It doesn't matter what kind of content you want to create. If you want to be able to call yourself a creator, you have to be able to create. Videos, posts, graphics, podcasts — whatever have you. But there inevitably comes a point where you want to make something good, and this is like poison for the creator because creativity and pressure don't mix well at all.
Why am I trying to teach you about content creation when I'm not even a big influencer myself? Fair point — and you're free to disregard everything I say. But like my business coaching, I'm not interested in getting you big numbers. If you want maximum followers, you have other teachers who are more effective for that purpose.
The Blocked Creator Problem
For the goal of creating from a happy place, you first need to be able to catch a moment of inspiration and convert it into an output. Why is this a necessity? Let me show you what happens when you can't.
When you can't convert your ideas into output, the idea goes into your brain's backlog. This isn't going to be a one-time incident — you will likely be backlogging ideas over and over.
What happens when ideas get tangled is, even if you are able to output something, it will feel incomplete. There is output, but you can feel there's so much more stuck inside. Even worse, the tangled ideas will make it difficult for you to be clear about your own thoughts. How many times have you lost track of your own thinking while expressing something? That's a telltale sign of blocked outputs.
Skill #1: Capture and Release
The first skill to build over any other is the ability to capture inspiration and convert it into output as soon as possible. This is what I call microposting.
The more you express something and convert it into output, the clearer it becomes in your head — because you're able to observe it from an outside perspective. This is why study guides help you study, why classes exist. Ideas communicate through external means, and that communication includes you-to-you communication.
A difficulty with this skill will be perfectionism. You will not be creating polished outputs. You'll likely be creating short bursts of unorganized thoughts — and that is precisely the point. If you can't even output those, how do you expect to output organized, well-produced thoughts?
Skill #2: Maintain the Flame
Only after you're confident and easy-flowing with Skill #1 can you contemplate the second skill: the ability to capture inspiration and maintain it.
What happens as you build Skill #1 is, you'll want to elaborate just a little more. You'll want to explain, add a bit more color. And then — boom — inspiration has slipped away.
If you work on maintaining inspiration without the ability to express at all, you'll build a habit of inability to express — and it will actively work against you. This is why the order of skill development matters. When you trust that you can output things with ease, holding onto inspiration becomes natural because you can press "submit" at any time.
Skill #3: Create Without Inspiration
The third skill is the ability to be independent of inspiration. You sit down to express your idea to its fullest potential because you clearly see that you are not doing it justice by keeping it inside your brain.
By this point, you have so many different outputs already in the world — they all help you fully materialize your idea. The internal pressure you've built over the past days gets you to continue working on it until it is sufficiently expressed.
The difficulty in developing this skill is focus and stamina. Skills #1 and #2 both develop your ability to press submit. But you also need the endurance to sit with a piece long enough to finish it — and then still press submit. Without both, you'll create your wonderfully fleshed-out idea and not be able to ship it.
This is where Buddhist practices come in. Practices like meditation and prostration are designed to foster exactly focus and stamina. By constantly challenging yourself with voluntary, humanly possible activities, you build the ability to consistently bring your focus back. What would have taken old you three months gets done in two days, because you're that focused and not drained.
The Three Skills Are Not Sequential
Last word of advice: you are not applying these skills in a sequential way to never regress. You will continuously exercise Skill #1 while doing Skill #2. You'll be doing #1 and #2 while doing #3.
You're constantly going to either ride the wave of inspiration or have something developed far enough to sit down and complete. This way, content creation can be truly effortless.