This post was guest blogged by Alex Shalman, who put together the Happiness Project with 34 A-list bloggers, and writes about practical personal development, communication, and productivity.
The first thing I thought when making the title of this post is that “I hope I don’t jinx myself.” See the things that I’m willing to risk to bring you guys great content? Actually I think I’m suffering from blogging diarrhea, as I’ve been writing and guest posting at least 3-4 posts each day lately.
In all seriousness though, I can’t even remember the last time I’ve had writers block! Each and every morning I jump out of bed at 6am (sometimes without an alarm clock) and get writing on my Dell Inspiron 6000 (I hope you think my writing is better than my laptop).
The Key Is Keeping What You Have
One of the keys to creating great content is to hold on to the content that you’ve already thought of. Sounds simple enough? I bet you don’t do this all the time though. I bet that sometimes you’re driving in your car, or sitting at a movie, and you think of an awesome article idea, tell yourself you will write about it later, and than forget it even existed. Am I right for some of you? Don’t worry I used to do this all the time, until I created my system for Never Losing A Great Idea Again that I’ll share with you here.
Great ideas are more valuable than gold. So why is it that we never throw away chunks of gold, but we have no problem with letting a great idea slip out of our grasp? ~ Alex Shalman
- Digital Voice Recorder. I find these to be so convenient when I’m out on the road, or walking around in the city. I get a great idea, hit record on my Olympus digital recorder, and I’ve got it saved for later!
- E-mail Yourself. You might be at work or at a friend’s house browsing John Chow or Alex Shalman dot com and get inspired. That happens to me all the time. I open up gmail, write down my idea, and shoot it over to myself for when I get home.
- The Moleskin. This is a new member of my Never Lose A Great Idea arsenal. I LOVE this thing, and it’s available anywhere on the internet and in most major book stores. It’s actually fun writing in this thing, and you can get a compact one to put in your pocket for when that great idea strikes.
- Notepad. I used to use Microsoft OneNote for EVERYTHING. It’s such a handy program that I highly recommend. Lately though I’ve been keeping my very strict daily schedule (more on this later), and my posts ideas on one simple Notepad file. The simplicity of it is what captivates me.
- Use It Now. One thing you can do with an idea is use it as soon as you get it. I’ve had times when I’ve woken up in the middle of the night with a dream for a great idea. I went over to my super amazing laptop and blogged it right then and there.
- Post Schedule. I have a posting schedule 6am-8am every morning. As soon as I wake up my brain turns into writing mode. I’ve been doing it like this every single day, with no fault, since February 1st, and now it just seems WEIRD for me not to get up and write. My brain knows that is has to be creative at this time. It took me about 3 weeks to fully settle into this schedule, but now I wouldn’t change it for anything, it’s perfect.
I’m sure the community here has plenty of more ideas on how to capture ideas, and I’m sure they have some very efficient methods that they use. So why not share it in the comments below? We would love to hear from you!