Have you ever bought a book promising "100 Ideas About X" and felt overwhelmed instead of empowered?
I've been on the receiving end of countless info dumps—courses, books, and programs that promised comprehensive knowledge but left me drowning in options. I'd read every single tip and every idea. But here's the problem: I wasn't diagnosing which ones I actually needed. I was just consuming everything, hoping something would stick.
That experience taught me one of the most important lessons about course creation: Don't create info dumps. Create focused how-to guides that achieve ONE clear result.
The hidden problem with "comprehensive" courses
When you create a course with 100 tips or cover every possible angle of a topic, you think you're delivering massive value. But here's what really happens to your students:
They get overwhelmed. Even if they're excited about your topic, they'll either try to implement everything at once (and fail) or get paralyzed by choice and implement nothing at all.
There's solid research on decision fatigue showing that the more decisions people make, the more exhausted they become. They start making weird, wacky decisions they'll later regret. You don't want to make your customer's brains tired and less effective.
Your job is to curate their options not expand them.
Why course creators fall into the info dump trap
I get it. There are two emotions that lead people to make giant courses:
I get it. There are two emotions that lead people to make giant courses:
1. Loss Aversion. You avoid making hard decisions about what to cut. It's like a cluttered garage—it's easier to just put something somewhere than decide to get rid of it. Cutting content feels painful.
2. Fear of missing out. You're afraid of missing sales. You think, "If I don't check all the boxes, some people won't say yes to my program. I should make it for everyone I can get every possible sale."
But here's the reality: Your course won't sell to everyone no matter what you do. And it's even harder to sell when it's watered down.
Research shows that the more things you say a product can do, the weaker people's belief becomes in its effectiveness. They tend to trust each individual benefit less when there is a long list—a phenomenon researchers call the "presenter's paradox."
A better approach: The diagnostic framework
When I created Profitable Playbooks for Writers, I interviewed over 20 successful creators. I realized I had the info dump problem myself—if I just listed all the interviews, people would read them straight through and then struggle to figure out which strategies they needed.
So I created the Five Areas Framework:
1. Content Creation - If it takes you two hours to write a short LinkedIn post, so you need to focus on getting more efficient at content creation.
2. Maximizing Content Value & Reach - Once you can create content efficiently, focus on getting it seen.
3. Growing Your Audience Faster - Now you're ready for authentic growth strategies.
4. Building Trust & Relationships - With an audience comes the need for deeper connection.
5. Monetizing More Effectively - Finally, convert that trust into income.
I gave readers clear "if-then" statements: If you're here do this. If you're there do that. This way, someone could easily say, "I'm not at level five, I'm at level one," and know exactly what to focus on.
The transformation: From drowning to succeeding
One of my clients came to me drowning in information about growing his business. Instead of adding a slew of more techniques to his toolkit, I got him focused on one skill: writing. Then we focused on one subskill at a time—idea generation, then outlining, then turning outlines into first drafts, then editing.
The result? He knew he was succeeding when even his wife, who was typically his strongest critic, was impressed by his writing improvement.
That's the power of focus over comprehensiveness.
How to implement focused course design
Here's your action plan:
Don't cut content—save it. You're not throwing ideas away like cleaning out a garage. You're saving them for your next course. This makes it psychologically easier to focus.
Offer a decision making framework. Give your students a principle or diagnostic tool that helps them decide what to do next.
Teach processes step-by-step. Like my process for teaching my client to write articles one skill at a time—each step built on the previous one with clear, specific instructions.
Focus on ONE clear result. It's so much easier to strongly appeal to a particular objective when you're not trying to be everything to everyone.
The bottom line
Your students don't want 100 ideas. They want the confidence that comes from mastering one thing well.
Stop creating encyclopedias. Start creating focused transformations.
When you help someone achieve ONE meaningful result, you've given them something far more valuable than a comprehensive library they'll never fully use.
Want to create a course without the usual overwhelm?
The Atomic Course Blueprint shows you how to create focused, results-driven courses that students actually complete. Instead of overwhelming them with everything you know, you'll learn how to give them exactly what they need to succeed.
Still here? Woohoo!
One thing you can do for me is reply to this email and tell me: What's one area where you've felt overwhelmed by too many options? Your response might inspire a future article.
