"I Don't Have Time to Blog." FALSE.

Ironic title since this is my first new post in 5 months. I took a blog hiatus to focus on client work and build my business. I'm back now with info I've gathered running online marketing campaigns for a lot of fantastic entrepreneurs! And I'm ready to share what I've learned and to hear what you think of it!  Do you have trouble blogging consistently? Let me know in the comments!

When I was 22 I interviewed for my first "real" newspaper job, to be a general assignment reporter at a very small paper. After the sit-down interview, I was given a test with the following materials: a computer with no Internet (this was the early 2000s),  a police report, and some typed-up notes of witness interviews. The test: write an article on the crime detailed therein.

Twenty minutes later, I was done. A couple of hours after that, I was offered the job. 

Working for a daily newspaper is the quickest way I know to internalize the motto, "done is better than perfect." A whopping 13 years later (!), a lot has changed about the newspaper industry, but I have come to realize that the most important skill I honed during my newspaper time was to write on deadline. And I've realized that writing on deadline doesn't come so easily to other people. 

It's a motto a lot of my clients take issue with. But if you're going to share content, life gets a lot easier if you can give this motto some thought. 

So tip 1 for making the tip to blog: Start; don't wait for perfect. 

Other tips for writing quickly: 

1. Don't try to say EVERYTHING there is to say on the topic; as we discussed you will revisit these topics over and over, using different formats (checklists, Q&A style, video). 

2. Pick a point you'd like to make, write an outline, write the blog. 

**If there are two points you want to make, create a title for point no. 2 and add it to your content calendar to write about another time. 

3. Be patient with yourself. You will get faster with practice. 

4. (This is a suggestion I heard from Tim Ferriss that I love) open up Outlook or Gmail and click "new." Write your post draft in a new email. Our habit is to get organized and write emails quickly; using an email draft might signal your brain to apply the same discipline to your blog writing.

Bonus! Try video: write the outline and then talk about the topic in one take. Compare how long that takes vs. how long writing takes. 

This is Your No. 1 Productivity Killer

I was listening to Amy Porterfield's podcast episode 102, "How to Create Content Rituals to Get More Done."  Amy focused on sharing about how hard of a time she was having carving out the significant chunks of time she needed in order to create: blog posts, interview questions, presentations, course content. 

She pointed out something that struck a chord with me: don't check your e-mail. During "Tiger Time," Amy says that she doesn't check e-mail. She doesn't touch e-mail until 4 hours in to her work day, at 12 pm. 

Not only does she not respond, but she doesn't CHECK.

Ideally, if you're trying to create a cocoon of time in which you can focus on a single project, you don't check e-mail during that time, of course. But here's why I love the idea of not checking at the outset of your day, period:

E-mail is the number 1 de-railer of my day, and it definitely ranks above phone, social media, or texting. Why? 

Because I find that e-mails require me to take at least one action before I can respond. Maybe I have to research a fact or a question, contact someone else to get an answer, or put together a plan of action. 

But whatever it is, I often automatically let it take precedence over what I had been planning to do before I opened the email. And that completely knocks me off the track I set for myself when I started my task.

Texting usually only requires a reply (not a bunch of research). Social media is admittedly a rabbit hole but doesn't require a constant reshuffling of work priorities.  Phone calls don't happen much and when they do, they are largely self-contained (Dr. appointment reminders, for example.) 

E-mail is the de-railer. 

Amy's system reminded me of another tactic to approach getting focused, intensive work completed first thing in the morning. It's called the 90-90-1 rule.

"For the next 90 days, devote the first 90 minutes of your work day to the one best opportunity in your life. Nothing else. Zero distractions. Just get that project done. Period."

I used the 90-90-1 rule to create and publish my website. (It was more like 60-30-1, but it still worked.) 

If I'm wrong, e-mail me (don't expect a response until after 12 pm though, LOL) or leave a comment!