The Third One is a MUST!

As a part-time content creator with a full-time 9 to 5 job committing to creating content can be difficult, that’s why I use tools and techniques that not only help me keep productive but also keep me on top of things in my daily life. I know that many people are in the same position as me, so I want to share the tools and techniques I use to keep productive and avoid burnout.

This article is ideal for anybody who is anyone who creates content part-time or has a busy schedule in general. But, I will be focusing on the point of view of a part-time content creator but I guess anyone may find this article useful.

My iPad

I have said it several times in the past, but my iPad is at the heart of my productivity system. I would even go as far as saying that it is my main computer! Whilst it doesn’t really matter what tablet you use, I’m a huge fan of iPads, mainly because of the way that Apple has perfected them for multi-tasking as well as some of the productivity apps that I use which are sadly not available on Android.

With the iPad being my main device, I tend to use it for a number of reasons. The main one is its portability, something that all tablets can relate to. Having a portable device allows me to reach for my iPad whenever I have a few minutes spare to continue being productive, like continue writing a blog article or a script for an upcoming YouTube video.

As a part-time content creator, I also use my iPad for creating content. For example, with the help of the Ulysses app, I am able to write and publish blog posts onto my blog. In the past, I used to draft them out in Word and then upload them to my website, but that was a very cumbersome task. With the help of Ulysses, I am able to publish articles directly. I find it to be incredibly useful as it allows me to publish content quicker and more of it. 

I also use my iPad for editing videos for my YouTube channel. Now, the only iPad I’ve tried this on is my 2020 11-inch iPad Pro, which surprisingly works well, particularly with Full-HD content. 

The size of my iPad makes it an ideal tool for taking with me when I’m out and about, whether I go to work in a cafe or on my commute to and from work and most importantly of all it performs well. I never had any performance issues or issues for that matter with it.

OneDrive

I’ve used many cloud storage solutions over the years, but as someone who uses devices from multiple brands, I find that OneDrive works best for me. I mean to give you an example, I use Windows 11 on my laptop and PC, iPadOS on my iPad and Android on my Samsung Galaxy Z-Flip 4. Microsoft really has done a good job in perfecting its OneDrive apps for these platforms, and I find that they work incredibly well!

But I guess we’re forgetting about the elephant in the room, cloud storage. Cloud storage allows me to access my files from anywhere in the world without the need of storing them locally on my iPad or any other device. It means that I don’t have to rely on my memory to remember to bring my portable SSDs with me either!

OneDrive also provides a great solution for backing up your content, whilst I don’t use it in this way, I certainly have done in the past and it has honestly saved me at university!

http://x75.a4c.myftpupload.com/blog/how-onedrive-saved-me-as-a-student-and-why-you-should-use-it/

Essentiali Part-Time Productivity Planner

Ali Abdaal has seriously done a good job in designing this planner! Not only has it become a part of my morning routine, but it also helps to keep me on track and that’s important as a part-time content creator! 

The Essentiali Part-Time Productivity Planner isn’t just any planner because it’s designed to be used around you. There are no deadlines and you can use it whenever you believe you will find it most useful.

The planner is designed to help you start your day positively and keep note of some of the important things you may come across throughout the day in a handy brain dump area. I also like to use that section during my morning routine to clear my mind of any thoughts and ideas and I will often add to it throughout the day.

It also allows you to keep track of the things you learn daily and newsworthy moments. I find that this is a pretty awesome addition especially as it allows me to reflect on my day during my evening routine.

In summary, the Essentiali Part-Time Productivity Planner has revolutionised my productive life. It helps me keep on top of things. It also gives me a break from digital life, yep I said it, sometimes even tech content creators need a break from it all! 

A Second-Brain

This is a concept that I’m still new to and I’m still trying to figure out the best way to go about it that works for me. But after reading Tiago Forte’s book on building a second brain, it makes perfect sense. I mean let’s face it, sometimes ideas come during the most unexpected times. I mean you could be at the pub with your friends, but all of a sudden you have a great idea for a blog post, being able to note it down in digital form, is incredibly useful, especially when it comes to working on the idea you will likely forget parts of the idea or the entire idea altogether. Has that happened to you? I know it has happened to me!

In his book, Tiago talks about the CODE framework which makes perfect sense! CODE stands for Capture, Organise, Distill, Express and it’s all about capturing and organising ideas. This concept is one that I’m not new to and whilst it wasn’t this framework, I did use a form of it for writing both of my dissertations at university and I found it extremely helpful! 

The idea is that you have some form of a notepad app on your phone that you use to capture your ideas. I mainly use Samsung Notes at the moment but have used Google Keep in the past. Both are solid choices and enable me to capture ideas. At present, I organise and distil my ideas in OneNote, but having read and watched many articles and YouTube videos, I think that this will be a great opportunity to give Notion another chance. For those of you who are new here, approximately 8-months ago, I moved away from Notion, I felt that I wasn’t being productive enough on it and that other app worked better for me.

Once everything is organised, I express my ideas by either writing a blog post or creating a YouTube video.

Summary

In summary, these are the main tools I use to keep productive as a part-time content creator. However, they aren’t the only tools I use. For instance, I find that using Google Calendar is extremely important as it allows me to plan ahead and block time for certain activities.

I also tend to use a ToDo list app, where I keep track of my daily and weekly tasks and it’s not an area where I just copy everything from my productivity planner. In fact, I only copy the most important task and use it to log things I need to do that come up throughout the day. I also use it for reminders. 

In the past, I was a huge fan of things, but now that I’ve left the Apple Ecosystem, I needed a multi-platform app and found that Todoist works best for my needs.

But overall, there are many tools to help keep you productive when you work a full-time 9 to 5 job, these are the tools I use. Do you use something I haven’t mentioned in this article? Let us know in the comments section down below! It would be interesting to find out what tools you use!