A habit cannot be tossed out the window; it must be coaxed down the stairs a step at a time.

Creating content isn’t something that you perfect the moment you start. It is the result of years of doing it.. again and again and again.

Habits are difficult to form, they say! And truth it is.

Something I learnt being a content creator is that there isn’t any other real secret to succeeding at content creation, aside from consistency.

The first blog post that I wrote was in 2003 for my first blog. It was a hobby blog and the first post was announcing what the blog was about and how frequently I will be writing blog posts.

If my memory serves me right, I guess it was the month of May. In fact, mid-May.

In the next 15 days, I had written about 35 articles for the blog.

I am not sure how I did it. But the fact was that I did it.

That blog is not there anymore, but that writing stint did something to me. I began believing that I can write more than 2 articles in a day.

What happened next was interesting.

I had to generate traffic to my blog and in those days, article submission to some of the ezine websites was a proven way of generating traffic.

In the next 2 months I had written and submitted more than 100 articles to different ezine websites, which started generating huge amount of traffic to my blog.

Writing an article became a part of my daily routine. In fact, I could sit at my computer for about an hour and churn out a complete article. The more time I spent at my computer the more articles I was writing.

A lot of my articles are even available online today in some of the PLR websites. I had bundled articles and sold it long back to some of these PLR sites.

Anyways, article writing had become a habit for me.

And since it became a habit, I had no choice but to be consistent with writing. It is this consistency that has helped me survive and thrive online.

I have seen 2 kind of success stories on the internet – the first one are people who have resources and some money to fund their work and the second one are people who slog it out, are stubborn and stays there without giving up, even if it takes years.

I have come across both these kind of people. While there stories have nothing in common, their path to success had something in common – consistency.

It is hence that I can conclude – If you are a content creator and you have it in your to consistently keep doing what you are doing, then there is no reason why you will not succeed.

But then how do you stay consistent?

The answer is simple. By making content creation a habit.

One of the best ways to make content creation a habit is to follow the advice from James Clear. He talks about the steps involved in his book, “Atomic Habits”.

He writes on his website –

On average, it takes more than 2 months before a new behavior becomes automatic — 66 days to be exact. And how long it takes a new habit to form can vary widely depending on the behavior, the person, and the circumstances. 

In his post, he writes that the 21-day habit formation belief is incorrect and that it could take anywhere between 2 months and 8 months for a habit to form.

He further goes on to write –

Interestingly, the researchers also found that “missing one opportunity to perform the behavior did not materially affect the habit formation process.” In other words, it doesn’t matter if you mess up every now and then. Building better habits is not an all-or-nothing process.

This is true with consistency too.

People are so stuck on the word “consistency” that they think that missing out on a day or, two means that you are not consistent.

Instead, consistency is about staying there and not giving up. It is about showing up regularly even if you miss out doing it on an odd instance.

In fact, it is a habit.

A habit of doing something again and again and again as if it was a part of your life. And it doesn’t happen overnight.

It takes weeks and sometimes months. But if you are able to do it, it stays with you and you get the benefit of it too.

If you are wondering about succeeding at podcasting, then keep this advice in mind. Keep showing up. Keep creating episodes after episodes.

There is no reason why you won’t succeed.

News you should know

• As per a joint report released by IAB and PwC on the podcasting business, the podcasting industry is projected to generate $2 billion in revenue this year and about $4 billion by 2024. This is a result of advancement in technologies which has helped advertisers better target and place ads on podcast.

• Facebook has exited Podcasts faster than it entered into it. While their announcement of the exit has been just as subtle as the announcement of their entry, it is surprising that a lot of creators haven’t been informed of this change even now. But, June 3rd is the day when they will completely exit out of Podcasts.

You would like these links

1. I really enjoyed reading this article on the 7 challenges that podcasters face and tips on how to overcome them. In fact, I have 3 more to add to them which I will publish in a later edition of this newsletter.

2. If you are looking at promoting your podcast and finding new audience, then these 9 tips to make your podcast binge worthy is a good read.

Questions from the reader

This is a question from one of my podcast listener, Suraj –

What is the best time to release episodes – mornings or, evenings?

Podcasting isn’t about instant consumption. It is on-demand consumption. So it doesn’t really matter if you are releasing your episodes in the mornings or, evenings till the time you are releasing it on the same day of the week, every week.

One of the important criteria to decide when to publish is your comfort.

How does the publishing time fit into your schedule and will you be able to do it at the same time every week?

That’s a question that you need to answer.

“Content marketing is really like a first date. If all you do is talk about yourself, there won’t be a second date.” ~ David Beebe

Recommended Reading

• Atomic Habits – This book by James Clear has become one of my all time favorites. In fact, this is one of the few books where I have seen actionable advice. If you are looking at building habits then this book is a must read.

• Deep Work – This book by Cal Newport is an excellent one if you are looking to improve your productivity. A very simple book and a quick read, this book has some practical advice of staying focussed in all of the distractions.

Note – Some of these are affiliate links and I might earn a commission if you choose to purchase using these links, but that would be at no extra cost to you.

That’s it for this week,

See ya again,

Dilip K

P.S. If you would like to connect with me or, read more of my writings in the form of blog posts, then you can visit my blog about Podcasting Tips.

P.P.S. If you loved this newsletter, then why not recommend it to somebody you think it will be helpful for.