With 2.1 seconds remaining in overtime, Duke trailed 103-102. Grant Hill threw a pass the length of the court to Christian Laettner, who dribbled once, turned, and hit a jumper as time expired for the 104-103 win. Duke faced a cliff, and they were able to walk away with an amazing victory and a great story. One of the all time great buzzer beaters (see it on YouTube.
Congress waiting until after the 11th hour to prevent going over the Fiscal Cliff was another type of buzzer beater – with much of the same tension and risk that befits its name. This self imposed deadline was essentially a virtual buzzer. A time clock with a final consequence.
Why is it that so often that the things we do that have deadlines only get finished at the very last minute?
Some would refer to this as the effects of Parkinsons Law of Triviality which explains that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”.
Many people I talk with feel this effect when trying to sustain a content marketing program, regardless of whether they are publishing daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly, they always feel as if they are peering over the cliff whenever there is a piece of content that needs to be created.
So how do we avoid Parkinsons Law and keep in-front of our content deadlines? Here are some easy things to do:
- Set a clear content strategy so that you always have a clear understanding of the type of content you are looking for and where you can find it.
- Make content a regular part of your work schedule. Set aside some time each day to add more content to your arsenal.
- Post this content as it is being produced directly to your Social Networks. For this content the deadline is “as soon as you can make it”. Then, pull this social content together later and use it as blog and newsletter content. In this way, your content is produced throughout the week or month and when it is time to send your newsletter your content is ready to go.
- Regularly engage in social conversations through LinkedIn Groups and Facebook, then use the content from the conversation as your blog entry and/or newsletter article.
- Use crowdsourcing to find freelance writers who deliver interesting SEO friendly content to you every week. By outsourcing, you can offload the “content cliff” on to someone else!
So in 2013 lets resolve ourselves to leave the “Cliff” to the politicians. Keep ahead of schedule using tools and techniques that make content production easier.