The Four Keystone Habits of Prolific Writers (And How To Develop Them)
Hello,
Welcome to April’s edition of Course Builder’s Corner.
Ever struggle to come up with ideas for articles, tweets and newsletters?
I have and I show you four habits that solve the problem in today’s article.
After reading, let me know what you think.
Rodney
Twelve men have walked on the surface of the moon but only one person is buried there.
His name is Gene Shoemaker.
He became famous for discovering the comet that would eventually hit Jupiter in 1993 along with fellow scientist David Levy. The comet was later named after the pair and called the comet Shoemaker-Levy.
But in 1997, Shoemaker was in a fatal car crash while on a research expedition in Australia. To reward his contributions to science, his ashes were brought to the Moon by the Lunar Prospector space probe just two years later.
Shoemaker would never have discovered the comet that bore his name were it not for a single habit -- that of observing the sky every night. Success in fields beyond science can also be attributed to useful habits and that includes the field of writing. I've observed four habits that writers use to produce great content consistently.
The four habits are ...
Idea spotting
Idea capturing
Idea exploration
Idea formatting
Let's begin with the first habit.
Idea spotting
Idea spotting is noticing when an idea catches your attention in your every day life.
You read an article, watch a video, or skim a book and an idea gets your attention. But it also happens when your mind wanders. An idea pops into your head seemingly out of nowhere. You realize you've had an insight.
Ideas can come to you as a result of conversations or they can be internally generated such as when you're in the shower or on a walk.
The skill here is to get good at noticing these ideas. Once you do, then you take the next step.
Idea capturing
Ideas are like butterflies. They are nice to look at but after a few moments, they fly away.
Don't let this happen.
Capture them before they're forgotten. That can be in a physical notebook or a notes app -- anything you can open in seconds. Lately I've been using Whisper app on my phone to capture thoughts on the go. I open the app, talk and the app transcribes what I say, then sends the information to Evernote. Of course if an idea is merely stored, nothing will happen.
So what will you do with those captured thoughts?
Idea exploration
Take the time to explore your notes. Connect them to other ideas, turn them over in your mind and question them.
I like using Nick Milo's questions "What does this remind me of?" and "Why is this interesting or important?" But any form in which you elaborate on your thinking is helpful.
And that leads us to ...
Idea formatting
Once an idea is mature enough, you put it into a simple form in which it can be shared with others. You choose a format and a medium that makes it as easy as possible for others to grasp your ideas.
For example, if you're sharing some how-to information the What, Why, How Framework is useful. I discuss that in detail here.
Here's how I went through the four steps recently
On LinkedIn I saw a post in which a reader who develops courses for a living complained that no one wants to learn the so-called "soft skills" especially those who need them most.
However, I saw the programs he was developing and I could see the problem.
They were all focused on the content the person would learn but not why they should learn it. I wrote a comment to discuss the idea and we had a nice-back and forth. Later, I realized this conversation was contained a good idea to write about in more depth. Step one Idea Spotting accomplished.
I then saved the comments I made in Evernote for review later. Step two, Idea capture complete.
Next, I asked myself a few questions such as "What are examples of this idea?" Step three, idea exploration begun (I won't say finished as ideas can be explored forever).
Finally, I decided to use a Curiosity-Formula approach to writing about the topic. That means I brainstormed the questions I would answer, put them in order, then answer them. You can see the final result here.
But what if I'm a paper and pencil guy or gal?
If so, that's not a barrier. Just make sure you have a place to store your ideas so you can find them later.
In the 90s and early 2000s, I used spiral notebooks to keep track of ideas as I developed them. Others use index cards. Don't let technology be a barrier. You can get started with whatever you are comfortable with.
Remember Gene Shoemaker? He co-discovered a comet. But he had a second claim to fame. He predicted that the comet he discovered would slam into Jupiter with such force that the resulting explosion would be visible with the human eye.
Other scientists disagreed.
However, on July 16, 1994 he was proven right. After spotting the comet, he wrote about it and explored the implications. The same thing each of us must do to fully express our ideas.
So after you notice an idea, capture it, explore it and then format it to share it with others. You never know what you might accomplish as a result.
Next
As you develop ideas for writing, you may decide to package your insights into a course.
To do that, you must first develop a Winning Course Idea.
But creating course ideas, let alone good ones, is far from obvious. You want to create something that will sell, help others and which you feel proud to create. Learn how to do that in my article “How to Create a Winning Course Idea.”