Contentualization
Today, @futurethinker commented on my ability to produce content relatively quickly. Let me explain why it is possible to write so much and it isn't because it is easy or that I pay someone at Fiverr, and it also isn't because I type fast, as I am one of the worst typists you are ever likely to meet. It is from experience.
For the last 15 or so years, I have been a Corporate trainer in Finland and have gone from company to company training all kinds of people. Many have been engineers from mobile tech, manufacturing, medical equipment, software, gaming, forestry, machinery and others. I have trained HR specialists, building developers, real estate moguls and politicians. There have also been hockey players, sports coaches, directors and actors.
It has been a very diverse group over the years and to provide clients with personalised service, I had to do a lot of learning but mostly, I had to do a lot of listening. Listening to experts speak about their business, their successes and failures and inevitably, all of the personal challenges that went along with it, taught me a lot and gave me insight into many different types of personalities.
Before, I was interested in people anyway so this field fed my interests and gave me a chance to interact heavily across many fields. It had another benefit too which was that since I was able to obtain some information across these areas, when I came across more, it was relatively easy to update what I held.
The biggest benefit dealing across such a wide section of the community was that it became relatively easy to recognise societal trends, even if they manifested differently in each group. It is kind of like an early warning system at times.
This type of profession has worked well for me as from a very young age, I was never really able to find my passion field, I never had a dream of being this or that in some speciality. So, dabbling in lots of areas gives me a chance to explore.
How does this help my writing? Well, it means that I am kind of unbounded by content or genre and I am pretty comfortable having a conversation about just about anything. With so much experience talking to specialists, I am also quite willing to admit that I am wrong once shown why. It doesn't mean that I like to admit it of course.
But, what really allows me to write a lot is that I really, really, bloody enjoy doing it now. The more I write, the more I want to write, and the more I learn, the wider afield my writing ventures. I literally spend 8-10 hours a day, 7 days a week writing at the moment and each piece spawns more ideas and forks.
Many people here at Steemit struggle to find topics to write about for a few reasons (and there are more):
- They are trying to produce content to get votes
- They do not want to be uncomfortable
- They limit themselves to their specialisation
- They are scared of failure
- They care what people think
It isn't easy to get over some of these things but I'll let you in on a secret, waiting isn't going to help you. My advice is that for whatever issues you have holding you back in this life, write about them. You don't need to share them but, investing the energy into exploring who you are through a slow write will be amongst the most valuable things you will do in this lifetime.
Looking for your passion? Go into a quiet room with a pad and pen and do not come out until you have your answer. Or, do it openly on the blockchain, your choice.
There is so much value that is being lost because we are no longer willing to explore ourselves over long periods of time. We want fast solutions to everything we do, a pill that fixes our minds and bodies and makes us pretty. We medicate ourselves and wonder why we can't work out our issues and turn to entertainment to take our minds off it.
Oh, and perhaps I will end with that. I don't watch the news, series only very occasionally and do not game. I do play Words with Friends sometimes though. When we spend the majority of our time being entertained by the creations of others, we slowly lose the ability to be creative ourselves.
If you want to become more creative, spend time creating.
It doesn't really even matter what you create as the act of creation will lead to the next act. One of the core skills of a human is that we are a creative machine that can imagine anything at all, possible or not. Yet, most are giving up this skill to become consumption machines instead. Turn off the TV and even turn down the music for a while and see what is lurking inside of you.
Pay attention, there is so much inside that is undiscovered and the more you search, the more you will find. The well is only limited by how deep you are willing to dive.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
I had wondered how you managed to write so much diverse yet engaging content consistently. I have been So busy the last 5 days I have posted very little, which honestly makes me a bit sad. Since joining Steemit its the first time I have got my creative juices flowing outside my niche and it's been so freeing. I was always creative but somehow lost that in my twenties only to try find it again in my thirties. Maybe I'll succeed in my fourties. The main thing is I've started again. Now to find the time to invest in it. To date I've swapped game apps for steemit apps. We never watched much TV. Netflix is a time waster but again since joining steemit it has become more of a background noise than active engagement. Thanks for being so diverse and keeping your writing interesting. I'm excited when I see you name on my feed as I know I'm in for something interesting or fun.
