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Welcome to episode 161 of the Content Creation Made Easy podcast!

I’m your host Jen Liddy, and I have to admit that since the end of January, I’ve been struggling with too many ideas.

Maybe that seems weird to use the word “struggle” with “too many ideas”

But here’s the thing:

I wanted to do about a MILLION things this spring, and all of them were percolating all winter at the same time.

Swarming in my head, creating a cluster instead of clarity.

Which made it feel like I’d be doing ZERO things this spring because I couldn’t get any of it out of my head. 

I was anchored down by too many ideas - which is just as bad a zero ideas - because either way, I’m not being productive in moving toward some purpose.

Has this ever happened to you? 

The strategy I always use with my clients is to start with the end in mind:

I teach them to consider what they’re promoting next month? What’s the PURPOSE of their content? What do they want it to DO FOR THEM?

When we know this, THEN we can easily plan our content in advance.

I actually use this strategy whenever I want to do anything, I start with the end in mind: asking myself what do I want to accomplish? How do I want it to look? 

THEN, I can easily create a plan.

If I didn’t know WHY I was creating content, I sure as shit wasn’t gonna create it just for the sake of it.

We are either focusing on building an audience, nurturing our audience, engaging with our audience, or converting our audience into customers & clients.

We can’t do all of it at the same time, and my brain wanted to do all of it at the same time.  

I walked around feeling both energized by all the ideas I was having and all the directions I could go…

And exhausted by it because I couldn’t get it down on paper. It was like I was buzzing, full, and pregnant with something I couldn’t nail down.

So I had a great idea - to take myself to Florida. Get out of the misery of 5-degree Syracuse, where we’re bombarded with snow & I’ve already slipped on the ice TWICE this year.

TWICE!

I told myself I could sit outside & relax & listen to the ocean and ALL THE IDEAS will simply FLOW because I’ll be relaxing.

Go ahead & put air quotes around relaxing, because when you’re that pregnant with an idea, relaxing doesn’t happen.

I also somehow expected that simply sitting by the ocean, on my ass with my computer in my lap, that I’d get immediate clarity & relief. 

The Universe must’ve had a giant laugh at my plan because that’s the OPPOSITE of what happened. 

I sat outside. I listened to the waves crash. I marveled at how many personalities the ocean has in a day.

I expected SO MUCH from myself because, “DAMMIT! I’m relaxing! LET THE IDEAS COME!”

I’m pretty sure I don’t have to explain to you the reality of my rage & resentment at myself.

My self-disappointment consumed me. I was irritated with my brain. Every day in Florida was a battle to sit with my laptop or just go freakin’ enjoy the town.

To push through or just do what felt like giving up. 

I compromised. I’d do half & half. Well, not even half & half. I’d spend ¾ of the day “working” and the other ¼ biking, walking, sleeping, or eating.

And I was calling it “fun”. What a bullshit artist. 

My ideas were too unclear to gel and there were too many of them to sort through.

But still I sat at my stupid laptop, in front of the ocean, insisting in my brain that I was having fun & relaxing.

Nothing made sense in my head, on paper, or on Google docs.

On the last day, I silently screamed FUCK IT and put my computer away. I read. I learned how to WORDLE. And I rode my old lady touring bike all over Vero Beach…fantasizing about life in a beach town.

Travel days are brutal (especially now), and instead of expecting myself to work on the plane, I listened to podcasts, watched The West Wing (I never saw it), and read.

Wednesday morning I woke up back at home in Syracuse, and the frustration was GONE. 

I sat at my computer, and EVERYTHING I’d been trying to gel finally came together.

The programs I want to share. 
The collaborations I want to participate in.
The free training I’m lining up for you.
The content needed to make it all work.

BOOM. It just all got clear.

It’s like I needed to have a breakDOWN before I could have a breakTHROUGH.

This is not the first time this has happened. I’ve experienced this before, many times.

But each time, I forget. 

I forget that the irritation & panic (for me) means I’m about to give birth to a new thing, idea, program, workshop, offer. 

WHATEVER - it’s always preceded by a lot of discomfort. 

Hmph. It occurs to me that being pregnant with my son was highly uncomfortable too, and I had to wait 9 months for his sweet face to arrive.

I guess 4 weeks isn’t so bad for a gestational period!

I wonder when I’m going to learn to trust myself - that the thing eventually gets out of my brain, but not until I dis-attach from it and give it space.

Do you ever panic about ALL the things you want to bring to life in your business? 

• The programs or products you want to bring to life.
• The website & About Me pages that need updating.
• The new lead magnet you want to create - plus the welcome sequence
• The course you’ve got living in your head that you want to sell

^^These are the things that feel beyond the scope of the everyday running of your business.

Not to mention the things we don’t have time for but know we need:

The pitches to be on other people’s podcasts you need to send.

The requests for reviews from clients you know you need to ask for.

I mean - when you consider the actual TIME it takes for something to gel in our minds…

And all the feelings we go through in dealing with THAT…

THEN we actually have to put it together! Make it happen. Do the planning. The writing. The tech

OY the TECH!

Then…marketing it!

OY the MARKETING!!!

THIS is why I created the Content Creator’s MasterMind. It’s a small group, high-touch program to help you MOVE THE NEEDLE on something in your business.

It could be as foundational as “I want to set up & create my entire content dashboard” to…

“I want to create a new lead magnet & all the welcome emails that go with it”.

That’s the kind of stuff we do in there. I have 3 spots available for our next cohort starting in May. 

I’m filling them now - and anyone who joins gets access to the Content Creator’s Studio for 5 months included!

Go to my website jenliddy.com and learn more about it right there.

Be patient with yourself when you feel overfull with ideas. Trust that they will reveal themselves when it’s time - and also, remember that pushing through never works (unless you’re giving birth to an actual baby. In my experience, pushing was necessary!)