Ian Jones - When and How to Execute and Abandon Certain Creative Ideas Artwork

The Photographer Mindset

The Photographer Mindset is a podcast specifically created for photographers, and those who believe their purpose is to create, inspire and develop into their full potential. The photographer mindset podcast was initiated to help creative individuals understand that their success depends on more than just skill and dedication. In this podcast we learn to develop a winning mindset based on attitude and out of the box thinking strategies so that we can grow our clients, brand recognition & confidence. We want to work smarter towards our goals, not harder.

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The Photographer Mindset

Ian Jones - When and How to Execute and Abandon Certain Creative Ideas

December 23, 2024 • Seth Macey & Aaron Mannes • Episode 249

Ian Jones (@iansjones), a frequent guest on the show, is a highly skilled photographer and content creator known for managing demanding workloads and transforming ideas into high-quality finished products with speed and precision. By day, he excels as a marketing director, serves as a Tamron Americas ambassador, and collaborates with diverse companies across industries to create exceptional content.

Expect to learn:

- what the "idea graveyard" is and why it's important for creators
- how to take an idea from concept to finished or published product
- why we feel guilt when ideas fall by the wayside
- why not everyone operates most efficiently at the same pace
- when a creative project is finished and when to stop tinkering with it

Ian's Website: https://www.isjdesigns.com/

Sponsor:

Thanks to Tamron for being our lead sponsor this episode! They're having a Holiday Instant Savings event from right now until January 5th, 2025. Explore the 25-78mm f/2.8 G2 lens with $200 off and deals on many more lenses by clicking www.tamron-americas.com or by visiting your local Tamron authorized dealer.

Our Links:

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Thanks for listening!
Go get shooting, go get editing, and stay focused.

@sethmacey
@mantis_photography
@thephotographermindset

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INTRO:

00:01.80
Seth Macey
Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy holidays. Whatever you celebrate.

00:05.65
Aaron
Thank you, kind sir.

00:07.66
Seth Macey
And to everyone listening, happy holidays to whatever you celebrate. Christmas Eve is tomorrow. I don't know when this.

00:15.35
Aaron
The day after Hanukkah, I believe my birthday was last Saturday, everyone.

00:19.76
Seth Macey
Oh, happy belated to this guy.

00:22.61
Aaron
Yeah, big guy.

00:24.24
Seth Macey
This is the photographer mindset podcast. Today we had on friend of the show. we consider him the third host, Ian Jones.

00:33.90
Aaron
Hi, Ian.

00:35.88
Seth Macey
His ah episode was at one of his episodes this past year in 2024 was actually the most streamed of any of the TPM episodes in 2024 according to our Spotify wrapped, which was very interesting.

00:49.22
Seth Macey
And I think I said at the end of the episode, not coincidental. Ian is very by functioning. i don't he has his He does so many different creative things. We talked today about how he's able to do that. I think we got into talking about the idea graveyard where I mentioned allowing ideas to come and be okay with letting them go and just be staying in fantasy land, whereas he's more somebody who feels obligated to get them done.

01:19.06
Seth Macey
Like if he has an idea, it has to be finished. That psychology was fascinating. What else did we touch on? What else should people kind of focus on? Do you think?

01:27.34
Aaron
Just the differences that people can have in terms of work output, philosophy, what works for them, digging into things, whether it's distraction, whether it's just high work efficacy, whatever it may be.

01:46.85
Seth Macey
Yeah.

01:47.56
Aaron
I think we're all just a little bit different and it's fascinating to learn from someone that resonates at a different volume than you do.

01:57.52
Seth Macey
Yeah, we're very much have recovery, make space intentionally to step away from the creative side of things, step away, whether that's personal or work related. And he is.

02:10.19
Seth Macey
I am always working on something. And that was a fascinating conversation. And like you said, knowing that different strokes for different folks, different things work for different people. And one is incorrect. One isn't wrong, but what's important is conversations like this, where we try to understand one another so that maybe there are some concepts we can apply to improve our practice, our life. So,

02:38.19
Aaron
Yeah, at one point I believe I encouraged him to meditate and he basically told me to shut that up.

02:44.55
Seth Macey
He said he will not be meditating, but I liked your point. Your point was very, uh, people can listen. It's in the, on the 80% mark.

02:50.88
Aaron
Yeah.

02:52.94
Seth Macey
And, uh, I like your effort for trying.

02:55.59
Aaron
I tried.

02:56.26
Seth Macey
You tried with that.

02:56.47
Aaron
I tried.

02:58.34
Seth Macey
Let's hear a word from our sponsor again to today's episode.

INTERVIEW:

00:00:33.95
Seth Macey
Hey man, welcome back. How does it feel to be the most streamed episode in 2024?

00:00:38.43
Ian
I mean, it was pretty cool. I actually was surprised. I remember you texted me that screenshot and I didn't believe you. I thought you might've Photoshopped it or something. I actually took ah my computer and looked for pixels.

00:00:45.78
Seth Macey
I went to all that time just to trick you.

00:00:51.55
Ian
No, i like I said that I thought that was um pretty crazy. And I had a few people DM me that I had like um from the thing in my story. And they were like, Oh, that's nuts.

00:01:02.66
Ian
And I had just been like, I thought that was nuts too, because you've had really big creators on your podcast. like And when I say big, I just mean like much bigger, better than me.

00:01:13.87
Seth Macey
Numbers.

00:01:14.82
Ian
You know what I mean?

00:01:15.75
Seth Macey
Well, nice humility. Maybe that's part of why people resonate with you so much.

00:01:19.13
Aaron
Can you do a reel of you screaming at your mom to watch again and she's it And she's in the other room.

00:01:23.86
Ian
No, did you see my story I put up after that?

00:01:25.97
Seth Macey
What was the story?

00:01:28.47
Ian
No, she she... ah how yes

00:01:31.25
Seth Macey
Oh, the crock pot. That would be too busy sharing crock pot recipes on Facebook to be listening to your episodes.

00:01:36.36
Ian
She sends me um like Facebook reels all the time and i i take I don't see them for days. And when I saw her over the holidays, we did like a little like ah Thanksgiving Christmas thing together because like she like lives out of state. So like the whole family came together like at Airbnb halfway.

00:01:55.44
Ian
I was like, you know, I'm not ignoring you. I was like, I just am not on Facebook other than for like work and stuff. And I was like, so when you try to talk to me through like the Facebook messenger, I don't see it for days. I was like, will you just, will you just make an Instagram account? Just like see all the shit that I do and like what I'm doing. And I was like, it would save so many pointless phone calls when you call me. Like what's going on? I can be, you just see it, you know, but she'll, she'll send me a,

00:02:22.98
Ian
a Facebook reel and it'll sit there for days and I just give it the like like the thumbs up. It's so disrespectful.

00:02:29.28
Aaron
Yeah.

00:02:29.30
Seth Macey
didn't even watch it.

00:02:30.38
Ian
Yeah, I don't watch them. But yeah, it's it's just moms just share like crock pot recipes and political stuff.

00:02:38.27
Seth Macey
Well, she'd see you.

00:02:39.83
Aaron
Yeah, the political stuff.

00:02:40.33
Seth Macey
It's fair. She'd see your Instagram and you just said, so you can see what the hell I'm doing.

00:02:41.41
Ian
Yeah.

00:02:41.47
Aaron
Yeah.

00:02:45.76
Ian
Yeah.

00:02:46.60
Seth Macey
um and She'd probably be like, what are you doing?

00:02:49.91
Ian
I mean, it would just be easier to explain it that way than it would be to... like no No, I have.

00:02:55.02
Seth Macey
I don't think you're a very explainable person, my friend. i get the hang Have you been on since we hung out in Pittsburgh?

00:03:01.94
Ian
I mean, I've i've talked to you...

00:03:04.03
Seth Macey
We've referenced my time there with you.

00:03:06.41
Ian
Yeah, no, I've talked to you just like multiple times like texting and like...

00:03:09.53
Seth Macey
Yeah, we talk a lot. We talk a lot.

00:03:10.52
Ian
on Yeah, but we... Yeah, I mean, but we I have not been on since you left here to answer your question.

00:03:19.13
Seth Macey
Okay. I was laughing too when we were making the joke, but you playing your, your, uh, real over or your, uh, episodes over and over and over again. Cause when I was at, when I was with Dean, we made a reel for Tamron, uh, like a little flashy reel about their new lens.

00:03:26.49
Ian
oh yeah

00:03:34.07
Seth Macey
And we used the, you know, that trending air and that free bird music. It was going around.

00:03:37.12
Aaron
Yeah.

00:03:38.49
Seth Macey
We used that audio and we'd be every morning we'd get up and we'd be like trying to refine it or like we'd be seeing how the performance was doing. Cause like it was fun to make. We cared about it. game or just be in the bathroom.

00:03:48.09
Ian
Oh,

00:03:51.30
Seth Macey
Yeah.

00:03:52.45
Ian
But it's like seriously, like I would get up and I would let the dog out and Seth would be in the bathroom to just on the toilet, getting like shit elbows.

00:03:53.27
Seth Macey
it's like

00:04:01.45
Ian
And all you hear is this song playing over and over and over, but it's, it's, it is a catchy song, but I, I forever can never hear that song.

00:04:09.20
Aaron
Play a free bird.

00:04:11.30
Ian
And I think about that moment in time.

00:04:13.35
Aaron
That's wonderful.

00:04:14.39
Seth Macey
yeah

00:04:14.89
Ian
Do you know what shit elbows are by the way?

00:04:15.15
Aaron
I forever now.

00:04:17.12
Seth Macey
No, but we're going to move on from that because that's not what people are here for.

00:04:18.77
Aaron
Yeah.

00:04:18.91
Ian
No, it's It's just when you're sitting on the toilet for someone looking at your phone and then you get those red marks on your thighs.

00:04:26.64
Aaron
Everyone join YouTube so you can see Ian act out shit elbows.

00:04:29.46
Seth Macey
He's actually recording on the toilet. I like how we're like, no, we're moving on. He's like, I've been on the show enough times. I'm describing it anyways.

00:04:35.97
Aaron
Yeah.

00:04:35.99
Ian
I just don't want people to be like, well, what's that? And then they would just forever search online for it and not see the what I'm actually talking about.

00:04:41.83
Aaron
Yeah, then they'd have to Google it from their neighbor's Wi-Fi and then it causes a whole issue.

00:04:41.85
Seth Macey
Yeah.

00:04:46.06
Seth Macey
That's right.

00:04:46.39
Ian
Yeah.

00:04:46.81
Aaron
and

00:04:47.09
Seth Macey
We're here to provide value. So that was the valuable piece of information today. If you get nothing else from this conversation today.

00:04:51.70
Aaron
Yeah. Classy show.

00:04:54.82
Seth Macey
Very classy. Uh, what did I, what did we say we were going to talk about? You threw some stuff up in your story today. I had some ideas, but then you took the ball.

00:05:00.83
Ian
yeah

00:05:02.04
Seth Macey
You made a mental note, which I'm very appreciative of. You tagged us. You said, this is what we're going to be talking about today. You may as well. You're just, you're the third host. So what did you have up in that story? I'm pulling it up right now.

00:05:12.98
Ian
but The stuff i I wanted to talk about, there were there was a few things because i've I've listened to the podcast that you've made since you've left and there were there were some things that you told me personally that you didn't you didn't talk about in the podcast which I wanted you to talk about so I could kind of

00:05:29.83
Seth Macey
Oh, really?

00:05:30.59
Ian
chime in, but I also wanna hear you talk about it.

00:05:33.24
Seth Macey
Wait, I've said to you in, in private that I haven't talked on the podcast.

00:05:36.67
Ian
Not like it was like a private thing, but.

00:05:37.46
Seth Macey
Like what, what, what? No, no, no, no. I understand. in Like a personal conversation. I'm going to, what were those things?

00:05:43.73
Ian
ah You mentioned, I actually would like you to talk about, because there's I was texting Aaron, like there's a very big contrast between you and I.

00:05:54.76
Seth Macey
Oh my God.

00:05:55.71
Ian
very, very night and day as far as like working goes and making content and how we work very well together, but both completely different.

