Stop Using Content Pillars. Try This Instead.
Content pillars have long been a strategy people use to organize their content and feel like they have control over what they’re posting.
And it makes sense why.
When you’re first getting started, you’re staring at a blank slate. It’s daunting. You want a plan. You want some direction for what you’re sharing, so you’re not constantly wondering what to post next. Having some kind of structure also increases the chances that you’ll stick with it. The more clarity you have around what you’re doing, the easier it is to keep showing up.
So naturally, many creators turn to content pillars.
But in my experience, both with myself and with my clients, something strange happens when you actually try to implement them.
They don’t really work.
Most of us aren’t just sharing one narrow slice of expertise online. We’re sharing our lives. The texture of our lives. Our personalities, our interests, our work, the things we’re learning, the things we’re creating. There’s a lot happening, and when you sit down to divide all of that into neat categories, it starts to feel a little artificial.
Life doesn’t unfold in clean segments. The things we care about overlap. Our work connects to our personal lives. Our ideas come from our experiences.
So instead of organizing your content into pillars, I want to offer a different approach, one that feels far more natural and far more sustainable over the long run.
Step One: Start With Your Intentions
Before you think about what type of content to post, start with a much simpler question.
What do you actually want your content to do for you?
Most of us begin sharing our lives online because there is something we want to move toward. There’s a reason we feel pulled to show up and create. Maybe we want connection. Maybe we want to build an audience. Maybe we want to sell something we’ve created. Maybe we simply want a place to express ourselves.
Get really clear on those intentions and try to narrow them down to three or four.
For me, the intentions behind my content right now are fairly simple.
First and foremost, I want to share my life. That has always been the foundation of everything I do online. I love documenting what I’m experiencing, reflecting on what I’m learning, and finding connection through those moments. Expressing myself has always been the driving force behind my content.
Second, I want to share my writing and continue building my platform as an author so that more people discover my book (and future books!).
And third, I want to encourage people to join my program, Personal Brand Accelerator, because I truly believe it’s one of the most supportive and thoughtful places a creator can go to grow.
Those are the intentions guiding my content right now.
For you, the first step is simply identifying what your content is meant to do.
Step Two: Think in Storylines, Not Content Pillars
This is where everything starts to come together. Instead of asking yourself what type of content you should post, ask yourself a different question: what part of my story am I sharing today?
At any given time, most of us have two or three major storylines unfolding in our lives.
For example, right now one of my biggest storylines is pregnancy. It’s the most immediate and active experience in my life, so naturally it shows up in my content.
Another storyline has been renovating our house. My husband and I bought our first home last year, and that process shaped a huge portion of what I shared online. Even now, that storyline still carries into this year as we continue settling into the house and making it our own.
And a third storyline that I’m becoming more intentional about sharing is what it means to live as a creative professional. I’ve spent years building a career around writing, storytelling, and helping other people share their stories, and I talk openly about that process — what it looks like, what I’ve learned, and how others might learn from it too.
Each of these storylines naturally contains both personal and professional moments.
Because that’s how life actually works.
Your work is influenced by your life. Your ideas are shaped by your experiences. The things you build are inseparable from the person you are becoming. Personal life and professional work are not two separate buckets. They are part of the same story.
Step Three: Create a Short Punch List
Once you’re clear on your intentions and storylines, the next question becomes: how do you actually move those intentions forward through your content?
I talk about this a lot, but I don’t really use content calendars for my personal account. If you’re working with a team, content calendars can be extremely helpful. But for personal brands, I’ve found they often become too rigid and create unnecessary work that ends up holding people back from actually just posting.
Instead, I recommend working from a punch list.
A punch list is simply a short list of three or four content ideas you’re working on at any given time. This means you’re not planning the next thirty days of content or not trying to build a complicated system. You’re simply asking yourself: what are three or four ways I could move my intentions forward right now?
For example, my punch list might look something like this.
One idea could be a creative way to talk about my book by telling a story that naturally leads people toward it.
Another could be a voiceover sharing a piece of my writing.
A third might be a reflection about building my platform as a writer and something I’ve learned along the way.
And a fourth might simply be a pregnancy update — sharing something personal from this season of my life.
Each of these ideas moves one of my intentions forward, and because the list is short, it’s much easier to actually execute.
Why This Works
When someone follows your content over time, they’re not just consuming individual posts. They’re watching a life unfold. They’re curious about how you evolve, what challenges you encounter, what you learn along the way, and how your circumstances change. That’s what keeps people coming back.
The most compelling creators are not publishing disconnected pieces of content that neatly fit into different pillars. They’re letting people follow the narrative arc of their life.
And when you start thinking in storylines instead of categories, your content begins to feel far more natural. Because you’re no longer trying to divide your life into rigid segments like educational content, personal content, and promotional content. You’re simply sharing moments from the story you’re already living.
Those storylines become the vehicle that moves you forward toward the intentions you set at the beginning.
And over time, those small moments accumulate into something much larger — a body of work that reflects not just what you know, but who you are becoming.
If you’re trying to figure out how to share your life online without forcing yourself into rigid strategies or formulas, this is exactly the kind of work we explore inside Personal Brand Accelerator.
PBA is a community for creators who want to develop themselves, tell better stories, and build a body of work that reflects who they are and what they care about. We focus on storytelling, creative confidence, and learning how to share your ideas in a way that feels natural rather than performative.
If that sounds like the kind of space you’ve been looking for, you can sign up with a free trial here.
