One Hour Equals

One of the things I hear so many (too many) times from clients is that they “don’t have the time” to blog, tweet, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, write articles, take photographs, paint, doodle, sketch, draw, shoot video… whatever it is that we’re discussing and (both) agree could make a positive difference in the public perception of their corporate and personal brands. By creating this content and putting it out into the world, they are setting themselves up to be set apart; to make a contribution; find new fans; serve their clients (and prospects) and basically just plain get them noticed more than they are in their current situation.

Sure, they “might” be too busy to do all of these things,
but there is always more than enough time to do one of them.

I would bet a month’s supply of yellow sticky notes and Sharpies that every single one of the people who said they don’t have time to post something (anything) online are also wasting time watching television. Maybe not every single night, but I’d wager most nights. And while I’m the last person to say don’t watch any television (there are some fun shows out there!) I will challenge them (and you!) to stop watching just one show per week in order to carve out time (a single hour) in which to create and share content. Your content.

What could you accomplish in just one hour?

Based my own rough estimates (and I’m far from being the fastest content creator) of what the average person would have no trouble creating (and posting), here are some of the following content types that are absolutely do-able within the span of a mere 60-minutes.

One Hour Equals

• One hour equals…
  1 standard blog post, 2-3 short blog posts (sharing a link or video), read 1 post and leave 1 comment on someone else’s blog you like
  .
• One hour equals…
  5 Instagram posts, 5 likes, 3 follows, 2 comments
  .
• One hour equals…
  10 tweets, 5 retweets, 2 favorites, 3 follows
  .
• One hour equals…
  3 Pinterest posts, create 1 new board, 3 likes, 1, share, 2 follows, 1 send
  .
• One hour equals…
  1 LinkedIn blog post, 1 status update, 2 endorsements, 1 recommendation, 1 group discussion comment or blog comment, 2 invitations to connect
  .
• One hour equals…
  1 Facebook post (Personal), 2 Facebook posts (Business), 3 shares, 3 likes, 1 video or photo upload, 2 comments on other Business pages
  .
• One hour equals…
  1 YouTube video (recorded and posted), 3 comments on others’ videos, 1 share
  .
• One hour equals…
  1 Email Newsletter, 2 personal e-greetings
  .
• One hour equals…
  1 presentation uploaded to SlideShare, 2 decks watched, 2 comments left, 1 deck shared
  .
• One hour equals…
  1-2 chapters written for your book
  .
• One hour equals…
  1 rough draft of a new keynote speech

You are lying to yourself if you think you can’t do this.
You can.

Pick just one television show and stop watching it.
Tonite.

Make it real easy on yourself and pick a show you know they’re going to cancel anyway!

Feel free to leave a comment below and correct my content creation math with your own “one hour equals” formulas, but I predict that in a month from now you could have a dozen pieces of content out there being discovered and read and shared by your customers and prospects, establishing you as a knowledgeable expert in your industry — or you can still be worried about clearing enough space on your DVR to record the “Horrible Housewives of Hollywood“.

You can choose a television program or choose to program your success.
I’ve made my choice.
How about you?