Producing high-quality content on a consistent basis takes some practice and iteration. You have to get into the uncomfortable habit of completing projects that you start and become familiar with taking action and finishing tasks even when you don’t feel like doing it.
Being consistent in something begins with maintaining momentum and then over time your consistent action will lead to mastery.
In this article, you’ll learn some habits and techniques that will help you maintain momentum, help you see your progress over time and help you take action even when your motivation isn’t there.
If you feel like you’re always starting over and losing steam in your consistency, this article will show you small changes you can make and action you can take that will help you implement more time-management strategies, contingency plans and a schedule that will help you create content more consistently.
1. Focus on one task at a time
If you want to be more consistent with content creation—or anything in life—stop multi-tasking. Give all of your focus to ONE task at a time. Practice giving your full attention to one project and one task at a time.
If you find that you have a hard time finishing what you start and staying consistent with creating content, narrow your focus.
Are you creating videos, graphics, articles and publishing on too many platforms? If you want to create content more consistently, think about what you can simplify or eliminate.
Here’s what you can do instead:
- Focus on one task at a time. Stop multi-tasking. Switching between tasks is not productive. Give your full attention to one task. You’d be surprised how far you can get with a task in 25 minutes when you eliminate distractions and avoid multi-tasking.
- Create constraints for yourself. Give yourself a 1-2 week sprint goal and try to finish as much as you can within this time period. Giving yourself time constraints is a great way to help you maintain momentum, a sense of urgency and help you finish what you start.
- Start to get into the habit of seeing yourself take action and complete projects. This will give you confidence to keep going and you’ll start proving to yourself that you can finish what you start and be consistent.
➜ General rule of thumb with tasks: Give yourself no more than three tasks to complete daily and spend 15-20 minutes on each to see how far you can get. Start small and block out time in your calendar. We’ll get into more detail around time-management later in this article.
Keep working on your task until it’s complete. Give yourself some walking breaks in between.
2. Outline Before You Begin
Outlining will save you time. When you outline your content, you’re able to visually organize your thoughts and write out any details about graphics, images or shots you want to capture for your content.
When you outline your ideas, you’re also able to leave yourself clues and notes about other references or books you want to mention in your content.
Outlining is a time-effective approach to content creation because when you outline your ideas, you’re able to leave yourself a blueprint to expand on later.
Do you struggle with organizing your content ideas? Follow this step-by-step method to organize your content ideas.
Content Calendar Template
Get access to this course and content calendar that helps you maximize your channel distribution and helps you with your content marketing.
3. Create a Schedule
Create a schedule that you will follow for creating content. For example, if you want to become a better writer and write an article two times a week, you’re going to have to practice writing more often.
Aim to write on a daily basis, even if it’s to write for 30 minutes or to write 500 words. Give yourself the space and time to show up daily to create to work your creative muscles.
Take imperfect action and stick to your schedule. Similar to any workout routine, be patient with the process and keep showing up and putting in your reps to start seeing results. Take a look at your calendar and 30-90 minute blocks to help you create, refine and publish your content.
➜ Related: The Key Habits of Great Content Creators
4. Stick to Your Schedule
It’s one thing to put it on your calendar, but make sure you focus on showing up. Stick to your schedule.
Every week, take a look at appointments and other commitments on your calendar and set a fixed time to creating. Just in the same way you’d show up for a workout class or an important event, you want to make sure this is a priority for you.
➜ Related: How to Be a More Consistent Content Creator
5. Use a Project Management System
Incorporate a project management system to help you plan ahead and capture your ideas. This can be an analog or digital version. What’s important to remember here is that a project management system will help guide you through your process of starting and finishing a project.
Another reason to work with a project management system is that you’re able to see the evidence of your work. Seeing the status of your projects marked as “finished” or “published” will give you the confidence and motivation to keep going.
Seeing evidence of your hard work can be a great way to maintain momentum.
➜ See how you can use Airtable to help you manage your content calendar.
6. Plan Ahead
Planning ahead goes a long way. Plan on a quarterly and monthly basis so that you know what you want to create and when it’s due.
When you plan ahead, you’re able to create a blueprint for yourself that you can follow and help you stick to a schedule. As the saying goes, “If fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
7 Tips to Help You Create Content More Consistently Share on X7. Create and Refine Your Workflows
Systems and workflows are more reliable than your motivation.Create checklists that help you complete your work. The way you go from ideation to completion will evolve over time, but it’s important to start leaving yourself clues on which steps you need to take to move you closer to the finish line.
For example, if you’re creating an article, your checklist might look something like this:
- Research
- SEO/Target Keywords
- Outline
- Write
- Edit Assets (Video/Images)
- Publish
- Promote
Your workflow may look different if you’re creating a YouTube video or producing a podcast, but the idea is that you identify a checklist that helps you automate your content creation workflow.
Frequently Asked Questions About Content Creation
How much time should I spend on content creation?
This may look different for everyone depending on the type of content they’re creating and how long they’ve been creating content for. You should consider using a time tracking tool like Toggle to help you determine the average time you’re spending creating content.
For some people, creating a blog post could take 2-3 hours or creating and editing a YouTube video from scratch could take 10 hours.
Determine your baseline and aim to increase your efficiency and process over time. Practice will give you momentum and over time your practice will lead to mastery.
Which content creation tools should I use?
Depending on the type of content you’re creating, you may need different tools.
Here are some examples to help (with some affiliate links):
- Graphic design program: Adobe Photoshop, Canva, PikMonkey
- Video editing software: Adobe Premiere, InShot, LumaFusion
- Email marketing program: Convert Kit, MailChimp, FloDesk
- Content scheduling tool: Buffer, Sprout Social, SmarterQueue, Planoly
- Project Management Tool: Asana, ClickUp, Trello, Airtable
Where can I generate content ideas?
Creating content consistently requires focus and planning. You need a system to store ideas, a calendar to visually see what’s coming ahead and a workflow that keeps your content creation process moving forward until it’s complete.
Coming up with content ideas is easy once you know where to look and how to continue expanding on your value, services and expertise.
Here are some research tools you can use that will help you generate content ideas:
Amazon: Read and take notes on frequently asked questions or common pain points people share related to books or products related to your industry.
Quora: This sis a great place to get started with content ideas based on the questions and problems people inquire about.
Facebook Groups: Find Facebook groups related to your niche or industry and conduct some market research within groups. Take note of questions and comments people are making.
Answer the Public: This is a great website to discover what people are asking about.
BuzzSumo: This is a great website to do content research and gain insights and ideas.
Which tool will you use first to help you brainstorm and create content?
