For Unmesh Dinda, his boredom led him to being one of the most popular YouTubers and Photoshop teachers online.  How did he do it?

When he was just 8 years old, Unmesh found himself playing with Photoshop 6—not outside with friends. With no Internet connection and a purely curious heart, Unmesh learned his way around Photoshop by simply playing around with the tool.

Now at just 23 years old, Unmesh has over 2 million subscribers on YouTube from all over the world. We got the chance to sit down with him at Adobe MAX 2019 and learn how Unmesh Dinda got 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube.

Below are just a few lessons he’s learned along the way:

The Numbers Don’t Matter

Specifically, the number of likes, comments, and subscribers. For Unmesh, he didn’t pay much attention to the numbers. His sights were set on teaching and helping others. Even after he published his first 100 videos on his channel, he still didn’t have many subscribers.

What matters, he says, is what your content makes you as a person. Whatever the numbers look like, you’re growing in some way. When he looks back on videos from 2 years ago, he’s aware of the confidence he’s gained in front of the camera since then.

Unmesh recognizes there’s still so much for him to learn. It isn’t clear just yet, but he’ll be able to connect the dots in retrospect.

Consistency Over Quality

Creatives have a tendency to hold back on publishing their work until it’s perfect. (Or what they feel matches their idea of perfection.)

Unmesh negates this right off the bat. From his experience, he’s learned that consistency and quantity trump quality. The more you produce, edit, and refine, the quality will improve in the process.

The more videos he posted to YouTube, the more the algorithm picked up his content. And the more he created, the better his craft and confidence became.

Keep practicing, and the growth will come naturally.

The Difference Between Gifts and Talents

How do you know what you’re good at? Unmesh makes the distinction between talents and gifts, and how recognizing yours can help you determine what you’re good at.

A gift is something you posses. It’s something that comes very natural to you. Your gift is something you’ve had all along and is unique to you. For Unmesh, his gift is his ability to teach.

A talent is something that can be improved over time. You can build on your talent the more you keep at it.

When you realize what you’re talented at, and what gift(s) you possess, you’ll get closer to knowing what you’re really good at.

The Over-Arching Lesson

The best piece of advice Unmesh has ever received is to keep creating. It’s a lesson he shares with all of his subscribers, and signs off every one of his videos with.

Just keep creating. Don’t pay attention to the likes, comments, or subscribers. Things will naturally fall into place when you put in the work.