5 Ways to Create Killer Content in 80% Less Time

What up!

I’ve only got two hours before I leave for a ski trip this weekend… and I still need to pack (classic Connor procrastination).

So let’s see how fast we can write a value-packed newsletter!

Anyways, welcome back to another edition of the Digital Brand Builders newsletter, a newsletter teaching you one actionable lesson you can use each week to build, scale, and monetize your personal brand in less than five minutes.

And by the end of every edition, I’ll leave you with a few action steps you can follow so you can grow and monetize your own digital brand this upcoming week.

Sound like a plan?

Alrighty, let’s dive right into this one!

Here’s what we’ll be covering this week:

Creating content systems to save you 80% of your time.

I’m going to be completely honest with you…

I had no idea what I was going to write for this week’s newsletter until I thought about how little time I had to schedule this.

But it’s a topic I’ve been meaning to touch on for a while now, so today’s a better time than ever!

Here’s the thing, as creators and business owners, systems are everything.

Because as the author James Clear once said:

“You don’t rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

And I couldn’t agree more, James!

Now, one of the things I hear a lot of people struggle with most (and something I’ve struggled with in the past) is creating content.

We spend hours twiddling our thumbs and staring at a blank page, praying our writer’s block will go away and we’ll get this “aha!” moment of inspiration.

But truth is, if you don’t have the right systems and the right processes… you’re going to be staring at the blank page for a lonnnngggg time.

So here are 5 simple tips to create killer content in 80% less time:

Eugene Schwartz is one of the world’s greatest copywriters.

And one of the reasons for that? He made writing not just a habit, but also (you guessed it) a system.

Here’s what his system looked like:

It didn’t matter if he wrote one word or 1,000. All that mattered is he couldn’t leave his seat until the timer ran out.

He could either stare at the wall and be bored to death or write. And I don’t know about you, but I know which one I’d pick.

It’s the same reason I do deep work in 60 minute increments. Because I know that without a time limit, I’m not going to get any work done.

So if you’re looking to create better in less time… set a time limit.

Time constraints = More output

Ed Sheeran isn’t just an incredible musician. He’s also a brilliant creative mind.

A while back I remember watching a video of his that really stood out to me.

Someone once asked him how he came up with all his creative ideas. How was it that he’s able to churn out hit after hit like it’s nothing?

His answer? Think of creativity as a faucet.

When you first turn it on, all the dirty water flows out. You have to get out all the gunk. But pretty soon, you’ll get to the clean water and it’ll just start flowing like it’s nothing.

Your creative ideas are no different. If you want to get to all those “million-dollar hits,” you have to allow yourself to get out all the bad ideas first before you can strike gold.

Get out the bad ideas → Strike gold

A swipe file is a place where you store alllll your creative inspiration. If you’ve ever come across a piece of content that you like, a song that inspires you, a brilliant creative…

Add it to your own personal swipe file.

Simply open up a blank Google Doc or Notion page and whenever you come across a piece of content that you love or want to use as inspiration for the future, add it to your swipe file.

Now whenever you get writer’s block or have nooooo idea what to create?

Open your swipe file and you have loads of inspiration to get you started.

Other people’s content → Your own twist

This is a topic I’ve talked about in the past (you can read the past newsletter here) but it’s an incredibly powerful one.

One thing I recommend any creator do is keep a story bank of their daily lives.

What’s a story bank you might ask?

It’s a place to store your daily stories, experiences, and lessons.

Think of it as a swipe file above. But instead of other people’s content, it’s a backlog of your own daily stories and experiences… something nobody else can replicate but you.

Create a simple table in a place like Notion or your phone’s notes app and write down a memorable 1-2 sentence “story” that happened to you each day.

Then on the right-hand side, write down what the lesson is that you can take away from it.

After doing this for a few weeks (or even just a few days), you’ll have a ton of unique stories you can share with your audience.

Personal stories → Loyal audience

Now, I don’t always recommend templates because at a certain point they come off as inauthentic.

But what I would recommend templates for is when you’re creating similar types of thing over and over and over again.

Take this newsletter for example.

I always start with the same intro, include the same core elements, and end with the same CTA.

It would take way too much time to rewrite all these things every week.

So what did I do? I created a template in my Notion workspace to pre-fill all these different elements.

That way when I sit down to write these emails every Friday, I just click a button and it pre-populates all the repetitive stuff so I can focus on what matters most… writing a valuable lesson for you.

Start with templates → Save time on repetitive tasks

Annnndddd… there you have it!

5 simple things you can do to improve your creativity and create killer content in 80% less time.

And look at that, I’ve got 15 minutes left to spare (I guess our friend Eugene was onto something)!

Here are your action steps this week:

That’s it for this week. Off to get packing for the ski trip!

As always, feel free to reach out if you have any questions :)

✌🏼

Connor “templates really do work sometimes” Flynn

“Believe you can and you’re already halfway there.”