Vista teaches you how to build an inspiration database: read more, think more, record more, and you will have amazing ideas at your fingertips.

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In the past few years, I have taught many copywriting and content marketing courses in many companies, schools or training institutions. According to his own informal statistics, the three biggest problems students have with writing are not knowing how to write, poor writing skills, and lack of inspiration.

If you want to know how to overcome the problem of not knowing how to write and poor writing skills, in addition to signing up for courses at Vista School, you are also welcome to lock in at Content Hacker Website.

Today, let me talk to you about how to cultivate inspiration systematically! In fact, I have written an article before about Six Tips for Collecting Inspiration. Friends who have taken my classes or attended lectures will know that I encourage everyone to build their own inspiration database.

In fact, I also shared with you some methods of building an inspiration database at the [Ouchi Master Lecture] (https://www.accupass.com/event/1805061043211080619920) in June this year. However, because many friends were too late to sign up, they have been asking me recently if they can hold more sessions?

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In fact, for creators, I don’t recommend relying too much on inspiration; otherwise, what should I do if I really feel exhausted one day? However, I also agree - inspiration can help us provide powerful opinions, find novel entry points, and even add points to articles, etc.

Now, let me share with you some principles for building an inspiration database!

If you prefer the traditional way of recording with pen and paper, you can prepare a notebook and sticky notes. If you are accustomed to using computers or mobile devices, of course you can choose various digital tools such as Evernote, OneNote, Quip or Notion.

The point is not to choose which tool, but to develop the curiosity to observe things and the habit of recording at any time.

For example, do you know what topics people like to read about? From my personal observation, issues such as social, emotional, professional, practical information and current affairs are particularly likely to attract public attention. At this time, we might as well collect inspiration from these perspectives.

I also especially like to use tools such as Google Trends and Internet Thermometer to collect intelligence and grasp the hot news, trends and developments on the Internet. At the same time, I will also pay attention to the remarks of some specific experts, scholars and opinion leaders. I can get the latest information from their Facebook or other social media.

In addition, since everyone carries a smartphone with them, it is quite easy to collect materials at will. Now, whenever I see interesting things or information related to industries such as technology and marketing, I will immediately take photos and leave text records, and automatically upload them to the Google Cloud database. In this way, you don’t have to worry about missing information!

Well, let’s talk about mastering current affairs and festival issues! I have shared with you many times the importance of the Content Hacker Lecture. For example, the Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon. Have you paid attention to how merchants write product copy? What kind of gift-giving culture is popular in modern society? There is a huge difference between “giving a gift to my heart” or “giving a gift to someone who wants to kill you”!

Whether you are the editor of a fan group, or you have to be responsible for updating the company’s official website or blog, if you can plan your content calendar and content strategy in advance, you will naturally have no worries about running out of topics to use!

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Usually, I am also used to collecting various materials, or saving some good DMs on the Internet. Not only will I collect various pictures and study the copywriting and layout styles, I will also study the color configuration carefully! At this time, I would like to recommend Eagle, a useful image management tool.

Eagle can solve various problems of “collecting, organizing, and searching” a large number of picture materials, allowing you to easily manage various pictures and improve work efficiency. It also supports Mac and Windows systems.

Of course, we must also have a deep understanding of the industry we are in and clarify the relevant context and organizational culture. Take the e-commerce industry as an example. If you happen to be engaged in online shopping-related work, you must pay close attention to e-commerce, new retail, logistics, payment, consumer behavior, big data and other related issues. You also need to study trend reports and data released by domestic and foreign authoritative institutions. Moreover, it is best to understand the latest developments and words and deeds of influential figures in the industry (such as Bezos, Jack Ma, Zhan Hongzhi, etc.).

I later gave myself a motto, and also to all young people: “Today is cruel, tomorrow will be even more cruel, and the day after tomorrow will be beautiful, but most people will die tomorrow night.” So you must work very hard today to face the cruelty of tomorrow; you must work very hard tomorrow so that you can see the sun the day after tomorrow. But most people can’t see the sun. Hard work is not enough, you also need luck. Where does luck come from? Luck means thinking more about others when you are good, and checking yourself more when you are not. I believe you will get through it.

For example, Jack Ma, who recently announced that he will resign as chairman of the board of directors of Alibaba Group, his Inheritance Plan is worthy of careful study. In addition to understanding his transfer plan and future plans for Alibaba Group, can you also know how he will devote himself to charity and unfinished dreams?

I The education I received allowed me to become a teacher. I am very lucky to be able to get to where I am today. To be responsible for the future of the company and ourselves, we should allow younger, more capable and talented people in the company to take on leadership roles and continue to pass on the great mission of “making it easy to do business in the world.” We are excited about our mission and vision to help the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, young people, and women around the world. This is our original intention, and it is also our blessing and responsibility. To truly believe and realize such a mission requires more Jack Ma and generations of Alibaba people to fight for it.

In addition, we can also follow Lei. Bradbury study, prepare a notebook with a list of [keywords] in your life (https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/supplement/paper/972536). Not only list a bunch of keywords and terms, but also try to connect and sort out the context of these complex keywords. This will help you find useful information!

In addition to establishing the habit of reading more, thinking more, and recording more, coupled with the organization and operation of the inspiration database, many new thoughts and interesting clues can naturally penetrate into our heads and even be internalized into our usual thinking patterns. We must know that a good inspiration cannot appear out of thin air. In addition to relying on luck, we also need the assistance of a set of systematic methods and tools to continue to improve our thinking and creative efficiency.

Starting today, let’s build an inspiration database together! If you are interested in participating in my “Inspiration Database Practical Class” course, please feel free to leave a message or send me a private message!

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★ Photo Credit: rawpixel

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★ To improve your content power, please don’t miss the online course “[Content Power: The Super Power of Building Brands] (https://hahow.in/cr/content-power)”.

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Further reading

• Experience from participating in the 2nd Content Hacking Lecture (CHL2)─Deconstructing previous experience and becoming your own editor-in-chief
• Experience from participating in the 2nd Content Hacking Lecture (CHL2)─Write a blog with your own style, and the ranking can also change the content
• The secret of content marketing that turns passive into proactive─sharing the summary of the 2nd Content Hacking Lecture (CHL2)

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