Recording summary · November 2020
How I failed at everything in life
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Overview
Daniel recounted various abandoned ventures and past failures, including drawing anime art and webcomics, studying Japanese, developing mobile games, running an eBay resale business, being a husband, and sustaining YouTube channel growth.
Daniel spent around two years drawing anime art under the username Standard Oil, quitting after parental criticism, leaving webcomics unfinished, and subsequently only drawing monsters to sidestep anatomy and proportions.
Daniel achieved a 95% score on the JLPT Level 2 but abandoned Japanese studies after failing Level 1, later receiving a ban from Fiverr after using Google Translate for intricate translation tasks.
Daniel bought a MacBook Pro in 2015 to learn Xcode, published a zombie tank game on the App Store, and later cancelled the developer account because of poor sales and high stress.
Daniel resold Japanese knife sharpeners and flea market items on eBay until stock shortages caused negative feedback and an account ban.
Daniel married in 2018 and described the union as a failure resulting from boredom and infidelity.
Daniel experienced viral success and channel expansion on YouTube in 2018, but later struggled with stagnating views and audience retention, dreading uploads due to disappointing analytics while refusing to ruin his life for entertainment.
Daniel allocated £20,000 to stock market investing across dividend stocks and day trading, incurring an initial £1,000 loss during market volatility.
Themes
Past abandoned pursuits including anime art, Japanese language studies, mobile game development, eBay reselling, and marriage.
Stagnating YouTube growth, audience retention challenges, and video analytics.
Stock market investing, day trading, and financial losses amid market volatility.
Developments
Daniel purchased a MacBook Pro to learn Xcode coding and released a zombie tank game on the App Store in 2015.
Daniel married in 2018.
Daniel achieved channel growth and viral hits on YouTube in 2018.
Daniel placed £20,000 into an investment account for dividend investing and day trading, subsequently losing £1,000.
Uncertainties & gaps
The reason for selecting the DeviantArt username Standard Oil.
The precise DeviantArt follower count, approximated at around 1,000 or 2,000.
The exact total Google Ads earnings from webcomics, estimated to be maybe $5.
Whether the YouTube channel will drop to barely 5,000 views per video within a few months.
Whether the stock market will recover after the election.