I hate missing deadlines.
That doesn't mean I don't do it - don't misunderstand me, I have to kick the can down the road sometimes, just like anybody.
But when I say that I make videos every Monday and Thursday, and have a new blog post every Wednesday, that's the kind of habit I really hate to break.
Over the past month, I've been in a full sprint to get all of my content ready before the holidays. This is in addition to doing my Christmas shopping, planning travel, and of course my actual day job (yes, I have one, I'm by no means a full-time YouTuber). And hopefully by the time you're reading this, some of that work has paid off!
I have three videos about alignment coming out, all of those should be released by the time you read this - they were more elaborate than usual, as my video style continues to evolve, but I'm really proud of how they're shaping up. I also released a bonus video a few weekends ago, a sponsored unboxing video for Minis Monthly. And I've also got three bonus Critical Role videos coming out around this weekend, I'm really excited for you to see those!
But that means, if all goes according to plan, I will have released four bonus videos this month, and my regular videos will have gotten a bit more elaborate. While I normally put out two videos per week, and average eight or nine videos every month... in December I plan to release thirteen videos.
And I somehow need to make sure I start on my January videos as well, because at least one or two of them need to get done prior to New Year's Eve.
So, how do I get all of these things done? Well, there's a terrific message from Brandon Sanderson on this subject: Instead of framing tasks as things he wants to do, he frames them as things he wants to have done.
Now, he still finds ways to reward himself, but I think he and I use similar tactics. He tracks his word count in an Excel spreadsheet, and I do something similar. I have a huge Google Sheets document full of a huge schedule, filled with videos. At the time of writing, we're midway through December, and I know all of my videos I plan to release between now and the end of February. Some of them are already in the scripting phase, and a few already have sponsors attached. And as things get done, various tasks get marked off in Green, to indicate they are Complete. And I really, really like marking things as "Complete."
Similarly, I have a paper planner book that I use to keep track of my to-do lists for each day, and I really hate marking things as "incomplete" or even marking them as "delivered late." It's so much more satisfying to mark them with a red check - and even better to mark them as being done early.
It helps that I also enjoy what I do. I really enjoy editing YouTube videos - if I can have a bit of time to myself to work on a video edit, I find it replenishes a lot of my energy from a long day. I also find the process of writing videos to be really, really fun. But I won't deny that it can also be a chore. It is, after all, a lot of work.
But I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it. And sometimes, it's more valuable just to remember that while I don't always enjoy the process - writing can be hard, filming can be stressful, and editing often leads to me battling with my software to try to prevent those annoying glitches that come up in so many of my videos - I really enjoy the finished product. And if I can keep that in mind, sometimes that's enough.