00:05:55.65
Seth Macey
Yeah.

00:06:06.76
Seth Macey
Yeah, that's actually very, I would agree with that.

00:06:06.97
Ian
and and of I remember you talking about that telling me briefly, but I would like you to go into that more.

00:06:08.36
Seth Macey
That's very interesting.

00:06:14.85
Seth Macey
Yeah. We'll remind me what we, what you're, what I said, cause I don't remember.

00:06:20.73
Ian
what What you had said, you were talking about how, how like, my brain and I'm always just going, going, going.

00:06:28.63
Seth Macey
Oh yeah. You're always, you're you, you never are turned off.

00:06:32.40
Ian
You said something that like, I wish I remember what it was and it it made perfect sense of like, I can't remember what it was and I wish I had wrote that down, but it was, um,

00:06:43.26
Seth Macey
I'm sure we'll uncover it today, but I feel like you are always turned on. You're like super creative and you always have ideas flowing through your head and they just never stop. Like you're, you're doing your job but as a marketing director at the company you work at. You're creating tons of videos. Like, Oh, here's another idea. You're doing this thing for Tamara and you're doing podcasts. And I'm like, I think i I repeatedly asked you, do you go to bed? And you're like, I sleep like five hours a day.

00:07:12.85
Ian
yeah

00:07:12.96
Seth Macey
And you go to bed with ideas in your head and you wake up with them and sleep probably feels like five minutes and you're just, you're, you're, I think, no, I think I think i remember what I said to you.

00:07:23.46
Seth Macey
I said, I left feeling exhausted and not in like a ah critical way.

00:07:25.56
Ian
oh you think z Yeah, that's what it was.

00:07:30.21
Seth Macey
Just like, uh, I couldn't continue that pace personally. And I don't know how you are able to, and it's impressive.

00:07:40.47
Seth Macey
And it's, it's a lot of, it's a strength of yours, of course. And that's what allows you to get so much stuff done because you were refining the smallest details on this video you're working on.

00:07:48.39
Ian
Yeah, I went to bed at 4.30 last night.

00:07:55.64
Ian
Yeah, I've been working on literally just the first 10 seconds of this reel I'm making.

00:07:55.65
Seth Macey
Right.

00:08:01.79
Ian
So I was like in bed with my laptop, just playing it over and over and over and over again, which that song that I have in that is just going to be burnt in my head from here.

00:08:06.75
Seth Macey
Right.

00:08:11.34
Seth Macey
I found the text. You text me saying, did you leave PA thinking I was crazy? And I said, yes, I did.

00:08:19.53
Seth Macey
You said, be cool to know those things.

00:08:19.64
Ian
yeah

00:08:21.68
Seth Macey
And I said, in a good way. I said, I was exhausted. Honestly, your pace is very fast. Your brain is moving extremely fast and doing multiple things at once. It's why you have so many projects and things going on. I don't know how you sleep.

00:08:32.89
Seth Macey
I would be a write off for the day and I would burn out personally in a few days.

00:08:38.98
Ian
Yeah, that was all. So I'm glad you found the text.

00:08:43.57
Aaron
As he takes a giant slug of diet cola,

00:08:47.52
Ian
It's died.

00:08:48.02
Seth Macey
Yeah.

00:08:50.18
Aaron
yeah

00:08:51.36
Ian
Gonna watch some calories, especially when you're around Seth No, it was funny cuz like obviously

00:08:53.34
Seth Macey
Oh my goodness.

00:09:01.09
Ian
Our lifestyles are like very different, but um what when Seth came here to visit, like there's like so many places to go to eat, and like there's so much stuff to do. But like when when you're here, and like you live when you live in the city or a town that you live in, like all that stuff is the same all the time, so you kind of like venture out to do new stuff. But like when you have people come visit, you're like, how how do I show this person like what it's like here to do these things?

00:09:24.90
Seth Macey
Yeah, you over-delivered. You over-delivered big time.

00:09:26.61
Ian
oh

00:09:27.44
Seth Macey
But I think it's important to you because you want to show, you care about people, like in this case, me, and you want to show me a good time. And you did. Going back to your, you created a story tonight about some topics we're going to talk about. Uh, you said on the topic we're talking about, cause I'd like to get Aaron involved here cause he wasn't there with us and I don't want him to be ostracized.

00:09:42.89
Seth Macey
God, you said in your story, one of the topics was my brain has no shut off.

00:09:45.03
Ian
Look.

00:09:48.12
Seth Macey
I physically can't stop before you talk about that. Aaron, what is that? what do What do you think about that? Just that statement. You know Ian well. I mean, like you haven't hung out with him in the flesh, but you see all the stuff he's doing and the pace he works at and it's crazy.

00:10:05.72
Aaron
Yeah, I mean, I don't know if it's like you said, I don't know if it's for me. um But ah there's a part of me that's like, wow, well, that's, that's what it takes to keep things going in and make a living out of this and get all these projects and get these, I don't know the creative juices out.

00:10:25.28
Aaron
Um, I would wonder if, I mean, the the counselor in me would wonder if it's like this with every aspect of life, or is this just a, is this just a passion? You know, like, for example, um, in your relationship, is that like, full speed, 100% always thinking about the relationship, making the relationship better, including, uh,

00:10:53.47
Aaron
your partner whatever it may be like in a relationship with the dog is it is it constant playing buying things looking things up research like your own health is that does it work this way in every aspect or is photography and videography like just your your absolute passion like you get so much out of it that it doesn't even feel like you're buzzing it's just like what you want to be doing

00:11:20.35
Ian
i mean i don't like I feel like I'm like that with literally everything. um It's like kind of annoying to to a certain extent. Do you remember when air fryers were all all the craze and people were buying air fryers?

00:11:32.96
Aaron
Yeah, they still are.

00:11:33.09
Seth Macey
Doesn't that still the case?

00:11:34.78
Ian
Yeah.

00:11:34.89
Seth Macey
Yeah, still the case.

00:11:34.98
Aaron
They're amazing.

00:11:36.36
Ian
No, I mean, I'm going to be honest. Like when I when i got my air fryer, I haven't turned my oven on much. I mean, it does so much. But um it took me like a month and a half to two months to even purchase an air fryer because I was online Googling which ones had the best reviews. What did this and what did that? I was watching YouTube videos of like what people were using, what it could do. So in in that aspect, to answer your question,

00:12:05.54
Ian
Like I feel like I'm very anal retentive with literally anything I care about. Like I obviously like to cook and I care about cooking. So, and um I'm not saying like air fryers are an expensive thing, but if I'm going to spend my money on a product, I want to make sure it's like, you know, decent. So if it's something I'm like super interested in and I want to purchase, I will do a lot of research and development. Like for example,

00:12:34.82
Ian
Seth had that DJI Osmo, and since I saw him use it when we met in Arizona, it's been in um my Amazon shopping cart like since then. It's been sitting there for months, and I've yet to purchase it because I don't see a value that it that I could use it for, if that makes sense, but I do want it, but I'm not just going to buy it just because like I want it.

00:13:00.44
Ian
So i'm I'm very much like that with everything.

00:13:01.31
Aaron
Then

00:13:04.68
Ian
Like you mentioned like relationship stuff too.

00:13:04.89
Aaron
we...

00:13:06.72
Ian
Like I don't, like I may be all over the place all the time, 24 seven, but the things I care about like in my realm of of space, like my being,

00:13:17.63
Ian
mean Like nothing gets neglected that should that shouldn't be neglected if that makes sense.

00:13:24.52
Aaron
Yeah, so what, I guess my question, I mean, I've seen your office, it's meticulous, it's cool, it's set up.

00:13:30.36
Seth Macey
oh yeah

00:13:31.31
Aaron
I don't know the rest of your house, but like, why what sacrificed, if that makes sense? Like, I know when, I'm just speaking for myself, if if I have a big video project or a lot of ah ah podcast stuff, interviews, maybe we double up on a week, doing stuff with my son, walking the dog,

00:13:53.48
Aaron
work, like I know that some things then kind of fall to the side.

00:13:56.31
Seth Macey
Oh yeah.

00:13:57.89
Aaron
Like my house needs ah a good cleaning right now. And I'm excited for work to have a little break so I can really deep clean that and focus on that. So what in your life or if anything, like are you just this magic man that can, you know, put in full effort and keep all your, all your balls in the air?

00:14:17.83
Aaron
Juggling, not, I'm not trying to get you going with appropriate.

00:14:19.21
Ian
I mean, I, no, I like, I don't honestly, no, like I, nothing, I don't, I mean, you said, am I this magic man? I mean, so like, no, but like nothing really gets neglected in my life, if that makes sense.

00:14:37.03
Ian
Like, no, like that's the thing, like I have,

00:14:37.78
Aaron
You're not like defaulting on your mortgage.

00:14:42.85
Ian
all of my bills are paid. Um, I carry around very little debt, um, other than like, you know, my mortgage and like a truck payment.

00:14:50.92
Aaron
yeah

00:14:51.37
Ian
Um, that doesn't get neglected. Like I said, all my bills are paid.

00:14:56.27
Aaron
Yeah.

00:14:56.62
Ian
Um, I go to, I get up, I go to work, I get all my work done. I i juggle those projects. I get personal projects done. Um, me Seth saw my house. I mean, it was like spotless and it,

00:15:06.12
Seth Macey
And I got in trouble cause I almost used a hand towel, which was decorative.

00:15:11.39
Aaron
Wow.

00:15:12.27
Ian
yeah i'm

00:15:12.34
Aaron
You son of a bitch.

00:15:13.72
Seth Macey
I would say, who are you?

00:15:15.47
Ian
executive of tows and now if i wash and

00:15:16.79
Seth Macey
martha stewart's house

00:15:18.04
Ian
if If you use a decorative towel and I have to wash it and dry it it doesn't look the same as it does.

00:15:19.49
Aaron
Yeah.

00:15:22.41
Aaron
Right.

00:15:22.78
Ian
but it's like

00:15:22.83
Seth Macey
He was like, what are you doing? That's decorative.

00:15:25.28
Aaron
Yeah.

00:15:25.35
Seth Macey
It's like, I thought he was kidding.

00:15:25.96
Aaron
Did you read the label?

00:15:27.15
Seth Macey
I was like, he's like, no, I'm serious.

00:15:30.10
Ian
but

00:15:30.23
Seth Macey
My favorite part is like his garbage can automated. So you like wave your hand over and I'm like, this is so dumb. It's the same amount of time for me to just lift it.

00:15:39.53
Aaron
But you don't have to touch it.

00:15:40.52
Ian
But then ah then again, like that wasn't just I didn't just go buy that.

00:15:44.63
Seth Macey
I understand.

00:15:45.48
Ian
you know i mean like i was like i I actually had to measure from the floor to my island to see if the lid could open up and I had to search and find...

00:15:45.67
Seth Macey
I understand. Yeah.

00:15:55.78
Ian
I had

00:15:55.75
Seth Macey
Yeah. So do you, do you ever get lost in the details? Because what you're describing is, and I know this isn't you, what you're describing though would scream a red flag for perfectionism never gets anything done because nothing can ever be good enough. And you're so busy with the minute details of the larger picture. But I know for a fact, and everyone who follows your work knows that you get a ton of stuff done. So it's like this weird,

00:16:25.52
Seth Macey
balance it's It's this weird dichotomy or contrast, which I can't really put a finger on.

00:16:31.95
Ian
Yeah, I mean I like that's why like it's kind of hard to explain like I have Like going back to what Aaron said if if things get neglected like I have very little I need to worry about like um my personal life like relationship It's fine. It's great. Like I I have time for that. I like care for that. I nurture that That's taken care of.

00:16:55.56
Ian
um you know I keep in contact with my family and maybe it also helps that they like live far away. So they're not always pulling me here, pulling me there, you know stuff like that.

00:17:04.73
Seth Macey
Right.

00:17:06.64
Ian
um i have I have a dog that you guys know you know, people know about Polly.

00:17:11.05
Seth Macey
Yeah. Paul, he's awesome.

00:17:12.59
Ian
She's completely spoiled to take care of. you know she got you know She's got a Christmas stocking and she got a new coat and some treats yesterday. she She'd make you think that she's neglected and not taken care of, but she's absolutely fine.

