This brief post will be about using prompts as inspiration for creating online content.
It’s been just over a week since my 7-day blog challenge and I have had some time to reflect on what I’ve learned. One of the hardest things about the challenges was finding subjects to write about – especially in such a short time frame. The deadline forced me to settle quickly on an idea. Which meant there was no real room for in-depth research. That being said, the idea of the challenge was to simply write and publish every day. It didn’t really matter whether the article was good.
Recently I came across the idea of using prompts the help generate ideas for creative work. A YouTuber I follow was advertising to hire an editor. In the advertisement, he asked the applicants to make a short video using the prompt ‘Why we tell stories?’. Even though I didn’t apply, I did think about what sort of video I would make. Later that same week, my wife showed me a photographer on Instagram who was setting a 30-day photography challenge. Each day she, used techniques of learning photography as a prompt. e.g Day 1: The rule of thirds. It got me thinking about how useful prompts can be when learning something new.
Oftentimes when learning a skill we need to put in the reps. We need to practise the skill directly by doing it. For photography it’s taking photos; for blogging its writing and publishing; for making videos it’s filming, editing and publishing. But here’s the wrinkle. Each of these creatives skills starts with an idea, a subject, and finding that can take time and be exhausting. This is where prompts can help.
Here are two reasons why I think prompts are useful:
They Get Us Started
Firstly, It can help prevent procrastination caused by our perfectionism. Sometimes, it’s us who are most critical of our own ideas and work. We tell ourselves that they are awful or not interesting. We often mull over many ideas before we finally settle one, but only because the deadline is so near. All this concern over our ideas stops use from getting started and learning through practice.
But prompts give us the ideas.
Obviously, there is still thinking involved. But that thinking is directed into doing the work. we can focus on putting in the reps and we can play around with different techniques. Learning can become playful and even enjoyable.
They Help Us Realise That We Are Beginners
Following on from above, the perfectionist among us (me included) often forget we are only beginners. We think that our work should be polished and perfected on the very first try. We forget that pretty much everyone is rubbish when they start. This attachment to our ideas makes it hard to feel ok with persevering with our work.
But following a prompt is like doing an assignment set by a teacher. We are following ideas set by someone else. This can help us detach ourselves from the idea and instead attach ourselves to doing the work. We can see that we are just a beginner. This can be liberating and allow us to put our energy and creativity into our practice.
Here Some Useful Prompts
Photography.
- Shoot a subject using the rule of thirds
- Green
- Something you love
- Food
- Outdoors
Writing
- Review your favourite book
- History of…
- How to fix…
- My recipe for…
- Yesterday
Video
- Unboxing
- My favourite…
- Slo-mo
- How to make…
- Day in the life of a…
Conclusion
Practising skills is crucial to getting better. However, coming up with ideas for practising creative work can often be difficult and exhausting. This often leads us to procrastinate or give up. Using prompts can be a useful way to get started and focus on getting better at the skill at hand.