“every-other-week” is undoubtedly the least cute content cadence.
monthly? makes sense. you wait for a specific date and you know what’s comin’. weekly? perfect! we’re pretty much always at some level of awareness re: what day it is. but bi-weekly… I mean fuck, we can’t even collectively come to a decision on what frequency that expression means. twice a week? twice a month? sometimes? never? like, sure I’m sticking to a plan but nobody’s going to know that. you might as well scrap it all-together and just show up whenever.
not a single soul looks at their watch and thinks, “ah! this is the ~on~ week!” we’re either in it or we’re not, and if we’re not, we’re forgetting about it entirely.
all of this ↑ is obviously a totally unhelpful thought process (and one I’m actively untangling myself from via the angsty poem above) because in reality, bi-weekly — ahem, every other week — is often the most sustainable option. I’ve just refused to let myself choose it. ‘til now ;).
I co-host a podcast with my husband (who I’d prefer to just call my boyfriend even though we’re married — there’s an episode about that) and we’ve just surpassed a year of publishing once a week at least, which felt like a fun and easeful level out output right up until this sunday when we were set to record our episode and just thought… what if we don’t?
your first thought probably goes to: they’re burnt out! they have no more ideas! they don’t love their craft anymore! they’re gonna quit forever! or maybe it doesn’t, and that’s just a glimpse into the kind of bullshit internal dialogue that keeps so many of us putting out (often mediocre) creative work just because WHAT IF THEY THINK!!
if it’s not the public perception that keeps you pushing, then it’s the fear of finding out what happens when you pause.
“I can’t take a break because what if I never start again?” is a hella popular fear among my content strategy clients and it’s not at all unfounded. it’s just not the break itself that makes you quit the merry go round for good. it’s the fact that you gave yourself a fucking minute to decide if you wanted to hop back on again… and you said no.
I’m thinking back to the summer when I decided to stop my Napkin Math series. I had accidentally taken a week off, and during that time I realized it wasn’t a practice I was choosing anymore. autonomy is at top of the food chain of my value system, so if something isn’t voluntary then it’s fucking gone. but it’s really easy to ignore that when you never give yourself enough space from the thing to ask yourself how you’re relating to it.
all that is to say, we’re not quitting the podcast.
we’re not burnt out on it — in fact, the opposite. it feels like our energy for it is ramping up, and the last few episodes we’ve published have been our proudest. but, as it often goes: the better the product, the more care in the production.
this week we were faced with the decision of whether to scrape an episode together that we knew would be at a lesser caliber, or give ourselves the space to make sure the next one we publish is up to the new standard.
and here’s where it gets really weird: I realized I didn’t want to pause the show unless it meant we were changing our commitment to it.
ME! A BI-WEEKLY CONTENT HATER! SAID, WHAT IF WE SWITCHED TO BI-WEEKLY! *laughs maniacally*
but although everything I said above re: nobody gives a fuck about your bi-weekly publishing schedule holds true, rhythm is rhythm. it’s supportive to me, as a creator, in that it offers the kind of structure I need for accountability.
“consistency” is a word we all hate and yet deeply crave, and whether you’re willing to admit it or not, if creating for others is part of your work, it is a requirement. there’s just no rules that say what counts as consistent and what doesn’t.
naturally, because I need to soothe myself post-big-decision, I’ve put together a list of reasons why this bi-weekly (barf! we need a new word for this) schedule is going to make for an even better show. maybe it’ll convince you to scale back on something so you can show up to it better. maybe it’ll convince me to stop being such a snob about it. either way.
001 / life moves slow
the podcast in question is a blend of life updates and deep dives into topics like the economics of intimacy, meta’s fraud empire, and the elusive concept of taste, and anyone in journalism will tell you: some days, there’s just no news. by creating a little bit of space between episodes, we’re creating breathing room for things to happen — both in our lived experiences and in the collective culture so we can comment on it.
002 / pleasure in the prep work
yesterday I shared a post here about my mission to stop being the girl who’s always on her phone, and one of the practices I’ve had the most fun with is taking my big blue business book out to a patio, reading over the sources for the pod and making notes while sipping a glass of red. something people don’t like to tell you about making it pleasure is that sometimes it also takes more time. every-other-week means more space to enjoy the process, and I’m leaping at the chance.
003 / distribution x advertising value
one of the biggest tensions with podcast content is that we pour a lot into each episode, but if it’s not our full-time gig with it’s own dedicated social pages, it probably gets one post on the feed MAX plus a few stories before it’s time to start promoting the next one. more space between episodes means more time to promote each one in between — and that adds value to the folks who sponsor the episodes, too. we recently started offering the option to sponsor an episode, and that episode will get more listens if we’re consistently plugging it for two full weeks.(it’s $50 right now to get a short ad read the start of an ep but that price will increase as listens do, so email frank@ohsierra.ca if you wanna snag it now!).
004 / capacity for conversation
this podcast especially is intended to create dialogue, and I notice that by the time folks have actually been able to listen to the ep, sink into the sources, form opinions, and slide into the DMs to chat, we’ve already recorded the next one. I love the idea of having more time to connect with folks in between episodes so that we can continue the conversations on air, too. also, I do have two podcasts and combined, they were adding up to more than 2.5h of listening time weekly. that’s a lot to ask. in our wrapped data we noticed that most folks weren’t listening to the pod within the first 24h anyway, so more time between feels like extra space for both of us.
005 / ROI
this one is super simple — every episode is a investment in the money we pay to have them edited, and the time we pour into creating them. a more leisurely pacing allows us to squeeze more juice outta both.
006 / partnership dynamic
one of my most-adored “hacks” for feeling like I have a more leisurely life — which to me, means more autonomy and choice in my day to day — is to reduce the “have tos” that happen on a weekly basis. cutting down anything that’s a recurring expectation makes me a way more relaxed person, which makes me a better partner, more confident leader, more prolific creative, etc. etc. so, there’s that part. but also: this is an act of partnership between me and my person. we’ve always said that it’s critical this feels like a “want to” every time we show up to it, and breathing room is what makes that possible. knowing a new ep only comes out every two weeks allows us to create some built up excitement and anticipation of the conversations. it’s something we’ll always look forward to instead of something we just have to check off the list.
so all that is to say, we’ll be seeing you here (every-other) tuesday, starting next week. catch up on the last ep here and LMK what you think in the DMs here.
