About ten years ago, I was close friends with a young guy who started a YouTube channel about tech. Every day he would find time to work on his channel and create content. He focused so much on getting better and the process of making his videos. He never cared about the numbers. Just the process and what he controlled. After a few years of grinding his audience grew incredibly and his business exploded. This caused him to become one of the most influential YouTubers in the tech and creative space and has allowed him to connect with an audience that loves him and loves his work.
This story is an exercise in story-writing with a form. Use forms for everything you can. They make things easy and they guide you when you feel lost.
The story guide I’ve stolen from Pixar writers goes like this: “Once upon a time, there was _________. Every day _________. One day, _________. Because of that, _________. Because of that _________. And because of that _________. Until finally _________.”
If you look, I used this form in the story at the top of this blog post.
I have guides, systems, and forms for email responses, social media content, video content, email newsletter ideas, and speeches or presentations I give. Guides aren’t cheating, they become your brand and they help you present your thoughts and ideas in clear, compelling, and professional ways. They also help smash creative block.
In upcoming blog posts, I hope to talk about some of the forms I use for content creation, logo design, photo shoot planning, and more of the creative work I do. Forms and systems are good!