How To Come Up With a Year’s Worth of Content in One Day
For the days where you can’t think of a thing.
There are some days when you are simply overflowing with ideas.
One idea breeds another idea, and on the even better days, it’s almost hard to keep up with yourself.
But for many of us, most days are filled with crippling self-doubt and writer’s block. You are absolutely stumped. You convince yourself that you’ll never have a good idea ever again. None. Nada.
This is why it’s super important to have a bank of ideas ready for you to tap into whenever you’re lacking the inspiration or motivation to produce ideas on the spot.
Creating this bank of ideas can take a short amount of time if you really set-out to accomplish so. Push all other work aside, and don’t worry about writing anything today. Dedicate your time, energy and brain-power to a day of idea producing.
Unfortunately, we can’t always force ourselves to produce a brilliant idea on the spot, and our inability to do so can sometimes mean we go for days, weeks or months without producing anything new (or at least, anything good).
But if we take a day when we are feeling particularly inspired, we can use a designated block of time to be open to inspiration and ideas and, in turn, build our bank of content.
Step 1.
Prep.
Grab yourself a blank notebook — one of those real, tangible things. This is going to be your sidekick for the day, and for the year to come.
The act of actually writing, as opposed to typing, can unlock far more ideas. Longhand writing unlocks a part of your brain that can see those ideas through more thoroughly and comprehensibly.
Have a coffee or a tea, and get something into your stomach for some much-needed energy and fuel for your mind.
Today, you will write down every thought and idea that comes your way, even if it’s just a slither of a thing. For now, no idea is a bad idea.
Step 2.
Fuel your mind.
Spend the day seeking inspiration in a variety of places.
Read the news, read articles and opinion pieces, watch videos and TED talks. Read or watch interviews by your favourite writers, actors, sportspeople or the like. Scroll through the commentary of other people on social media posts. Be more present in your social interactions and office debates. Be more conscious of your own thoughts and feelings to see if they lead you anywhere.
Mix up the platforms but keep giving yourself new information to process. Write down all your ideas, thoughts and questions. If those ideas, thoughts and questions breed more of the like, document them too.
Step 3.
Remember to relax.
Only read and watch things that you’re actually interested, and do it because you want to rather than because you’re trying to find a nugget of gold in them.
Don’t go intentionally seeking ideas because this will hinder your subconsciouses ability to access them. You’ll feel to much pressure. Let your subconscious do the work for you.
So relax, enjoy the articles, be entertained by the videos, feel inspired by the interviews. Let the ideas and inspiration come to you, naturally.
Step 4.
Expand, expand, expand.
If you find that one idea breeds another, keep that flow going before you return to whatever you were reading/watching.
Even if that means that you fill up a page or two with ramblings, or the most magnificent prose you’ve ever written, see those ideas all the way through. Write out your ideas until your ideas tank returns to empty.
Something that triggers a landslide of ideas is what we’re seeking here, so when it happens, ride it out.
Also don’t assume that you’ll remember those ideas later. They may feel memorable now, but they won’t be in a few seconds time. I promise you. So document everything that comes to mind as soon as it does.
Step 5.
Take a break.
You need to give your mind a break — whether it’s by going for a run, watching a movie, going out with a friend or having a nap. Whatever task allows you to feel refreshed and rejuvenated.
You may even find that these tasks themselves trigger an idea or inspire a though.
Allow your mind to sit and ponder the new information you’ve processed today by taking a break from new input.
Step 6.
Review.
At the end of the day, read through your notes.
See if anything you’ve written triggers something else and plot them down too. If you’ve written something down that no longer makes sense, try to recall what you were trying to say, or draw a line through it.
The purpose of this step is to see if there’s any more juice you can squeeze from everything you’ve come up with today.
Step 7.
Highlight.
I find it super beneficial to grab 3 different coloured highlighters, and colour-code by:
- Seedling of ideas that are yet to be formed.
- Full-fledged ideas ready to be worked on.
- Full lines/paragraphs ready to be placed into a piece.
Step 8.
Organise.
However you choose to organise your notes is up to you, but now is the time to put them in an orderly manner for easy access down the line.
My personal favourite way to organise my ideas is to use the basic notes app, because it syncs through to my phone, work computer and home computer and allows me to access my ideas from anywhere.
I have a folder specifically for my articles, and open up a new note per article. Sometimes, I’m able to write a full article in 30–60 mins, but sometimes I need to go back to it over a few days if it’s not flowing naturally.
Take the №1 and the №2 type of ideas and pop them onto an individual note per idea. The seedlings can be written as they’ve come to mind — you can work on the title and actual content later.
Another step to organising your notes is to divide them by different categories/topics eg. Writing, Productivity, Relationships, Grief, etc.
Step 9.
Write.
Whenever you feel like writing but are strapped for ideas, you can now head back to your huge accumulation of notes.
The work you did in one day can help you for a long time to come, and continue to ensure that you have something to write about every day, even if you’re not able to produce ideas on the given day.
Final step.
You can continue to add to your notes every day, and you’ll find that your older ideas can bloom into bigger, better ideas. They can also pathe the ways for new ones.
The bank of ideas you’ve created today has established the foundation for future ideas.
This content bank will lift the weight from your shoulders, and eliminate the common fear of being unable to come up with new ideas.
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