Sean D'Souza: Inspiring ideas are there for the taking

If you're trying to write articles, the chances are that you'll be up early in the morning trying to get your brain cells churning, right? Not really. Most people actually do quite the opposite.

They'll sit down to write an article when all the rest of the work is done. And that's when they're most tired. Try thinking up something when you're tired, and you run into a wall of concrete. You can't even think up a topic, let alone any sub-topics.

So how do you break through this wall to find your topics? You do what all of us do. You fire up your computer and go online. And now you're on a five-minute treasure hunt to find topics. And 10 or 15 minutes later, you'll have a wealth of topics and sub-topics.

So let's take it step by step.

Step 1: Go to a site like Amazon.com or Dummies.com.

Step 2: Find the topic you're interested in.

Step 3: Find the contents page of the book.

Step 4: Copy two or three sub-topics.

So let's say I wanted to write on some random topic that I know nothing about, such as gardening.

Instantly I find several books (and each book becomes a sort of topic): Composting For Dummies or Container Gardening.

Yay, now all I have to do is look inside the contents pages of one book. In this case, one on Feng Shui. And instantly I get 25 sub-topics:

Part I: Getting Started: Feng Shui Basics.

Chapter 1: Discovering the Benefits of Feng Shui.

Chapter 2: Key Feng Shui Principles.

And so on through, all the way through to Part V and Chapter 25.

I'm well on my way. Now I have my topics and sub-topics. And I can now take any sub-topic and then create sub-sub-topics or angles. And even as I'm doing this, the thought crosses my mind: is this cheating?

So are you cheating when you copy the topics?

You would be cheating if you copied the content, but topics themselves are just topics. It starts to get serious when you copy word for word, sequence by sequence.

If you just get your inspiration by choosing topics, there's no problem at all. If you feel uncomfortable using the exact title of the topic, you can also tweak it to suit yourself. For example, Chapter 25, "Ten Unique Calligraphies to Bless Your Life" can become "Ten Calligraphies to Create Happiness At Dinner".

Whatever you do, stick to the online book stores (or offline stores, if you choose).

Don't go rambling through Google or some other search engine. Online book stores have order as part of their system. It's easy to find a book, easy to find a table of contents and easy to then get what you need.

If you end up on Google and search random sites, you'll waste container-loads of time because you'll need to re-focus on every new website you land on. You'll need to work out how the content is placed, where it's located, and so on.

And that's just a big headache you don't need. A bookstore is the best place.

And one book will keep you busy for a while.

You get dozens of topics from just one book. And guess what? There will be at least 50 (if not 1500 books) on your specific subject. So you'll be going a long time before you run out of topics and sub-topics. However, there's a danger of doing too much.

Which is why you should avoid working on more than two or three topics at a time. If you have too many topics you're working on, you'll be confused. You'll have way too much choice and then struggle (remember, you're usually tired when you're doing this assignment).

And the factor of having to choose whether you're going to tackle topic 14 or topic 25 is just too hard to resist. You'll go round in circles and then crash when you run out of energy.

So let's summarise:

* Topics are easy to find. Any online bookstore will provide at least a few thousand topics.

* Stick to the online bookstores. It's easy to get lost on the internet.

* Avoid more than two or three topics at a time.

The next time you're ready to write your topic, try doing it first thing in the morning, when your brain is rested. However, should you find that the midnight oil is the only recourse for you, make sure you jump online.

Fifteen minutes later, you should be raring to go.

Sean D'Souza is chief executive of Psychotactics and an international author and trainer. He is the author of The Brain Audit - Why Customers Buy (And Why They Don't).

www.psychotactics.com