The One Thing I’d Tell My 25-Year-Old Self: Your Greatest Flaw Is Your Biggest Strength

My original plan last month was to release a video titled 6 Things I Learned Before Turning 35, or perhaps The One Thing I’d Tell My Younger Self.

Yet, neither of those videos ever came out. Instead, the script slowly mutated into something else entirely: the story that became The Worst Thing I’ve Done in Japan, (since retitled to My Most Humiliating Moment in Japan).

Part of the reason was simple. I actually didn’t know what I would actually tell my younger self. But of course, not long after I uploaded that video, something clicked. A realisation.

And it came under the pressure of missing the deadline to hand in the manuscript for my second book in June. So here it is.

Anyone who has ever worked with me knows my biggest flaw. I am always late.
Deadlines come and go like passing trains I was never realistically going to catch.

Whether it’s my second book, Journey Across Japan episodes, or Natsuki the Movie long before that, which came out several months later than planned.

I am, without a doubt, the undefeated champion of lateness. And for the longest time, I didn’t really know why. I figured I’m just an idiot. It’s not as if I was going on holiday or running away from my camera or laptop. More often than not, half my day was spent staring at a screen.

When I sat down recently to wrestle this second book into existence, I thought hard about it. Why does every project feel like a storm I’ve accidentally summoned?

Sure, part of it is simple: I take on too much. I say yes to everything. Like many, I relish the adrenaline of pressure and fear missing a great opportunity when it arises.

But underneath all that, I’ve realised that my procrastination isn’t ultimately about laziness or even disorganisation. In reality, it’s about finality.

The moment a video is uploaded, the moment a manuscript is handed in, it’s over. There’s no going back. No tweaking. No adding in the brilliant idea that showed up inconveniently after the deadline.

The best ideas always take time. They never show up on schedule. And knowing that, knowing that the second I hit “publish” I’m sealing the creative casket, that’s the thing that slows me down.

And paradoxically, it’s also the thing that’s kept me going all these years.

I’ve always believed that videos should only be released when they’re ready, not when they’re “due.” Because at least then, no matter whether it performs well or not, I can look back on it with a sense of pride, like the recent episode recounting the worst thing I’d done in Japan.

It was a story I’d sat on for years and wondered how the hell I could regale in a way that heightened the sense of dread (and comedy) of finding myself being exploited live in front of an audience of thousands.

I’d hoped to release the video within a week from script to upload, just as I had many other videos to finish working on, let alone the book to hand in.

Yet, as I immersed myself in the whole process, it ended up taking three long weeks, because every day a new idea or joke emerged, a sketch to be shot, a new soundtrack to be added. The script to be refined. Archive footage to be dug up. A shoji sliding door transition effect to be improved upon. All with the aim of making the video as entertaining as I could make it. To heighten the storytelling.

In the grand scheme of things, this ‘strategy’ is why I’m still here making videos and enjoying my life in Japan 12 years later. 

Back when I started Abroad in Japan, there were dozens of J-vloggers uploading like clockwork. Meanwhile, on Abroad in Japan, I took my time, releasing videos with the consistency of British sunshine: sporadic, unpredictable, and occasionally a surprise treat.

My philosophy has always been: stuff fixed deadlines.
That’s not to say I actively sabotage them. I never intentionally try to be late.

Over the years, we’ve worked with a few sponsors, and honestly, I can’t recall uploading a single video when they asked me to. Not out of malice. Not because I’m difficult. But because it wasn’t ready.

And every time, even if they’re momentarily annoyed, even if there’s a passive-aggressive email or two, once they see the finished video, they let me off the hook. They can see I’ve not been lazing around, so much as polishing up the video so it can be as good as it can possibly be. So viewers will hopefully enjoy it from start to finish.

And suddenly, all the issues around being late no longer matter anymore, as they can see I genuinely care about the things I create.

I used to feel guilty about all of this of course. There is a sense of letting people down, whether it’s casual viewers or you fine folks here on Patreon. I  don’t want to make people wait for things.

But the older I get, the more I realise it’s not a flaw. It’s just the way I work. It really is just my creative process.

Ultimately, it’s how I stay creatively alive in an industry that burns people out en masse, on a platform where endless, forgettable content flows like a river of mud. It’s how I still enjoy doing this almost 13 years on, and how we’ve been able to produce 300 half-decent videos here on Abroad in Japan.

So, to the handful of you out there working in creative fields, let me say this: prize creative integrity over punctuality. Prize originality over output. Always.

Because no one remembers how fast something was made.

They only remember if watching a video, or reading a book, was genuinely worth their time. To respect your creative process is to respect your audience.

That’s the most important lesson of all, and perhaps the one thing I’d tell my past self.

- That and lay off the damn cheese.

All right. Now I’d seriously better get back to writing the book…
Chris

P.S. And in case you missed it guys our volcano documentary is finally up on Youtube!

Is Japan’s Most Dangerous Volcano About to Erupt? | Tokyo’s Nightmare
🍿 Watch: https://youtu.be/Utta2C-ODR0?si=NrDdVtNOfKHwV