In a past life, I was a blogger. I mean, a regular blogger who would write all sorts of posts and hope to get page views and, in turn, sell something. I still do that sort of work, with a bit of a different spin these days, but have decided to let others take the wheel.

Why? Because it’s so easy these days to write a blog post on some current event and turn it into advice. It must work, too – these are the only types of blog posts I seem to see.

Please make it stop.

What the #IceBucketChallenge can teach us about #Marketing.

That’s the kind of thing I’m talking about. It’s easy, and FUN! to make your own blog post using something that’s trending and whatever line of work you’re in. You should try it sometime – just add a hashtag and you’re all set.

What the Start of the #CollegeFootball season can teach us about #SocialMedia

In fact, we’ve eliminated the need for any sort of current events calendar, right? Just newsjack your way into whatever story is out there, then Bob’s Your Uncle and the world will beat a path to your blog’s door.

What #LaborDay can teach us about #GivingBirth to #Quadruplets

Also, you now don’t even need to THINK. Crap, anything on the calendar can be turned into something that can teach us about engaging with our target audience on Pinterest.

What my recent #SpeedingTicket can teach us about #Engagement

I didn’t actually get a speeding ticket – but this is the sort of thing I’m seeing throughout the universe. Take a topic, any topic, and apply it to something seemingly unrelated. YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING!

Please make it stop. And here’s the takeaway…

At some point, take a break and do some actual original thinking.

There’s always an agenda to these posts – and maybe that’s one reason I stay away from them, and from blogging, and especially from LinkedIn Publisher posts. These are always solutions to problems that you may not currently have. They’re running around your head, trying to insert themselves into some process where they may not belong. It’s lazy thinking and it’s getting old and…

My advice is this.

Pick up a book – not a tactical marketing advice book, but a real book. I don’t care what it is, but make it something that forces you to rethink something, or visit a series of problems in a completely different way. Heck, even a crime novel might get you escaping from these insipid blog posts.

I’m currently reading “Forever Fluent” and I love it and now I HAVE to learn (or relearn) a language. But that may not be your bag – fine. Just make sure you’re not reading, or writing, the same old blog post.

What learning #French can teach us about #Twitter.