Why I Do Everything Three Times

And how it saves me hours of work

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Scrabbling through old notes with the fury of a feisty feline chasing an errant ball of yarn.

Then the sudden thought that it would be better to start looking in the place I actually published the thing.

A Short? A caption? A buried newsletter draft?

Only, when was that?

Or even WHERE?

I know I’ve covered this before. I can almost hear myself saying it. It really took off.

I’m sure it did.

But I cannot remember where I said it. Or how.

Hours later, I find it in an old archive file that had been destined for the bin.

But I’d lost all interest in writing about it by then.

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And Then It Dawned on Me

Today, it’s a different story.

A simple change to my workflow process means I never lose an idea. It’s instantly available to reuse if I wish. And it has a built-in quality control mechanism.

How?

Because I was a Boy Scout, that’s how.

“Be prepared.”

Which, in creator terms, now means: stop trusting your memory and build a system that never loses anything.

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The Three-Times Method

Repurposing our content can save hours or even days of work.

If an idea was good enough to work well in one place, it can sure be tried somewhere else.

The content calendars for two of my business streams share an identical layout:

Both We’re Writing on the Internet and The Dancing Stepdad have Trello boards where all my topic ideas go.

From that first “Spark” column, each idea can potentially move three times.

Using the left-to-right Kanban method, most ideas first become YouTube Shorts. Then they turn into Substack Newsletters. And finally, full-length YouTube videos.

(Shorts come first because they’re the quickest way to test whether an idea has real promise.)

And that quality control mechanism I mentioned?

Only topics that saw at least a bit of success in one format are considered for the next.

Using the labelling feature, I can mark each card up with the formats I’ve tried for an idea so far.

This gives me the flexibility to change the order around for the odd piece that doesn’t quite fit the usual flow.

And seeing a card with all three brightly coloured blobs is one of my most satisfying moments.

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Try It for Yourself

So, here’s your experiment for the weekend:

Take one idea... one topic spark you came up with... and figure out three different ways to use it.

Now, not every writer wants to appear on YouTube or a podcast.

But Instagram? Threads? Pinterest?

How can you take that one article idea and turn it into content to suit three different audiences? In a variety of styles?

You’ll be surprised.

Suddenly, you’re not staring at a blank page. You’re remixing something that already works.

It takes a lot less effort to repurpose already successful content. Rather than trying to come up with new ideas for every publishing platform you use.

And those times when a spark truly ignites in all three spaces?

Magic.

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That brilliant new idea you’re going to work on?

It could still get tripped up by a few unforeseen obstacles to clear writing.

Here’s a link to my free guide — it gives you the heads-up on those hidden horrors before you even start.

Thanks for reading.

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NEWSFLASH — UPDATED FREE GIFT!

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