How I Wrote 200 Unique Blog Posts In 200 Days — A Formula For Infinite Creativity
Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.” — Steve Jobs
A few days ago, I posted my 200th blog post in the last 200 days.
It started with a simple goal. Write every day. Offer a cool bonus for opting into my list. Build a subscriber base. Turn it into a business. I’ve had modest success so far.
It happens so often. You start on a journey. You face twists and turns and discover something unexpected. I never sought a creativity formula. I stumbled into it.
I started my daily writing in December, 2016. I ran out of ideas after two weeks. Determined to keep my streak going, I sought another path.
A friend of mine recommended a seventy-six year old book on producing ideas for ad writers.
“A Technique For Producing Ideas” by James Webb Young, 1940
He championed a five step process. Two of the steps caught my interest. Combine ideas from your product with an idea from your general knowledge. Combining those two existing ideas results in creativity — a brand new idea.
I started with that and molded it into a new formula. This simpler formula benefits all aspiring creatives, not just ad writers.
Don’t let the simplicity fool you. It packs a lot of power. We’re taught to think that creativity is hard. We’re taught to think you need inspiration first. You don’t need complex systems or extreme effort. Inspiration is a byproduct of this process.
Here’s how it works.
Before You Begin
The first step is to create a content list. This list makes up the various lessons you teach or knowledge bits you share in your daily posts. Summarize them into tight descriptions you can reference.
You only do this exercise once.
Start with a list of twenty. This makes it easier in the beginning. Even with twenty, you can write unique stories every day for a year. My list is now over one hundred. I add a few new ones each week.
These are three examples from my list. I write about persuasion, marketing, creativity and writing.
Hope — Create hope when your prospect feels hopeless and you win devotion.
One big idea — The power of one big idea instead of many small ideas.
Don’t spoil their story — Fewer details are more persuasive because it’s easier to connect the dots.
Let’s get to the formula.
Life (Personal Or Business Experience) + CONNECTION + Knowledge Or Expertise = Creative Output
That’s a bit abstract. Let’s break it down step by step.
Step 1 — Do This Before Bed Each Night
Write down a list of ten to twelve personal or business experiences from your day. It could be a nasty email you get from a client. It could be a funny thing a friend tells you or even a conversation you overhear at a coffee shop. Every experience qualifies. Do not filter. We’ll get to that next.
Step 2 — Pick the experience that seems most interesting
Pick a few events or experiences from the list you created the night before. Select ones that seem most interesting.
Step 3 — Find The Connection
Next, pull up your content list. Run through the topics on your list and ask yourself these questions:
What is the connection between this experience and this topic? How are they related? Where do they intersect?
What do they share in common?
How does this real life experience prove or disprove this piece of knowledge or expertise?
This is the single most important step of the process.
The connection between life and knowledge creates your unique piece of work.
I’ll admit it. I still struggle at times. Finding the connection takes practice and a bit of effort in the beginning.
That effort has a reward. I’d swear a rush of those feel good chemicals pulse through my body every time it happens. It seems the more I struggle with finding the connection, the better the high.
The more you do this, the better you get at finding connections. You’ll start connecting things between life and knowledge on autopilot. It’ll force your content list to grow, improving your expertise along the way.
Step 4 — Write
You now have your personal experience, lesson and connection. With all the pieces in place it’s easy to craft five-hundred words.
There’s a few frameworks you can use to write. Here is the simplest.
Open with your personal experience. Use the connection to transition from the personal experience to the lesson. Deliver the lesson.
I vary that pattern on occasion but that’s the simplest way to go.
Examples You Can Model
I know it sounds heavy on theory. Here are a few examples of my own work to get you started.
Coffee Shop Example
Personal Experience: Overhearing a woman complaining that her boyfriend ignores her.
Lesson: Product owners or business owners fall in love with their product. It blinds them to obvious flaws.
Connection: Just like love blinds us to flaws in our relationships, love of their product blinds business owners to obvious flaws in their business.
Employee Exploit Example
Personal Experience: I ran into an old friend. In conversation, she mentioned her company invented the term professional day to avoid paying her overtime.
Lesson: Creating a label, giving something a name gives it a feel of legitimacy. It makes it feel concrete.
Connection: We create “fiction” with the intention to persuade all the time. The employer created the professional day to extract unpaid work from contract workers. Marketers create their own “fiction” (labels) to sell products and ideas.
I have two-hundred examples. If you need more, ask me in the comments.
That’s all there is to it. Here’s the formula summed up for easy reference.
Do This Once
Create your content list.
Do This Before Bed
Write down your list of experiences and events.
Do This At Each Writing Session
- Pick out an event from your life list (personal or business experience).
- Review your content list. Ask yourself the three questions until you find a connection.
- Write.
- Edit and publish.
Take It To The Next Level
Need some extra muscle to spark your creativity? Get my free guide here.
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Direct Response Copywriter, Marketer, Startup Investor. Amateur Mindset. Professional Attitude. Get my best tools here. http://writtenpersuasion.com/
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