Help Me Decide What to Create Next (Blog)

[Savage]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

Help Me Decide What to Create Next

[GoingUnder]

Create something challenging.

Such as 'chaos in your life'.

[Adam Elkins]

Who are you, and what have you done with Steve?

[Andreas]

VERY interesting...

I really love the survey idea, Steve. I'm going to fill it out, but I'm going to do it later when I have time to put a lot of thought into each section. I'm very glad to hear you'll be reading all of the feedback. Good luck

But even without doing the survey I already know:

• I'd love to hear more about how to apply Subjective Reality to my life and manifest what I want. I'd love to see you explore the nature of reality in more depth and really help us get the heartset that attracts abundance and opportunities to serve that are in balance with that abundance.
• I want it in video form, because I get a lot more value from seeing your body language, your tonality, and other non-verbal communication. So much more expressive!
• In line with what you've said in the past about donation-based products, I'd like this to be presented as a HD youtube video embedded into a blog post. And below the video you can write a bit about how this is donation based.

You'll affect the most people this way.


In a perfect world, your secret 2011 project would be The Pavlina Point — a new biweekly webshow on YouTube or Blip.tv


Who's with me?!

[Savage]

There have been 50+ completed surveys so far, so I've already been looking at the data and the comments. This is REALLY helpful. Much of it seems to be validating what I already knew, but there are some potential surprises.

[Bradshaw]

I've submitted my survey. That was interesting!

Will you be sharing the survey results later Steve? It's would actually be very interesting to see what the forum community, blog readers and other people want from you, on average.

[Pause]

I have also completed the survey and I second Bradshaw: I would love to see the overall results or most helpful comments

[GoingUnder]

Originally Posted by Adam Elkins

Who are you, and what have you done with Steve?

I'm me.

Who's Steve?

Get it?

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Savage

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

Help Me Decide What to Create Next

Hey Steve, are you aware of the "Why, What, How to, What if?" version of content creation that Eben Pagan has talked about?

I would suggest that whatever content you make, you consider using this framework at least partially in it.

If you are not familiar with it, Eben has a great video explaining it at the bottom of this page.


Also, I completed your survey, albeit anonymously. I was impressed that you actually asked some great questions in it that I would never have thought of asking specifically. I despise when people ask me to fill out a mind-numbingly long and bland survey, but yours wasn't bad at all.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

Hey Steve, are you aware of the "Why, What, How to, What if?" version of content creation that Eben Pagan has talked about?

I would suggest that whatever content you make, you consider using this framework at least partially in it.

If you are not familiar with it, Eben has a great video explaining it at the bottom of this page.


Also, I completed your survey, albeit anonymously. I was impressed that you actually asked some great questions in it that I would never have thought of asking specifically. I despise when people ask me to fill out a mind-numbingly long and bland survey, but yours wasn't bad at all.

I'm not familiar with Eben's framework.

I'm glad you appreciated the questions. A lot of time and effort went into structuring them -- and many revisions. It's pretty difficult to design good questions.

[firefly]

I'm glad the feedback is already proving helpful. It was obvious that you'd put a lot of time into designing the survey and, like Curtis, I really appreciate that.

Can't wait for the results!

[Andrew Brunelle]

That was a real comprehensive survey, Steve. I'm looking forward to seeing some of these products in the near future. I'm sure they will be of paramount quality because your free info is amazing. I will definitely buy something that catches my eye. I'm especially looking forward to subjective reality and some products on wealth/online business.

[Savage]

Regarding the results of the survey, I may share some insights based on what I learn, but I'm not planning to post all the statistical data, charts and graphs, and people's personal comments online.

There are now 150+ completed surveys, so there's already a lot of data to look at and many comments to read through. Some results are still shifting around a good bit, and they're probably biased by the early responders, so the results may change somewhat over the next several days.

One general pattern I'm already seeing is that lots of people are looking for content that's not just educational or informative. They also want my help to motivate and push them to make changes, especially if they're currently feeling stuck or trapped.

