Grecia, Costa Rica
Spending time in the tropics introduces one to internet outages.
Rainy season climates come with torrential downpours, high winds and vivid cloud to ground lighting. Even the best service tends to go out here and there in such harsh environments. Reliable internet providers cannot control the weather; nor do these companies construct lightning-proof wires. Forget about building infrastructure a hefty distance from trees or branches guaranteed to crash into poles or wires and cause a disruption of service.
Less cautious drivers sometimes take out light poles like nine pins, typically spawning an internet outage of hours if not half a day in more extreme cases.
Or you may experience a power outage leveling the internet connection.
I vividly recall being offline for 9-12 hours on the odd day in Panama. Power company employees shut down the juice in the remote area to trim trees in the vicinity of wires; better to do the leg work beforehand than deal with power outages due to branches taking out these sources during windy thunderstorms.
Extended outages prove rare in the USA and other Western countries. Customer complaints tend to fix these situations stupid fast. Generally speaking, Western businesses risk going out of business if customer complaints reach a fever pitch. Grievances carry a magical power in the United States, terrifying companies into action to avoid the hairy situation of being blown out of the water on social media. Capitalist Empire 101: the customer is always right and you better bend over backwards to avoid sustained complaining, scathing reviews and the subsequent loss of business.
However, customer service in developing nations usually doesnât operate according to a similar system. Time is not quite as highly valued. The customer is not always right. Work may get done but fiery grievances tend to get you nowhere.
In a place like Thailand, face saving culture dictates that people respect each other no matter the circumstances. Being polite in what Westerners may deem âtryingâ customer service situations is paramount because embarrassing someone with an outburst increases the likelihood that you will not receive service for a while longer. In more severe cases, you may poke the dragon and you never want to do that in The Land of Smiles which, although rare, can morph into the land of fisticuffs if you intentionally humiliate someone in a public setting. In rare cases, people have been beaten to death after completely embarrassing individuals in the most insulting, degrading, vicious fashion during or after business transactions, especially with the notorious tuk tuk mafia in tourist heavy areas like Phuket.
During our trip to rural Panama, a âone man bandâ internet service operation promised no less than 6 times to upgrade the system during a 3 month stretch. He never showed up. We had basic service at least but look past certain functions because we lacked the bandwidth. If a repairman refuses to show up for 3 months you better have a system in place to deal with less than optimal internet conditions.
I have substantial experience with internet outages having circled the globe for 13 years, often frequenting the tropics. Sharing my experiences proves that I am highly familiar with this circumstance.
The internet has been down for a number of days in my current location of Costa Rica. Interestingly enough, the identical company showed up twice today for neighbors across the street within 45 minutes of one another, but alas, not us.
I actually find it funny because Iâve a sneaking suspicion that the world is an impossible situation which is exactly why it is illusory and should not be taken seriously. When you take it seriouslyâŚ.it starts to take you.
Rather than throw a temper tantrum I goad my wife to patiently follow up with the service provider daily and honor these two tips.
1: Carefully Observe Your Blogging Strategy
Quiet time reveals tender inner weaknesses.
Not distracting myself with videos for minutes – or hours – creates space in my mind. Creating space reveals any flaws in my blogging strategy, said flaws hinging on my tender inner weaknesses.
This is a nice way of saying: How do my fears dictate my blogging strategy and how can I face, feel and look past the fears to engineer a more effective blogging strategy?
Reducing mind noise gives one clarity in honestly assessing your blogging plan. When you cannot obsess over what youâre getting online, or consuming, you can plan more effectively to give efficiently of your skills, time and experience.
Frame the internet down time as a fabulous opportunity to re-think your blogging strategy. Look closely at exactly what you do. How do you blog? How much time do you spend blogging? Do you create thorough long-form blog posts? Or perhaps your short-form strategy needs upgrading to drive organic traffic through Google and other online channels?
For example, I used this down time to write a hefty volume of social media updates (See tip below). I carefully considered how writing and publishing content in real time seems helpful enough but maybe pre-batching social media content can boost my productivity.
At a minimum, pondering this idea potentially streamlines my blogging strategy.
Spending days offline – because no online world tempted me in this house – fostered the pensive thought and possible strategy shift.
Most bloggers need to think more deeply about their strategy. The masses think like robots mindlessly following guidance from seasoned pros. Not one thought goes into the tactics themselves and if each resonates with the individual blogger. Giving yourself time to think may nudge you in a different direction. Or perhaps you gain greater confidence in a specific strategy after mulling it over in your mind.
Thinking deliberately about anything works wonders.
Review your blogging strategy with an eagle eye.
See what stays and what needs to go during these reclusive blogging days.
2: Create Content
As I mentioned before, I spent a decent chunk of internet down time crafting blogging tips themed updates for social media.
When I do eventually hope back online I will have saved myself hours of work by doing the work offline. Quickly copying and pasting social media updates versus spending significant time writing, proof-reading and editing posts feels like a cheat code in many regards.
Try not to bawl your eyes out over spilled milk. Internet outages happen. Embrace âem and proceed.
Pestering your internet company may feel semi-cathartic temporarily but nobody wins.
Airing grievances creates a short time zone of illusory relief; whining appears to get stress off of your mind but you will eventually feel guilty about reaming customer service representatives plus you rob yourself of opportunities to establish peace of mind being with what is and to be a prolific creator.
I have also noticed that internet issues tend to be fixed relatively quickly when I move my attention from worrying to helping people by creating and pre-batching content. Even if I do not help readers in real time I will guide them with blogging tips whenever someone from the company fixes the issue.
Write your next 5 blog posts. Proof-read, edit and schedule each out for the next 5 weeks when you hop back online.
Record a series of long form videos. Upload to YouTube and Facebook when the outage gets fixed.
Create content prolifically. Use down time to handle that aspect of your blogging strategy.
You may be stunned at how easily words flow when the internet does not yank at your attention like a bratty lilâ kid begging for windmill cookies and apple juice.
Bloggers claim to have little time for creating content. But this simply reflects what one values.
Most bloggers who have seemingly little time to create content spend significant time consuming content online.
Being forced offline suspends consumption time which frees you to create a decent amount of helpful content.
I even went back to beef up a volume of shorter social media posts to make a more seismic impact when I hop back online.
Be helpful offline to hit the ground running online when the outage ends.
Conclusion
Think through your blogging strategy carefully.
Create helpful content.
See an internet outage as an opportunity to fine tune your strategy and to batch create content.
I may be able to deliver this blog post to you via snail mail anywhere on earth before the crew restores the internet here in Costa Rica.
But at least my strategy and content received a nice upgrade during this unexpected down time.
