Sooner or later it so happens that you sit down to write and you go completely blank. No ideas come into mind, no events that may spark an opportunity to think. This is what I call a glass ceiling. Just like in the white collar jobs, executives reach a point where they cannot push their skill to a higher level, the same goes with blogging.

Each day I sit down and think over something new and exciting things I can write about, but on some days I would just simply burn out. Thankfully due to a bit of advice and reasoning I came up with something that allows me to crunch out new content each day without worrying that I will run out of ideas.

Brainstorming

There is a right and wrong way to brainstorm. The right way is to be persistent and consistent. The wrong way is to be lazy. Here are some tips to brainstorm effectively.

1. Note-Taking: I have a small pad that I keep next to my laptop and whenever I get an idea I simply jot it down. This is very effective when I’m looking at news, designs, etc. Not all ideas may be great, but later on, when I go back to them, I always rethink what I wrote and see if there is a better way to explore that idea.
2. Mind-Maps – I remember Darrell from ProBlogger wrote on this subject on how mind maps are effective on exploring new ideas. (I can’t find the link now, if someone does, please fill me in). Mind maps work great because they take you deep below the surface of what you’re trying to explore. To make a mind map, simply take a paper, or drawing board, and put a keyword, idea or phrase in the middle that you want to brainstorm. Circle it, and from there, think of something that relates to that idea. write that idea down and draw a branch to it. Keep thinking of new ideas and drawing lines from the base idea, then from those “branches” and so forth. By the time you’re finished, you’ll have enough ideas to last you at least a month of blogging.
3. Planning Ahead – Corporations have long term goals and short term goals. From our previous posts, you should have already figured out your long term goals, and as for short term planning, we’ll go over it now. I find it very beneficial to write down a list of things I want to cover in a weeks worth of posts. So when I get to actual blogging, it is less time consuming, and I already have a base idea to blog about. Here’s an example of what topics I’m planned on covering the this week:
   

   • Authority and Guarantee (covered)
   • 10 Ways to Gain an Appreciative Audience
   • Where to get returning visitors
   • Knowing your Goals (covered)
   • Avoiding the Glass Ceiling – Brainstorming (covered)
   • Making Use of Drafts
   • Styling your Posts (covered)

   You can see, I’ve basically uncovered my plans for this week (which is one thing I’m never going to do again), and it’s obvious these are not in any particular order because I did not want them to be. Of course, these plans can change, but it is important to plan ahead of time. Sitting down on Sunday for 10 minutes can save you hours in thinking and will stop many of you from procrastinating because of a lack of ideas.

4. Question Yourself – We all get questions about certain things and some questions we just can’t find an answer to. Write these questions down and research them. The research will not only answer your question, but broaden your perspective and knowledge on that subject. You can then blog about it and get other readers’ input.
5. Think Outside the Box – Easy to say but hard to do, right? What is thinking outside the box anyways? In simple terms, thinking outside the box is basically connecting to absolutely unrelated items. Here’s an example:

Web Design –  Electricity

Colorful       –  Powerful

Attractive    –  Juice

Promotion   –  Life

Now from these ideas, I can already start a post titled “Electrify your Design with Power, Color, and Life“. All of this took me roughly five minutes as I’m writing this post. Simply said, connect two unrelated things and you can work wonders.

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