Keeping Up With Content Creation | Anchor Episode

by chadbrooksis@gmail.com | Aug 26, 2017 | Uncategorized

I’ve been absolutely FALLING IN LOVE with Anchor.fm these past two weeks. Today, I decided to create a more Productive Pastor style episode for them and to share it here with you. Also, this is a heavy shownotes anchor, so it makes perfect sense to drop it right here.

My Anchor Channel

Pastors are in the content creation business. Think of what we write or create each week. We typically have at least one sermon (if not more) and it might be delivered in several different places. We are also writing letters, articles, blog posts, creating written systems and many other forms of communication. AND, we find ourselves podcasting and being intentionally social online as well. I’d say we have a pretty heavy load of content creation to keep up with.

Keeping Up with Content Creation

Here is how I have learned and shared with others about not just keeping up with content creation, but completely owning it.

Content creation isn’t just a “shoot from the hip” activity. You’ve got to realize there is an executable process to lead to success.

To completely own content creation, you are going to need a few super powers.

1. Brain Power.
   This is all about recurring action. What can you do to consistently be coming up with new ideas? I’ve found reading to be tremendously helpful. I also swear by my time in the shower, by myself in my pool and taking walks without headphones. Those are the absolute best for me. You’ve got to be a learner above all.
2. Remembering Power.
   Thinking about new things and connecting dots will be worthless if you don’t have a way to get everything all down. You’ve got to have a way to notate and remember. I rely on two things. My notebook and Evernote. They have both saved me so many times I cannot even count. Write down everything. Come up with a system that helps you with recall. As digital as I am, I have found that my notebook is significantly more helpful and creative. Once I have a project going, I will give it a few pages of space and just come back time and time again to it.
3. Editing Power.
   Rome wasn’t built in a day and whatever you are working on won’t be great in one pass. Remember, good stuff doesn’t happen in one shot. You need to be consistently sculpting and growing and pruning whatever it is you are working on. It might just mean a couple of passes or it might take a month of work. Typically, the more important, the longer the time.
4. Community Power.
   Remember, all communication is designed for outward action. It isn’t supposed to stay with you. The medium of delivery and your own interaction with whatever community it is matters tremendously. It has to be designed for them and you need to be interacting.
5. Curating Power.
   You’ve got to resource people and also realize all of your hard work doesn’t just live once. You need a plan of curation, of learning when and how and why to interact and reseed your old content. We live in the age of content, so people take in old information much easier if it contributes to the larger story of the community.

Resources

Anne Samoilov – My Simple Content Creation Method    
I stumbled across the article years ago. It started me thinking very differently about communication and how I utilize it. Plus, it helps you keep up with tons of content creation.

Why You Need a Production Calendar | PP17

Why You Should Keep a Notebook | PP44

Churchless | Carey Niewhof episode 24
Check out the entire episode and the shownotes for so much great content around the idea of engagement.

If you came from Anchor and like this content, I’d love for you to check out Productive Pastor. This is typical of the work I do and I’ve got plenty of listeners who aren’t in ministry that find it helpful.