Most people say to write better, you should read more. That’s a decent writing tip & trick, but I have a completely different one for you. It’s my secret writing weapon.
Drum roll, please…
Watch more YouTube videos.
Listen, I’m lazy. I like using other people’s hard work to my advantage.
When someone puts out a YouTube video, I can take the information in the video and turn it into an article.
And what’s fantastic is that it’s a win-win.
I get an article out of it (win for me), and I help promote their video (win for them).
Let me share 3 ideas on how you can use YouTube videos for writing.
Idea #1: Write about Writing
Writing about writing is so meta, as the cool kids say. But I understand why it’s popular. As writers, we are interested in learning how to get our work done better and faster.
You can learn from experts on YouTube, and then distill that knowledge to others a little behind you.
That’s what I did when I wrote this article:
I found a couple of really knowledgeable people on this topic and I was able to break down the information to help others.
Idea #2: Learn Something New to Share
Recently, I decided to go to YouTube and find the most clickbaity titles to debunk. I chose the topic of going from $0 to $1,000,000 fast.
But guess what?
The dudes in these videos schooled me and taught me some new things.
What I found surprised me in a good way, and I was able to create this article out of it:
In most cases, I will take just one video and create a post on it. For this one, I used three different videos and pieced together the things I learned.
There really isn’t a right or wrong way to do this.
Idea #3 – Pick Topics that Make You Stop Scrolling
As you’re scrolling through YouTube, see which titles make you stop. If the topic is interesting to you, it’ll likely be interesting to someone else. (Plus, these YouTube creators are smart. They only take time to make videos they know people will like.)
Let me show you some examples of articles I created out of scroll-stoppers. I hope these help give you some ideas.
For instance, here’s one about the 5 weird YouTube topics I’m obsessed with:
This article came from a YouTube video about the money blocks that hold entrepreneurs back:
I was able to use Leila Hormozi’s video about how she brainwashed herself to success:
This one was created from a video about how to become a copywriter for beginners:
Finally, here’s an article about a couple of my favorite “boring” YouTube topics:
These have all been posts I’ve been able to create for Medium, but I’ve also used YouTube to help me create Twitter threads.
In fact, a short clip that I stumbled on inspired me to write the following thread. It’s about Rick Rubin and the weirdly genius idea he gave to Serj Tankien when they were working on System of a Down’s song “Chop Suey”:
As you can see, if you have trouble coming up with a topic idea, YouTube has your answers.
Now, let me give you more ideas that I came up with just by scrolling through my Watch Later list.
How to Never Run Out of Writing Ideas
You will never run out of writing ideas if you use YouTube. Seriously. I hope I’ve convinced you of that.
Just scroll through your feed, see what stands out to you, and then write about it from your perspective.
In fact, it took me about 2 minutes of going through my Watch Later list to come up with these 7 topics:
- How to turn $1,000 into $100 million using Alex Hormozi’s advice
- How solopreneurs can make millions if they follow Justin Welsh’s advice
- Choosing the best niche for copywriting
- How Justin Welsh systemizes his content
- How Dan Koe made $800,000 in a year from writing
- Using the Universal Laws of Life to get everything you want (according to Bob Proctor)
- Zulie Rane’s tips for how to write more
I could go on and on. There is a neverending stream of ideas and content that you can use from YouTubers.
To Sum It Up
While I agree that reading is an excellent tip and trick for writers, sometimes I like to do things the even lazier way and go to YouTube instead.
When you have writer’s block, head on over there and start scrolling. Notice what makes you stop. I bet you’ll have more ideas than you’ll know what to do with.