So I made a personal account in the niche of memes about Minnesota. The goal was to run it anonymously. Then once it had amassed a somewhat significant following on its own merit (ex. 10k), I’d reveal to people I know that it was me.

A year went by while I put in the bare minimum effort on the account, acquiring about 100 followers. The trouble with starting something new is that you don’t want to waste great content on an audience of 2 people.

Then a coworker discovered the account.

So I finally began to put effort into the account in the last two months, making about 40 memes (and crossing a follower threshold where I’m not embarrassed to mention the account). In total, in the last 60 days, I’ve probably made at least 100 memes (for this account and others).

A helpful creative practice is to commit to something and give yourself no option to quit. For example, posting one piece of content a day. If you 100% commit to something, often you prime your brain to notice things you wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

A few of the memes I’ve made recently are below.

Making sure to work my son into a meme:

Now the dilemma I have is: do I write a third book?

I wrote a lot of words for a third book a few years ago. The topic was going to be stories of working in the service industry, but it turned out I had more observations than narratives. But from this, I noticed an opportunity to take the narratives I have and compile them into a book on a different theme: stories of embarrassing failures (one could argue I touched on this in my first book).

The irony of having written two books is that I didn’t do a huge deep dive into learning about becoming a better writer until after I had already written two books. Now it seems my motivation for writing a third book is to prove to myself that I am now a much better writer (I’ve also read about 30+ books on storytelling since writing my first book).

Perhaps I wrote this blog post to convince myself that I should write a third book. But if you have an opinion, you can share it anonymously below.

The baby has arrived! What a journey it has been. A lot of people talk about how painful the labor process is, but I didn’t think it was bad, aside from my feet being a little sore from standing. But this new father is feeling healthy and relaxing now. Looking forward to when we can head home and get some high quality sleep.  I think this covers all of the info people ask for when a baby is born.

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I must admit there’s nothing like seeing your child smile for the first time. When the edges of his mouth widened, his eyes aglow as he stared up at me, I felt a warmth unlike any I’ve felt before. Moments later, I realized much of that warmth was urine finding a home on my shirt (and also a reminder to make sure you fasten diapers tight!).

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When asking people for parenting advice before the baby arrived, the worst advice I received from multiple people is, “There’s really nothing that can prepare you for becoming a parent.” While I get the point they’re making, it’s super unhelpful because obviously there are things you can learn that will help no matter what happens. Reading/skimming the book (because 85% of the book is filler) The Happiest Baby on the Block is helpful advice.

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As part of negotiating with my wife on the purchase of a GH5 camera, below is the video I promised I’d make with it.

I also didn’t blog much this year. I wrote a measly ONE blog post. In the past (obviously), I once had a six-month stretch where I published a blog post daily.

What happened?

The guilt got to me. That is, the guilt of consuming (mostly books) without producing anything. So in 2016 I took a break from reading to do more doing of the things I’ve been learning. Since 2012, I’ve binge learning one topic at a time which has always lead me to a new topic. The more I learn, the more I see how most things are connected.

A few of the topics I’ve been binge-learning include:

• How the brain works
• The human condition
• Learning how to learn
• Storytelling
• Writing/copywriting/persuasion
• How to play piano (using the app SimplyPiano)
• Photography/videography/editing

2016 was the year I binged on video/photography. I filmed more video in 2016 than any other year. I got a few freelance gigs that had me flying to Canada and San Francisco. I got to make videos for big food brands that I love. Almost daily, I share something on Snapchat (if you’ve read either of my books you’d enjoy following me on Snapchat). My problem with reading is that it became a distraction and a productive way of not actually doing something.

So here are a few things I did in 2016 besides reading…

2016 Highlights

GoPro Award – One of my goals for 2016 was to win a GoPro Award. Watch the video below to see how it happened. Also, another highlight is that GoPro shared one of my photos.

Life Highlight Video – How do you summarize 99 years of one man’s life in 5 minutes? I had this task when creating the slideshow for my Grandpa’s funeral in October. My advice: Look for themes and find photos (and ideally videos) that support those themes. If you need to convert VHS to digital, here is what I used.

Mixergy Courses – I’ve been working with Mixergy for a few years and got to visit Canada and San Francisco to film/produce a few courses.

2017 Goals

I have goals for 2017 but I’m not sharing them publicly due to the reasons below.

