How he went from YouTube addict to studying 12 hours a day

0:00during Co I would stream for 12 hours a

0:03day and study for 10 hours um which

0:06seems kind of ridiculous to a lot of

0:08people but to me it wasn't that

0:10ridiculous you know what finally worked

0:12for me was what's up welcome back to the

0:14channel if you're new on the channel I

0:16make videos to help you optimize your

0:17life every so often I get to do these

0:19interviews where I can interview High

0:20performers and outliers so that you can

0:22Implement their strategies into your own

0:24life so previously I interviewed Ru Yom

0:27who you might be familiar with but this

0:28time I'm interviewing James Schultz

0:30who's a super unique productivity

0:32YouTuber during the pandemic he actually

0:34live streamed himself studying for 12

0:36hours a day every single day for over a

0:38year and he wasn't just scrolling on

0:40YouTube you could actually see what was

0:42on his computer which I don't think

0:43anybody else has done on YouTube like

0:45there are streams where you see people

0:46working or study with these streams but

0:48I don't think there's anybody that

0:49actually showed proof that they were

0:51actually studying for 12 hours a day for

0:53over a year and you can see that all on

0:55his channel one thing that makes him

0:57super unique as a productivity YouTuber

0:59is that he likes to use all this retro

1:01Tech not only does he use a dump phone

1:03but he also uses a retro looking

1:05computer and camera and when you watch

1:07his videos it just looks like it's some

1:10other period of time it feels like

1:11you're being transported to a different

1:13era in the podcast I got to ask him

1:15about his personal productivity routine

1:17his philosophy on building discipline

1:19breaking social media addiction

1:21journaling and even building a YouTube

1:23channel I'll have time stamps of

1:25everything we talked about if you want

1:26to skip around but hope you enjoy the

1:28podcast all right James uh can you give

1:30us a quick background of who you are and

1:31where you're at today yeah man uh my

1:34name is James Schultz uh I'm primarily

1:38known online for my YouTube channels I

1:40have a few uh probably too many but uh I

1:44recently well not recently I finished

1:48University uh graduating with a degree

1:50in computer engineering and I'm

1:52currently kind of just doing my own

1:54thing uh I graduated and then drove

2:00around America for like two months and

2:03then drove to Canada and then was in

2:06England for a long time shooting a movie

2:08and now I'm back and I'm just kind of

2:11playing a lot of sports and working out

2:13and reading a lot so and focusing on my

2:16own companies you know outside of

2:19YouTube nice yeah definitely want to get

2:21into all that but yeah one of the things

2:24I'm curious about like on your channel

2:25you talk about productivity and digital

2:28minimalism and you've also like shared

2:31different parts of your routine like

2:33there was a period where you woke up at

2:343:30 a.m. and there's a period where you

2:37worked for like 12 hours a day so I'm

2:39really curious like right now what does

2:40your daily routine look like these days

2:42like when do you wake up how much do you

2:44work and what are you optimizing

2:46for yeah so just to if you guys didn't

2:50know um I used to wake up pretty early

2:53like 333 a.m. uh during Co I would

2:57stream for 12 hours a day and study for

3:0010 hours um which seems kind of

3:03ridiculous to a lot of people but to me

3:05it wasn't that ridiculous you know I was

3:07working as a undergrad researcher doing

3:10four

3:10hours 20 hours a week and then studying

3:13Japanese two hours a day and then

3:15listening to lectures as a computer

3:18engineering student that takes up a fair

3:19amount of time doing readings doing

3:21homework so at least to me like 10 hours

3:24didn't seem that unreasonable of you

3:26know studying but I guess that's what

3:28people know me for now um nowadays my

3:31routine is a bit different that I'm

3:33graduated

3:35uh things are like in lockdown and my

3:40workout schedule is a bit different and

3:42I've found that um waking up at the same

3:46time every single day including the

3:48weekends for me is rather important um I

3:51know there was a period of time where I

3:53was like mad addicted to energy drinks

3:56and I would drink energy drinks at like

3:58or coffee or caffeine in general at like

4:011: p.m. and it would kind of wreak havoc

4:03on my sleep schedule so um nowadays

4:07having that consistency of waking up at

4:09the same time for me is really important

4:10and for me the most sustainable time to

4:12wake up is about 5:00 a.m. so um it's

4:15like about 5 to 9 is waking hours for me

4:18and uh wake up do a fair amount of work

4:21this routine is based around the um

4:24Haruki mirami daily schedule uh where he

4:28wakes up at like starts working at 4:00

