Uploaded and Unfiltered: Real Talk on Healing, Creativity, and Mindset for Black Creators

You Don’t Need a Perfect Plan to Start

• Jermaine Pulliam • Season 1 • Episode 118

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In this episode of Uploaded and Unfiltered, Jermaine breaks down one of the most common forms of creative self-sabotage: micromanaging success. If you've been stuck waiting for the perfect plan, the perfect tools, or the perfect time—this one's for you.

This isn’t about motivation. It’s about clarity. You’ll hear:

  • Why you don’t need a full roadmap to begin
  • How obsession with the “how” creates anxiety and impostor syndrome
  • A new mindset that makes action feel easier
  • A real talk reminder about what you already know

🎧 Press play, then take the next step—messy, real, and yours.

👉 Don’t forget to check the https://stan.store/CoachJermaine for tools, coaching, and support.

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SPEAKER_00:

Welcome, welcome back to another episode of Uploaded and Unfiltered, the podcast that helps content creators look at their mindset and change it for the better. I'm your host, Jermaine. I'm also a coach over at Radiant Reflection. I'm the only coach because it's my coaching business where I help black content creators get unstuck from the mindsets and the thought processes that we didn't necessarily implant in ourselves, but are definitely keeping us back from becoming great. Today's episode is one that I've been thinking about for a few, a few weeks now. So I think it's a perfect time for me to dive into it because I saw a series of three times that have popped up in my life that I was like, all right, time for me to talk about this. And that is the concept of creators being obsessed about how their success is supposed to happen. Micromanaging every step, every sequence, micromanaging as much as they think they have control over, but what actually drives you to go through the things that are challenging to get to your end goal are actually how it's going to feel when you get it done, when you achieve that goal. Like when you're living in the life that you want for yourself. So that is what we're going to be talking about today. Buckle up, get some snacks. It won't be a long one, but you know, it's going to be educational, and that's what I am trying to provide for you out there. Anyways, let's get started. I know I'm I am a victim of this. I've I've done this in the past where I felt like I needed to know every step before I started anything. And one quick mindset if you can get yourself to think this way, it will save you so much time, so much heartache. You don't need to know every single step of a process before you start moving towards that goal. For instance, let's say streaming. There is some very basic information that you need to know about streaming. How to get your stream key, how to set up your software, maybe how to set up a game screen, maybe how to set up a camera, a microphone, how to press the go live button, and how to check on your stream while you're streaming. Make sure that you know what the numbers mean, whether they're going up and down. And that's pretty much it. That's all the quote unquote steps that you need to start streaming. Now, while you're streaming, a lot of content creators, a lot of streamers want that information for that part. Like, what do I do while I'm streaming? That's up to you. Like, honestly, yes, there are good guys out there, and yes, there are best practices, but honestly, that piece is up to you. What kind of stream would you want to sit through for like an hour and a half? Do you want to sit through one where the streamer is talking? Do you want to sit through one where the streamer is just showing off his skills in a video game? Do you want to sit through one where that streamer is creating some amazing cosplay? Like, what do you I think that's the bigger question. Why do you want to stream? Like, why? Once you figure out that why, the next step is not to worry about the entire roadmap that you need to know to get to that end goal. No, the next one is like, all right, how do I start moving towards my end goal? Instead of, am I gonna do camera? What kind of camera should I get? If I'm gonna if I'm speaking, which I'm not saying that you need to speak during the stream, because there are definitely streamers out there who don't say shit. But if you're speaking during your stream, what kind of microphone should I get? Should I get something that's super crazy good or something that's decent? Like, what's decent? I don't even know. There's some research you need to do, there's some things that you need to get your feet wet. But in that research, in that knowledge gathering, this is where you gain appreciation for the craft and you start moving towards what you want to do when you start. So again, rather than worrying about every single step, it's not cooking. Like I think for cooking, I mean, even probably for cooking, I should probably test this. I don't even think you need all the steps for cooking. Intuitively, you know what to do. Okay, at this point, I should probably put it in an oven, start cooking. But no, our minds get stuck on trying to create this optimal path to our end goal, and when we don't hit those optimal routes, that's where an anxiety kicks in. That's where imposter syndrome kicks in. Imposter syndrome is also there when we don't have a roadmap in front of us. Like when we don't feel confident enough to say I am a streamer because we don't have a plan of action, that causes imposter syndrome because we're