Editor’s Choice — Top 10: Can YouTube Make You a Dull Writer

Don’t miss our top 10 stories today

You always write when you want to handle your creative tension — the gap between what is and what could be.

Creative tension is defined as a situation where disagreement or discord ultimately gives rise to better ideas or outcomes.

Say, you suddenly realize you can start a business if you move your focus away from having seed money and focus on doing whatever it takes to be successful. The idea challenges your — and your reader’s — current beliefs about starting a business.

You start organizing your thoughts. You start writing, but then you inevitably go to the internet to back your arguments. You find a youtube video — in this case, it is a TEDx talk by Brandon Leibel, called “It Doesn’t Take Money To Make Money.”

You watch the video, and the creative tension you felt before watching the video vanishes.

You become relaxed — in other words, you are no longer willing to write your story. You think don’t need to research and waste your time writing an unoriginal idea that somebody else thought first.

It is true about every idea that pops up in your head. Ultimately you are forced to think that everything you want to write has been already said by somebody else. You think, ‘I am not that creative after all.’

It makes you soft. Dull and demotivated.

But don’t be like that. When you think of an original idea — and even if you find that somebody else had already worked on the concept — it remains your original idea. If you write your view — trust me — when someone reads your story and the other person’s article or watches the video, they’ll know it’s your original idea.

The shapes of ideas can resemble, but the details are always unique. All human beings look very similar — two ears, two eyes, one nose, and so on — but every human being is unique in his or her way.

Consider this very story. If you search with the headline, “Can YouTube Make You a Dull Writer,” you’ll find an article with the title, “YouTube is Making You Dull.”

But when you compare the stories and read the details, they are very different.

YouTube can lessen your creative tension by providing answers to your most complicated questions but don’t let it make you dull.

Own your idea. Don’t watch the video on YouTube first — if you like. Complete your work with confidence and work hard to make it entertaining, informative, and smart. Watch the YouTube video later. You’ll see very few similarities between your ideas and the details the presenter in the YouTube video explains.

Here is the list of our top 10 stories to encourage you to own your idea:

10. 7 Highly-Paid Careers of the Future

Jamie Bean is a writer, criminology major, and a gin enthusiast. She is studying at the University of Melbourne for her bachelor's degree.

Her writing style is simple, direct, and engaging. She is a new writer and needs your love and encouraging views.

To remain relevant in a competitive job market, it pays to pay attention to industries demonstrating accelerated growth.

It’s no secret that automation is killing some of the steadiest careers of the past. With every year that passes, the pace of technological development seems to double and then triple.

There are some relatively new fields, however, that only seem to be burgeoning amongst a technological revolution. From robotics to cybersecurity, careers of the future are tech-based and highly-paid for those with expertise.

9. How to Get BBQ Flavor Without a BBQ

Chris Kong is a consummate foodie with a love for his family and interesting food experiences. Chris holds an MA in Leadership and is an avid home cook.

His writing style is friendly, informative, and very engaging. If you love trying new types of cooking — like me — don’t miss this one.

Some of the tastiest food comes from charcoal BBQs and smokers because they add wood smoke. When woods like applewood, cherry, mesquite, oak, or hickory are burned, they emit flavourful smoke. And when this smoke is paired with meat and vegetables, magic happens.

But what can you do if you don’t have a charcoal BBQ or a smoker?

8. Understanding Transgender, for Cis Folks

Paul Thomas Zenki likes to mix neuroscience, Buddhism, physics, and literature. His writing style is relaxed, informal, and engaging. In this great article, he is explaining a point all of us are interested to know. Don’t miss this one.

Imagine you wake one morning to find a third arm, fully formed from the elbow down, extending from your solar plexus right in the center of your chest. It looks like your other limbs, you can move it just as easily, and it senses touch and hot and cold and pain just like the others.

And yet, it feels alien. Like something foreign that has been implanted inside of you and grown out on its own. Not really “your” arm at all.

What do you do?

7. How to Develop Diverse Talent Pools in Corporate America

DB Crema is a thinker, writer, and traveler. She is an accomplished writer. Her writing style is direct, informative, and appealing. Do check her other work. She needs your love and encouraging comments.

Ask successful women in corporate America, particularly Black or women of color who have reached senior levels within companies, and they will likely cite mentoring programs and sponsorships as having played a significant role in the advancement of their careers.

LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company’s sixth annual Women in the Workplace report offers compelling data that shows women who are mentored and have the support of sponsors in influential positions often fare better in career promotion, finding work-life balance, and overcoming challenges to staying in the workforce. Accordingly, savvy companies often tout their considerable investments in professional development programs as a demonstration of their commitment to advancing the careers of underrepresented minorities and women in corporate America.

6. How To Cook Tunisian Chicken Couscous

Naouress Akrouti is a language and communication coach. She generally writes business blog articles.

She is a superb writer. Her style is yummy and tasty. Don’t miss it if you want to write your own cooking recipes in the future.

In a large pan, pour 5 tbsp of olive oil. Add the chopped onion and the pressed garlic. Fry them over low heat for around 3 minutes.

Add the tomato paste, harissa, and the spices. Whisk to combine the elements. Cook from 3 to 5 minutes. You can add 3 tbsp of water. Stir occasionally.

Add the pieces of chicken and dip them properly in the stew liquid. Stir gently. Let simmer for 5 minutes.

5. 5 Powerful Questions to Self Coach Yourself to Success

Gizem Cetgin is a digital nomad, leadership coach who writes about overcoming imposter syndrome, following your bliss, and relationships.

She is an exceptional writer. Her writing style is informative, thought-provoking, and elegant. Don’t miss this one.

As a startup mentor and a coach, I witnessed so many entrepreneurs going through the trenches of selling their idea to the investors, creating momentum in their business, and finally “making it”. Some made it, so many didn’t.

As for why so many can’t make it, I knew the usual reasons such as product-market fit, the team experience and dynamics, timing, and luck, etc. But, connecting deeper with entrepreneurs, now as an entrepreneur myself, I’ve become fascinated by the internal process that strongly influences whether we can achieve our goals.

4. How to Warm a Cold Winter’s Night

Adelia Ritchie, Ph.D. is a long-time denizen of the Pacific Northwest, scientist, educator, artist, farmer, and chicken wrangler.

Her style is warm, loving, and intoxicatingly engaging. It’ll be love at first sentence. You can follow her after you finish eating her Algerian lamb stew.

Torrential rains are unending now. The chickens are holed up, refusing to venture out of their cozy coop. The dogs have never held their pee this long in their hairy little lives. If the quarantine lockdown didn’t keep us indoors, the inundated landscape just said “Not today.”

Nevertheless, it’s the perfect weather for a steaming, peppery Algerian lamb stew with couscous to warm our bones and lift our spirits. Just like my father used to make.

3. How to Survive the Annual Performance Review

Matt Inman is a success coach, TEDx facilitator, and travel nerd. He meets with amazing people to encourage you to take action in your life.

He is an extraordinary writer. His writing style is frank, informative, and engaging. Follow him, read him, and wait for his next story.

As the end of the year approaches, it’s coming to that time we all love to hate. The day your manager is required to call you into a room and have a somewhat awkward conversation. Yes, I’m talking about the annual performance review.

As you look through notes, try to recall the goals you set months ago, feeling the need to justify your actions to continue getting a paycheck. But when was the last time you benefited from the review process?

2. Innovate Your Business Out of a Recession

Paul Myers MBA is a top writer in business, leadership, entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation.

He is somebody you should follow if you like to learn about business and leadership. I have selected many of his stories in the Top 10. Do check his other work.

The best approach to a recession is to innovate your way out of it.

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” — Brene Brown

Many companies cut back, slashing costs, curtailing the very essence of creative thought. Free spending, as if there was no recession, is a risk too as you could run out of cash. So focused investment guided by innovative data-led opportunities is the best approach.

A zero-spend strategy gifts your competition an advantage. Market players can steal your customers if they release the next generation of products or services as your business stands still.

1. What’s The Secret To Achieving Your Must-Have Outcomes?

Randy Wolken writes to educate and inspire. He is the President & CEO of MACNY — The Manufacturers Association with over 300 company members in New York State.

He is also an outstanding writer. His writing style is pleasing, direct, and very engaging. If you read this story, you’d like to check his other work as well.

We all have essential outcomes that we desperately want. These outcomes have the potential to make us healthier, wealthier, and wiser.

We want to be better versions of ourselves — or even change who we are now. How do we do that?

Lesson to Learn: How do outstanding individuals and organizations that have changed our world accomplish such incredible tasks?

Final Thoughts

If your story was selected as one of the Top 10, please share another one of your stories in the comments with a brief introduction and a short review that can convince a reader to read your piece. (Please write the review in the third person and start it with your name.)

I must have missed something today. I cannot read every story on Illumination and Illumination-Curated. Dr. Mehmet Yildiz, the Chief Editor and Founder of Illumination and Illumination-Curated read, highlighted, and applauded every story when he started his publications. He still reads almost all of the good ones. I try — and fail daily — to read all of the masterpieces.

Dr. Mehmet Yildiz has kindly allowed our top 10 series a full shelf on the front page of Illumination-Curated and Illumination:

So, help me to find and rank the best work of the writers of Illumination and Illumination-Curated.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

To improve your chances of success as a writer, read these curation guidelines.

You can read my curated stories here.