Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jason Farmer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Jason, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
The single most helpful thing I ever encountered that gave me the confidence to create was reading that John Lennon wanted to burn the entire Beatles catalog and re-record it all because he wasn’t happy with any of it. That made me think, ‘Wow, John Lennon is about as good as it gets, and if he felt this way it probably means everyone else feels this way too.’
The lesson I derived from this is to create no matter what you think of your creations. Just continue in spite of all your doubts or misgivings. That’s the essential thing. To just keep doing it no matter what.
Confidence – true confidence – is a byproduct of competence. Anyone can be irrationally self-assured, but this usually implodes at the first sign of any sort of internal or external resistance. You may never feel ‘confident,’ but if you have the discipline to keep at it every day – you will reap some rewards. And they may be just some internal reward – like a sense of accomplishment – but these do wonders for the creative spirit.
And if you’re ever feeling stuck – read the book, “The War of Art” by Stephen Pressfield. This book – perhaps more than any other – will show you the proper mindset to approach any sort of creative or artistic endeavor.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
My main goal is to help people start cooking. There’s something primal about the act of preparing food and sharing a meal with those closest to you. And I think the world would be much calmer if we all sat down and shared a nice meal.
In my videos, I typically do deep dives into popular dishes. I’ll do an insane amount of research to try and uncover interesting tidbits or insights into dishes that you won’t find anywhere else. And I try to adapt everything for beginner home cooks to show that cooking – even seemingly complex or unapproachable dishes – isn’t something to be afraid of.
I will eventually do some courses and cookbooks where I can go much more in-depth than I can in a YouTube video. But for now, I’m strictly focused on making videos that inspire people to start cooking at home.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think discipline is much more important than inspiration. There’s a false notion that you need to be ‘inspired’ to create something worthwhile. But the truth of the matter is that true inspiration is rare and fleeting. You will get much more out of simply sitting down and putting in the work and by being consistent.
The most important influence on me – outside of anything culinary-related – was studying business copywriting. The advertising legend David Ogilvy has been a big influence on how I research and prepare my scripts. I love the way he presented information – in an honest, refreshing, and succinct manner – in his old advertisements. And I understand that most modern copywriting is extremely scammy. But there are people who did it ethically – people like Claude Hopkins and David Ogilvy – that you can learn extremely important lessons from. The importance of headlines. How to structure a script to keep people intrigued. How to convey your message in a simple manner that is easily understood. Things like that.
One lesson I would give to people just starting is to take influence outside your area of expertise. Most ‘new ideas’ are just combinations of two or more older ideas presented in a unique way.
Here’s an example from my own experience: I read an article with Kurt Cobain from Nirvana where he was explaining why he agreed to change some of the song titles and artwork on one of their albums because it had been banned by Walmart. A lot of people accused him of selling out or bowing to corporate pressure. But he explained that when he was growing up the only place he could buy a record was at Walmart. And he didn’t want to deny some other kid who was in that same position the opportunity to get a Nirvana album just so he could stay ‘artistically pure’ or whatever.
When I thought about this in the context of shopping for groceries at a Walmart – it made me think of showing people how to make world-class dishes with ingredients purchased only at Walmart. That’s how I combined two seemingly unrelated ideas into something new.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
The most impactful thing my parents did for me was to impart a love of reading. If you can develop this – it’s a true superpower. You have the smartest people of all time who have distilled their wisdom and life experiences in an easily digestible format. You can save yourself a lot of heartache by learning from the mistakes of others so you don’t have to make them yourself.
If you don’t enjoy reading – just try and find something you do enjoy. It can be anything. Magazines, blog posts, comics, whatever. The important thing is just to try and find something you enjoy so you develop a love of the act of reading. Then dip your toes into more complex topics to see what appeals to you. If you don’t enjoy reading something, just put it aside and find something you like. You don’t have to finish a book.
The most important books for me are those you can return to – time after time – and always find something new in them. The Dialogues of Plato are like this. They’ll change the way you think about the world and yourself. And when you return to them you’ll constantly see new things you didn’t see before. That’s the true mark of something sacred – that which has infinite depth.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jasonfarmer.com
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@farmageddon
Image Credits
These images belong to me. Feel free to use them in whatever capacity.
