Tuesday 9th May 2017

It suddenly feels like everything has kicked up a gear.
I’ve been very busy over the last couple of days having started the vlogs, but yesterday, it felt like the only thing there was to talk about were the vlogs themselves.  In terms of things actually happening, there wasn’t very much going on.
Yet today felt like a stream of tasks.  I don’t think I’ve stopped.  It’s all a collection of micro tasks that leads me towards the big goal of getting out to Canada.
I bit the bullet and ordered a MiFi device.  I’ve paid to be able to use my mobile abroad, but I decided to have a back up, just in case.  If we get into disaster areas. It could prove helpful to have a secondary device.   It’s going to be delivered via signed delivery tomorrow so I’m going to have to work from home.  Annoying but going into the office every day is just pointless and I’m behind on everything as a result.  Thank God that I finished the draft of the novel as it would be stressing the hell out of me right now.
I also ordered a couple of spare batteries for the vlogging camera.  You can never have too many batteries.
I went into town this afternoon and ordered my currency for my trip.  I got my US Dollars (I cried at the exchange rate) but my Canadian Dollars have to be ordered in.  I’ll pick those up on Thursday
I needed to set up my intervalometer tonight.  I bought it via a kickstarter last year and basically it allows my camera to be controlled from my phone.  I tried to use it when I went to Brean Down but I was missing a cable so never got to do it.  But I finally got round to it tonight and was really, really impressed with it.  I took a timelapse with it and then played with some software to get it all stitched together.  The output will be in tomorrow’s vlog but I was really pleased with how it turned out.
The vlogging is proving to be interesting.  I put episode 3 up tonight and editing that was a little tough.  Yesterday was such a busy day with not much happening that I could film and so I wasn’t happy with the result.  I did as well as I could.  But what I think this daily vlogging exercise is teaching me is to not worry about being crap.  I’m just getting content out there and getting over my fear of publishing video.
I tried to buy the full software as I’ve been saying for a year I’d do it, but there’s some problem with the shopping cart and I’m unable to complete the transaction.  That’s a bit annoying as it would be another thing off the list.
What’s been interesting to me, is that I expected negativity about me starting vlogging.  However, the response has been very positive which surprises me.   I suppose because I’m doing it primarily for my storm chasing, the writing community haven’t really questioned it.    But I also think friends are waking up to the idea that to be a writer you need to do more than just write books.  You have to get your name out there via other means.
I spoke to my friend Steve this morning, who is launching a podcast via Pateron.  As he said, no harm in trying.  And given that he’s quite seasoned at doing podcasts, this seems like a very wise move for him.  Please go and check it out!
But writing seems very far away at the moment.  As I said to someone today, it seems that the way things go is that one thing becomes my focus and everything else ticks along, but then it switches.  So up until recently my focus has been on the writing and whilst my diet has been good, it could have been better.  But as a minimum it’s being maintained / micro improved.  Now the focus is on storm chasing and video, and everything else is being maintained.  When I get back and I approach tournaments, my health and fitness will become massively important and my focus once again.
I think that’s healthy.  Success is built on repetition and so having distractions that you work on every day but might not be your main focus at that moment in time seems a great way to multi-task.  It just sets you up for down the road.
I heard something online recently that said that you should do the things that your future self (one year in the future) wished you had done every day.  I.e. If I’d gone to the gym every day for the last year, I would be fit now; if I’d written 500 words every day I’d have written that book now.
However, if there’s one thing I’ve realised over the last couple of days that I need to change about my fitness, it’s how I handle injury.  You see, I’ll do something until it starts to hurt.  Then I’ll continue to do it just to make sure that it really is hurting, and then I’ll push myself to complete things.  And whilst, from a viewpoint of getting things done, it’s good, it means I injure myself and then take ages to heal.
My back is still playing up and I realise it’s because I don’t stop until after the damage has been done.  So I’m finding that I need to rethink my injury levels.  This comes from having a very high pain threshold.  I need to stop sooner rather than try and be heroic and get the task done only to bugger myself up.  However, as stupid as that may sound, I’m not sure where general muscle ache becomes torn muscles so I can’t really work out when I need to stop.
Hopefully, the trip will allow me to rest my back as I’m really not progressing at the gym at the moment.
What’s the lesson in all this?  That any accomplishment is just a series of small targets.  And where people come unstuck is they try to take too big a stride and then take a fall.  I’m the type of person who will pick themselves up and carry on, and I always thought that overall that was the best thing.  But I’m starting to realise that sometimes you have to be prepared for little progress.  And that, I think, is something I could be better at.
If you want to follow more of my journey, then be sure to check me on my social channels.  Likewise, if you’d like me to expand on any point mentioned above, please say so in the comments.

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