6 Time Management Tips for Creators and Influencers

Are you looking to work smarter and not harder as a creative? Here are 6 time management tips for creators and influencers.

As a full-time content creator, I’ve learned that you could essentially work 24/7. As a blogger, you can be writing blog posts or podcast outlines. As an influencer, you can be researching trending sounds and transitions on TikTok. As a content creator, you can also engage with your community on your social media channels. As I’ve balanced content creation with a full-time job and eventually taken content creation full-time, I’ve learned that you can work smarter, not harder, as a creative.

Here are 6 time management tips for creators and influencers:

1. Learn when you are most productive.

Ask yourself when your physical and mental energy levels are the highest.

When do I feel most awake?
When do I feel the most energy?
When do I feel the most sluggish?
When do I usually take my breaks?

One of the best things I’ve learned over my creative career is to structure my day around when I feel the most energy. Personally, I have the most energy between 8 am-12 pm. So I try to do my most important tasks for each day during the first half of my day. You’ll find me writing blog posts and podcast outlines and laying out my strategy for the week, month, or quarter during the first halves of my days.

2. Learn how to prioritize high-value and low-value tasks.

What are intensive or high-value tasks?

High-value tasks typically require a lot more energy and effort. Time-intensive tasks can normally bring you closer to accomplishing your goals as a creator and impact your content, community, and growth.

High-value tasks can vary by creator and influencer, but high-value tasks can look like this:

Filming a vlog for YouTube
Editing a trip recap for YouTube or TikTok
Writing a blog post for your blog or website
Editing a podcast episode for your podcast show
Getting on a conference call with a potential brand partner to discuss details of a campaign

Tip: I recommend doing the high-value tasks first. If high-value tasks, like negotiating with a brand via email or filming a YouTube video, take the most time and energy, do those first when you have the most energy.

What are low-value tasks?

Low-value tasks can look like activities that don’t require much energy but still require some effort. Low-value tasks for content creators and influencers can look like this:

Responding to emails
Cleaning out your email inbox
Responding to comments on Instagram
Scrolling on TikTok

Tip: I recommend doing low-value tasks or activities, like answering emails, invoicing, researching trending sounds or audio on TikTok, or even responding to Instagram comments during your low-energy times. Any tasks that don’t require a lot of brain power or high energy should be moved to the part of your day when you have the least energy.

3. Layout how your ideal workday would look

Think about the intensive tasks, the low-value tasks, the snack, or workout breaks, and write on a piece of paper, your planner, or a digital calendar what your ideal workday would look like.

Why is it helpful to layout your ideal workday?

You get to visualize how you want to navigate your day. And if you realize that some specific obstacles or non-negotiables can’t be moved in your schedule, you get to think about what solutions make sense for your schedule.

4. Create a daily to-do list or high-level plan

Whether you do content creation full-time or on the side, it’s important to lay out a daily plan of what you want to accomplish. Even if there are only 2-3 things on your to-do list, write them out.

Why is it helpful to write a daily to-do list or high-level plan?

You set yourself up for success when you identify what tasks you need to get done. You also motivate yourself when you see what you need to do, and you check those things off throughout the day.

If you finish additional tasks, you can also write that into your to-do list as a completed tasks. It may seem small, but little actions and daily steps towards building your creative career do matter. Posting once a day on Instagram and TikTok, if you complete that consecutively for a whole month, is a big deal!

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5. Take a break

According to Harvard Business Review, you can only focus on tasks and stay in deep thinking for no longer than 90 minutes at a time. You both must focus and unfocus throughout your day.

Here are a few ways to take a break throughout your day:

Take a power nap
Take a 10-15 min walk
Take a 30 min workout break
Practice mindfulness with either a journaling session or a yoga break

6. Batch content for your social media channels

One of the biggest time management tips for content creators is to batch content for social media channels. Being able to plan 3-5 in-feed posts or reels ahead of time, schedule pins for an entire week, and plan out TikTok video ideas in one set time goes so far in social media.

Creating, planning, and publishing content are all time-intensive steps of the content creation process. If you can batch shoot multiple outfits and videos or write 3-5 captions ahead of time, you get to set yourself up for success. If you’re new to batching content, I recommend starting small. Here are a few examples of how to start batching content: