How to Create Consistently Despite a Hectic Life
Especially if productivity techniques are too rigid for you.
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A few months ago, I helped a client build a consistent content creation practice.
She messaged me:
You probably know this already: time-blocking is the golden hack to guarantee consistency. In case you don’t know it, it’s the practice of scheduling time in advance on your calendar for some activity, in this case, content creation.
To some people this feels too rigid. Usually they don’t even give it a chance. And I’ve seen many time how it ends up:
They don’t schedule their creative time, thinking they’ll find it somehow.
Every day of the week, something happens and they push content creation to the next day.
Suddenly, it’s Sunday. They’re still three videos short of their “3 videos” goal.
But they’re too tired. Let’s skip the week, confident that next week will be different.
Creative time needs to be protected. We need constraints.
But how can we make them more acceptable, even when we like going with the flow?
A system may be not so bad
Our perceived identity is the result of the actions we repeat.
You may think that you hate systems and structure, that they’re not part of your identity. But you never actually tried. Like a child refusing to eat some food because of its color, without having ever tasted it.
You never tried or committed to a system long enough and intensely enough to see how it works for you. Or at all.
So, the first answer is counterintuitive. Don’t discard the mere idea of having some structure, give it a try.
Find the smallest step you can take. Maybe just block 15 minutes every day for content creation. Go on for a few weeks. At the end check your results and your how you felt:
did you make more progress on your content than in the past?
Was it so terrible?
Change your schedule based on your answers.
I wrote an in-depth guide to help you design and create the best system for you. Not a fixed series of steps, but the guidelines to help you find what works for you.
Here it is:
Set realistic “input goals”
When we talk about goals, we usually refer to outcomes: views, followers, likes, shares, earnings…Keeping track of these numbers can be useful. But too many factors out of our control affect them. We risk huge disappointment when they don’t go as we expected.
To stay sane, focus on what you can control, your inputs:
Assess your resources. How much time do you really have every week and every day to work on your content? Be realistic. Humas are poor planners.
How much do you have to publish to see meaningful growth on the platform you chose? Remember that short-form platforms like LinkedIn usually require a much higher publication frequency than long-form platforms like YouTube.
Estimate how long it will take to create that amount of content. Add at least 50%. We always underestimate.
Do you have enough time?
If not, change platform, or makes space in your schedule.
Replan daily
Maybe you verified that time blocking isn’t for you. If you want a fluid schedule, you need constant course correction.
Every night, take two minutes to evaluate your progress:
How much content did you produce this week?
How much do you still have to produce, based on your goal?
How do you need to plan the next days to hit your target?
Move the commitments for the next day(s) around your calendar to make space for your creative time.
Internal accountability
Time blocking forces us to be consistent. It’s a sort of accountability device.
Without a fixed schedule, lying to ourselves is easy. We can always say “I’ll do it tomorrow”, or “Today was a bad day”. The only antidote are regular, scheduled reviews.
Manage (or don’t manage) your week as you see fit. But at the end of the week, look in the mirror with objectivity. Ask yourself:
Did I hit my content creation target?
If not, why?
How can I improve next week?
Schedule an additional review every 1-3 months, too. The larger sample reveals different patterns.
External accountability
Even with the most rigorous review process, you may miss something.
An additional pair of eyes can point you in the right direction. So, find an accountability buddy. It can be a friend in real life or online. Communities are also good for this. They make it easy to find like-minded people sharing interests and goals.
For faster results, hire a coach. You don’t need frequent and expensive calls, even just chat support can be enough. I helped dozens of people this way on my Italian site and on coach.me.
What about you? Are you a professional time-blocker or would you rather go with the flow? What allows you to stay consistent as a content creator?
So I've been struggling with this a lot since my vacation. I've been kinda getting back in the grove and I'm trying to plan better. The last few days I've been able to hit the goals I set. I'm hoping this means a turn around for me
Replanning is very important. We never know if something is going to work until we try it. But it doesn't stop there, we must review, assess, iterate. Well said.