UNcomplicating Business for Teachers, Helpers, and Givers

What to Do When You Are 'OUT OF IDEAS"

February 08, 2022 Sara Torpey Season 1 Episode 59
UNcomplicating Business for Teachers, Helpers, and Givers
What to Do When You Are 'OUT OF IDEAS"
Show Notes Transcript

Sometimes you are FULL of ideas - so many that you can't get them out in to the world fast enough. 

And sometimes? 

You stare at the computer and wait and wait and...nothing. 

This 'nothing'? It's SCARY. Having too many ideas is good... but not enough feels like something has gone really wrong. 

This week on the Teacher's in Business podcast we're going to talk about what to do when you feel like you are 'out' of ideas (and I promise the answer is NOT to give up, quit, find a new job, or anything complicated...). 

Free FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/teachersinbusiness


Welcome, welcome, welcome to Teachers in Business. This week, we are going to talk about something really important. We are going to talk about what to do when you feel like you are out of ideas. When you sit down to write, and your fingers sort of hover over the keyboard, and you're like, Alright, I have to find something to post. And then you just sit there, and you're like, well, but like, what? What do I want to say? What do I have that adds value? And sometimes when you sit down to do that, you know, it's like, what do you do when you're uninspired when you're unsure when you feel like you've totally run out of ideas. This week, we're going to talk about what to actually do when you find yourself in that spot. And what we're going to talk about is not panicking. Not at any point in this episode, I'm going to tell you, you're not cut out for this, I am not going to tell you to give up to find any job or to do anything complicated. Instead, I have some really simple ideas for you about what to do when you come up against this. Nothing this blank wall of nothing that happens when you are out of ideas or when you feel like you're out of your ideas. Because honestly, the answer really is that you're never out of ideas. It's just that sometimes your brain gets tired, you're normal, join the crowd. So before I do that, I want to tell you a little bit about something new I'm offering. So from time to time, one of the things that I run into people and people ask me for our one time coaching sessions. And up until very recently, I've had very many thoughts just like everybody's got thoughts on the things they offer, about whether or not I could serve someone well, in a one time session. What I am going to experiment with in my business over the next, you know, six or eight weeks, is offering 90 minute coaching sessions that are one time deals. So what how would you know this is for you. First, if you want coaching, and you're not sure you're ready for a long term commitment. But what you don't want is a sales call. This is for you. If you are a teacher and you're thinking of starting a business and you have ideas in you need someone to help you really, truly untangle like what's a good idea and how to get started and what to do next. And you're not really ready for coaching over a long period of time. Or in you're not in the classroom yet, maybe. But you really do need someone who knows what to do to help you sort through all of the ideas, this is a good fit for you. And if maybe you have considered coaching, but you're in a place right now, where you couldn't or don't want to sign up for group coaching or a longer term contract. But you do have some things that you really would like some coaching on. This is for you. So in the month of February today is the seventh, I have six spots that I'm offering this month for these sessions. They are 90 minutes. And they are going to cost $200 basically $197 For one session. And basically what you're going to get to do is book this time, you're going to get 90 minutes, we're going to show up, I'm going to ask you what you want coaching on help you untangle whatever it is for the next 90 minutes, and then you get to carry on and go on your merry little way. There will be no sales pitch, there will be no like what are we doing next, I will help you figure out your next steps. And that will be it and then you will get to carry on. So if that sounds like something that is right for you. Awesome. Reach out, come on into my Facebook group Teachers in Business, send me an email. It's sara@torpeycoaching.com, I also will post in my Facebook group pretty soon, the link to be able to pick a time of your own. But yeah, I'm going to open up six spots for that this month. I just decided officially like an hour ago. And we'll see how it goes. I think it's a really fun experiment. And this is a it's going to be limited and how many of these I offer. So if you want one of these spots, now is the time. So let's get into the meat of stuff here. When you sit down at the computer, and you go to write a post, or you go to write your posts for the week, and you put your hands on the keys and you're like Okay, I'm ready. And then you just sit there or when you go to post on Facebook and instead what you find yourself doing is just Mindlessly scrolling through all or when you know you should post on Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn or wherever it is your favorite place to post and you go you're like you know what, I really ought to do that but I I have no idea what to say this, this is for you. So here are some really straightforward things that you can do in this situation. The first is to remember that you don't ever have to reinvent the wheel, repetitiveness repeating yourself, especially in the business world, especially in the world today, because everyone's got sort of a short attention span, we all have goldfish brain, you know, just as well as I do. repeating yourself is not a bad thing. So the first thing you can do when you feel like you're really out of ideas is go take a look at the things you've talked about already. And see if there is something that you can gain inspiration from that you talk about all the time. Like, for example, in my business, I talk a lot about celebration and the value of celebration. I talk a lot about evaluation with people, I talk a lot about pricing. And so when there are days when it's like, I don't know what to say today, and I have them just like everybody else. I go back, and I'm like, Okay, what are my core ideas that I like to talk about? And like, what have I said recently, that bears repeating? Like, what are the things that people need to hear, again, from me, that would be really beneficial to them? Like, what is the thing I want to say that I talk about a lot, that's like a core message of mine, that I want to say again, how could repeating myself, be beneficial to the people around me because honestly, I don't have to reinvent the wheel. It's actually better that I don't, when I'm talking about the same thing, and the same sort of subsets of topics all the time. It's really useful for my people, and the people listening to the podcast, and the people in my group, and the people on my Facebook feeds that helps them understand what I do best. So that's the first strategy. Be okay with repeating yourself, well, you do not have to reinvent posting on Facebook and ideas every time you post. If you give yourself permission to repeat yourself, you take a whole bunch of pressure to be new and innovative and interesting off of your head. And you can relax a little bit. The second strategy to really help yourself to to have ideas when you're like what, you know, what I talked about a little a second ago, when I talked about being repetitive is the set of core ideas that I know about my business that I talk about over and over again, for you, if you don't have this set of core ideas laid out, it is really helpful to do so. Because they are the thing that you can always go back to I actually have them right here over my shoulder on my whiteboard, I have 12 One of them is like I can read them to you right now business can be simple. Consistency is the secret sauce evaluation is rocket fuel. Belief before how there's no right way. There's only your way you can just decide invitations beat selling every time presence is 90% of the game. And in your control, like I could keep going. Business Strategy is talk to more people know your expertise, value and impact. So like for you in your business? What are the core tenants? What are the things that really are the cornerstone that you teach people that you talk about over and over again? Can you list them out? So that when you have a day where you're like, Oh, what do I teach people? Like what is valuable that I do that you can look at your list and be like, Oh wait, I teach all these things. I could talk about one of these, they at least are short of like story starters, right? They give you a place to jump off from like today, what I really should be talking to people about in my Facebook group is the idea of failing as the foundation of success. Like that's what I feel like I haven't talked about enough lately. So I'm probably my next post will be in that realm. So that's the second strategy. Know your core tenants. Because when you do, it really helps you to sort of not only ground yourself and always know that you have a set of things to talk about, but it helps you to really focus in your messaging at the same time so that you you don't have to come up blank but you also don't have to be confused or unsure or any of those things it really helps you to be clear time and time again. So and I took a breather there for a second excited to pause because I had to sneeze. The third thing I think is really important is when you are feeling really uninspired and maybe like for you sometimes it goes in longer period. If I find that when I'm like, Oh, I don't know what to say, I don't know what to say. And it's lasting more than, you know, a couple hours or a day or two. Time and time again, what I realized quickly thereafter is what I haven't been doing is enough connecting. So when I like, quote, unquote, run out of ideas, it is because I am missing one of one or one of two different vital ingredients in my business. The first one is connection. So I'm probably not talking to enough people. Like I haven't talked to a client a couple of days, I haven't met anybody new, I haven't done any networking. And that lack of human connection really, like, hurts my inspiration, like