The Morning Routine for Content Writers With a Day Job
The step-by-step to get more done in less time
Content writers with a day job know one thing: time is everything.
Whether you work a 9–5 from home, if you commute, if you have kids, if you don’t either way, time, like everything is the thing to master.
Too often though, content writers feel overwhelmed by the gravity of the task at hand. Instead of taking action, they sink into the sofa and put off writing content until tomorrow.
Content writers with a day job, the big misconception
Over the years I’ve seen many give up on their part-time creator journey too soon because they think the mountain is impossible to climb.
Instead of taking action, we tell ourselves things like: “I don’t have the time today, tomorrow I’ll start.”
Whilst it’s true you have less time, I’ve been writing on the internet for the last 2.5 years and I can tell you that you don’t need as much time as you think. And it all starts with the optimised morning routine.
The morning routine for content writers with a day job
It sounds easy to say there’s not enough time but what practical tips can you actually use to find more time and get more done?
Let’s dig into the practical morning routine for content writers with a day job.
1. Start the night before
The best start to a morning routine is to start the night before. I’ve lost count of the time I’ve woken up, coffee in hand, ready to go but I have nothing to write about.
I get stuck. Get bored. Go back to bed or browse on the internet.
If you want to write content and you have a day job, your only option is to utilise the time you have in the most effective manner possible. That means planning.
Let’s start with a practical example.
Make a start, it’s easy to carry on than it is to start from scratch
Before starting work, I’ve already made a start on the article I’m focusing on.
I hate writing from a blank canvas. For some writers that inspires creative thought, for me that overwhelms me and keeps me stuck.
Here’s my list of things that I make sure I start with so I have enough content to get me writing as soon as I sit down:
- A draft headline.
- A clear value proposition.
- Subheadings that work towards that value proposition.
- A list of bullets that explain each subheading.
- Key bits of research or websites that I want to add in.
Let’s bring it to life with an actual example.
The article I’m working on tomorrow
- The article: The Morning Routine of Side Hustlers
2. Subheadings I’m working with (they always change but they are enough of a starting point:
- Why is a morning routine important
- What are the key aspects of a morning routine
- Some side hustlers to learn from
- YouTubing mum with a day-job
- Blogger, kids and a day-job
- UI designer with 8 income streams
- Part-time to full-time Millionaire
3. Bullet points for underneath each subheading:
Here’s why that’s important.
It means that when I sit down to write there is no question about what I’m going to write about. There is no excuse to not write. It’s there, in front of me, for the taking.
At 6 am when I’m tired, grumpy and cold it makes the process much, much easier.
2. Be clear on what you are doing for the hours you have
I write on my part-time creator club blog. It’s Sunday evening and I know I’ve got 2.5 hours on Monday morning to write before I start my day job. I walk my dogs in the morning so time is tight.
When you start content writing and you work a day job it’s easy to get too ambitious too quickly and overwhelm yourself.
Instead, the best bet is to write a list of things you want to write about the next morning and stick to the thinking ‘more is less’.
Here’s what my morning writing plan is for tomorrow:
Article: The Morning Routine of Side Hustlers
- Write introduction
- Rewrite the headline 5 times
- Write each subheading section
- All in all, first the first draft
If I finish early, I get the reward of watching YouTube or reading my book but I have to finish the work first. Having a very clear view of what I’m doing means I’m much less likely to procrastinate.
Why?
Well because procrastination is simply the avoidance tactic of feeling uncomfortable. What makes us all feel incredibly uncomfortable? Not knowing what to write.
3. Get to writing as quickly as possible
A morning routine for content writers is all about getting to doing the work as quickly as possible. I know it’s tempting to throw a zillion things in the pot because, well, the world has gone a little wild with morning routines.
The task though is to find as much time as reasonably possible to write.
So that means the trick is to work out what gets you from your bed to your laptop as quickly and effectively as possible.
Ideally, you sit down and you’re full of beans, ready to write and spilling over with ideas. That, obviously, rarely happens but we can all dream.
As a content writer working a day job, you’ll have limited time so it’s important whatever you do have, you squeeze the most out of it.
Here’s my stack that gets me from bed to desk in 10 minutes flat:
- Get up
- Coffee and a bottle of water
- Blanket and/or dressing gown
- Headphones without music
Morning Routine for Content Writers With a Day Job
The most important thing if you’re looking for a morning routine as a content writer is to get to work as quickly and effectively as possible.
The trick is to start the night before, to make it as easy as possible to get to your desk and to find the things that work for you and do more of them.
That’s how you master the morning routine if you’re a content writer with a day job.
Finally start creating online. Join the hundreds in the Part-time Creators Club for free. I’ll send you one tip on a Saturday up your creator game. 🚀