In terms of topics, the current leaders are self-discipline, life purpose, success & achievement, and entrepreneurship. But there are many topics with a significant amount of strong interest. I'm happy to see diversity here since it means I can create products on a variety of different topics, and there will be people who will appreciate them.

On the other hand, it's clear that it will be impossible to satisfy most people with a single product. I'll probably need to create at least 5-10 different products to adequately cover the most requested topics.

In terms of formats, the current front-runners are e-books and audio programs, which are essentially tied for the lead. This suggests that a good content format might be an audio program that includes a written transcript.

Based on the data thus far, a good choice for a new product might be a digitally delivered audio program on self-discipline with a strong motivational tone, especially if it includes a written transcript/e-book.

I like that the results are coming in fast and that I can view them in real-time. But I'm going to let it run for several days, perhaps a week, before I take a deep look at the data, read through every comment, and then make a real decision about what to create next.

[DeniseG]

Took the survey!

[Asten]

I have to say, even doing the survey gave me value. I wasn't going to write down or click whatever popped into my head first--I sat and thought about it. I think it took me an hour to do it. Thinking about your questions gave me some insight into what I'm most focused on and struggling with right now.

Cool.

I look forward to your insights, if you choose to share, and the products you create from it.

[Bizarre Jester]

Great survey, it's good to be heard and to be able to give feedback.
I suggested that Steve should use more video format. It made me realize that Steve already addressed almost everything that I wanted to know when it comes to personal growth.
I'd like to see more content that involves improving physical health, increasing consciousness, and starting online businesses.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Savage

I'm not familiar with Eben's framework.

I'm glad you appreciated the questions. A lot of time and effort went into structuring them -- and many revisions. It's pretty difficult to design good questions.

The video I linked to contains a complete explanation of the "Four Learning Types" as discovered by a very smart Harvard researcher awhile back.

Basically the premise is that different personality types learn primarily in one single way or another single way, with four ways total. Also, if you are one learning type, you will most likely prefer to teach in that type as well.

This separation of types, as Eben says, is almost like speaking different languages. If you are a 'What' type, and you try to explain something in your own 'What' words to a 'What if' type, there will be a huge disconnect in your communication, and both of you will be frustrated and unable to get what you want from each other.

He mentions that this is the primary reason why so many people feel completely bored and uninterested in school and university classes, because the teacher will teach solely in his own learning style, whereas around 75% of his class is of a different primary learning style. Thus, any given teacher is only effectively teaching about 1/4th of his or her entire class.

The video I mentioned is 45 minutes long and explains everything you need to know about how to create a "complete" information product using this framework, so that individuals of every learning type will be satisfied with your product. The last 20 minutes of it is actually a live demonstration of him using the system impromptu with one of his audience members, so it gives you a very clear example of how to use it in your own information products and marketing.


The whole point of the video is really "how to make information valuable" and especially how to make it valuable to all of your readers, instead of just the usual 1/4th of total readers that you naturally connect with. It also makes it a lot easier to get your readers to take action with the ideas you give them.

I would highly recommend watching it and experimenting with that framework at least in a blog post, if not a whole information product.

[Andreas]

Good survey. Rather yummy.

The last 2 questions were quite interesting.
Really shows that Steve has the heart of a service, in my opinion.

[pjhaggerty]

can I suggest that next survey you include an optional e-mail space so that those people who are open to either providing more feedback or hearing the results of the survey can be contacted by e-mail?

perhaps you could send out the results to those who took the survey that way, I'd certainly be curious to see what everybody is interested in.

[cacheborn]

It was evident that lot of thought went into designing the questions. Interesting stuff.

[cshwk1995]

hiSteve,

I learnt from ur blog that u cut short the time to get double degree.

Would it be good if u would like to share some more learning framework (in a detail & systematic way)?

I knew there some other good blog writers, which focus on learning techniques mainly. But I really interested in your learning framework, which might be more convincing, simply because u proven it by ur ability to get double degree in shorter time, & ur ability to learn making complicated computer game.

