How to Find Time to Create Content

Whether you write for your blog, newsletter or social media - or all three - there are two approaches to creating your content: on the fly or by scheduling time. They both have to do with finding time to do it well.

You can spend some time daily creating content by blocking off 15-30 minutes in your schedule every day. If there's a certain time of day that you're more creative, exploit that and preserve the same time every day in your calendar. Alternately, you can set aside a block of time each week. Of course, this means more time at once, perhaps a couple of hours.

Creating content on the fly is a little more haphazard, and it's what I do a lot of the time - write when I'm inspired. I might read an article I clicked on from Twitter. Or I might have a phone conversation with a new client. Or someone might ask me a question. I most enjoy writing when I drop everything and do it while the idea is fresh.

Now you might be thinking that's an inefficient way to work but, most days, I'm at my desk and the occasional small interruption doesn't really affect my overall productivity. If you're out and about all day, you can still do this on your phone or tablet while waiting for appointments and in between meetings (typing or audio recording).

Crunch time comes when deadlines loom. This is when the stress starts if I haven't been good about on the fly content creation.

If you're not sure which approach is best for you, try them both and see.

With content creation, as with many things, little gets done without a clear plan and a workable schedule. Your editorial calendar is an important part of your content marketing campaign. Use it to stay organized and keep momentum.

photo by joeywan / Flickr
originally published in Work Better, Not Harder on October 28, 2015

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