I have been reading the book Deep Work by Cal Newport.
And I am in the ‘career break’ phase. Not exactly.
Let me rephrase that.
I am in the ‘I want to be a successful creator’ phase.
Since 2018, I have gone back and forth with content creation. I started creating content but then left it in between. I wasn’t patient enough. I didn’t have enough guidance.
Last year, however, I started creating content mindfully. I somewhat knew what I was doing and therefore, I somehow started getting results. The results I never got before.
I showed up with Consistency,
I observed Viral Content,
I grew a Community.
This year, I went all in on all the platforms. I know this is not the advice you’d hear from all the ‘gurus’. They’d tell you to focus on one platform at a time.
To be fair, I don’t have the time, energy and mental space for it.
I know you’d be surprised to read this. But hear me out.
The platforms I am present on this year — LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Podcast & Newsletter.
Yes, I am doing all of it this year. LinkedIn and Instagram are my two primary platforms.
Why am I going crazy Like that?
These days I am reading, Deep Work, by Cal Newport. He discusses the importance of deep work to perform and be 1% better each day. In the first chapter of the book, you will find some shocking facts about how the human brain works. And from all of them, one that has stuck with me is the Attention-Residue concept.
Attention-residue in layman’s terms means that when humans are switching from one task to another, they still have a part of their attention dedicated to the previous task.
Like, think about sipping a mojito just after having manchow soup. You will still have the hotness and flavour of the soup. Feels weird right?
It is similarly weird when you think about doing it to your brain. Your brain can’t signal you with the taste but it shows signs of declining performance and creativity!
So Cal Newport suggests the following equation –
[High quality of work = time spent x intensity of focus]
Building an intensity takes time. In my case, it can only happen when my focus is on one thing in one day.
So I came up with my own strategy! Given that I don’t have any financial stability right now I am solely dependent on building my online leverage. I want to utilise efficiency over hard work.
1:1:1 Strategy —
The first part of this 1:1:1 strategy is to write 1 high-quality long-form content every week!
(At least one. I can do more)
Whatever I am writing, I try to publish it on Medium first. Earlier, I used to write my drafts in notion and they would sit there biting dust. But on medium, the friction is low.
Then I’d choose and publish one medium article as a newsletter on Substack and LinkedIn articles.
The other two of my 1:1:1 strategy is to dedicate 1 day to 1 platform.
Monday — Instagram
Tuesday — Youtube
Wednesday — Linkedin
Thursday — Substack
Friday — Meetings
Saturday — podcast
This 1:1:1 approach is my equation. And I am experimenting with it.
It is easy to be swayed away when you are switching between tasks. It’s like opening 100 tabs on your system, trust me, my Mac hangs up and so does my brain.
It leads to burnout and I lose the quality of my work.
So I have started this experiment this week, wherein I will be diving deep into one platform every single day.
I know it will give me a headache initially because just like the gym, I will be putting in the reps. To train my mental muscle. It won’t be easy but I still want to do it for at least 30 days. See what happens to my brain, the quality of my work and my creativity!
This will help me to force my brain and push my mental capabilities to give me the best results.
In any case, it won’t be easy.
But we won’t know it until we try it, Right?