6 Life-Changing Lessons from Casey Neistat
5. Do What You Can’t
Unlike your average, fake ‘self-help gurus’, Casey Neistat is a true role model, constantly educating and motivating people through his own life experiences.
In this age, where almost everyone is a YouTuber and half of them are even claiming to have this ‘magic formula’ to change your life and make you a better person, people like Casey are no less than an asset.
Also, with this plethora of self-help videos and superfluity of self-help books/articles, one finds it quite difficult to decide what to absorb and what to discard. Apparently, every ‘guru’ has something to teach you, which can change your life.
Nonetheless, the banality of this self-help mantra and the role of all these fake gurus to popularize this concept is a topic for another day.
For this piece, I’m sticking with Casey.
Interestingly, in the last couple of years, this phrase ‘Life-Changing Books/Videos/Lessons’ has become just a catch-phrase, with no truth/substance behind it. The irony is, I have also used the same phrase in the title because, obviously, that’s what most people are looking for. Aren’t they?
Therefore, to keep it real and honest, I have decided to list six of the numerous life-changing lessons, I have learnt from Casey Neistat.
For those who don’t know Casey, what you guys are even doing! Get your priorities straight.
For the context, Casey is a 39 years old, LA-based, American YouTuber, vlogger and a filmmaker. Being considered as the greatest vlogger ever and the pioneer of this particular genre of videos, Casey is known for his daily vlogs, his unique and raw style of vlogging and his commitment for his craft.
This dude published a daily vlog for about 534 consecutive days before he decided to take a break. He has even tattooed ‘Do More’ on his arm and is an ardent advocate of doing even more than what could be done.
I guess, you get the point.
Casey’s passion for and commitment to his work is second to none, making him one of the most impactful YouTubers/filmmakers to inspire a whole generation of content-creators.
So, without a further ado, let’s see what he has been teaching his followers for all these years.
1. Be a closer, not a loser
In 2016, Casey uploaded a video, titled Losers and Closers, in which he explained the main difference between a loser and a closer/winner.
Casey, in his unique and appealing style tells that most of the people don’t find it difficult to start or initiate something but it’s always hard to finish or complete something. And in his opinion, that’s not the right approach.
“Starting something and not finishing something(?) In my book, that’s not okay.” -Casey Neistat
I mean, a lot of us have been facing the same problem for quite some years. Be it a book, an article, a video or anything, when we start any project, we’re excited and motivated but with the passage of time, we somehow start losing interest. As a result, we end up not finishing it. And as Casey said, that’s not okay!
Irrespective of how hard or difficult it gets with the passage of time, we need to finish what we had once started. We need to strictly follow this approach, ‘Always be closing’, because that’s one of the ways that can prevent us from becoming a loser.
2. Create to inspire and empower others
Almost five years ago, Casey completed his 100th daily vlog and uploaded this video, titled I’ve Got Something To Tell You.
In this video, instead of celebrating his success, Casey gifted his viewers with this idea of creating content for the sake of inspiring and empowering others.
Casey is of the view the content-creation is a three-tier process, it starts with creating something and ends with empowering or enabling others.
He explains that the objective should always be to inspire and empower the viewers to get rid off their shackles and test their limits. Because unless our content is not motivating others to get of their comfort zone and create something of their own, our content is not providing any value to the viewer.
Moreover, Casey is a man of actions, not words. Therefore, his content is loaded with elements, which can inspire and empower the viewers.
Thanks to him, a whole generation of content creators are now pursuing careers in his vlogging and film-making.
3. Work, not because you have to, but because you want to
When Casey suggested this idea, in one of his videos, titled What’s the point of working?, it sounded weird. However, after spending some time on this idea, it started making sense.
We, humans, have this never-ending urge to do things. Irrespective of all other variables, humans’ longing to work or to do something is quite a fascinating topic to be studied and discussed. However, most of the time, we do thing, not because we want but because we have to. And that’s one of the major reasons that most of us are not happy with what we are doing or creating.
