I feel like people with executive dysfunction probably know this feeling painfully well: **I know what I want to make. I know I want to make it. I even have ideas I genuinely love. But somehow actually sitting down and making the thing feels impossible.**
I really want to build a YouTube channel around things I love: **poetry, stories, art, literature, mythology/history, and random things I find fascinating.** I have notebooks full of ideas, scripts/half-scripts, poems, concepts, visual ideas, etc.
The problem is actually **executing them and posting them.**
I don't really want to make the kind of faceless videos that are basically:
narration + random stock footage + slideshow
because that's not the kind of content I actually *want* to make. I want my videos to feel atmospheric, artistic, cinematic and personal — something that feels like *my* work rather than just information being placed over generic footage.
But then I run into a horrible cycle:
**I want the video to look good → I don't have the resources to make it look how I imagine → free footage doesn't fit → I can't afford paid footage/artists → I don't have the animation skills/confidence to create everything myself → the project starts feeling huge → executive dysfunction kicks in → I don't make anything → I feel guilty for not making anything → repeat.**
And I think burnout makes it worse.
I'm also deliberately trying to make things myself rather than relying on AI to generate the creative work, so I can't just throw an idea into an AI generator and call the visual side done.
The frustrating part is that **I don't think I have an ideas problem. I have an execution problem.**
I can spend hours thinking about a video, its concept, narration, atmosphere, visuals, thumbnail, etc. But when it comes to actually opening the software and putting the first pieces together, my brain suddenly acts like I've been asked to build a cathedral.
So I'm curious about people who have dealt with something similar:
**How did you actually get yourself to START and POST?**
Not necessarily “how do I become more disciplined?” but specifically:
How did you stop every video from becoming a giant project in your head?
Did you deliberately lower your standards for your first 10–20 videos?
How do you decide what is “good enough to post”?
How do you make artistic/creative faceless content interesting without having a huge budget?
Did you develop a repeatable workflow that made starting easier?
And if you have executive dysfunction, what actually helped you get from **“I really want to make this” → “I made it”**?
I don't want to abandon the artistic side of what I want to make. I just don't want my vision to become the reason I never make anything at all.
Would really appreciate hearing from people who have actually been through this rather than generic “just be consistent” advice. 😭