Why putting his health and family first is important (Greater than Avatars)
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- Опубликовано: 3 ноя 2024
- Greater than Avatars is a film series on the humans behind the avatars. We know their work, tweets, and avatars but we're so much more than that. We all have our struggles and things we deal with everyday -- those are the real things that make us who we are.
In this film, Matt D. Smith, a freelance designer from Athens, GA, explains how he manages to keep his health and family a priority while still achieving more work than most in a strict 9-5 daily process.
Find Matt online at:
/ mds
/ mattdsmth
Directed, filmed, and edited by Dann Petty.
In association with InVision.
Check out www.greaterthan... for more info and be sure to snag some limited edition merch to help support more videos!
The creator and the person featured here both are major inspirations!
Oh man, fan of MDS and Dan but I have lived this first hand and almost quit design completely because I was working 70+ hours a week and never was home. It took my body getting super sick and my family begging me to stop before I finally slowed down. Best decision I've ever made. Working 4 days a week and working out everyday changed my life 👍
This guy is a hero!
It feels nice to know someone is living the life of your dreams. Makes you relate to an actual human that runs A LOT.
Dann i LOVED THIS. The intro with the voiceover was amazing. The way you included clips of y'all making the film throughout... BEAUTIFULLY shot and edited. Can't wait to see more :)
To often we get into this "grind" of " I need to stay late, be constant working, and if I don't I'm not doing well or I wont go anywhere". I love that Matt makes time for his family and makes sure that work is a window of time and not his whole life.
Well I definitely can't relate to running 5 miles regularly (ok, ever) but the idea of living a meaningful, purposeful life and leaving that impact, 100% yes to that!
This was so well made, the quality is insane and I loved the character of the entire project. It was a pleasure to watch Dan! Greater than Avatars is a work of art.
Respect Matt! You manage health, family and career in an inspiring way!
There really is no substitute for hard work and dedication. I think what's most inspiring to me about Matt is seeing the grind of working as a freelance designer, yet having the self discipline to maintain a work/life balance and make time for family. Being intentional really is a great mindset to have.
I think this is super crazy. Being able to manage not only work so well but also finding a balance between work and free time is what I want too. Thank you for that story and the inspiration along with it. I very much appreciate it 😊
Great, man! Family values are so important!!!
This is fantastic and simply inspiring. As a designer and a dad I really connected with the bits about work/life balance. I use to work at an agency before deciding to go in house. I spent a lot of time after hours and on weekends away from my family. At some point I finally snapped out of it and realized that work should support my life, not the other way around. Looking forward to the rest of the film!
Thanks for beeing back bro! Thanks a lot. ♥
What a great reminder that prioritizing just a few things, and doing them consistently, can lead to greatness. And some sweet trampoline backflips! Thank you, Matt and Dann.
Love this! Hearing about the things Matt does to take care of himself and balance his work/life has been a wake-up call for my own self. Can't wait for the rest of this series!
Totally. It was really inspiring for me as well.
Yo that such a good format to unfold that kind of story. And thanks Matt for being so open and honest!
Man! This came out sooo good! Great job Dann, and my hat is off to Matt. I really admire how he is able to segment his day so diligently in order to balance work, family, and health. It's great to see people treat all aspects of life as important and valuable, and really shows the importance and potential of large chunks of focused time. Keep up the great work!
Absolutely amazing, thanks for creating this. It is a breath of fresh air to hear from others who actually want to live meaningful lives and not the silicon valley hustle craziness.
It was inspiring to hear how he makes his health a priority and is diligent about protecting his time with his family. I work from home full time, and have two small kids. I do my best to be present with them but I have always struggled with setting strict office hours. It was really helpful to hear from someone in my own field that is able to have a successful career while protecting his off time. I just need to be more strict with others (and myself) about what is allowed to interrupt that time.
There are tons of sites, social media profiles, that teach how to do/think design … but at the end of the day, knowing how other's are being human, attempting to live life away from the keyboard and mouse is so meaningful. We're all similar and this series is must and wonderful glimpse in to personal lives.
Keep it up Dann, this has a been a long time coming and you've definitely up'd your video producing/directing game. You need to up your cardio game 🤣.
Elijah Smith haha! Working on it
I've been admiring Matt's work for a long time. The humorous touches really bring the video an authentic vibe to the video, great job Dann!
This is great, humor snippets throughout and the series concept. Feel like we need to understand who people are, not just there avatar.
Incredible work Dann!
Oh man. This resonates so damn well with me. Juggeling family and work, a carreer if you will ... it's not easy. Every shortcut takes its toll. Either if its the fam having to compromise at times or the job. And as Matt pointed out, it also has consequences if you're leaving yourself behind as well. Definitely a challenge to balance these things well. Great Film. Kudos!
Matt is an inspiration as a designer and as a parent. It's often hard to find a work life balance but Matt inspires me to feel comfortable to say no, or be ok with having something wait until tomorrow. My family, my sons, and the memories we can have from 5pm to bedtime are what matters. Because of Matt, I started running. Thanks bro!
Two of the most inspiring designers and people I know that continue to do so much for our community.
Resonates because I freelance and have even more children than Matt ! Really inspiring. Congrats Dann for your hard work mastering all these new skills !
I smiled through the whole thing. Excellent short film, especially enjoyed the bits of humor here and there. That's probably the part that made it memorable to me, the humor and the smile it gave me. Had you not done that I may have thought... next. Instead it got you both follows on Twitter :) I think I'd love to see more about his struggle. As a mother of five who also works full time as a ux designer, I KNOW things don't go as smoothly as depicted. Like, how the heck did you get everyone out the door one after the other WITH their backpacks on AND no forgotten lunches in under 20 seconds? This mom thinks that was staged ;) Still love it though. Keep it going!
