Why Content Ideas Aren’t the Real Problem
If You Don’t Know What to Post, Start Here
If you don’t know what to post, you’re not alone.
Most people I talk to feel some version of the same pressure:
That they should be showing up more.
Posting more.
Sharing more opinions.
Being more visible. Or more contrarian
Becoming a “thought leader.”
They’ve heard that consistency is everything.
Post post post. For god’s sake!
That you have to be present all the time.
That if you disappear for a week, the algorithm, and maybe your relevance (gasp!), will forget you.
So they sit there, staring at a blank screen, asking the same question over and over again:
What should I post?
The problem isn’t a lack of ideas: it’s too much noise
The reason this feels so hard isn’t because you’re uncreative or bad at content.
It’s because you’re surrounded by instructions.
Post this.
Say that.
Add value.
Educate.
Inspire.
Entertain.
Optimize.
All of it creates a strange situation where you’re expected to constantly say something: without first being given space to figure out what you actually want to say.
And if you don’t know that yet, no content calendar in the world will help.
Step back before you speak
If you don’t know what to post, the most useful thing you can do is stop trying to post.
Not forever: just for a moment.
Because the question “What should I post?” is often asked too late in the process.
A more honest place to start is:
What matters to me?
What am I driven by?
What do I actually believe?
What experiences have shaped how I see the world?
It might sound big or abstract, but it’s surprisingly practical.
If you don’t know what’s important to you, it’s almost impossible to decide what’s worth sharing.
Come back to yourself
Instead of forcing output, try doing the opposite.
Sit back.
Make a cup of coffee. And, importantly: Let yourself think.
Not about platforms or formats, but about yourself.
What has formed you?
What do you care deeply about?
What frustrates you?
What gives you energy?
What feels non-negotiable in how you live and work?
You don’t need clever answers. But honest ones.
Because posting just to “be present” is empty if you don’t know why you’re there in the first place.
Perspective is what makes people interesting
What makes people compelling to listen to isn’t how often they speak.
It’s that they have a perspective shaped by who they are.
Every person carries a way of seeing the world that only they have; formed by their experiences, their values, their contradictions, their life.
But speaking from that place is vulnerable.
And most people avoid it.
Instead, we copy tones, formats, opinions.
We blend in.
We follow the herd.
And that’s why so much content ends up sounding the same.
Before content, clarify intention
Another reason content feels hollow is that many people haven’t asked themselves what visibility is for.
Attention isn’t a goal in itself.
It’s a means.
So it’s worth getting clear on:
What do I want this visibility to lead to?
Who do I actually want to reach?
What do I want people to understand about me?
What kind of work, role, or life is this pointing toward?
When you know what you’re building toward, content stops feeling random.
It starts to form a line.
From identity to story to content
For me, this is where the idea of a personal brand becomes useful… not as packaging, but as clarity.
Not a persona. Or a performance.
But a conscious decision to show up as a specific person, shaped by specific values, moving in a specific direction.
When you’ve done that work, certain things begin to settle:
how you speak
what you care to comment on
what you ignore
what stories you tell
what you leave unsaid
And suddenly, content ideas aren’t scarce.
They’re everywhere.
Collect your stories
A very practical place to begin is stories.
Not polished ones — lived ones.
Moments that stayed with you. Situations that changed how you think. Or experiences that shaped how you work, lead, create, or relate to others.
Write them down.
In a notebook or a journal.
Without trying to turn them into content yet.
Over time, patterns appear.
Themes. Recurring questions.
Core beliefs.
That’s the beginning of when things get interesting and your content pillars… not because someone told you to have them, but because they naturally emerge from who you are.
You don’t need to say more: you need to say things that are truer
We’re already drowning in information.
What cuts through isn’t more advice.
It’s clarity.
Perspective.
Truth.
You don’t need to say the same things everyone else is saying.
You need to say the things only you can say — because of how you’ve lived, what you’ve noticed, and what you care enough to stand behind.
When you know that, the question shifts.
It’s no longer:
What should I post?
It becomes:
What do I want to contribute?
And from there, content stops feeling like noise.
It starts feeling like a conversation.