00:17:23.97
Ian
um My work like my work work, you know that gets done Everything just gets to I mean to be completely honest like if anything does go by the wayside I had like literally five loads of clean laundry that have been floating in the laundry basket for the past like a few weeks that I finally got around and and put away but You know like yeah, like I don't have

00:17:44.88
Aaron
There it is. Thank you. There's this crux.

00:17:49.04
Ian
I don't, I don't have, I don't have children or anything right now.

00:17:49.79
Seth Macey
Laundry

00:17:50.89
Aaron
Yeah.

00:17:52.34
Ian
So that obviously helps. And I'm, I think a lot of the thing that that helps is like, I'm very, very, very fortunate that like, My job is demanding, but it's not demanding in the sense that like I have to get up and do like physical manual labor all day to when I get home, I'm not completely dead and exhausted. Like the the demands and labor of my job is more like mental and it's like in my head and it's like all in the digital space.

00:18:21.19
Seth Macey
Yeah. So how does your mind not hit that same level of exhaustion? I'm going back to our text, the same building off that thread. You said, you said I hardly sleep the other day.

00:18:31.03
Ian
I mean like I.

00:18:34.23
Seth Macey
I was working on this Tamron video. I was laying down trying to sleep and I thought of something instead of remembering it, cashing it away and doing it tomorrow. I got my laptop, got out of bed and worked on it for another three hours.

00:18:45.32
Ian
Yeah.

00:18:47.62
Seth Macey
which ah And then I finally allowed myself to be done with it and call it 100% finished.

00:18:53.38
Ian
Yeah, I mean, that's like it's it's that's kind of a fault to me. Like um Aaron said, like the like get stuck in the minute details. You know, I mean, that happens all the time.

00:19:04.22
Ian
Like I'll i'll put my phone down and i'll I'll actually like roll over and like go to sleep. And in my head, it'll just keep replaying over and over and over of the ideas and stuff going on of ah whatever current project where I'm focusing on at the time.

00:19:18.00
Ian
And I'll think about how this could be better

00:19:18.86
Seth Macey
Yeah.

00:19:23.77
Ian
minute, like like just moving this here, moving that there would be better. And like Seth said, instead of just being like, well, I'll do it tomorrow. Like I have to get up and do it then. And Seth, you, you mentioned like the, what did you say? The graveyard something.

00:19:37.56
Seth Macey
Yeah, I wanted to talk today a bit about like the idea graveyard because you've mentioned to me, you said, when I get an idea... so i but I'm paraphrasing. When you get an idea, you feel like it's then your creative duty to complete it, to bring it to the finish line. And I think I said to you, I said, there's it's okay to have an idea graveyard where you're daydreaming or you're thinking about something and you're like, oh yeah, that would be a cool idea.

00:20:02.88
Seth Macey
I happens to me every single day and I'm fine having a few of those that live in fantasy land or that live in the idea graveyard. I don't feel obligated creatively to complete all those things.

00:20:14.13
Seth Macey
And I'm not saying that's better or worse. I'm saying that's how I function. Whereas you described it, you said, I have an idea. I have to finish it. And if I don't, there's this kind of lingering guilt, which is very interesting.

00:20:23.40
Ian
Yeah.

00:20:25.20
Aaron
What a prison.

00:20:26.56
Seth Macey
Yeah. It's, it's, it's almost like, yeah, which is

00:20:30.27
Aaron
Well, no, I mean, ah I mean, I kind of, I kind of get it. Uh, I have a, I have an idea notepad where I write anything that I think of value is down. Whether I get to it to finish is I think a different story, but I would feel that almost like if I had any idea that I knew had any sort of.

00:20:52.88
Aaron
value to it and that I had to then complete it or I would torture myself in a sense or something would feel uncomfortable or ah undone or unraveled or whatever you want to however the feeling sort of acclimates. I think that would that would let's say that's interesting. So I the follow-up question to that or thought process to that is cant can you slow down? Can you sit on the couch and watch Netflix and not think about shit you have to do.

00:21:23.15
Aaron
And by have, I'm using quote fingers.

00:21:25.71
Ian
Like, I mean, like, I could say, yeah, sure.

00:21:26.83
Aaron
Have to do.

00:21:30.86
Ian
But then, like, if I'm being honest, no. Like, I like i mean, like, like the other night, you know, um she was like, hey, do you want to order pizza?

00:21:42.54
Ian
We'll watch a movie. We watched Joker 2, you know. And I am capable of being like, yeah, sure.

00:21:45.35
Seth Macey
you

00:21:47.62
Ian
Like, we'll just chill and watch a movie. You know what I mean? I actually like watching movies. I'm very good at being able to separate those things. So like ah if we go out to dinner for walking on the mall shopping or, you know, doing like datey couple of things, um I make it a point to like sometimes I'll leave my Apple watch at home. um But I'll make it a point to put my phone in my pocket and I don't i don't pull it out. Like I can very much well unplug.

00:22:17.38
Ian
from those, but if I'm alone by myself, I'm plugged into everything because it's just me and like nothing's getting neglected. um I hardly ever watch TV.

00:22:29.26
Ian
like I don't have any streaming subscriptions to nothing because it's just a waste of money to me because I i don't just sit down and binge watch something.

00:22:37.94
Aaron
Hmm. Hmm.

00:22:39.47
Ian
um like For example, like the other day, I'll i'll sit down and lim bring room and i'll and i'll I'll watch TV. And while I'm watching TV, I'll see something on the on the TV or I'll see an actor mention mentioning something or do something. And then in my head, it'll be like, oh, that is a good idea. I like that. The thing I'm working on, I can twist that into what I'm doing. So then it turns into getting up, getting my laptop, and now I'm working on something. And then, you know, three hours will go by. And I'm like, what the hell just happened? You know what I mean? so like that's how

00:23:13.61
Seth Macey
Right.

00:23:14.70
Ian
That's how like things work and for me. And it's just kind of like, that's just like, I don't know how it goes, but. but

00:23:20.88
Seth Macey
and That's such a strength because the friction from inspiration to you actually getting up and doing something is so minimal, which I feel a lot of people wish they had. I wish as soon as I had that spark, I got up and I was executing and I was in action.

00:23:36.55
Ian
Yeah, i I mean, there's. ah Like I kind of deal with that sometimes like I have you know like close friends who are like You know like I want to do this I want to do that and it's just like But I'm not or like I feel like I'm you know, and I'm just like well

00:23:52.58
Seth Macey
Right. Just go do it.

00:23:56.15
Ian
It's very hard for me to, and and maybe this is bad, you know what I mean? But it's very hard for me to like sympathize that or feed into that because my next follow-up statement is like, well, why aren't you doing it? And it could be anything. It could be the easiest to the the most difficult thing. It's just like, well, what steps are you doing to get closer to that thing? Or what are you even working on right now? Or like literally what's stopping you from doing it? and

00:24:24.32
Seth Macey
What are most people's answers in some of the examples you're thinking of?

00:24:27.66
Ian
its It's purely just not getting out of your own fucking way.

00:24:32.02
Seth Macey
There you go.

00:24:32.62
Ian
It's mental. I mean, like it's it's seriously just a mental thing. And going back to the idea graveyard that Seth said, but but Aaron was like, I have ideas, I write stuff down.

00:24:45.05
Ian
um for like for a while like for um I haven't done this in a long time, but I was reading some article on Google that it was saying how to train your brain to remember things, to keep a notepad in your nightstand. So if you woke up in the middle of the night or you went like to the bathroom and you have like this thought in your head, and if you wrote it down instantly, if you do that long enough, it trains your brain to be like, oh, this is important. I should remember this. So in theory, it was saying that

00:25:17.14
Ian
When you would wake up, you would remember your thoughts and dreams more because you train your brain to remember stuff. I stopped doing that, just what Aaron said or reminded me of that.

00:25:24.97
Seth Macey
Yeah.

00:25:27.27
Aaron
yeah

00:25:27.80
Ian
but um

00:25:29.24
Aaron
Seth asked this question and I don't remember when, um, to a guest, but what part of the stage is the most exciting to you? The idea, uh, kind of putting the idea to fruition on the computer on premiere pro or whatever you're using or a photograph that you posting it, uh, interacting with the comments, seeing that it's doing well. What, what, what part of that journey is the most fulfilling?

00:25:56.61
Ian
That's a good question because I wanted to kind of bring up one specific idea that I had and that if I tell the story, it's going to touch every everything that you you you brought up. So, for example. Like when I get an idea for something.

00:26:13.78
Ian
it'll sit in my head for like days, weeks, or months. And I'll just keep refining and thinking about it. And then it'll it'll turn into the cycle where I have enough of that idea to actually start to execute the idea. And then that's when if I don't start to execute that idea, I feel as if it just sits there and it's not getting done. And in my head, I'm like, why aren't you getting this done? Why aren't you working on this? There's literally no reason not to. So that goes back to the ah Jeep real idea that I had.

00:26:45.02
Ian
um which Aaron I'm sure you saw ah with the ducks. I had that idea for a long time because the the job that i'm ah that ah that I do, like quote unquote, like my actual career job, I have like a 45 minute commute and I started noticing all these ducks and in Jeeps and it got to the point where I started noticing it more and more and more. And yeah you ever watch that Jim Carrey movie? What is it? 23?

00:27:17.61
Aaron
oh

00:27:17.74
Ian
where he fixates over this number and everything adds up to this number and he just keeps seeing 23 all over the place. It's like, it's the same thing like with people in 444.

00:27:27.27
Aaron
Yeah.

00:27:28.47
Ian
I see 444 all the time. Like in receipts, payments, it's it's insane like how much I see that number and I obsess and fix it fixate over it anyway. So I started noticing more ducks on these Jeeps dashboards and I started noticing it more and more and more to then it became a fixation to me. So I started seeing it and then I started thinking these ideas and then that's where that reel came into play.

00:27:55.95
Ian
and And I knew what I kind of wanted to do, but I didn't really have help to make the real. So it just sat and I thought about every day over and over and over and I was obsessing over and I was getting pissed off at myself that I hadn't made it yet. And when Seth was coming, I knew I was like, listen, I was like, we're going to do everything that you want to do. We're going to do everything.

00:28:18.73
Ian
that I want you to see, what I want you to show, we're gonna do this Tamron reel, we're gonna do all this other stuff. I said, but you are not leaving here until we do this Jeep thing because I need to get out of my fucking head and I need to get this done. And going back to what Aaron said, stuff like that and those ideas, I know 100% that that reel is not going to perform well, but I didn't care. like Like stuff like that, I don't make for other people. Like I make that stuff because it was an idea I had. I wanted to get it down and I wanted to make it a reality. So then I could go back and look at it and be like, Hey, I had that idea.

00:28:59.88
Ian
And I did it and there it is. Now it exists in the world and it's like an actual thing. So it like came from my head onto a thing and now it's going to live in this digital space forever.

00:29:11.49
Ian
So once that gets done and executed, it's like onto the next thing.

00:29:11.60
Aaron
Yeah.

00:29:16.15
Ian
And then I just keep spitting out those things. So Aaron, no, it's not about the likes and comments or the engagement that I get from those things. Those specific idea reels, like going into it, I know it's not going to perform well. I know it may get a weird reaction from people or some people are like, you know, what the hell is that? You know, like this is so left field. It doesn't even make sense. But maybe a few people found it funny or, or whatever. But like and at the end of the day, like I'm making that stuff for me and, um,

00:29:52.98
Ian
I was actually DMing somebody before we got on here. Someone was asking me a question about something. They were actually talking to me about how they missed the old Instagram, about how people used to like and engage and share other people's content more. And I said, I said any more like I just Use it as like a creative outlet to just make stuff and post stuff and I know this has been regurgitated for so many it's like so many episodes but like I just like don't care about like niches and stuff like that. Like I'm just making content because I make and do What I see and what I want to do. It's like that real I made with my mom's photo, you know Like I spent like three days on that thing

00:30:39.52
Ian
but it was something I wanted to do and try. And in while doing so, I was able to like learn those programs and get better at them. You know what I mean? So like in the same sense, I'm farting around with something, but I'm i'm also learning and like honing skills on different stuff, which in my mind makes me and more, quote unquote, like valuable with stuff.

