You Don’t Need to Be Consistent to Succeed Online

You know what’s strange? We expect creators to be constantly churning out content. The modern creator must post at least weekly, be available 24/7, and never take breaks. It’s exhausting!

Part of the reason is that algorithms prefer fresh, frequent content. And because of that, there’s this uber-popular advice in the creator world: If you want to succeed, you need to be consistent. Religiously stick to your schedule, and fame, money, and glory will magically find you.

(This incredible advice ignores all the people who dutifully posted every day/week/hour but never got anywhere.)

You don’t have to do that. Not only that, but if you do, you run the risk of some pretty serious drawbacks:

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1. Your content fatigues you.

Consistency is all about establishing a routine and optimizing your workflow. But this comes at the cost of creativity. Your tight schedule doesn’t leave room for reflection, discovering new angles, or out-of-the-box solutions.

You end up in an endless loop of thinking/writing/talking about the same old topics. This is called content fatigue. And it’s incredibly draining. (I know from experience!)

2. You never truly recover.

If you want to take a break and stay consistent, there’s only one solution: pre-produce content. Write tomorrow’s post today, too.

Great. But that means you have to work even more today. This overcharge drains the last drop out of your tank before your long-awaited holiday. The result? You spend your entire vacation dead-tired, trying to recover. And by the time you return, nothing has changed.

3. You neglect quality.

This was why I took my YouTube hiatus. I watched some of my older videos that I loved, that were so funny and insightful and good (not to toot my own horn too much). I thought about the ideas I had for the next few weeks, and I knew I couldn’t summon up the motivation to make them as good as they could be.

In short, I knew that if I forced myself to make them, they wouldn’t be great.

With a regular, self-imposed deadline breathing down your neck, you have to press publish — even if you’re not happy with the outcome. And yes, getting your work out there is important! But the rush to publish sacrifices quality. Instead of seeing the big picture, you’re short-sightedly trying to hit the lucky button.

These three factors are a recipe for burnout.

What to do instead:

Work in seasons. I first discovered this concept in an article by Hunter Walk, and it really resonated with me. In fact, I’m now testing it on a bigger scale for my content.

If you’re following my YouTube channel, you know that I temporarily stopped posting there. I plan to use this hiatus to film videos (don’t worry, I still really enjoy making them!). And when I return in a few months, I’ll post them on my regular schedule.

This relieves the nagging pressure to upload weekly. I can also focus on other projects without letting my quality dip.

My next season might be all about launching my course. And in the next, I might focus on client work. And then go on vacation. You get the idea!

Consistency is a crucial part of creator success. But if it makes you miserable, you’re allowed to press pause.

Ultimately I became a freelancer to be free. I love what I do, but when something becomes a burden, I want to use that freedom to protect my mental health and keep doing what I love.

Happy writing (or whatever your current season is).