Cracking the Creative Code: 5 Surprising Lessons from Publishing 7 Blog Posts in 7 Days

Last Monday, I was worried about Friday — that’s today. Typically, I’d be crawling towards the finish line by today, exhausted from the week. I was conscious about managing my energy from Monday onwards so I could keep up my challenge. 

But yesterday, I worked my first full 8-hour work day — the first one I’ve had in months. And today, rather than feeling like I went 12 rounds with Manny Pacquiao, I still got up fine, ready to put in another day’s work.

I didn’t expect this. I took me so long to get all the habits and workflows to get to this moment. But more than anything else, I’m thankful and excited because I feel like I can do this for a long time. 

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After years of wrong turns and dead ends wondering if it would be possible to enjoy my work so much I finally cracked the creative code. Here’s what I’ve learned so far.

More publishing means more energy & ideas

Publishing creates abundance, not scarcity. Running out of ideas and energy was a major fear for me. But I’ve been delighted to discover that while publishing a post takes a lot of time and energy, each one generates 2 more ideas for other posts and more motivation to read and go deeper. Just like any high ROI investment.

Content distribution doesn’t have to suck

Despite being a content marketer for years, I hated promoting my newsletter. I thought, “I already wrote 800 words today. You’re telling me I have to write another 250 characters just so people will read my stuff? Forget it.”

But now I accept that just publishing won’t grow my audience. I’ve primed myself to remember that hitting publish is only 80% of the work. The final 20% is writing a tweet to promote it. It’s more work, but at least now it’s not unexpectedly sucky work.

Publishing daily is easier than publishing weekly

My weekday cadence generates momentum that compounds each day. The first 3 days were the hardest because I needed to get started, but it’s gotten a lot easier this week. I’ve discovered a newfound excited to read and learn in the afternoons because then I get to write about it the next day. 

Thanks to my daily cadence, creativity, learning, and growth are now a way of life for me, instead of a weekly indulgence.

(Of course, daily publishing isn’t for everyone. For this challenge, I blocked out all my weekday mornings for the next 5-6 months. I only take calls 2 days a week, and even then, I default to zero meetings. If you’re interested in publishing more regularly, it doesn’t have to be daily! Find a cadence that works for you.)

Creative, zero-expectation housework is the best break from deep work

This past week was the first time I cooked just for myself. Back home, I complained about cooking a lot because I never cooked just for me; it was always making a meal for a family of 6 people, who ate like 12. As a result, I expected cooking for myself to feel like a necessary evil. But like the previous lessons in this post, I was surprised by how wrong I was: I loved cooking for myself.

Here, lunch is a midday break and a reward after a morning of writing. Dinner is a relaxing bookend to my day. Understanding the basics lets me cook a stupidly simple recipe that produces an uncommonly delicious meal — with leftovers for tomorrow. As a result, I’m eating better here in Austin cooking for myself, than back home in Toronto with my family. 

Cracking the creative code: Hard, fruitful work  should  give back more energy than it takes 

This challenge was a field test for my creative habits. I wondered, would it be possible to do creative work in such a way that it adds energy and excitement to my life, rather than take from it? 

I’m relieved and psyched to report that the answer is yes. 

Since starting the challenge, my deep work time has shot up from an average of 1 hour to 3-4 hours a day. Even with the pace of daily writing, I can barely keep up with the ideas I want to write about. I feel creatively alive, that I’m finally doing the work I was born to do.