Finding time to create content: what to do when you've tried everything

“I just don’t have tiiiiiime!”

Sound familiar?!

I bet it does.

So many of the entrepreneurs that I work with on their digital content marketing struggle with this.

If this is you, I challenge you to ask yourself this:

What really is the struggle, exactly?

Do you really not have time, or are you actually prioritizing ineffectively?
Do you really not have time, or are you giving in to the resistance you feel when it comes to getting down to write, record or otherwise create?

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Side note: If you recognise that your inability to get content created is down to something other than, deeper than or simply different than having a lack of time, then firstly - WELL DONE! Kudos to you for being self-aware enough to recognise that. Secondly - stay tuned, as August is “Hacking Content Creation” month at Thrive Marketing and I’m going to be coming at you further with more tips, tricks and insights on how you can start to move past resistance and self-limiting beliefs and begin getting ish done.

Sometimes, though, we have to accept that the limitation truly IS a lack of time. And oh my, how I feel you ladies. While I can’t empathise with those of you super-mums out there who are juggling business with family life, I CAN empathise with having to juggle a million and one things, projects, and life events at once. It’s tough, let’s get real about it.

So what can we do?

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Prioritise!

Prioritization is a challenge when there’s simply not enough time in the day to do what you want to do - but I really can’t overstate how KEY it is.

Those of you who know or have worked with me already know how much of a goal-setting geek I can be. It’s something I coach all of my clients on in detail, and for good reason too.

Prioritisation requires you to be able to hone in and laser focus on the activities that are MOST IMPORTANT.

So how do you determine what those are?

Simply put, you must have goals in place so that you are absolutely crystal-clear about where exactly it is that you’re trying to go; what exactly it is that you’re trying to achieve.

Booking X number of 1:1 clients this month; launching your group program; driving sales on your newest product range.

Stop floundering around and get bloody CLEAR about what you’re trying to achieve!

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Launching a group program? Then STOP faffing around with your brand colours, your 1:1 sales page or funnel, creating a new low-end offer.

No-one is saying that these aren’t valuable, useful and revenue-generating things to spend your time or focus your energy on at some point or another - but if your goal this month is to launch your group program, and you’re struggling to FIND TIME - then you’ve got to focus!

We are all drowning in overwhelm every God damn day. (If you’re not, then please leave me a comment and let me know which planet you are from.) We’re human. We have to battle against analysis-paralysis, comparison-itis, self-limiting beliefs, procrastination and fear constantly.

It’s the steps we take to take back control and exercise power over our mindset that really count.

So please - if you’re struggling for time, start here: goal-setting and laser-focus.

Next time you come to start a task, ask yourself, and answer honestly - “is working on this really going to move me closer to my goal, or is it just another item on the long list of to-dos that I’m feeling overwhelmed by every day?”

Creating pockets of time

“But we can’t magic up additional time out of thin air!”, you cry.

True, and as we have heard before (and no, I am actively refraining from referencing Beyoncé now!) everyone has the same 24 hours in a day.

Some of us have a hell of a lot more stuff to get done during each of those 24 hours than others.

Some of us have kids, elderly parents, or a menagerie of rescue animals to care for.

Some of us are still working a 9-5 (or let’s face it, more likely an 8-6!) whilst side-hustling on our businesses.

Some of us struggle with physical or mental limitations that make it more difficult to get things done.

So, no, I am not going to tell you that you have the same 24 hours in a day as Beyoncé.

Because, quite frankly, that reference makes me rage-y (and it’s pretty difficult to get me feeling rage-y!).

Unless you have a gazillion dollars, a personal chef, a personal trainer, a hair & make-up artist, a stylist, a manager, and five thousand other people following you around like sheep in an entourage (annoying!), don’t you even dare go there. Be fair to yourself.

However, I digress. What we mere mortals must do is learn some new tactics to help us use our time more wisely (without foregoing your nightly Love Island ritual - because I would never want to deprive anyone of that!)

Let’s look at how we can try to create ‘pockets’ of time in places that we haven’t considered before:

Break ish down

Find ways to break your content creation tasks down into smaller chunks. You might be surprised, but you don’t have to write a blog post all in one go. Rough notes on the outline might take you five minutes. Is that something you can do on your smartphone’s notes app while you wait for the kiddies at the school gates? Maybe later, when you’re in the dentist waiting room, you can draft up the first paragraph or two of a post on your phone (depending on how late the dentist is running!). In the evening, as you’re stirring the rice and waiting for it to cook, you can carry on a bit and get another couple of paragraphs down.

Yes, your writing will be a little disjointed. Yes, you will need to spend five or ten minutes reviewing it and making a few edits to get it flowing better before you publish it.

But isn’t that a whole lot less daunting than sitting down in front of a blank computer screen and expecting yourself to go from A-Z in one sitting?

Have an Idea Pot

It doesn’t matter where or how you do this, but make sure you have a way to capture notes and ideas wherever you are. This could be a mini notebook you keep with you or an app on your phone. Note down ideas for content that come to you whilst on the train or curling your hair. Challenge yourself whenever you note down an idea to come up with 1 or 2 more. You’ll be amazed at how many you can collect. This will save you heaps of time when it comes to planning your content - you’ll be halfway there already!

Batch process the hell out of it

If you haven’t tried batch processing, I want you to really give it a shot! You will be amazed at how much time this can save you and free up for other activities. How? Here:

Batch processing, or ‘time batching’, is pretty simply the concept of NOT trying to multi task.

Multi tasking is the number 1 enemy of efficiency. I could go on and on here about how it takes us X minutes to regain focus after breaking out of one task to work on another, but we'd be here all day (and that’s not great time management, hey?!)

But I do want you to give batch processing a try. When it comes to content creation, concentration and focus is essential. It's not something we can really do while we have half an eye on the TV or are in the middle of a Twitter conversation with a potential client. Set aside 1, 2 or 3 hours (I recommend starting smaller and working your way up - concentration is a mental muscle that needs to be built up over time, just like my non-existent abs) and commit yourself to content creation ONLY during this period.

Close down Facebook, put your phone on silent or airplane mode (and ideally in another room), and force yourself to JUST CREATE.

Yes, it will feel impossible at first.

Yes, you will be itching to open up your browser and Google “love island contestants where are they now” (oh… just me?!)

But push through it. Exercise your focus muscle regularly. You will be simply astounded at how much you get done in a relatively short space of time. For the more spiritual among you, think of this as a kind of creative meditation.

Now, you may have some thoughts or ideas flow through your mind whilst creating that you don't want to forget about. This is, in fact, highly likely. So, I recommend keeping a scrap piece of paper next to you and if anything that is unrelated to what you are working on pops into your head that you don't want to forget about (“I need to hang the laundry out”; “Oooh I should quickly check my Google analytics dashboard”; “I wonder how many likes my latest Insta post got”; “Let me just check my Fitbit step count for today”) - scribble them down. Then get back to what you're doing.

You're safe. It's fine.

You can't forget about them now - you can come back to them after you've finished creating. The important things will get done. Chances are, some of them are just your mind monkeys trying to lure you back into procrastination mode, anyway ;)

So there you have it - 3 ideas to magic up more time for content creation out of thin air.

Finding time to create content is all about prioritising and using the time you DO have wisely.

You may not be Beyoncé, but you've got this!