Challenge Workbook Template

The

7-Day Content Sprint.

Plan
Batch
Post
One week · 4 h 10

Free
Workbook7 sessions

A free workbook: plan, batch and post a week of content in 7 short sessions.

by Maya Lind mayalind.co

Maya LindContent coach for small business owners. Writes The Sunday Draft, a free letter read every week by owners who want to post without the panic.

Inside

03How the sprint works

04Day 1 to Day 7

11Hook worksheet

12Pillars worksheet

13Sprint checklist

A note before you start

Hi, I’m Maya.

If you run a small business, you already have a full-time job. Posting every day on top of it is how most owners burn out. They post hard for two weeks, miss a few days, feel guilty, and go quiet for a month.

I’ve coached more than 400 owners — bakers, physios, florists, accountants. The ones who stay consistent are not more creative. They just stopped making content one post at a time. They decide once, film once and schedule once.

That’s this sprint. Seven short sessions, 20 to 60 minutes each. By Sunday you will have a week of posts written, filmed and scheduled — and a routine you can repeat without dread.

Do the days in order. Done beats perfect. If you get stuck, reply to any Sunday Draft email. I read every one.

With you all week,

Maya

P.S. Print the worksheets on pages 11–13 before you start. Pen and paper make you decide faster than any app.

7 short sessions, one a day

4 h 10 total, spread over a week

7 posts written, filmed and scheduled

How the sprint works

One week
Seven sessions

Each day has one job and a timer. Finish the job, stop, and close the laptop. The sprint works because each session is small enough to do on a busy day.

Day01	Pick 3 content pillars	Three topics you can post about all year	30 min
Day02	Find 20 ideas in 20 minutes	An idea bank, with 7 posts starred for this week	20 min
Day03	Write hooks that stop the scroll	A strong first line for each of the 7 posts	40 min
Day04	Batch-film in one hour	Raw clips for all 7 posts, plus B-roll	60 min
Day05	Edit fast	7 finished videos with captions	45 min
Day06	Schedule the week	Every post queued at the right time	30 min
Day07	Review and repeat	What worked, and next week’s sessions booked	25 min
	Total time	Less than one evening of scrolling	4 h 10

Three rules for the week

1. One session a day. Don’t run ahead. Rest is part of the plan.
2. Set a timer. When it rings, you stop — even mid-sentence.
3. Good enough ships. A posted 7/10 beats a perfect draft.

What you need

• Your phone and a cheap tripod
• A notebook, or the worksheets in this guide
• A free scheduler: Meta Business Suite, Later or Buffer
• A window with daylight

Day01

Session 1 · Strategy

Pick 3 content pillars

30 minutes

Goal

Choose three topics you can post about for a year without running out of things to say.

Why it matters

When every post starts from a blank page, most of your energy goes into deciding what to say. Pillars make that decision once.

They also teach your audience what to expect from you. People follow an account because they know what they will get next — not because of one lucky post.

Steps

1. Brain-dump for 10 minutes. List everything you could talk about without notes: products, process, opinions, customer questions, your story. Aim for 15 items.
2. Circle what buyers care about before they buy — not what you find interesting.
3. Sort into three buckets: one that teaches, one that shows behind the scenes, one that proves results.
4. Name each pillar in 2–4 words. “Bread at home” beats “Educational content”.
5. Write them on the worksheet on page 12.

Example · Juniper Bakery

Teach

“Bread at home”
Starter care, why loaves go flat, flour swaps.

Behind

“The 4 a.m. shift”
The ovens, the team, the first delivery of the day.

Proof

“Our regulars”
Customer stories, wedding cakes, five-star reviews.

Pillars are a promise to your audience — and a rest for your brain.

Tip

If a pillar can’t give you 10 post ideas in five minutes, it is too narrow. Merge it with another one.

Day02

Session 2 · Ideas

Find 20 ideas in 20 minutes

20 minutes

Goal

Fill an idea bank, so you never start from zero again.

One idea per sticky note. Move them around until a week appears.

Idea starters

• The mistake I see every week…
• What I’d do if I started again…
• A myth in my industry…
• How we actually make…
• A customer asked me…
• My tools under $50…

Why it matters

Ideas come from questions, not inspiration. Your customers already tell you what to post — in DMs, reviews, emails and at the till. You only need to write it down.

Steps

1. Set a 20-minute timer. Quantity first. You judge later.
2. Mine five sources: your last 20 DMs and emails, your reviews, the questions you answer every week, a competitor’s comments, and Google’s “People also ask” box.
3. Write a promise, not a topic. “3 reasons your sourdough is flat”, not “sourdough”.
4. Tag each idea with its pillar: T, B or P.
5. Star the 7 you’d most like to read. Those are this week’s posts.

