that I have for you is to use your blocked
words list on the inside of your YouTube channel.
We are all impacted by trolling in different ways.
For some people, a troll will come into their comment
section and it'll ruin their entire day.
Other people will see it.
They'll delete it, block that user or whatever,
and they'll just move on, like it didn't even happen.
Regardless of which side of that fence that you happen to
fall on, using your blocked words list is going to help you
cut down on spam.
And it's going to help you cut down on any negativity
or anything that you don't like people saying
in your comment section.
To find your block words list, simply go into
your Creator Studio, if you're on a computer.
If you're on a phone, go to studio.youtube.com
while using desktop mode in Chrome,
then go into your settings, then community,
and then scroll down to your blocked words.
Once you get to that box, add any trigger words or anything
that you don't want people saying in your comments section,
so that as it comes in, like as people leave those comments,
then YouTube is going to automatically move those comments
into the Held for Review Section.
And you don't ever even have to look at that section
if you don't want to, which is pretty awesome.
As an example on how to use this,
if you have people in your comments that are saying things
that bother you, let's say that they say things about how
you say things, or they say things about your appearance
or your opinions or whatever the thing is,
if it's something that you just don't want to see,
or you don't want to deal with, then make sure that you add
the words or phrases that they use.
And when you do that, like I mentioned before,
YouTube will automatically move them into a different
section of your YouTube channel.
And they will not be in public view.
This helps your mental health in a out of sight,
out of mind kind of way.
So that as some of those things come in,
you're not even seeing them.
You don't even know that they exist,
unless you go looking for that information and you can just
move on with your life, move on with your day,
and you don't even have to be,
you don't even have to experience those comments.
The next step that I have when it comes to your mental
health is to stay in motion, but it's okay to slow down
if you feel that you need to.
Now with this one, there are two different ways that you can
look at this.
I'm sure, there's more, but we'll just talk about two ways
that you can look at this.
And one of those ways is, okay, well, if I, you know,
stay in motion then slow down, I'm still like doing
all of the things and I'm still putting content out
and I'm still taking steps towards what it is
I'm trying to accomplish with my YouTube channel.
Now, if you are somebody that is doing this as a hobby
versus somebody that's doing this professionally
and wants to do this full-time, then of course the approach
there that you're going to take, that's kind of where the
crossroads are, right?
Because if you start stressing out about it,
you're just doing this as a hobby, then of course,
some of those things that I mentioned about making sure that
you upload on a regular basis and all of those types of
things, they're not as important because the results
that you're after aren't the same as the results that
somebody's after if they are trying to do,
to do this professionally.
So, as part of managing your mental health as a YouTube
content creator, I really recommend that you understand,
and that you write down for yourself and be honest with
yourself, what it is that you are actually wanting
to do with your YouTube channel.
Are you somebody that's like,
you know what, I'm just doing this as a hobby.
Like all of the, you know,
being a professional, YouTuber, all that stuff,
like not even important to me.
Like if you're in that camp, then just define it so that you
can make sure that you are prioritizing other things outside
of YouTube instead of making YouTube the thing that you're
prioritizing on, and then adding a bunch of stress that you
don't need for something that's not as important
to you, so to speak.
And on the other side of that coin,
if you are somebody that's like, Hey, you know,
I am wanting to do this.
Then in that case, you should define that.
You should own it.
Even if you're like, well, yeah, I would like to,
but, put yourself in that camp of like, yeah, you know what,
I'm I, this is something that I want to do and I want to
take it seriously so that you can make sure that
for your mental health, that you are doing the things that
I'm talking about in terms of, you know,
scheduling and things like that.
So that you can make sure that you're prioritizing the
things that will actually create the environment for you
to achieve that thing that you're after with
your YouTube channel.
And if you are one of the people that is wanting to take
this seriously, and you are wanting to do this full-time
and you want to become my serious content creator,
click into this playlist right here,
it's going to help you get started and explain a lot
of the details about how all of that works so that you
can actually achieve the thing that you're after.
You can go ahead and click into that now.
Thank you so much for watching.
I'll see you next time.