When you feel like you’re drowning under a mountain of content to create, getting ahead can feel impossible! I totally get it. And while I have a 5 Step System to creating content well in advance, I’ve been asked is there a shortcut? One thing you can implement today, right now that’s going to save your butt over and over again?
So, what’s the ONE thing you can take away from my 5 Step System to creating your content ahead of time that’s going to show measurable results ASAP? Okay, so this works for me, and I hope it works for in getting you on track and in control with your content creation.
If you struggle with scheduling things in. If you struggle with sticking to firm time slots in your calendar, this tip will probably help you a lot.
So, what’s the one part of my 5 Step System I suggest you implement?
The Warnings System
Yup. The warning system. Now, this only works if you look at your calendar or diary. So, if you struggle with that – say you’ve got a book-style calendar or a digital calendar and you don’t look at it, the first thing you’re going to want to do is change that right now.
On your calendar, mark out the DUE DATES of all the things you want to create. So, you’ve got a webinar coming up. When is that happening? Put it in the calendar. And then, for each thing, we’re going to work backwards and put warnings in.
So, with the webinar example – say your webinar is on the 21st of a month. 1 Week before, so on the 14th, write “1 Week until Webinar”. 2 weeks before, write “2 Weeks until Webinar”, until you’ve given yourself ample warning. What ample warning is will be determined by you, but for something large-ish like a webinar, you’ll probably want at least 4 weeks, maybe 6.
Don’t over clutter your calendar with the small stuff
However, be careful that you don’t clutter up your calendar too much with small stuff. If you’ve got blog posts and social media posts to do, consider batching them and creating a warning for when you’d like to have them all done.
Why does this work? Why should you try it?
I have some theories about why this is so effective, and I want to share them with you now.
Firstly, I think sitting down with a physical calendar, marking in the due dates and the warnings gives you both a visual and a physical sense of the time. It makes it more real.
Secondly, I think you become more mindful of time. So, because you’ve created this calendar with warnings on it, you are more mindful that on the 1st, it’s only 3 weeks until your webinar. You know that because you actually counted back the weeks yourself and marked it in.
Thirdly, it gives you a better overview. You can step back after your hard work and see exactly how the due dates a distributed. So, if you’ve got a cluster of things due at a similar time, for example, you can be more mindful about spacing out the creation. So, if there’s a tonne of stuff all due to go out within one week (like guest articles, a webinar, an ebook), you know from your calendar and your warning system exactly how close they all are and do your creation more effectively. So, you might do your webinar content 3 weeks before the webinar, so it gives you time to get the ebook polished 2 weeks before the ebook is due, and so on.
Finally, it’s not only something you created, but it’s in your field of vision constantly. These two things together, I think work beautifully. So, not only do you have that visual and physical sense of the time and your calendar as you yourself were creating it – every time you look at it, it takes you back to those feelings, and reinvokes them all over again.
Those are my theories about why it works so well
So, is this something you’re going to try? I’d love to know how you go.
