Tag: imagination

[Blogging Mindset] If You Stand for Nothing, You’ll Fall for Anything

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 16 Comments

Truth be told, I could sum up this post with a simple sentence: Fight for your ideas!

We can get technical, we can list dozens of rules of writing, blogging, curating online content, sharing it on social media, we can talk about properly formatting your blog posts, or writing captivating introductions, but the truth is that if you do not believe in what you are writing, if you are not in this with all your heart, then it’s all for nothing.

Like those books on body language that teach you various trick on how to feel confident… well, it’s more like how to display confidence. The truth that they cannot admit because no one would buy such books is that if you are confident, truly feel at ease with yourself, then it does not matter how you stand, how you hold your hands, and all that. Continue reading “[Blogging Mindset] If You Stand for Nothing, You’ll Fall for Anything” →

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Do You Want to Be a Prolific Blogger? Here’s How

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 19 Comments

I did a bit of counting today: this year I wrote 181 blog posts on this blog, 134 blog posts on my main blog,  plus 236 posts on irevuo, for a total of 551 posts.

Granted, let’s say half of those are reposts, advertising, or not that long to be considered actual writing, like Quote of the Day on irevuo.

Still, I wrote over two hundred and fifty blog posts across four months. On average, that’s two blog posts per day. I also wrote and released a book on blogging, wrote a few chapters from some of my fiction projects, and a couple of short stories.

Oh, and the emails and comments. Never underestimate the amount of keys one has to punch in other to reply to thousands of e-mails and comments every week.

The stats say I’m prolific, but this doesn’t mean I spend most of my time writing posts.

Actually, I think you’d be surprised by how much time I actually spend writing. It’s just not as much as you’d think.

This is why I am writing this post. Because there are a few strategies that I employ to write as fast as possible.

Because the truth is that writing blog posts is something you can do with ease, as long as you approach the process in a certain way. Continue reading “Do You Want to Be a Prolific Blogger? Here’s How” →

5 Easy Steps to Writing a Great Blog Post

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 35 Comments

People think that writing is a magic skill, mostly because it seems you’re creating something out of nothing.

It’s not.

It’s not magic, it’s not a genuine act of creation.

It’s part art, part craft. It’s a lot more perspiration than inspiration.

You start with a given set of resources (ideas and a little time), learn the right way to put those resources together, and you’ll write a blog post.

That being said, here’s how to write a great blog post in five easy steps. Continue reading “5 Easy Steps to Writing a Great Blog Post” →

Warning: This is Blocking You from Thinking Creatively

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 9 Comments

Whether you’re trying to fix a certain issue, start a business, market that business, or write an interesting article, creative thinking is crucial. The process boils down to changing your perspective and seeing things differently than you currently do.

People like to call this “thinking outside of the box,” which is the wrong way to look at it.

You create your own imaginary boxes just by living life and accepting certain things as “real” when they are just as illusory as the beliefs of a paranoid delusional. The only difference is that there are enough other people who believe in the same concepts, so you’re viewed as “normal.” This is good for society overall, but it’s that sort of unquestioning consensus that inhibits your natural creative abilities.

So, rather than looking for ways to inspire creativity, you should just realize the truth: you’ve always been creative, but certain imaginary mental blocks (or boxes) that you’ve picked up along the way are inhibiting you.

There are about 10 common ways we suppress our natural creative abilities.

Read on to find out more… Continue reading “Warning: This is Blocking You from Thinking Creatively” →

50 Ways to Become a Better Blogger

~ Jordan Peters ~ 102 Comments

Do you want to become a better blogger? Silly question, eh.

In that case, I’ve got some great news. The best way to become a better blogger is to blog. And to keep blogging.

If this blogging thing is difficult and frustrating, then you must force yourself to do it, and do it, and do it, until you get better at it.

As bloggers, we have to produce words daily – even when we don’t feel like it. Even replying to comments or e-mails is a good way to enhance one’s creativity.

Then there are a number of thing we can do to become better at this blogging thing. Quite a few of them… Continue reading “50 Ways to Become a Better Blogger” →

[Blogging Mindset] One Man’s Ceiling is Another Man’s Floor

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 21 Comments

It was a struggle. Crazy Romanian kid, doing his best to write in a foreign language. A post every two or so days, maybe it wasn’t a lot, but it was taking me hours and hours of work, of editing, of doing my best and yet still feeling as if there was more.

I could do more, I could do better.

A few months later, I was blogging on a daily basis. This was the dream; what I thought of as the pinnacle of blogging: one new blog post every single day. No days off. No time to celebrate, to act lazy, to grow complacent.

But then I decided that I wanted to do more. I wanted to start a new blog, an online magazine dedicated to promoting aspiring artists.

I raised money, started a new website, learned all sorts of new things, wrote a few blog posts, said this was impossible, and quit. Continue reading “[Blogging Mindset] One Man’s Ceiling is Another Man’s Floor” →

A Glimpse Behind the Scenes of a Successful Blog

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 29 Comments

Believe it or not, being successful as a blogger does not mean blogging is somehow easy. Sometimes it can be fun, while other times it can feel like a daunting chore.

The truth is that we often focus obsessively on failure, but don’t realize that success has its own cons as well.

Curious to know how it feels to be a successful blogger? Read on. Continue reading “A Glimpse Behind the Scenes of a Successful Blog” →

Are you Creative [Enough]?

~ Jordan Peters ~ 13 Comments

Would you like to be more creative?

I’m only asking because it’s really not as hard or mysterious as you might think.

One thing that prevents many people from boosting their creativity is the notion that creativity is somehow determined by intelligence. Another is the idea that creative people are born that way.

In truth, research shows that once you get slightly above an average I.Q., intelligence and creativity are not related. So you could be a genius and display little creativity or have fairly average intelligence and wield amazing creative powers. Continue reading “Are you Creative [Enough]?” →

Are You a Hoarder (of Ideas)?

~ Jordan Peters ~ 11 Comments

Imagine this, if you will.

An old woman, near the end of her life. Shivering in a fleabag apartment without heat in the winter. Walking four miles each way to the food bank, to carry home unmarked cans of mystery meat. Not even a cat to keep her company, because cat food is expensive.

Then one day she dies, and the neighbors find $2.7 million wadded up in her mattress.

It’s a natural human impulse to hold on to what we have. We figure we can handle whatever discomforts we might be facing now, and who knows how bad it could get down the line? So we hoard, saving up our riches for some mythical later time.

What does this have to do with writing?

Everyone who writes faces this at some point. We come up with a powerful idea, something we think will capture a lot of attention. This is the kind of content we know we need to grow our blog and our business.

So of course we can’t waste it on our measly 300 subscribers (or 100, or 12). We scribble our great idea on a Post-it so we remember to write it up when we hit some magic number of subscribers–500 or 1000 or 10,000.

The Post-it gets dusty. We never hit that magic number. Because we took our best content ideas and stuffed them into a mattress. We didn’t think our small audience was good enough for amazing content, so we never got a larger audience. Continue reading “Are You a Hoarder (of Ideas)?” →

Do You Want Your Words to Change The World?

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 6 Comments

No matter what some might say, words have power. Words can influence, inform, and inspire.

Words can persuade your fellow humans to do some amazing things.

Maybe you don’t believe it when you write your blog posts, but your words can change the world.

If your words can change the world, it might be best to write with that goal in mind, right? Continue reading “Do You Want Your Words to Change The World?” →