A Simple System to Take Action on Your Content Ideas

There’s no shortage of content ideas.

It’s executing on those content ideas that causes the problem.

Hey, there’s a lot going on in that brain of yours. And it’s not easy to focus. But that’s what you need to do to move forward with an idea and make it happen.

Relax. You’re not alone. I’ve been there.

And I’ve found the best thing you can do is set up a system to move your content ideas forward. One. Tiny. Task. At a time.

Then you make progress on your content ideas without feeling overwhelmed.

But, this process starts with a commitment.

A commitment to write

Yes, you’re busy. But guess what? Everyone’s busy. Maybe you have other responsibilities, or you’re doing this on the side.

More likely than not, you’re procrastinating.

It’s easier to say you don’t have time. It’s easier to do something else. It’s easier to let lack of time be an excuse for not creating content.

But let’s be honest with each other. If you want to do something, you’ll find the time.

For example, I deleted all games from my phone. Why? I was wasting time. Time I could use to create. Can you find time you’ve been wasting?

Commit to writing. Then write.

Make writing easier with a folder system

A folder system breaks your process into shorter time investments. That means every found minute moves you closer to completion.

What’s a found minute? Time in the bathroom, standing in line, waiting at the doctor’s office. You know, the time you would have been squandering playing games. Use the time to focus on one idea and write.

Here’s how it works:

Brilliance strikes at unpredictable times, allow yourself to capture ideas on the go. Choose your favorite writing app, I use iA Writer on my idevices. Use whatever works for your preferences.

Then set up the following folders:

1. Ideas
2. Outline
3. Draft
4. Edit
5. Completed

Here’s how you’ll use each folder:

1. Ideas

Yep, you guessed it. Put your ideas here. Start a new document for each idea. Oftentimes, a potential headline suffices. A phrase or whatever captures your thoughts in the moment works just as well.

Next, use your found time. Pick an idea and move it to the Outline folder.

2. Outline

Here’s where you take your idea and break it into its component parts:

* Headline
* Intro
* Body/subheads (the who/what/where/when/why/how)
* Example/Objection
* Summary
* Next step

Create a doc with the above in your Outline folder so you can cut and paste the outline into the docs you move over from Ideas. (Not every post follows this format exactly. But it’s a good starting point and it’s good to know where the lines are so you can choose to paint outside of them.)

Use your found time to jump in and start creating your outline. It doesn’t matter where you start.

Once you’ve finished your outline, move your doc to the Draft folder.

3. Draft

Now write. Same process as above, pick a spot in your outline. Jot down your ideas. Don’t think too much about it. Get the words out. Don’t worry about what it looks like. It doesn’t matter. You can’t edit nothing. Get something down. Fill your outline with words, then move the doc to the Edit folder.

4. Edit

Okay, time to make some sense of the mess you’ve made in your draft. Make a point, be concise, and lively. Delete whatever doesn’t serve what you’re trying to say. Move things into their proper places. Say it better and in fewer words. Get rid of all that passive voice.

Guess what? You’re done. Better done than never.

5. Completed

Move those completed content ideas here and celebrate. Hooray!

Wait a minute? Isn’t this a way to trick yourself into writing?

Yes. You’re welcome.

You’re smart. Creative. And…easily distracted. Smaller steps makes focusing easier.

Focus moves you forward

Set up a system that gets you moving on those ideas. They’re good. But if they stay in your head…useless. Take advantage of found time to move toward completion.

You know what to do, right? Start using the system.

Go create your folders.

Thanks for reading!

D.
P.S. Go write something I can read. Share a link in the comments.