Blogging can often be a case of feast or famine. Sometimes you’re struggling for content inspiration, while other times you have so many ideas swirling around your head that moving forward with any of them is difficult. I usually fall into the latter group; I find it hard to switch off, so I constantly have ideas popping into my head all competing for attention. It can be quite the party! I’m not talking here about your daily to do list, the posts you have committed to write or the projects you are being paid to work on. I’m talking about your ideas for things you want to write or change on your blog; your projects ideas and dreams.
Commonly what happens when you find yourself overflowing with ideas, is that you do nothing, apart from maybe surf Facebook…. You become paralysed from action by the fear of picking the wrong project/idea to progress with, which is frustrating and not very productive!
Although you haven’t chosen your idea, your brain in trying to process all of your ideas at once (to some degree). It’s doing too much and splitting focus to the extent of inactivity. The answer? Follow these steps;
How to choose a direction when you have too many ideas?
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Write a projects list
This list isn’t your todo list of tasks you must do. This is a list of all of the projects you want to start and tasks you might like to do.
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Write a post/content list
Get all the the post ideas out of your head and onto paper (or screen).
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Then think about your goals – current and long term
If you’re a visual person write these down too. Are you trying to increase your readership?, monetise more effectively?, collaborate with others?; what do you want to near and long term future to hold for your blog? Now go through your lists and see which project/idea fits with these goals. Every project you commit to and give your time to, should be moving you forward towards your ultimate goals.
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The motivation behind each idea
Think about the why for each of your ideas. Why do you want to do that particular project? Jumping on a current trend? You feel it’s something you would love to share? To make money? What’s the driving force behind each one? Make sure you are committing to projects that advance you towards your goals or that just make you happy. Avoid any that you are considering just because you feel you should do them.
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Sounding boards
Use your friends (even better if you have blogging friends!) or family as sounding boards. Discuss your ideas and see which ones they think have more potential. Sometimes it’s good to have fresh eyes on an idea to give another perspective.
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Which can you actually action now – resources/time
Be realistic, you might have some amazing ideas, but you don’t have to implement them all right away. Maybe further down the road you will have the time that a particular idea will need or maybe you need some resources that you don’t have access to right now. So for these ideas, maybe now’s not the right time for them to come to fruition. Work with what you have right now, the time and resources you have available to you at this present time.
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Devise a longer term plan to incorporate the best ideas
The other ideas needn’t be forgotten about, no if they’re good then pop them onto a long term content plan and revisit them in the future. Writing them down and allocating time to revisit them will mean you are more like to actually do that and make them work; plus they will not be taking up valuable headspace any longer.
So write your lists, think about your goals, use your community, assess the practicalities, but at the end move forward and take some action.
Do you find yourself with too many ideas whizzing round your head? Ever feel procrastination makes it difficult for you to move forward and choose a direction?
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