Why Formulas Don’t Fix Creative Work

(Even though you still need them)

Image purchased by the author via iStock

After refusing to touch the platform for 12 months, I’ve spent 10 days in a row on LinkedIn.

It started as a challenge from my friend

Tim Denning

. We’re building a LinkedIn course together. I’m the on-screen student, asking questions, taking notes. He’s the expert.

During lesson 5, I saw a note that was particularly cringe-worthy.

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Screenshot taken by the author

I smirked at that. Just toss a “work word” in the post somewhere?? Surely it couldn’t be so simple.

It is.

Since I’ve been following his instructions, I published a post that is over 10,000 views and 200 likes. It’s like somebody gave me the keys to the bank vault, then turned around and closed their eyes. No George Clooney-style heist necessary.

The whole experience has me thinking about formulas. There was a time where, effective or not, I would have turned my nose away at anything that sounded remotely like a “proven method.”

Resistance to formulas is natural for creative people. We are obsessed with originality, forgetting…