Although everyone would love to have written a book one day, not everyone is willing to do it. Everyone wants to receive accolades, achievements, and awards without exerting the work and effort required to achieve them. It’s part of being human. While it’s not wrong to choose the easy route, it is shameful when you let your potential go.
The musician with hundreds of songs, the author with dozens of novels, and entrepreneurs with numerous podcast episodes. The comedian with an endless supply of original jokes. All of these examples are proof of someone skilled at producing. They didn’t measure results or focus their attention on one thing; they created a process to follow and made sure it was successful. To be productive, you must need a clear commitment to your output. This can be achieved by following five simple steps.
Closely watch
Sherlock Holmes, the fictional detective, said once, “You can see, but not observe.” You can see by glancing. You may be fleetingly seeing. Observing can also be described as mindfully paying attention. They are perceiving, detecting. To use all of our senses to perceive what’s happening and what it means. Significant observations make for great content. You can imagine the future with grand statements, whether in novels, website copy, poetry, sketches, TV shows, or films.
Your task is to pay concentration to your audience and make notes. It is your job to observe what they say, do not say, and how they act. This will help you understand what makes them happy. Be so familiar with their personalities that you can easily walk in their shoes and even speak their language. Effective communication starts with understanding your audience. The key to understanding the crowd you are trying to serve is to observe intently. Ideas lead to the hooks, the memorable paragraphs, and the one-liners that touch the soul. Solid observations can lead to standing ovations.
A notebook is a must-have
Did you ever have a brilliant idea you thought you had committed to your memory but were later unable to recall? The Chinese proverb says that the weakest pencil is more valuable than the strongest memory. Never trust your brain to remember your strokes. Always keep a notebook. A notebook should be kept in your pocket, near your bed, or in your bag. Keep one handy, so you can make notes whenever inspiration strikes.
Prolific producers are prolific note-takers. They don’t rely on their memory to remember. Instead, they doodle and jot to the heart’s content. Their phones are full of voice notes and clippings. They also have a plethora of magazines and bags stuffed with scrapbook pages and uncut magazine corners. They are more likely to say, “let me just make that note,” and less likely to say, “I’ll recall that later.” Genius ideas should be treated like such. You must take their beliefs seriously and make copies.
Your ideas are your muscle.
You would give me five options if I asked you for a list of ten choices for tonight’s meal. The sixth, seventh, and tenth options will require more thought. These are the final few that hold the magic. Your brain has been stretched further and more profound than usual. You have pushed your ideas beyond what is obvious, and you’re now able to create something entirely new. You don’t just have to come up with teatime ideas. The ideas muscle can be used repeatedly to generate ideas for daily decisions.
The ideas of great producers are a constant source of inspiration. Their currency is ideas, and they love coming up with new ones. They are not afraid to fight for their opinions. If they reach a wall of ideas, they will give up. They’ll give in. They’ll grab their phone and start looking for distractions. They won’t tolerate the discomfort of creative work. It misses what is essential. It overlooks the point. The more you work, the more inspiration will be available next time. Being a master of ideas is the key to producing prolifically.
Batch your admin
The left side of your brain, which is creative and free-thinking, is more analytical and ordered than the right. While the right side of your brain produces the most, it must be engaged. This means that you need to switch off its logic counterpart. Batching is an integral part of most production processes. The benefits of batching include reducing admin time and allowing for more creativity. It’s not true that creativity is found in chaos. The most prolific producers believe that creativity occurs within structures, parameters, and frameworks. Paradoxically, rules can bring freedom. One month, I host a headline banking session where I list twenty headlines to be used in future articles. I take notes and experiment with them. I play with concepts and tools and return to my notebook for any recent discoveries. Batching is a way to organize the information and make space for the prose. The rest of the time I spend putting words on paper. The logistics are taken care of by the deliberate division of actions. This creates a framework and establishes a solid plan.
Practice makes prolific
One thing is common to all successful producers: a system. They’re ready to produce as soon as they get on the page, stage, or canvas. They don’t need to wait to get in the right mindset, wait for inspiration, or feel like it. It’s easy to see how they deliver. They turn a daily routine into a month of content that becomes a portfolio full of work that seems almost impossible.
Writing and creating content is an art. It’s best when it’s an integral part of your daily life. It might be documented on a wallchart with tick boxes for completion. Perhaps it’s the first thing you do every morning or the last thing you do before bed. It does not matter what type of practice you use; it matters that one exists.
Be a prolific producer. This means observing with intention, not being without a notebook, working on your ideas muscle, and batching any left-brain tasks. Five steps can lead to mastery and masterpieces:
