Episode 109
What Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore taught me about content creation
After recently watching Happy Gilmore for probably the twentieth time, it got me thinking about how we present ourselves as creators.
I found myself reflecting quite existentially on the impact that Adam Sandler’s character had on my view of where the world of content creation currently sits.
And I honestly think it’s all a little boring.
Overwhelmingly people are presenting as the “professional” version of themselves, especially on LinkedIn. This makes sense as we predominantly put out content to draw the viewer/listener into ultimately buying something from us.
We present as the authority.
We present as a leader.
But are we showing enough of ourselves to keep our content interesting?
In this episode, I go through a few key lessons I learned from Happy Gilmore about content creation.
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Transcript
Just recently, my little
Speaker:brother came up from Sydney.
Speaker:Hadn't seen him in a little while.
Speaker:Love to see him when he can come up.
Speaker:And his fiance came too.
Speaker:Every Sunday morning, we get together
Speaker:as a family and we all hang out.
Speaker:We have a beautiful meal
Speaker:that we all bring things to.
Speaker:And the rest of our family lives
Speaker:up here in Brisbane, but my
Speaker:little brother lives in Sydney.
Speaker:So he misses out on all the family
Speaker:fun times and it just makes me sad.
Speaker:Miss him dearly.
Speaker:He came up from Sydney and we
Speaker:were having a lovely day together
Speaker:doing all sorts of things.
Speaker:We decided to watch a movie and the
Speaker:movie we landed on was Happy Gilmore.
Speaker:Happy Gilmore is one of those
Speaker:movies that I will just love
Speaker:forever and ever and ever.
Speaker:I've probably seen it maybe 15
Speaker:times or more and it never gets old.
Speaker:It's never not happy.
Speaker:Funny.
Speaker:And it got me thinking about what Adam
Speaker:Sandler from Happy Gilmore actually
Speaker:taught me about content creation.
Speaker:So I'm going to get into that today.
Speaker:If you have not seen Happy Gilmore,
Speaker:this episode will make no sense.
Speaker:So go and watch Happy Gilmore.
Speaker:It is a very stupid movie and I love it.
Speaker:The overall premise of it is that
Speaker:we've got Adam Sandler as the main
Speaker:character who is, is a hockey player
Speaker:who wants to be a professional
Speaker:hockey player, ends up getting into
Speaker:golf and is actually awesome at it.
Speaker:It's just so dumb.
Speaker:It is such a dumb film.
Speaker:And this is the first
Speaker:thing I want to say.
Speaker:Things have gone a bit just
Speaker:boring in a lot of ways.
Speaker:When I look at all the content that
Speaker:I see on YouTube, when I look at all
Speaker:the people that I follow on Instagram
Speaker:and on Tik TOK and a bunch of social
Speaker:channels, there's a bit of meh.
Speaker:Do you feel the same way?
Speaker:I feel like there's a lot of that.
Speaker:There's actually a lot of
Speaker:people just creating content.
Speaker:They're trying to present
Speaker:themselves a certain way.
Speaker:They're trying to look a certain
Speaker:way, trying to be a certain person.
Speaker:And I often think to myself,
Speaker:are you actually real?
Speaker:What part of you is a real person?
Speaker:Not that I expect them to give
Speaker:everything away as to who they are,
Speaker:but I want to connect with people more.
Speaker:And I don't, I don't, believe that
Speaker:everyone is as boring as they present.
Speaker:Everyone is a structured,
Speaker:everyone is as like segmented
Speaker:and scheduled and planned as they
Speaker:present on YouTube or on podcasts.
Speaker:Even some of the interviews and
Speaker:things that I listened to, it's like
Speaker:they get deep into conversation.
Speaker:They ask big questions and they get
Speaker:big answers, but where's the silly fun?
Speaker:That's what I want to know.
Speaker:That's the first thing I've learned
Speaker:from Happy Gilmore, Adam Sandler.
Speaker:Where is the silly fun?