4:30for like 6 hours until 10:00 then goes

4:33on like a 10 km run or something like

4:35that and then just listens to music and

4:37does it the rest of the day uh chills

4:39the rest of the day but uh yeah so I'll

4:42wake up uh work work out eat lunch

4:45shower and then spend the rest of my day

4:48uh how I please which in general is kind

4:51of more productivity oriented um read

4:54books listen to music which I guess is

4:57more of like a Leisure activity I play a

4:59lot of sport actually nowadays um I play

5:02bedington I climb a lot I'm on like a

5:04volleyball team with my homies and I run

5:07a lot and I LIF weights a lot so is

5:09there something specific that you're

5:10optimizing for right now or just overall

5:13this

5:14routine so it's I'm kind of in a weird

5:16period of my life where I'm trying to

5:19work on becoming like um I'm working on

5:22my acting career cuz I feel that as like

5:25my next big Venture but my credentials

5:28like I have a deg in computer

5:30engineering so I kind of have to wait

5:32until this movie comes out that I'm

5:34working on to kind of solidify my like

5:37credentials and in between that period

5:39of like waiting for this film to come

5:41out um I've just been kind of focusing

5:43on like

5:46developing good routines that I can fall

5:48back on when things get a bit crazier in

5:50my life is that a movie that you are

5:52making or you're part of somebody else's

5:55movie um I'm acting in it so it's

5:57someone else's movie oh that's cool

6:00yeah it's been in the works for like a

6:01year now I think it's finally close I

6:03can't say much more because the press

6:05release isn't out but I'm I'm really

6:06excited for it with this routine like is

6:08this a result of having tried many

6:10different productivity routines like

6:11what are some productivity advice that

6:13you find actually is really

6:15helpful I find that most advice isn't

6:18very helpful um and it really depends on

6:20a lot of contexts like I wouldn't

6:22recommend my routine to like a father of

6:26six in like right you know for for me

6:29this is what works um I'm like a fairly

6:32young dude and I have at this point in

6:34my time at this point in my life you

6:36know a lot of free time and I like live

6:39off of passive income so there's a lot

6:42of freedom for me yeah and my routin is

6:45based on like a lot of people who live

6:47off of passive income you know yeah um

6:52so Hari

6:53Mami

6:55um of course and I guess a few YouTubers

6:58I would say have

7:01I have a similar routine to

7:04them I guess like kind of getting into

7:06that passive income how did you actually

7:08build that passive income like what are

7:10your passive income yeah stre I don't

7:13know if you've read uh the almanac by

7:15Naval Ravi K oh yeah that's that's one

7:17of my favorite books yeah you know that

7:19part where he talks about like books

7:21Code Media and uh videos or something

7:23like that yeah so I'm working on

7:25building those four strings and I would

7:27say that I have videos and media down

7:30pretty well but I'm working on the the

7:32movies and the code part at the moment

7:35so that would be YouTube right like with

7:37a media YouTube yeah and

7:41um I think I want to expand a little bit

7:43but I'm trying to figure out what I

7:46exactly want to expand to um I'm a Onan

7:50team here so I can kind of explore as I

7:53please and there's not really much of

7:54like a financial incentive to make

7:57profits immediately so I can experiment

7:59right yeah one thing I'm also curious

8:02about I want to talk to you about is

8:03like you talked about YouTube addiction

8:06before and like breaking that especially

8:08like I feel like it must be especially

8:10hard as a content creator because I feel

8:13like for me I can't just block out

8:15YouTube completely because I have to at

8:18least access an upload a video uh so

8:21what has been your experience with like

8:22breaking YouTube addiction and how is it

8:24as a person that makes content it's an

8:27interesting position man being a

8:29YouTuber that doesn't really watch

8:31YouTube yeah uh so okay for context um

8:37I've been on this platform for a mad

8:39long time like I uploaded my first video

8:41in

8:422009 uh so you know that's like most of

8:45my life I've been on this

8:48website right yeah uh so it's fairly

8:51deeply ingrained to me into me at this

8:53point what my

8:55main uh I guess pitfalls are for

8:58dopamine you know there different traps

9:00for people that they fall into was

9:02YouTube um like I don't drink I don't do

9:05drugs I don't do a lot of the stuff that

9:07people are addicted to nowadays and it

9:09was YouTube that was my main crutch and

9:12I would say actually being a YouTuber

9:14has made it easier to be less addicted

9:16to YouTube because I don't really feel

9:17as though I'm missing out on a lot of

9:19the experience that has actually added

