Writers & Procrastination: How Vloggers & Skateboarders Could Disassociate The Two

by Terence A Anthony

John Hill, prominent Skateboarder & Vlogger. | "SKATE IT TILL IT BREAKS" BY JOHN HILL

After a short social media hiatus, one of the first few articles that popped up on my timeline was an article linking procrastination and writing*. So the article explains that writers are procrastinators because so many of them get an easy pass in life. My solution to this? Get them to subscribe to skateboarding youtube channels and start watching them more often. So here were a few lines in the article that caught my attention. 

Over the years, I developed a theory about why writers are such procrastinators: We were too good in English class. This sounds crazy, but hear me out.

Most writers were the kids who easily, almost automatically, got A's in English class. (There are exceptions, but they often also seem to be exceptions to the general writerly habit of putting off writing as long as possible.) At an early age, when grammar school teachers were struggling to inculcate the lesson that effort was the main key to success in school, these future scribblers gave the obvious lie to this assertion. Where others read haltingly, they were plowing two grades ahead in the reading workbooks. These are the kids who turned in a completed YA novel for their fifth-grade project. It isn’t that they never failed, but at a very early age, they didn’t have to fail much; their natural talents kept them at the head of the class.

This is especially true when you come from an English-speaking background but study in areas where English is the 2nd language. While I wouldn't say the English my family spoke was perfect, it was better than families that only spoke English in formal settings (in office or in school) and primarily heard most words from the television, instead of learning it from their environment.

So while I wasn't the best student in school, I knew I did better than most people in English class. Everyone else had to double check the spelling of a new word they learned before they use it in an essay. Instead, I probably already used in a personal journal locked away at home.

How Writers Got an Easy Pass at School

A taste of where I spent being bitter during my teenage years, SMK Matang Jaya. | SOURCE: SMKPENDING.WORDPRESS.COM

Despite not being the best student, it did give me some confidence to do other things related to speaking or writing. The moot club? While I did think it's what rich people do, but I did give it a try when I was 16. Guess what? I did a better job at pronouncing several legal jargons. Unfortunately for the more hardworking kids in class, saying vicarious liability without second guessing was more of an asset than understanding what was vicarious liability.

While this temporarily made me feel good in school (or at least where language was a concern), it also made me feel bad in other areas in life. When it came down to mathematics, everything seemed like a pointless exercise. I became one of those negative people who thought that they were not a "mathematics person." When it came to the end of school, I basically blocked myself from anything mathematics related. The only reason I ended up doing Quantity Survey (Construction Economics) was because I thought that I wouldn't have to face ridiculous physics questions like engineering. Well, I was right to a certain degree.


In college, I didn't perform too well, aside from my first year. The problem was that I have been trapped in my bubble of effortlessness. I didn't admit it but I've often implied that other people's success was because of talent, not hard work. My years of cruising through English classes gave me that illusion. So when I see people in good in other things like running a business, being the captain of a football team or even playing the guitar, I resort to see them being talented. When in fact, it could be both talent and hard work.


I was so stubborn that it took me a long while for me to realize it even with proof evolving right in front my eyes. I had the privilege of watching Stefan Siridzanski and Helena Ivanov from the University of Belgrade debate. At one point, I managed to debate against them in one round. Technically, both of them could qualify for the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) category, considering they are from Serbia. Yet, they managed to push through the semis of the open category in WUDC 2015. It definitely just wasn't talent, since they were not from predominantly English speaking communities. It was hard work.


People like me, who lived live thinking talent was key to everything lagged behind. That's where procrastination kicks in. Everything sounds great on paper. In your head, no one could break it down and put a microscope to it. So we delay. Delay it as long as possible. We scroll through our facebook timelines or argue with people on twitter. The longer people have to wait for results, the less likely you will hear people belittling your talent and give feedback.


So this was where another quote from the previously mentioned article resonated with me;

“You never see the mistakes, or the struggle,” says Dweck. No wonder students get the idea that being a good writer is defined by not writing bad stuff.

Unfortunately, in your own work, you are confronted with every clunky paragraph, every labored metaphor and unending story that refuses to come to a point. “The reason we struggle with"insecurity,” says Pastor Steven Furtick, “is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.”

All I saw was Helena and Stefan reaching the semi finals, carrying the stigma of EFL speakers. I didn't see the effort they went through in order to learn the language in the first place. I suffered through French in my first year and my mind just told me I wasn't cut out for it. I read Watchmen and V for Vendetta but I never read Alan Moore's rejected drafts. I was in awe when I saw Christopher Nolan, giving the final pay off in the last act of Memento. But I wasn't with him when he first tried holding a camera. I was too busy listening to Kirk Hammet's solos on Kill 'Em All** but I never had to hear him suffering through those early days of him learning how to play guitar scales.


Enter the Youtube Skateboarders of 2016

Aaron Kyro of Braille Skateboarding. | SOURCE: BRAILLESKATEBOARDING.COM

So how does skateboarding on youtube come in play? I say that modern skateboarding in vlogs allow people to follow every step of the process. It makes them want to watch the bail videos. In fact, it's part of what it makes them so interesting.

If you were to think of skateboarding, most probably, the image that is playing in your head are the gravity defying feats of Tony Hawk. For those who have played his video game would probably recall that doing an ollie was just the result of pushing a single button.


Go down the rabbit hole, you'll find Rodney Mullen. A man who took what people think is a teenage rebel phase into an art form. He invented tricks that became staple of the sport. While other skaters think a kickflip over a flight of stairs was impressive, Rodney Mullen eats it like a peanut butter sandwich. He kickflips, lands in a manual, does a pivot, heelflip and end the whole thing in a nose manual. That's probably basic for a gifted technical skater like him.


In the era prior to youtube, people's only exposure to skateboarding was probably through Thrasher Magazine, skate videos and for those in my generation, the Tony Hawk games. The problem with that era is that you are only exposed with the best cuts. People won't spend time watching bail videos where skaters have their family jewels hitting rails multiple times before perfecting that grind. They'll be watching Ali Boulala doing a perfect run time on repeat. Not only you were watching pros, you were only watching Bob Burnquist at his best.


But the way people consumed skateboarding media changed through the years. They no longer have to wait for full videos after teams have toured around the world and selectively pick their best trick shots. Instead, they could just get a new notification everyday. Today, they could watch John Hill fail so many times trying to land a 50-50 Darkslide. Tomorrow, they can watch Aaron Kyro struggle to land a double tre flip.


Some may argue that these skaters aren't the best. But that isn't the point. The point is that their documentation is something that people want to consume. The process itself becomes an art form. It does not erase all the other beautifully created skate videos out there.


These daily updates and religiously following restructures how people consume entertainment. It helps the mind of those respected in their respective communities. So they fear delaying getting somewhere in fear of judgement. The judgement becomes part of the art.


Growing up with these painful lessons would constantly remind people on a daily basis that talent isn't just the only thing that pushes creatives. It also includes the failures, the bail videos and the broken skateboards. It encompasses the first drafts, the rejected manuscripts and the dreaded feedback displayed for all in your writing facebook groups. The daily vlog (or blog) turns the discarded parts of yesterday into an art form. They are now part of the narrative.


You're not just watching the Matrix. You're slowly watching the painful process the Watchowski Brothers writing their first draft. Then throw everything to start from scratch.

SKATEVLOGS:

*Turns out the article was from 2014. I couldn't recall who posted it again, but thank you whoever you are.

**Stefan and I are both Metalheads. He noticed me wearing a Behemoth t-shirt in a bar. We had a good time talking about Thrash Metal and I was surprised how much he enjoyed Iron Reagan.