How to efficiently find content ideas

I don’t consider myself to be the creative type.

For the longest time, finding content ideas was a struggle.

Every week, I’d open a new Google docs and try to list ideas. It was a blank sheet. Anything was possible, which shouldn’t be a bad thing... right?

Well, here’s the thing.

Having this blank sheet meant I had no guidelines, no parameters, no restrictions to work with. As good as that sounded… it sucked.

I’d spend hours coming up with ideas that were often too elaborate or irrelevant for my football brand.

I changed my approach two years ago. I built a system around my content strategy that helped me find ideas more efficiently.

Now, to come up with ideas, I just filter through my content strategy.

Here’s how you can do it:

1. Pick one challenge or need your audience is struggling with
   
   
2. Select one platform.
   
   
3. Select one format.
   
   
4. List 5 ideas.
   
   
5. Pick another challenge.
   
   
6. Repeat steps 2 to 5.

Of course, you get better with practice, but the biggest takeaway was how much more creative and confident I was in my approach.

There wasn’t any guesswork.

Just a long list of actionable good ideas.