Summary

The article outlines a three-step process, known as the "Idea Conveyor Belt," for generating a continuous flow of fresh writing ideas to maintain content quality and reader engagement over time.

Abstract

The author of the article, with over two decades of content creation experience, emphasizes the importance of a systematic approach to maintaining a steady stream of writing ideas. This approach, termed the "Idea Conveyor Belt," involves three key steps: generating a large number of ideas, selecting the best ones for upcoming content, and using those ideas to produce the content. The author suggests using tools like Evernote for idea storage, and recommends consuming diverse, high-quality content as a means to inspire new ideas. Additionally, the author advises on specific strategies such as responding to reader comments, analyzing post metrics, and crafting original content from attention-grabbing headlines to refill the ideas bucket. The article underscores the necessity of separating the processes of idea generation and selection, and advocates for daily walking as a creativity booster.

Opinions

The author believes that fresh ideas are crucial for keeping writing exciting and preventing writer's block.
It is suggested that the process of generating, choosing, and using ideas should be treated as distinct tasks to optimize creativity.
The author values the importance of a varied diet of content consumption, including books, podcasts, and conversations, to fuel the generation of new ideas.
Learning beyond one's niche is encouraged to avoid recycled ideas and foster innovation in writing.
The article promotes the idea that time-wasting activities should be replaced with more productive content consumption to enhance creativity.
Engaging with reader feedback is seen as a valuable method for sparking new content ideas.
Analyzing the performance of past content can guide writers in creating content that resonates with their audience.
The author advocates for the use of compelling headlines from other writers as a starting point for developing unique content, with the caveat to alter the headline to maintain originality.

If You’re Sitting There Thinking ‘I Don’t Know What To Write’. Read This

How I’ve kept my content fresh for 20+ years

I’ve been creating content for 20+ years.

It’s demanding to keep going for a long time. Many new writers burst onto the scene with an abundance of ideas. But then run out of inspiration and quit because they dry up.

Fresh ideas don’t appear by magic. They need a strong process

When you are out of ideas. Your writing gets stale and you struggle to attract readers. You stop making money. Writing loses its joy. Once that is gone is it impossible to keep going.

My idea conveyor belt gives me a constant flow of ideas. This keeps me excited about writing. It is almost effortless and takes very little time.

It involves 3 simple steps.

The Idea Conveyor Belt

It takes work to set up your conveyor belt.

But once you do. I promise you, your ideas will be neverending.

The 3 steps are:

Generate a bucketful of ideas
Choose ideas for your next content
Use those ideas to create your content

Let me show how these 3 steps work for me.

I keep all my ideas in Evernote. This is my bucket. You can keep it anywhere. Make sure it’s simple to use and always accessible. Go for easy over complicated. (I’ll explain later where I get all these ideas from).

Then at the end of the week, I look in Evernote. And choose 4 ideas for next week’s articles. I put them in my writing software. Ready for writing.

Generating, choosing and using ideas are 3 distinct tasks.

They use your brain differently. So do them separately. If you’ve ever been in a team meeting brainstorming ideas when someone starts evaluating them. You’ll see it immediately stops the idea flow. And you don’t want that. Generate ideas. Or choose one. But don’t do both at the same time.

As I use ideas each week my ideas bucket starts to get empty. So I need to generate a fresh supply to keep it topped up.

This is how I do that.

1. Get some quality input

If you want to produce fresh content you need to be taking in high-quality content.

Consuming a healthy diet will bring new thoughts. Every time you discover a new idea — put it in your ideas bucket.

Your input options are endless:

Youtube
Podcasts
Blogs
Audiobooks
Books
Conversations
Message forums

Do what works for you. Resist the pressure to copy others. Avoid thinking ‘I’m looking for ideas’ — that will limit your learning. Consume whatever helps you grow.

Learning beyond your niche is crucial. Otherwise, you’ll just hear the same ideas recycled. I love learning about productivity, positive mindset and investing. This yields new ideas that cross over into writing.

If you are struggling to find the time. Pick one time-wasting activity (TikTok, Netflix, gaming). Reduce your time on it and fill that time with healthy content instead.

Walk daily. Einstein, Darwin, Jobs. There’s a long list of famous creators who saw walking as the key to their creativity. Include a daily walk in your routine.

Sometimes this isn’t enough and you need to take action.

2. Bucket filling strategies

If you your daily diet doesn’t give you enough ideas. Here are 3 quick activities you can do to generate new ideas.

Write in response to comments

Read through the comments on your writing.

Look for questions or problems raised. Notice what resonates most. How can you write more about this? Listening to readers can activate your creative juices.

Pay attention to your metrics

Look at your best-performing posts.

This tells you what readers want from you. Pick your top 3 posts and give them a twist with a different style. Write 5 mistakes or 7 best tools or your biggest life lesson.

Start with a brilliant headline

Find a top writer’s headline that grabs your attention.

But don’t read their content. Create your own ideas in response to the title. (and then tweak the headline so it’s different before publishing it).

You don’t need to be short of ideas. Set up your conveyor belt. And you’ll see your writing flow effortlessly.

I’ve grown from 500–5000 followers in 6 months. And I’m giving away my writing system. Anyone can use this to grow. Join 687 writers: