It's been a fun journey of constant learning. And the learning never stops as you probably already know. As I help more folks on our team get engaged, I have made a list of things that have really helped over the years. These "secrets" have helped me get posted in top lists like Alltop, different church lists and aggregators like ChurchLeaders.com, Pastors.com and ChurchCentral.com.
Great Content is Closer Than You Think
The number one perspective to hold and to keep is that great ideas, creativity and content is close by to re-use, re-mix or re-fuel your own content. Here are five practices that make a huge difference for me:
#1 Be Alert, Ideas Are Always in Front of You
Once you get this, it changes everything. Every waking second of my life, content is flying at me. Phone calls. Problems to solve. Life situations. Random happenings. Humorous diversions. Ads on TV. Billboards while driving. Scanning Instagram. Conversations in the check out line. You get the idea.
Ironically, the best idea generators for me are when people are pursuing me as the one "to do the talking." If am consulting well, I am listening well. In the process of listening I will gain some of my best nuggets. In particular I pay attention to the words a pastor uses at points of emotion (good or bad) about their church. I also pay attention new and vivid imagery they might use to convey ideas that are important to me. For example, I was eating dinner with three pastors this week and one guy referred to the Vision Frame as a "taxi cab" for the vision. He was using in the context of how the vision can take you on the ride up the leadership pipeline. Hmmmm, I never thought of it that way before.
#2 The Key is Realtime Capture Process
Spotting the ideas is half of the battle. You don't win until you capture it somewhere. There are a thousand ways to capture. Currently I capture one of four ways: 1) A note app in my iPhone if that is all I have, 2) My moleskin notebook when I am consulting (hence listening and taking notes), 3) A hand-written, week-at-glance folder where I review possible titles/ideas that I have not written on yet and 4) A folder on my desktop when I have brainstorming time to develop ideas.
The single most important process for me is writing the idea the second it pops into my mind as a content-worthy. I have had 100s of the best ideas go missing, because I failed to write it down. I create a special symbol in my moleskin so that I can quickly retrieve my ideas. Bryan Rose, a navigator on my team, keeps a Moleskin notebook on his night table in case ideas pop in the middle of his sleep.
Find Your Voice, Find Your Speed
While this step takes time, its important to be aware of all of the time.
Focus Expands so Expand within Your Focus
Practice and Pay Attention