LethalFrag recently received the Twitch Lifetime Achievement Award at TwitchCon. It’s a great accomplishment but most do not know what goes on behind the stream. LethalFrag took to Twitter to discuss the precautions of the two year challenge. See what he wrote below.
LethalFrag on Two Year Challenge:
Since receiving the lifetime achievement award for being the creator and first to complete a two year livestream challenge I have received a lot of messages of people saying they are going to start their own. This is great, having people tell me that I inspired them to start streaming is one of the greatest feelings, however I would be remiss if I did not warn people of the potential consequences of taking on such a huge commitment.
Streaming every day for two years does not guarantee anything. I believe the best time to take on any challenge is if you already have something established, you want to push yourself further and see if you can make it all the way. Starting a challenge with no viewer base or a small channel is asking to have your expectations crushed.
Everyone wants the success that the two year livestream challenge provided me, I happened to be in the right place at the right time with a unique idea, I am extremely lucky for those circumstances. I will take credit for working hard and remaining positive, but no matter what happens there are things out of your control and a lot of things out of my control lined up for me to push towards being full time and having a career.
If you really want to do a challenge I will root for you all the way, I think people succeeding is awesome and I am happy to see others reach their goals. I only ask that you think realistically and form a true plan that accounts for what can happen over a two year period. Here are some examples of stuff that went wrong for me:
– I got sick a lot in 2 years, colds, flu, stomach bugs, migraines
– I had multiple hardware failures
– I got severely depressed multiple times, so much that I could hardly get out of bed.
– I had days where I didn’t want to work, it almost felt impossible to gain motivation.
– My fantasy about how much money I would make streaming was a farce, I didn’t have a stable career until after the challenge.
– I had no idea how fame would affect me, it changed me (this is not bad but it was a HUGE amount of stress).
So please, before you take on a endeavor that will dominate your entire life for two years think of it from real terms. I went into it with a fantasy, a strong one that kept me motivated but really a lot of my own expectations were not met, because they were not realistic. I am so lucky and grateful to be able to produce content full time, but I truly believe that I have a career because I put in the work, remained consistent and built something over a long period of time. The two year livestream challenge was a great idea that people could get behind, but there were a lot of times where a day off would have done me a world of good. Be true to yourself and be prepared and most of all… GOOD LUCK!
Best,
Matt a.k.a. LethalFrag
