Day 34: 4 Strategies James Clear Uses to Never Run Out of Writing Ideas

Struggling with new ideas to write about is common.

I thought discovering my niche would be the solution.

But a niche only sets the direction.

During my research, I stumbled upon an interview with James Clear, who has consistently published 1-2 high-quality articles per week since 2012.

His book, Atomic Habits, has sold over 20 million copies and has been on the New York Times bestseller list for over 200 weeks.

Here’s how James Clear never runs out of ideas:

Read Quality Content

“Picking what to read and making sure I'm reading consistently is a really important part of my writing and idea-generating process.”

While we all want to be original, ideas are often built upon other ideas.
To build upon previous ideas, it’s important to find the best sources of information possible.
Clear takes extensive notes on books, articles, podcasts, and speeches, depositing all his ideas into a central hub, Evernote.

“I’m never far from a good idea.”

The more he reads, the better he writes.
Clear keeps over a dozen books in his living room and bedroom.
He prefers books as his primary medium for ideas when writing an article and has designed his environment to make reading easy.

“The most effective thing I've found is to automate the streams of information that come to you.”

Clear has spent over 100 hours curating his Twitter feed.
By being selective with who you follow, you automate good thoughts coming into your mind.
Now, when he goes on Twitter, he finds three to five new ideas to work with.

“People remember stories.”

Clear discusses evergreen topics like habits, decision-making, and continuous improvement.
He collects historical stories that capture the lessons he writes about, especially from organizations or people that no longer exist.
Books, articles, tweets, and conversations all serve as inspiration for his stories.

James Clear notes that almost all his thoughts are downstream from the information he consumes.

He has created systems that allow him to read quality content consistently, which improves the quality of his writing.

Better inputs lead to better outputs.