You don't have a content problem. You have a positioning problem!

Why it happens, and what to do about it.

If you've ever got to a Monday morning and told yourself "this is the week I finally sort out my content" and then just haven't… this is a safe space.

You know the situation: lots of ideas, lots of enthusiasm. Fuelled by caffeine, creative dread, and no idea what order to do anything in. Before you know it, it's Friday and you've got no further forwards.

And it's not because nothing's happening in your business (plenty is happening).

It's also not from a lack of trying. You alternate between having 100 ideas one week to having no ideas the next, or no concept of how or when you're going to action anything.

It's NOT a discipline problem or being bad at content

Because it's never just "post some content". It's the ideas, the writing and scripting, producing the assets, the editing, psyching yourself out a few times about it, and THEN posting.

Excited by possibilities on Monday, drained and defeated by Friday. Like a depressing Craig David song.

That, my friends, is the content treadmill.

Diagnosing the problem

If you feel fatigued by the content treadmill, you're usually 1 of 2 kinds of people...

Person 1: the just do it'ers (not sponsored by Nike)

You're the kind of person who knows that done is better than perfect. You're about tactics. You want the job done and you want data.

First of all, I have a lot of respect for you.

You show up, you keep posting and the volume is there. You get things done and you actually get feedback - which is incredibly valuable. But you might feel like you’re chasing your tail with content. Chasing algorithms, engagement metrics and working reactively.

Directionally, you feel a bit lost, the meaning starts to get diluted, and it’s like you’re starting over every month. 

Person 2: the 'still in draft'ers

Hello, it's me. I recognise you because I am you, and I have eleven versions of the same page to prove it. You've done the reading, you've got a folder (or a Notion board), and several versions of the same page. You know what good looks like, exceptional even — I have a lot of respect for you also.

You're not lazy. You're probably a perfectionist, you haven't quite organised your thoughts yet, or a combination of things. What you do know is you want your content to count.

You want to show up with something to say, and to connect with your audience meaningfully… the problem is, you haven't worked out how you're going to do it yet. So you end up doing nothing at all, waiting for a day where the stars align and the perfect conditions for content appear. 

But you can't learn or build on anything if it's stuck in draft. Respectfully, you need to go test something!

Getting unstuck Whether you're person 1, person 2, or a combination of the two, it usually comes back to the same thing.

What you stand for was never properly settled, at least not on paper, so every week you're deciding who you are again. And because it was never settled, every post has to work on its own. Nothing builds. Twelve months of effort and no golden thread tying it back together.

It's not solved by posting more, and it's not solved by another six months of planning. You need some clear rules, and to define the edges of your brand. It doesn’t wave a magic wand with your content, but it does make showing up a lot clearer and consistent.

3 questions to think about this week

If someone asked why you rather than the next business along, could you answer in one sentence?

Not a list of what you do, but a reason. If it takes three sentences and a caveat, that's the thing to work on.

Look at your last ten posts. Could a stranger tell what you stand for, or only what you sell?

Most content describes the services accurately and says nothing about the point of view behind them. That's the version that gets scrolled past, because people want your opinions.

Who are you not for?

This is my favourite question. Be more marmite! Because you're not for everyone and you shouldn't try to be. Positioning is often easiest to find from the wrong end, so look at the work you've stopped taking, or the enquiry that makes your heart sink, and the answer's usually hiding in there.

Then do one thing with them

Write one sentence covering what you do, who it's for, and why you rather than the next business along. It isn't a tagline, it's something you'd say out loud on the phone.

It doesn't have to go on your website. It's the thing you check everything else against, so say it on the next enquiry call and let it decide what you post this week vs what you don't. If someone else in your field could have written it, it isn't finished.

Then get it out into the wild and see what happens to it. If it changes in six months, then that's fine. It means you had something firm enough to learn from, which is more than you get from another Monday spent deciding who you are.

Longer term

Most people start with what to post, which is a reasonable question - usually asked too soon. The stuff that pays off comes before that, when you work out what you stand for and what you're willing to say that nobody else in your space will. That sounds a bit woo woo, but it's the difference between staring at a blank page on Monday and already knowing what you're for.

Then it becomes a system instead of a weekly scramble, which might look like:

• Three things you talk about, written down somewhere you'll see them. Not "thought leadership", but the actual subjects.

• Two places you post, chosen because your people are there rather than because you feel you should be.

• A cadence you'd still hit in a busy month. If that's fortnightly, it's fortnightly, because a schedule you keep beats one you admire.

• One decent piece a month, broken into smaller ones, rather than five things made from scratch.

• A running list of ideas, so Monday isn't a blank page.

  
  

Fewer things made properly, rather than a chaotic schedule that hinges on Gary from ops agreeing to do a TikTok.

(Though if Gary's up for it, I'm not going to stop him.)

One more thing

If you write the sentence and it isn't landing, send it to me. I'll tell you what I actually think, no cost or strings attached. Even if it is landing, I'd be interested to read it! Published: 31 August 2026 Last updated: 31 August 2026