Oct 3, 2021
When you make the decision to start a blog, podcast, or video show, you do so with the understanding that you’re committing to regularly create new content to share with your readers, listeners, or viewers.
But sometimes the best laid plans… you know.
We all have busy lives, and creating content can easily get pushed aside if you don’t have a plan to make it happen.
I shared about the importance of regularly updating your content, so I won’t spend too much time beating that drum.
Content is important. Plan, craft, and distribute it every. single. week.
There. I’m done with that now.
However, I completely understand that it’s not always easy to set aside time to get it done. Teachers are busy. Families require our time, too. There’s that self-care thing people are always talking about and, what am I missing? Oh, right. Sleep.
So, what’s a busy teacher with a blog, podcast, or video show to do?
The common expression would be to find the time. Others say you have to make the time. But I like Jon Acuff’s way of describing it. In his book, Finish, he said what you really have to do is rescue your time.
What does that mean?
To put it bluntly. We waste a lot of time. Like… a lot of time.
And I’m not just talking about time spent on Facebook or learning the latest TikTok dance.
We do a lot of things that just don’t need to be done.
- We grade every piece of work our students turn in.
- We spend hours searching on Pinterest for the perfect bulletin board.
- We stay up to tweak the slide show we’re presenting to our class tomorrow because the picture on slide 6 is not quite right.
- We learn something new for our businesses even if we haven’t implemented the last 4 things we learned.
- We tweak the colors in our logo.
- We hand wash the dishes instead of using the dishwasher.
I’ve used this analogy before, but it bears repeating. Time is like a house. If you have a small house, you will have enough furniture, decor, and possessions to fill it. If you moved from that house to a multi-million dollar mansion, it might take a little while, but you’d eventually fill that space, too.
We fill our time in much the same way.
If we find ourselves with free time, we will find a way to fill it. Therefore, we are “always busy.”
In order to rescue your time so that you can create content, you have to identify things you’re currently spending your time on that don’t necessarily need to be done, or that can be done in a more efficient way.
If that idea makes you want to fling your planner in my face, stay with me.
We’re not talking about rescuing hours at a time. Small bits of time can make a big difference.
So let’s take a look at the 2 primary strategies for your
Daily Tasks
Creating a blog post, podcast, or video episode is not a single to-do list item. Rather, there are many small things that need to be done, in order, so that your content can go out on time.
If you list out those smaller tasks, approximate how long they take to do, then assign them to a particular day of the week.
For example, for a blog post you might need to do the following:
- Decide on a topic (10 minutes)
- Write a title (10 minutes)
- Write your promise (15 minutes)
- Craft your post (1 hour)
- Create your content upgrades/freebies or downloadables (30 minutes)
- Write the email promoting your new post, schedule (30 minutes)
- Draft social media posts (20 minutes)
- Create your graphics (30 minutes)
- Upload the post onto your website, with graphics and descriptions, schedule (30 minutes)
- Schedule your social media posts (15 minutes)
Using this timeline, you could set a schedule that looked something like this:
Monday - Steps 1-3
Tuesday - Step 4
Wednesday - Step 5
Thursday - Step 6
Friday - Step 7-8
Saturday - Step 9-10
Following this schedule means that you never have to rescue more than 1 hour at a time and your post goes out on time!
Power Through
If breaking tasks up isn’t your style, you can always set aside one larger chunk of time in which to write your post.
If you’re doing some mental math (or you used a calculator like I did) and discovered that everything listed above takes just over 4 hours. That might seem like a lot of time, but when you do the work all at once, the tasks often go faster. Also, there are systems you can put in place to help you work more efficiently.
For example, come up with your topics (and even titles) for several months at one time. This not only saves you time, but also helps make sure that your content is on point for your audience, and saves the frustration of not knowing what to share this week.
If possible, design a system that not only supports your task list, but assists in making it easier. You could build a template for your content creation (or use the one I provide students in Content Made Simple) or create graphics templates to use and reuse each week.
If this is a schedule you think would work best for you, you can still rescue little bits of time throughout the week rather than trying to free up 4 hours on a Saturday. The difference is that you’d use the rescued time to move some of your Saturday responsibilities to weekdays.
For example, you can go to the grocery store on your way home on Monday instead of on the weekend. Maybe you already drive past the grocery store on your way home, so you save the time it would take you to drive there on a weekend. Plus, Monday afternoon isn’t peak time for shopping, so you’ll likely breeze through the store in less time.
Of course, sometimes our schedules aren’t static enough to choose one strategy or another and you may have to go week to week; one week you break up the process, the next you set aside a Sunday morning.
There’s no one way to make time for your content creation. The important thing is that you decide, without any ambiguity or room for negotiation, that your content will go out every single week. Content is the easiest, cheapest, most efficient way to reach new people, and creating it on a consistent basis is the easiest, cheapest, most efficient way to increase your revenue.
Rescue your time.
Repurpose this time to work for you and your business.
Go forth and create.