5 Steps to Tame Idea Overwhelm

One of two things seems to happen when you run your own business. You either feel like you can’t get a content idea to save your life or you have way too many ideas and you don’t know where to start. The outcome is the same content isn’t getting out.

It’s even harder to focus when you feel like you’ve got to keep up with all the different things your business needs right now. Sales funnels, welcome sequences, promotional content, value content, blog posts, opt-ins…on and on. Even when you get it all done there is more to do.

How do you pick where to start?

How do you tell good ideas to wait their turn?

It’s a blessing to always have ideas and to have a long list of material to work with, I promise. As long as you don’t get stuck with creating content for your business.

Here are some strategies to keep you moving forward even if you have too many ideas.

Know your goal

I feel like half of the blog posts I write start with “know your goal” but it is really the first step in any strategy is determining your goals and getting to know them inside and out. Knowing what your goals are for your content will help you narrow down your ideas to the types of content that will support your goal.

I’m not a believer of creating content for the sole purpose of creating content. I want all of my content to support my greater goals. So when I know my goal I can easily filter through the ideas I need to work on now verses the ideas that can wait till later.

Don’t worry if you feel like the ideas you are putting off are really good and you want to work on them. You’ve got to remember that they aren’t supporting your current goal, like an upcoming launch. But later in the year that specific content is going to be perfect for a different product or service that you are planning to launch.

Knowing your goals helps bring in the big picture into focus.

Get specific

When you have a lot of ideas it’s time to get specific about them. I think this is a phase that every online business owner goes through when they first get started creating content. It’s brought on by shiny object syndrome and not having a specific plan in place for your own content.

Does this sound familiar? You’re surfing Pinterest and you come across a topic and you think Oh I could write a post about that. And then before you know it your blog is covering topics all across the board. You’re going to have trouble standing out and connecting with your dream clients if you’re content isn’t specific to their situation and their struggles.

It’s time to take action and get specific categorize all your ideas into major topics you cover. Then break those down into sub-topics. These sub-topics can then either become blog topics on their own or you can break it down further in your plan. Having a clear and specific plan for your content will keep you from jumping from topic to topic when it’s time to create your content.

Make a list of other ideas

You get a good idea and even though you are in the middle of another project you just so excited about this new idea that you’ve got to get it started. You’ll come back to the other project when you get this new idea fleshed out a little bit more….

How often do you go back? And honestly how many half finished blog posts do you have sitting around? More than you want to admit?

I know this because my past is littered with half started ideas for posts, products, services. I used to get started and then I would jump ship whenever a new idea struck. But I don’t have that anymore and that is because I’ve got a list in my Evernote where I keep all my ideas. Keeping everything in one spot helps me focus and determine what I’m going to work on next.

I write some notes to remind myself of what the idea was and then I tell them to please wait and return to my original idea until it is finished. I’ve got it off my mind and written down where I won’t forget about it until it is its turn.  Each idea deserves its own time to grow and flourish so I try my best to honor that before diving into a new idea.

Start with the BEST ideas first

Sometimes a good idea needs to percolate for a while before it becomes a great idea. Sometimes it never gets to great but that is a story for a different day.

You always want to be focusing on putting out your best and if you’ve got so many ideas that you’re overwhelmed start with the best ones first. Let those good ideas sit for a while and develop into great ideas. Added bonus of focusing on the best content first you get to quickly establish your expertise in your niche! Yay!

So don’t feel bad if you skip around your list rather than trying to write about the content in the order you thought it up in.

It’s time to commit

Choose one idea to work on at a time and be committed to that. #truthbomb You’ve got to pick one and get going on it. Nothing will get done until you spend the time doing it. So focus on one idea and block off all other distractions like closing your email or turning notifications off on your phone when you sit down to write.

I think this is the strategy that is the hardest to implement. It can be really hard to buckle down and focus on one thing at a time. But it is a strategy that will allow you to get more done in general. Productivity experts suggest mono-tasking instead of multi-tasking. This is because the amount of time you loose while your brain moves from one idea to the next. Even if we feel like we can get up to speed on what we were working on after a quick email check it on average takes 7 minutes to get your brain back into the game on one tasks.

If you are feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, or just plain clueless about where to start when you have too many content ideas try one of these strategies to get moving forward!

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Another great place to start when you have too many ideas is to return to your why. Get access to my Finding your Why workbook in the free resource library to get started!

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