00:31:01.69
Aaron
Yeah, I think, I think that's a nice point. It's like, it's going to the gym for you, right? Like in in a sense, I mean, it's, it's keeping that muscle alive, being familiar with the programs.

00:31:13.75
Aaron
I can't tell you how many times I've, uh, like I've flaked on making videos and then premiere has an update and I'm like, what the hell? Like what I don't, where'd that tool go?

00:31:23.64
Ian
Yeah.

00:31:23.84
Aaron
and My layout's different. Like you you kind of, if you.

00:31:26.45
Ian
um mean That's the worst. I'm when Adobe does that shit.

00:31:45.44
Aaron
bumping your way through it versus every day kind of refining a piece, looking at how you're editing, trying something new, trying a cool transition, trying a sound design, like whatever it may be, and just getting those skills, keeping that tool belt filled with sharpened and polished tools.

00:32:04.68
Ian
Yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, it's just like what, like what you know, and like what you can teach yourself and how that becomes useful.

00:32:10.28
Aaron
Yeah.

00:32:11.58
Ian
Like, um, like Topaz and all Seth said, you guys had like a, who, who did you, you had this CEO on you said not yet.

00:32:22.49
Seth Macey
Not yet.

00:32:24.08
Ian
Or you were discussing that,

00:32:24.83
Seth Macey
We're hoping to. No promises.

00:32:28.34
Ian
but, um, Okay, take this for example, like in in the marketing standpoint, okay? um Compare what I'm going to say, and like what I just thought about to like us, okay? Things are changing all the time.

00:32:46.10
Ian
like programs change, there's updates, there's new stuff that comes out, you know, as much as people hate AI or whatever, but it's here. It's all over the place. You know what I mean? It's obviously a definite tool that can be used and improve your workflow if you use it in a way that's not Like shitty. You know what I mean? Like, like if I just stopped posting photos and videos and I just posted AI stuff from prompts, you know what I mean? Like unfollow me. Um, but in, in the, in the sense of like going way back when Amazon stopped selling books, when they went away from selling books and they're like, we're gonna, we can probably sell other products. You know what I mean?

00:33:30.17
Ian
Remember Toys R Us? Toys R Us caught wind of like people not wanting to go out shopping anymore, they're doing other shopping online.

00:33:32.48
Aaron
Yeah.

00:33:37.95
Ian
And now Amazon's selling toys and literally anything and Toys R Us was just like, that's just a fat. You know what I mean? So instead of jumping on that train to figure out how to get products to people and make online stores and make shopping easier, they're like, oh, people want to come into the stores. They want the experience. And they ended up but like filing bankruptcy or something or really struggling as a business because they didn't.

00:34:01.61
Ian
keep up to date with what's happening. So when Topaz came out with the photo and video editors, it's something I kept my eye on because it's just a new tool to learn. And it was kind of expensive when it first came out, but they dropped a ah like a Black Friday deal with a bundle. So you get like all three. So that like made me want to purchase those. And I did. And since I have them, I've been,

00:34:28.82
Ian
learning them and figuring out how to to use them and put them into my workflow. And now I'm prepared for those things. Like i'm I'm just kind of like learning it.

00:34:38.45
Aaron
yep

00:34:39.42
Ian
You know what I mean? So I don't want to get like left behind on something. If that makes sense.

00:34:45.02
Aaron
Yeah, it's good. I mean, it's you're refining your craft every single day.

00:34:51.03
Ian
Plus it's fun.

00:34:51.24
Seth Macey
Yeah.

00:34:52.39
Ian
It's interesting to me.

00:34:54.21
Aaron
Yeah, I mean,

00:34:54.18
Seth Macey
I guess to, to rewind a bit, a question I would ask you, so you mentioned sometimes when stuff's sitting in your head for weeks and months, you start to, I don't know what the exact words you are, were but you start to feel bad.

00:35:07.60
Seth Macey
I'm going to use the word guilt.

00:35:09.09
Ian
OK.

00:35:11.23
Seth Macey
I'm curious to know what the voice, the tone of the voice in your head, what's it saying to you? And I, the reason I asked is because I still operate this way. Sometimes I'm trying to get better at this where the voice in my head is very, my own voice is very hard on myself. And you know, like, why aren't you doing this? Like don't be a piece of shit. Like do better work, be better, like grind effort, effort. And I realized that,

00:35:41.98
Seth Macey
Maybe, ah and I'm not suggesting that this is the kind of voice you have until you confirm or say otherwise, but having that kind of voice, I realize that's not helpful for me anymore. Like being in my, in my waking life, the people I surround myself with aren't negative and they're not.

00:36:01.42
Seth Macey
super, I mean, I appreciate good criticism, but not to the point where it's you know counterproductive.

00:36:07.26
Ian
Okay.

00:36:07.73
Seth Macey
I'm trying to get to a place where the voice in my head is motivating, maybe kind. I'm not saying it's all happy and yeah, you're the best and all that thing, but something that's more positively productive as opposed to trying to motivate through

00:36:30.70
Seth Macey
anger, you're not enough. Push, push, push, work harder. No one cares. That kind of tone. So I'm curious to know what the voice in your head is. If you can, if it's similar to what I've described, I'm trying to get away from or not, or if it's different.

00:36:45.73
Ian
Oh. It's the voice is not. I guess I kind of like go for you said the voice is not ever like you're not enough or you're a failure. It's never that. So like the voice is like not degrading. It's just kind of like, hey, like, let's do this. Like, why aren't we doing this type of thing? Like we you have everything at your disposal. It's like, why aren't you doing it? You know what I mean? Like,

00:37:13.96
Ian
it It goes back to, you know, I have some people being like, you know, you got to get on YouTube, you you got to start doing long form content.

00:37:21.53
Seth Macey
That's me. I said that to him.

00:37:22.91
Ian
And yeah, I mean.

00:37:25.30
Aaron
He's right there, Ian.

00:37:27.03
Ian
You're not I mean, you're not the only person that that has said that and.

00:37:29.88
Seth Macey
I mean, I didn't have an original unique idea.

00:37:33.32
Ian
But like.

00:37:33.54
Seth Macey
I'm insulted.

00:37:36.50
Ian
The the way I edit it and I put so much time into stuff that like I understand and I realize. that maybe my content and how much effort I put into like just sound design, for example, like Christ, I'll spend four hours on just a real, you know what I mean?

00:37:58.02
Ian
Like that's unnecessary. Like that doesn't need to happen.

00:37:59.97
Seth Macey
Right. Some people would say that's not a good use of your time, but then again, who are they to say? Like, do you feel sometimes it's not a good use of your time? I know we're going on tangents here.

00:38:08.19
Ian
not I mean, not,

00:38:09.98
Seth Macey
Uh, I'll stop.

00:38:12.24
Ian
No, I mean, not really. I mean, yeah, I mean, go on tangents. But no, the voice is never depreciating. The voice never makes me feel like shit. It's just like if if I have the time, like why why and just not do it? Why why not just do it?

00:38:30.01
Seth Macey
Well, maybe it doesn't make you feel, I don't know. ah I highly doubt I'm alone in this and there'll be some people listening who are like, I understand that. I don't maybe mean it makes you feel like shit, but that the negativity is what lights a fire. So like for me, i'll I'll use a sports example. Like I would be playing a bad game or just things wouldn't be going my way. Let's say in a hockey game.

00:38:55.51
Seth Macey
And, uh, people who have played sports at a high level know that coaches can be pretty ruthless. Right.

00:39:00.35
Ian
Uh-huh.

00:39:01.01
Seth Macey
And they, and you know, they know when you're not playing well. Also, I would have coaches who would pick up on this and they would know coaches and other their players, right?

00:39:11.92
Seth Macey
They would know me in the sense that, okay, he's not playing well. I'm going to really dig into him. Like hard. Let him know what he already knows he's playing terribly. Maybe we say it in front of teammates too, et cetera.

00:39:26.89
Seth Macey
And I would get so mad and then I would go and score a goal or something like that.

00:39:31.80
Ian
Yeah.

00:39:32.59
Seth Macey
And it would reinforce that cause and effect relationship. And I was aware of that too. And it frustrated me. I was like, I don't want to be, I don't want this to work.

00:39:46.36
Ian
But at

00:39:46.41
Seth Macey
I don't want this to work. And it does. And I feel like,

00:39:51.63
Ian
that point, are you doing it to prove a point inadvertently?

00:39:54.51
Seth Macey
perhaps, but to whom, right? Myself, people who are thinking, what's the review in that scenario? And I think it's interesting. A lot of the times people who build cool content companies, whatever, you know, kind of work in a way where where they have that voice, because if you have a kind of a voice where it's saying be better, be better, more, more, and more push, push, push.

00:40:24.16
Seth Macey
you end up often creating really good stuff and you end up creating things of very high quality that maybe aren't motivated or you know, from aren't motivated from the, the, the best or most healthy standpoint. So it's sort of making sense.

00:40:47.49
Ian
Yeah, I mean, very rarely do, I mean, I understand what you're saying. Very rarely do I slip into that mindset to where I do something purposely to so just prove a point. um I have a good sense of, like I have i have really good people skills and i' have I have a good perception of like,

00:41:14.77
Ian
what I feel like my public perception is, I guess, and also like what people may say or think about me. Well, I'm sure there's people out there that, I mean, I probably know for a fact that there's people out there that don't actually know me, like no, no, know me, you know what I mean? So they probably have this like perception of me, which may be either good, but I can also see how it could be bad.

00:41:37.52
Ian
um But like, I don't, I don't know, like,

00:41:43.19
Seth Macey
So you're not hard on yourself. You're not a whipping boy to yourself in your own brain to get things done.

00:41:47.53
Ian
No, no, no, like I'm not a whipping board to get things done. But like I said, like, like I have and an ego 100%.

00:41:55.57
Seth Macey
Well, we all do.

00:41:56.71
Ian
Well, yeah.

00:41:56.89
Seth Macey
That's why we eat those things.

00:41:57.24
Ian
yeah that that's one thing Like I, I feel like there's a good balance of having an ego. but also keeping it in check. like i I feel like to be a good creator or creative, you have to have some type of chip on your shoulder to feel as if, not that you're better, but you can compete and stay in that realm. And if at some point you feel like you're less than, you have the ability to pull from that ego to be like, no, I'm going to do this to prove to myself and maybe others who are watching that I can also

00:42:33.92
Ian
kind of keep up and and do that. So it's like a mixture of going back to your coach, you know, maybe pissing you off for you to hit that goal. And then you're like, how did that happen?

00:42:44.74
Ian
Like, why did that work? And it's like, you're proving a point, but the who. So that's kind of how I'm relating to

00:42:49.94
Seth Macey
Yeah, I think you're proving a point in that instance, myself into your, your, your criticizers. And in that instance, you're right. You care what other people think. But then at the same time, I think you also care about your perception, your performance, how you come across, which, you know, those on a primal level help you be a valuable member of society to the tribe.

00:43:09.49
Ian
Yeah.

00:43:09.55
Seth Macey
Right. It's, it's where we get a lot of our, our worth from. I am valuable. I'm, you know, I don't, I want to, I want to contribute. It stems a lot from that.

00:43:18.81
Ian
Yeah. I mean, sometimes I'll see stuff online that I think so fucking stupid that like, other people are making it and it's like performing really well and they're getting like all this crazy stuff and like jobs and gigs from it.

00:43:34.32
Ian
It's like that fucking sucked and it's bullshit. It's such a low level effort and I'll get in my head and like I'll go make something like 10 times better and I'll be beefing with someone online and they have no idea. They don't even know I exist.

00:43:45.01
Ian
You know what I mean? So like sometimes that stuff comes from a negative ego space, but

00:43:50.95
Seth Macey
Right.

00:43:53.73
Ian
in the same sense, it's like, it's in my eyes, it's okay, because I'm trying to prove a point to myself. But I'm not making it like, I'm not going to go online and be like, you suck, you you know what I mean?

00:44:07.22
Ian
Like, I'm, it's internalized, internalized in my head that I'm, I see that happening.

