The weird way I generate content ideas

I take our youngest son to hurling and GAA football training on Saturday mornings at the local GAA club.

For my American readers, hurling is an Irish sport, like stick and ball.

We’re from the same town as Paul Mescal.

(Google “Paul Mescal GAA”)

Because I’m in the midst of a mid-life crisis, I’m also training for a long-distance triathlon in Roth, Germany, next July.

So I’ll go for a two-hour run in the Phoenix Park in Dublin. Or I’ll spend an hour or two stuck on a turbo trainer while listening to electronic music at the side of our house.

Occasionally, I go to the pub on Saturday night, but hangovers and triathlon training get on like oil and fire.

Years ago, I believed I needed perfect silence and a blank document to create. I don’t have much time to sit at my computer over the weekend.

And yet, work conundrums and ideas still pop into my head when I’m an hour into a long turbo session or a run. Or when I put away the shopping on Sunday afternoon.

When that happens, I take out my iPhone and bang in a few notes about what’s on my mind. On Monday morning, I’ll review these notes, link them up and flesh them out with a few other ideas. I’ll turn a few into daily emails like this one or other content for my socials or offers.

Your mind is like a garden where ideas sprout randomly - harvest them when they appear, not when it is convenient.

To do it, capture an idea or write a little every day. Those are seeds for the week ahead, even if it’s only a voice note or a few bullet points banged into Apple Notes. Create like this, and you’ll never be short of emails to write, articles to publish and posts to share.

I call this little writing, and it’s a key part of my content creation system.

My system contains a few other moving parts I haven’t explained (one of them is based on the finest principles of German engineering!).

If you want to learn more about building a content creation system in 30 minutes a day, reply with the word “GAA”. I'll send you details about a proven writing system that has been used for over 150 years. I couldn't imagine running my business without it.