---
title: "Publish posts steadily in short free slots"
description: "Split the three Idea - Write - Edit steps across short free slots, one step per slot, so you keep posting without needing a whole free day."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cuongthach.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Publish posts steadily in short free slots

The three Idea - Write - Edit steps stand apart from each other, so you can get a post out of **short free slots** instead of needing a whole free day. Each slot finishes one step and ends with one thing in your hands: a locked outline, a rough draft, or a finished post.

This page is for people who run a business alone and have a few free hours a week, but not in one block: 30 minutes here, 1 hour there, 2 hours another time. If you do not know yet what the three steps do, read [The Idea - Write - Edit publishing process](/docs/content-system/idea-write-edit/introduction) first.

## What do you need to publish in free slots?

- **The three steps of the process.** You know the Idea step makes an outline, the Write step makes a draft, and the Edit step makes a finished post. The free-slot plan splits the work along these three steps.
- **A topic for your next post**, taken from your funnel plan. You do not pick a topic while you are counting minutes.
- **One place to keep what each step makes**, named after the post: a folder or a notes page. Next time you open it, you see right away which step the post is on.
- **A phone to record on**, for times when the slot for the Write step is too short to type.

## Split one post across the free slots in your week

![Split one post across the free slots in your week](/docs/_astro/illus-docs-lich-tuan.en.BX2EpCBn_ZTKTiY.svg "A few scattered hours a week make a post")

Without a process, a post needs one long, unbroken block of time to do in one go. With a process, **each step has its own stopping point**, so scattered bits of time still produce a post.

1. **Measure your time budget**

   The old way of writing cannot be measured: some days you think for over an hour, write for two more, then edit here and there for another two. Three separate steps can be measured.

   Write down each slot in the week when you can sit still, then add them up. Talk to write can be measured too: half an hour to plan, one hour to record, about 30 minutes to edit. Once you know your hours, you can work out the number of posts: for 30 posts a month, write one post a day. For 90 posts, write three posts a day, and a fourth post in one day is overtime.

   When this step is done, you know how many posts you can publish this week.
2. **Give each step its own slot**

   Match each step to a slot that fits it, so no step gets cut off halfway. Here is how Cuong measures it:

   | Slot | Step | What you hold when it is done |
   | - | - | - |
   | About 30 minutes | Idea: plan and prepare the guiding questions | The set of guiding questions |
   | About 1 hour | Idea and Write: record from the guiding questions | A transcript to filter ideas from, which is also the draft |
   | 30 minutes to 1 hour | Idea: filter the ideas and polish the outline | A locked outline |
   | About 30 minutes | Edit | A finished post |

   If you only have 2 hours a day: half an hour to plan, one hour to record, and the last half hour goes as far as it goes. Finish the rest the next day, because you know which step the post is on.

   When this step is done, every slot in your calendar has the name of one step and the name of what it makes.
3. **Finish one step, then pack it up**

   The stopping point at the end of each step is where you can rest without losing the thread. In each slot, finish exactly one step, put what it made in the place you prepared. The next slot starts with that very thing: the Write step starts from the locked outline, and the Edit step starts from the rough draft.

   When your hours are tight, you have to make time for recording and practice recording, even if you write better than you talk: **your voice puts out words many times faster than typing**.

   When this step is done, you can open the old work and carry on at once, without recalling the whole process.

## How do you know your free-slot plan gets posts out?

![How do you know your free-slot plan gets posts out?](/docs/_astro/illus-docs-ngan-keo-san-pham.en.BWRVv0j0_ZTKTiY.svg "Each slot closes on one finished thing")

The plan works when all four things below are true:

- **Each slot ends with something made.** If one step runs across several slots, split it smaller or give it the longest slot in the week.
- **When you open the old work, you can carry on at once.** If you have to reread from the start to remember, name what you save more clearly, after both the post and the step, before you pack up.
- **You know which step each post is on.** If you do not, name what you save after both the post and the step.
- **The hours for each step stay steady from post to post.** If a step is fast one time and slow the next, that is the step to practice on its own.

## If your free-slot plan does not produce posts

### One step drags on for days

It is usually the Idea step: the outline takes four or five days while writing and editing are still fast. That is a sign you stumble on the Idea step, **not that you lack time**. Practice that step on its own with [Practice Idea - Write - Edit with every post](/docs/content-system/field-guides/practice-until-it-sticks).

### Every post turns into a deadline

When there is no free time left to prepare the next post, every post **runs on a deadline**. You do not have time to research, you put out a post you are not happy with yourself, and then you lose heart and burn out. Use the time you free up by measuring your hours to prepare the next post: half an hour to plan and prepare the guiding questions before you record.

### The post needs pictures or a video you do not have yet

**Publish the post first**, and add screenshots or a video later. Once a post is published, you are responsible for finishing it. A post kept on your computer until every picture is ready easily becomes a reason to put things off.

## Read next

- [Practice until it sticks](/docs/content-system/field-guides/practice-until-it-sticks) — Make Idea - Write - Edit a habit by repeating it, doing all three steps per post, timing them, getting feedback and practicing where you trip.
- [Fix a stuck step](/docs/content-system/field-guides/stuck/fix-a-stuck-step) — Thirteen common places to get stuck in Idea - Write - Edit and the step to go back to, with symptom, cause, fix and check for the Idea step.
- [Stuck at the Write step](/docs/content-system/field-guides/stuck/stuck-while-writing) — Fix five places you get stuck in the Write step, from a frozen idea, lost fire and a weak ending to mood-only writing and fear of the chair.

Source: https://cuongthach.com/docs/content-system/field-guides/publish-in-short-slots/index.mdx