How I Publish Over 200 Content Pieces/ Month Without Burning Out
From my 9–5 to self-employment, I haven’t slowed down.
You must have heard how important it is to be consistent and publish often to ‘make it’ in the online world. To be fair, only publishing often isn’t enough, but publishing often something that people want to spend time consuming is important.
Think about your two favourite YouTubers or writers. Won’t it impact you if one published once a month versus another who publishes three times a week? Who do you think has more followers amongst them?
I didn’t say anything; you answered it in your head.
If done well, quantity leads to quality.
Each month, I publish over:
- 20 articles
- 20 LinkedIn posts
- 200 tweets
I’m new on Twitter, and you can see how publishing consistently for 28 days shot up my stats:
From a 46%-88% increase in everything, isn’t that amazing? Especially when Twitter takes the least amount of time because I repurpose my content there.
And I only work 4 hours a day since I became self-employed, out of which less than 2 hours go into writing and editing. Coming to think of it, it’s doable for all of you if you can just spare an hour each day as I did during my 9–5.
Here’s how you can create and publish often without burning out.
Work for Focussed Hours
Track your time, and you’ll waste less time. Set upon the number of focussed hours you want to work with content.
For me, I have a 4-hour workday out of which 2-ish hours go into writing-related stuff. When I see the time ticking, it motivates me to get the work done.
Focussed hours means no phone or any distraction. It’s just you and the device that enables you to create.
“Less mental clutter means more mental resources available for deep thinking.” ― Cal Newport
Create a Process That Complements Your Lifestyle
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by other people's godly routines that make them look like a productivity machine. It’s like everybody is waking up at 5 am, meditating, journaling, going for a jog and practising deep work.
During my 9–5, I stuck to one platform where I edited before work and wrote after work.
Usually, it’s simple for people to start a task but is difficult to finish. Breaking down the process helped me prevent this and be more consistent.
Do this:
- analyse your routine
- break down the ‘creation’ process
- plug in the elements around your routine
I’m Sorry but You Have to Break Up
I recently got over 2 million views on my LinkedIn post in less than 3 days. I've even hit a million before though several other posts get less than 5000 views.
It’s just how the online world works. It shoots up and comes down.
Please break up with numbers for your own sanity. Sure, show off about them, but don’t let them affect you mentally. Comparing your numbers to others is lethal, and feeling bad when your numbers are low is futile.
You can’t do anything about them, except sulk. So why waste your time? Use it for creating your next piece instead.
Give Yourself This One Thing
Think of the time you were in school and had a hobby. You worked on it during your free time and time just flew! Didn’t you enjoy that so much? Whether it was sports or painting, it just made you so damn happy.
It’s because you gave yourself creative space.
Give yourself the creative space to breed and give life to ideas. If you’re always stressed about what to create next, you’d be on that wheel.
Give yourself the freedom and space to think, to be still, to be away from notification stimulation and block time to create.
Creative space is a secret all serious creators know.
You Probably Already Know This
And I knew most of this too when I published 2 articles a month. I knew how to ideate and write like a boss. I knew what can make me a brilliant writer.
I knew how to get there, but I only got there when I did this one not-so-groundbreaking act: the work.
Isn’t it a shame how we know several paths to our dream destination but we sit on a chair and feel happy staring at it from a distance? It’s your choice between looking at it or living it — only one of them is difficult, and will make you feel incredibly proud of yourself.
And Then It Gets Easier
It gets easier once you start and get flowing.
I took 16 days off because of my surgery and when I got back, it took me nearly 2 hours to type one article! Similarly, when I published 8 articles a month as opposed to 20, it was so difficult to write.
Now, writing an article has become a daily thing, for at least 20 days a month. It flows as easily as checking my mail, and I don’t like it when I have to miss my writing days.
It’ll be tough at the beginning, which is why not everybody can do it. But yes, you can, and you must. This is what will separate you from the rest.
Summary
“Creativity is a choice, it’s not a bolt of lightning from somewhere else.” ― Seth Godin
Here is how I create and publish frequently without burning out, and you can too:
- Focussed hours: set a number on the distraction-free hours you want to work.
- Have a process: instead of going all-in on creating, create a process that complements your schedules so you don’t get overwhelmed.
- Detach: outcome detachment can take you a long way, focus on what you can control instead.
- Creative space: is crucial to breed and get ideas to life. Click here to read in-depth about it.
- Keep at it: because it’ll only get easier with time, so push yourself until then.
If you do this, I don’t see why you can’t create and publish often freely and happily, without stressing about it at all.
You can do it!
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