I am so bad at posting consistently, in fact I’m terrible at posting at all! Because of the recent changes to my schedule, I’ve really struggled with getting the content I’m building up down in a post but I think I’ve finally cracked my code, and hopefully if you lack the motivation like I do to share the content as opposed to just living it, these tips will help you too.
Make use of voice typing
I’m that person in your contacts who voice notes constantly. To the point I send my friends and family multiple 3+ minute rambles about absolutely nothing because I go off on a tangent.
Oops!
Anyway, one day I was on a flight with literally 3 passengers, sitting on my break and going through an intense pain day (day 3 of my period I believe) and I suddenly realised that I should be using this golden opportunity to write a post about my period pain devices (read here)! I had so much to say but couldn’t get the words to my hands to type, I don’t know if this is something everyone experiences or just me, so it just made sense to say it. In the time I had available, I managed to type out almost the entire post, only leaving 1 point to write about.
A few days later, I’d completed that post and done most of the next one, and now I have multiple posts being built up to be posted more consistently.
Make use of ’empty’ time
Empty time to me is making use of the times you don’t have connection by using google docs offline or at times when the jet lag is keeping you up at night or early in the morning.
I spend a lot of time going to America with my job and that means constantly waking up before half the city goes to sleep in some places but because I’m there for such a short amount of time, I want to stay to UK time zones as much as possible. This means those ‘early’ hours where it may be 4am in Seattle, but to me it’s actually midday, I can get a lot done before exploring at like 10am local time.
Being able to access docs or even just phone notes app offline gives me an opportunity to use up the time I’d spend twiddling my thumbs or playing games on my phone out of boredom otherwise. This way I can use up the time I can’t be doing anything else without eating into my time that I’d be exploring places on my trips and I no longer feel guilty when I need to catch up on some sleep after 36 hour days going between time zones. This was something I’d really been struggling with. I get very little time in some places, ranging from a few hours to maybe 72 hours to explore, and I never know when I’ll be back so every moment I have is precious. I mean I’m a flight attendant to travel, not to be a trolley dolly!
Times I find the best to do this is making use of long journeys like flights, bus trips or train journeys. Especially if they’re unavoidable like work commutes or when going between backpacking destinations on a sleeper train when you get woken up super early with loads of time to kill before you arrive. Oddly specific, but every travel blogger/vlogger/TikToker I follow swears by that being prime productivity time.
Film a time lapse
This isn’t something I’ve come up with but I’ve seen backpacking YouTuber Christianne Risman (Backpacking Bananas) talk about and do this several times in her videos and instagram stories. After doing it a couple times, I can confirm it’s an amazing method for getting work done, and unlike the apps you can download where it locks your phone for an hour or two, you get two things out of it, a cool video and your work, and I don’t get frustrated about not being able to use my phone.
Gen Z problems, I know.
Time lapses are a great way to make twice as much content if you’re like me and an aspiring blogger, vlogger or anything social media-y. You can post these to your stories, turn them into reels and TikTok, or add them into vlogs to bridge gaps like you would with b-roll. Plus, if you don’t want a front facing video like mine above, you could always time lapse the outside world, like a sunset or busy city life.
Record ANY and EVERY idea you have
My google docs, phone notes page and voice recording app are all over the place. It’s an organised chaos of TikTok video ideas, blog inspiration and instagram quotes. 90% is just a ramble that I have to decipher but it means that if I’ve ever got writer’s block or I’m stuck trying to work out how to make my instagram comment valuable to those reading it, I have something to build from.
I try to make bullet points where I can to then transfer over to the top of the post as I write it so I can always reference my points, and therefore add as I go along without sidetracking myself from the task at hand too much and getting my paragraphs jumbled.
When I can’t bullet point for whatever reason, I make a voice note to myself. To be completely honest, they sound like the ramblings of a mad man but they make sense to me, just about. I will just sit there and reel off some ideas and then see where the inevitable tangent takes me. Sometimes they turn into nothing but it’s good to have a reference point, especially if there’s a chance I can salvage something from the mess.
Work with others
This is one of the best ways I’ve found I can be productive. Whether they’re people I know or complete strangers, having someone around me doing work helps motivate me, and if I know them, it helps us both hold each other accountable to actually do the work. I also like working with people I know because it helps me not get sucked into sitting at my laptop all day and forgetting to do basic things like eat and stay hydrated.
For example, I’m sat writing this post on the plane whilst I position out to New Jersey between two other passengers who are sat doing work either side of me. It’s almost like their productivity has rubbed off on me.
Another example is when my boyfriend and I work together. He makes sure I’m actually doing my work and not scrolling on tiktok aimlessly (and acts as my dictionary as my spelling is atrocious) and I help keep him motivated to do his degree work. We both make sure that we’re not over working, eating and drinking plenty, and taking adequate breaks like a dog walk or going out for lunch.
Having not spent much time travelling when I was younger, I always find it really hard to not feel guilty when I’m ‘wasting’ time in places that I am only in for such a short period of time and may never return to. These hacks may not work for you, they’re just the ways I’ve found help me work and not feel like I’m missing out on travel experiences and it’s always worth giving new strategies a go.