00:44:07.80
Seth Macey
Yeah.

00:44:14.22
Ian
And I'm like, well, I i can do that too. And I could do that better.

00:44:17.65
Seth Macey
Right.

00:44:18.07
Ian
And I do it. And I'm like, you know, see, I did it, but it ends there. You know what I mean? It's not like,

00:44:23.34
Seth Macey
Yeah. It's funny.

00:44:24.11
Ian
You go.

00:44:24.24
Seth Macey
You mentioned that an, uh, Aaron will know, you know, the Garmin connect app, Aaron, sometimes when you're looking at the newsfeed of your connections, like the, the runs or the bike rides they've done, sometimes it'll show connections of other, of, of your connections.

00:44:28.53
Aaron
Yeah.

00:44:39.62
Seth Macey
I guess it's like help grow the network, but there's this guy who shows up on my feet every single time. I'm not, we'll say his name is Billy just for

00:44:48.78
Aaron
really

00:44:49.11
Seth Macey
sake of it. And his profile is public. So I can click him and I can see his marath his half marathon time and I can see his 10k time and I can, like personal bests. And so in the Garmin Apachos, 5k, 10k, half your marathon and the farthest distance you've ever run.

00:45:07.52
Seth Macey
And I picture this damn guy every time I'm running. So I, I'm cha like chipping away. I'm like, okay, I've run further than he has. And then now I'm like, all right, my 10 K time is going to blast his, and not in the sense of like, I want to be better than this guy, but it's like, I'm trying to find external fuel sources at times, you know, when things are maybe difficult.

00:45:29.58
Aaron
Yeah.

00:45:29.72
Seth Macey
It's it's cold outside. I'm thinking of Billy, who's out there too. I'm like, I'm forming i'm coming for you.

00:45:34.07
Ian
Now, you know Billy, like, do you know this person personally?

00:45:37.94
Seth Macey
and have no idea who they are. They're not NPC.

00:45:39.28
Ian
Now, no i just was gonna I just thought of something like, how do you know that Garmin isn't looking at your your habits, your analytics, your data to be like, we've seen what Seth has done and what he's capable of, and he hasn't done that level in a certain time.

00:45:57.61
Ian
So let's spit in this fake statistic to push you more.

00:45:57.69
Seth Macey
I mean, maybe.

00:46:02.65
Seth Macey
Well, thank you, Garvin.

00:46:03.71
Aaron
It's working.

00:46:04.57
Seth Macey
I mean, they have

00:46:04.81
Aaron
It's working.

00:46:05.69
Ian
That doesn't sound unrealistic though, does it?

00:46:07.88
Seth Macey
No, it doesn't, but I mean, that's at least my problems. They literally have my heart rate data. So

00:46:12.35
Aaron
Yeah. I don't know. I think it's it's all very interesting. And if we weren't motivated to do stuff or share stuff by whatever shadow work we need to come, you know, face or whatever you want to call it, like just dealing with our demons.

00:46:31.29
Aaron
I think there wouldn't be a lot of amazing music out there, a lot of amazing art, a lot of amazing writing, poetry, like why, whatever the reasons are to get out there.

00:46:36.83
Seth Macey
right

00:46:43.54
Aaron
and perform, it's it's hard to look at it and say, no, that's, that's coming from a bad place. Like it's maybe a bad place channeled in a really good way, you know?

00:46:54.84
Ian
Well, don't they say like most of the best art and music and stuff comes from a place of pain?

00:46:59.57
Aaron
probably, I definitely would think so.

00:47:00.94
Ian
I feel like I've heard that.

00:47:01.91
Aaron
I feel like, I mean, every lead singer that tells their life story, there's usually some trauma in it, I feel like.

00:47:07.69
Ian
oh yeah and you

00:47:08.75
Aaron
So yeah, it's there. And I think whatever, whatever helps us to go use our talents, right? Like if there was no If there was no Instagram, if there was no sharing, if there was no portfolio building that anyone could see, we might develop these skills, but I bet it would be a chunky percentage less of doing things.

00:47:31.88
Ian
oh I mean, yeah, there would be I feel like half of half of the people on Instagram or social media would just stop making content if because I mean there there's a lot of people out there that just make content just to Like prove a point I guess or they they're just making content to like show off or flex some type of ego muscle, but if

00:47:55.05
Aaron
Yeah. And that's okay. If they're, if they're, if it makes them churn out really good content or good stuff, and they're just trying to prove a point, then cool.

00:47:56.70
Ian
yeah

00:48:03.71
Aaron
Like if you're, if you're a great songwriter and you're pissed off that Eddie Vedder is getting famous and it makes you, you know, release some of your songs and then you get famous.

00:48:15.92
Aaron
Good for you for having that, that chip and sharing your art too, you know.

00:48:21.01
Seth Macey
Yeah, I mean, know all emotions in that instance, envy, have an evolutionary purpose, if you think about it. Even the ones we, we I think,

00:48:28.38
Aaron
Yeah.

00:48:32.62
Seth Macey
uh, incorrectly deemed bad and good. If you can get to a place where you, you, the feeling may be bad, but the emotion itself is trying to better the situation or enhance your life somehow as you move into the near future.

00:48:37.47
Aaron
right

00:48:55.80
Seth Macey
Like fear doesn't feel good, but what is it? It's keeping you alive according to your brain. Right. And in this instance, maybe envy is allowing you to reach for higher ground and improve your, your life.

00:49:12.23
Aaron
Yeah, better yourself, right?

00:49:14.07
Seth Macey
Right.

00:49:15.18
Aaron
and In some aspect.

00:49:15.32
Ian
I don't even, I don't even know if I, I don't really think I experience envy too much. I feel like I experience envy in a normal, healthy manner, which normal people do.

00:49:27.86
Seth Macey
Well, I thought you just described how you experienced it. You'll see something that you think is garbage performing well.

00:49:31.95
Ian
but

00:49:32.49
Seth Macey
And then you think about the hours you've put into the content you do and then it doesn't work.

00:49:33.08
Ian
it

00:49:35.77
Seth Macey
And you're like, this is so annoying. That is envy, sir.

00:49:38.25
Ian
Well, no, in very few instances, I feel envy in that sense, where I meant the frustration of the ego thing may take over, but keeping it in check.

00:49:49.50
Ian
ah

00:49:49.46
Seth Macey
But not so much like keeping up with the Jones's and that stuff.

00:49:52.71
Aaron
be in John's booth.

00:49:53.30
Ian
i I suppose, yeah.

00:49:54.05
Seth Macey
And I did there.

00:49:55.44
Ian
No, it's good. It's it's a good um good reference. but I don't know. It's just like...

00:50:02.69
Ian
I feel like it just kind of is like, it is what it is at this point. Like I'm kind of like with those things, but. um

00:50:09.54
Aaron
Yeah, dude, as long as you're, like Seth said, he said, hey, I spent a weekend with you. Uh, if that was my life, I, I wouldn't make it. And i I think for everyone listening, this isn't just directed at you, but like, as long as you're truly happy or content, like you're content and you're enjoying it and having a good time, uh, and not hurting anyone.

00:50:33.71
Aaron
If I can make as many dumb reels as you want.

00:50:35.25
Seth Macey
Yeah.

00:50:36.97
Ian
Yeah, I mean, that's just kind of like where it boils down to. It's like I... I just do it because like I honestly like it and and I enjoy it. you know i mean like i I love to be able to make stuff and create stuff and just like put stuff in a digital space to where i I can pull it out of my head and then now I can look and now it's this thing.

00:50:45.91
Aaron
Yeah.

00:50:58.54
Ian
and That's just how it is. you know it's not like I'm not like forcing myself or killing myself to do it.

00:51:03.18
Seth Macey
yeah

00:51:06.48
Ian
It's just like it's just how it is. and like if none of this existed, like I'm sure the type of person I am, like if, if none of this was around like Instagram or the digital space that we're in, I'm sure that fixation would go to something else. You know what I mean? It would just be that same energy would just be directed to something else because if, if I get,

00:51:35.97
Ian
Like I have a very addictive um obsessive personality or so so like I will get obsessed on on like things. Like I'll obsess over them until like it gets done. For example, my bathroom off my bedroom, which Seth saw, there was an entire few weeks where I would just stand in that bathroom and I would just look at the walls and I would just obsess over remodeling that entire bathroom. This is no joke. I mean, this is like for real.

00:52:16.20
Seth Macey
He's like, I need to make them padded walls.

00:52:18.98
Ian
No, I would just be like, I could do this and I could make this sink. I could get more space out of here if I change this, if I do that, if i and I could do this. And that

00:52:26.37
Seth Macey
and I was using it saying you were going crazy.

00:52:29.37
Ian
That turned into being on Amazon, like looking at Home Depot stuff to like three, four in the morning. It was making shopping carts, being pissed off Home Depot, didn't open till seven in the morning. Going there and like loading up my truck with stuff and coming home and remodeling this entire bathroom in a weekend.

00:52:47.16
Ian
like

00:52:48.02
Seth Macey
It's because I was coming.

00:52:49.77
Ian
Well, I was obviously before you got here, but I did that with both my bathrooms. If if I notice something, I'll obsess over until it gets done. And that goes also that goes back to like ah the idea graveyard.

00:53:01.65
Ian
if if it If I don't do it, I'm just like, why?

00:53:05.49
Seth Macey
Yeah.

00:53:06.17
Ian
aren't you Why? Why? why

00:53:07.20
Seth Macey
And that's, that's like I say this all the time.

00:53:08.85
Ian
one

00:53:09.40
Seth Macey
Sometimes our biggest strengths are, are also our biggest weaknesses. So for you, that's a huge strength. I mean, you think of something and you get it done. That's seeing something from start to finish and a large portion of the population struggles with that.

00:53:21.96
Seth Macey
And I'm sure is envious of that. My question to you is.

00:53:29.92
Seth Macey
Do you have the ability and maybe this is where it's not a pro, maybe a con. Like, do you have the ability to give yourself permission for things to be like, it's okay, man. If this doesn't get done, like it's all right. I can let, I can, I think the key word is I can let this go.

00:53:49.00
Ian
Yeah, no for sure. Like ah yeah, I mean to answer your question. Yeah, like I'm very good. I try to live a very stress-free life. You know what I mean? Like going back to like I worry about things I have control over and anything outside of that I don't really try to worry about or or or stress over or whatever. I try to keep a very stress-free life. So there are things I can very quickly grasp and see to be like, that's not something worth stressing over.

00:54:20.81
Ian
Like if I talk to other friends and they're like, well, this is happening. I'm stressing over this. And I can easily be like, well, here's some pros and cons. It's not really worth stressing over. You know what I mean? Like you, yeah it's easier for that to them because I'm not experiencing it, but I'm just trying to like,

00:54:30.82
Seth Macey
Oh, for you. I will say that. you Yeah.

00:54:37.90
Seth Macey
Well, especially because like, let's say, let's say you going a hundred million miles an hour, like you did when we were together.

00:54:38.10
Aaron
Yeah.

00:54:39.15
Ian
ah

00:54:46.77
Seth Macey
That's stressful for me. If we're, if I was to do that for a long term, like that's, that's stressful. Now, if you went at my pace, that would be stressful for you.

00:54:56.69
Ian
Oh my God, I get i get bored like so easily.

00:54:58.10
Seth Macey
This is the point I'm trying to make.

00:55:01.43
Ian
like

00:55:03.05
Seth Macey
And see, like, I feel like I'm high functioning as well, but, uh, you're running a hundred meter sprints and I'm doing the 10 K.

00:55:03.28
Ian
like

00:55:11.39
Ian
Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, it's, it's very much true. Like I'll have, like I said, like I'm capable of unplugging. And like I said, having dinner and watching a movie, like Gabby will be like, Hey, like I want to come over and just hang out.

00:55:29.11
Ian
Like, can we just chill?

00:55:30.79
Seth Macey
Yeah.

00:55:30.90
Ian
Like I want to just like chill and I'll be like, yeah, sure. You know what I mean? So like,

00:55:35.51
Aaron
Can you say, yeah, sure. If you're an hour into a three, well, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

00:55:37.46
Ian
but hundred percent like Yeah, I mean like yeah, you know, I'm not like insane and Yeah

00:55:43.07
Aaron
yeah let me

00:55:43.19
Seth Macey
See what I mean? He goes so fast.

