Lights | Camera | Action | with Matt Kjar
Do You Have Commission Breath?
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My cousin is a real estate agent. The other day she tossed out a phrase I immediately recognized — because I’d felt it myself. “Commission breath.” You know exactly what that means, don’t you?
It’s that desperate energy. The pit in your stomach, the tightening in your chest, hoping the next person says yes. And here’s the thing nobody in the content world talks about: when you create from that place, it shows up in everything you make.
According to researchers at Princeton and Harvard, a scarcity mindset consumes critical mental bandwidth — the cognitive resources you need for planning, problem-solving, and genuine connection. When your brain is in scarcity mode, it tunnels. It focuses narrowly on the perceived lack and shuts out everything else. That’s exactly the state most of us are in when we sit down to create content “because we have to.”
The problem with creating from desperation
We do this constantly. We sit down to record and we’re thinking:
“I just need to get something out there.” “The algorithm needs to see I’m consistent.” “Someone told me I should be posting more.”
And listen — consistency matters. Video is one of the most powerful things you can do for your business. It works 24/7/365. It lets you duplicate yourself. But content created from a scarcity mindset always comes off as exactly that: scarce. Needy. Desperate.
Research on jazz musicians using fMRI found that emotional intent directly shapes the neural activity behind creative output. In other words, the emotion you bring into a creative act isn’t just background noise — it’s literally changing what you produce at a neurological level. Powerful emotion creates powerful content. Desperate emotion creates desperate content.
So what do I do instead?
I create from powerful emotion. And when I can’t get there naturally, I have a process. Three things I try — in order.
Start writing — anything
I think about a specific client, a real problem they’re facing, and how I’d solve it. I don’t worry about what I’m writing — I just get thoughts out of my head and onto the page. Like a river, your ideas only flow once there’s movement. The act of writing unlocks more writing. Start anywhere and keep going until something real emerges.
Move your body
When I’m creating video, I’ll literally jump up and down, swing my arms, or blast a song that fires me up. This isn’t random — psychologists note that physical state directly affects cognitive and emotional state. Stagnant energy in your body creates stagnant content on camera. Move to shake it loose.
Give yourself permission to make a mess
A total fail is still forward movement. Making something that clearly isn’t it gets something out of you — it breaks the preciousness around the whole process and makes the next attempt feel less scary. This is the permission most creators never give themselves.
The final check
After all of that, I run one final test. I ask myself: Do I have commission breath right now?
If what I’ve created still feels like I’m only doing it out of desperation — if the energy behind it is scarcity rather than service — I chalk it up as a good practice run and go again.
Powerful emotion creates powerful content. Not perfection. Not consistency for its own sake. Not because the algorithm told you to. The emotion you bring to the camera is the emotion your audience will feel watching. Make it count.
Before you hit record this week, check yourself. Are you creating from a full place? Or do you have commission breath?
Want help getting into the right headspace before you ever press record? In Lights, Camera, Action, we work through exactly this — so the videos you make actually connect and convert.
© Lights Camera Action with Matt Kjar
