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No Cut Confessional: Priorities

2017-03-31 · letter vlog · Hank · 4:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life (also: Projects) · mode: Personal update · tags: self promotion

In a no-cut confessional, Hank says that for ten years he decided what to do by his obligations, to new ideas he could make exist and to existing projects people rely on, but the 2016 election and his baby son have made that system stop working, so he is building new ones.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — A video with no cuts; how do you decide what to do at any given moment?

  • ★ Hank says today's video is unlike any he has made on Vlogbrothers: no cuts, just four minutes of talking, confessional-style. — 00:00:05 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ Hank asks how you decide what to do at any given moment, a big, important question we maybe don't ask ourselves enough. (hedged) — 00:00:18

00:00:27 — Ten years of obeying obligations; obligation to new ideas: SciShow, Crash Course, the How to Adult relaunch, the HFS podcast

  • ★★ Hank says his system for the last ten years has worked pretty well: basically do whatever needs doing, driven by a strong sense of obligation. (hedged) — 00:00:27
  • ★★★ Hank says one obligation is to a new idea he can uniquely pull off: almost an obligation to the idea or the universe to make it exist, which drives his art, SciShow and Crash Course. — 00:00:50 · SciShow, Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank says they recently relaunched How to Adult because he thinks it should exist in the world. (hedged) — 00:01:05 · How to Adult
  • ★★ Hank says they made a podcast, HFS (Holy Frickin Science), an adult-language show where they get too excited about science and hang out with friends. — 00:01:15
  • ★★ Hank feels these projects should exist and he can help them exist as others may not, because he has tools others lack. (hedged) — 00:01:33

00:01:43 — Obligation to existing things: VidCon, creators, Nerdfighteria, John; Wizard School is out but Kickstarter perks are late

  • ★★★ Hank says the second obligation, to existing things people rely on and love, is less exciting but more compelling: to VidCon attendees and creators, Nerdfighteria and John; he doesn't resent it. — 00:01:43 · VidCon, Nerdfighteria, John Green
  • ★★ Hank says Wizard School has launched and people like playing it, but many Kickstarter perks have not been sent yet; he feels terrible and apologizes. — 00:02:10 · Wizard School, Kickstarter

00:02:30 — The election and his baby change his priorities; old systems no longer fit and he must build new ones

  • ★★★ Hank says the election made him think many things need protecting and that he might not be doing a good job of making the world better in the best ways he can. (hedged) — 00:02:42 · United States presidential election
  • ★★ Hank says he should have been thinking about this before the election, but now it feels more pressing than ever. (hedged) — 00:02:57
  • ★★★ Hank says there is now a baby: for the rest of his life his child will be his prime obligation, which is new for him. — 00:03:13 · Orin Green
  • ★ Hank jokes that when his son wants attention and he has stuff to do, the boy wins with the impenetrable argument that he has cheeks. (playful) — 00:03:30 · Orin Green
  • ★★★ Hank concludes his old systems no longer fit his life, which is okay: he must build new ones, difficult and sometimes painful, but he is figuring it out and it is 100% worth it. (hedged) — 00:03:45

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says the system stopping working mostly means Hank is behind on a lot (not the important stuff), and his email task list has become a source of significant dread. (hedged) — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Orin Green

Also: Crash Course · HFS · How to Adult · Kickstarter · SciShow · United States presidential election · VidCon · Wizard School

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