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3 tips to build a writing system and save tons of time

3 tips to build a writing system and save tons of time

Here's how to become a writing machine

January 10, 2023

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One of the biggest hurdles to writing consistently time.

Especially if your “day job” is not writing.

You may be leading or operating a business and struggle to make time to write consistently.

What you’re likely missing is a content creation system.

So, I’d like to help you with you today.

Here are three tips to systematize your content creation process to save you time and increase your output:

I break my content creation process into three buckets:

Ideation
Creation
Review

Let’s talk a bit about each.

1. Ideation

The first step to creating content is coming up with ideas.

There are two ways to come up with ideas:

Hope inspiration strikes when you’re trying to write
Set aside time specifically for ideating

I much prefer the second option.

I schedule 15-30 minutes on my calendar every week dedicated to coming up with ideas.

During this time, I ask myself a series of questions:

What am I building right now?
What am I learning right now?
What am I observing right now?
What’s interesting me right now?
What am I hearing from others right now?

I list out every thought that comes to mind, without judgment.

Inevitably, this leads to 50+ ideas in about 15 minutes, more than I can write on a weekly basis.

Truth is, you have unlimited ideas, but you miss them because you don’t have a system for capturing them.

Start setting aside a few minutes for ideation each week, and it’ll save you so much time and reduce the pressure of coming up with topics on the spot.

2. Creation

Now that we have ideas, we need to write them.

Most people try to find time to write whenever they can fit it in.

This is the perfect recipe for NOT writing consistently.

Instead, I highly recommend scheduling writing blocks during the week.

During these blocks, you will write multiple pieces of content (from your idea list above).

I call this “batch writing,” and it drastically increases your output and consistence.

(Next-level tip: Before your scheduled writing time, jot down a few bullets on each idea. Having something on the page to start helps get you doing.)

3. Review

The last part of the content creation process is review.

This is where we edit and improve.

Most people write AND edit at the same time. This is bad idea.

Writing requires an addition mindset.

Editing requires a subtraction mindset.

Trying to do both at the same time slows you down, and you’ll do neither as well as you could.

So, after you’ve created a batch of content, schedule time for “batch review.”

For example, you could do this for 30 minutes on a Friday and then schedule the finalized content to publish the following week.

Action Item

Build a simple content creation system this week.

Here are the three steps to do it:

Schedule ideation time 1x per week (15 minutes is a good start)
Schedule content creation time multiple times per week (60 minutes 2x week is a good start)
Schedule review time 1x per week (30 minutes is a good start)

If you prefer to break up content creation, you could schedule smaller blocks each day.

This is highly personal, so find what works for you.

The most important thing is that you have a system.

Keep it simple and build up later.

Work with Teddy

1:1 coaching: I'm looking for CEOs, executives and entrepreneurs who want to become better writers and grow their presence online. I will work with you 1:1. If you're interested, please reply to this email with "coaching."

Team training: If you're interested in having me train your team on writing, content creation, social media marketing or audience/community building, please reply to this email with "team training."

Speaking: I'm doing some speaking in 2023 on digital writing, digital media and building online audiences and communities. If you're interested in having me speak to your team or at your event (remote or in-person), please reply to this email with "speaking."

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Thank you!

Previous Issues

If you missed them, here are a few previous issues of The Daily Creator you may enjoy:

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