Be proud of every fifth article
The other day I had a cup of coffee with a guy I know who is the communication manager and head of inbound marketing for a larger Norwegian consultancy company. He has a past as a copywriter for a communication agency and is a master of absorbing information and turn it into informative and readable stories in no time.
I went to see him mainly for some tips on how to research and produce articles more efficiently, but also because the company he works for have their own barista in their dining area and the coffee is beyond excellent.
He gave me some very valuable tips, but the one I want to share today is this:
Be proud of every fifth article.
When you are required to write many articles, you cannot produce the same quality every time. If you aim for that you will find that every new article gets harder and harder to start, and you will eventually burn out and maybe quit your whole project.
Marion summed this up perfectly on her blog the other day: Published Beats Perfect...
But every now and then you should produce a post that you are really proud of, one that sets the standard that you aim for. By doing so, you remind yourself of the standard of quality you want and you practice on achieving it.
Your other articles should not be sloppy work, but they should be just good enough. If you apply this rule, over time, the overall quality of your articles will improve and writing becomes easier every time.
I will have more coffee with my friend later. And I know he will share more valuable information.
Recent Comments
110
Fair comment, we can all spent too much time trying to improve our design changing fonts, layouts, image location etc etc.
We also try to write better and better and as you say it gets to a point where you dread starting a new article as you know it will be many hours before you are happy with the completed work, if at all.
This is a common problem with newbies and a major influence on failing.
This makes so much sense give every 5th article the big effort 100% and the others your 80%.
I'm going to try and implement this right after I complete my current post which is now 6 hours in the making.....LOL!
Yess. You got us there, now we can't wait for the next time...
Getting started I find to be the biggest hurdle. Once writing something interesting it's a flow, and the next thing becomes keeping things in check and to the point. Clearly, starting will be more difficult if the aim is all too high.
Thanks for the advice :)
It really comes down to which skills need the most honing. Is It the skill to produce a brilliant essay, or do I need the skill to produce, easy to read, informative articles quickly and repeatedly? Both are sellable skills, but the latter skill is the one needed by professional bloggers.
Great article. Thanks for sharing.
- Joe
Another great message J.
I really enjoy your posts and my productivity seems to have increased so much since I started reading your articles. You really hit the nail on the head for me in terms of getting into the right mental headspace and getting things done!
I definitely suffer from the 3 P's (Perfectionism/Paralysis/Procrastination) and I will find this perspective very helpful to avoid that trap and keep creating content.
I like this attitude. It's an attitude to set you free from all obstacles.
When you produce an article that convinces you, that's the right pie to be proud of, no matter how all people rate it but you are guaranteed that there are folks like you in the same boat.
That's the secret of success my friend.
I know my niche so well, I produce helpful, quality articles all the time. I take the time to do research and add it along with my knowledge.
I have never blogged before, I'm not a writer but sure learned fast since I joined. It's important to have a website where you know it well enough to easily write about it :)
That is true. If you know your niche well, it's easier to keep a high quality all the time.
At times I have 4 rough copies ready to write up.
When I get an idea I write it down right away. It can be really tough if you don't know your niche well.
This is going to sound like a disagreement, I understand quality over quantity. My biggest fear is writing gibberish just so I post. I want to be proud of every article though. In considering what you are saying, I’ll put more effort into the 3 a week I am trying to accomplish. There is always new perspective here to find value from. Thanks for posting.
I see your point of view, and I do not mean that the four articles should be gibberish. You should always do your best.
Every article should hold up to a minimum standard of quality, but if you are like me, you will sit and nitpick on details that nobody but yourself will even notice. And that is what you must avoid in general, but should allow yourself to do every now and then to make sure you don't compromise with your own highest standard.
If you write about something you know a lot about, it's easier to write good articles all the time, but it's also easier to want to say more than what is actually needed for the topic of the article. Then you should allow yourself to do one really deep and explaining article about a topic now and then.
As long as we all continue to share all of these insights, we all grow and make progress. I was corrected about one of my most recent posts. I asked about examples and a partner of my own, mentioned I made it sound like, I only saw good things here in the last little while, over the 3 years I have been here. I have since editted that post.
I am glad you posted this, absolutely anything that makes us look at, and analyze our directions is a good thing. Ultimately, we all want quality and you are reminding us of that fact.
That is the great thing about this community. There are all sorts in here :) So you can soak up whatever advice you find useful and ignore what doesn't apply.
Well said Haugland, In every case, one should aimed at doing his/her best and the rest will come easily through determination, perseverance and adamant.
Your subconscious mind need to know exactly what you want and that knowledge to the subconscious mind comes about from reputation whether verbally or written form and continually focussing on it. Thanks Jhaugland
See more comments
That's a very good tip Jorn. That' why it takes me weeks to complete an article. The approach you just explained will get me through my posts at a much faster rate. I do however, I always want the content to be as factual as possible so as to not to inadvertently disseminate misinformation. Of course making sure the grammar and spellings are correct is important too.
Thanks Brad
Glad you found it helpful Thanks for reading