If you tracked where you spend the majority of your time each day, would you be considered a consumer or a creator? Or would you see a nice balance between the two?
Both matter. Both are needed.
It’s important to consume things that will inspire you and can fuel your creation, but that’s different than hopping from webinar to webinar, or challenge to a virtual event and never creating anything of your own.
If you’re looking to make a shift to create more, here are 7 ways to get started and stick with it.
- Begin with the end in mind
Don’t create for the sake of creating – create with a purpose! Want to create an online course? Add 1000 more subscribers to your list? Write a book? Pick one specific outcome and create with that goal in mind.
- Know your target audience
If you try to create something for everyone, you’ll quickly realize you won’t be creating for anyone. Don’t get hung up on choosing a specific industry or person. Pick something that you’re passionate about and it feels easy to talk about.
- Block off some distraction-free time
Log out of social media, put the devices on do-not-disturb, and put it on your calendar. Work on a different device, in a different location, anything you need to stay focused on creation. Start with 30 minutes!
- Know what you’re going to work on before you sit down to work
Don’t use your creation time to plan. Don’t sit down to create and wonder what you should work on. Decide what you’re going to do beforehand and when it’s time to create, you know exactly what to focus on.
- Document behind the scenes
It’s the easiest way to create more! Snap a photo of what you’re making and post it to your favorite social media channel along with a few sentences about what you’re doing and why. Share the photo and tell the story behind it. Share the process and journey of creation.
- Create and share a creation deadline
A goal without a deadline is just a dream. Set a launch date, a deadline for creating something specific, then tell someone about it. Whether you share it publicly, with a coach or a friend, you’ll be more likely to follow through. If you want to raise the stakes, set it up so there are undesirable consequences if you don’t hit that goal – like donating to a cause you hate.
- Set a daily “Create Something” goal and keep the streak alive
I have a sticky note posted in my office that says “create something today” and I’ve challenged myself to create one thing every day. It doesn’t have to be a massive thing. Maybe it’s a blog post, a social media post, a lesson for a course, a video for a problem a client is facing or getting into the habit of writing 1,000 words a day. Start small and focus on building up the number of days in a row you can stick with it. Build up a creation streak that you won’t want to break!
No matter how you get started, get started! Getting into the habit of creating more and creating consistently will completely transform your business.
