How to DAD | Jordan Watson | TEDxChristchurch

You know, come out, my name is dead and I have a black belt degree in dating. Yes, there is definitely something real and no one in this room needs to look for that, so please, no one, no one above, so my name is Hao today. The first question is obvious, how dare you? Well, I have no idea, I'm just making it up. I mean, no, you guys, I started improvising from day one. They know I'm a dad. I have no time. to read these serious parenting books and stuff, you know, I have a job, I have to do the lawn, I have to watch sports, even if I had time to study this baby stuff, I would probably write a paragraph and just know like you know , I don't know what he's doing at the Institute, but a stupid book trying to tell me what to do and I'd be doing that right now, you know, yeah, I don't need that one, no, take the book and insert it as a wobbly table leveler, so Now reading fancy parenting books isn't for me and to be honest I'd rather you know than just make it up, it's more fun that way.

Two years ago I made a video and put it on the Internet. I made it work. I had a baby on the way. I was bored at home with my four-month-old son and thought I'd put together some sort of instructional video. I didn't think much about it. I just made it up. It was called how to hold a. baby, I thought of so many headlines, I knew I made up some others and then I made up some silly names to go with them I thought, you know, I thought they made it work, I'd enjoy it, I posted it on their Facebook page and it turned out two million other people liked it need a baby the standard show role inverted and the show role I need to lift something shins in the show role chin grab something baby Jesus double baby Jesus stinky Mateo for me stinky fu for you the box appears the phone dance partner dance partner Bird on a Wire Paul Mantz run pack hide your beer belly carpet people's world other people show after the other day super men show off to other fish children and this is how to hold your baby and I know the babies were hurt in the making of this quite good video, true, I went viral without even trying to be, it went around the world.

Huffington Post's time online, The Guardian, him online, the Today Show, Ashton Kutcher's white partner, that actor, shared it with his twenty-two million followers. baby we even went on TV or mom and this is the book that was on TV you missed it when I she wasn't home when it was originally played sit down sure press play you're watching yeah I hope it's cool, I posted this because a couple of guys at my work just had a newborn, so I tagged them on Facebook. I went to bed. I woke up the next morning. Boom, so this is it.

Basically, your posters go to bed and overnight I'm probably overselling them here, but your life. changes overnight, you don't realize it until you wake up the next morning. Did you have any idea how to do a live TV interview with a baby? No, as you can see here, where I break the first rule of live television for babies by forcing the child. about the presenter henry, hold yours, the passback maslow, yes i know we're all used to singing paul-henri up close on tv, but real life presenters, it turns out it's a baby's worst nightmare, my World fame went on and on and on. for three whole days and then BAM, it's over, there are endless questions and debates on YouTube about whether he was Australian or New Zealander.

They're done, I left with the comments about my appearance and I quote the chubbiest Mexican Ryan Gosling, oh, I'll take it I'll take it as my viral: it was made and orally the world had another 10,000 or so viral videos to catch up on. I just became dead again, except my mother reminded me daily of any new comments on the video. Thanks, thanks mom, a few weeks later and I was bored. I thought it would be cool, you know? If I could be famous again for three days just for the free stuff and the after parties and well there was no free stuff for the after parties but it was fun and to be honest I thought these viral videos aren't that hard but it had to be different.

I couldn't just try and remake it. You know how to hold a baby. I need to think of something new. Do you know something? innovative, so I chose hey, pretty clever, different, but the same, but different, and that amazing video didn't go viral, why I have no idea, you know, you can't plan a viral video, just make something up, check it out and see what . it happens and clearly with this one it didn't help that he had pants on Stubby's pants equals success shorts equals success what's the saying? Every good idea needs legs and obviously for me every good idea needs these legs and shorts that are too short.

I gave up on the viral video game and, to be honest, spent the next six months regretting those damn pants. A lot of people say, "Hey Jordan, I know you're a second video that didn't go viral, but I'd say it's because you." You were wearing pants and that's why I told them to shut up, ellipse, it was definitely the pants, it wasn't the fact that the made-up video was extremely similar to the first made-up video. I don't think so, there were those pants, so I was there six months later. and aside from my obvious disdain for pants, I was ticklish, I wanted more, this wasn't for my job, this was something I had done on my own, no one was telling me what to do, my brand of sassy humor, I thought only my kids They laughed.

In fact, he made other people laugh in front of millions of people at the same time he was trying to diagnose this viral tickle. Some people would mention Hi Jordan, oh it was like six months ago, but your first video did really well and it's obvious, you know there's an audience for that kind of thing, so maybe you can create a YouTube page or a Facebook page or something like that and I was thinking that if you get a friend, you've never done anything like that. I guess I don't give a damn. I know, although there won't be any. pants on and his friend told me I called you weird, so I decided to make more of these parenting how-to videos, like helpful how-to videos that ultimately wouldn't be very useful at all.

I didn't want to make serious videos, you know, that's not how it is. funny and the internet was already full of those blah blah blah so Nick started, my wife and I were trying to find a name for this thing, dead things, dead things on the web, this is dead, my wife was saying how to be dead . so it's too long, too long, how are you dead?, coast of brilliance, how did she die, she had done well. I tried to claim that we had done it, but it was all her, BAM, how did she die? She made a new Facebook page.

The YouTube page took the blurry screenshot of the video on how to hold a baby. It bothered all my friends on Facebook to like the page. Now we just needed videos. I was like, let's make a new video every day. My wife said: no, no, what, once a week. I'll be fine, okay, new instructional video every Monday, come on, but we needed ideas, so I started paying attention. The problems we parents encounter every day became a not very helpful and kind of funny how-to video if I was visiting my family or friends, I'd notice something starting to daydream and then I'd laugh strangely to myself and a few days later I was filming that idea and sleeping it on the Internet, how dad was born and producing ridiculously useless weekly parenting videos that parents like every Monday.

Posting our silly little videos was fun, exciting, not viral, but I did my thing, Facebook likes were slowly growing, soon local news agencies shared our clips and then some international agencies again wanted to share our videos, none of these It was viral. videos because you can't plan a viral video, we just stick to our Monday video routine, we make these things up every week and to be honest sometimes we quickly forget to put something together on a Sunday afternoon to upload on Monday , go online and don't do it. Ask later BAM the viral video happened again high five about three days of fame zidler celebrity dad how-to a few weeks later and another video went viral about how to put a baby to sleep and I thought it was the worst video we've ever seen .

I had never done it seriously. The idea with this one is that I would be trying all these different tricks and my daughter would be running up and down the stroller jumping because that's what she did every time she tried to put him to sleep and that's it. a relatable video idea right, that's saying they're parents, that's a problem that parents face, you know, kid jumping, this is going to be great, but no, on this day there was no bouncing, she kept being stupid falling into the cotton floor pretending Slave I just went ahead, edited the video, put it together and I remember telling my wife that this is bullshit because she is still sleeping well 26 million views later and like wise daddy said just 53 seconds ago, you can.

I don't plan on a viral video and this one proves it. Welcome to this instructional video on how to put a baby to sleep. You mean it's that easy? So this is your rope, the standard blanket that you renamed Blinky works every time it acts as a method. I'm going to sleep until the end. I will go find your mother to hypnotize her and put to sleep the dead who do not know a single lullaby. Shine no and I'll put the big uncomfortably dead giant baby to sleep. I'm going to go in, discover and sleep. the shining dead if you go to sleep I'll let you raise the curtains tomorrow they give up high five C's in the morning on tiptoe and that's how to put a baby to sleep now two years in more than 100 instructions videos later three pillars from studios over 200 million video views worldwide 1.5 million followers to published books a web series international adventures and about four-fifths of a TEDx talk later here we're still making these silly little videos people He asked me, hey, is it difficult to come? coming up with these videos every week, what it really comes down to is the perseverance in us making up these things every week, whether we like it or not, viral or not, they have that elegant life that says: fake it until you make it, I say make it.

Do it until you achieve it. Fakers don't make it, you need to show up every day and be the best you can so new opportunities are found for you. I had a stroke of luck. An international viral video that opened the doors for me to do my thing. An opportunity that I took advantage of. With both hands and feet I tried to keep it almost there and I'm doing everything I can with this opportunity. I'm making it mine those things in life that tickle you a little those things that bother you float around in your dreams don't let them take advantage of opportunities if you think you're on to a winner, grab it, make it yours, work hard, build it, be the best at anything, that's what just gave you a little tingle. you know, alone in this, but sometimes it's over, be the best at this and please, just for me, this dead fool, have fun and above all, don't wear pants, noisy kids in life are allowed, laugh harder, high five you.