00:55:46.24
Aaron
You're, you're sound engineering and you're an hour into three hours that you know, you're going to need for this real. And you're in it, you know, the feeling you're in it and you want to get this done before, let's just say 9 PM for whatever reason.

00:56:02.72
Aaron
That's what your brain told you. And then, you know, she says, let's, let's chill and just, let's put our phones away and our computers and watch a movie. There'll be two and a half hours in your brain.

00:56:14.31
Ian
know like pat too She talks like that too.

00:56:14.68
Aaron
You're like, huh? Just. I don't know. She, uh, she phoned in and she's like, can you work on this? Uh, when I asked for dates that he's a little more receptive and puts down the reels.

00:56:29.06
Aaron
No, but my point is you're, you're in it. What happens?

00:56:31.75
Ian
Yeah.

00:56:32.37
Aaron
What happens internally? What is there any anguish or are you able to go like, okay. I'm seeing you and your're you're explaining your way as you are.

00:56:42.56
Aaron
It sounds like you're very good at prioritizing in the moment.

00:56:45.28
Ian
yeah

00:56:46.22
Aaron
Like this is an important thing. This is important to me, but maybe not important to my entire life as much like I can prioritize and then really focus on uber focus on the the top priority thing and then work my way down the list.

00:57:01.66
Ian
Yeah, no, like but let's say I'm in my office working on something, I'm just like completely focused on whatever I'm making at the time and she's coming over. I will sit here and I i will work on whatever I'm working on until I see the car pull up. And like once the car pulls up in the driveway, driveway like laptop gets shut, phone put away and now it's our time.

00:57:26.06
Seth Macey
But now is what you were working on in your head throughout the movie. Let's say you you've mentioned earlier, like you struggled to.

00:57:33.79
Ian
I mean, it will pop up. Yeah, sure. Like, like, yeah, 100%. Like, it it will pop up in my head and be like, oh, let me, maybe if we like took that clip and move it over here and like, boom this you know what I mean? Like that does pop up, but it doesn't like, not as much as like you think.

00:57:45.13
Aaron
Take over.

00:57:47.19
Ian
I mean, like, I'm not insane.

00:57:48.57
Aaron
You're not like, babe, pause it. Babe, pause it. I'll be right back.

00:57:52.38
Ian
No. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no. But it's also like a hundred percent factual. When that car pulls out of the driveway and drives away, laptop's back open.

00:58:04.26
Ian
I'm here till four in the morning.

00:58:05.72
Aaron
Sprinting upstairs.

00:58:05.67
Seth Macey
Yeah.

00:58:05.79
Ian
yeah so I can pause and walk away, but then I'm coming like right back to it just and plugging in right where I was.

00:58:12.16
Seth Macey
but So then I would argue there's, I would argue, and I'm not saying this is bad. I'm just saying, I would argue that there's never really a disconnect, especially if it's entering, I understand thoughts enter into your head. Uh, but like it it's almost seems like despite, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to stop. I'm going to do something else.

00:58:34.68
Seth Macey
Like there's still the wheels are still turning. My question for you is maybe, maybe like you're totally fine with that.

00:58:45.36
Seth Macey
Maybe it's all, you know, like, is, do you ever wish that it was just back?

00:58:51.32
Aaron
meditate pretty good

00:58:53.55
Seth Macey
Stop. I just want to watch Joker too. Stop entering my head thoughts.

00:58:59.04
Ian
I mean, that's a fucking terrible movie to compare. it That movie is so bad, but I know what you're saying.

00:59:01.96
Seth Macey
and

00:59:04.40
Seth Macey
Oppenheimer. Cause I just watched that.

00:59:06.49
Ian
I haven't seen it yet. It's so long.

00:59:11.53
Seth Macey
Do I'm saying? but Do you, do you wish that maybe there was huge segregation between work periods with that interval where there's absolutely nothing drawing your attention away from chilling being just

00:59:32.95
Ian
No, no, because I can't show like I can't like I I feel like it's so hard to explain this to like somebody who is not like, like,

00:59:41.31
Seth Macey
It is because like for me, that isn't chilling. like and and I'm not saying you're wrong.

00:59:44.38
Aaron
Yeah.

00:59:46.03
Seth Macey
I'm just saying for our personalities, I guess what we envision as relaxing is very different. If I had thoughts of work or something I'm working on continually popping into my head when I'm trying to step away from that, I haven't stepped away from that, and that would be anxiety producing for me.

00:59:57.36
Ian
but the

01:00:00.22
Ian
But the thing is, is like your definition of work may not actually be work for me. like what what's the What's the saying?

01:00:06.57
Seth Macey
Fair?

01:00:08.61
Ian
It's like, if you love what you do, you'd never work a day in your life. It's not like the stuff that I'm creating or making is actually work because it's not like something that

01:00:14.31
Seth Macey
True.

01:00:19.93
Seth Macey
You're having fun doing it. I get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:00:22.25
Ian
So it's like, but like like I said, if it if it's not this stuff in a digital space, it's something else. It's it's a bathroom that i'm I'm remodeling or it's something on my truck or it's being annoyed that all my glassware doesn't match, that I have to throw all my glasses away and now I'm at TJ Maxx getting everything that matches because all the stuff don't stack right in the top above my sink.

01:00:43.30
Ian
So it's like, it's not, this is true.

01:00:44.35
Aaron
I feel that.

01:00:45.53
Ian
Like like there's something going on in my head that I just,

01:00:47.39
Seth Macey
yeah

01:00:51.26
Aaron
Yeah, you obsess.

01:00:52.37
Ian
Yeah, I mean a hundred percent.

01:00:53.47
Seth Macey
Yeah.

01:00:53.70
Aaron
You know know you get and obsess and and focus.

01:00:54.20
Ian
It's like, but i I've been like, I mean, I've been diagnosed. I don't have anything really. I mean, I've been to the doctors. I'm fine. There's nothing wrong.

01:01:03.94
Aaron
you know

01:01:04.01
Seth Macey
and a dd eighth d I mean, it's not ad ad, ad is not a weird thing.

01:01:05.58
Ian
No, there's, I mean, there's nothing weird going on out there. It's just, I've always just been. but

01:01:11.59
Seth Macey
It's.

01:01:12.08
Ian
No, I mean, You know what I'm saying? like i'm you know I'm not like scribbling on my walls, but it like it goes back into, like my mom used to tell me when I when i was younger, like third, fourth grade, that the the teachers would always call her and tell her that like

01:01:15.60
Aaron
Yeah.

01:01:17.31
Seth Macey
yeah

01:01:31.60
Ian
They had a hard time keeping my attention to learn stuff because I was always doodling or drawing on on my paper. And my mom, my mom's rebuttal was always like, well, what kid really wants to pay attention and try to learn math?

01:01:41.16
Seth Macey
Yeah I hear you.

01:01:43.29
Ian
And they're just like being like having some creative outlet.

01:01:46.21
Aaron
Yeah,

01:01:47.35
Ian
So it was just always kind of like that.

01:01:50.34
Seth Macey
Right.

01:01:50.83
Aaron
yeah you can super focus on what you want to focus on, but anything that bores you is boring.

01:01:57.33
Seth Macey
Right. So then doesn't, doesn't, I mean, there's people who would make the argument that ADD ADHD or that focus is a coping mechanism in that sense. Like I can, I can, I can put my attention out. If I can't leave, cause you can't leave school.

01:02:15.04
Ian
Yeah.

01:02:15.55
Seth Macey
but you There's no, you can't fight your teachers. So you can't do fight or flight, which is the traditional way of removing yourself.

01:02:18.00
Ian
me and you You can leave school.

01:02:21.27
Seth Macey
I can distract myself then.

01:02:23.85
Aaron
Yeah.

01:02:26.58
Seth Macey
Okay. Well, there's consequences that most kids are not willing to pay the price of.

01:02:30.57
Ian
i love

01:02:30.70
Seth Macey
Uh, but do do you understand what I'm saying?

01:02:31.27
Aaron
yeah

01:02:31.89
Seth Macey
Like you can't, in that setting, you can't leave. Let's say mom and dad are fighting at home.

01:02:34.80
Ian
yeah

01:02:36.39
Seth Macey
You can't fight mom and dad. You probably can't leave. So I feel like at a young age, we can learn to, and I'm not trying to get into family life. I'm just making the point that maybe, and I'm not a psychologist or psychotherapist, but that distracting our attention can be a form of coping that's developed early in childhood.

01:02:54.96
Ian
Yeah, I mean, was mostly look at you got you got to take the displacement for the ice.

01:02:55.00
Seth Macey
And I'm not saying you're necessarily distracting, but just on this thought, it's, it's something to think about. If I can't run, I can't fight. I can distract.

01:03:05.74
Aaron
Yeah, and with that, while you swallow for everyone, he had multiple cups of his beverage. It wasn't magic because we saw you finish a whole cup and then in the next frame.

01:03:17.63
Ian
And when I fill these up, the ice was almost up there.

01:03:19.45
Aaron
listen

01:03:20.55
Ian
And then I noticed this is actually one can of coke split between two cups.

01:03:25.06
Aaron
Yeah, there you go.

01:03:25.98
Seth Macey
Okay. Fair. So it's not too, too full. DC is in a monster.

01:03:29.33
Ian
No, just mostly.

01:03:29.42
Seth Macey
It's one DC in a monster.

01:03:31.11
Ian
And when I brought this up here, this see, there's still stuff in there. I didn't even finish it.

01:03:36.44
Seth Macey
It's probably flat now.

01:03:38.12
Aaron
William, first of all, ah We're very happy you're on and, uh, we're so comfortable with you.

01:03:43.28
Seth Macey
Oh yeah.

01:03:43.45
Ian
i

01:03:45.75
Aaron
I think we can pepper you with questions. And I think Seth and I are more fascinated with like how you work because we, Seth and I i think we're kind of similarly in terms of, uh, work output and needing arrest and needing like quiet time and k needing reprieves.

01:04:02.45
Aaron
Um, so I think we're more fascinated and I hope it's coming across as we're not saying our way is right or yours is wrong.

01:04:07.96
Ian
more.

01:04:08.23
Aaron
I think it's more just, I'm very.

01:04:09.02
Seth Macey
Yeah.

01:04:11.14
Aaron
And I can tell Seth, we're very interested in like, how are you doing this?

01:04:14.75
Seth Macey
I'm glad you said that

01:04:16.39
Aaron
Yeah. So I don't want people to take it the wrong way. And I think there's a, there's a level of comfort that we have with you because you were friends and we've been on.

01:04:20.40
Ian
yeah

01:04:25.27
Aaron
So we're, we don't feel like, I hope you don't feel like we're peppering you or going, or going, yeah.

01:04:30.16
Ian
No, it's just like, are there like 16 people? No, I mean, like, honestly, like, no, I don't ever feel like you're peppermint. And honestly, the more questions, the better. But like, in the same sense, I'm very self-aware. You know what I mean? Like, I'm very self-aware with how things are. So like, you know, sometimes, for example, like, I know there's times where Seth will wake up in the morning and he'll have 16 fucking texts from me that I've sent like that tooth.

01:05:02.88
Seth Macey
Me and Jones and I go, Oh my God, this guy's it's been up till four and he's going to ask me to look at this.

01:05:06.87
Aaron
so

01:05:07.17
Ian
but

01:05:08.72
Seth Macey
each He shortened the clip by 0.1 seconds and be, did you notice, did you notice the clip change?

01:05:11.80
Ian
yeah but What I'm saying is like, I am very aware of that.

01:05:13.17
Seth Macey
Like, no, only you notice that.

01:05:15.52
Aaron
does this get better

01:05:18.88
Ian
Like I'm aware that people that are close around me can, Like like i i I understand, I get it. Like I'm not like unaware of that.

01:05:29.90
Ian
You know what I mean? Like like my neighbor, like she knows how I am. Like my close friends know how I am. So like, I'd be like, what are what are you doing? And she's like, it's nine o'clock.

