By J. Dean Spence
So, what makes someone a good content creator? There are probably dozens of ways—if not more—to answer that question. However, I believe people who are good content creators are well-rounded individuals with many interests.
You bring whoever you are to your work.
What exactly do I mean by this last statement? According to Vinayshil Gautam, PhD., much of what we are and are becoming is a result of often invisible influences. We absorb knowledge not only in a structured classroom, but also from our experiences, places we’ve been, where we live, our family, our friends etc. The kind of learning Gautam is talking about is often obtained without us knowing we are acquiring it. If you work at IBM you learn the IBM way of doing things, and you acquire much of this knowledge by observing and doing things the IBM way. And if you leave IBM for Apple, you bring everything you learned from IBM to Apple.
Gautam further argues that the founder of a company, or a new leader, has long range influences on his or her organization. His or her influences in life (whether s/he previously worked at IBM, studied at Harvard, read Modern poetry, grew up in Paris, was raised by a single mom, was popular in high school, listens to jazz music etc.) will impact the way he or she does things. Gautam suggests that in business you bring who you are, and who you have been, to the present state. I would argue that the same is true for content creators. However, I think Gautam’s theory needs to be tweaked a little.
Gautam calls this process of learning “longitudinal thinking”. A problem here should immediately be obvious. “Thinking” is a mass noun, indicating—according to the Oxford English Dictionary—“the process of considering or reasoning about something.” But if you read Gautam’s work or watch his videos, sometimes when he uses longitudinal thinking—more specifically when he is suggesting the acquisition of this type of knowledge—he should be using another mass noun, longitudinal learning. (The OED defines learning as “the acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, experience, or being taught.”)
Gautam is muddling the mass nouns thinking and learning. What he seems to be saying is that we acquire knowledge often unawares through our experiences and interactions (longitudinal learning), and we apply this knowledge as we go about our daily business (longitudinal thinking).
Of course in our daily life thinking and learning can occur simultaneously. (You can’t learn without thinking, but you can think without learning.) However, as simple as Gautam’s theory is, it would be even easier to follow and accept if he clearly distinguishes between longitudinal thinking and longitudinal learning.
This theory is not one of my favourites. There are probably better terms out there to describe what Gautam is saying. His idea is interesting, though, and I do think people would agree that this kind of learning and thinking happens all of the time. That brings me back to content creation.
To write good content, you must live life—a full life. Don’t get stuck in a rut. Go places. Try new things. Read…read…read! If you always wanted to learn a second language, download Duolingo and start learning. Life is not life if we cease to eagerly learn new things, especially for a content creator.
But what if you are writing content about a specific topic, such as banking products? Does that mean you should only busy yourself learning about mortgages, credit cards, and bank accounts? No! You never know where inspiration for your content will come from. Reading Langston Hughes might make your prose more crisp and precise. New friends’ opinions might make you understand what banking consumers want. Studying a subject unrelated to banking, such as music, could conceivably help you solve a content problem that has you stumped.
It’s up to you whether you use the terms longitudinal thinking and longitudinal learning (or if you have better terms to describe these processes). But Gautam is on to something. A lot has gone into making you what you are. If you can get in touch with a healthy amount of this, your content will be interesting.