Write something you won't publish
(at least not yet)
The biggest barrier to making content is writing. That’s it. That’s the whole thing.
Everyone asks how to make content. They have questions about the algorithm, the hook, the strategy. You could have the theory down to a T, but you still have to write. There’s no skipping that part.
Yes yes, AI this AI that. We all know how well that’s going, isn’t it?
So let’s forget personal branding for a second. Forget writing to be read, writing to sound like yourself, writing for the screen. Set all of it down.
Let’s go up. Way up, to the very top of the funnel (not the sales one, please).
And this is applicable to whatever stage you’re at. What I’m about to say, most people have never actually tried.
You’re not doing this exercise to publish it. Set that down too.
All I ask is that you try it for enough days that committing makes you squirm a little.
Then pick a moment during your day. The same moment.
Right after you wake up, before going to bed, while you wait to pick up your kids, on the toilet (let’s not ignore everyone multitasks there).
Set a timer for 10 minutes and write something from that day. Or whatever’s running through your head.
Here's what your mind is already doing, just imagining it:
Nothing’s coming up.
This is ridiculous.
What is this even for.
All valid. This is your brain telling you that it’s uncomfortable.
Still, keep at it for 10 minutes. Even if you end up writing “This is ridiculous”. But why not give it a real try? Just write something like:
Sat through that meeting, and…. (keep going).
Wrapping up this project and I realized….
Saw a reel of someone yapping and now I’m…..
Did I really send that email? Because…
Gosh today sucked and…
Two lines. Three. It doesn’t need to be more.
Now the bold part.
There’s no workshop, no course on “making content” that will teach you more about writing, or about consistency, than this. No matter how many testimonials they have, how much it costs. Nada.
Because something this simple is the thing most people won’t do.
Maybe what we capture won’t be the most important part of our days. But if we don’t start capturing our ideas and thoughts, how are we going to learn how to tell our own story? How are we going to talk about what we do, for real? How are we going to face content pillars without freezing? (because everyone freezes at some point, believe me).
And if you’re thinking “but it won’t be good”, I’ll leave you with a quote from Katherine Rundell in an interview I watched the other day:
Bad writing can always be transformed into good writing.
But no writing remains no writing.
Ten minutes. For no one except yourself.
Start there.
Until the next scroll,
V
P.S. I’ve been spending a lot of my free time reading lately. Don’t underestimate how much reading teaches you how to write.
