I admit, I get lazy when it comes to working on my projects; I’m sure you do too. With so many things to stay on top of these days it never seems like you have enough time to get a new blog post out, doesn’t it? Well, what if I told you that you could judo-flip that laziness into captivating content using a few simple techniques:
The “Movie” Approach
I like to call this the movie approach because it involves exactly that: watching a movie. We all get bored or want some entertainment so we turn to movies. While you watch the movie why not have a pen and paper handy to write down ideas sparked from it? If your community are movie fans as you are, you can really knock it out of the park with this type of post.
The “Song” Approach
You’re sitting in traffic, listening to streaming music online or just looking up old music videos on Youtube (because, ya know, MTV doesn’t do it anymore). This lazy approach flips that passive listening into active blogging – you take a song that you really enjoy, pull a few inspirational lyrics and boom! you have yourself a really great post that ties into the music.
The “Picture” Approach
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I don’t think so; I think it’s worth a thousand memories. When you see a picture that makes you stop dead in your tracks, inspires you, makes you laugh, brings up memories and sparks an emotion, tell about it and intertwine your niche into the post – not only can you bring a smile to your readers face but you’ll open up as well – making you more human.
The “Expert Tip” Approach
This one goes crazy viral; it’s much like conducting interviews but you don’t have to go through the hurdles of networking (that’s lazy!). With this type of post, you’ll be taking little snippets of wisdom from those that inspire and influence you. Digging through the a bloggers archive, pull up posts that have left an impact and write out a post collecting all these ideas and why you like them. The bonus is that you’ll be giving link love which can really help boost your social media traffic.
The “Catchup” Approach
Let’s say your blog is chugging along pretty successfully right now – it wasn’t always like this though. Think of all those amazing posts you wrote when you first began blogging that rarely few people ever go back to check out. Besides having to dig through the archives, people generally think that older content is outdated; if you wrote it to be evergreen, that’s not the case. In this approach, write about old content you think your readers would like to read but may not have found yet – how’s that for lazy awesome.
The “Ah-Screw-It-I-Don’t-Like-X” Approach
There’s always something that grinds our gears; something that gets under our skin that we finally get fed up and want to vent. As long as you don’t go completely bonkers, writing a rant post about a product, service, person or business can be great for your mental health and show some of your own personality to your readers.
The “Don’t Write” Approach
Here it is, simple enough: don’t create a new blog post. Yeah, seriously. If you really don’t feel like creating a post, don’t beat yourself up over it. Look, you’re busy just like everyone else – there’s things called priority and although your laziness doesn’t count, it could be that you’re lazy because you have nothing to say right now. Hold out until you do.
The “Here’s What I Did” Approach
No-body likes a know-it-all smartass but we do like those people that will give us their inside scoop into how they accomplished a goal. These posts are actually quite simple to create because they’re coming from your own perspective – you don’t have to worry about finding tons of resources and structuring the content. Additionally, people can use this post in an “over-the-shoulder” manner that can be more helpful than just telling them like a tutorial – plus you can gain a ton of questions that spur additional comments.
I’m too lazy to finish this post
I think that’s enough to get you through with your next moment of laziness; I know I just want to kick back and enjoy some quality time watching Rocko’s Modern Life and Dexter. So this is where I get uber lazy and leave it up to you to tell how you can flip your laziness into blog posting productivity.
Hey Murlu,
I agree. With so many things to do, it does seem like there is never enough time.
I am going to bookmark this post so that I can refer to this guide whenever I feel lazy.
Adam Paudyal´s last [type] ..Effective Ways of Using Twitter For Bloggers- My Post At Technshare
That reminds me – the bookmark post
You could also go back through your bookmarks to find a ton that you believe your community would enjoy and give a little reason why you chose them. That link love factor really helps out too – pull in those trackbacks and maybe some comments from the bloggers.
Gosh, awesome pic!
A Three Toed Tree Sloth. One of my all time favorite creatures.
Most of your ideas end up being the posts that I get the most inspired by.
You know the ones… Where you think of some clever idea (at least in my mind) and do a little happy dance around the computer.
C’mon, I know you have to do it too. Tell me it isn’t just me…
Anyhow great post with some excellent idea’s!
Steve@Lifestyle Design´s last [type] ..Let Zero Based Thinking Improve Your Life
Steve doing a happy dance around the computer would be a sight to behold. Now that would be an amazing blog post image!
Glad the posts spark your imagination – I think there’s a lot of subliminal things that I push in my writing where it’s not always just the information, it’s the mindset. Disregard all the tutorials and steps, drill it down and I try to make that one spark for the day that allows you to do something great
That’s my goal.
I like the list Murray. At one time or another I might have hit each strategy.
I am partial to using life experience: movies, songs or other inspirations.
Your #1 piece of advice might be The Don’t Write approach. Force negates. There’s a time for writing and a time for letting your old posts generate some buzz. I’ve learned this lesson recently.
Thanks for sharing your insight.
Ryan
Ryan Biddulph´s last [type] ..How Super Annoying People Can Be Your Greatest Blessing
Hi Murlu, I always appreciate inspirational posts, especially when you make it easy on me! I regularly do the “expert tip” one, and I’ve done the “catch up” once during the 7 links challenge. Maybe it’s time to do it again.
I definitely agree with jotting ideas down wherever you are – they can be your most original posts!
Jennifer Barry´s last [type] ..Cowboys and Culture
Thanks for the comment Jennifer
Another little tip would be to just keep writing down headlines – not only can you get practice at creating great ones but every time you write another it sparks more thought into it. By the time you’re done writing down 100 variations of the headline, you have a side list nearly twice as long that was the result
Nice picture of a sloth. I always like a catchy picture that is relevant to the blog post. Enjoy Dexter!
Dustin Baier´s last [type] ..Article Marketing Techniques
Cool approaches. The song approach definitely is something that I haven’t trried yet and would love to try and see how I can get some ideas from it.
Melvin´s last [type] ..Blog Engage Crazy Guest Blogging Contest
I have something in queue in relation to the “song” post which I think could help spark an idea Melvin – I was talking about the power of community as told by Mos Def. I’m sure you could create something about one of your favorite musicians as well – how they act, their style, persona, etc in relation to any type of topic you can think of.
Lol. Nice structuring of an “idea” post. It makes me want to go revise the layout of a few of my old blogging topics posts.
Brandon Connell´s last [type] ..Guest Posting Contest- Win 100 Via Paypal!
LOL Murray!
Loved it. As usual, you take reality, combine it with virtual effectiveness and there’s the answer – a blended mix of fruit and veggies. I’ll have to add for the ‘Don’t Write It’ approach. Just post a video why don’t you. Talk it out.
VLOG!
Hey, I’m getting a bit lazy now too because I woke up so early, no that’s fatigue. Ah, forget it, sometimes they feel the same.
Thu Nguyen´s last [type] ..Biography Fridays- Dan Lew Owning SEO
Sometimes laziness gives us the best inspiration to get things done
– you sit around, kick back, talk to friends, watch tv, whatever and then all of a sudden, oh man! that would be a great post! That’s how a lot of my own posts started because I’d be at my buddy’s house and we’d all be talking about some subject; I’d think “I bet this applies to the net somehow”, dig around a bit and sure enough it gets ported over with ease!