@mattdavella

You’ve gotta start somewhere.

New face who dis? Taking a much needed break 😊

My big dumb face is all over the @slowgrowth website. But creating Slow Growth Academy would have never been possible without a dedicated group of freelancers, creatives & badass human beings... @markdavella is our tech and operations wizard 🧙‍♂️ (yes… my big bro!). He built slowgrowth.com and handles every crazy request I throw at him. Couldn’t have done this without you! @yumyumporkbun created the @slowgrowth Instagram account from scratch and helped with nearly every aspect of building Slow Growth Academy. You made this entire project 1000x better 🙏🏻 @taigafukuyama is our assistant editor that organized over 3,800 clips to prep me for editing. @helloluum designed our epic website and beautiful branding. @TaraJacoby created the beautiful course illustrations & animations. @onlychildesign is our @slowgrowth social design. Eric Swartzwelder & @jar.work came through to help us with additional design & animation work. @StefanKunz created the hand lettering on our Giant Leaps print. And thanks to you! I wouldn't have been able to create Slow Growth Academy without you guys all showing up to watch my videos every week. I hope you find that this helps you on your journey.

I’m smiling in this photo but on the inside I’m like, “I HOPE THIS WORKS”. I’ve been talking about making a habits course for the past 3+ years, so the stakes were HIGH when I finally got started. At first it was going to be just that: a habits course. But after many long conversations with my team (@yumyumporkbun & @markdavella) we decided to go big and build a course platform from the ground up. Over many, many late nights and early mornings we built @slowgrowth Academy. Every letter, emoji, frame and worksheet was poured over dozens of times. Iteration after iteration, we worked until we got every last detail right (we’re kind of obsessive about the details). What pushed us forward was the vision of creating something bigger than ourselves. An opportunity to not just create courses, but to bring together a community of like-minded people. Those who are interested in self-development and living a life of intention. As excited as we were about the launch, the one thing I kept telling our team as we neared this moment, was that it’s not about the launch. We’re building something that will last well-beyond the day that we release it. And if something completely fucks up, the website crashes or no-one bothers to go to it, then that’s okay. You don’t measure your progress in moments, you measure it in years. That’s the entire idea behind @slowgrowth. I hope you guys are digging what we put together. Thanks for you support 🙏🏻

Here’s what you can expect from @slowgrowth Academy and my very first habits course 🚀 Blown away by your response to our new platform!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻. You are amazing!

I’m SO excited to finally announce (🥁🥁🥁)... Slow Growth Academy! *faints* *wakes back up* At Slow Growth Academy, we create courses that turn small steps into giant leaps 🚀. Expect no bullshit programs on self-development, filmmaking and creativity made by me 👨‍🚀. If you’re like me, you’re tired of the fast fads and hack secrets that get pedalled around online. So at the Academy, everything is built with the philosophy in mind. In a fast-paced, burn-out culture fueled by unrealistic demand for instant results, the slow growth philosophy is different. We’re all about committing to the slow burn of real, sustainable growth. Because giant leaps never, ever happen overnight. It takes stamina, patience and persistence to push through the doubt and discomfort. From building my first business over 10 years ago, to paying off $97k in student debt, to forming healthy habits, to making my first feature film and growing my YouTube channel. Creating success that goes the distance is about finding joy in the journey. And savoring those small steps 💪. Hope you’ll join me in checking out Slow Growth Academy (link in bio). Also follow @slowgrowth for inspo and lessons on all things slow growth ⚡. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

These next two days are going to go slow.

Something big is coming... ... 8/18

Laundry day am I right? 🤷🏻‍♂️

Hey guys, I want to share the story of how I started my YouTube channel in this sponsored post by @squarespace. When I first started my YouTube channel I really had no idea where to start. I didn’t watch a ton of YouTube videos back in those days and I could probably only name two creators off the top of my head (can you guess them?). That actually gave me a massive opportunity. I wasn’t burdened by what I thought YouTube was “supposed to look like”. I was able to throw a bunch of shit at the wall to see what would stick. I experimented with vlogging and interviewing. I tried scripting out my videos and riffing off the top of my head (that didn’t go so well 😂). I shared stories from my personal life, filmmaking tips and my adventures around Brooklyn. I was stumbling forward, trying to find my place on the Internet, trying to find the sweet spot between what I enjoyed to make and what people wanted to watch. It took a couple years on YouTube (and ten years of freelance filmmaking before that) for me to really hit my groove. So if you’re feeling lost, or stuck, or uncertain about where you should be heading, you’ve got company (in fact maybe we should start a support group 😆). My advice to you: put in the work each day, don’t let doubt stop you, and throw as much shit at the wall as you can. If you’re lucky you’ll find something that will stick. Whether you want to start a YouTube channel, a blog or a paper mâché business your work deserves to be shown in all its beauty. I definitely recommend you check out @squarespace to set up your website. I’ve been using them since well-before I started my YouTube channel and they make it super easy to get started.

Look at that view. The mountains look pretty good too.

My plan for the 2nd half of 2020: More nature & less screens. All in favor say 🙋🏻‍♂️