A few weeks ago, I took my son and three of his friends to an escape room.

The plan was for them to go in, have fun, and I’d pick them up later. But it turns out, you can’t just leave four 13-year-olds at the escape room. They need an adult in there with them.

Fine. I would hang back quietly and let them have their bro time solving the puzzles.

Then they hit a snag. A puzzle that had to be solved to unlock the next clue, and they just couldn’t get it.

But I did.

After watching them struggle as the clock ticked down, I thought to heck with it, and started offering advice. Which was totally ignored.

The skill with which teenagers can ignore the voice of the one mom in the room is really breathtaking.

I shouldn’t have cared. This was their game, after all.

But you know, there is just something uniquely frustrating about the frustration that comes when you know the answer and no one will listen to you.

Plenty of you content creators out there feel me. You’re sharing all the secrets in your content, giving away blueprints for free, and getting no engagement.

And all the gurus keep saying is, “aDd VaLuE.”

Value ain’t valuable unless it cuts through the noise.

You have to interrupt the pattern.

Find your big idea. The thing that goes against what others in the space are saying.

Are there popular opinions or conventional wisdom you disagree with? Good. Now you have a starting point.

A hot take can capture attention, but can’t hold it unless there’s some meat on the bone. So dig deeper into the foundations of your opinion.

• What’s wrong with the common wisdom?
• Does it lead to a dead end, or down a potentially dangerous path?
• What research, data, or logic backs up your alternative viewpoint?
• What is the emotional benefit of your viewpoint? How does it feel better?
• How can your alternative path work in the real world?
• Why should your audience care?

Once you’ve developed a compelling viewpoint, package it thoughtfully.

Consider your audience. What kind of storytelling and media appeal to them? Where are they looking for insights on this topic? That’s where you need to be.

That might mean creating long articles, short social media posts, videos, or even books. The audience determines the format.

You can have the most perfect solution ever, but if it’s wrapped in a package your audience doesn’t want, it will have all the resonance of a mom trying to help four 13-year-old boys solve a puzzle game.