To gain interest in your story, your business, your art, you have to be interesting.
It is that simple.
Stay Positive & Let’s Not Make Things Difficult When They Needn’t Be
They Show Up When You Do
Here are 9 thoughts I had earlier today when I tried writing the start of a new book.
1) I’m thirsty. I’ll get something to drink before I write.
2) I should probably shower and shave now so I don’t have to later. That way I can totally focus on writing.
3) I’m sorta sore. I think I’ll stretch.
4) This couch is comfortable. Maybe I’ll just lay back and think about what I’ll write for a minute or two.
5) I should eat something so hunger doesn’t interrupt my flow once I get going.
6) I’ve gotta go to the bathroom.
7) I wonder if anything interesting is on Facebook or if I got any snaps or I missed that my phone beeped with a message.
8) I’m thirsty again and I didn’t fill my cup with enough water.
9) I wonder what I’ll do after I’m done writing.
The little voices in your head, your fears, your excuses, whatever you want to label them – they show up when you do. Always. It helps to notice them and let them pass, but from my years of noticing them, it doesn’t make it any easier. However, letting them go and pushing forward with my art has always made it more worth it.
Don’t listen to the little voices in your head.
Stay Positive & Keep Doing Your Art
Enlighten Others
Using Others’ Brain Space
One of the largest perks to being in a relationship is you can rely on the other to remember certain things and vice versa.
He knows directions to the obscure mexican restaurant on the other side of town. She needs to use her GPS.
She knows all the groceries to get. He needs a list.
The same shared mental space applies to your friends, your followers, your tribe. The more connections you make, the more you can rely on others to fill one of your knowledge gaps, the more you can rely on others to be the expert.
No need to learn how to buy a house, your real estate friend has all the information for you. No need to learn about the stars or space, your astronomer space-head follower has your back. No need to think of a clever email CTA, your tribe can tell you what they want.
The sad part is we often rely so heavily on using others’ brain space that we forget to be the expert for others, the brain they pick.
Stay Positive & Curiously Passionate
Enlighten Others
Right And Clear
I was in the middle of a discussion about the use of the word “regret” in a client training memo. The word was being used in an extremely untraditional way.
One person thought it made sense. The other, not so much.
Not having been involved in the project, it was a fresh term and client for me. The two discussing the term asked my opinion and I had to say both were right.
It was the right use of the word, but I didn’t believe it was a clear use of it.
Often times when a disagreement takes place, the discussion leans toward who is right and who is wrong, often failing to result in a decision that’s clear.
Which is more important to you? Being right or being clear?
Stay Positive & Be Selfless, Be Clear
Enlighten Others
If People Like You
I might be wrong, but the best way to succeed at work is to have people like you.
I don’t mean this in the sense of giving gifts, manipulating emotions, and sacrificing your personal life to please those who have a say whether you move up the work ranks or not. Quite the opposite.
Getting people to like you requires you to always have an open mind, requires you to try new experiences, and you’re always putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. It requires you to share who you really are with another person, it gives an ambitious goal to work toward, and it helps you stay positive.
So much goes into getting people to like you. What I love most is that you get an instant return on your investment even if it’s not in the form of the person liking you just yet.
Stay Positive & Make Putting Yourself Out There The Type Of Person You Are
Enlighten Others
The End Of “I Didn’t Know”
A few hours of research can save a few dozen hours of repair, of attention, of credibility.
Very few businesses are ran on the premise of providing information to people who didn’t know they needed or wanted it.
Nearly every business is providing information for you to consume so you don’t make the mistake of going in blind.
There’s no reason for you to pitch a strategy to a client without reading up on some case studies and seeing what other competitor brands are doing.
There’s no reason for you to buy tickets to Germany without knowing your passport needs to have at minimum 10 months before its expiration to get in the country. (Sorry, Nick.)
There’s no reason for you to not start a podcast because you don’t know how.
I always say, “you don’t know until you know,” and it’s so easy to know now. Why would you ever not?
Stay Positive & Do Your Research Before You Waste Time, Money, Respect, Attention…
Enlighten Others
Episode 14: Systematic, Free time, Online Shopping And More – Podcast
On this episode of In The Box Podcast, we answered the question whether there is such a thing as a dumb question, if we thought we had more free time now than 10 years ago and what is special about dust. Weird, I know, but there is a reason.
When you listen, you’ll also hear us discuss how to present information to people you know who will disagree with you, how to go from a want/should to a will/do, and quite a lot about online shopping.
Episode 14: Systematic, Free time, Online Shopping And More
Asking questions – Is there such a thing as a stupid/dumb question?
Free time – Do you think we have more free time now then we did 10 yrs ago?
Information – what is the best way to present info to folks who disagree with you?
Systematic – How do you go from a want/should to a will/do?
Online shopping – is online shopping worth it?
Dust – What is something special about dust, what gets you excited about dust?
Stay Positive & Subscribe If You Haven’t Yet
