Your Writing Ideas Are Crappy— And That’s Your Superpower

The needle in the haystack is the best needle you’ll ever find.

“4 Reasons Why You Should Always Keep an Umbrella Handy”

That title and many others are on my phone right now. It’s a crappy title. I’m embarrassed it even popped into my mind. But that’s what separates the best writers from the mediocre ones — their willingness to come up with crappy ideas.

Let me explain.

I Used to Put All of My Eggs in One Basket

I challenged myself to write every single day for a year. So I had to come up with ideas every single day for a year too. Daunting, right?

I never thought I’d become an idea machine in less than a year. I always thought great ideas were the bread and butter of good writing, and while they still are, I was too afraid to come up with a bad idea.

I used to put all of my eggs in one basket. I’d spend the whole day pondering like Shakespeare to see which idea would captivate my audience the most. I acted as if millions of people were hanging onto my every word. Well, I have a news flash for you.

No one gives a damn!

No one cares about how long you’ve pondered over your writing idea. They just want to read some good shit. Putting all of your brainpower into one article idea is pointless.

You’re creating a never-ending pattern of brainstorming hell. You see, coming up with a really good idea is great, but doing it again the next day will put a damper on your spirits.

I put WAY too much stock in my ideas, making me hate the writing process.

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There’s a Hidden Benefit From Coming Up With 10 Writing Ideas Per Day

James Altucher created this exercise in which you come up with ten headline ideas per day. I tried it after I found out tons of my favorite writers do it. I’ve done it for a couple of years now and I’m impressed.

I come up with ideas much faster than I did before. Heck, I could come up with one on the spot if you asked me.

It wasn’t easy though.

I had to sacrifice perfectionism in the process. I had to let go of this unwavering fear of coming up with bad article ideas. I had to let my mind roam free instead of pondering over one idea I might not write about.

I come up with at LEAST five bad ideas per day. I’ll only have two bad ones if I’m lucky. That’s the hidden benefit of this exercise — it builds up your confidence to come up with terrible ideas every single day.

I’m numb to bad ideas now.

They happen all of the time. But I’ll always have at least one great idea among the crappy ones. Sometimes I have two or three. I can’t even write about all of them. They’re just flowing out of my butt at this point (hold the diarrhea).

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You’ll Be a Lot More Consistent When You Come Up With Bad Ideas

You get the gist.

More ideas mean more articles. You’ll have a never-ending stream of ideas you can use to your advantage.

Is there a possibility you’ll get burnt out?

Nope. I haven’t felt burnt out after practicing this new technique. I felt more burnt out with my old method. I put too many eggs into one basket when I should’ve just come up with more ideas about umbrellas to keep my brain juices flowing.

It’s better to come up with something, even if it’s stupid than to sit there with nothing on your mind.

Coming up with ideas is the golden quality of being a great writer. In return, you have to be willing to come up with horrible ideas. No one cares about what goes on in your brain. They only care about what they read on their screen.

Come up with ten ideas per day. Come up with a specific time to do it. Try coming up with ten as fast as you can. The more you do this, the better you get.

So tell me your idea right now.

Go.

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Can’t wait to meet you there! It’s gonna be loads of fun! :)