1. What were my goals for this challenge? 2. How I successfully completed this challenge? 3. Major Wins 4. Was the challenge worth it?
Going into this challenge, I had two big goals:
- To build muscle for consistency.
- To learn and share about Notion tools.
Did I accomplish them? More on this later in the thread!
But first, how did I successfully complete the challenge?
1. Don't be a jack of all trades and master of none.
If you know everything, you know nothing, don't be that person
Being a Notion creator, choosing Notion to post about for the next 30 days was a no-brainer. This provided clarity.
💡 Pick a niche and nail it.
2. Set Systems
If your idea of building habits is based on intrinsic motivation, you are setting yourself up for failure.
Because both are paradoxical in nature.
Habits demand consistency
Motivation is inconsistent
So, this is how I set up my system for this challenge ...
I used James Clear's Habit Stacking technique :
( After I do X, I will do Y, After Y, I will do Z)
After breakfast every day,
I spent 30 min to answer comments & DMs on Twitter
& straight went ahead into the writing thread for the day.
💡Ditch motivation, set systems
3. Keep the page ready!
Don't get into the game of staredown with a blank page, the odds are never going to be in your favor.
When you are ready to write, you should already have a topic ready to write about.
💡 Plan your content ahead of time
This is how I did it!
I built a simple system in Notion using only two features
a. To-do list
b. 3-column database
On day 0,
I wrote every single topic about Notion
So, even before starting, I had more than 15 topics to write about.
But, what about the next 15 days?
Read on!
When your content is niche-oriented, you will run out of ideas sometimes.
It is inevitable!
So,
For the next 15 days, I applied two strategies
a. Seize the moment
b. The Triple R strategy
a. Seize the moment
Getting inspired is the answer to the creator's block & inspiration can sometimes strike at odd times.
💡The only solution to this is to capture ideas as they come.
I kept adding more ideas to my topic list every day but was still running short.!
b. The Triple R strategy
So, I applied this strategy, which I like to call the triple R strategy.
R- Redesign
R- Recycle
R- Redeem
This is how I used it to my advantage.
Many tools in Notion can fall into more than one category
For example Bardeen.ai was included in two threads
-Automation tools in Notion (Day 6)
-Chrome extensions for the notion (Day 17)
💡Recycle & re-package your content constantly.
4. Make a noise
Keep an accountability partner or even better announce your next move in public.
Now, you don't wanna backtrack from the commitment you made in public.
💡 Announce your next content idea in public you are more like to follow through
This is how I did it!
A day before starting a #30threads30days challenge, I announced it on Twitter.
This established two things
1. I am all in now, no way out! 2. The "looking forward comments" told me I better live up to the expectations.
5. The winner mindset.
None of my threads went viral or even did good but that didn't demotivate it
Why?
a. because I wasn't relying on motivation to keep me going anyway.
b. because I kept going back to question why I took this challenge initially.
Instead, I relied on..
◉ I relied on more Intrinsic feedback than extrinsic feedback
◉ I chose to look at qualitative success than quantitative success.
Intrinsic feedback:
While I loved all the support I got on my threads, It was not solely the driving factor.
I had my systems in place for intrinsic feedback which kept me going.
For instance!
Every day as I changed the status of my thread from scheduled to publish on my notion system.
It gave me a sense of accomplishment.
💡Feed your mind with positive feedback to keep moving.
Qualitative success
I believe the idea of success should be subjective. What is success to me may not be a success for you.
So,
I chose not to look at the numbers to count my threads a success or failure
Instead...
I started noticing the shift in how people perceived me
- I started getting DMs requests to help with Notion
-I started getting mentioned among Notion's top creators.
This was a success in my books!
💡 Set your own standards of success.
Some noteworthy wins
- I am identified as a Notion creator in community now.
- I finalized the deal with my first client.
- I got to the community of 1k.
Did I achieve my goals for this challenge?
Happy to report I achieved all the goals I had set out before starting this challenge.
Was the challenge worth it?
Yes & Yes!
Here are big takeaways!
-Choose your niche & talk about it
- Rely on system instead of motivation
-Always have the ideas bank ready
- Apply the triple R strategy
- Announce in public for accountability
- Focus on wins
Here is the link to all my 30 threads where I talk about tips, resources, and templates for Notion.
@NotionHQ A fair Disclaimer - I didn't learn Notion from scratch. I already kind of knew the basic stuff but I am pretty sure any person can learn Notion to the full extent in about 4 weeks.
@NotionHQ Being on the lookout for a side hustle meant watching tons of videos and trying out thousand different things, half of which don’t even work. That was also the case with me.