Tip

Keep the idea bank in one note on your phone. Add to it the moment a customer asks you a question — that is next week’s post.

Day03

Session 3 · Writing

Write hooks that stop the scroll

40 minutes

Goal

Write a first line for each of your 7 posts that earns the next three seconds.

“Your hook is not a summary of the post. It’s the reason to read it.”Maya’s rule of thumb

Why it matters

People decide to stay or scroll in under two seconds. The hook is the only part of the post that everyone sees, so give it a third of your writing time.

Steps

1. Write 3 hooks per post with the formulas on page 11.
2. Read each one aloud. If you wouldn’t say it to a friend, rewrite it.
3. Cut the warm-up. “So today I wanted to talk about…” goes.
4. Be specific: a number, a name, a time, a place.
5. Pick a winner and copy it into “My best 3”.

Before → after

Some tips for better bread	Your sourdough is flat because of one thing you do at 9 p.m.
We’re hiring!	We need someone who likes 4 a.m. and the smell of butter.
New spring menu is here	We tested 31 recipes. These 6 made the menu.
Thank you to our customers	Ruth has bought the same loaf every Friday since 2019.

Tip

Keep hooks under 12 words. If it needs a comma, it probably needs a cut.

Day04

Session 4 · Filming

Batch-film in one hour

60 minutes

Goal

Film all 7 posts in one session, with one set-up and one outfit change.

Steps

1. Set up once. Pick a spot by a window and face the light. Lock the phone on a tripod at eye level.
2. Write a shot list: each post’s hook and three talking points on one card.
3. Film every hook first, three takes each. Hooks need your best energy.
4. Then film the body of each post. Clap once between takes — the spike makes cuts easy to find.
5. Grab 10 minutes of B-roll: hands at work, close-ups, the shop, the street. You will use it all month.

Shot list · Post 3

Hook Your sourdough is flat because of one thing you do at 9 p.m.

Point 1 Fridge too early = no rise

Point 2 Wait until it grows by half

Point 3 Poke test — slow spring back

B-roll Hands shaping, oven door, crumb shot

Tip

Change your top between groups of posts. Same afternoon, but on the feed it reads as a different day.

Day05

Session 5 · Editing

Edit fast

45 minutes

Goal

Edit 7 posts in 45 minutes — about six minutes each.

Steps

1. Use one template in CapCut or Instagram’s Edits app: same font, same caption style, same end card.
2. Cut the first second. Start on the first word of the hook.
3. Remove every pause longer than half a second. Jump cuts are fine.
4. Add captions — most people watch muted. Fix only the words that are wrong.
5. Write the caption now, while the post is fresh in your head.
6. Export and name it “Day–Pillar–Hook”, like Tue-Teach-flat-sourdough.

Example · finished caption

J

juniperbakery Reel · Tuesday 7:30 a.m.

Your sourdough is flat because of one thing you do at 9 p.m.

You put it in the fridge too early. Let the dough grow by about half at room temperature first — that’s 3 to 5 hours in a warm kitchen.

Try it this weekend and tell me how it goes.

Save this for your next bake.

← hook, value, one ask. That’s it.

“Viewers forgive a plain edit. They don’t forgive a slow start.”

The three-pass rule

1 Cut

Trim the start, the pauses and the ending. Nothing else.

2 Captions

Auto-captions, then fix names and numbers.

3 Sound

Voice at full level, music low. No fourth pass.

Day06

Session 6 · Planning

Schedule the week

30 minutes

Goal

Queue all 7 posts in a scheduler, so the week runs without you.

Why it matters

Posting by hand means opening the app at the right minute — and then losing 40 minutes to the feed. A scheduler keeps you out of it.

Steps

1. Open a scheduler: Meta Business Suite (free for Instagram and Facebook), Later or Buffer.
2. Check your insights for when followers are online. Start there; adjust after two weeks.
3. Mix the pillars. Never two “teach” posts back to back.
4. Paste captions, add 3–5 specific hashtags and pick the cover frame.
5. Block 15 minutes after each post goes live to reply to comments.

Specific beats popular

• #sourdoughtips instead of #food
• #leedsbakery instead of #smallbusiness
• #weddingcakeideas instead of #love

Example week

Day	Pillar	Format	Time
Mon	Teach	Reel	7:30 am
Tue	Behind	Stories	8:00 am
Wed	Proof	Carousel	12:00 pm
Thu	Teach	Reel	7:30 am
Fri	Behind	Reel	5:00 pm
Sat	Proof	Photo	9:00 am
Sun	Rest. Reply to DMs if you feel like it.

