Marc Koenig Profile picture
Nov 20, 2020 18 tweets 7 min read Read on X
How to Generate Infinite Content Ideas

- To go from consumer -> creator
- Turn Twitter from a time-waster into an idea generation factor
- Mine inspiration from your daily life

Notes from live session of @AliAbdaal's PT Youtube Academy

👇
Most difficulties with starting to produce content online are actually perfectionism by a different name.

You have taste. You KNOW what's good - but you know you're not there yet. So you give in.

Ira Glass has a great quote on how to overcome this. Image
One way to hack through your perfectionism: utilize your hard-won experiences.

The more time you needed to "prepare" your content, the better it's going to be, and more easily it will flow when it comes to create.

If you video comes from 10+ yr of experience, it will be great.
Once you get over someone -somewhere- being further along than you are in your topic, you'll stop self-censoring so much.

Ali mentions that his best videos magically then to come from times he's making 3 videos a week (vs. 1 or 2).

The more iterations, the more you're exposing yourself to serendipitous successes.

@naval below Image
See also:

The Parable of the Pottery Class

aliabdaal.com/pottery/ Image
Once you've of mined your own hard-won experiences and started iterating generating content regularly, you'll need a method to systematically capture ideas.

You never want to be facing the blank page wondering: what do I write or film today?
==Technique #1: Eureka Moments==

Once you commit to a practice of creating content, you'll start to see new ideas for everywhere. Your brain is primed.

Once you buy a car, you start seeing that model everywhere.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mere-expo…
The key is to capture ideas when right they happen.

"Inspiration is perishable." - Naval Ravikant @naval

"Your brain is for having idea, not for holding them." - David Allen @gtdguy
Some potential apps to capture ideas as they occur:

- Roam Research (my jam - if you have questions, ask!) @RoamResearch
- SimpleNote @simplenoteapp
- Drafts @draftsapp
- Things3 @culturedcode
==Technique #2: Birdsong Technique==

Turning your mindset from being a consumer to a creator happens gradually, but one way to pour rocket fuel on the process:

Harness the passive consumption from your daily life.
If you curate your content diet so you can naturally generate content ideas from it, content creation happens frictionlessly.

Ali's recommendation: use your Twitter as inspiration to "pull" content ideas from as you browse.
If you don't consume content on what you're creating, you might not have creator-market fit.

This is true for me re: esports. I'm an expert (founding employee at an esports company that sold for millions), but I'm not drawn to reading esports regularly.

Ali's recommendation: Use Twitter to discover content over Google.

"The best content isn't on a Google search, because the Google search results are from SEO marketers."
==Technique #3: Coal Mining==

Gradually accumulate deep resources of content and mine interesting topics and ideas from them.
Some of Ali's favorite coal mines:

- Ness Labs @anthilemoon
- Farnam Street @ShaneAParrish
- Eric Barker @bakadesuyo
- Trends.co
- Masterclass

Just credit people when you're inspired by them - send them the traffic and they'll never complain.
Enjoy these notes? Read the rest as I add them here!

Bonus:

Group Case Study

Applying the Cole-Mining Technique - remixing riffs from a popular Twitter thread

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More from @MarcKoenig_

Mar 19, 2021
I decided that I didn't sufficiently value my marriage...

And I attempted to teach my wife my favorite app, 𐃏 @RoamResearch 𐃏

Here's what I learned from my mistakes, if YOU'RE in the position of introducing a loved one to Roam 😅

👇

cc @Conaw
1. Forget The Daily Note 👎

The daily note is glorious, but it just confuses/enrages newbies.

Just say it's a catch-all journal for random stuff with no existing page and move on.

I spent FOREVER failing to articulate why it's cool, then we made pages and she figured it out 😅
(I should have realized this. I didn't use the daily note until ~4 months into my Roam usage, since I liked pages better at first!)
Read 15 tweets
Feb 15, 2021
𐃏 100 ROAM TIPS 𐃏

Just published a 25-min @RoamResearch intro course on YT.🔥

To celebrate this act of masochism, I'll be posting the tips in tweet format here too! Bit-by-bit as I get time.

here's the mini-course I wish I could give myself when I started.

#RoamGames @Conaw
1. KEEP UP WITH CHANGES

@RoamResearch is a living tool w one of the fastest iteration cycles I've seen.

By the time you read this, these tips might have changed!

(Here's a blog post with these tips + any future changes: bit.ly/3u1fC9A)
2. SET UP

1. Sign up (free for 31 days)
roamresearch.com/#/signup
2. You get 3 graphs (separate "Roams" you can play with - not connected to each other)
3. Set up 1 then begin typing in your daily note!

EZ PZ. Roam runs directly in your browser (you must use Chrome, sorry), OR...
Read 53 tweets
Jan 17, 2021
I wrote a blog post with 3,500+ words about Ali Abdaal's Part-Time YouTuber Academy, 150+ tweets, and filmed a 13-minute video with module-by-module course takeaways.

If you have any desire to check out this course, this is the place to start.😁

🧵
Inside Ali Abdaal's YouTube Course (13 min, module-by-module breakdown w/course excerpts)
Read 8 tweets
Dec 2, 2020
Off the cuff thoughts on cultivating your vibe as a creator

(inspired by @AliAbdaal session from Part-Time YouTuber Academy)
Performing on camera is difficult, but putting in reps solves 90% of problems.

50+ videos solves most everything. Especially if you commit to 1% improvements each time.
Eliminating friction is the most powerful force for consistent output.

Leave the camera out, tripod set to proper height, mount the lights, do whatever it takes.

I do this with music by not putting my guitar back in its case, so I see it whenever I walk by.
Read 20 tweets
Dec 1, 2020
✒️ 10+ Tips & The Writing Framework that Earns 1.24M+ Subscribers

Riffs on best practices from @AliAbdaal

Thread time 🧵
1/ Want to maximize the value of what you create?

Plan every vid with specific intention.

🥾 Discoverable Content
Get found on search by non-subscribers

🏕 Community Content
Entertain existing fans

🛒 Sales Content
Create something hyper useful (+ plug your content)
2/ NOTE! There's no such category as plain old “useful content." 🙅‍♀️

Useful is table stakes!

If you make it useful - or entertaining, or inspiring - you might as well make it hyper-discoverable, hyper-relevant to your audience, or level it up into something sellable
Read 17 tweets
Nov 29, 2020
A group of ragtag up-and-comers in @AliAbdaal's Part-Time YouTuber program are remixing @visakanv's 100 talking points as 100 YT shorts.

Get ready! (+ watch us improve as we go)

1/ Do 100 Things

"The first tooth is the hardest tooth to floss."

@MarcKoenig_

2/ Play Long Games

"You can win just by being the only one left."

@uberstuber

Read 4 tweets

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