How to generate endless content idea with ChatGPT to never face writer's block again

I find coming up with a topic and create an outline for it are half of the battle of creating content

Most people sit down on a blank screen or piece of paper, intending to spend 60-90 minutes to write their next blog only to be defeated by the writer's block.

I know because I had been that person for all of my life.

Until I come across the endless idea generator by Dickie Bush & Nicholas Cole at Ship 30 for 30, a cohort-based court that teaches people how to become prolific writers on the internet.

In today post, I'll show you how apply the prompt engineering techniques I've talked about to make ChatGPT become my endless idea generator

Understand capability of ChatGPT

Most people use ChatGPT wrong

They gave 1 sentence prompt asking it to write a long form blog post. Because the way ChatGPT is created, its default output is an average of a large corpus of internet essay & writings.

That's why it's decidedly ... meh

One of the first tips I gave people when they want to learn about prompting is to break down complex problem into smaller ones.

Then give clear instructions with examples. Today, I'll show you how it's applied to content writing starting with creating blog post topic

Ship 30 for 30's endless idea generator

This is one of the pillars that allows Dickie Bush to

• Grow from 0 followers to 350k in 3 years
• Quit lucrative Wall Street job
• And found multiple multimillion businesses

I'll summarize it here and you can read it in full at Ship 30 for 30 blog

The generator has four steps:

1. The 2-Year Test: Identify problems you've solved and topics you've learned about in the last two years. This helps to find general topics to write about.
2. Adding Specificity: Modify the topics identified in the 2-Year Test to match your level of credibility. The target audience should be the person you were two years ago before you solved the problem.
3. Using the 4A Framework: Generate headlines and ideas using the 4A Framework, which includes Actionable, Analytical, Aspirational, and Anthropological approaches.
4. Choosing 3 Ideas: From the generated ideas, select three that resonate the most and start writing about them.

The goal is to generate a large number of ideas without judging their quality, knowing that 90% of them won't be written about.

The process aims to provide clarity for the next few days of writing and to overcome the problem of having too many or too few ideas.

The generator is designed to get writers started on ideas that resonate with them, and once these ideas are consistently published, it will be clear what to write about next.

ChatGPT-powered endless idea generator

Once you understand the framework, add ChatGPT and you now have an AI intern ready to give you endless topic to write about.

Here is the prompt

You are a content marketing expert. Your job is to create blog post for a newsletter or blog. There are 4 steps
1. Generate a topic
2. Generate an outline for a chosen topic
3. Write each section
4. Revise and edit

Your task is to ask questions to complete the first step, then ask if I'm happy with the result and we can move to the next step. Otherwise we'll redo the first step. Once step 4 is done. Repeat the process.
To generate topic follow the following step by step

The 4 primary types of ideas are:

- Actionable
- Analytical
- Aspirational
- Anthropological

Then there are sub-topics within each of these buckets:

Actionable (here's how)

- Tips
- Tools
- Hacks
- Advice
- Resources
- Frameworks
- Ultimate Guides
- Curation (the best books/podcasts/threads)

Analytical (here's a breakdown)

- Trends
- Numbers
- Reasons
- Examples
- Teardowns
- Swipe files

Aspirational (yes, you can)

- Lessons
- Mistakes
- Reflections
- Personal stories
- Stories of growth
- Underrated traits
- Advice to past self

Anthropological (here’s why)

- Fears
- Failures
- Struggles
- Paradoxes
- Observations
- Comparisons
- Why others are wrong
- Why you’ve been misled

I am going to give you a Topic, an audience (FOR WHO), and an outcome that audience desires (SO THAT), and you are going to generate 1 idea (written in the form of a headline) for each of these sub-topics above—organized the same way I have here.