the connection to people really helps me to feed what I'm saying and sharing and all of those kinds of things. Because there's always something that I can come up with based on what we've talked about where I'm like, Oh, that was brilliant, like that would be really helpful to share with people. I love how she said that, or I love this thing that this person said to me, I love the story. I love this coaching I gave somebody. So being connected and exposed to people leads to a lot of inspiration. So if you are feeling really like blank, go find somebody to talk to maybe it's a friend, maybe it's a loved one, maybe it's like a business bestie maybe it's I don't know, maybe it's you know, you go into a group, you can come into mind and say, Hey, I would love to meet somebody new who's interested in connecting, we'll find you somebody, you could say this is the kind of stuff I do, who would it be great for me to meet, I'm happy to connect you to people. So it is okay to to find people like that to connect in that way. But go find somebody to talk to you and go get inspired through conversation. The other ingredient that usually I am missing, when I'm feeling very uninspired is is something new that I'm learning about. Like, I always feel more inspired when I am reading something interesting, when I am like listening to something that I'm learning from when I'm trying something new. Because there's always something that I'm getting out of it, that I can use to talk about growing business, because if I'm growing, I have something to say. So for me, focusing on connection, and also learning gives me more to talk about so for you. If you're feeling like I don't have anything to say, give yourself something to learn. Like what do you need to learn? That would be really fun for you right now that would also benefit your business? What do you want to read? What have you been putting off that you could share? Who do you want to connect with? How could you meet some new people that you could then use like those connections as inspiration for what to say next? So really, the last thing to remember is that actually, what's happening is not that you have nothing. I think when we come up with that blank wall when our brains are like, oh, gosh, you don't have anything to say you have nothing to teach anybody everything. You've said it already. What happens? The scariest part of it is or is is that blankness, right is this idea that, you know, we might never have anything original or interesting to say again, it's like Oh, my God, it happened. I'm done. Like it's over my, my reign of inspirational speaking is closed, I'm not going to think of anything inventive ever again. And that's not right. So I think the fourth thing that's really important here, in strategies for what to do when you're out of quote unquote, ideas, is is to not panic. Because actually, it's impossible for you to be out of ideas. Like there are three ways we just talked about to help you sort of restart the flame. But if you panic, if you freak out, if you're like, oh, my gosh, this is the end, it is going to be that much harder. It's like digging a hole deeper, right? But if you're like, Whoa, wait, am I really out of ideas? Is that a thing? And you tell yourself like No, actually, like, I have plenty of ideas right now. I'm tired, or my brain needs a break, or I need some connection, or I need some new inspiration. Let me go find something, then it's like, okay, this wasn't a big deal. The sort of blank spot won't last as long if you don't freak out about it. And I know that that's hard. But the practice is to give yourself permission to just feel tired that moment to not have anything inventive to say right that seconds, and then to continue forward. So okay. Sometimes we don't feel inspired. Like no one's inspiring or inspired 100% of the time, and asking your brain to be 100% Like, I always have something to say 100% of the time is not normal. So it's both don't freak out and remember, it's okay to expect less than 100% all the time because 100% of the time is not a thing we're about Perfect. That's not how humans work. Welcome. So that is the whole thing today. If you are stuck, please reach out if you don't feel like you know what to say next or you don't know what your core ideas are, you're not sure what messages you need to repeat, hey, come for coaching, if what you want is one of those 90 minute sessions and you feel like that would be a really good fit for you send a message, let's do that. I will help you untangle whatever ball of not you yarn, you want to ball of knots, yarn ball of knots you want to bring to coaching and then you will get to carry on your way. And I promise it will be worth every penny because you will get coach, Coach, Coach, Coach Coach and you will have exactly what you need when you walk away. And you'll know what to do next. So if you want that great if you want to come into my Facebook group we are on day. Let's see, when this podcast launches. It will be day nine of 29 days of simplicity of simplifying business step by step and if things are feeling complicated, man that is for you. So come join us in Teachers in Business in the Facebook group. And I'll see you all next week.