Thanks.

[Mud]

I know you won't post all the stats but I would like to know how many surveys you had completed in the end AND if you plan to read all those comments!

[Savage]

Originally Posted by pjhaggerty

can I suggest that next survey you include an optional e-mail space so that those people who are open to either providing more feedback or hearing the results of the survey can be contacted by e-mail?

perhaps you could send out the results to those who took the survey that way, I'd certainly be curious to see what everybody is interested in.

I had thought about doing that, but I decided not to because I figured there would be hundreds of responses and that it wouldn't be realistic to follow up with people individually. I felt that if I requested email addresses, I'd be giving people the impression that I would follow up with them if they asked questions. I didn't want to give people an unreasonable expectation.

I also didn't want anyone to get the impression that I'm trying to use the survey for list-building purposes.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Mud

I know you won't post all the stats but I would like to know how many surveys you had completed in the end AND if you plan to read all those comments!

Yes, I will read through every comment. In the end there will likely be thousands of them. It will take time, but most of the comments are short and straightforward. I've skimmed through some of them so far, and it's definitely insightful.

It's interesting to see just how passionate people are about completely different topics -- and what people perceive to be my core strengths in terms of content.

I could practically pick any two random topics on the list, and there are multiple people who've said something like, "I know you've written a lot about _______, but it's obvious to me that your real strength is in _______. I'd love to see more in-depth content from you on that subject."

There are 525 completed surveys so far, and it hasn't been up for 24 hours yet. The responses will probably get into the thousands. I haven't mentioned it in my newsletter yet, which I plan to do next week.

[Bradman]

Steve, first I would like to say that I very much enjoy your website and have found it quite inspiring.

One of my goals is to start a business that I have been thinking about for quite a long time. Believe me, this will be the biggest thing since sliced bread...

The problem is - it is a very large undertaking that will require much funding and expertise. I was wondering if you might like to write an article (or offer some advise) on how to approach such a problem. I am being vague about this but for good reason, the first company to start this will have a huge advantage.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated! I'll even "cut you in" for a percentage if you help me get this off the ground

[Marth]

More articles on how to connect with people/how to be effective in life! I like all your blogs especially the audio! if you choose to make more pods awesome

[Supertramp]

Took the survey!
Happy to know that you are reading through all of them.
Thanks for hearing

[Supertramp]

A sudden thought.
Apart from experimenting with a new business model, will the survey really help people in certain areas?!

Numerous topics like Self-Discipline, Health, Law of Attraction, Subjective Reality, Consciousness levels, getting people to take Action, developing Habits etc have all been explained wonderfully by you already in this blog. If people (Including me. I took the survey too) are still finding problem to move ahead in these areas, it's THEIR problem. Steve, you can't come and physically push them. Your articles on these topics have already done a world of good in explaining the problem and coming up with a workable solution.

In suggesting the above mentioned topics in the survey and asking people if they would like to hear more on it, you are just feeding their procrastination I guess. People would be happy that you've got some more "stuff" on these areas and "wait" for the stuff so they could lead a better life. That is misleading and I doubt if people will change even after that.

But surely topics like Productivity, Entrepreneurship, blogging, Time Management are worth your time and effort as you could get into the details in day to day activities just like in David's Getting Things Done and Brian Tracy's Time Management tapes - albeit, in your flavor.

In the survey, I had mentioned about one particular problem I face. I sought your help. But now I KNOW that whatever you say on that, finally it's up to me to take control of the situation and address it. Maybe blog entries about 30-day trial or Journaling might help

[waizen]

As a side question... what application did you use for your survey? Was that part of Wordpress?

[awaqas1]

Done.

Than you steve for taking the time to ask us for the feed back, I found the questions very direct, clear and meaningful.

I didn't feel so much like i was doing a survey but felt more like being asked intelligent questions


best wishes,

looking forward to great creations