Jessica Peter haha, you are correct. definitely a lot of staging going on. lots of screaming in the bg wouldn’t have been good for video ;) but yes the struggle is very very real.
Also, they did leave a backpack - watch Matt come back in to get it
Nice Dann, the cutaway scenes are fun. Good lighting as well.
Amazing work Dann.
This is great Dann, you can feel your personality in the film with the sly jokes and the goosebump raising emotion. I haven't designed in months after falling into a depression that I have battled with all my life. But the way you frame MDS really inspired me to get out of the funk and get back into the craft that I love. It is so important to remember how many designers are out there that find ways to make life work and build a career. It can be so easy to fade away from that and be alone. Thank you for making this. 💪
Zachery Nielson you’re not alone Zachery! 🤙
Flux Thanks man. Love your videos and I’ve been diving into them a lot more after this one from Dann. Appreciate all your work!
Are you getting back into design now?
Quite Inspirational !! Thank you Dann for sharing such stories.
I am in love with his project! Please, don't stop!
Lucas Cruz Yeww!!
Masterpiece. I love this so much. Incredible work Dann! 👌
Two of my favorite folks! Thanks so much to the both of you for doing this!
The “Just letting folks know I existed” line was so good. I’m trying to become more involved in my local community and Matt is exactly right. Just let people know you’re out there and available to help. That will open up so many doors.
Also loved that he left work at 5. Matt puts out so many awesome things that it would be easy to assume he works all the time. It was really refreshing to see that he makes his family a priority (while also creating amazing things).
Can’t wait to see more of these!
I def relate to the need for structure in order to help maintain balance and productivity without burnout. Thanks for sharing Matt.
Awesome work Dann
This was very inspirational! I definitely agree with Matt when it comes to taking care of yourself. It's something that I need to work on
This was fun to watch, great work Dann.
Love the work Dann, keep it up. I love how this emphasised the importance of a healthy work life balance, specifically at one's self and family.
Gives me a lot of pleasure watching your work Dann. Love it!
Great video man! Congrats.
Fantastic! Great episode, Dann > :)
So stoked for the rest to come out! Absolutely loved this. Really related to it, being about a year and a half in to freelancing, I'm definitely still getting my footing and have a hard time without having community (Since I've been working remotely since moving to Portland around the time of starting freelancing) so Matt talking about building his community really hit home and makes me want to try to really intentional work on building that and connecting
This is so rad. Mad respect for both of you guys.
Wow... all I can say is wow. Loved every bit of this; particularly the humor interspersed throughout. I found this super helpful and inspirational; can't wait to see the rest of the series. I think the biggest thing I took away was really just how important exercise is for your mental state and productivity. I always fall into this mentality of my time being better spent on getting actual work done than trying to do any exercise or workout routine. I tend to feel like I have this option between the two and for some reason I always pick work over exercise; even though in reality I would probably get far more work done by exercising first. Cheers Matt and thanks for sharing your daily schedule/routine and thoughts on work/life balance in this film. Thanks Dann for all the incredible work that went into producing/making this 💯 🙌
Dann! Love this new series. The execution is exceptional and it has a great balance of humor and relatability.
Nice job Dann. Matt is one of my favorite designers, along with you. Hope you will be publishing more of these soon!
Excellent !
Matt is the best one! I love it, Dann. Thank you
The editing is excellent on this.
thank you for this, you both are my heroes :)
Nicely put across. Loved the way you jumped in between. It added a humorous touch to it.
My god this is A M A Z I N G. Love it!
This is just incredible! What a piece of art. You are amazing. This was so funny hahaha it made my week thank you so much!
Great episode, Dann. Congrats on launching the movie and it's fascinating to see how much you've done in video space in a relatively short time. 🤙
Dann congratulations for this film, it is very clean and professional. I can tell a lot of similarities between you and MDS, ( and me, lol ) So inspiring as always. Thanks
It's strange how my approach on design changed since me and my girlfriend start to live together and adopted a dog 6 months ago. It changed my relation with time, priorities and work itself... I feel like I can choose better which fights to pick, how and where to argue about something and when just sit down, focus and do better personal projects.
MDS is a hero!
What Can I say Dann ! Love this Short Flim funny thing is Matt's Channel lead me to yours. 🎥
This rules! Thanks for putting these togehter, Dann!
nice work!
Really great story telling Dann... also really appreciated Matts focus on family. :)
I really like this concept... really well done, well shot. Looking forward to learning about all the avatars!
Subscribed 👌🏻
why am i only seeing this now 😭😭😭❤❤❤
Dann, you are the man! Loved it!
Solid solid vibes.
Riley Jones you switched up how you comment almost didn’t recognize you :)
@@dannpetty Don't worry. Gotta save the good ones. Keeps it L I V E :)
Thank you.
Beautiful video :)
i really love this! Can't wait to see more :)
Great work!
Killed it Dann!
This was great!
This is inspiring.
Thanks Dann I want do it too ✌️
This is beautiful
wow!!!
Goooooooooood shitttttt Dan!
❤️
✌🏿✌🏿✌🏿✌🏿
Ironically for me, this still felt like a Facebook "avatarish" commercial for a life...all perfectly composed highlights, checking all the required boxes (happy family, good health, balance) but curiously absent any travesties or grittiness that I kind of expected from reading the synopsis of the series. But I'm definitely curious to see more installments.
The editing is excellent on this.