“The vast majority of the work that I do, including here on YouTube, I get paid for. But it definitely is not why I show up. I did this out of longing or hunger for accomplishment or this idea of needing to complete something.” -Casey Neistat
Thus, the bottom line is, we need to work out of this passion or longing, not out of compulsion. If we want our work to be mirror of our own selves, we need to work or make things out of our desires and passion, not compulsion.
4. Stop Making Excuses
Making excuses is easy. We all make excuses, mostly for the things we can’t do or we don’t want to do. And it is kind of funny that these excuses often relieve us of our responsibilities and expectations, making us feel better.
Moreover, when we make an excuse, we give ourselves an easy way out. As a result, instead of pushing ourselves beyond our limits, we end up being contented with poor results/outcomes. Consequently, we end up being surrounded with a bunch of excuses, preventing us from achieving any form of success.
In this video, titled NO EXCUSES, Casey has eloquently explained that there lies a number of obstructions between ourselves and our dreams as it is nothing unusual to have hurdles in life. Naturally, one need to overcome these hurdles to achieve success.
However, there are two choices for us; we can either overcome these obstructions or we can turn them into excuses. It is up to us. He said,
Excuses are the obstructions that become the reasons for you abandoning your dream.
Each obstruction that is not overcome becomes an excuse and these excuses ultimately take the place of your dreams. And then all that’s left are you and your excuses.
It’s as simple as it gets.
Human choices can affect the overall outlook of their lives. There will always be constraints or hurdles in our path, we can either turn them into excuses, choosing the path of losers, or we can choose to be resilient, picking the path of winners.
5. Do What You Can’t
I’m one of those, who are ardent believers of this particular saying that ‘Man’s reach exceeds his imagination’ and for me, it is quite astonishing that, doesn’t matter how difficult it may seem, humans can do anything. Almost anything.
However, there are number of things, which don’t appear to be doable.
Back in the day, Casey also had to face this dilemma. From making a daily-vlog for 500 some consecutive days to starting his own company, 368, there were a lot of things, which didn’t feel like doable for Casey. But he did all of them. He showed persistence, kept his footing, didn’t pay any attention to the unnecessary noise and did it all.
He has uncovered this secret formula in this video, titled DO WHAT YOU CAN'T, and has told us all that doing what people think you can’t do, is the ultimate confident-booster and the biggest stimulus to achieve success.
Keep your head down. Follow the rules. Do as you’re told. Play it safe. Wait your turn. Ask permission. Learn to compromise. This is terrible advice.
If I were to write an autobiography, a book about my life, one title that would work with this, Do What You Can’t.
And that’s exactly what he is teaching us; do what people tell you that you can’t.
6. Ideas are cheap
Last but not the least, Casey’s famous take on ‘ideas’.
Of all the above-mentioned life lessons, this is the most imperative, in terms of our approach towards life.
For anyone, who has been following Casey, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Casey is a man of actions; he prioritizes execution over intent. He once said,
Ideas are cheap. Ideas are easy. Ideas are common. Everybody has ideas. Ideas are highly, highly overvalued. Execution is all that matters.
And he is right. Ideas are overrated. An idea alone cannot make you successful. You need to execute your ideas, otherwise success will keep you at bay.
Let’s say, Casey had an idea of doing daily vlogs back in 2014 but for some reason, he couldn’t do it. Would we be talking about Casey then? No.
Every now and then, we hear people bragging about their ‘extraordinary ideas’ but still they complain about their lack of success. Why? Because, in their minds, there exists some form of correlation between their ideas and success. However in reality, ideas are of secondary significance, execution is what that matters the most.
I’m not discarding the significance of idea altogether, but the bottom line is without execution, ideas have no value; they are useless.
To conclude, Casey Neistat is one of the greatest content-creator, if not the greatest and most of his success is a result of his firm belief in the above-mentioned principles. Additionally, these principles have not only paved his path to greatness but they can also shape our lives and can lead us to success, if we start following and acting upon these ideas.
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