9:21genuine value to my life I can still

9:24watch like tutorials and you know I'll

9:27watch the occasional video here and

9:28there like I really like some book

9:30review channels um I really like some

9:33tech video channels and those actually

9:36genuinely help me for me the problem was

9:38watching just like Mindless content that

9:40actually adds nothing to my life and um

9:44just entertaining myself to death with

9:47pointless uh and it's been an

9:49uphill battle you know what finally

9:51worked for me was finding the important

9:55things to me in life and focusing on

9:58those and that took a lot of

10:00introspection and a lot of hard work and

10:04I would say my mental emotional maturity

10:06has grown and the ability to be bored

10:08has been pivotal to me and I cannot

10:12focus because of that and yeah I would

10:15say my life in general has been much

10:17better since combating YouTube addiction

10:19which for me was I'm Mar in high school

10:22and early college how do you increase

10:25your comfort with boredom and how does

10:27how has it helped you with being more

10:29productive or working more yeah

10:30interesting question um it's really hard

10:33to not be bored nowadays you know it's

10:35the not the default to be bored like it

10:37used to be cuz there's so many things

10:39vying for our attention nowadays um

10:41screens everywhere you know I have like

10:43seven or eight screens around me right

10:45now and it's important to learn how to

10:48live with all these things beckoning for

10:50our attention all the time um technical

10:53literacy and being able to understand

10:56how people find or people seem to

11:00Captivate you seems to be really

11:02important and I guess that skill set

11:04comes from like mindfulness and

11:06emotional literacy and being able to

11:08recognize your own thought patterns and

11:11having systems in place when you do fail

11:13um I would say really important as well

11:15one thing I always thought was really

11:17interesting that you use is retro Tech

11:20like a dumb phone and I saw recently you

11:24switch to like a e in monitor do you

11:26think that that helps a lot with that uh

11:30I would say that it

11:33like it's I

11:36I'm is it okay to call myself kind of

11:38weird uh like I have like a lot of

11:42metaphors in my head and I guess I'll

11:45explain it to you cuz I haven't really

11:47talked about it on my channel cuz feel

11:49like it wouldn't really apply to most

11:50people but um I guess like I'm like a

11:53really big car guy right so I think of a

11:55lot of things in terms of like cars and

11:59for me like the subconscious is the

12:04engine and that's what kind of guides

12:06you right and that's what you your

12:09conscious is driving you're like the

12:10driver you have the self-conscious which

12:13is the engine and when you want to work

12:15on your car right I would say like your

12:18phone or the ink monitor or anything is

12:21like the garage so it's like keeps you

12:23safe from like the elements like the

12:25rain the storm um the snow I don't know

12:28why I said the storm but you know it

12:29protects you from like a bunch of BS

12:31that's trying

12:32to impede you from working on yourself

12:36yeah and it can enhance the ability to

12:37it can allow you to you know work on it

12:40longer at night with lights and when

12:44it's the winter you know so I would say

12:47like most smartphones are kind of like

12:49garages but they just have like a lot of

12:51holes in them and they can help you but

12:54they can also hurt you so do you have

12:56like a meditation practice

12:59yeah so um going back to my analogy the

13:03way I see it it's like if you're on like

13:07you're out there racing your car or

13:09whatever meditation is

13:11like refilling your engine your tank

13:15with gas and it allows you to go out

13:17there for longer and ideally you know

13:20that meditation is high quality high

13:22octane so that you don't mess up your

13:25subconscious or whatever so yeah um the

13:30way I see it I take smaller meditation

13:33breaks throughout the day so in the

13:35morning midday and at the evening like

13:37the same way you would just fill up your

13:39car throughout the day I guess you

13:41wouldn't really do that

13:42but I guess I would in my metaphor I

13:45drive a lot so I have to fill up the gas

13:47tank a lot and I drive pretty hard so I

13:49need to burn a lot of gas so I need to

13:51refill a lot yeah how do you actually

13:54meditate I used to do guided meditation

13:57medido is a pretty good app and it's

13:58free I think it's it's not open source

14:01but the creators

14:03have um committed to remaining free for

14:07his forever uh but nowadays it's more

14:12like okay set a timer for 30 minutes do

14:17you find it easy to to like stick with

14:19this habit because I've had I've had

14:21like periods where I'm like super

14:23consistent with it and then also period