Speaker:Where are idiots being idiots?
Speaker:I think probably Good Mythical
Speaker:Morning does it really well.
Speaker:For me, that really resonates
Speaker:because they're just stupid.
Speaker:Like there's that episode that
Speaker:they have where they're trialing
Speaker:the vests that are for old people.
Speaker:So if they fall over, they explode and
Speaker:they protect them like a, like a crash
Speaker:test sort of dummy airbag situation.
Speaker:That is hilarious.
Speaker:That is really, really funny.
Speaker:I could not stop myself from
Speaker:even just thinking about it.
Speaker:Go watch that video
Speaker:because it's really good.
Speaker:That's the kind of stuff that I feel like
Speaker:is missing even from normal business.
Speaker:Like if you have a podcast or a YouTube
Speaker:channel that you're talking about things
Speaker:that are a little bit more serious.
Speaker:Why is the whole thing serious?
Speaker:Why is the whole thing structured in a
Speaker:way where you actually come off seeming
Speaker:like you're just a boring person?
Speaker:Are you a boring person?
Speaker:Maybe you are, okay?
Speaker:And if you think that you are, I
Speaker:challenge you to get a little bit silly.
Speaker:To bring a little bit more of
Speaker:your actual personality out.
Speaker:And if you feel like, oh, you
Speaker:don't have that in you, go
Speaker:watch some stuff that is dumb.
Speaker:Like Happy Gilmore.
Speaker:And just let yourself laugh.
Speaker:Let yourself feel ridiculous, because to
Speaker:me, that's how I've lived my whole life.
Speaker:I'm, I am a bit of an idiot, really.
Speaker:Like I'm a doofus.
Speaker:I know that and I'm totally fine with it.
Speaker:And so I feel like I can still deliver.
Speaker:Content.
Speaker:I can still deliver value.
Speaker:I can still be an intelligent human
Speaker:being that also has a personality.
Speaker:That's the thing that I feel like
Speaker:is missing, especially from podcasts
Speaker:that I listened to, where I feel
Speaker:like, just give me some more of you.
Speaker:Give me something that feels
Speaker:like I can grab onto it.
Speaker:And then I know a little bit more
Speaker:about you that you feel like a human
Speaker:that has more than one dimension.
Speaker:So that's the first thing
Speaker:that I learned from watching
Speaker:Happy Gilmore just recently.
Speaker:Where is the stupidity?
Speaker:We need more dumb, silly fun.
Speaker:You can still be a real person.
Speaker:You can still have serious feelings.
Speaker:You can still have emotions, but
Speaker:you can also be a fun human being.
Speaker:The next thing I learned from Happy
Speaker:Gilmore is this character, Adam
Speaker:Sandler, he is unashamedly himself.
Speaker:And that's something else that I
Speaker:think is missing a lot of the time
Speaker:is that you don't feel confident
Speaker:enough to actually just be yourself,
Speaker:to just present yourself as you are.
Speaker:He's swearing all over the place.
Speaker:He's just being.
Speaker:Being him.
Speaker:I don't swear.
Speaker:I mean, I'm not the kind of person
Speaker:that feels like I need to do that.
Speaker:But what I'm trying to say here
Speaker:is that it doesn't feel like
Speaker:he's putting on a persona at all.
Speaker:That's important for you as a content
Speaker:creator to think the same way.
Speaker:Don't put on a persona
Speaker:that isn't actually you.
Speaker:Don't think that you need to be
Speaker:something that you're really not.
Speaker:Just be And know that people will
Speaker:accept that maybe not everyone, but
Speaker:whoever you want to engage with you,
Speaker:whoever really understands you will
Speaker:accept that you are who you are.
Speaker:Happy Gilmore also mentions in
Speaker:the film quite a few times that
Speaker:he is a hockey player that is
Speaker:just playing golf at the moment.
Speaker:He's introducing himself
Speaker:as a hockey player.
Speaker:That's playing golf.
