Here’s a short horror story –
He opened the Google doc and kept staring at it. The cursor kept blinking, the clock kept ticking. And yet no words appeared on the keyboard.
The struggle to develop new ideas for our writing can be hard at times. It feels as if a thick fog is preventing us from seeing the next best idea, which is right in front of us. Relatable?
If yes, the article is for you.
The block visits me sometimes
When the block visits, a good potential ally here is ChatGPT and Googling. Endless sources of ideas, right?
Sorry, that doesn’t work for me. Hard pass. Something doesn’t feel right about depending on LLMs and search engines.
Another conventional ally is a ‘content calendar’. A content calendar usually takes the form of an Excel sheet, where you can map out what content piece to publish and when to do it. Unfortunately, even with all its sophistication, a content calendar doesn’t work for me either.
The artifice of a content calendar
There is something robotic about having a formulaic Excel sheet that announces – “Oh, it’s Monday today. Time for a ‘case-study’ post.” Or “Okay, it’s Tuesday. Let’s pull out that inspirational quote you have been sitting on.”
No, the writing needs to be a lot more organic. It needs to come from my heart. As mushy as it sounds, it’s true. When the writing comes from my soul, it’s good for me and also good for my business.
A content calendar kills this.
So then what do we do?
If our usual suspects are not solving the problem of not having ideas – Googling, ChatGPT, or a content calendar, who do we turn to solve this problem?
The answer, like every time, lies in a superhero movie
In Avengers: Infinity War, there is a scene in which all the superheroes fight the mighty Thanos, trying to bring him down. They use everything in their power – web, magic, technology, strength… to defeat him.
Here’s something they are not doing – They are not simply standing there, strategizing how to beat him, and wondering about the right weapon to use. They take everything they have and throw it at Thanos.
Here’s the thing – There’s something about facing a powerful villain that puts us into action. We no longer overthink or over-strategize. We simply charge. Our response is immediate and cuts through all the hesitation. The villain gives us purpose.
Our content needs a villain
Because a villain creates emotion, and writing needs emotion. This emotion makes us attack the villain with every weapon in our possession. Strategy? Sure. Overthinking? No sir.
We embrace the messy process, wrestle with different questions… and articles, LinkedIn posts, and emails emerge out of those questions. The villain is powerful, so we need multiple approaches to beat him. Magic, strength, technology, agility… everything. All these are our content ideas.
The questions are endless
As we attack the villain, a question emerges. When we attempt to answer that question, few other questions emerge. Soon, you have more questions than answers. All of these become your writing assets. The villain makes the writing journey endless.
Jonathan Stark’s villain
Jonathan Stark’s content strategy is beautifully aligned. All his LinkedIn posts, emails, and even products are coherent. Why? Because he attacks a single villain – hourly billing. The same is true for Jay Acunzo, who attacks the villain of “Our obsession with more Reach”.
Maybe you need a content calendar
Don’t get me wrong, maybe a content calendar brings some order to the chaos. I, too, maintain a document full of ideas I want to explore. The only pitfall to avoid is to be so mechanical that we let our curiosity and passion take a back seat.
To summarize
If you struggle to generate new content ideas or align your content strategy around a coherent topic, you need a villain. This villain is what is broken in the status quo and in your industry. Launch an attack on the villain, and you will never run out of content ideas.
Next step
Here’s a common pitfall to avoid when building a villain for your brand.