like, oh, I don't even know what I'm doing. I'm just here doing things. And honestly, that's really that's all you really need to do. I remember my first few streams. All I knew is I was gonna just say whatever I saw on stream or on uh on the game, just stream of consciousness, just talk. And honestly, that's what I still do. Yeah, it might look prettier. I yeah, I might have some bells and whistles, might have some channel points, shit, and whatever, but for the most part, it's stream of consciousness, it's a stream of mine. What I'm thinking about this game, how I'm interacting with it, bleh comes out during a stream, and of course, chat interaction. Did you need to interact with the chat? I've seen plenty of streamers that don't interact with the chat. Like, what I'm trying to say is stop trying to stop allowing yourself to get hung up on the the plan, on the steps, the best practices. Stop letting yourself get hung up on that. If you ever had a thought that's started and ended with, man, I want to stream this game, or I want to be a streamer, like then it's for you. Like there's no second guessing, there's no acknowledgement from other people that you need. If you thought about it, it popped into your head and you got warm, fuzzy feelings about it when you thought about it, then that shit's for you. Fuck everybody else who says otherwise, or who has anything negative to say about your road towards that fucking goal. Now it's time for you to figure out what kind of streamer do you want? When do you want to stream? There's some basic things that you want to figure out. Like get a little get a little consistency in there. Goal is to be consistent, authentic, and stress-free. We're not worrying about things that we don't have control over. We're not worrying about people's opinions who don't align with ours. We're not worrying about people who are telling me that I can't be a streamer because X, Y, and Z. They are not you. People can't tell you what you can and cannot do. Like, that's some bullshit. Like, no, no one can tell you shit. Get that mentality, and I promise you, you'll go far. But for real, I think that the new mindset, the new frame of looking at this, I want everyone to adopt is you don't need to map out every that's true. You don't need to map out every step. You need a direction and a desire. When minds responding to outcome and the feeling of it being done, it pulls you towards it. I forgot I was just talking to my wife about this. The thought is the signal shooting out to the universe. So if you thought, damn, I want to be a streamer, you shot that signal out into the universe. So the universe is like, oh, this motherfucker wants to stream. Okay. And with that thought comes the feeling. The feeling is the magnet that pulls that reality towards you. So thought is, boom, I want to be a content creator. The feeling is, man, I can reach so many people and change so many people's lives and show people a piece of X, Y, and Z they've never even seen before. That feeling is a magnet pulling it towards you. Now, if you're thinking, I can't be a streamer, I don't, I've never streamed before, that magnet, that magnetism, that pull is fucking weak. The more negative, the more self-doubting, the more I don't know what the fuck I'm doing you are about yourself, the weaker that magnet is. Hell, I would even say to a point where it starts repelling that fucking thought, that fucking dream that you want. I want to be a content creator. I want to be a streamer. That's the boom. You can imagine waves popping off your head, vibrating out, rippling out to the universe. The universe is like, bam, got it. You know what the next part is, which most of you motherfuckers didn't know what the next part is. The next part is the feeling, the magnetism, the thing that pulls that thing towards you. Feel what you want to have. Think about what you want to occur. I was uh there was a video that I posted on TikTok. I don't remember which one it was, but someone left a comment saying, I would love to stream more, but I have a shit personality for streaming, and I'm only good when I'm high or drunk, and I'm trying to cut back. And so my mind immediately went, say what you want, not what you used to do or what people have told you. What do you want? Speak that like words are fucking powerful, especially if you write them down and say them shits out loud. If you say that you have a shit personality for streaming, you're you're the only one who has authority over that. Like if you say that, then yeah, you're right. That because you said it. Now, if you said, hey, I'm a little shy, but I know I can work towards being where I want to be without having getting drunk or high, progress, baby. That's where you want to be, mindset-wise. What we say to ourselves directly influences our perspective on life, directly influences our emotions, directly influences how we feel on a day-to-day basis. Even the things that we joke about, our subconscious is hearing that shit. Like, that's the fucked up part. The fucked up part is there's a secret person listening to every goddamn thing we say and like construing it to like, I'm just trying to keep you safe, motherfucker. I'm just trying to keep you safe. Well, procrastination, anxiety, no. No, you don't want to go on a hike. There's snakes out there. You're afraid of snakes. Anxiety. What the fuck's the point? Like, there again, has been doing a great job of keeping us safe. It's just a little too protective, a little unnecessary unnecessary sometimes. If I'm taking a hike in the woods and I have a snake phobia, I don't need to be anxious while