Experiences – Life – Inspiration 🇨🇭🇯🇵

While I temporarily halted my weekly video productions on both of my YouTube channels, Karl Trail Adventures and Karl FPV Drone Adventures in Japan, I didn’t stop thinking about them. I’m currently visiting the Netherlands, and although there are no new videos going out right now, my mind never really left Japan or the work I’ve been doing there.

What changed is that, for the first time in a long while, I created space.

Throughout the year, I had been so busy creating and publishing content that I rarely stopped to reflect on what I was doing, why I was doing it, and how I could do it better. This break came at the right moment. Instead of producing, I spent time watching other YouTube creators who teach about content creation. It felt like the kind of learning that only becomes useful when you are no longer in constant output mode.

I didn’t step away because I was stuck or discouraged. I stepped away because I finally had room to look at my work from a distance.

Looking back, the past year was largely about documentation. On my FPV drone channel, it was my very first year learning to fly FPV, and my goal was simple. I wanted to document the process, the progress, and the mistakes. I wanted to share what learning actually looks like when you are new at something.

Halfway through the year, I started my second channel, Karl Trail Adventures. I was enjoying the process of documenting my drone journey so much that I thought, why not do the same while going on my weekly short hikes and visits to different places in Japan. So I did. I picked up the camera, started vlogging, and published weekly videos there as well, consistently and without fail.

What I managed to do during that time was build a system that worked for me. I learned how to simply hit record without overthinking. I learned which camera and audio gear to use in different situations. I figured out setups that made filming easier rather than more complicated. I developed workflows that allowed me to process and edit videos efficiently using my editing software.

Consistency didn’t come from motivation. It came from having a process that removed friction.

Over time, I also accumulated enough data in YouTube Studio to start paying attention to how my videos were actually being watched. I could see how long people stayed, where they stopped watching, whether thumbnails were clicked, and whether viewers stayed until the end. The year gave me something valuable. It gave me feedback.

In many ways, 2025 became the year where results started to speak. Not in the sense of viral success, but in the sense of clarity. The data, combined with my own experience, made it clear that this was the right moment to pause and reevaluate everything from beginning to end.

This is where I find myself now. I’m rethinking the direction of both channels, not because they failed, but because they worked well enough to reveal what needs refining. I want to be clearer about where each channel is going. I want to focus more intentionally on what to keep, what to improve, and what to let go of.

Most importantly, I want to make the goals and missions of both channels clearer, both for myself and for the people who watch my videos. This pause is not a break from creating. It’s a step toward creating with more intention.

Sometimes, stopping is not quitting. Sometimes, it’s how you make sure you’re still moving in the right direction.