Returning to Linux Nerddom

Watching a smaller Linux YouTuber really made me think that I’ve gotten away from what I loved about Linux. At one point, I really liked to tinker with my system, write scripts to do cool things, and then show people in a video. Whether this was looking at a cool window manager or a terminal tool, it was fun for me and educational for others.

Somewhere along the line, I got old. I got busy with my real job, and I got away from being a true Linux nerd. I somewhat blame my 2-year Linux challenge. It feels like being more stable in my distro choice has led me to less tinkering overall. Am I going to end the challenge? No. But I do think that it’s important for me to get back that spark that I had a couple of years ago.

I want to make cool things and then show them off. I would like to try new things and when they’re good, talk about them and when they’re bad, rant about them. I got away from doing a lot of that. And I miss it.

I think that a part of this is that I have many subscribers now, and there is always a little voice in my head that prevents me from trying new things in fear that the video will utterly flop. I remember well the days when my mood lived and died based on how the video I did that day performed. I’ve gotten away from that, but I’ve also gotten really lucky in that even the videos that don’t do as well tend to do well enough.

I need to stop letting the chase for views dictate what I want to do videos about. I need, and want, to get back to doing videos that I truly enjoy doing simply because it is about a topic that means something to me.

Before I watched this small-time Linux YouTuber (Bread on Penguins if you’re curious), I didn’t even realize how unhappy I’ve been with the channel and the videos I’ve been making. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I have made many good videos lately, but there have been places where it felt like I was phoning it in, not putting in a full effort. And I do believe I can do better.

Part one of this will be planning and getting ahead. I’m so much happier with things when the videos are planned, and I have a few videos lined up and ready for editing. It also makes me feel less rushed and lowers the pressure I feel to get a video out the door. If you’ve followed along with me over the years, you know that I have had this as a goal for many years, but I never do it for very long. Even if I find myself happier when I’m in that situation, I can’t seem to maintain it. But it’s time to try again.

Next, I need to make a list of things I want to do with no regard for how well I think the videos will perform. This will be harder, but I think I can do it.

Finally, I need to actually follow through with 1 and 2 for the long term. Doing it for 2 weeks and abandoning the plan isn’t going to do me any good. So I need a 1-year commitment to doing it and doing it well. So, that’s what I’m going to do.

I talked in this past week’s Patron podcast (as of writing) about how I need to work on improving my videos. I think what I talked about above can go along with that. I don’t need to reinvent myself, but there is room for improvement, and I think if I can make that improvement, I’ll be happier and more productive.

I hope everyone is having a great week,

Matt