How To Keep Coming Up With Ideas For Content

Oh my god, I can go even faster.

Oh-

Okay.

Oh, god. I think I’m going to be sick.

Hey, it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be if you want to create a business and life you love and I think that you do. This here shindig is called Q&A Tuesday, and this question comes from Ms. Chelsea and she writes, “Hey Marie, thank you so much for all that you give to us constantly. I watch every Tuesday,” thank you, “And one question I have is how do you always come up with all this great content? Do you ever have days when you just feel uninspired or like you don’t have anything new to say? And if so, how do you still give us constantly great episodes of MarieTV? I send my people a weekly newsletter too, but I’m afraid of uninspiring days or future days where I won’t have much to say or will have covered all the topics that I can think of. Do you have any tips for how you keep your well from running dry? Love, Chelsea.”

Chelsea, I was so excited to see this question for a lot of reasons. First of all, I think everybody can relate to this. I certainly can. I think anyone who creates anything fears the well running dry. We’ve all had that, “Oh crap,” moment. “I’m totally done, I have nothing else to say, everything’s been done already, and everything I create from this moment forward, of course, is going to be crap.” Now, if you’ve ever felt this way, whether you’re an artist or another type of creative, or you’re a business owner like me who has to create content week after week, this is the episode for you. So, I’m going to answer this question in the framework of what I do, which is creating content for this show, my weekly newsletter, my blog, you know, all that online jazz. (singing)

Oh, sorry. That’s what happens every time I say, “Jazz.” Now, the first thing I want to say is I am not some creative super hero despite these tights. Notice I haven’t taught you anything yet that’s because tip number one, or shall we say, tip number dumb, is do dumb shit. I mean, I just did like five dumb things and as far as I’m concerned, the dumber the better. Giving yourself permission to be dumb is actually a really smart way to activate your creativity. I say, find a dumb buddy and get stupid together. Here’s my dumb buddy. She’s the dumbest bitch I know. In fact, she made me say that and she’s making me sing this song right now. (singing)

[inaudible 00:03:12] Dumb Buddy not for sale in stores. Get your own damn Dumb Buddy.

How dumb was that? Now, I’m not necessarily saying you should be silly in your content if that’s not true to your brand, but being silly while you’re creating? Now, that can really open up some new ideas.

Tip number two, the magazine rule. Retreading old ground is not a sin. Now, when it comes to content creation, you got to remember, A, not everybody saw that blog post you did back in 2011. B, if they did, they probably don’t remember it as well as you do. And C, people like to revisit the same topics again and again. Now, I’ve been doing MarieTV for years now, and on Q&A Tuesdays, we revisit the same themes all the time. You’ll also see this in the magazine world.

Now, I’ve been a subscriber to O Magazine for years and I love it. But check this out, declutter your life appears on three covers. I don’t get mad at O Magazine because I’m happy to read that again. I always need to declutter something in my life. And you know what? You see repetition in every facet of the art world. I mean, Georgia O’Keefe painted those vajayjay flowers over and over, and sitcoms use the same basic storylines, and Taylor Swift is always singing about breakups, and rappers are always rapping about the party and then the after party and then the party after the after party and then the hotel lobby.

Tip number three, and this is my biggest tip of all, it’s a mantra I use for a bunch of things like money and love and ideas, and yes, it’s today’s tweetable. When it comes to creativity, there’s always more where that came from. Now, if you’re more spiritual, let me remind you of one of my favorite quotes from my friend Maryanne Williamson, “God’s the water and you are the faucet.” This is awesome, so you don’t get it twisted and think that all of your brilliant ideas are coming from you. It requires a little bit of creative surrender and to get your ego out of the way so a higher power can come down and work through you.

So, before we wrap up, I just want to tell you, I so relate to this question. There are so many times when I feel like I have nothing else to say here on MarieTV. So, to help you and to help all of us, I’m going to do something a little different today, and I want to continue the teaching part of this episode in written form right below this video. Thank you so much for that question, Chelsea. Hope it helps. Now, I would love to hear from you. When you’re feeling creatively tapped out, tell me three go to strategies that always work for you. Now, if you want to share more than three, that is awesome. But please make them as specific as possible.

As always, the best discussions happen after the episode over at the wonderful land of marieforleo.com. So, go there and leave a comment now. Did you dig this video? If so, subscribe to my channel and share it with your friends. And if you want even more awesome resources to create a business and life that you love, plus some personal insights from little old me that I only talk about in email, get yourself over to marieforleo.com and please signup for email updates.

Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams because the world needs that special gift that only you have. Thank you so much for watching and I’ll catch you next time on MarieTV.

Ah, yes. Yes, my little Dumb Buddy. Soon, this will all be ours. Take a look, it’s yours and mine. You’re so beautiful, so dumb. Marie played right into our hands didn’t she? Right into our pretty little hands.