01:05:38.86
Aaron
Does this get better?

01:05:41.28
Ian
Like, oh, well, you know, I just did this fucking cool thing. And like, I'm do i'm making this thing. I'm like, what do you think? This is funny. You know what I mean? So like, I get it.

01:05:52.48
Ian
And like, I'm aware of it.

01:05:52.59
Seth Macey
Thank

01:05:53.40
Ian
And like, I am always,

01:05:56.23
Seth Macey
you.

01:05:56.50
Ian
taking a step back and looking like outside in, it's like, okay, like if you were dealing with me, you'd kind of be like annoyed and like, okay, shut up. You know, it's like I, like I, I get, like I get it and I understand it.

01:06:06.83
Aaron
Have you ever tried meditating serious question?

01:06:09.66
Ian
No, I can't like, here's the thing. Like I don't, I don't like to meditate. Never even tried it. I don't know. Um, I don't like massages either.

01:06:20.27
Ian
Like I don't like to sit in a room and just get like, like my back massage or something.

01:06:23.92
Aaron
Yeah.

01:06:25.44
Ian
I don't know. Like I'm,

01:06:26.96
Aaron
I figured and that's why I asked, but I think. I think, I mean, not that I'm a doctor or anything, but I do, I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

01:06:39.13
Aaron
None of those commercials. Those were amazing.

01:06:40.88
Ian
yeah

01:06:42.99
Aaron
No, I think if you could be a superhuman, if you were able to incorporate some stillness into your life. And I'm talking like 10 minutes in the morning of meditation or 20 minutes where you're just focused on your breath and like what that feels like to to actually give your brain a rest because it it is probably constantly going and at some point, it might just need that sort of respite, you're not getting tons of sleep.

01:07:13.19
Aaron
ah And meditation might make you on the when the flip side happens when you come out of that, just like ready to rock full.

01:07:23.29
Ian
but in the same breath, Aaron, like I got maybe five hours of sleep today. I didn't wake up tired. You know what I mean? Like I'm not tired when I wake up. So like, why would I want to just sit?

01:07:35.00
Aaron
Yeah.

01:07:36.76
Ian
I'm breathing fine. You know what I mean? Like, so why do I need to sit and fucking think about how I'm breathing? yeah it You know what I'm saying?

01:07:44.64
Seth Macey
ah look

01:07:45.98
Ian
Like, and I know like we're we're coming from two different types of people. So it's like, why do I need to address something that I don't have a problem with?

01:07:57.19
Ian
You know what I mean? Like everything everything I do, hold on, everything I do works for me perfectly and everything I have to do works perfectly as well.

01:08:05.63
Seth Macey
Oh, well.

01:08:08.27
Ian
This goes back to talking about nothing in my life.

01:08:10.87
Seth Macey
Perfectly. Perfect.

01:08:12.61
Ian
Well, perfect.

01:08:13.43
Seth Macey
As someone who says you can always improve, you don't think, I think Aaron's point is you're hung, you're high functioning and you're, you're crushing it, but like imagine gear five, gear five, like your fifth gear, another gear.

01:08:24.96
Ian
Year five of what? oh Like, extra.

01:08:32.33
Seth Macey
I think that's the point Aaron's trying to make.

01:08:32.48
Aaron
Yeah.

01:08:33.85
Seth Macey
Like things are going great. That's perfect. But like what's another level of perfect?

01:08:40.94
Ian
I don't know, I feel like I've just been euphoria, just orgasming all day. Like, what could be better? You know what I mean? I mean, I give i get what you're saying. Like, you know, like I get what you're saying, but it's like,

01:08:53.92
Ian
if If it's not broke, like why fix it?

01:08:58.22
Aaron
he Here's the, I'm going to play it out for you a little bit. Okay. So you're, you're obsessed with the, yeah, you're obsessed with the bathroom, right?

01:09:01.62
Ian
all right I'm an official learner. Yeah.

01:09:06.42
Aaron
Where, where before you did it, you're obsessed with your standing there. That's all you can think about. You're thinking about Home Depot. That is your number one in your hierarchy of thoughts for the week is this bathroom changing.

01:09:19.31
Aaron
down maybe a couple because of how things floated is your girlfriend, in your relationship, your a client that you have to do this video for, uh, and things change. So if your girlfriend's listening, don't take offense to this. It's just a, it's a floating flow chart of his brain. So he's obsessed with the bathroom. Now you're doing this work for this client. You're doing a real, but all you're thinking about while you're making these edits is, Oh, if I did that finish with the, with the marble top,

01:09:49.50
Aaron
Then, you know, if I hard, yeah, hardwood would be better. And you just go down this path of thought. Meditation is catching that thought and bringing it back to, let's say, the breath.

01:09:58.89
Ian
Yeah.

01:10:00.57
Aaron
And the more you practice that, the more efficient than you can be and still have that hierarchy of I'm obsessed with the bathroom right now, but I caught myself in 10 seconds of that thought and I'm coming back to the client that I have to work on right now and get done before 5 PM.

01:10:16.44
Ian
Yeah.

01:10:16.70
Aaron
Otherwise, I'm going to go searching on Home Depot and I'm going to go down this whole rabbit trail and probably take a drive down there to just see if they have it in stock. So I can get it for this weekend and then I'm going to come back.

01:10:27.45
Aaron
And and this is ah obviously a made up thing, but that is the practice. And if you spent 20 minutes, just 20 minutes, even starting with 10 or five, being able to, you're focusing on your breath.

01:10:38.24
Aaron
It's not easy because you'll go out of the bathroom. Oh, what am I going to do after this? What's for breakfast? Oh, nope.

01:10:44.76
Seth Macey
He's thinking about it right now.

01:10:46.21
Aaron
come back to the breath, the more you catch yourself thinking and going to that obsessed place and can come back to where you are.

01:10:46.87
Seth Macey
me

01:10:54.21
Aaron
I think that is ah that would be a superpower in your ability to super focus on things and not get distracted by the the one thing that you are obsessed with in the moment.

01:11:05.61
Seth Macey
The thing is too is like, Ian will still get everything done on that to do list.

01:11:05.81
Aaron
Does that make sense?

01:11:08.50
Seth Macey
But then the, so like the trade off ends up being your five hours of sleep. But I mean, you say you're, you wake up rested. Maybe what, like maybe how you wake up is all your familiar list. Like what is another, maybe three hours is a superpower extra three hours.

01:11:22.10
Ian
I mean, I don't know, but.

01:11:23.36
Seth Macey
I mean,

01:11:25.46
Ian
I mean, I don't know, like I bike but aaron said like. i'm not Like nothing is sacrificed. So like if I if I have a job for a client or I need to edit stuff like that's getting done that day.

01:11:38.45
Ian
You know what I mean? Like that's like I will go do a shoot, come home, edit done. See, ya that's off my plate. And then it's like on to like the next thing. The only time.

01:11:49.76
Ian
I fixate. This is good. The only time I fixate and really hyper focus on that stuff and dig deep down and over analyze and over subject is when I'm making something for myself that I actually love because I am the client. I'm talking back and forth to myself. You know what I mean? So it's like, for example,

01:12:17.12
Ian
If a client's like, hey, can you make XYZ? I'm like, yeah, sure, I'll make XYZ, and I'm making it, and I send it to them, they're like, oh, I love this. Or they're like, hey, can you just change this back and forth? I think if they were sitting across from my laptop, seeing the whole process, be like, oh, change that, can we do this? Okay, can we move this around here? Like, can can we do this?

01:12:39.50
Ian
That would be exhausting. But I feel like since they're cut out of that equation and it's just me making the thing, send it to them and they like it, job's done, they have it. I think the problem is when I'm making stuff for me, when it's my idea, it's it's my thought process and it's me thinking and putting into the content,

01:12:58.18
Ian
I'm making it while I'm like, all right, well, what if we did this instead? What if we did that instead? Or what if we move this around here? That's when I think the anal retentiveness comes in and it like,

01:13:15.74
Ian
like blocks everything else and I just hyper focus on that. So, I guess if that makes sense a little bit, I don't know. But then it depends because like those two like Breels I had to make for Tamron, those like the software update stuff, I spent so much time on those, like literally so much time on them. But I think it's because the, that there's like a ah cross a cross-section where passion and creativity blends into, it's a job. And it's like, I take so much fucking pride in everything I do, especially when it's for like somebody I have a like a relationship with and like I care about, you know what I mean? And it becomes a personal project, which sometimes is a fault. Aaron, I see you

01:14:07.95
Ian
agreeing.

01:14:08.70
Aaron
Oh yeah, I hear you.

01:14:09.53
Ian
It comes up a personal fault. and it It could be a negative because I spend so much fucking time perfecting something and making it how I think it should be when it's just a project or a job for a quote unquote client.

01:14:26.87
Ian
I wouldn't it really consider a client, but you know what I'm talking about. where it just, I can't get it done because I keep obsessing over it because it becomes my project now.

01:14:30.53
Aaron
Right.

01:14:38.69
Ian
If that makes sense.

01:14:39.42
Aaron
Yeah, that makes sense. I struggled with that too.

01:14:42.09
Ian
But, to be completely honest with you, I'm not gonna meditate.

01:14:47.51
Seth Macey
I know that.

01:14:47.71
Aaron
That's, that's fine.

01:14:49.95
Seth Macey
I like Aaron's point though.

01:14:50.74
Ian
like ah

01:14:50.91
Seth Macey
And I think to people listening, it's, it's, it's a way to cue in on, okay, um, um, my, my focus is leaving where it needs to be right now.

01:15:03.80
Seth Macey
And if you can focus on something simple, you can practice that as a drill, whether it's feelings of anxiety or whether it's just focus, et cetera.

01:15:08.89
Ian
Yeah. I mean, there there was a time years ago, long time back, we went to the Dominican Republic for like a two week inclusive.

01:15:25.54
Seth Macey
Polly.

01:15:26.62
Aaron
All A.

01:15:27.24
Ian
There must have been a swift the breeze outside that she's got to protect the house from.

01:15:31.21
Aaron
Yeah. Now I have to start over the recording.

01:15:34.22
Seth Macey
Because we need perfection.

01:15:34.69
Ian
No, there is a time we went.

01:15:34.82
Aaron
ours and

01:15:36.52
Ian
We went to a two week vacation in the Dominican Republic. It was like an all inclusive thing. And I'm going to be honest, it was for two weeks, but like the first three days, I was like, I have no technology, I have nothing, no social media, don't have anything.

01:15:51.76
Ian
But it was like once that three, four days had passed, it was like an amazing it was amazing not to have it.

01:15:58.95
Seth Macey
Yeah.

01:15:59.85
Ian
It was like nice to just be be done. But um I learned from that because it allowed me to realize what's on the other side.

01:16:01.76
Aaron
Yeah, that's great.

01:16:08.94
Ian
You know what I mean? Like for for example, for my my birthday weekend, Gabby got us ah like an Airbnb. We were there for like four four or five days.

01:16:20.16
Ian
It was like a nice cabin. There was like a lake and it was like, you know, um just like a nice little treat. You guys know what to Airbnb is. um But I was very mindful of not having anything on me. There was no camera and a laptop. I mean, those stuff were brought. But in the same sense, I was sucking in content from the trip because it was stuff I wanted to make from my own memories later on.

01:16:50.80
Ian
it wasn't anything that I was like, Oh, I have to do this. Or, Oh, can you, can you throw that stick again? It was a really nice shot. Like can it was none of that. It was just all natural, just like sucking in the moment, but in a digital sense.

01:17:03.56
Aaron
Yeah.

01:17:06.48
Ian
But there was also times where it was just like just chilling, having a fire. So there is, there is a time for XYZ and there's a time for this.

01:17:09.89
Seth Macey
Mm hmm.

01:17:15.61
Ian
And I'm very, very good at separating the two. And if you ever notice, um If you ever notice sometimes like the reels I post, if it's like a ah thoughtful sentimental moment or if it's like a nice trip or something if you want to say, um I can't remember like when I post it or whatever. If you tell all that's like iPhone footage.

