Efficiency Hack: Spend Less Time On It

For the longest time, I wanted custom artwork for my blog posts. But I already spent about an hour each day writing my blogs, and I knew I couldn’t justify spending 30 more minutes creating custom artwork. I also knew I couldn’t afford a graphic designer to work every day. I settled for gifs I found on the internet. Then, something magical happened.

I got an ad on Instagram for an app called Pixelcut.

Pixelcut can trace and cut out a simple image in seconds, giving you a cut-out object with a transparent background. From there, you can add backgrounds, shapes, and text in seconds. Now I have custom artwork for my blogs every single day, and it takes me less time to create than it does for Photoshop to boot up on my computer. 

Pixelcut has its limitations, sure. So do my design skills. But now I have custom artwork that I like every single day for $10 per month and three minutes per day. 

Here’s an efficiency hack: spend less time on it. Seriously! What if the the things you want but don’t have time for could be achieved at an acceptable level in way less time? Even if it’s not perfect, 90% of the value will still be translated to the audience with the efficient version. 

Want a podcast but don’t have the time to edit and mix a full episode? What if you went for a rugged style and just uploaded the raw file? It’ll be 90% as valuable. 

Want a vlog but don’t have time to cut it? What if you gave yourself 15 minutes to edit each one? It’ll still be valuable to your audience. 

I’m not saying you should post garbage. Make sure your concept is dialed in. Spend time on a good creative. But all the bells and whistles bring diminishing returns. Most of the value will be translated by just showing up.