This is Edition No.5 of this weekly newsletter.
This May, I started creating this newsletter about creativity. In the beginning, writing weekly articles was very challenging. I often procrastinated the entire week, and by the weekend, I still hadn't written anything. This made me feel very stressed. To get something published, I even used this struggle as the content of an article in June.
Now, after 6 weeks, I can complete a newsletter every week more easily. The structure and length of the articles are also improving each week. Additionally, I started posting at least 2 posts on Threads and X every day.
Let me look back on what I did during this time:
Week 1-2: I searched for ways to improve my workflow, learned about the Zettelkasten Method, and set up a note-taking system.
Week 3-5: I finished newsletters from my notes and developed a writing workflow.
Week 6: I extracted content from notes and newsletters to post on social media, set up a social media posting workflow.
Week 1-2: Note-taking System
One thing that initially hindered my writing was that it took too much time to turn ideas into articles. So I looked into common writing workflows and found Sönke Ahrens' book How to Take Smart Notes, from which I adopted the Zettelkasten Method, a note-taking method for writers.
Using this method, I established a note-taking system for writing.
First I use the iOS Notes app to create notes:
I added 2 separate files for Literature Notes and Permanent Notes
I created simple templates for these two types of notes, and then started practicing this method.
Then I started to take notes with the following steps:
Take Literature Notes: When I read and see an idea that attracts me, I take a Literature Note.
Take Permanent Notes: Rewrite the ideas from the Literature Notes in my language and examples to form a new note.
Add bidirectional links between the Literature Notes and Permanent Notes.
When I have a new idea, I also take it down as a Permanent Note.
More Permanent Notes are generated during the process of writing them. I add bidirectional links between the relevant ones.
This is how I find the connection between ideas.
Connected ideas become articles.
Week 3-5: Improving Writing Workflow
I found my writing workflow becoming clearer and smoother when I have this note-taking habit:
In the 1st week, I just took notes from the books I recently read and wrote down some of my thoughts.
In the 2nd week, I repeated the process of the first week, and found writing Permanent Notes became easier. I wrote 14 of them this week.
In the 3rd week, I wrote 25 Permanent Notes. During this process, the causality and connections between ideas became more apparent. The Newsletter took shape in the Notes and just needed some editing to be ready for publication.
Week 6: Posting More Contents On Social Media
After 2-3 weeks of practice, my creative block has lessened, giving me time to start posting short content on social media, and gradually form a workflow for social media posting.
Here’s how I schedule my posts on Threads and X:
I extract content suitable for posting into a note called Posts;
Every Monday and Friday, I schedule Posts for Threads and X (I use the free version of Buffer, which allows scheduling 10 posts per channel, and I schedule 2 posts per channel per day);
I only open the apps a few times for interaction every day.
The most tiring aspect of social media is fragmentation and time consumption. To improve efficiency, it's necessary to batch your tasks on it.
Using a scheduling tool reduces the frequency of opening the apps, thereby minimizing time and distractions.
Conclusion
The essence of the creative process is to break down and reorganize each step of creation, then choose which actions to take and their sequence.
This is my current workflow for writing this newsletter. I hope this share can help you improve your creative productivity a bit.
Now I am starting to post on more social media platforms. I will continue to document the things I learn in this process. If you are interested, please comment or connect with me on platforms you like.
Reference:
Sönke Ahrens (2017). How to Take Smart Notes. https://www.soenkeahrens.de/en/takesmartnotes
Zettelkasten Method https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettelkasten
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