Why Most New Years Resolutions Fail

If you have plans to start a new diet, workout consistently, or build any new habit, this one word will help you understand what you’ll experience: homeostasis.

The human body seeks balance. When you start any new habit, for better or worse, your body wants to revert back to the “normal” of before. Because people seek comfort + they have the irrational belief that what they are feeling now they’ll feel forever, people resort back to their “balanced” life pre-change. But, if one ignores the feelings of discomfort, eventually their life will become balanced once again with a new normal.

So if you have any habits you’d like to drop or replace, know that now does not equal forever, and within a month you’ll feel normal again. Also, tell yourself that any change you make is only for 30 days. Then you can go back to “normal.” It’s a small trick for persuading yourself into making better decisions.

Also, the insight about things seeking a balance also applies to trends in society. Society takes one thing too far and then people seek the opposite, which they eventually take too far the other way.

What’s next for me in 2017?

I’d plan to continue making movies, but I’m also bothered by my lack of publishing, specifically books. I know a lot more about writing now than when I published my first two books. Can’t guarantee I’ll publish a book this year, but I will for sure finish writing something humorous (to be very vague).

Look at that, I’ve already published as many blog posts as I did last year!

1. What prompted you to write your book?
I wanted an outlet for my observational humor and the theme of First World Problems seemed like the perfect vehicle for my observations.

Also, I don’t like when people complain (note: ranting is different than complaining) so a satirical book where I complain about petty “problems” to make the point that most people have nothing to complain about was appealing to me.

2. Do you think that “whining” about first world problems is a cultural problem?
Complaining about first world problems could be seen as a reflection of how good things are in society. The more petty the complaints people have, the better things are.

That said, it could be a cultural problem that people get outraged over insignificant/non-existent problems instead of focusing on the very real problems that exist.

2B. Do you think there is a solution to this theoretical problem?
Yes and no. Gaining awareness of history and the struggles people have gone through helps to put things in perspective. By reading about history, it makes my everyday “problems” seem petty and insignificant.

There is no solution for having problems in one’s life (explained below), but there is a solution for first world problems—gratitude. For example, I should be grateful that mating Canadian geese didn’t wake me up at 3AM last night with their car horn-loud honking (instead of just ranting when the geese are loud).

3. Do you think that these first world problems are necessary to maintain a healthy psychological state?

What people want more than anything else in their life—more than money, power, or fame—is meaning and purpose (for more on this topic read Man’s Search For Meaning). Purpose and meaning in life comes from overcoming obstacles and challenges. People need problems to maintain a healthy psychological state. So when people don’t have “real” problems in their life, they have a tendency to invent them, which why first world problems exist.

I don’t think first world problems are necessary to maintain a healthy psychological state. Having gratitude for how good things are is much more important than focusing on trivial issues.

Favorite Movies

Mad Max: Fury Road
I saw this movie twice in theaters, which I almost never do. My wife generally doesn’t like action movies but loved Mad Max. George Miller, the writer/director of Mad Max (and Babe!), blew me away with everything in Mad Max. I’ll stop gushing now.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Funny, touching, and has a great cast.

Creed
In some ways, creating a great sequel is harder than creating an original movie, which is why most sequels are disappointing. Creed features great acting from Stalone and Michael B. Jordan as well as creative directing, especially during the boxing matches.

Anomalisa
I love Charlie Kaufman movies. They’re funny, thought provoking, and creative like no other movies. Anomalisa is funny, though definitely not a “feel good” movie.

What We Do in the Shadows
I’ve donated to two movies on Kickstarter. One was a massive disappointment and one of the least funny movies I saw in 2015. The other is What We Do in the Shadows which is the funniest movie I saw in 2015.

Ex Machina
This is the first time I’ve seen a movie and couldn’t figure out who was the villain. I’ve had debates with friends about who the “bad guy” was. The trailer is below, but I recommend not watching the trailer if you plan to watch the movie.

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
This is a weird movie that most people won’t “get” or enjoy, but if you enjoy weird and have a dry/dark sense of humor, you might enjoy it. The first scene in the trailer kills me. A guy has a heart attack right after paying for his food and beer. When the guy slowly raises his hand, I giggle every time.

Making a Murderer (on Netflix)
I already raved about this, but I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s the most compelling thing I’ve watched in a long time.

Favorite Books I Read in 2015

I read 82 books in 2014. This year I read about 48 (some unfinished), and most were about writing and storytelling.

Inside Story: The Power of the Transformational ARC by Dara Marks (link)
I’ve likely read more than 20 books on storytelling. As you read more books on a subject, it becomes more difficult to be impressed. A book that would have been amazing if it was the first I read on the subject could be mediocre if it’s the 20th. All of this is to say I give Dara Marks high praise for writing an excellent book.

Invisible Ink: A Practical Guide to Building Stories That Resonate by Brian McDonald (link)
All great stories are about one thing. Everything in the story, from supporting characters to locations to plot points, relates to that one thing. Brian McDonald is an expert at simplifying something that often feels complex.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (link)
I decided to read this after reading that it was one of Elon Musk’s favorite books. This ended up being one of the funniest books I’ve read.

Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari (link)
Eye opening.

Before and After: How to Design Cool Stuff by John McWade (link)
Everyone should learn the basics of design. While the examples in this book are cheesy, the design principles are explained clearly.

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed (link)
While her advice might not always be great, her writing is phenomenal. If you want to learn how to become a better writer, buy this book and one of Gary Provost’s books and read them at the same time.

Favorite Websites and Apps

Product Hunt
I love discovering new gadgets. Product Hunt makes it easy.

SimplyPiano
I dreaded piano lessons as a child, but I could use the SimplyPiano app for hours. It’s amazing how quickly I learned how to read sheet music.

Vrse
Get a Google Cardboard headset and download Vrse.

GIF Keyboard
I love gifs. This app lets me send them in text messages.

Brain.fm
Makes it easier to focus.

1Password
I started using this two years ago, but I have to include it again. How much of your life do you want to spend thinking about passwords?

Grammarly
Improving one’s grammar is hard. Grammarly makes the learning process a little bit easier.

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Have a favorite I didn’t include? Leave a comment.

And there went 10 hours of my life in 4 days.

Making a Murderer one of the most fascinating things I’ve seen. There are so many twists, revelations, and jaw-dropping things that happen. I won’t spoil what happens, but I highly recommend watching the trailer below.

Watch the first episode for free on YouTube.

And this is where a definition of humor can be found. Ben plans big. Books a trip to Oahu. Sees the unreal scenery on Instagram and gets a head full of fantasies. There is the dream. Then comes the reality. Comedy comes from the contrast between expectations and reality. This is shown in the vacation video below.

Even though it rained almost all day for 6 of the 7 days we were in Oahu, it was still a fun trip.

Lessons learned from the Oahu vacation.

1. Airbnb can be a great experience. It was our first time using it. I wanted an experience that would be more interesting than a hotel (not hard to top).
2. There is a reason flights are much cheaper a certain time of year (it might be rainy season)
3. Lack of self-awareness is most evident on airplanes. The touch screen on the back of my wife’s seat was a “poke screen” for the elderly woman behind her. On the flight back, a man in the row in front of me had the worst body odor I’ve ever encountered. Shortly into the flight, I couldn’t tell if the woman next to him was asleep or passed out from the rancid fumes.
4. You can buy a window seat on an airplane that doesn’t actually have a window (definition of a first world problem).
   

   Enjoying the view from my WINDOW SEAT. #blessed #windowseatlife

   A photo posted by Ben Nesvig (@bennesvig) on Nov 17, 2015 at 4:43am PST

 

5. Hawaii has acai bowls. Minnesota does not. Acai bowls are amazing.
6. Relaxing on the beach is nice and all, but you should do one thing on every vacation that makes you a little nervous. Hiking the first peak of Olomana was slightly terrifying. (Also, don’t Google [name of the trail + deaths] before going on a hike.)
7. Fun and happiness are different. Hiking Olomana was brutal and awful in the moment, but one thing I’m happy that we did. It can be helpful to ask yourself “In a year, will I be happy that I did X?” If I had done that while at the top of Olomana, I would have put aside my fear of heights and put together my drone for what would have been the best video of the trip (assuming I didn’t lose the drone).
   

   A video posted by Ben Nesvig (@bennesvig) on Nov 20, 2015 at 7:52am PST

8. Apple bananas taste way better than regular bananas.
9. Rain or shine, Hawaii is more fun than Minnesota (ok, I already knew that).

 

Junk Mail from Voyager on Vimeo.

This video hit me with the feels. Worth taking 11 minutes to watch it.