The hack for limitless creativity

Videos, Shorts, TikToks, Reels, Stories, Tweets, Carousels, Posts, Live Streams – there are more content formats to create today than there are Pokémon to catch.

However, creators are only human, and our brains have limited capacity. Therefore, how can we keep ourselves updated with the latest trends and generate content without becoming overwhelmed?

For those who are unfamiliar with me, I create content on my gaming channel where I make my non-gamer wife play games. In addition to managing this channel, I also have a demanding full-time job in advertising industry that takes away a huge portion of my time.

After work, I prioritise spending quality time with my incredible wife, my adorable cats, and my loving family. Whatever time remains is dedicated to creating content.

This means that I livestream late at night with tired eyes. I film, edit, and release my videos on weekends, which leaves me with no social life. I also squeeze in editing my short-form videos whenever I can, often sacrificing my nap time. By now, I am completely drained of energy, and I haven't even mentioned tweets, YouTube community posts, Instagram stories, and posts yet.

I'm sure you feel the same, regardless of whether you have a full-time job or not. For a while now, I've been searching for a solution to this problem because, honestly, I'm tired of going to bed with no energy left in my body. I want to be able to watch a movie, go out, enjoy the sunshine, and feel the grass beneath my feet without constantly worrying about missing out on the latest content trends.

Finally, I got my hands on the solution thanks to Harris Heller, who posted this video on his channel.

In this video, he primarily discusses how a streamer can grow in 2023. However, there's something interesting in this video for every creator. In this section of his video, he emphasises the importance of choosing the platforms and content types that matter to you the most. He suggests creating content solely for those platforms and optimising the rest.

In my opinion, this is a brilliant idea that made me ponder on how this insight can form a framework that we creators truly require.

Grab a pen and paper or open your favorite note-taking platform, and jot down all the content platforms on which you create content and the types of content you produce.

Once you have completed the list, simply circle TWO platforms and TWO content formats that you consume the most, possess extensive knowledge about, and enjoy spending your time creating.

For me, the TWO platforms and TWO content formats are long-form videos on YouTube and long-form writing, which can be achieved through either Twitter threads or a newsletter, which you are currently reading.

After determining the content you wish to create and the platform to use, you should not abandon everything else. Instead, focus on optimising it to the best of your ability. Here's how I have approached it.

I realised that my true passion lies in creating long-form videos on YouTube. Therefore, I made a conscious decision to prioritise this aspect of my life and to deprioritise everything else.

• Livestreams have now become the recording sessions for my videos. I no longer require going live or sticking to a schedule unless I am going to record a video.

• Shorts have become a compilation of the most entertaining and engaging sections of my videos. I carefully select and mark these sections while editing the video, and then create shorts using them. Once I have created the short, I upload it on both TikTok and Instagram.

• Everything else, such as Instagram Stories, YouTube Community Posts, and Instagram Carousels, doesn't exist for my channel. Yes, it might slightly hinder my growth, but at least I won't burn out from creating and constantly thinking about them.I can occasionally create memes and post them on my Instagram, but I am not going to wreck my brain over them.

I have implemented this framework on my channel for a week, and here are the results I have achieved.

I have gained 5731% more viewers than my subscribers by implementing this framework, and this is just on YouTube. On TikTok and Instagram, I have also received an additional 1,000 views on the same content, and I'm absolutely loving it!

Now, for my second platform or content format, I was uncertain. The only thing I knew was that I enjoy long-form writing. Therefore, I explored various platforms or content formats where I could utilize this to my advantage. In the end, I decided on a newsletter, which I could optimize for Twitter by transforming it into a thread and directing traffic towards it.

Which has led to the creation of this content that you are currently reading. So, if you are enjoying what you are reading, please click the button below. 👇

Now, it's up to you to decide your TWO platforms and TWO content formats. It can look like anything for you. It can be a livestream on Twitch and short-form content on TikTok, or it can be a podcast on Spotify and threads on Twitter. Let me know what they are by following me on Twitter.

That's it for this week; we'll be here again next week. Until then, keep creating.