When my speaking schedule gets intense I bank blog posts. Weeks in advance, I will increase my writing to one or two blog posts a day. This way I am able to schedule three posts a week for the 3 to 4 weeks I will be in and out of the office. While I am traveling and speaking I tend not to write, which is a mistake because starting again is difficult.
When I’m in writing mode I am never at a loss for ideas. In fact each post can seed a handful of new post ideas. When I’m not in writing mode the well runs dry. It takes me awhile to get the ideas flowing again. Each time this happens I panic (just a bit). What if I’m like The Far Side cartoon creator Gary Larson? What if 567 blog posts are all that I have in me? This is a completely irrational fear of course but every time it gets me stuck just for a little while.
Since ideas are the seeds of innovation and change at our associations my story is analogous to what is happening in associations across our industry. Innovation is new in most associations. Which means we are starting from scratch. It is difficult to get many ideas flowing and if some ideas are flowing you may have noticed that not many great ideas are flowing. The good news is that as associations practice innovating the ideas start to come. More ideas. Better ideas. In fact most innovative associations report that they have more great ideas than they know what to do with.
Starting from scratch is hard. It may seem like the association is devoid of ideas but once you get into the consistent practice of innovation the ideas will come. You will have more ideas than you need. Which means you will have to get skilled in identifying and prioritizing only the right ideas (which is a whole other blog post!)
Onward!
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