Whether you love it or hate it, you have to admit that golf is a great game.
Many become enormously frustrated at the learning curve, the time investment, and the financial investment. What’s more, most of that investment goes into mastering just one single aspect of the game: the swing. There’s something beautiful about that, if daunting.
While I’m not the best golfer in the world, I used to play quite a lot. Then when I got to thinking about my process (and my needs) I realized something: that the content process is a lot like a golf swing.
The backswing
The process starts when you’re lining up at the tee. You’ve taken a few practice swings, carefully teed up your ball (making sure to remember which one you grabbed), and now you’re planting your feet into the turf.
Then comes the cascade of internal dialogue. Knees slightly bent. Arms straight. Wrists set. Hips square. Eye on the ball. Keep your head down. Exhale.
Then the gentle backswing. In terms of the content process, that’s the planning process. Whatever that includes, from research to strategy to simply thinking about what you’re going to do, that’s where you’re building up all of your potential energy.
The downswing
Here’s where it starts to get more difficult. There’s much more to consider on the downswing, and sometimes it’s hard to stay focused, but this is where all aspects of the outcome are determined: distance, direction, behavior.
Naturally, this is where most of the work is done. Creating content is a time-consuming and sometimes stressful job, even if simply making contact is a good enough goal.
The follow-through
If you’ve ever hit a ball and resisted following through, you know how far the ball goes: about two feet.
Keeping the swing going well after contact is just as important to the content process. In fact, over the last couple years, the follow-through is quickly becoming just as important as the content itself.
Without distribution, PR, or any other way to get content seen, it goes nowhere. Sometimes this can be very difficult to achieve, but it’s worth it.
Think about it: what’s the point of creating quality content if no one is going to see it?
The swing takes practice. It takes patience. It takes time. It may even take some extra resources to keep you from turning your pitching wedge into an excavator.
But in the end, you will be better for making the investment. You might even let yourself have fun.
