If you enjoy this letter you can watch it in more depth ​over on YouTube​.

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Every evening after work, we tell ourselves the same story:

“I’ll just put on one episode to recharge"

"I’ll just play a few rounds to clear my head"

"I’ll just watch a few videos for inspiration…"

And then I’ll start creating.

Three hours later, we’re still on the couch, still playing one more round, still going down that rabbit hole chasing inspiration.

Somehow more tired than when we got home.

I spent 10 years living this exact reality. Coming home from my job as a creative director, telling myself tonight would be different. That I’d finally start my project, build my product, launch my channel.

But the problem I was facing was that all the advice out there was telling me I had to completely change my evening routine and habits.

To somehow go from sliding backwards to immediately pushing a boulder uphill. To transform from binge-watching episodes to becoming a disciplined content machine.

The momentum swing was just too big. It felt like trying to slam my car from reverse into sixth gear without stopping first.

A Different Route Forward

The biggest shift I had was when I discovered that the problem wasn’t WHAT I was doing in my evenings, the problem was HOW I was doing it.

Here are the three simple steps that didn’t solve everything… but were fundamental in getting me the momentum I needed to grow my 100k audience and launch my business in just my evenings and weekends:

1. Continue as you are (with guardrails)

This might come as a surprise, but the first step in this process is I want you to keep those shows and games as your wind-down activities. Continue watching those inspiration, motivation, and strategy videos as you research and prepare.

But instead of doing this aimlessly, we're simply going to put up some guardrails so that they align with where you want to go.

For example, my end goal was (and still is) to tell stories and create worlds in the sci-fi genre. So I limited myself to only sci-fi, story-driven games and sci-fi series. During life maintenance like cleaning or laundry, I switched from random podcasts to digital art podcasts and sci-fi audiobooks.

I even created a second Instagram and YouTube to only subscribe and follow and watch this specific content that preps me for content on this channel which makes it even easier to stay within these guardrails because the only content I’m recommended is aspirational for my art and storytelling.

You can adapt this approach to whatever your end goal is:

Aspiring Filmmaker? Silo your Netflix time to films in your genre.

Want to be a Game Developer? Focus your gaming sessions on the specific type of games you want to make.

Artists? Spend your browsing time on art and imagery in your preferred style. Create a second Instagram and only follow the artists who should be influencing your work.

Future YouTuber? Watch only the 3-5 creators you most want to emulate. Create a second channel, stay logged in there, and be conscious of what you click to keep your recommendations aligned with your direction.

Building a Business? Get a list of docs, videos, or podcasts lined up from entrepreneurs you admire.

2. One, Not One More

But the key to making this work is that while we've narrowed and guided the direction of our procrastination, Step 2 constrains us to ONE, not ONE MORE.

That might mean one longform YouTube video, one episode, or for things that are harder to count, up to one hour. No negotiations, no extra time.

The limitation is as important as the direction.

But while you don’t get one more, you DO get one more time around. Immediately after you finish that first watch or playthrough, I want you to immediately do it again… but this time with an active purpose.

While you experienced it the first time, this round becomes practice, material, and data.

Now I go much deeper into this process in ​Future Fundamentals​, but the truth is you could even just use just a Google Doc in the beginning

Note down everything that matters or has impact during this second time through the content.

Maybe it’s the opening line of a hook of a YouTube video, the animation style of title slides, a metaphor or analogy used to explain a concept. Or maybe it was a line of dialogue, how a scene was lit, or a setup and payoff of a scene or interaction.

The point is to catalogue the moments that relate to what you want to create or build in the long run.

If you use the free template included in this newsletters ​video​ this practice will start to build out a database.

• You’ll first add the source (episode number, podcast or video name).

• Set what type it is (game, podcast, series)

• Add a link if it’s something online, and

• List out your notes one by one as you go through that second pass to note what stood out – could be information, perspective, a scene that worked, a hook that grabbed you, a quote, a strategy, really anything that was impactful to you.

• Finish with some tags that are relevant so you can sort them or easily find them later.

By going through this same hour of content again right after you first experienced it, you’re transforming what would have been wasted time into invested time.

You start building out this bank of knowledge and reference material that begins to evolve and refine your taste through taking the time to reflect and articulate things that speak to you, and at the same time you’ll vastly speed up your workflow when you start producing, since you have actual notes to refer back to, not just vague memories.

3. Do One Thing With It

You've consumed it, you've studied and catalogued it, and now you need to move from taking notes to taking action. But where most creators fall short here is that the gap between studying something and creating something feels massive.

So instead of trying to cross that gap in one leap, we're going to build a bridge. There are three ways to do this:

Make a Connection The easiest option is to literally just repeat the first two steps. Watch another episode, play another quest, check out another video in your niche. But this time, when you do that second viewing pass, you're looking for patterns. How do different YouTube videos structure their hooks? What storytelling tricks keep showing up? What difference in importance do they place on opposing or similar strategies? If you're watching episodes back-to-back, what setups from earlier episodes are paying off now? Which techniques or elements seem to be building, and that they seem to be leaning into or away from? Are they subverting or reinforcing your expectations and assumptions from the prior episode?

Make an Extension Move from your TV or couch to your laptop or desk. Find some behind-the-scenes footage. Read the art direction breakdowns. Watch creator commentaries about why they made specific choices. Even dig into YouTube comments or reviews that seem to get a lot of traction. But don't just read them. Add these insights to your notes, marking how they expand or challenge what you first noticed.

Make a Conclusion We're still not trying to leap straight into writing a book or launching a channel or building a business. That gap's still too wide. Instead, take what you've learned and create something small. Write a tweet thread breaking down that storytelling technique. Spend 15 minutes on a quick note on Substack connecting those ideas you found. If you're more visual, pull open Miro or PureRef and build a moodboard that captures that aesthetic, or scene or level you studied - grab some reference images, pair them with quotes from those behind-the-scenes insights, and just generally recreate the moment or experience that caught your eye.

With both connection and extension options, you're still technically just watching more content - but you're doing something completely different from mindless consumption. You're mapping out how successful creators solve problems and you're catching patterns in what audiences respond to. But really... you're building the foundation for your own creative voice.

Building Natural Momentum

These three steps build on each other naturally. You start exactly where you are – watching shows, playing games, going down YouTube rabbit holes.

But now you’re failing in the direction you want to go.

That same hour transforms from wasted time into an investment when you go through it again, building your own database of references and inspiration.

Instead of ending each evening more drained than when you started, you’ll be building momentum without massive lifestyle changes – just small shifts that pivot those same activities from sliding backwards to moving forward, one evening at a time.

If you enjoyed this letter you can watch it in more depth ​over on YouTube​.