What to Post on LinkedIn: Finding Ideas That Don't Feel Forced

Every creator hits the same wall eventually: staring at the blank post box, knowing you should publish something, having nothing to say.

The standard advice is to create a content calendar. Plan your themes. Batch your ideas. Never start from zero.

There's truth to this. But it misses something fundamental: you can't schedule inspiration. And content that comes from obligation rather than genuine insight feels different. Readers can tell.

This guide takes a different approach. Instead of giving you 50 generic prompts, we'll explore where meaningful content actually comes from—and how to notice it when it appears.

Why Most Content Idea Lists Fail

You've seen the lists:

• "Share a career lesson"
• "Post about an industry trend"
• "Tell a personal story"
• "Give tips for [skill]"

These are category prompts, not actual ideas. They point at a type of content without giving you anything specific to say.

The result: you pick a category and then have to generate the actual insight from scratch. You're not any closer to knowing what to post.

Real content ideas are specific. They're the observation you made in a meeting yesterday. The counterintuitive thing you learned this quarter. The advice you keep giving that people seem surprised by.

The goal isn't to fill categories. It's to notice when you have something worth saying.

The Four Sources of Genuine Content

After interviewing dozens of consistent LinkedIn creators, I've found that authentic content comes from four primary sources:

Source 1: Friction in Your Work

Every day, you encounter problems. Things that don't work the way they should. Processes that frustrate you. Gaps between how things are and how they could be.

This friction is content.

Not complaints—insights. What you've learned about why the friction exists. What you've tried that worked. What you've realized about the underlying problem.

How to mine this source:

At the end of each workday, spend 30 seconds asking:

• What frustrated me today?
• What surprised me?
• What did I explain to someone that seemed to help them?
• What would I do differently if I could redo today?

Any of these can become a post.

Example transformation:

Friction: "I'm so tired of explaining our pricing model to prospects who don't get it."

Content: "We changed our pricing explanation three times. The version that finally worked: [specific approach]. Why it works: [insight about how people process pricing information]."

Source 2: Questions You Keep Answering

Pay attention to the questions you get asked repeatedly. In meetings, in DMs, in emails.

If multiple people ask you the same thing, there's content there.

The question itself tells you the topic. The answer you keep giving becomes the post. The fact that it keeps coming up validates that others will find it useful.

How to mine this source:

Keep a running note of questions people ask you. Just quick notes: "Asked about X again" with the date.

After a month, patterns emerge. The questions that appear most frequently are your most valuable content topics.

Example transformation:

Repeated question: "How do you prioritize which leads to focus on?"

Content: "I get asked this constantly: how do you know which leads are worth your time? After years of trial and error, I use this simple framework: [specific approach]. Here's how it works..."

Source 3: Your Changing Opinions

The most engaging content often comes from evolution in your thinking. What you used to believe that you now question. What you've changed your mind about. What you've learned that surprised you.

This type of content works because it's inherently authentic—you can only write about your actual journey—and because evolution is interesting to watch.

How to mine this source:

Periodically reflect:

• What did I believe 2 years ago that I no longer believe?
• What common advice in my field have I stopped following?
• What's a best practice that I've found doesn't work for me?
• Where have I been wrong?

Example transformation:

Changed opinion: "I used to think cold outreach was dead. Now I realize it's just that most cold outreach is bad."

Content: "I was in the 'cold outreach is dead' camp for years. What changed: [specific experience]. What I learned about the difference between cold outreach that works and the 99% that doesn't..."

Source 4: Other People's Content

Reaction and response to others is a valid content source. When something resonates with you—or when you disagree—there's often a post there.

This isn't stealing or piggybacking. It's participating in the conversation.

Ways to use this source:

Agreement + Extension: "Saw [person]'s post about [topic]. It made me think about [related insight from your experience]."

Respectful disagreement: "Lots of people recommend [common advice]. Here's why I've found it doesn't work for [specific context]..."

Application: "Applied [concept from someone's post] this week. Here's what happened..."

How to mine this source:

When you find yourself typing a long comment, stop. That comment might be a post of its own. If you have 100+ words of reaction, it's probably worth expanding into standalone content.

The Capture System

Ideas are useless if you don't capture them. And inspiration doesn't arrive on schedule.

You need a system for grabbing ideas when they appear, then processing them into posts when you have time.

The minimum viable capture system:

1. One place for notes. Phone notes app, dedicated Notion page, physical notebook—doesn't matter. What matters is that it's always accessible and you use it consistently.

2. Low-friction entry. When an idea strikes, you should be able to capture it in 10 seconds. Just a few words to trigger your memory later.

3. Regular processing. Weekly, review your captured ideas. Some will feel dead on second look—delete them. Others will spark. Those become posts.

What to capture:

Not full post drafts. Just enough to remember the insight:

• "Pricing convo w/ Sarah - 'I didn't realize the middle tier was self-serve'"
• "Why do we keep hiring for culture fit when we say we value diversity"
• "Spent 2 hours on a task that automation could do in 5 min"

When you come back to these, the full post often writes itself.

The Content Dial: Consistency vs. Inspiration

Here's the tension every creator faces:

Consistency matters. Audiences expect regularity. The algorithm rewards reliable posting. Momentum builds with showing up.

Forced content feels forced. Publishing something just to publish erodes your reputation. Uninspired posts train your audience to scroll past you.

The solution isn't to pick one extreme. It's to manage the dial.

When inspiration is flowing: Post more. Capture the surplus for drier times.

When inspiration is scarce: Draw from your captured ideas. Or post something simple and honest: a question, an observation, a share of someone else's work with brief commentary.

The floor that matters: Have a minimum posting frequency you can maintain even at your least inspired. For most people, that's 2-3 posts per week. At minimum, you show up.

Content Idea Generators: When and How to Use Them

Tools that generate content ideas (including ours) can be useful—but they work best as prompts, not prescriptions.

How to use them well:

1. Generate multiple ideas
2. Scan for anything that triggers a genuine reaction ("oh, that's interesting" or "that reminds me of...")
3. Use that as a starting point, not a fill-in-the-blank template
4. Let your actual experience and perspective shape the post

How not to use them:

• Picking a prompt and writing something generic to fill it
• Publishing AI-generated content without substantial personal input
• Using idea generators as a substitute for paying attention to your work

The best content ideas come from your actual life. Generators can help you find angles or remember topics you'd forgotten, but they can't replace genuine insight.

When You Truly Have Nothing to Say

Sometimes, despite systems and sources, you're empty.

This happens. It's fine. Here are legitimate options:

Curate. Share someone else's content with brief commentary on why it resonated. This adds value (amplification) without requiring original insight.

Ask. Pose a genuine question you're thinking about. "I've been wondering about X lately. For those who have dealt with this—what worked?" Questions create engagement and often generate ideas for future posts.

Update. Share what you're working on or learning, even without a conclusion. "Currently exploring [topic]. Still forming my opinion but finding [observation] interesting."

Take a break. Missing a post isn't catastrophic. It's better to post nothing than to post something that makes people less interested in you.

The goal is a sustainable practice, not a perfect streak.

Building Your Idea Muscle

Finding content ideas gets easier over time. Not because the world generates more ideas, but because you get better at noticing them.

This is a skill. And like all skills, it develops with practice.

Practices that build the muscle:

Daily noticing. Each day, look for one thing worth capturing. Just one. The discipline of looking makes you more attuned.

Weekly reflection. Set aside 15 minutes weekly to process captured ideas and reflect on the week's work. Patterns become visible.

Content consumption as research. When you read or listen to content in your field, ask: "What's my take on this? Where do I agree or disagree?" This generates reaction-based content.

Teaching and explaining. Volunteer to explain things to others. The act of explanation surfaces insights you didn't know you had.

Over months, you'll shift from "I don't know what to post" to "I have more ideas than time to post them." That's the goal.

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Get Unstuck Now

If you're stuck right now and need a starting point, our free LinkedIn post ideas generator can help.

Enter your industry and interests, and get personalized topic suggestions designed as jumping-off points, not fill-in-the-blank templates.

Generate ideas →

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