How to outsmart content overwhelm
Last week was wild. I hit an 18-hour day for the first - and hopefully the last - time. I was taken down by a virus, spent two days in bed and, even then, ended up working from under the covers rather than getting the rest my body craved. I was managing a poorly toddler, a husband battling man-flu and a work schedule that was, quite frankly, on crack. The overwhelm was real.
I’ve always believed in hard work, making your own opportunities and giving everything your all. But is there a cost to hard graft? At what point do we tip the balance between success and survival and end up in burnout state?
Someone who knows a thing or two about burnout is therapist and author of Burnout’s a B*tch, Rosie Millen of @missnutritionist. Having battled burnout herself, with a three-year stint in bed to prove it, she now helps the overwhelmed and overworked to navigate what can only be described as a burnout epidemic.
According to Rosie, “You get burnout when your plate is already full but you keep adding to it”. And no doubt we’re all guilty of that. So, what can we do to outsmart overwhelm? Luckily, even when life feels overwhelming, your content doesn’t have to. With a few tools and tricks you can make content creation just a small portion of what’s on your plate. Here are five of my faves:
5 ways small business owners can outsmart content overwhelm
Creating a bank of evergreen content [ie. the stuff that doesn’t date] means you’ll always have a stash of quality content when you’re on a never-ending stint of makers’ markets or too busy drinking cocktails on the beach.
Scheduling static grid posts in advance means you can get a massive chunk of your content done and off your plate, making the rest much more manageable.
Constantly jotting down new ideas? Well that’s cool, but it’s also really time-consuming to create each post from scratch. I’ll bet you’ve a massive stash of ideas in your phone, so make for easy street and use the content ideas you already have.
Self-inflict a scroll ban. You can easily lose 30 mins to a “quick check of your phone”. When you feel overwhelm closing in, focus more on creating social media, rather than consuming it.
Create a set of backgrounds you can use over and over again. Time-lapse videos are great for this. Record yourself in your biz and leave a space where you can overlay text. One video, endless times you can refresh the text in it. Or Story backgrounds for things like Top Tips, Care Advice or Reviews. Create the template, then simply add new text each time for a quick way to get out top quality content fuss-free.
Sure, small business life might feel overwhelming at times, but your content doesn’t have to be. So, keep these pointers to hand and you’ll be all set to avoid content overwhelm next time you feel it heading your way.