Cognition #19: Let's play a game + Simple hack for Batch Creation

I published 18 editions. We hit the subscriber count of 230 with 32% active readers. If you're one of the sexy people who read Cognition regularly, it's a shame I don't know you on a personal level.

So this week, since it's a short edition, I decided to play 'Three Questions' with you.

The game is pretty simple, and you might be familiar with it:

I'll ask you three questions about yourself, and you need to reply to this email with your answers. And we can take the conversation forward.

So that's something new on Cognition, and we'll get to the game at the end of the technical segment.

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Welcome to Cognition #19

We know consistency with content ideation and creation is a tough nut to crack, especially when things are monotonous or you're facing a creative block.

I realized it's because we all maintain content buckets but lack content categorization.

What's the difference?

Content Buckets are the pillars you form that you wish to create content around.

Example: For my personal brand, content buckets are freelancing, writing, and perspectives.

Content Category is a subset of the content bucket where you categorize your bucket into different formats.

Let me elaborate explaining what I do.

Consider freelancing as my content bucket.

Freelancing itself is a vast domain, and just telling myself, "I'm gonna create content on freelancing," will not help me definitively.

It will put me in a position where I'll be, "Ok, I know I should create content on freelancing, but I'm not exactly sure what to focus on or where to begin."

And that 'EXACTLY SURE' part is achieved with content categorization.

So to have a more clear and defined path of how I should create content on freelancing, I established my content formats:

1. Client-centric content: Content I create to attract leads for my freelance business by giving examples of my work, results I brought, etc.

2. Community-centric content: Content I create to build a brand as a freelancer. I share my learnings to educate other freelancers.

3. Promotional content: Again, to attract leads, but this time in the form of testimonials, progress screenshots, etc.

Let's stop at these three formats and reflect on how these will help me generate ideas and create content faster.

Since I know these three are my content formats, I'd schedule my content calendar like this:

1. Monday: Freelancing—client-centric content

2. Wednesday: Freelancing—promotional content

3. Friday: Freelancing—community-centric content

Now, if I zoom out and look at this as a monthly calendar, I'll know that I need to create

1. Four posts on Format 1

2. Four posts on Format 2

3. Four posts on Format 3

Without content formats, all I know is I should create 12 posts on freelancing. I keep hopping from one format to another in my mind subconsciously, unsure of what exactly to focus on.

PS: Content categories need not be this complex. I do this, but to begin with, you can have post types as your formats too.

Example:

Something like this for your LinkedIn:

1. Monday: Text (short form)

2. Tuesday: Twitter screenshots

3. Wednesday: Carousel

4. Thursday: Polls

5. Friday Text (long form)

You get my point, right?

To summarize,

Content buckets give you direction—You know what domains to focus on and create content around.

Content categories give you a path—You know how to plan and put things on schedule. More than anything, content ideation becomes easy, followed by creation.

It's a simple hack that makes creation easier, faster, and more organized.

Try this, and see if it makes a difference in your time and effort in creating content.

We end our technical segment here, now let's get to the fun part!

Oh well, not so soon.

Remember we need to play a game?

Let's play Three Questions!

Here are the three things I want to know about you.

Ready? Here we go!

1. Tell me about your profession. What do you do, How long have you been doing it, etc.? If student, tell me about your course, interests, and plans. Would love to know.

2. What three books/movies/shows/songs do you recommend to everyone?

3. What is that one fun activity you're never bored of or never enough of?

I'd say it's a good start with these simple questions to know each other.

I can't wait to read your replies!!

Non-Technical aka fun segment

Favourite quote from a book

I recently started reading The Lessons of History, and this line stuck w me.

The authors say the more advanced the technology and tools get, the more advanced civilizations humans create. Or the role of geographical factors in civilization creation diminishes as technology grows.

Geography offers opportunities for agriculture, mining, and trade, but the leaders' imagination and the commitment of their followers create a civilization, not the natural factors alone.

Movies/Shows I loved recently

I watched Rise, and I have to say I loved it! This movie will stay with you if you're a sports enthusiast. The fact that it's a real story makes it more inspiring.

Made in English. Available on HotStar. Do watch!

Tweets I loved

Song I’m listening to on a loop

I can never get enough of Krishna Trance. I love the Karthikeya franchise, and this BGM hypes it perfectly!

So that's curtains for Cognition #19!

I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you next week!

Take care, stay safe, and categorize your content buckets!!

Also, don't forget to reply to the Three Questions!

Love,

Vikra Vardhan.

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