Not Giving in, Just being sensible!

Preamble

Okay, before we start I just want to say that I am trying to be, as the title suggests, sensible. Too often I set myself really high expectations and targets and then drive myself to them to the point of burnout in order to meet them. Then, in typical inwils fashion, I tell myself that I have failed.

But, this time, as my body starts to rebel, I have decided to do the sensible thing and stop.

High Expectations!

You don’t get anywhere without hard work. It was about 6 months ago that I started to push myself with my streaming schedule. My weekend schedule was fairly set, Saturday Elder Scrolls Online and Mythras RPG and Sunday just Elder Scrolls Online. I managed to maintain this, only with work commitments causing it to change. However, during the week I would make up a variety of excuses why I wasn’t or couldn’t stream.

It was after my community mentioned how much they enjoyed seeing me stream during the week that I decided to change. Since that point I have been streaming every evening apart from Wednesdays only missing a stream if I was poorly or had work commitments.

I must admit, that streaming this often definitely supported not only my game play but also my streaming in general. I was able to engage with a wider range of games, getting used to other systems, and improve my presence on cam as well as gaining a better understanding of the technical side of things. With this high expectation reaping rewards, I thought I would set myself another goal. Increasing my content creation that I shared across the social media platforms.

Content, content and more content!

I have been on Twitter since it started. Initially you would just tweet what you were doing at any specific time. “Going to the shops”, “Watching Tele” “Eating food” – that sort of thing. It was always hard to justify tweeting to anyone and there was quite a few people stating how dangerous it was – if you were announcing you were not at home, you could be burgled! Twitter has certainly evolved and now is seen as a viable social media platform for posting content. But for me, I wanted something new and turned to Instagram!

I’m not a great photography or anything like that put I do like snapping images, being creative with images and making short videos – for examples Instagram reels. I was still creating my longer videos, but there appeared to be a new demand for shorter vids with Instagram doing their 30 second reels and YouTube announcing and implementing their YouTube shorts. So, with this in mind, I decided to tap into the newish Instagram market and create shorter videos and content that I would publish three times a week – Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 18:00 GMT. In addition to this, I planned to maintain a consistent tweeting schedule that I would also use for Instagram stories – I know, very high expectations but what I thought I needed to do to achieve!

While being on holiday these last few weeks from my full time job, my plan was to create, create and create some more. I wanted to maintain a high level of production and content but try and get as many posts done for the next few months. However, it was not meant to be….

‘the inwils interval podcast‘

Time to slow down!

I’ve been on annual leave for about two and half weeks and, as I looked at my content calendar I saw that I had just finished the content for August. I had not even started on September’s content. I was still recovering from the vaccine jabs (see previous personal video) and on the morning of this post, my facial neuralgia started again. There are a number of conditions that can set the latter off, most of them being completely unsubstantiated and the neuralgia just wanting to be a pain – literally! But one of the conditions that does impact on it is my general level of tiredness. It is basically a wake up call saying – you are doing too much! Yesterday while streaming I mentioned that I did feel 100% but couldn’t put my finger on what it was but today, I have realised – maybe a little bit too late!

So, I have realised that my initial social media marketing campaign of three great content posts a week is and will continue to be too much. I’ve decided to drop this down initially to two posts a week – Tuesday and Thursday at 18:00. Any other random images or thoughts will be posted but at a more ad hoc fashion. Immediately, this means that rather than just completely in the content for August I am not well into September – quite a nice feeling.

Onwards and upwards

My first responsive to this change is not to blame myself or to feel guilty or disappointed that I have failed. I am trying to say to myself that I have just got it wrong and need to reassess the situation.

I have been working very hard behind the scenes on developing a system that I can use to ensure that I maintain some sort of consistency. These new programs are taking a while to get used to and to decide what to use. I am trying to go for the completely free option so that when I share my processes with you, you can adapt them to your own workflow, if needed. Videos covering these processes are being organised, scripted and recorded as you read this!

I think it is always important to acknowledge that we are all different and have varying amount of time available to produce content and stream. Often I fall into the trap of watching full time content producers on YouTube talking about their publishing schedule and trying to achieve this. But I cannot possible achieve this because I have different commitments on my time and energy. It has taken me a while to acknowledge this, but better late than never!

Outro

So – what have I learnt from this experience? Well, we all have different commitments and we should aspire to achieve what is manageable within these. It is better to start with a smaller target and then work up, rather than aiming high and failing. But, whatever target we set ourselves, be sensible and realistic and be prepared to reassess and change if needed.

Thanks for listening/watching/reading- hope you have enjoyed. More content relating to how I organise myself on its way soon, so do look out for that!

Have fun, stay safe, stay healthy but most importantly, stay positive!