Why I Couldn’t Finish Writing A Single Post (Until listened to Mark Twain's advice)
I kept starting posts full of ideas and energy, but somewhere between the first line and the final edit, everything fell apart - and I couldn’t figure out why.
I’ve started and never finished so many posts and articles.
I have three major problems when creating content:
I obsess about being helpful - I delete half-written posts because I think they’re not helpful enough.
I want to be original - I keep hunting for something no one’s ever said.
I want to be myself - Creating is my self-expression, and what I share matters more to me than what performs.
If you’re like me and struggle with any of these you’ve probably found that you tend to struggle with sustaining output.
You’ve probably wasted hours like I have.
I was trying so hard, I lost myself to the struggle.
I needed a way to break that cycle, so I’m breaking down how I manage output, stay true to myself and be useful.
….But before I explain my new workflow, I had to accept what my real issue was…
I have originality anxiety.
Originality anxiety is the fear that your ideas aren’t unique because someone’s already said them.
It’s a common feeling among writers and artists who worry about repeating what’s been done before.
Writers from T.S. Eliot to Harold Bloom struggled with it too — proof it’s normal.
It’s been crippling. I kept chasing something new to say in a world already full of 100,000 posts or articles on everything.
It’s hard to say something new with 20 years of the internet behind you.
This quest for being original spread into not just what I wrote but how I wrote it. I obsessed about my brand voice to the point where I couldn’t even get it right.
This meant a post would take an hour - which is totally unsustainable.
I’m a business owner, I can’t invest an hour in one post.
I stumbled on this quote:
Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about. - W. H. Auden
So, I had to find a way to rethink how I created because this wasn’t working.
Become An Editor Of Your Thoughts
Mark Twain solve the problem for me.
It’s something I’d known but didn’t know, if you get me.
There is no such thing as a new idea. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. - Mark Twain
In Twain’s quote, the “mental kaleidoscope” is a metaphor for the human mind.
Just as a real kaleidoscope takes the same coloured bits of glass and, by turning it, creates endless new patterns, the mind takes existing ideas and rearranges them into new combinations.
Twain meant that creativity doesn’t come from inventing something completely new, but from seeing familiar things in a fresh way.
If Twain didn’t worry about it, I don’t need to either.
I need to put my topic though the kaleidoscope of me, my thoughts and experiences.
My New Content Creation Workflow
So, I had to build a process do this and make it quick and sustainable.
So my new rules…
Stop worrying about originality
Say what I feel about the topic
Share what matters for the audience
So here is how I do it now…
Scroll LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit and Answer The Public
Instead of sitting trying to think of what to say, I bounce off what has already been said. This eliminates blank page paralysis.
I look for:
What my audience is consuming or asking
What gets high response or interaction
What I feel strongly about
If I get a few ideas, I have a google chat and send links to myself for future writing ideas.
Voice record my thoughts on that piece of content
I quickly learned that drafting is where I am most likely to revert into overthinking. So, rather than write them out, I talk them out. I use an app which records and transcribes.
I record….
What I agree with
What I disagree with
What my experience has been
Any tips that worked for me
Make my post / article from my voice note
The transcript can quickly be turned into a draft with AI which I can edit.
Paste the transcript into AI
Ask it to tidy it up
Improve the hooks
Edit it and add CTAs
Create my visual asset
This process has massively increased my output and at the same time helped me to improve my content performance.
I’m now able to output far more content in less time and I’m tuning in to what matters to people. Instead of being a creator, I am editor of my thoughts.
My thinking was that I had to be original, when the reality is that originality is not declared by the writer; it’s discovered by the reader.
Recommend you try this.
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