You need to break the ICE age to become a successful content creator!

“The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination.”

–Carl Rogers

This article is my 170th. Yes, compared to people like Tim Denning, I am like an atom in his universe of creation.?

It is my 170th article for the 170th week (almost) straight. I am not the best writer out there. However, I am a disciplined writer who loves the consistency of doing more than the output itself.

The fact that I have written for 170 weeks straight is not really why you should read this article. That is just my vanity metric.?

That is not the destination. A successful journey is one of transformation. With transformation comes growth. And with growth come rituals and habits that help you enjoy the process more than the product.?

Now I can sit each Saturday, from 2:00 PM to 04:00 PM, while ùmy two sons are napping. I put my writing playlist on Spotify, and I hit the road of writing an article.?

Did you know that I have a website??

Well, feel free to pay me a virtual visit at www.madception.com. Yes, this article is sponsored by me.?

Why am I shamelessly plugging my website here?

Well, it has everything to do with my journey as a writer. Here I am. I have a beautiful website. I want to populate it with content.

I have all articles on LinkedIn and Medium. And from all the top writers, including the two Tims, Tim Denning, and Tim Ferriss, I have learned one thing. That is, you are on rent on any platform that is not yours. You do not own your audience, be it LinkedIn, Twitter, Medium, or Youtube. Therefore, you can be banned without the ability to get the mailing list of people following you.

That is why you should do like the two Tims: build a mailing list you own, independent of any platform. That is the only way to “own” your audience.

Well, I am digressing a little bit. Let’s get back on track. I have a website. I want to put content there. I have already written 160 articles at that point.?

My idea was simple: revisit, curate, and publish those articles on my website.

Well, I cringed when I started reviewing my first article. It was full of grammatical errors and even more typos. That trend has been plugging the 25 articles I transferred to my website. And I am sure that it will be the same for my first 100 articles.

You see, I have been growing as a writer and a storyteller for the past three years. As a result, I have equipped myself with tools and methods to help me write better.

That is what I want to share with you in this article. But first let’s pay a visit to my old friend: the writer Mad from three years ago.

How was my writing process??

I would just sit down. I would like to think about what to write. I would write. Not only was I writing, but I was also using Google Docs to edit my writing simultaneously.

I would spend twice as much time as today writing half-baked articles. Yet I was proud of just starting to write at that time.

How is my writing process today?

This article is the fifth draft of my bank articles. It will be published five weeks from now. And I can spit a thousand words in any environment.?

As I write this article, my two sons just woke up from their nap. I am still writing. No pressure.

Yes, that is the power of everything I learned and implemented during my last three years of writing.

Grab a piece of paper and get ready to get the best hacks about writing that you will learn today.?

By the way, the process I am sharing can be applied to any content creation field beyond writing articles.

Read until the end: I will share a bonus tip. You don’t want to miss it.

HERE ARE THE THREE HACKS TO YOUR BREAKTHROUGH FROM THE ICE AGE TO YOUR GOLDEN CREATION AGE.

I use the ICE method in my content creation workflow:

1. Ideation,
2. Creation,
3. Editing.

1. IDEATION - The first mistake is not having a bank of ideas to pick from when creating content. Instead, you should find a way to capture ideas on the fly while consuming content.?

I use the Google Keep app on my phone. There is the equivalent Notes app for iPhone users. My Google Keep app is my second brain, inspired by the eponymous book from Tiago Forte.

I put on that app not only ideas from the content I consume. It is a dump for my brain about shower thoughts and any other Eureka moment.?

That means that by the time I sit to write my article, I have already done 80% of the work. Well, my subconscious has already done the heavy lifting.?

Create a second brain if you want to be a successful content creator. You can even dedicate some time in your calendar as ideation moments to get even more creative.

2. CREATION - You should never mix ideation with the creation and even not creation with editing. I will come to that second part in the next section.?

If you have appropriately explored, you have many ideas to pick from your second brain. And you are ready to write.

There is nothing such as a creator block. There is just laziness and procrastination when it comes to content creation. Well, that is not entirely true. We all have different levels of creativity. But jokes aside, the following hack is the best way to fight creator block.?

Dedicate a space and a location to write. It is all about creating a ritual to prepare your brain to be in creative mode by the time the (digital) pen hits the (screen) paper.?

Yes, initially, it helps to block a writing slot in your agenda. You can even dedicate a specific place for your creative endeavor to your home or office.?

That is just half of the rituals. You can curate a playlist explicitly dedicated to writing. There are plenty on Spotify. Just Google it.

Then you can train yourself to minimize the number of rituals you need to write. You could try writing in the same spot at different times. You could move to a new spot at the same time. You should not have so many prerequisites to your creative process that they create friction.

Don’t multitask. Just invite your creative self to the table of content creation. Then, build (not too many) rituals to let that creative know they will be summoned.

3. EDITING - That is the biggest mistake many creators make. They create and edit at the same time. You should not. Well, unless you are a video editor. Then it would make sense.?

Creating and editing are two different skills that should not be distinct. It is like ice and fire. When you are creating, you are on fire. When editing, you are taming that fire to cook your meal and not burn the ingredients. You are an ice-craft person.?

“Kill your darlings!” as said by Stephen King, one of the most prolific and influential writers of our modern times.?

When editing, you should remove anything unnecessary to convey the story. Make it short. Make it slim. Rip it off from the unessential.

What tools do I Use to break the ice?

I use Google Keep on my phone and laptop to capture ideas. Sometimes I also send myself some links in Whatsapp. That is another hack. You can share stuff with yourself on Whatsapp.?

For creating content, I use Google docs. That has many advantages. First, nothing is lost if you accidentally close your browser or hit the wrong keyboard. Secondly, posting directly on social platforms means you cannot retrieve the content easily, or it can be lost if you no longer have access to that platform.?

For editing, I first used the spell checker on Google docs. Then I use Grammarly to edit like a maniac. There are many other alternative free softwares. Again just Google it. You can even use chatGPT, I have heard.?

ONE MORE THING…BONUS TIPS

Build a backlog of content before your first publication. As I said, I have four articles in my backlog of publications. So I have dedicated time to write an article. Then, I let it rest for four weeks. After that, I came back to edit it. Then I publish.

Create rituals that help you grow daily. So often, we see artists perform, and we think we can never do what they do. They are just insanely disciplined, and they train every day. I write an article only 2 hours per week. Yet I have been journaling twice a day for the last four years.?

That is what is helping me fight the creator's block.?

Make sure to practice your skill daily. Process outperforms perfection consistently.

Yes, I have only written 170 articles. Yet I have become a better writer. I have grown as a storyteller. I am building a community around me.

Now all I need is to build my mailing list! That is another story!

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You can read my previous article on Here is the new CPR that will keep you going: Can you breathe?

Photo by Vlad Che?an from Pexels