Tip

Leave Sunday empty. A gap in the plan is what makes the plan last.

Day07

Session 7 · Review

Review and repeat

25 minutes

Goal

Learn from this week in 25 minutes and book the next sprint before Monday.

Why it matters

Most owners never look at their numbers — or look every hour. Once a week is right: enough data to see a pattern, not enough to panic.

Steps

1. Log saves, shares and comments for each post. Ignore likes.
2. Circle the top two. What do they share — pillar, hook, format?
3. Read every comment and DM. New questions go into the idea bank.
4. Keep, drop, try: one thing to repeat, one to stop, one test.
5. Book next week’s sessions in your calendar now.

Example scorecard · week 1

Post	Saves	Shares	Comm.
Flat sourdough fix	212	48	31
The 4 a.m. shift	36	12	19
Wedding cake story	58	9	24
Starter in 3 steps	174	39	22
Meet Tomas	21	6	27
Ruth’s Friday loaf	44	15	36

Keep

“Fix a problem” reels on Mon and Thu.

Drop

Stories nobody taps through.

Try

A carousel of 5 starter mistakes.

Three questions to ask

1. Which post would I be proud to pin?
2. Which question came up more than once?
3. What was easy to make — and still did well?

Every sprint gets shorter

Week 1 4 h 10

Week 2 ≈ 2 h 45

Week 4 ≈ 2 h

Why Your pillars are set and the idea bank keeps growing.

Worksheet · use on Day 3

Hook worksheet

Day 03

Six formulas · fill the blanks

_A_The mistake I see every .

_B_Stop if you want .

_C_I tried for days. Here’s what happened.

D things I wish I knew before .

_E_Why your isn’t (and the fix).

_F_You don’t need to .

Three hooks per post · star the winner

Post 1 Idea:

Post 2 Idea:

Post 3 Idea:

Post 4 Idea:

Post 5 Idea:

Post 6 Idea:

Under 12 words Has a number, name or time I’d say it out loud

My best 3

The three hooks you would stop for. Use them first this week.

Worksheet · use on Day 1

My content pillars

Day 01

01

The teaching pillar

What do you know that saves your customer time, money or a mistake?

Pillar name

Who it helps, and how

10 post ideas

Reel Carousel Stories Photo

02

The backstage pillar

What happens in your business that customers never see?

Pillar name

Who it helps, and how

10 post ideas

Reel Carousel Stories Photo

03

The proof pillar

Which results, reviews and customer stories show that you deliver?

Pillar name

Who it helps, and how

10 post ideas

Reel Carousel Stories Photo

The pillar test My buyer cares about it before they buy I can list 10 ideas in 5 minutes I could talk about it for a year

Tick as you go

Sprint checklist

All week

_00_Before you start 10 min

• Print the worksheets on pages 11–13
• Book 7 short sessions in my calendar

_01_Pillars 30 min

• Brain-dump 15 things I can talk about
• Circle what buyers care about
• Name 3 pillars in 2–4 words each

_02_Ideas 20 min

• Read my last 20 DMs, emails and reviews
• Write 20 ideas as promises
• Tag each idea T, B or P
• Star 7 posts for this week

_03_Hooks 40 min

• Write 3 hooks for each post
• Read them aloud and cut the warm-up
• Fill in “My best 3”

_04_Filming 60 min

• Set up by a window, phone at eye level
• Film all hooks first, 3 takes each
• Film the body of each post
• Capture 10 minutes of B-roll

_05_Editing 45 min

• Make one edit template and reuse it
• Cut silence and pauses over 0.5 s
• Add and correct captions
• Write 7 captions: hook, value, one ask

_06_Scheduling 30 min

• Check when my followers are online
• Queue 7 posts, mixing the pillars
• Block 15 min a day for replies

_07_Review 25 min

• Log saves, shares and comments
• Find what my top 2 posts share
• Write one keep, one drop, one try
• Book next week’s sessions

Done? Tell me.

Post your favourite from the week and tag @maya.creates. I share a few finished sprints every Sunday.

That’s one week done

Keepgoing.

A sprint gets you started. A routine keeps you posting. The Sunday Draft helps with the second part.

The Sunday Draft

One short email, every Sunday at 7 a.m.: a hook formula to try, a post idea for the week, and what is working for small accounts right now. Five minutes to read. Free.

Join at mayalind.co/sunday →

Website mayalind.co

Instagram & TikTok @maya.creates

Know someone who keeps saying they’ll “post more”? Send them this workbook. It’s free at mayalind.co/sprint.

© 2026 Maya Lind. Share this workbook freely with a friend who needs it — please don’t sell it.