How do you find time to write and create content?

“How do you find the time for daily articles/newsletter content AND the time to actually write your books?”

A reader asked me that question on social media a few days ago. A question like hers has two parts.

She wants to find time to create content but struggles to balance multiple creative projects.

Here’s the approach I used to write 6+ books (including a USA Today best-seller), my newsletter, and also find time for client work.

Finding time to write

I feel tense and stressed when I want to be in two places or do things simultaneously, like bending a stick until it snaps. So I pick one project to work on first thing.

For a few years, that project was a book. When I’d a full-time job as a copywriter for a Fintech, I got up around five or six to work on them. I gave up gaming on my Xbox late at night. I still missed gaming, but I enjoyed writing more than levelling up in Call of Duty.

I quit my job, and now I work full-time at my business. I canned the 5 am starts because I was sick of looking at bags under my eyes! I start to work around nine when the kids are at school and the house is quiet.

I get more done if I take some Alpha-GPC and hit the gym for 45 minutes. Then, I stick on Bose noise-canceling headphones and listen to ambient music via the Flow State on Substack.

I work on one project for 90 minutes until the buzzer sounds. I can knock out a few newsletters, articles, or video scripts during a deep work session. I take a 30-minute break between deep work sessions like this. If I can do this two or three times a day, I’m happy. (I still need to set aside some time for admin).

If you’re struggling to find time to write or create content, rework your priorities. I’d wager anyone can find a few juicy distractions. They usually look like social media notifications, mainstream media headlines, and Netflix.

Balancing multiple projects

Writing a book doesn’t pay the bills, at least not directly. Every author I’ve met or interviewed earns money from other projects like courses, coaching and consulting. Or they’ve a massive back catalog of books.

I’m not writing a book now, but I still need to find time for client work, my YouTube channel, and other projects. Enter the concept of a content library.

I’ve spent years writing online and have a big library of content, many flops, and few hits. I review my content library once a week. I see if I can take a few shorter articles and rework them into something longer. Or I pick an older piece of content and rework it.

I sometimes write about a topic for a few days and then rework all my emails or newsletters into a YouTube script.

Reworking a newsletter as a series of posts for LinkedIn and Substack only takes about 30 minutes. AI can help with content repurposing, too. I even custom-coded a Claude project for my workflow.

I don’t worry much about trying to be original with every piece of content. I know from data at least 60% of my readers or followers missed my content or posts the first time. So it’s OK to talk about the same topics in different ways.

If you treat your content like Lego blocks, you can take them apart and rebuild them into many different forms.

Creative work compounds

Do you need to take Alpha GPC, buy noise-canceling headphones, or kill a hobby you love?

No, but every successful creator I’ve met or interviewed puts off short-term gains for long-term success.

Start with 300 words a day, EVERY DAY. Like a snowball rolling downhill, starting with 300 words creates momentum. That’ll turn into 2100+ words a week. That’s 10000+ words a month and 50,000+ words in six months. Get that far, and you have a draft for an entire book.

The 300-word method changed my writing career. So, if you’re struggling to find time to create, start small and eliminate distractions.

It’ll work for other projects like offer creation, writing online and client delivery.

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