My Content Rule of 1's

Or: How I wrote 5 blog posts while traveling and speaking in Berlin

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m very busy but producing content is critical to me.

In fact, this week I’ve been wrapping up 2024 planning, hiring some key people at PushPress, prepping for a keynote, traveling to Berlin and I still got 5 blogs out.

I do this leveraging my Content Rule of 1’s. You can too.

Dan’s Content Rule of 1’s

I’m sure this isn’t new, but I put this together for myself, so I’m naming it after myself ;)

One day, One hour. One Topic.

It starts with one day and one hour. That’s the limit I give myself to produce these blogs. I created all five blogs for this week between 7am and 8am on Sunday morning.

Then, pick one topic. It’ll help your mind stay tight and not jump all over the place. Batch a few content pieces around the single topic cluster.

This week, I spoke mostly about writing content.

Per Content Piece:

• One minute. I try to build content that can be consumed in one minute or less. Attention economy turns into speed to create content.

• One point. It’s easy to let a piece spin off into 3 rambling points. Keep it tight not only for your process, but for the audience’s attention span.

• One audience. Focus on as if you’re speaking to a single person to make the single point. This will help you stay ultra focused and tight on delivery.

• One link. If written format, include one link to add context, relevance or research. It forces you to think in terms of proof or added audience value.

• One visual. People are attracted to some eye candy. Give it to them when applicable.

• One take. No matter the medium, do not allow yourself to retake or rewrite content over and over. Perfection is the enemy of progress, and this is the ultimate time suck. You can always make content better, focus on trying to produce it in one take and make a better version next batch.

There it is.

Go produce some clear, direct, important content today and link me to it, so I can read!