7 Unsexy Strategies I Use to Be a More Productive Creator.
My step-by-step plan for increasing my efficiency.
Life with three boys can get busy.
Having a basic morning, evening, and bedtime routine keeps my wife and I from going completely insane when things get hectic.
As a content creator with limited time, a solid routine is a must if you want to achieve even the smallest amount of success.
Luckily, I have found 7 simple strategies that keep me focused and productive when it comes to producing content on a regular basis.
1. Schedule creative time.
This seems obvious.
But if you’re struggling with consistency, it’s because you’re not prioritizing your creative work.
Maybe your schedule is so busy that you can only find 15 minutes a day or one hour late at night on the weekends. Wherever your free time exists, you must utilize it and feed your creative spirit.
When you let ideas pile up and don’t act upon them, you create a sense of deep anxiety and restlessness that is hard to quell.
For me, the only way to stop that agitated feeling of needing to do something is to actually do it.
It might mean you have to wake up 30 to 60 minutes earlier to find this extra time. But if you think that’ll be too hard to do, it might be time to consider the fact that your dream will never become a reality.
You need to take action.
There is no other way.
Ask yourself:
Are you willing to sacrifice your dreams because you can’t find the time?
2. Create a distraction-free environment.
It’s hard to get any kind of meaningful work down when you’ve got kids hanging off you 90% of the time.
“May I have a juice box, please?”
“Can you come outside and play basketball with me?”
“Would you be able to dive me to my friend's house?”
The list of demands is never-ending.
And it’s the pinnacle of pointlessness to attempt a creative endeavour when people are around.
If you have a family, give them your full attention when they’re with you, but make arrangements with your spouse to block out one hour of time where you can be left alone to create if you need to.
You need to find that creative time and eliminate all distractions.
It’s non-negotiable.
For me, the best time to create is during the week when my two oldest boys are in school, and my youngest is taking his daily nap.
I sit down at the kitchen table with my dog asleep at my feet and slam black coffee like it’s the elixir of life. My fingers dance across the keyboard like all hell could break loose at any moment.
No TV.
No background music.
No checking the Internet.
Nothing but my thoughts and the page.
3. Templatize your process.
The most productive thing I have done in my business is to templatize every step of my creative process. Everything from my actual newsletter to my articles.
I click the “New Broadcast” button in ConvertKit, my template automatically pops up, I fill in the blanks and hit send.
The same is true for Medium. I use to hotkey feature in my keyboard settings to create a template outline whenever I type “MEDTEMP1” or “MEDTEMP2” etc.
This ensures I hit all the right points for the specific type of article I’m writing. Steal this trick. It’s worth it.
4. Produce and publish.
How often you publish depends on your specific situation.
Personally, I aim for at least 5 times a week. More if I can manage it.
I think once a week is the bare minimum.
As long as you don’t make the mistake of writing content that’s too short, you should be fine.
Just create a publishing schedule and stick to it.
5. Save good questions.
Occasionally, one of your readers will leave a comment on one of your articles or send a thoughtful reply to one of your newsletters.
More often than not these replies will be in the form of a question that’ll spark an idea worth exploring.
Create a notion document or Google document so you can build a database of content ideas to pull from. This will ensure you never run out of things to write about. But, more importantly, it will speak directly to your reader’s thoughts, problems, and concerns.
6. Monitor story highlights.
Similar to saving good questions, pay attention to what your readers are highlighting in your stories.
When people highlight something in your stories, it means it resonates with them. Pay attention to paragraphs or sentences that multiple people select and ask yourself:
Can you expand on the topic?
Is there any juice left to squeeze out of this idea?
Do you have anything left to say on the subject?
Chances are the answers to those questions will be an emphatic “YES!”
7. Double down on what works.
Finally, pay attention to what works.
If a particular article pops off and starts blowing up your notifications, take a minute to appreciate what the Medium Gods have given you.
Then get to work.
Pick the article apart from top to bottom.
Analyse the HEADLINE.
What made it work?
Analyze the SUBHEADLINE.
What made that work?
Obsess over the structure.
Obsess over each and every sentence.
Obsess over the tone.
Obsess over each and every component of the article.
Drill down as deep as you can and discover what it was about the article that resonated with so many people.
Sure, sometimes an article going viral comes down to luck.
But poorly written articles don’t get lucky.
Only the good ones do.
If you’re fortunate enough to find yourself in a position where one of your articles is getting the appreciation it deserves, find out why.
You’ll be happy you did.
Being a productive creator comes down to finding and creating a system that works for you. That only happens through a period of trial and error.
Sometimes it takes longer than you’d like.
But once the pieces finally fall into place, your level of efficiency will be unmatched.
You just have to start the process.
About the Author
My name is Evan. I’m a happily married father of three boys who likes to drink black coffee and read Jack Reacher novels. I also love everything about newsletters!