So this podcast lands with some divine timing I tell you, because here I am at home quarantining with my daughter, during one of the busiest periods of my business (self imposed because I want to finish work for Christmas nice and early). And so amidst needing to serve my clients, show up daily in my content (because I like to do this part live and on the fly) I’m sat here making a Christmas Sleigh out of an old HM box, making a crazy amount of snacks and keeping up my daily commitment to be visible and serve.

And I couldn’t do that right now with such little stress, if it wasn’t for this practice that I’m talking about inside this episode, which is all about being able to tap into what’s on my heart right now, and allow that content to flow to and through me in a way that has huge value for my audience.

So if that sounds kinda cool, or like something you do sometimes but would like to get better at, have a listen.

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Transcript

Welcome to episode 8 of The content download, I’m Cate of the Luminous if you don’t know who we are and what we do you can check out some of our lovely blogs and offerings over at theluminous.media, or my website catebutlerross.com.

 Today we’re talking using inspired downloads to create near effortless content with maximum impact. 

This is something that i think is important to recognise and nurture and I would say that 90 per cent of my content originally comes from this inspired download type source. And yours can too if you choose it. We are in love with out businesses, our missions our messages, which means we are thinking about them even when we are not thinking about them, and that’s often when the best content ideas come.

Last week we talked about that “I don’t know to say in my content!” refrain that i hear so often,  and I shared a little mini content mining workflow to help you out of that, but sometimes it’s not that you don’t have anything to say, sometimes you do know what to say, but you’re just not feeling inspired by anything on your carefully planned editorial calendar. And I have a lot of sympathy for that. 

Because there is a big difference between content that is created from a place of inspiration versus content that you’ve forced yourself to create.

So this is where I tell you, that sometimes what’s on your heart right this moment, is the thing that needs to be said.

Now I’m going to caveat this whole episode by saying that equally sometimes posting impulsively should be met with blue flashing lights of course,

*And if you’ve ever had to delete a social media post after-the-fact, Check out episode 6: 4 Questions to ask before getting personal in your content.

But I share spur-of-the-moment posts, blogs, andemails, all the time, in fact I would say 90% of my content originates from this place of inspired downloads, and all of my best content comes from there. That doesn’t mean everything is created from scratch as I am very savvy about reusing and repurposing content into blog posts, nurtures and other automations and funnels that I use to scale my business.

So sharing what’s on your heart: now there’s a BIG difference between what I call an inspired download and ‘getting something off your chest’.

Inspired downloads are not naval-gazing, sharing from your diary, ranting, or randomness.

What are they then?

Inspired downloads are those ideas that just seem to flutter out of the ether, fully formed into your head.

The kind of thing that give you that little nudge in your tummy, like you’ve caught the end of a piece of string, that you’re pretty sure if you tug, there’s some treasure to be reeled in and the words will just flow…

This is the essence of creating content from your heart voice. There’s a different energy to this kind of content, and it’s magic. And your audience can feel it too.

And yes, it’s wise to have some kind of framework if you want to know more about that check out episodes 3 and 4 how to plan your content like a glossy magazine, but without this kind of inspired content your content is missing soul, and that’s the stuff that connects with your audience  heart to heart.

So how do we do it? Well I’ve analysed how I do it, and it quite neatly breaks down into 5 steps. Which you can now replicate. So here they are

1. Recognise an inspired download when you get one 

Because if you aren’t training yourself to do this, you won’t. So when do you get your brilliant ideas? Be mindful of that.  For most people’s it’s  when you’re brain is in alpha. So awake but relaxed, not particularly focused on anything. So for me, I used to get my best ideas used to come on my commute home (before the smart phone was a thing and I had the option to read a book or stare out the window – smart phone’s have been a killer offer of daydreaming a travesty), now I often get them while i’m driving or falling asleep which is quite annoying, other people get in the shower, walking the dog whatever.

When you have that idea, that little nudge, sometimes its a phrase that lands in your head, a word, an image, a sudden change of perspective, don’t rush on – pause what you’re doing here is letting that idea take shape in your mind before it floats away. That’s really important because these inspired ideas are slippery little suckers you have to anchor them in.

2. Take some notes.

If you can’t create the content immediately because let’s face it you’re probably in the shower, or in the middle of the park or whatever, write a few things down on a notebook or in your phone to help you capture the essence of the idea. So if you ideas come in the shower, have a notebook in there, I have a notebook by my bed veryappropriately called can’t sleep write now Do write onotes because you won’t remember. So many amazing ideas have been lost because someone thought, “It’s ok, I’ll remember this later…” and you don’t. And if you do… it’s usually missing that magic ingredient that you only can capture in that moment.

3. Create it quickly 

Don’t wait too long to get it down, create the content fast and furiously while the muse is still with you. I always say write hot edit cold. Might be the next morning, when you get back to your desk after your walk or whatever. But get it down as quickly as you can, because it’s never as powerful when the idea has had too much time to go cold. I speak from bitter experience there. If you really can’t do it there and then, speak it out in a voice memo so you can recreate the same passion later. 

4. Share it strategically

Just because you’ve created it in the heat of the moment, doesn’t mean you have to share it immediately. Now very often I do because I like to create my daily content daily, however, if you have stuff going out that day already, and it’s not particularly time sensitive, wait a few hours or a couple of days – you might find you want to do a very light edit with fresh eyes on then. And look at your content plan and decide where and when is the best time to share it. If you are sharing it immediately and there’s potential for fireworks, make sure you run those four questions we talked about in episode 6 first.

5. Strike up a relationship with the muse

Start recognising the breadcrumbs your inspiration throws you and act on them whenever you can – because that’s when you start to be rewarded with even bigger and better inspired ideas. This is a practice that for me has always snowballed the more I have practiced it.

And that is when content creation becomes fun, that is when sharing your voice becomes powerful, because your true voice is never more strong than when you’re sharing what’s on your heart, and that is when you start to really get heard by your soul tribe.

So that’s it the 5 steps to recognising, anchoring in and acting on your inspired downloads, I’ll just recap, 

1. Know when you have them.
2. Take notes
3. Create it quickly
4. Share it strategically
5. Work with the muse

>> For more support, trainings, deeper dives into everything we talk about on the show, join my free facebook group The Content Download Podcast Community