Putting time aside to create content is extremely important, but it can be overwhelming. Instead of creating content, you’re finding yourself closing *insert your favourite content creator platform here* because you have no plan in place. You want to quickly create something but you’ve not thought it through and you have 15 other things that you need to tick off of your list.
It’s all in the planning.
I make sure to have a content day every two weeks. Dedicated time where I can get my head down, create some great content and remove that feeling of constantly trying to catch up with everything going on in my headspace.
Here’s how I plan my content days in three simple steps.
Step 1 - Make a list (a brain dump)
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It’s as simple as it sounds. I list out everything and anything that’s floating around in my head. What are my content goals? What do I need to do to get there? What are the main content tasks that I want to tick off from my list? Dump it all down. You’ll probably have a massive list of all the things you want to achieve, but don’t be put off. This is a great first step, you can see all your ideas in one place, you’ll probably feel a little lighter from physically getting all your thoughts down. Making space in your brain, so you can begin work, massively helps with clarity and focus.
Yay you.
Stop 2 - Prioritisation
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Now you’ve got everything down. Start prioritising. I like to simply categorise each task into ‘now, then & later’. What do I HAVE to do today, what can I do in the next week, what can I do in the next two weeks? When it comes to prioritisation, you need to be realistic and friendly to yourself. You could easily over commit and burn yourself out and lose all motivation. Start small. Start by building up your now column with high priority tasks, but understand that there are only a certain amount of hours in the day. Work should not take up the whole 24 hours of your day. If something needs to be pushed to tomorrow, that’s fine. I find by taking a bit of the pressure off I enjoy the tasks more and I’m actually more motivated to do them
Step 3 - Time block
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I swear by time blocking (a productivity technique for time management).It doesn’t work for everyone, but by Jove it works a treat for me. It allows me to see exactly what I’m working with each day. I feel more organised, prepared and excited to work through each block. I try to be as flexible as possible in my blocking approach, understanding that sometimes things don’t go to plan, things take longer than expected or I may just straight up not be feeling it and that’s ok. When it comes to your content days, you’ll know exactly what you need to work on and when. You’ll no longer be wasting hours trying to come up with your next focus.
A little bit of upfront investment goes a long way. You’ll be in charge and on track of your content in no time.
Let me know if you have any tricks up your sleeve when it comes to creating content.