It is fair to say that 2024 hasn’t got off to the start I was hoping for. I have been faced with many personal challenges, most of which were beyond my control. I have also had several bouts of illness, including a tickly persistent cough that won’t go away; Something which is an absolute nightmare when your job requires you to speak regularly!
In the face of these many challenges, I have been trying to regulate myself to avoid any further complications. I can’t say I have been successful in all of my attempts, but it does get better each time. In the last week, I have devoured Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent audiobook “Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life”. He speaks at length about finding a vision and working on achieving it. I have found the book incredibly inspirational and has encouraged me to push beyond. I have heard most of the things he refers to, but his way of explaining makes those concepts clearer than ever.
With Schwarzenegger’s advice in mind, I wanted to share with you my professional goals for the rest of 2024. I have chosen to keep these public targets strictly the work side of my life, as I like to keep my personal goals private. I say this, as there is always someone who believes that because they don’t see it, then I am somehow disregarding it completely.
Grow Old Time Review
I have been working on the Old Time Review website since 2018, but it was only last year that it became part of my business. Two things I often lack when it comes to working on this website are motivation and confidence. Every time I sit down to write an article, I often lose myself about halfway through. I momentarily forget that I know how to write, and that the subject is interesting to me. It sometimes feels so destructive emotionally that I contemplate just giving up.
The other side of this is I’ve seen what happens when the site sees success. When I’ve pushed myself to write an article or review, and it has been received positively. The enormous buzz lifts my mood, and things don’t look so bleak. The sad truth is that it only sticks around temporarily, and this is something I need to work on. I need to work on consistency by establishing a work schedule.
I should also try to maintain the thought that revenue shouldn’t be my only motivation. I started Old Time Review to share my love of all things vintage and to keep that flame burning. My life has changed massively in six years but my passion remains. Let that passion be my motivation again.
Organise and Catalogue My Past Work
I am the first to admit that I am not always the most organised. During the first five years of my media journey, I was terrible at keeping track of all I had produced. My way was often to just save a piece of work anywhere, and worry about it later. In most cases, I forgot about things once they were made public.
I’m always opening random folders and finding tons of work I had forgotten about. My method was usually to leave things where they were laid, as looking back on these things can set off negative impulses in my brain. I always ended up going down rabbit holes that distracted me from my current goals.
In the last month or so, I have attempted to make an effort to improve my filing system. Searches have been conducted to find all from particular projects, then they’ve been placed into labelled folders on new hard drives. Seeing the mass body of work together, rather than fragmented, has been a positive experience for me. Finding one recording of a radio show makes me regret the time I spent making it, but seeing a large collection of them prompts me to consider the journey I went on, the things I learned and what I still use.
A little like an archive, re-organising my files shows up things I didn’t know I had. Some of this material has been repurposed for my YouTube channels, saving time in producing new content. Granted that the time I saved was spent transferring hundreds of gigabytes of files, but at least I got to spend more time with my family.
My next plan for achieving this goal is to expand further. There are folders I dare not go to for fear of negative thoughts and derailment. Tackling them, weeding out the bits I don’t want and rehoming the stuff I do, helps save time and money later on.
Get Ahead With YouTube
I first joined YouTube back in 2006/7, and it is fair to say I had no idea what I was doing. My underestimating of the platform, and its potential, in the early days means I am still playing catch up to this day. There have been attempts to “get ahead”, but I tend to have very little patience.
My lack of perseverance with my multiple channels has resulted in me deleting them before they’ve had a chance to grow. I’ve often heard the phrase “It’s a marathon, not a sprint” but have very seldom heeded those words. In my head, these things are a drag race that is over in seconds; If I don’t see a result quickly then it’ll fail forever. I admit this wholly negative thinking has meant I’ve hardly given things a chance to flourish. There are exceptions but there were usually other motivations at play with them.
My goal with YouTube into 2024 is to keep going. If a video gets 20 views, I will vow not to see defeat. My method will be to analyse if it needs it, work out what happened and move forward. I’ve learned that YouTube has a knack for rewarding long-term creators, usually by randomly recommending old videos to boost views. Waiting will give it a chance to grow, and increase my chance of monetisation.
To help tackle any potential negative dispositions, I plan to try and make things ahead of time. Producing multiple videos in a short period and releasing them weekly takes the pressure off. Time and head space are freed, as the channel can tick along nicely without having to think about the next step all the time. If a video does badly, it won’t make sense to cull the channel if I’ve already got another 3 scheduled.
Make a Return to Radio
I have thought long and hard about this goal, as it is the riskiest of them all. The last time I was heavily involved in producing radio, I was in the midst of a mental health emergency. I had burnt myself out to the point that my relationship with the medium was strained. I attempted a couple of comebacks afterwards, but my heart wasn’t in it. It was then that I found a fresh home in podcasting, something which continues to this day.
I have considered returning to radio in the last year for many reasons. I would be lying if I said that money wasn’t a factor, as an extra revenue stream is always welcome. The industry has changed, however, and it is now nearly impossible for me to get work in a paid radio position. Either that or my face doesn’t fit.
Besides the above, there are personal demons that I feel need to be tackled. My crash and burn of 2018 led me to success in the podcasting world, but I feel I still have something to give to linear broadcasting. Now that I have discovered who I am as a communicator and have gained hundreds of hours of further experience, it feels like unfinished business.
I am pleased to say that I have had a couple of offers from prospective stations. I was personally approached by these people, who are aware of my body of work in and out of the radio industry. It was very flattering to hear that I was still wanted for such projects, which are a world away from the cowboys who used to try and tempt me into hosting on their online radio station.
I haven’t fully made up my mind yet on what direction to take, as it didn’t feel right to commit straight away while they were in the planning stages; There is always a chance a better fit comes along, and I’m not keen on messing people about. I have to carefully consider my decisions to avoid past mistakes, and to assess whether anything would have to change. Hopefully, when the time comes, I can make the right choice that fits into my work schedule and allows me time with my family.
So there we have it, these are my four goals for the rest of 2024. They may change at various points, as they always do, but I think it’s positive to have a starting point. I could have added others, but I found that anything I could think of tends to fall under the same category. My ambitions for Old Time Review, for example, could also be applied to The Quo-Cast and many of the other projects I have running right now.
I hope that this post has been helpful reading for those who may be struggling. Writing this piece has helped secure in my mind my goals and “vision” for the rest of the year. Thank you for reading.
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