14:24where I kind of drop off so um in my

14:28life I have like three Cornerstone

14:30Habits Like These are what I have to do

14:32every day no matter what and that's work

14:34out meditate and read and meditating has

14:38been my hardest to keep track of I have

14:41like a he- map over here to my side that

14:43has those three habits on um a heat map

14:48yeah I don't know if you are you a

14:49developer I know sorry uh I I studied

14:51computer science but I don't develop

14:53anything right now you know like GitHub

14:55like the heat map like yeah it's just

14:58like a binary Heat map like one zero I

15:01like it just shows you every day and

15:03then wait so you you made this or you uh

15:07it's a piece of software online it's

15:08called life of discipline it's like a

15:10Firebase app and I think the developers

15:14are charging too much for the premium

15:15version but the free version you can

15:17track up to three habits so um okay I do

15:21that work out meditate read meditate has

15:24been the hardest but if you just knock

15:25it out like what after taking your

15:28morning dumpers something it's like yeah

15:30get it done first thing yeah you

15:33know yeah I'm looking at this this this

15:35looks really cool cuz like I had a heap

15:38for Ani and that was like a primary

15:41motivator

15:42for years have it up in your room so you

15:45can always see it like somewhere there

15:47like a dedicated screen and it like and

15:50it's like I don't know it's just like

15:51hella motivating well you so you have a

15:53dedicated like place in your room that

15:56shows it's like I don't know if you can

15:57see it it's like right right there oh

16:00sick that's sick off to the off to the

16:02side right

16:04where so okay yeah I definitely want to

16:07do that are there are there other apps

16:11that you use daily or you use often that

16:14is super helpful like

16:16that no no no just emex org mode but

16:20that's not really like a super

16:21recommendable product because it's like

16:23Niche so you still use the dumb phone

16:26right now I do do use the dumb phone

16:28still it's right here

16:30actually uh yeah um but I wouldn't say

16:34it's like it's like necessary bro I was

16:36I had an iPhone that was averaging like

16:3810 minutes a day on it nice before so

16:42it's kind of more of like just pouching

16:45up the holes in my garage it's not like

16:46I need all that other stuff anyways that

16:48the iPhone provides me yeah um so might

16:51as well just not even bother having it

16:53in the first place mhm but I recognize

16:56that's like kind of a unique scenario

16:58where like I for myself and I don't even

17:00like have that many friends who like

17:02talk to me like that like text me all

17:05the time cuz I usually just communicate

17:07like on Discord on my computer so like

17:09not many people text me and yeah I don't

17:13really use social media I don't need

17:14Whatsapp to communicate with people I've

17:17been living in the same city for 24

17:19years and I'm really good at directions

17:21already M um and I know like all the

17:23business hours and I have like the

17:25business phone of some people just saved

17:28in my had so no Google Maps the Google

17:32Maps on this doesn't work very well oh

17:35so um I don't know some apps works and

17:37some apps don't with GPS it's weird but

17:39I'm I'm actually I actually just ordered

17:41a new um D from from China that shipped

17:44yesterday pretty excited for it I'm

17:46going to mod it and see if that has a

17:47working GPS module is it a e e Inc uh in

17:52PH it's it's not an e dumb phone it's a

17:54Philips e6810 it's a rebranded chin F21

17:57Pro with like a F22 chassis and uh I

18:00used to have an f-21 Pro but I didn't

18:03really like the industrial design it

18:04looked kind of bubbly to me and poorly

18:06built okay I'm going to make sure to

18:08have this on the screen of what you're

18:10saying sorry

18:12guys that might been kind of quick what

18:16are some of your favorite retro Tech I

18:18guess it doesn't have to be retro like

18:20what are some of your favorite tech

18:21stuff that you got recently that you

18:23really appreciate like like recently I

18:24started using an iPod which I I really

18:27like fifth gen is that a fifth gen

18:29yeah but it's like modded and I really

18:31like this the wolf scene deck yeah yeah

18:33yeah what are some of your your uh

18:35favorite tech these days that you've

18:38maybe recently got or still use a lot

18:40I'm really into eating stuff at the

18:43moment um I just find the technology

18:45super interesting and it aligns really

18:47well with my values I would say it

18:49enables people to work better and sleep

18:52better at night and protect their eye

18:54longevity so it's so sick I really like

18:58um um I really like this tablet I have

19:01right here actually it's like a um it's

19:04from this company called books they're

