Are you a creative type?
Do you always have oodles of ideas pinballing around in your head?
And do they pop in at the strangest times?
Same.
I’ve had some of my best ideas creep in when I’m out walking, or in the shower. I had a fab one recently while at my spinning class (which I managed to remember – much to my amazement), in between summit climbing, sweating and dying. And this blog idea came to me as I was making lunch yesterday.
Bizarre, isn’t it?
Quite a lot of the time, my light bulb moments usually happen when I’m researching or creating content for my clients. And sometimes these ideas are real beauties (even though I do say so myself!) and I just have to get them out of my head and written down somewhere.
What I’ve learned from these regular occurrences is that I can’t ignore these ideas. I have to seize the moment. I know that they whizz into my brain for a reason, and I need to use them.
So here’s some advice that I hope will help.
Write Your Blogs When the Urge Takes You
If you’re working on something else (even if it’s really important) and you have an overwhelming urge to write a blog (or does this just happen to me?), grab a pen and paper and make some bullet points so your epiphany doesn’t vanish forever. If you don’t have one, add them to the memo/notes app on your phone.
Want to know why?
Because when you write from a place of inspiration, energy and passion you get the best results. And you actually enjoy the whole creation process. And anyone who reads your blog will be much more likely to connect with it.
Respect Your Creative Flow
Okay, so on the flip side, I want to share my thoughts with you about blocked creative flow.
When you schedule in a couple of hours to write your blogs or your newsletters or your social media posts and open up a blank Word document, something mysterious happens.
Your creative juices, artistic flow, inspiration and ideas have all packed their bags and disappeared. You can’t for the life of you come up with something that’s even remotely interesting.
Yikes! Panic stations!
So you have a little scoot round your competitors to see what they’re writing about.
Fast forward 20 minutes. Hurrah! You’ve got a killer headline for your blog.
But then, boo! You can’t get past the introduction.
Want to know why?
Because you’ve got one eye on the clock and you’re trying to force your creative flow. And like a petulant toddler, it will not be forced.
But you’ve only got two hours to do this, then you’ve got a client call. This time was specifically carved out to do this so what the heck are you going to do?
And just to fire up that inner chatbox even further, you realise it’s been weeks since you last posted a blog and months since you sent out a newsletter and your Facebook page, well… don’t talk about your Facebook page.
What the heck can you do, then?
- Take a breather. Trying to squeeze out entertaining, quirky, funny content ain’t gonna work if you’re tearing your hair out over it.
- Go for a walk or do some exercise (or make yourself something to eat.
- Read through your blog archives and see if anything can be recycled.
When your creative flow thinks you’re ignoring it, things start to shift. And that’s precisely what you need.
One of the best things you can do as you go about your working day is to keep a notebook handy. Call it your ‘ideas’ notebook and always keep it in sight. So the next time you’re in a hurry to create some cracking content, you’ve got somewhere to turn.
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Michelle
