How to be a content-creation machine

Lessons from creating 200k pieces of online content

I calculated I’ve created and published over 200,000 pieces of content over the last fifteen years.

This ranges from tweets to Facebook posts, drawings, Linkedin updates, Youtube videos, Kindle books, Medium articles and newsletters.

No one needs to be a ‘content-machine.’

But if you want to bring attention to your brand, grow a significant audience, and master your creative skills, you might.

Creating and sharing content has been the best and most enlivening investment I’ve made.

Here’s what I’d tell you:

A noisy Internet gives you an ‘excuse’ to create like a maniac.

I see many people who get romantic about their content, choosing to focus solely on the quality of the work.

They neglect the reality that it takes effort to cut through the noise. They put out two articles a month and wonder why nothing is happening. You’re either all-in or all-out.

The in-between will exhaust you if your goal is to create traction. You must simply create a LOT to be seen. This applies more to when you start out and look to bring attention to your brand.

Yes, you may ease off the gas when you have a larger audience, but you need to create in volume right now.

But rather than seeing it as a ‘chore,’ see it as an exciting opportunity to create like crazy.

Creating is to express your humanity.

The more you create, the more alive you feel. Humans are either in one of two modes: reactivity or creativity.

To react is to resist reality and to lose parts of you in the process. To create is to do what you were built to do — to bring something new into existence. If there were a universal meaning to life, this would be it. To create is to affirm living.

When you see how creativity is not just an option but a necessity, you will have an empowered reason to do it every day.

Impact is made through repeated efforts.

All the impact you want from your work, from creating clients to growing an audience, is born out of relentlessly and consistently sharing.

Impact might look like an event, but the needle is moved only after you have shown up day after day before that point.

Many people slow down or give up because they underestimate the power of attrition, i.e. tangible results that come out of continually showing up and publishing material, even when it’s hard, even when you feel bored and see little impact.

Knowing this helps you work through the initial discomfort of showing up and remaining focused on the process without getting stressed about the outcome.

You will quit if your expectations are high.

When we expect things to be easier than they are, we are more likely to get disappointed and quit when things inevitably do not go to plan.

You will have setbacks. No one will read your articles. People will criticise your work. You will experience frustration and self-doubt. But if you have low expectations, you will know that these are simply part of the experience of an active creator.

When you expect things to be hard, you will stay in the game, driving through your obstacles like a bulldozer. The most prolific creators are hardened warriors.

Double down on your strengths.

If you’re starting out, you want to experiment as much as possible.

This is how you find what works and where your strengths lie.

But once you are clear on what is working for you, whether it’s a thread that went viral or a youtube video with great engagement, you want to do more of what has been shown to work.

This is how you start seeing results and more wins. Without wins, you are more likely to find reasons to quit. So find out where your strengths are, see what energises you, and seize the ‘unfair advantage’ by bringing out the artillery on your proven targets.

This is how to turn winning into a habit.

Massive output only comes out of a firm commitment.

No one produced anything in significant volume without a commitment.

People show up at their desks and write when they least feel like it not because they’re masochists. Instead, they do this because they made an (emotional) commitment to themselves that they honour daily. You must do the same.

Commitment will ensure you keep producing, but it will also facilitate incredible creative insight over time. Creativity is a habit, not a character trait.

Your commitment to consistency hones this muscle, provides you with relentless energy and gives you the gift of transforming nothing into value.

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