Here are examples. Each example has input delimited by ``` and output delimited by """

Input
```
Topic: Stretching
Audience: For first-time moms right after giving birth
So That: To regain flexibility, pelvic strength, and increase circulation
```

Output
"""
Actionable = Here’s 5 simple stretches you can do from home in 15 minutes or less
Analytical = Here’s why these 5 stretches will increase your flexibility 50%
Aspirational = My flexibility after my first kid was terrible. After my 2nd kid? I’m pain-free! (And you can be too!)
Anthropological = Here’s why so few women are told to stretch after giving birth, and why it’s a giant mistake in our healthcare system
"""

Is that clear

Let's unpack the key ideas of this prompts so you can adopt it to your need

1. Ask ChatGPT to adopt expert content writer persona
2. Give it step by step of creating a blog post
3. Give it detail instruction on step 1
4. Use delimiter where necessary
5. Use few-shot prompting by giving examples
6. Ask it if it understand the instruction

Here is the response

Yes, the instructions are clear. Let's start with the first step: generating a topic.

Please provide the following details:

Topic:
Audience (For Who):
Outcome that audience desires (So That):
Once you provide these details, I will generate a headline idea for each of the sub-topics under the four primary types of ideas: Actionable, Analytical, Aspirational, and Anthropological.

We got one bright intern here. Let's see how it does when given an input

Topic: ChatGPT prompts
Audience: For budding digital writer
Outcome: So they never face writer block

Final list of topics (formatted for clarity)

Actionable (here's how)

• Tips: "Top 10 Tips to Use ChatGPT Prompts for Consistent Writing"
• Tools: "The Essential Tools to Enhance Your Writing with ChatGPT Prompts"
• Hacks: "5 Hacks to Get the Most Out of ChatGPT Prompts"
• Advice: "Expert Advice on Overcoming Writer's Block with ChatGPT Prompts"
• Resources: "The Ultimate Resources to Master Writing with ChatGPT Prompts"
• Frameworks: "The Proven Framework for Using ChatGPT Prompts in Your Writing Process"
• Ultimate Guides: "The Ultimate Guide to Never Facing Writer's Block with ChatGPT Prompts"
• Curation: "The Best ChatGPT Prompts for Digital Writers: A Comprehensive List"

Analytical (here's a breakdown)

• Trends: "The Latest Trends in Using ChatGPT Prompts for Digital Writing"
• Numbers: "The Impact of ChatGPT Prompts on Writing Productivity: A Statistical Analysis"
• Reasons: "5 Reasons Why ChatGPT Prompts Are the Solution to Writer's Block"
• Examples: "Real-life Examples of Overcoming Writer's Block with ChatGPT Prompts"
• Teardowns: "A Comprehensive Teardown of How ChatGPT Prompts Enhance Writing"
• Swipe files: "Swipe Files: Successful Writing Samples Using ChatGPT Prompts"

Aspirational (yes, you can)

• Lessons: "Lessons Learned from Using ChatGPT Prompts in Digital Writing"
• Mistakes: "Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using ChatGPT Prompts in Your Writing"
• Reflections: "Reflections on How ChatGPT Prompts Transformed My Writing Process"
• Personal stories: "My Journey from Writer's Block to Fluent Writing with ChatGPT Prompts"
• Stories of growth: "How I Grew as a Digital Writer with ChatGPT Prompts"
• Underrated traits: "The Underrated Traits of ChatGPT Prompts in Boosting Writing Creativity"
• Advice to past self: "Advice to My Past Self: Embrace ChatGPT Prompts Sooner"

Anthropological (here’s why)

• Fears: "Addressing the Fear of Writer's Block: The Role of ChatGPT Prompts"
• Failures: "Overcoming Failures in Writing with the Help of ChatGPT Prompts"
• Struggles: "The Struggles of Writer's Block and How ChatGPT Prompts Can Help"
• Paradoxes: "The Paradox of Writer's Block in the Age of AI: How ChatGPT Prompts Can Help"
• Observations: "Observations on the Impact of ChatGPT Prompts on Digital Writing"
• Comparisons: "ChatGPT Prompts vs Traditional Writing Prompts: A Comparative Study"
• Why others are wrong: "Why Critics of AI Writing Prompts Are Wrong: The Case of ChatGPT"
• Why you’ve been misled: "Why You've Been Misled About Writer's Block: The Solution Lies in ChatGPT Prompts"

This feels like a super power to me.

What about you? How do you use ChatGPT in your content writing? Last but not least, if this post is helpful, please share so more people learn how to properly use ChatGPT.