Speaker:Sometimes we get attached to
Speaker:being a certain thing, um, When
Speaker:in fact there is more out there
Speaker:for us if we just let it happen.
Speaker:Sometimes that can be sad.
Speaker:You think of yourself one way, you
Speaker:thought you were a certain type of
Speaker:person, you thought this was where
Speaker:you were going to go in life, and then
Speaker:you You don't end up going that way.
Speaker:It can make you feel really like you
Speaker:don't understand who your personality is.
Speaker:You don't understand who you are because
Speaker:your personality was attached to a thing.
Speaker:If we use me as the example, I was a
Speaker:touring musician for over a decade.
Speaker:All I did.
Speaker:From a very young age, all I wanted to
Speaker:do from a very young age was be a singer.
Speaker:I wanted to be a princess
Speaker:first when I was really little.
Speaker:Like I thought that was a
Speaker:job that I could just do.
Speaker:But after I got over that, all
Speaker:I really wanted to do was be
Speaker:a singer, was be a musician.
Speaker:And I did that for a long time.
Speaker:And I love it.
Speaker:And I still love it.
Speaker:I will always love that.
Speaker:But it doesn't mean that that's all I am.
Speaker:It doesn't mean that I have to
Speaker:attach or be sad or, or feel like
Speaker:I, I can't, I can't do anything
Speaker:else because that's who I was.
Speaker:That's the personality.
Speaker:That's who everyone knew me as, as this
Speaker:professional musician who wrote songs
Speaker:and toured them and did all the things.
Speaker:Why can't I also be this?
Speaker:Why can't I also be a business
Speaker:owner who runs a successful podcast
Speaker:production company who is an audio
Speaker:engineer who, you know, multifaceted.
Speaker:Why can't I also be this?
Speaker:Over here.
Speaker:I can.
Speaker:The same goes for you.
Speaker:You can be this thing, and you can
Speaker:also be this thing, and you can also
Speaker:be all these other things in between.
Speaker:Just because you did a degree and you got
Speaker:the skills in one particular thing, why
Speaker:can't you then also be something else?
Speaker:Sometimes this is a bigger conversation,
Speaker:where you've invested not only
Speaker:time, but money into perhaps a
Speaker:degree where you've done a bunch
Speaker:of years and it's been expensive.
Speaker:And you've got a student loan
Speaker:that's associated with it and
Speaker:all this time into maybe, maybe
Speaker:becoming a lawyer or something.
Speaker:And then you get to the end of it
Speaker:and you're like, well, far out.
Speaker:I mean, I don't love that, but
Speaker:I feel like maybe I have to keep
Speaker:doing it because I've invested
Speaker:so much time and money into it.
Speaker:But you're not really happy or you're not
Speaker:really getting anywhere because you're
Speaker:not really passionate about that thing.
Speaker:And that's something that I
Speaker:learned from Happy Gilmore.
Speaker:You can think you're one thing, but
Speaker:why can't you also be this thing?
Speaker:Don't get attached to
Speaker:being any one thing.
Speaker:Allow yourself to be a human with
Speaker:many interests, with many facets.
Speaker:Allow yourself to become
Speaker:good at many skills.
Speaker:And that just brings Is more fun for you.
Speaker:It's just more fun for everyone involved.
Speaker:You're a more fully formed person.
Speaker:It can be hard if you're doing a nine
Speaker:to five job and you know, and then
Speaker:you get to the weekend and you've
Speaker:got kids and you, you know, you
Speaker:can't develop more of your things.
Speaker:But if you're really truly interested
Speaker:in becoming more in doing more things
Speaker:in associating yourself is to more
Speaker:than just the one aspect of you,
Speaker:then you'll make the time for it.
Speaker:This might be the kick up the pants
Speaker:that you need to actually do it.
Speaker:The other thing I learned from
Speaker:Heffy Gilmore was this concept
Speaker:of going to your happy place.
