This is my 15th post in the last two and a half weeks, and I would never have guessed how hard it would be to find an idea to write about each weekday. What I’ve found interesting is how the process of distilling a blog idea correlates to my work.

In my case each and every blog post has started out as a passing thought. Either generated randomly based on the here and now or based on what someone said to me. This single thought just isn’t enough, it has to be refined and distilled into an idea supported by a thoughtful foundation. So lets talk about the distilling of the idea for this post.

The Crush

I set a goal for myself to try and write down each and every idea for a post the moment it pops into my head. The idea for this post came about, as I was driving home from work one day. I was thinking:

Wow, I’ve drawn a blank for another post. This is hard.

A few minutes later, I realized that I did have another post idea. So I took the idea and pounded it around in my head, trying to extract interesting and goodness from the idea.

Is this something interesting?

How can I relate to this?

What are some examples I can use to support the idea?

Once I thought I extracted enough confidence and supporting ideas that validated the originating thought, the idea got an entry into my list of pending posts.

Fermentation

So, now I have what I think is a pretty good idea, but that isn’t enough. I’ve found that if I haven’t let it sit and ferment a bit I’ll still have nothing to write about. I could have an idea that, I think, is insanely great, but when I sit down to write it I got nothing. With this idea, I was struggling to find a way to express what I wanted to say. I needed a vehicle that I could align my thoughts around.

So this last weekend I was having a discussion with my brother and he started talking about the steps he had taken during the creation of his first bottle of wine. I listened with interest as I do enjoy a good wine, and found the subject interesting. At the time I did not even consider the analogy as something I could use for this post. It took some time to ferment in my mind before I made the connection.

Settling

At this point in the process, I have an idea and a framework to apply it. The problem now was what exactly did I want to say. I had a number of supporting thoughts and ideas, and needed to clarify them into a coherent set. All of the ideas and thoughts that were bad were settled and thrown out. This happened over several hours as I worked on other things. I wanted my inner einstein to spend some time working the idea over to the point I was confident I had my thoughts in order.

Aging

The key, in my mind, is to just start writing the thoughts down. It isn’t pretty and doesn’t taste great at first, but it gets better over time. The longer I work on the post the better it gets in terms of structure and flavor. Like any good wine, there is a point where enough is enough and no further significant benefit can be had.

When working with a new idea:

• Always ask the tough questions to find support for it.
• Spend time refining, and clarifying the idea.
• Don’t rush the idea, many take significant amounts of time.
• Know that any idea thought good at first, can still turn out bad and need to be thrown out.

One final thought, don’t ever get discouraged if your ideas don’t become a success. Most of the great thinkers go through many many ideas just to find that ONE.

Have a glass of wine, and keep thinking.

Cheers!