Don't Procrastinate — Myriad Misadventures

I don’t usually post about my trips on the blog and YouTube until after they happen. Some people can make content as they live it but I’m not one of those people. If nothing else I have to ration the content from trips so I don’t run out of stuff to post. For the most part it seems to turn out okay. My trip to Japan won’t become noticeably less interesting if I post about it after the fact. As long as the content isn’t too spread out it seems okay if I’m posting it later. Of course it’s better to do right away because it’s still fresh but…mostly okay.

That being said I do recognize the need to post things in a timely fashion sometimes. The video about Typhoon Mangkhut I made last year is a perfect example. I realized that there would be more interest in the typhoon closer to it happening so I bumped that video up in front the trips from that summer. I also post the fight videos when I finish them as opposed to posting all the other stuff I have waiting first. But I’m not as good at this planning as I like to think I am.

At the end of 2018 there was a 40th anniversary light show in Shenzhen. At least that’s what I heard it was. I didn’t really think Shenzhen was that old so maybe it was for something similar? Whatever it was for I didn’t get around to going to see it until the last week they were doing it. That doesn’t affect the video of me going to see the show or the full show too much. They’d probably have been better posted closer to the show but I think they’re still a little interesting now. But when I was going I realized I missed out on more content by waiting so long. I could have done a video or blog post about what the light show was for and good places to go watch it. That video would be a lot less interesting after the fact.

Another great example is the Game On conference I wrote about earlier this month. I went to that sort of early but...didn’t take any video. I also didn’t write any info about it. I could have gone and filmed for a YouTube video and also gotten some info. Directions to the location, hours it was open, price, how to buy tickets. All of that stuff would have pretty easy information to get. And had I made that blog post it could have been helpful to other people (expats at least) in Shenzhen who wanted to go. That may be a small group and it would only have been useful for a little while but it wouldn’t have taken too long to make and might have helped someone.

So by waiting until the last minute to go see the light show I missed out on potential content. And by not thinking about what else I could do with the video game expo I missed out on a helpful post. Now I was always a procrastinator but I always seemed to get stuff done, even though I waited. This was one time when it didn’t. It was also sort of a wake up call for blogging. I’m still not a particularly experienced blogger or this probably would have been obvious. But now I know. So going forward I know that when there’s anything kind of topical happening I have to make a point of checking it out early.

It’s also helped me think more like a content creator. I’ve been learning this bit by bit from my trips as well. When I used to travel and do things I did them for me. I took a couple of pictures to remember it and that was pretty much it. I couldn’t remember much concrete information after the fact. I’ve realized recently that none of this is beneficial to writing a travel blog. People want to know how much stuff costs and when it’s open and how to get there. If I want to make compelling content I need to be able to tell people that kind of stuff. Now when I travel I try to pay attention to things like that. And when I do local stuff like the light show or video game expo I remember info that might be helpful to other people going.

Or...at least I try to.

Blogging has been a slow learning process. I do some stuff and realize I could have done it better. Then I do it a little better and realize I could have done something else better so I do that next time. Hopefully eventually I’ll do enough stuff better that it’s good haha.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you on my next trip. Don't forget to click the links below and follow to stay up to date on what I'm doing and where I am and to see all the pictures and videos from my trips.