Speaker:This is something I think about
Speaker:a lot even before watching that
Speaker:movie for the billionth time.
Speaker:Having somewhere, it's kind of like
Speaker:a vision boarding or having a mindset
Speaker:or a journal or something where your
Speaker:mindset's in the right place to achieve
Speaker:the goals that you want to achieve.
Speaker:I have many goals.
Speaker:I have many things that I want to
Speaker:achieve here at Bambi Media, within the
Speaker:other businesses that we are working
Speaker:on, within the songwriting and the
Speaker:new album that I'm putting together.
Speaker:All of these things are goals,
Speaker:but if I come to it from a mindset
Speaker:of a happy place, then I can be
Speaker:more creative in troubleshooting
Speaker:things when things go wrong.
Speaker:If I'm coming to it with negativity, with
Speaker:a kind of bad place, where in the movie
Speaker:she's making out with Shooter McGavin
Speaker:and also his grandma is making out with
Speaker:Shooter McGavin and everything's bad
Speaker:and then he can't hit the ball properly
Speaker:because he's got so much negativity.
Speaker:In his head, same thing goes.
Speaker:If you have a negative mindset
Speaker:around something, then you get stuck.
Speaker:You get stuck in achieving the things
Speaker:you actually want to achieve because
Speaker:you can't think outside the negativity.
Speaker:If you come to it from a happy
Speaker:place, from a mindset of joy, from
Speaker:the possibilities, then you can
Speaker:be a lot more creative in what you
Speaker:actually bring out, in how you can
Speaker:troubleshoot an issue that you're facing.
Speaker:Isn't that just great?
Speaker:I mean, it's, it's a movie.
Speaker:This is a stupid movie.
Speaker:This is a really dumb, dumb movie.
Speaker:But if you allow yourself a
Speaker:moment to think about it, it's
Speaker:teaching you a lot of lessons.
Speaker:Allow yourself to be ridiculous.
Speaker:Know that you have more facets
Speaker:to yourself than what you're
Speaker:currently probably showing.
Speaker:Bring more personality to everything
Speaker:that you're doing as a creator.
Speaker:Be sillier.
Speaker:Be unashamedly yourself.
Speaker:Allow yourself to be more than one thing.
Speaker:That's all I wanted to say here today
Speaker:is this, that I was reflecting on this
Speaker:particular movie and the wonderful time
Speaker:I had watching it for the upteenth time.
Speaker:If you haven't watched it, I implore
Speaker:you to go and watch it, or something
Speaker:that is equally as ridiculous.
Speaker:There are many ridiculous movies.
Speaker:There are many ridiculous
Speaker:things that you can watch.
Speaker:Allow yourself to do it and then be free.
Speaker:Feel freer to be yourself and your
Speaker:content will benefit from that.
Speaker:And your audience will
Speaker:benefit from it as well.
Speaker:If you like this kind of content,
Speaker:hit the like button, the subscribe
Speaker:button, leave me a comment.
Speaker:Are there any other stupid
Speaker:movies that I should watch?
Speaker:I would love to watch some things
Speaker:that I haven't watched before.
Speaker:I really like, uh, what is it?
Speaker:Bad guys.
Speaker:What's that movie with Will
Speaker:Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg?
Speaker:I'm going to look it up.
Speaker:Hang on.
Speaker:The Other Guys.
Speaker:That's the movie.
Speaker:I just looked it up.
Speaker:That one is also just so silly.
Speaker:It's so, I mean, any movie with Will
Speaker:Ferrell is pretty ridiculous, but that
Speaker:one particularly, just the play between
Speaker:the two of them, I find just the best.
Speaker:Silly and fun.
Speaker:If there's any other movies or podcast
Speaker:episodes or YouTube influences that
Speaker:you think I should watch that will
Speaker:allow that freedom, that silliness,
Speaker:that dumb vibe to wash over me, then
Speaker:please put them in the comments and I
Speaker:will definitely go and check them out.