If more people did this in the world...
There really is a lot of value in switching off or at least severely limiting exposure to 'content for the masses' as it is designed to be accepted by the majority. This means form and function is average at best.
It's very mind numbing with very little value to add to any individual let alone the masses. I'm not sure how we get so entrenched in them.i would be ashamed to see how many hours/days if not weeks I have wasted on them.
We have my nephew here atm, he's 16months. I actually pulled out paper and pencils and drew with him. I was like why don't I do this kind of stuff just for me anymore...
So goal of the week is to paint or draw something. If it's good enough to share on steemit then great if it's not then there is a lesson in that too and maybe it's worth sharing too. As nobody's perfect it's all about the process and the lessons learnt.
The meaning of life.
The point couldn't be better made than how you've put it. The truth is that many people are creative without their even realising it. They make it worse when they become addicted to the ever-present distractions called TV, internet, social media, et al. It couldn't be better summed up than the way you expressed it: 'When we spend the majority of our time being entertained by the creations of others, we slowly lose the ability to be creative ourselves.'
The five reasons you gave for people's inability to generate good content are instructive. The key takeaway advise here is practice, practice, practice. The only way to be a champion is to practice.
I love the simple yet far-reaching admonition that if you want to become more creative, spend time creating. Keep searching until you find that which is lurking inside of you. Finding is for those who search, not for those who complain, who sit back and do nothing.
The cap of it all is your very last, winning sentence. Thematically instructive, idiomatically entertaining, and stylistically relevant are the words: 'The well is only limited by how deep you are willing to dive.' WOW!!!
Thanks, @tarazkp.
Thank you for your kind words.
Very moving motivational post @tarazkp. I believe you have the gift of writing and putting your diverse experiences into it ,is awesome. Not only you can express yourself and your thought well but you can also make your reader ponder on what you are trying to convey on your article.
THanks but I think anyone can do it but most don't for whatever reason. It is fun for me though to play around with the ideas and words and hopefully create something that is valuable to the reader.
If I don't leave with anything, I'll leave with this;
"If you want to become more creative, spend time creating."
Writing can only be better as long as one continually write, whether in the mood or not. It is like exercising a muscle. If you stop jogging for example, you notice the difference.
I do not churn out articles like you do; I am even guilty of sticking to only what I know about, probably out of fear of making a mistake.
These are some of the things I have to work on. Writing poetry has always been my passion and I have recently started trying my hands on short story writing. Maybe, I can now, after reading this, try nonfiction for size. Lol. I hope you'd read my work and give me some heads up @tarazkp. Thank you for this post.
I no longer use any other social media for anything but getting in touch with people whose contact details I've lost.
It is unbelievable that a generalist such as myself can get paid at all for doing what I enjoy doing the most, which is delving into a large variety of topics and writing about them. Of course, journalism is an actual profession but you don't usually get to be a journalist in established media unless you study journalism, apply for a formal job, get that job, and write about what your employer wants you to write about. This is just a hobby but it's absolutely mind-blowing that the market wants to pay me for this at all. I used to think that this side of me was utterly worthless to anybody else.
:)
From creative machines to consumption machines....
How true.
And good point. If you want to be more of anything ( creative ) then excersize it untill its stronger.
Excellent post.
Thanks for putting it out there.
Its funny how the simplist things can get ya thinking sometimes.
It's amazing how much free time we spend on useless things like games and TV!!
It really is. If there was a passive accounting app that tracked it...
Haha, something tells me that there's already multiple apps for that! 😜
Thank you for sharing a nice and very informative.
Most Steemit users write articles to make money and uncomfortable nations this is not nice at all Unfortunately :(
we spend a lot of time.tv mainstream games have a little time to ourselves that we're spending so much time with the phone it's
I completely agree with you. I have found writing (for myself) the best way to get things clear in my mind and to realise where I have perhaps misunderstood something or been misunderstood. It was an essential when I worked, as the environments were always highly stressful and my writing was actually quite therapeutic in managing those situations.