How to Consistently Create New Content

A brief piece this week, about how to keep coming up with new content for your posts or newsletters.

Over the past few years, wiring has been a way to create new content, connect with new people, and develop new ideas. That said, when LinkedIn approached me to write this newsletter, I was undeniably anxious about how I might be able to come up with something new every single week. Sure, the first 10 or 15 articles wouldn’t be too bad, but what happens after that?

If you’re working on new content and looking for a steady stream of ideas, try some of the following suggestions:

1) Review your calendar for themes

Monday is typically my writing day, Tuesday is editing, and Wednesday (usually) is publication day for the article. Each Monday I’ll look at my calendar and look over the meetings I had over the past week. While doing this, I’m looking for themes, discussions, and the focus of the conversation. Given the range of people and topics covered in the week, it is very rare that I don’t come up with something to write about based on something that I discussed with someone over the past week. Once I find the theme, I’ll start with the theme as the headline and build the article around it.

2) Browse the news

If the calendar was quiet or the conversations didn’t spark any new ideas, I take to the news. What policies are companies putting in place? What success stories have been announced over the past few days? What catastrophic leadership failures were announced? If nothing has happened in my personal life, I (for better or worse) have an opinion about what is going on with someone else.

3) Find other articles in the feed that you disagree with

For a few of my articles, I’ve simply scrolled through my LinkedIn and Twitter feeds to find inspiration from someone I either agree with or disagree with. I often find it easier to write about a point I disagree with because I want to be sure I’m not copying and ripping off something intelligent someone says. If I disagree with the point, I won’t reference the piece I disagree with, I’ll simply write the article from a different point of view and state why.

Note here: be sure to give credit where credit is due and tag or link an article you’re positively talking about!

4) Keep a live document of titles and phrases

Some weeks are full of interesting conversations and I just don’t have the time to write a backlog of articles. To ensure I’m not forgetting anything, I’ll keep a Google Doc running with key sentences and phrasing that will remind me of the piece I want to write when I have the time. I do my best to not have that list have less than 10 ideas written down so I’m never falling behind.

5) Put yourself in other’s shoes and approach the same problem

If I’m really stuck, I might go back to other pieces and ideas that I’ve had and put myself in the shoes of another company or individual that might see what I wrote from a different angle. For example, I might ask myself what Disney might think of my article and how they might approach it differently. I might ask what Oprah might think about something I’ve written and tried again putting myself in her shoes (though I can’t say I’ve ever met her). The point is, I’m always trying to bring new ideas to you and the network and challenging my perspective as a result. While I may have been fixed on my way of thinking, I always have the right (and sometimes the responsibility) to update and change my opinion.

Writing can be difficult. Thinking that we’re an endless source of ideas and information puts undue pressure on us to somehow pull thinking out of thin air. By looking at the incredible people and companies around us and pairing that with our experience and perspective, the sky is the limit and there is no shortage of content you can create as a result of combining the two.

Questions to ponder: