If you also lift weights, this topic will hit home for you.

I’ve noticed a lot of similarities between the bodybuilding scene and the content scene

When I first started hitting the gym, I could never make progress until I had a plan.

Before a plan, I would just wing it, do what FELT good, and then stop when I felt done.

It’s no wonder why I would look in the mirror, my chest flat would be flat as a cutting board with chopsticks for arms lol.

But everything changed when I had a plan. I bought a cookie cutter plan online for $50, followed it for 6-12 months, and gained +20lbs of muscle that year (this was in high school 7 years ago). while the plan wasn’t specific enough for me, it still did end up working (I still stick to it to this day).

So I wanted to use this same approach for creating content. And that’s what I did…

This time around I didn’t see anyone selling an ebook/course online for creating a content plan, so I made my own.

And instead of charging you $50, I’ll share it with you for free below. Eventually, I may polish it up and turn it into a full program but right now, you get the benefit since you are subbed to this email list.

So here is the plan I made for myself that may or may not work for you (take what works & ditch the rest)

THE PROGRAM

• 3-5x/week working on non-consecutive days. I do MON, WED, FRI (you choose how many days you want to dedicate - note: the more you put in, the more you get out)

• Each session is 30-90 minutes

• Mondays are Writing / Planning / Scripting

• Wednesdays are Recording

• Fridays are Editing / Livestreaming / Podcasts Recording / Scheduling

• Every other day is a rest day (Tue, Thu, Sat, Sun)

• Rest days are publishing days (takes less than 20min to publish all content on all socials).

MONDAYS

• 1ST COMPOUND LIFT: 20min Sprint Writing Newsletter for Creators/Individuals (Posimistic)

• 1-5min Rest (bathroom break, readjust position, etc.)

• 2ND COMPOUND LIFT: 20min sprint Writing 2nd Newsletter for Leaders (Ego Evolution Theory)

• 1-5min rest

• 3RD HYPERTROPHY EXERCISE: 20min Polishing BOTH newsletters & scheduling

• 1-5min rest

• 4-7 ISOLATION EXERCISES: 20min planning 4-7 short pieces of content for the coming week (not scripting word for word, but the ONE takeaway ONE Emotion to evoke & ONE cta

• TOTAL TIME: 30-90min (in the beginning, it will take you longer. Over time you will hone your process and be faster. Don’t rush the beginning phase, experiment with all types of stations in the gym to see which ones you like the best :)

WEDNESDAY

• COMPOUND LIFT: Recording Newsletter for Creators/Individuals (Posimistic) turning it into a Youtube video.

• 1-5min rest

• HYPERTROPHY EXERCISE: 20min getting the raw footage and organizing it into your backend systems organized ready to edit on Friday. Last thing we want on Friday is having to go through raw footage wasting time deciding which belongs to which. Organize in your gallery app, storage app, or Notion (my fav)

• 1-5min rest

• 4-7 ISOLATION EXERCISES: 20min batch record the 4-7 short pieces of content you planned on Monday.

• TOTAL TIME: 30-90min

FRIDAY

• 1ST COMPOUND LIFT: Livestream / podcast session OR do a “work with me” casual live stream where it’s just a live stream of you editing all the content you created. Occasionallly answer audience questions and kick it up with your people! You do you!

• CLOSE OPEN LOOPS: Spend the remaining time finishing up what you still have left. Note you can also split the remaining workout for later in the day if you’d like. that’s the beauty with this model is you have the freedom to experiment what works best for you!

• TOTAL TIME: 30-90min

Terms & Metaphors

• Exercise = content

• Reps = videos

• Push day = Recording

  • Chest = YouTube, medium form

  • Triceps = tiktoks, short form

  • Shoulders = course/community content

• Pull day = Writing/Scripting

  • Pull ups = Newsletters

  • Rows = tweets

  • Curls = Replying to comments, emails, and minor individual one on one content

• Leg Day = Livestreaming/Podcast/Long Form

  • Squats = Livestreaming

  • Calves = podcasts

• Cardio = writing?, Livestreaming?, face-to-face long rants building rapport nurturing content? still unsure, lmk what you think!

• High-intensity interval training = one take recordings?,

• Volume training = tons of reps, short rest, back to back short form content record batching

• Nutrition = Editing/Polishing/Consuming Education

  • Bulking = highly edited (Think Mr Beast Level)

  • Cutting = minimal editing (Think raw vlogs like Emma Chamberlin)

• Recovery = Publishing

  • Sleep = posting

    • Sleeping 1hr a day = 1 touch point a day with your audience

    • Sleeping 5hrs a day = 5 posts/touch points a day

    • Sleeping +8 hours = posting +8 touch points

  • Deload week = 1x per quarter doing nothing or journaling or reflecting, cleaning up your socials, etc

  • Sauna = journaling

  • Knowledge = consuming other people's content to learn, market research

• Equipment = equipment (purpose: make lifting/creating easier) Tripods, Lighting, Standing Desk, etc

• Supplements = AI, stock footage subscriptions, IG stories, DMing & responding to requests

• Muscle Gains = Followers, Income, Likes, Comments, Metrics outside of one’s control

• Avoid Minimalism = don't just do one content type. Try out a variety of styles, themes, always more quantity and quality! Face on camera, POV, ASMR, pranks, interviews, stitches, vlogs, etc etc etc.

More Notes

• The more volume & intensity you do, the more you increase your growth stimulus and chances of growing. More tiktoks recording & publishing increases your chances of going viral to gain new followers/leads.

• Recording/Writing is the exercise, editing is the nutrition, and publishing is the sleep. You need all 3. You don't grow from recording or writing. Just like tearing down your muscle alone won't grow. Publishing is the main driver of growth. Consistent publishing and consistent sleep grows all metrics outside of one’s control (DEM GAINZZZ). all 3 are needed simultaneously. Doing only 2 of the 3 will drastically slow down progress.

Nutrition Plan (Editing)

Bulking

Editing surplus - meaning zoomer editing, fun stories, the season of building up your video assets. Videos that are high quality and long form ready to have your content library for when you start getting traction your new followers will be able to watch all of your old videos thus building rapport passively. Purpose of bulking is to surpass new metric milestones.

Cutting

Editing deficit - raw unfiltered one-take videos when the thumbnails are simple, editing is simple, cuts are minimal, etc. The purpose of going on a cutting plan is when you have accumulated TOO MUCH fat (fat = too much time spent in post-production, editing, etc). The bulk has left with highly edited videos yet no one watches them. This is disheartening. Putting too much effort to get little to nothing in return will demotivate anyone. That is why we must cut the fat, and create simple short form/medium form/long form with minimal to no editing. To see what message sticks with your audience. Removing the fluff will save you so much time & and will build back your excitement for creating content again. After a couple weeks/months cutting, you will notice which forms of minimally edited content performed best, analyze why, then hop back on a bulking plan to really hammer in that message you learned from cutting.

And that’s it so far! I know it’s not polished and that’s because this is fairly new! I started this back in May and am barely getting the hang of this.

Stay tuned for more lessons learned & tactics I learn on my own content-creating journey to better help you maximize your creative potential. If you liked this, let me know what parts of this program you will implement into your content creation routine!

Thanks for reading,

Elvis