Are you judging yourself too harshly to create inspiring content?

Have you noticed how hard it is to write good content when you are down? Here are a few tips that work for me to reset my mind to write.

Often, the most qualified people hate talking about themselves, their skills, their differentiation, their services, and what makes them special.

No matter how many qualifications you’ve got, you can still doubt yourself and your knowledge and feel like an imposter.

It’s like looking into the mirror in the morning and saying to yourself “gosh, you look awful, you lack youth, vibrancy, charisma, knowledge, wisdom, toned abs…”

Where do you think, your day is going from here?

If you don’t have a mechanism that gets you back on track and help you see the knowledgeable, loveable, skilful, and amazingly capable person in the mirror, then it’s going to be hard to walk through your day with confidence.

And it’s going to be hard to create content that is inspiring others. It’s almost impossible to create inspiring content from a position of self-doubt and self-criticism.

I am not a mindset coach – I can only share what gets me out of my funk:

Tip #1 – Plan your month, week, day

I used to start my days without much planning because I thought that I know what I have to do. That my actions are pretty obvious and that it just did the general things between the scheduled meetings.

However, that time of “drifting” through my days didn’t lead to much progress but instead, I ended up with writer’s block and getting sucked into unfocused social media activities.

I would spend far too long scrolling, commenting on posts, reaching out to a few people, messaging, helping friends who were stuck…

Now, I have a Trello board that lays out the next goal I am working towards, the stages it takes to get there, and a general plan for each day of the week. (E.g. Mondays are my content creation days, and I have certain activities that I always do on each of the other days of my week.)

On the last Sunday of the month, I plan the next month. I set deadlines for things that I want to achieve in the following month and plan out every day as much as I can so that, at the end of the month I have progressed towards my goal.

That also allows me to start my days knowing exactly what’s on my agenda. There are a few variations due to customer calls or strategy sessions that I open up each week.

Knowing exactly what I want to accomplish on any given day, doesn’t let me get sucked into negative and unproductive activities.

Tip #2 – Go to sleep the night before with something positive on your mind

Before I go to sleep, I review my day and recall all the positive things that have occurred. Situations that I handled well, any wins, any moments that I appreciated.

I also like to do a little training session with my dogs. They are always happy to learn new tricks and have infinite amounts of positive energy and enthusiasm.

And lastly, I read something uplifting in bed so that my last thoughts of the day are positive.

Tip #3 – Journaling every morning

I journal every morning. I have a journal that gives me certain prompts that make me think about my day, the intentions that I’m setting myself for that day, reminding me who needs me to be fully switched on, actions that could create additional value.

Having a journal with prompts helps me to think positively when I start my day and to re-calibrate should I wake up in a less than cheerful mood.

I can also write about what’s getting me down to get it out of my system and to think about what I can do about that thing that might be getting me down.

Usually, my prompts are enough to get me into a much more positive state of mind.

Tip #4 – Listen to inspiring podcasts & exercise

Every morning, I take my dogs for a run or a walk. On the way to the forest, I listen to inspiring podcasts. That’s enough to kick off my creative thinking and with the movement and fresh air, I get into creative flow almost immediately.

When I’m finished with my run, I have thought through a few things I want to do that day and have taken notes (on my phone) for a few social media or blog posts.

I return to my car with heaps of ideas and outlines for a number of posts. Writing them up later is a lot quicker because I have already thought them through and structured them in my head.

Tip #5 – Run a weekly mastermind

I’m running a weekly mastermind with two other business owners who are in a similar stage of business as I am now.

We share our wins, hold each other accountable, set weekly goals, discuss issues and roadblocks or brainstorm together.

I love my mastermind because it always sets me up for the week and injects me with heaps of positive energy. And although we only meet once a week, it carries me through the week because I know that I have to work on my goals.

Should I still be worried or in a negative mood, then I post in our group and the other pick me up and cheer me on.

And there’s one more thing…

Tip #6 – Celebrate your wins

However small your win – a call that you handled well, a post that you are proud of, a step that you have taken outside your comfort zone – this is all stuff to be celebrated.

I have a recap at the end of each day to remember what I have achieved and if I achieve something wonderful during the day, I share it with some friends. Naturally, my friends share their wins with me too – and that makes me very happy too.

In closing…

As I said, I am not a mindset coach but these practices help me to stay upbeat and pull me out of situations where I feel down or struggle with negative emotions.

I also remember that emotions are triggered by certain things that happen to us – but I can always choose how I want to feel and with which intent I want to go into my next task.

I’d love to hear how you manage to stay positive and inspired to write content with excitement and lots of positive feelings.

The thing is – writing when you’re excited or happy, is a lot easier!

Categories: Authenticity, Content Creation, Contentwriting