I'm walking through the woods with my family. I need to be aware that, hey, snakes live out here. Just be prepared just in case. But I don't need to be anxious, I don't need to be fearful, I don't need to have those feelings of anxiety going through my chest when I'm walking with my family trying to enjoy life because I don't like snakes. You hear what I'm saying? The anxiety is the alert that your brain throws up, your subconscious throws that filling up for you to cause an action, for you to do something. To do something would be leave that situation. But in that situation, you are safe. Yes, there's snakes in the woods, but there's not like a pit of snakes on the fucking trail that you're on, you're gonna be walking over them. I would be in that moment, like while I'm doing it, anxious. As I think about it, I'm not anxious because that shit's not real. It's like I just made that shit up in my head, it's not happening. And that's what that's what most anxiety is is our subconscious reacting to thoughts that we run over and over and over and over in our head, and our subconscious doesn't know that that shit's not real, that that shit is just something that we're thinking, and it puts in place emotions for us to react, to cause an action, keep us safe. So next time you're feeling anxious about going live on TikTok or Twitch or YouTube, tell yourself, hey, I am safe. I'm here about to do something that I enjoy that's going to be fun, and I'm safe. No need to set the alarm bells off. I'm not about to get choked out on stream. You know what I'm saying? Uh anyways, I'm going to try this new thing going forward. When I work with a client, I always like to set an intention for that client. Intentions are a great way to get on one accord with each other, uh, get on one accord with yourself and set the tone and pace for the session or for the day or for the meeting or for the outing. Intentions, if I remember, I would set an intention before I do anything. Intentions are amazing. It tells your subconscious, hey, motherfucker, this is what we're focusing on. So the intention that I want to give you, and if you came to me and said that uh you were worried about the steps you needed to take to stream, this is the intention I would give you. While you're creating, your mind is responding only to what moves you towards your finished result and how good it's going to feel to look at it and say, I made that. That's the intention that your brain is going to go respond to the things that are going to move you towards your goal. And then once you're done, you're going to have that feeling of I made that. That feeling is low-key. If they could bottle that shit up, it'd be fucking crack. I made that. Like, that's something that I put out in our world. That feeling is so good. Remember that feeling when it's late at night and you're like, I'm not going to edit anymore. And you only had 10 minutes to edit, and you're like, you know what? I can, I can fucking knock this out real quick. And then you just get it done because at the end, when you hit those thousand, two thousand, ten thousand and milli views, and you could say, I made that. That shit feels good. Argue with your mama. I don't give a fuck. Anyways, thank you for listening. I appreciate you. Listen, again, if I could teach the world just one thing, that one thing would be where you put your focus is where your life is going to head. So if you're focusing on negative stuff or you're focusing on stressful events, then guess what? Your life's probably stressful as fuck. But if you're focusing on things that you enjoy or things that bring you happiness in life, or things that you create that are bringing joy to others, then your life is going to be full of that stuff. And then when those things, quote unquote, that are negative pop up in your life, you'll be able to flip those things and see the good that they're in every event that happens to you. Again, either flip that shit to a great, hey, this is a positive, this is happening because of X, Y, and Z for me, or B, hey, that happened, I'm not anxious, I'm not angry, it's neutral, that thing happened. Your life will be that much more that much more enjoyable. I promise you. If anything that I said hit home for you and you're like, damn, I need to I need to book a session, radiantreflection.best, or click the links in the description below of this episode, go book a session. I set a personal intention for you and your situation, and I'm telling you, one session, 90 minutes, hour, and we're out, we're done. Whatever that feeling that was clogging you and stopping you from creating content, it's uh it's a gone. It's finished, bonito. Anyways, appreciate y'all. If you know anyone who could get benefit from conversations like these and more, please share the podcast with them. Upload an unfiltered, do a search in your podcast Catcher of Choice, I'm sure will show up. Also, leave me a review on both Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Also, there's a number attached to this. If you want to leave me a message that I listen to and respond to on air, uh, the number is in the description as well. Other than that, I appreciate y'all listening to me. Thank you. I who knows what episode it is, but guess what? Still on that streak, baby. That streak was gonna go. Wait till we get to like five years and be like, goddamn, I haven't missed uh one episode of this. This somebody be paying me like 10,000 episodes at that point. It's gonna be crazy, anyways. Thank you for listening. As always, detrimental, keep creating content, and I'll see you in the next one. Peace.