19:05not the greatest company ever but I

19:07think they make the best tablets for me

19:09which is someone who's like a power user

19:11and who's been you know like I've been

19:14on Android forever and I've been modding

19:15it for a long time and I'm really

19:17familiar with it yeah

19:19and um in terms of like P hardw I really

19:22like the design of I really like Teenage

19:25engineering stuff I think it's really

19:26neat I think it's so pretty to look at

19:29which is you know kind important I

19:31really I really like all there's like

19:33nothing I need from them though it's

19:35like I want stuff but they like I'm not

19:37going to use any of the stuff yeah yeah

19:40it's so cool though man um yeah and uh I

19:43guess I like I don't know technolog is

19:45kind of a broad term I'm really into

19:46like vintage flip clocks and stuff but

19:49that's like not even like there's no

19:51functional utility to having a flip

19:53clock besides it looking cool right so

19:56you know

19:58with that eating tablet do you like

20:00journal on that I do a lot of stuff on

20:03it man I probably use it for like four

20:05hours a day journaling wow um I like

20:10so what an important thing for me

20:13recently has been um writing like

20:16autobiography and I can kind of use it

20:18as like a typewriter I just hook up my

20:20Bluetooth keyboard to it and it works

20:22well in Microsoft Word uh and I use it

20:26to do ankey reviews and I read textbooks

20:30on it are you actually like writing a

20:31autography with the intention of

20:33publishing it or that's just how you see

20:35your

20:36Journal that's how I see it man um I

20:39don't think anyone else will ever read

20:41it but it's been very enlightening and

20:45important for reflection which I would

20:47say is a rather important part of

20:49productivity and personal growth you

20:51know is reflection because if you have

20:55an experience and even if it's bad or

20:57good you know you can still learn from

20:59it so a lot of people don't seem to

21:00capitalize on that their past

21:02experiences regardless if it's good or

21:04bad and at least for me you know I had

21:06like a fairly not going to say it was

21:08like super traumatic or anything but it

21:10wasn't like the greatest upbringing ever

21:12and it helped me come to terms with like

21:14a lot of things that were pretty deeply

21:18rooted in me so so it's like you start

21:21from childhood and you start writing

21:23like in a chronological order or do you

21:25write like today this happened

21:29um I kind of feel my life more in terms

21:30of chapters in general already so like

21:33the whole Co thing was like a chapter

21:35the whole High School thing was a

21:36chapter post lockdown was a chapter

21:39postgraduation was a chapter you know

21:41yeah um and it helps me find like find

21:44narratives for my life and like here's

21:47the positives and negatives of each

21:48narrative and this is

21:50my arc um for each narrative and you

21:55know this might be like the training Arc

21:57or like the the development Arc or like

22:01yeah I love that it's like living out

22:03the main character of your own anime

22:07life I guess it helps me be like a

22:09better person for other people too I

22:11won't I won't say it's like I'm the main

22:13character but it helps me be like the

22:15way I see it like if I can be strong

22:17enough or be capable enough to help

22:20other people then uh that's the

22:25important thing at the end of the day so

22:27what what are your summ of your favorite

22:29books you I know you mentioned like the

22:30almanac of Nal Ravon but what other

22:33books

22:34that I thought it would be kind of corny

22:36but it's a pretty good book yeah um

22:39recently my favorite book has become

22:41Stoner by John Williams I don't know if

22:43you heard of it no it's like a fiction

22:45book it's pretty short um and it's about

22:48this English professor in Missouri

22:50during the World War II era and I don't

22:54know I just found it really pretty and

22:55really moving it's probably not the most

22:58recommendation amongst the productivity

23:00self-help Guru type genre on here on

23:02YouTube yeah but um as far as like that

23:05kind of

23:06book um I thought Michael Easter's books

23:09are pretty good it's like he has one

23:11called The Comfort crisis um that I read

23:14recently that was it was pretty relevant

23:16to my life actually um talks about like

23:19mogis which is like this whole concept

23:21of doing hard

23:23things that seem kind of pointless but

23:25actually help you grow and I kind of

23:27could relate to that

23:29right yeah I guess like your 12 hour 12

23:32hour day live stream is is like that

23:34maybe yeah yeah that's definitely how I

23:36related to it for

23:38sure I'm curious like are you still able

23:41to work for 12 hours a day after

23:44stopping that that live stream because

23:46I'm sure like just live streaming helped

