Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
Can you believe it’s already March? Although I’m still working on many of my goals for the year, I’ve decided that March is prime for creator challenges of some kind. But let’s not just discuss what I’m doing. Let’s actually go over the details and game plan.
Because saying what you’re going to do and then actually putting in the effort are two separate things.
I just want to show you my process for accomplishing some goals as it may help you set some challenges for yourself in the future. Besides, putting all this down in a blog post holds me accountable.
What Challenges Am I Working On in March?
The idea of a challenge is to push a bit harder to find your limitations. And none of these are beyond my abilities. That is as long as I’m not inundated with random things from external forces.
Living in a chaotic world isn’t the easiest thing to do.
Breaking Word Count Record
My record for the number of words written was set back in December of 2022 at 95,393. Well, outside of the challenge of writing 90 blog posts in 30 days back in 2021.
To surpass this number, I’ll need to write at least 4,148 words per day Monday through Friday. This includes blogs, books, YouTube scripts, and client projects.
Considering that I often write on the weekends, it’s not outside the scope of possibility to write more than 20,000 words in any given week. And with how much I have to write anyway, it’s not like I’m running low on content ideas or projects.
The plan is to set a goal based on my normal workweek. In this case, it’s 4,148 words per day. Then, I’ll add anything I write during the weekends if I choose to write anything at all.
This should give me a bit of a cushion in case client projects take a bit longer than anticipated.
For me to beat this record, it’s all about time management. According to the blocks of time I set up in the day, I should have plenty of time to accomplish a lot. What usually slow me down are client projects or wasting too much of my day with trivial things.
Publishing Two Videos Per Week
The reason why I’m including YouTube as part of the challenges in March is to get the channel back on track. It’s been a very long time since I had a routine upload schedule and would love to see if it matters in the grand scheme of things.
Can publishing regularly boost views and watch time for a YouTube channel as a whole?
This is actually a prelude to something I have planned for April. I just want to see if I have the drive to maintain the channel by publishing on Wednesdays and Fridays.
For this part of the challenge, I have two blocks of time set up throughout the week specifically for video content. And like breaking my words-written record, it’ll center heavily on time management.
This is because the YouTube channel is a lower priority for me. Throughout my day, priorities are: clients, books, blogs, and then videos, in that order. That’s why I don’t put out as much YouTube content as I used to. Between the clients and books, my time is at a premium.
Still, if I managed my day a bit better, I should be able to get videos uploaded in a timely manner.
Get WriterSanctuary Back on a Routine Schedule
One of the things I wanted to do toward the end of last year was to get this blog back on a routine schedule. So, I think it’s high time that it happens.
I’ve seen the impact of a routine schedule for clients as well as myself.
Like the YouTube videos, I have two blocks of time created for the week specifically for writing on this blog. These blocks of time are scheduled after working on my books, which is why the posts have been a bit haphazard as of late.
Longer client projects push back the book writing. This creates a ripple effect that pushes other projects outside of my 8-hour scope of time.
I’m sure that if I hunker down, though, I can easily get the blog back on a routine. Especially if I take a couple of hours on a Saturday to write ahead of time.
Update Five Posts for the Dead Blog
After two months of working on the dead blog, it’s starting to show signs of life. This is kind of exciting as it demonstrates how you can revive just about any kind of website.
Part of my challenges throughout March will include updating at least five posts that use great keywords but has crap for content. Keep in mind that many of these were written back in 2015.
I’ve come a very long way since those days.
Anyway, updating these five posts should help traffic while also giving me data for a blog post I’m working on about updating old blog posts.
I’ve already spent time looking for some of the weakest posts to see if I can breathe new life into them. As most updates take around an hour to complete, I’ll only need to schedule five, one-hour blocks of time throughout the entire month.
Finishing Kingmaker and VII
The most important challenges for March, though, are finishing VII and Kingmaker. These are the two books I’m working on at the same time, which is a major pain.
The thing about this part of the challenge is that I don’t want the story to feel rushed. So, while I’ll continue to schedule adequate time to meet my deadline by the end of the month, I won’t be too upset if I can’t make it.
It’s better to take your time and polish up a good story than to put out something that is somewhat half-assed.
I want people to enjoy reading the book, not be bored to tears. And with how some of the edits have been going, both are going to be so much better than their first drafts.
To work on the books, I’ve already been sticking to blocks of time immediately after my client’s work is done for the day.
It All Boils Down to Time Management
I suppose the linchpin to all of these challenges in March comes down to time management. If I want to get all of these things done, I need to focus more on how much time I waste in a day and cross my fingers that a client doesn’t want something massive.
Although I am doing better this year as opposed to last in terms of time, it’s still something I often struggle with. From getting lost in my own thoughts to getting lost on YouTube, I’m like a goldfish on meth.
If I can guarantee myself X amount of hours per day, everything else above will easily fall into place.
Future Challenges After March
Some of the things I have planned require a bit more time than what I currently have available. This is part of why I want to finish VII and Kingmaker as quickly as possible.
At least if I get one of the books completely published, I’ll have a massive chunk of time throughout the week to test my mettle in a variety of ways. Not to mention dumping some extra time into the other book.
Publishing a Decent Book in 60 Days
One of my greatest challenges after March is going to be publishing a good book within 60 days. This includes writing, editing, and finding cover art. For the sake of time, I’ll probably just buy a book cover from a designer and run with it.
Let’s say that I want to publish an 80,000-word book. If I want to give myself a five-day cushion, that means I need to write and edit 1,455 words per day. In reality, that’s not outside of the scope of what I can handle.
For me, that’s about as long as an average blog post. On a good day, I can write more than 2,000 words before lunch.
The hardest part about this challenge will be to write a good book in 60 days. Anyone can slap 80,000 words on a page and call it a novel. Nowadays, you can also just have AI write it for you.
Don’t get me started about artificial intelligence writing books…it angers my soul.
Still, I would love to see if I am currently capable of accomplishing such a feat.
One Year of Blogging
One thing I’ve always wanted to try is to write a blog post every day for an entire year. I’ve done 90 days at a time in the past, but never pushed a solid 12 months.
If I did something like this, though, it would probably be on MichaelBrockbank.com. Since all of my other blogs center around a niche of some kind, I would be able to write whatever came to mind.
That’s mostly because I’m not overly concerned with SEO on that particular site. It’s primarily a base of operations for everything I do on the Internet. Want to know more about me? That’s the site to visit.
Nonetheless, I’m fairly sure the content would center around writing of some kind. After all, that is who I am.
It’s not that I think I would make a ton of money from the prospect. I mean, MichaelBrockbank.com isn’t even monetized outside of links to my books. It’s more of simply seeing if I have the ambition to do it.
That is a lot of blogging…especially for someone who has so many other things going on throughout the day.
Still, I am quite curious to see if I can do it.
Do You Have Challenges for March?
I’ve been planning these challenges for a while now. And as I’ve said, they all center around one inescapable truth: I need to focus on time management. That’s the real challenge, to be honest.
Needless to say, I have my work cut out for me. The best part is that nothing is outside of my abilities if I put in the effort. Let’s see what I can make of March and how the challenges go throughout the month.
What kind of goodness do you have planned and what steps are you taking to make them happen?
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