Plan to Give Your Best

If what you have to share, show or write about isn’t great, don’t put it out there. That was one takeaway from Scott Stratten. I had a double dose of him a couple of weeks ago - read his book, UnMarketing, and attended his webinar. (Highly recommend!)

I have to agree with Scott, but can’t let it rest there. It’s too easy to let that become an excuse for not showing up at all. We can plan to have 'great' to share.

I feel strongly that keeping to a consistent 'content creation' routine has big benefits.
  • A newsletter in particular becomes successful by establishing expectations over time - about the content, look and delivery. There is benefit in working hard to establish those expectations. A regular delivery schedule is an easy expectation to master. This holds true for other forms of content sharing as well.
  • Slip once and it’s easier to slip again. Having a routine and deadlines keeps us focused. It’s easy to indefinitely put aside those things that don’t have deadlines.
So, do we just give up because we don’t have any 'great' to share right now? Of course not. We plan to have some 'great' to share the next time.

Write when you’re inspired… and take the time to get inspired. (I’ve said it before but this is important.) I, like you, could write a long list of ways to get inspired. The catch is this: we have to take the time to actually do it!


Originally published in Work Better, Not Harder on May 31, 2012

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