23:49with accountability because like people

23:50are looking at you and seeing what's on

23:53your

23:54screen uh I worked in a different way

23:57nowadays

23:59it's not pomodora so I won't do

24:02like 10 hours straight of working with

24:04no breaks you know I'll do four hours

24:06deep work and then take a go work out

24:09for a few hours come back and do

24:10pomodora for four hours yeah the

24:14output's different um so I guess like if

24:18I wanted to I could go back to that

24:19fairly easily and say my ability to

24:22focus hasn't really changed too much and

24:25yeah the live streaming did add like a

24:27self account ability Factor people saw

24:30you and we like where are you and they

24:32rely on you

24:34um but yeah um I you know I would

24:38encourage people to probably start a

24:39study with mainstream if they're having

24:41difficulties with self

24:43accountability how does somebody work

24:46without motivation because I feel like

24:48that's like a a topic you've talked

24:50about without motivation I think

24:52everyone has some sort of motivation but

24:54they just haven't found it be kind of

24:57depressing to be born with zero goals in

25:00your life um yeah zero

25:03desires um so maybe F focus on finding

25:07what you want deep down I'm sure it's

25:09there

25:10somewhere first and then once you Orient

25:14your goals figure out milestones for

25:16yourself and have some level of self

25:19accountability and realize you know

25:21things aren't always going to be easy

25:23and there are easier paths I could

25:24totally

25:25be scrolling Reddit right now whereas I

25:28know I should be working towards my

25:30goals even if it's not like the most fun

25:32thing at the moment I know in the long

25:34term this is what I need to be doing and

25:36this is what's fulfilling so yeah I

25:38think it' be rather depressing to think

25:40that we're humans man we're humans yeah

25:42that makes sense what what are you

25:43motivated with right now like what are

25:45your top goals work my goals haven't

25:48changed my goals haven't

25:49changed uh still trying to help people

25:52in my own way differently this time

25:56uh um

25:59and I'm still you know I wasn't really

26:01raised with a dad and how I've been able

26:04to cope with that was just by focusing

26:06on developing myself so I can one day

26:09become a better father or like a father

26:12that you know I could die and be proud

26:15of the kids I raised and

26:19uh yeah and I want to be able to retire

26:21my mom she's worked so hard for me um

26:25she came here from Vietnam uh in high

26:29school and worked super hard so I could

26:31go to like better high schools that like

26:34my cousins weren't able to go to and was

26:37able to provide me nutritious food that

26:40I could eat after I go running and you

26:42know help me out

26:44when she wasn't like always there for me

26:47but you know I know she was fighting for

26:48me

26:50so yeah she deserves the best yeah

26:54that's

26:55awesome what I mean this is like a hard

26:57hard ter turn but this is like a

26:59question I have written down but it's

27:00like kind of related to like the tech

27:02stuff that we were talking about earlier

27:04what are some of your best purchases

27:07under $100 that you think have like

27:09actually improved the quality of your

27:11life like doesn't have to yeah $100 man

27:16I would say the smart bulbs in my

27:20bedroom are very useful because you can

27:22set like time for them to turn on and

27:25I'm sure you watch Andrew hberman but

27:27he's a like

27:28get sunlight in the morning but I don't

27:30have sunlight that early so you get the

27:33bulbs to turn on before you wake up and

27:35it's like way cheaper than the sunrise

27:37alarm clocks that are like 100 bucks or

27:39whatever you can get cheap bulbs for

27:41like

27:42$15

27:43and you can get like a e-reader for

27:46pretty cheap and you recommend like that

27:48that one you have this one's not $100

27:51unfortunately you can get a $100 on you

27:54can get a used Kindle and you can um I

27:58don't know if I should say this you can

27:59like pirate boat super easily on them

28:02yeah yeah yeah pretty easily it'll it'll

28:05pay for itself pretty quick

28:07yeah um what else I don't know my my

28:12channel was like built off of a $100

28:15laptop and like a $100 camcorder that I

28:17had from high school you know I say you

28:21don't I would say

28:24restrictions invoke creativity so you

28:27have 800k Subs and then you have like

28:29two 200k subscriber channels like what's

28:31the what's the idea with having so many

28:33different channels uh so I started off

28:36with one channel the James Schultz

28:38channel and yeah I don't know if you

28:40watch the streams but I don't know I

28:42just kind of lost my passion for having

28:45such like a large community at least for

28:48me um I prefer like you know when I

28:51stream like knowing regulars in the chat