01:17:40.67
Ian
because it's like quick. ah This is, I'm living in the moment type deal. So it's like more like romanticized than being a big fucking production. You know what I mean? So just that alone, like I can visually see like this was something special to me. This was a moment I'm living in the moment. I don't care if it's not a hundred percent 4k. I don't care if it's this, but like it was something I liked. It was a special moment for me.

01:18:08.47
Ian
But I wanted to make this content to share, but also so it's there forever for me to go back to and look at, because at the end of the day, like I think about this often, like we're all going to be, I don't, I actually don't know how old you two are, but I said, you're somewhere in the thirties or something, right?

01:18:27.08
Seth Macey
30 flat.

01:18:28.54
Ian
Third, third flat.

01:18:28.78
Aaron
Just 30.

01:18:29.70
Ian
Aaron, how old are you?

01:18:30.66
Aaron
I just turned 44.

01:18:34.57
Ian
Whoa, 44, 44.4 probably. Just say that so you can agree to my question with the number.

01:18:39.05
Aaron
There you go. Yeah, I thought that in the head when you said that.

01:18:41.04
Ian
ah But at the end of the day, this kind of like fucking trips me out. So I hope like if people are like kind of listening to me, trip them out too. but

01:18:54.70
Ian
We are all gonna die someday, okay? and i know But listen to me, it may be a fucking surprise.

01:18:56.80
Aaron
What?

01:19:00.28
Ian
But I think about this all the time with like my Google Photos, Seth. I just checked today actually before this and I'm up to like 25 million, okay? Now think about this. When I'm long and gone and crushed and piece of shit in the ground, okay?

01:19:18.75
Ian
My Google Photos are still gonna be cracking views. That's insane to me. like Our stuff that we're posting on here is like never going away, despite our Myspaces that are gone, thank God.

01:19:25.40
Aaron
Thank you.

01:19:32.06
Ian
But what I'm saying is like, this stuff is living on, you know what I mean? So you always have the ability to go back and think about even this a step further. Like, Aaron, you have a child, I want to see.

01:19:43.20
Aaron
Yep, his name.

01:19:45.48
Ian
Nine, Seth, maybe in the future, me, maybe in the future. they'll be able to go back and Google and find all of our digital footprints. You know what I mean?

01:19:55.87
Ian
Like how cool is that? That like you could have your child or somebody just like go back and like Google your name and like find all this stuff and like live vicariously through that big, Oh, like this is awesome.

01:20:09.11
Ian
Like, Oh, this is like cool. You know what I mean? Like, so that's just like cool to me that you just make the stuff and just put it there. It just lives there forever. It's not going.

01:20:16.97
Seth Macey
Yeah.

01:20:18.25
Aaron
Yeah.

01:20:18.49
Seth Macey
That's interesting.

01:20:19.76
Ian
It's like a digital year, but we're set.

01:20:19.97
Aaron
I, I've thought of that. I've thought of that with, uh, the podcasts. If something were to happen, my son, he would say have hours of my voice.

01:20:26.40
Ian
I mean, this is up. I mean, it's not going away ever.

01:20:28.83
Seth Macey
I'm, I'm hoping Aaron, we have enough content as the years go on that maybe they can reconstruct our consciousness, the AI brain interfaces.

01:20:33.75
Aaron
Yeah. That's not the problem.

01:20:41.27
Ian
<unk>s Like Futurama and like the old.

01:20:42.90
Aaron
Yeah. Just, we could press go and not have to actually be here.

01:20:46.67
Seth Macey
I guarantee you if I put enough effort in and I, with the help of somebody made a large language model and used all the transcripts of all the episodes, built Aaron and I as AI hosts and just press record, I bet you the conversation would be insane.

01:20:50.75
Ian
You can record your voice.

01:21:02.63
Ian
Oh, i mean i hear I guarantee you right now. You could probably plug those into some type of program, hooked up a chat TTP with your voices, and take it could just make questions.

01:21:12.63
Seth Macey
Go back and forth.

01:21:15.36
Ian
It can make a conversation.

01:21:16.92
Seth Macey
That's insane.

01:21:17.00
Ian
You guys can hypothetically be talking forever to fucking eternity. And that's insane.

01:21:21.90
Seth Macey
That is insane.

01:21:22.96
Aaron
yeah

01:21:23.73
Ian
But it's so insane, but it's not unrealistic.

01:21:28.46
Seth Macey
No, it's, it's currently doable.

01:21:30.54
Aaron
Yeah.

01:21:31.09
Ian
Aaron, Aaron, think about this.

01:21:33.60
Aaron
Yeah.

01:21:33.88
Ian
Let's say your whole and

01:21:34.62
Seth Macey
Mike, I'm going to kill you.

01:21:37.95
Ian
Aaron, your whole entire voice, transcript into a thing. Seth, yours, transcript into a thing. Two separate AIs.

01:21:42.51
Seth Macey
Yeah.

01:21:45.08
Ian
One is chat GTP. One is somebody else. And you just talk to each other for fucking ever. It's like the old prank phone call where you call Domino's, you call pizza at the same time and you put the phone up to each other.

01:21:56.62
Seth Macey
Yeah.

01:21:57.11
Ian
You're like, you call me?

01:21:57.41
Aaron
Yeah.

01:21:57.91
Ian
No, I'm delivering a pizza. You just like have that for fucking decades.

01:22:02.94
Seth Macey
Yeah. That's what I'm saying.

01:22:05.35
Ian
It's insane. Digital world and AI and all that stuff is bonkers.

01:22:11.42
Aaron
great way to end.

01:22:11.44
Seth Macey
It would be fun to do as an experiment episode. It's like, Hey, being like not, not making it the show forever. Just but but saying, Hey, this episode was entirely an AI generated and seeing where, like how it goes.

01:22:23.25
Aaron
It crushes.

01:22:24.69
Ian
But it would be even funnier if you told people it was AI and you didn't show any video footage of it.

01:22:32.21
Seth Macey
It was just us normal.

01:22:33.70
Ian
It's all done time.

01:22:36.72
Ian
and I am Seth.

01:22:38.01
Seth Macey
That would be good.

01:22:38.95
Ian
I am here to eat.

01:22:42.92
Ian
How do they see me?

01:22:44.34
Seth Macey
That would be great.

01:22:45.83
Ian
Yeah, I mean, it's I don't know. It's all crazy.

01:22:48.65
Aaron
It's soon.

01:22:49.51
Ian
Crazy crap.

01:22:50.72
Aaron
it soon

01:22:51.85
Ian
Sorry, I'm just itching to get off here to work on the next project.

01:22:51.97
Seth Macey
um

01:22:55.09
Seth Macey
he yeah Yeah, he was already thinking, he's been thinking about his bathroom rental from the start of the year.

01:22:58.45
Ian
Well, I got I got my 42 inch OLED just ah I've been editing this entire time.

01:22:58.97
Aaron
Yeah.

01:23:02.64
Aaron
Yeah, you haven't. I've been seeing you.

01:23:04.11
Ian
I have I did one text. Okay.

01:23:08.48
Ian
one tap.

01:23:08.64
Aaron
One title screen, damn it.

01:23:11.50
Ian
If you notice, my clicks are like trying not to move any muscles or forearms.

01:23:18.54
Seth Macey
He has all his typography done with animation and everything, keyframes.

01:23:18.97
Aaron
yeah yeah

01:23:22.48
Ian
and like i was like I was like, hey, Gabby, don't call our taxi because I'm using my phone to record.

01:23:23.07
Seth Macey
i

01:23:26.88
Seth Macey
Oh, that was the same as five minutes ago where I said, don't touch your mic.

01:23:27.13
Ian
And she's like, okay, well, did it anyway. I'm like, hey, hold on, still doing the thing.

01:23:33.08
Seth Macey
And then you touched it 20 seconds later and and started laughing.

01:23:36.49
Ian
Well, I think it becomes a habit it's just here. It's like, it's a fixation.

01:23:38.31
Aaron
Yeah. Yeah. I think, I think that's rule one with microphones is don't touch them.

01:23:44.08
Seth Macey
I touch them sometimes.

01:23:45.15
Ian
You guys haven't touched her.

01:23:45.81
Seth Macey
I feel like they need an adjustment.

01:23:47.14
Aaron
I do. I have my.

01:23:47.62
Seth Macey
But you're like, hey, press mute and then move it.

01:23:49.35
Aaron
I have my hand on the mute and I go like this.

01:23:53.85
Ian
That's what I've been doing.

01:23:54.05
Aaron
And then I come back. Yeah.

01:23:57.22
Ian
Why has Aaron got a cool purple cord, but a dumb arm?

01:24:00.58
Aaron
Dumb arm. Why is it dumb?

01:24:02.25
Ian
Oh, it's not a road arm.

01:24:03.59
Seth Macey
All right, now we're just getting mean.

01:24:04.44
Aaron
Well, I didn't buy the road or maybe I didn't just put on the cool thing.

01:24:08.09
Ian
I have this, I think I have an extra sleeve, probably.

01:24:10.67
Aaron
Yeah. I need the sleeve.

01:24:12.38
Ian
A little sleeve, got a little sleeve here.

01:24:15.46
Aaron
Yeah.

01:24:16.16
Seth Macey
All right. Well, buddy, this is where the show ends.

01:24:17.68
Ian
Well.

01:24:19.46
Aaron
Yeah. I'm running out of battery.

01:24:21.24
Seth Macey
Thanks for letting us grill you.

01:24:24.10
Aaron
Yeah, I appreciate it. I am.

01:24:25.39
Ian
Honestly, like to be completely honest, that was low level grilling.

01:24:25.60
Aaron
I.

01:24:28.16
Seth Macey
Please be.

01:24:30.50
Ian
If it was, there was no.

01:24:30.51
Seth Macey
I'm not really, I'm teasing, I'm kidding. But it it is interesting to get inside your, you are, and not to make you embarrassed or flustered, but you're a fascinating person. You get stuff done.

01:24:39.05
Aaron
Yeah.

01:24:39.49
Ian
I mean I...

01:24:40.32
Seth Macey
You had, let me finish. You have your hand in so many different things. You're wildly creative. Uh, it's no coincidence that your episode was the most streamed.

01:24:51.15
Seth Macey
It's no coincidence that we've had you on six or seven times now. People can learn a lot from you whether they relate to you or not. I think a lot of people will relate to you ah I think at times Aaron and I maybe struggle and that's partly what makes this so fascinating because like we want to me personally and I know I'll speak for Aaron too like we want to understand people it's interesting to get inside the heads of different creators that's what this show literally is is to expose you to all kinds of thought and human behavior and how people think and how they act whether you agree with it or not so that you can pick and pull things you like and don't like and apply to your own life and apply to your own photography or videography or content creation practice. I think you do a good job of that. You're very interesting. And this was a very good episode that kind of showed two different ways of thinking. And I feel like at times maybe we don't fully understand each other, but that's okay. That's part of it. And conversations like this help us get too closer to understanding. And I think that's good for everybody. It's good for our relationship.

01:25:50.18
Seth Macey
like us three, and it's good for listeners, I think more people kind of just sat down, took the time to understand one another, we'd be a much more harmonious society globally.

01:25:59.93
Aaron
That's right.

01:26:00.84
Ian
yes but again for my side there's never ever been a point where i've ever felt like you guys were digging a prime digging a prime you guys could even go deeper at some point if you want and what's that oh this is yeah that's nothing for the people yeah that's not for a

01:26:15.12
Seth Macey
I've heard Ian's life story. It's, it's, I heard Ian life's Ian's life story when I was in PA.

01:26:25.24
Seth Macey
Wow.

01:26:25.43
Ian
Go ahead. I mean, you got me whatever. I don't care. But yeah, like Seth was just like, that's gotta be fake. I was like, no, it's actually real.

01:26:31.39
Seth Macey
i I was like John the floor for two hours.

01:26:36.58
Aaron
Yeah.

01:26:36.76
Seth Macey
I'll leave it with that. All right guys.

01:26:39.04
Aaron
Next time, Episode 7.

01:26:40.19
Ian
Yeah.

01:26:40.90
Seth Macey
Episode seven or eight or whatever we're on. Until next time.

01:26:42.77
Ian
which

01:26:43.49
Seth Macey
Thanks guys. I don't know enough of them.