What do I write about today?

Hi Storytellers!

Long time no see. I took last week off to rethink business priorities for the next few months. Here I am, full of energy, so let’s jump straight into this week’s deep dive.

I’ve had a few conversations about using storytelling to build a personal brand on Linkedin. As many of you know, building a brand is not an easy task. It requires time, patience, and effort without immediate return.

That’s where the problem lies. “I know I need to write and publish consistently, but what do I write about? I don’t have so many ideas and stories. I’m not that interesting. Is this worth my time?”

So much to unpack there. Today, I’ll show you how to make writing and building your personal brand sustainable and, dare I say, fun.

Ready? 💥

There is a common misconception that for an idea or story to be interesting, it must be out of this world. It must be original and include huge turning points so that people listen to it in awe.

The reality is there are dozens of stories worth telling happening to us every single day. We just don’t notice them.

The power of stories and ideas doesn’t lie in their uniqueness but in their relatability and usefulness. In showing a different way of thinking about everyday moments from work or personal life. If you talk about something your audience can relate to, it will build a connection.

You don’t need to go on an exotic holiday, jump from an airplane or build a million-dollar business to share good stories.

But if you talk about what raising kids taught you about empathy, listening, and creativity. Boom! 💥

So, how can you prime your brain to come up with great ideas and keep track of good stories?

I got you covered 👇

Systems for story capturing and idea generation

You might have guessed it. Everything comes down to building a system and space that allows you to write down ideas and stories as they come, not trying to ideate when you sit down to write.

Before we dive in, one important thing. To build a personal brand effectively, you need a strategy first. What are you trying to achieve?

Build a business and attract leads? Then connect with ideal customers and talk about their pains, struggles, and how to solve them. Post educational content that can help them and build authority. Reach out to them in DMs. Focus on getting clients, not likes.

Do you want to become a public speaker or publish a book? Build authority around a specific topic by sharing your opinions about it, and start conversations. Focus on building an audience and thought leadership.

You get the gist of it. Be clear about your why and what you want. Then prime your brain to come up with the right stories and ideas to share.

1. Build a story capturing habit

Matthew Dicks, in his book Storyworthy (by now, you may realize I love this book!) gives away a few tips on how to find stories in your everyday life.

• “Homework for life” - create a simple habit of noting down one story per day. Any moment that you find interesting from that day or from the past that you were reminded of. Use a simple Excel spreadsheet with a date and one line to note the story in as few words as possible. This way, you create a backlog of stories for rainy days when you don’t feel creative. You also train your mind to become sharper and spot small but important moments.

This might seem very basic, but it creates a powerful shift in your brain. In the beginning, you will struggle. The moments you’ll note down will be generic, and that’s OK. The point is not to use all these stories but to build the habit and have the option to pick when you sit down to write.

• “First Last Best Worst” - we can find very powerful stories when looking into the first or last time we did something and finding experiences that were either great or terrible. These carry the most emotions. This exercise is a perfect creativity booster. Just pick a prompt. It can be a job, meeting, boss, product - whatever you want to explore more and find (first, last, best, worst) memories connected to it.

• “Blood, sweat, tears” - stories of struggle and overcoming it are super satisfying to listen to, and they help build credibility and relatability. On one side, you admit you struggled, which makes you more human; on the other, overcoming it gains you respect from your audience.

Think back to your time as a child, teenager, in your first job, or in a leadership position. What have you wrestled with? What did it teach you?

2. Generate ideas to fight writer’s block

Ideas are peculiar things. They emerge after finding a connection between two things that don’t normally go together. 

For instance, I took the creative process of a Michelin Star Chef and drew lessons from it for building a compelling pitch. Two unrelated things make up for a surprising idea that stops people in their tracks. This process comes naturally to me today because I worked in advertising and trained myself to make weird connections.

You can train this ability, too! Every time you see an interesting expression, post, or video - save it for later. Build a swipe file of inspiration. It’s a lifesaver and a place where amazing ideas are born when you mix and match.

Another way to never get stuck on what to write about is “The Endless Content Idea Generator” by Ship 30 for 30.

Many of us suffer from the curse of knowledge. We believe that what comes easy to us today is something that everybody else knows already. We are blind to the biggest value we can bring to the world.

Here is how you can make this framework work for you:

1. Write down all the problems you’ve solved and topics you’ve learned about in the last 2 years. There will be at least 20 of them.

2. Pick 3 topics you’re the most interested in.

3. Add specificity by narrowing down the audience you write to. Who were you 2 years ago when you had this specific problem? A person who never invested money before but read a lot about it? Transitioning from marketing to product? Be as specific as possible.

4. Take your topics and generate headlines. There are 4 ways to talk about different topics:

• Actionable (here's how): 10 surprising and simple exercises to become a better speaker

• Analytical (here are the numbers): I spent 100 hours analyzing the hooks of the biggest Linkedin creators. Here are 5 frameworks bringing the highest engagement.

• Aspirational (yes, you can): 3 mistakes that held me back from becoming a great leader and how I fixed them (and you can, too).

• Anthropological (here's why): Why are we so afraid of public speaking?

5. Pick 3 ideas/headlines and start writing

Feeling less stuck on what to write next?

If you found today’s deep dive valuable, let others know, too!

Talk soon!

-Dominika