28:54and like having like

28:55a conversation that spans multiple days

29:00which I realize is asking a lot as like

29:02a streamer but um I think at the

29:06time it's kind of I haven't really

29:08verbalized my feelings about this so

29:11it's kind of hard for me to explain

29:12there are sever reasons that I have

29:14several channels and the first one the

29:16biggest one I've kind of abandoned um

29:19I'm thinking about bringing it back at

29:21some point but I really want to produce

29:24like really special content on that

29:26channel like hi budget stuff that would

29:30you

29:31know people would recognize

29:34that this is a different person than uh

29:37I was 3 years ago that was started in

29:392020 and I think I stopped posting in

29:41like 20 20 like and the 2021 or

29:44something like that so um forget your

29:47question actually I

29:49apologize no I guess just like going

29:51over um the reason with having different

29:54channels but you kind of touch upon it

29:55with like trying to build a more niche

29:58kind of a tighter Community right it's

30:00kind of strange for a YouTuber to be

30:01like I want less subscribers I guess um

30:05right yeah yeah so like I guess like

30:08once I so for context I've streamed to

30:11like three people for like six months

30:14straight or like you know and these are

30:17people who like I knew like we would

30:19chat after the stream and stuff and it

30:21was mad fun during Co and I would like

30:24enjoy their presence um and I think I

30:28kind of lost that as the channel grew

30:29larger and um I think like up to a point

30:33my goal originally was I was doing this

30:35for like myself because I wanted to help

30:38other people and I found the work really

30:40fulfilling but once like things started

30:42to grow um I found myself

30:45like I don't know I was like you know I

30:49could the people I looked up to I be I

30:51could become bigger than them and um up

30:54to that point it was kind of scary for

30:56me because it's not really doing it for

30:58like my best interest at that point it's

31:00kind of feeding my own ego and I feel

31:02like that's kind of a risky game when

31:04you're like yeah I will be better than

31:06this person versus I will be better than

31:08myself you know yesterday and like

31:12either way if you're comparing yourself

31:14to other people that you look up to it's

31:15like a lose lose either like you become

31:18arrogant and cocky or you become like

31:19envious and jealous and yeah so I

31:22decided that I need to like pivot a bit

31:26and you know

31:28um humble myself a bit yeah one thing I

31:31like about like all your channels is

31:32that it feels really authentic and that

31:35you're not you're never like click

31:36baiting people to to watch a video like

31:40uh a little bit oh yeah just a little

31:43bit actually I noticed like uh in your

31:46in JV show some like one of the

31:48thumbnails maybe like more than one it's

31:50like it that's not your Des set of I

31:52think in the video I don't know I'm like

31:54really bad at taking thumbnails man so I

31:56just grab B screen thoughts and it seems

31:59to and it works how does that work I

32:01don't I don't know man like my channel

32:04seems to

32:06defy a lot of rules I guess people have

32:09for making successful channels but it

32:11seems to work so I don't know do you

32:14have any advice for people starting out

32:16with succeeding on

32:19YouTube it's a hard question man

32:23um cuz

32:26like first you have to figure out why

32:28you want to be a YouTuber um for me it

32:31was a right choice because it allowed me

32:34to help people in my own way during the

32:37lockdown you know and it was a way that

32:41I can make passive income and pay my

32:44rent while still working which was

32:46important to me CU that was my first

32:49apartment and uh so like I don't know

32:53people like nowadays a lot of kids want

32:54to be YouTubers and I will say it's very

32:58risky in terms of like career longevity

33:00in terms of mental health in terms of

33:04you know

33:05um Financial stability it can be very up

33:08and down right so yeah um first figure

33:11out why you want to do YouTube and then

33:13um you have to provide information or

33:15valuable information at the end of the

33:18day um and that can be you know a

33:20variety of things that can be humor that

33:22can be educational content technological

33:25content um make sure you're providing

33:27value and if you do provide value make

33:29sure your audio quality is good that's

33:31about it right so you think audio is the

33:34most important than video quality

33:37definitely definitely bro like I watch

33:40Like a video and it has like audio

33:42I'm not watching it but video it's

33:44fine yeah that actually makes sense I

33:46think a lot of people actually just

33:47listen to to videos like I I know I

33:50sometimes I'm not even watching people

