Does anyone work in single focus sprint sessions?

[bernard]

I've tried different approaches to work over the last couple of years, from winging it completely and just doing what I felt like doing, to Pomodoro very task structured, to mixing it up, versus doing one type of tasks etc.

As of right now, I am doing a content creation sprint session, in which I create 20 pillar pages in 20 days.

I find that to be quite a nice way to work. Block everything else out, just focus on one type of task.

What happens is that I become quickly accustomed to this kind of task, which is quite intensive and laborious, and it's much easier to sit down and do the research, do the writing, do the graphics etc.

It seems to reduce "analysis paralysis" immensely, because you take away "the other tasks". There are no other tasks, get it done.

I realize this is how I work with coding, and why I like coding, just maximum focus on solving one particular task.

Now naturally, this type of work is not being the kind of administrator that @MrMedia is, but could it work anyway? Need to test how to best plan for my writers and editor/VA, while still allowing this highly productive intensive sprint strategy.

 

[Sutra]

I do best when I can focus on one thing. So whenever possible I organize my day to do similar things in large blocks. Allows me to rip through them without getting distracted by other thoughts and/or tasks.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I do something similar with my personal projects. Using the content sprint of 20 posts in 20 days, instead of doing one post and then the next post, I like to break it into chunks that I do for all 20. Like:

• Find 20 keywords & their related keywords
• Write 20 titles that encompass the intent
• Write 20 introductions to get them out of the way
• Write 20 conclusions and H2's for the outro
• Write the bodies for the 20 articles
• Find, optimize, include, and do alt texts for all the images
• Do interlinking across the 20 posts
• And so forth...

Chunking it out creates mini-sprints within the big sprint and keeps you even more tightly in the one-track mind. Works for me anyways.

It also makes sure "shit gets done" rather than getting pulled this way and that by every other little thing that pops up that pretends to be important or urgent.

 

[bernard]

@Ryuzaki, Do you set aside specific days to delegate tasks then?

 

[Ryuzaki]

@Ryuzaki, Do you set aside specific days to delegate tasks then?

There are some things that I touch every day. Like emails, BuSo, etc. You can't drop the ball on communication. Let's say I plan to work 8 hours one day. I'll use an hour to do my "daily stuff" and then the other 7 hours is for the content sprint. I don't go into complete hermit mode and ignore everything, since somethings require checking in, some fires have to be put out, and there's some maintenance that needs to be done.

 

[bernard]

There are some things that I touch every day. Like emails, BuSo, etc. You can't drop the ball on communication. Let's say I plan to work 8 hours one day. I'll use an hour to do my "daily stuff" and then the other 7 hours is for the content sprint. I don't go into complete hermit mode and ignore everything, since somethings require checking in, some fires have to be put out, and there's some maintenance that needs to be done.

That makes sense.

I'm going to experiment with this, because the productivity gain I see here vs planning out smaller tasks is just insane. I get so much, much more done, but the risk is missing the big picture and delegating tasks efficiently.

 

[Pagey]

Each day I write 6 important tasks I need to do in order of importance.
It can range from testing a plugin my dev sent me, checking my editor's work, finding a new writer on Upwork, updating a sop, making a video tutorial for a team member etc.

POMODORO works well for boring repetitive tasks> For me it feels like it breaks my flow since each task is different.

 

[bernard]

There are some things that I touch every day. Like emails, BuSo, etc. You can't drop the ball on communication. Let's say I plan to work 8 hours one day. I'll use an hour to do my "daily stuff" and then the other 7 hours is for the content sprint. I don't go into complete hermit mode and ignore everything, since somethings require checking in, some fires have to be put out, and there's some maintenance that needs to be done.

I am thinking I need to get more structure going along what to do on each day of the week, while being able to keep that sprint energy.

Have you or anyone else done something like this:

Monday: Keyword research and topic discovery
Tuesday: Set up writing outlines
Wednesday: Content production and writing
Thursday: Content production and writing
Friday: Site design improvements and technical maintenance
Saturday: -
Sunday: Analytics / pet projects

This is probably, right now, what I would actually do in terms of dividing my time in terms of importance.

In this case, the two days of content production assumes I would write some content myself. Otherwise two days might be too much if it is only ordering and approving.

Would this particular setup be productive do you think?

 

[CCarter]

@bernard you don't have any promotion for the content or doing any other only online marketing activities, except writing. You have to get out of your comfort zone and go beyond.

 

[DanielS]

Would this particular setup be productive do you think?

What happens if the articles don't all get written within the week? Would you continue writing them on the following Monday? Or, would you wait until the following Wednesday again? I just wonder if the workflow would get mixed up if there's a different level of effort and time required for certain tasks than others.

 

[bernard]

@bernard you don't have any promotion for the content or doing any other only online marketing activities, except writing. You have to get out of your comfort zone and go beyond.

Good point.

I do Google Ads and Bing Ads too though, profitably.

I'm working on email marketing now and am going to create some digital products + some white label physical products.

It might be a good idea to set aside a dedicated non-SEO, non-Ads, marketing day. To get into a habit of thinking outside that box.

What happens if the articles don't all get written within the week? Would you continue writing them on the following Monday? Or, would you wait until the following Wednesday again? I just wonder if the workflow would get mixed up if there's a different level of effort and time required for certain tasks than others.

Well, most of them are going to be outsourced.

As for those I write myself, I haven't spent more than 3-4 hours writing the actual article, the rest is research, so it's unlikely they'd be left hanging.

 

[AhFreshMeat]

Interesting to see everyones work allocation.

For me, I work in sprints of hours. 2.5 hours to link building, 2.5 hours to creating article instructions + keywords + 2.5 hours to optimizing & interlinking per day. If I get 8 article instructions out a day, 8 posts optimized and interlinked and 2.5 hours of link building efforts in, I am shooting for 8 articles a day to be posted, but in reality its only 3-4 published articles per day because of how many writers I have and can manage right now. the rest is backlogged and ready to go as I scale writers.

Heres my day:
5:35am EST: Write Haro responses (I find this fun, honestly... not sure why but it feels like a video game to see how many I can score in a month)
6:15-8:30am: Link build (manual outreach, three way link exchanges, Building a list of journalists I bribe and build relationships with, contacting companies to promote their product in exchange of a link, finding people with websites on twitter and just asking, seeking competitor links and reaching out to them as part of a "shotgun" campaign, etc)
---break from 8:30-10am EST ----
10:00am-12:30pm: Create 6-8 article instructions for writers, I time myself 25 minutes each instruction or else I go down a rabbit hole finding new keyword ideas, which I have so many already that are lined up.
12:30-12:45pm: Eat a carrot or something I'm not sure what I'm doing in this time frame honestly, looking at stocks or something.
12:45pm: Haro outreach
1:15pm: Siesta sleep for 40 minutes (this is the key to a double work day, honestly)
2pm: Run, workout, cold shower, eat
4pm-5:35pm: Optimize 3-4 posts, internal link, publish
5:45pm: haro outreach
6:00pm-7:45pm: Optimize another 3-4 posts, internal link publish
...sometimes I need to spend time paying writers, giving feedback, doing other things and I dont hit the 8 instructions, 8 optimize/publish... Many days its 4-6, which sucks.

I found that if I know exactly what I have to do for those set hours, I'm able to shift my energy and not get stuck in just one sprint session, but three sprint sessions per day broken up. It's just how I enjoy doing it.

 

[Asad]

5 - 8 50 minute pomodoro sprints a day keeps my competition at bay. Sidebar: tomato-timer (a TOOOOOL WITH ZERO CONTENT) was just bought out by Toptal. Stop blogging and start making tools maybe?