Recently, I was working on a presentation about what local businesses need to know about online marketing. It was going pretty well. But I needed to go exercise my dogs. So I took a break. I put the presentation completely out of my mind … or so I thought.

While tossing a toy for my dogs to retrieve, several new ideas came to mind, which significantly improved what I was working on. As soon as I got back to my desk, I wrote them down.

There was no rush on the project, so over the next couple of weeks, I found myself thinking of other ideas when I least expected it.

If I had waited until the day before I had to give the presentation to throw it together, I wouldn’t have had the benefit of those fresh ideas.

It reminds me of an old story I heard about a Wild West Show performer, probably Buffalo Bill, who took a week to write an entire show just before it had to be performed. After the show was over, he bragged to a lady about how he wrote the show in just a week. The response? “What did you do with all that time?” Ouch!

When you have a web content development project to do, try your best not to put it off until the last minute.

Even if you’re pretty good at writing and pulling creative elements together quickly, the project will be better if you start it earlier.

Here’s why. Without some rest time during your project, you’ll miss out on the creative thoughts that will bubble up to make your project better.

You see when you take a break, your body may have stopped but your mind keeps working in the background.

Easy Furniture Web Tip #237: Like Buffalo Bill, you may pride yourself on how quickly you can do creative work, but you’re shortchanging yourself and your business if you make it a habit.