33:52just leave it in the background while

33:54like working or something and you might

33:55pop up and you know surprise them

33:58somehow yeah do you focus on the editing

34:01at all or that's a good question yeah uh

34:06my my channel isn't I would say very

34:10produced uh yeah like you said earlier

34:12it has kind of like the more home

34:14homegrown feeling to it which I've kind

34:16of leaned on so for me my channel it's

34:19kind of important to have like you know

34:22me stuttering at times or like giggling

34:25or messing up a little bit but I could

34:27see someone like who makes very produced

34:30videos with like a large team editing

34:32that kind of stuff out and that works

34:34for them so um play to your strengths it

34:37can be either or just if you're like a

34:39super professional video guy and you're

34:42like stuttering every 3 seconds and

34:44right that's that's not very you know

34:46yeah yeah and I guess like with um with

34:49the passive income side how do you

34:51actually monetize your channel is it

34:53with AdSense or I don't I don't see you

34:55like taking on many like sponsors if

34:58any it's a weird story

35:01man um I took on one sponsor a few years

35:06ago and I was really I really did not

35:09enjoy the experience I felt kind of

35:10dirty accepting money for a product that

35:12I really didn't know too much about so I

35:14just stopped I was like this is not me

35:17um I know that's how most YouTubers make

35:19a majority of their income for my

35:21channel I don't even leave video ads on

35:24like half my videos because they're like

35:26study with me and if like someone

35:27studying and then like a video starts

35:29playing then that's just like a worse

35:31experience for the person I'm trying to

35:34like you know help so um most of my

35:38videos just have banner ads and that's

35:39been enough for me uh I probably make

35:43like one tenth of what I could be making

35:45115th to be honest I know you

35:47interviewed another half

35:51asian I talked to R before and she makes

35:53like a bowet of money so yeah um yeah I

35:57don't make anywhere near that I sell my

35:58own stuff what do you sell right now I'm

36:01selling a planner and it was pretty it

36:05did well for me um

36:07$7 a unit and I think I

36:11sold a few thousand or something so you

36:14know um and for me you know I can feel

36:17proud of the thing I'm selling and it

36:19aligns with the people who watch my

36:21videos and I can feel as though I'm

36:23genuinely helping them out with

36:24something that might you know make their

36:26life better so kind of where I'm going

36:28heading towards at the moment yeah I've

36:31been thinking about this a lot too like

36:33I've been getting more more sponsorship

36:36offers yeah man it's tempting though cuz

36:39the

36:42bag um but kind of to wrap things up

36:46like my this sort of like interview

36:49series I'm doing occasionally is like

36:51called the outlier series like people

36:53who feel like they're sort of outliers

36:55the person listening to this might be

36:57ambitious and wanting to achieve more

37:00like whether that's that's probably why

37:01they're interested in productivity and

37:03optimizing their life but like I guess

37:05like to those people what sort of

37:08message do you have or advice you have

37:09for

37:10them I would say find metaphors that

37:13work for you in your life and stories

37:15that find work that work for you um for

37:18me it was like the car thing and I would

37:21say find Role Models I might sound kind

37:22of crazy when if I do say it but I'll

37:24just say it like my main role model is

37:26like a car engine like a very specific

37:28engine it's the 2J Z it's like a old

37:32Toyota engine that's pretty notorious in

37:34the drift community so I guess like a

37:37long the the way I saw it myself for a

37:39long time was like I really want to be

37:40like this engine like I really want to

37:43be able to take a high amount of um

37:47pressure while still remaining super

37:50reliable and I want to be able to like

37:53take ideologies and like ideas and view

37:56those as like parts that I can improve

37:59my engine with and I can improve my

38:02conscious to become like a better driver

38:04and learn how to drive my subconscious

38:07better and like whenever I'm like

38:09running or something or like doing

38:10something hard I'm like I got to be like

38:12this engine man

38:14like I can't red line but I have to be

38:17able to take high pressure and not

38:21explode that's like what's important to

38:23me if you enjoy this one maybe you'll

38:25enjoy the interview I did with ruy

38:28but if there's anybody else that you

38:29think I should interview let me know in

38:30the comments I'll reply to every single

38:32comment especially if you made it to

38:34this part of the video but I'll see you

38:36next week in a regular video Let's Get

38:37It

38:40[Music]