I Had Zero Content Ideas – Until I Did This

How to trigger an avalanche of ideas so you never stop writing

You know you need to create content consistently.

You’ve heard it hundreds of time. Blah, blah, blah.

But every time you sit down to write, your mind goes completely blank.

Today, you might think of me as the guy who publishes craploads of content. But I wasn’t always that guy.

A few years back, I was in the exact same boat.

I’d spend hours scrolling through other people’s content, hoping for inspiration that never came. I’d bookmark “content idea” posts, save templates, and create elaborate content calendars – all while producing absolutely nothing.

The problem wasn’t a lack of tools or strategies.

The problem was that I was treating content creation like a switch I could flip on and off whenever I needed it.

Writing is like a muscle

Wirting is not about talent or inspiration. But about conditioning.

Think about it like going to the gym. You wouldn’t expect to bench press 200 pounds on your first day, right? Your muscles need time to develop strength and endurance.

Writing works the same way.

The more you write, the stronger your “idea muscle” becomes. The more you exercise it, the easier it gets to generate thoughts, connect concepts, and turn random observations into compelling content.

When I started writing daily – even just a few sentences – something clicked. Ideas that used to hide in the corners of my mind started flowing. My brain began automatically looking for stories, lessons, and angles in everything I experienced.

Why? Because I started conditioning to write.

Write badly, write randomly, write about nothing – just write.

Sounds too stupidly simple? Shut up and try it.

Train yourself to turn anything into a piece of content

Your life is a goldmine of content ideas. You just haven’t learned how to mine it yet.

Every frustration, every small win, every random conversation – they’re all potential pieces of content. The trick is training yourself to see the lesson in your personal experiences and then tying it back to what matters to your audience.

Had a terrible customer service experience? That’s a post about how to do it right.

Struggled with procrastination this week? That’s content about productivity and self-discipline.

Got into a debate with a friend about something trivial? That’s material about perspective and how we all see the world differently.

I started carrying this mindset everywhere.

When something made me angry, excited, or confused, I’d ask myself: “What’s the bigger lesson here? How can I turn it into content?”

Your personal stories are better than AI-generated tips.

Because they make your content real, relatable, and impossible for anyone else to swipe. Stop thinking your experiences aren’t interesting enough.

They are.

Force yourself to sit down for 10 minutes

This is a stupid habit that worked wonders.

Every morning, before checking my phone or opening my laptop, I sit down at my iPad and write for exactly 10 minutes. No agenda, no topic, no pressure to create anything meaningful.

Some people call it morning pages. Some call it freewriting. I call it freevomiting.

Just vomit something onto a page.

I write about what I’m thinking, what I’m worried about, what I noticed yesterday, what I’m excited about. Sometimes it’s complete nonsense. Sometimes it’s complaining about the stupid delivery guy. Sometimes it’s an idea I want to implement in my business.

Buried in that stream of consciousness are always 1-2 ideas worth exploring further.

And then, I’m off the races.

The act of writing without pressure removes the mental blocks that usually stop us from accessing our best ideas. When you’re not trying to be clever or profound, your authentic thoughts have room to emerge.

Record everything

Great ideas don’t wait for when you decide to open a new Google Doc.

They hit you in the shower, during conversations, while you’re walking the dog, or right before you fall asleep. If you don’t capture them immediately, they vanish like smoke.

I always save my ideas on my phone.

There are two ways I do it. Number one, I either record my idea on the go with an app called Letterly, or I have a specific shortcut that saves any idea straight into a content idea folder.

These fragments might not seem like much, but they’re seeds. Later, when I’m looking for content ideas, I flip through these notes and almost always find something that sparks a full piece.

Turn old into new

Your best content ideas often come from revisiting your previous pieces that worked.

Look back at your posts that got the most engagement, the emails that generated responses, or the conversations that people still reference.

What made them work? What was the core message?

Now ask yourself: What other angles could I explore around this same theme?

If you wrote about time management and it resonated, you could explore:

• Time management for creative people specifically

• Why most time management advice doesn’t work

• The psychology behind procrastination

• How to manage time when you work from home

One successful idea can easily become 32 pieces of content.

You’re not repeating yourself. But going deeper and exploring different facets of something your audience already cares about.

Keep a running list of your wins and regularly mine them for new angles. Your audience will appreciate the depth, and you’ll never run out of material.