Archives: Positivity

As part of my training for the 3 Peaks, I swim twice a week (in between the full-on gym workouts), thanks to the lovely people at Topnotch Healthclubs who’s sponsored my challenge.

Today while I was swimming I noticed a curious phenomenon that I’m going to name the “hottie effect”. There were three guys in the pool, including me. One of them was pretty much just sitting there, the other doing some slow, steady, not hugely dedicated breast-stroke lengths and me, somewhat beasting myself churning out my 500m.

In the middle of my 3rd 50m set, a girl came in.

I should immediately qualify this by saying that when I swim I obviously don’t wear my glasses, so I can’t actually see anything beyond the end of my nose in any kind of clear fashion.

This girl came in and, from what I could make out, she was young, slender and wearing a bikini.  Suddenly and remarkably the layabout starting cranking out some lengths, the breast-stroker suddenly upped his speed and improved his technique and I… well, I mostly carried on doing lengths while wondering how hot this girl must be to inspire the other guys to such great feats.

The point of all this isn’t swimming pool-based voyeurism, but to suggest that we all in some way or another adapt our behaviour in the presence a a pretty person1. In the gym especially, it makes be act “up” – trying to show ourselves to be fitter, stronger and faster.

What if we could apply that “hottie effect” to our creative lives? If we created in the shadow of the “hottie” – that single person we’re all desperate to please.

Impressing people – whether it’s an agent, a producer, a client or a partner – is an innate desire in all of us. We want people to love what we do. Creating that voice of approval and encouragement in what we do is a perfect way to motivate yourself and keep focused on creating the very best that you can, whatever it may be.

1. girl or boy, depending on your personal preference [↩]

Struggle with getting down to work some days? Most days? Every day?

If you’re trying to think creatively and get yourself into the right mood, but can’t seem to settle your brain to the task in hand, you need to create yourself an inspiration pathway.

IP’s (as I like to call them1 ) are a form of hypnotic process that allows you to reach the right state of flow to achieve your creative goals.

We all recognise the feeling: when you’re reading the blog of an inspirational online mentor (Tim Ferriss, for me); listening to that track that gives you goosebumps; sitting in that perfect spot that fills you with feelings of limitless ability and peacefulness. The trick is to find a way to tap into that feeling and apply it to your work routine.

By recreating that feeling of invincibility – of total creative power and freedom – you can access the flow state that will see you glide through the challenges that face you over the next couple of hours, or the ten pages, or that sales call to your dream client.

If you’re trigger is musical, so much the better – just hit ‘Play’ and take yourself there. For other triggers, find a way to access them each and every day when you sit at your desk to get cracking.  Bookmark a favourite post or posts, stimulate your sense and psych yourself into inspiring yourself to make the most of your day.

Inspire yourself and you’ll reach new heights you never imagined.

What lights your inspiration candle? How do you help yourself reach a state of flow when you sit down to work in the morning (or afternoon, or whenever you do your best work)?

1. since it takes too long to type inspiration pathway every time [↩]

In today’s world, it’s harder and harder to find anywhere that doesn’t have Wi-Fi access. Much to my surprise1, one of those places is the campus coffee shop of City University2, which has a connection so slow as to be pretty much useless.

Unfortunately for the new website I’m planning and prepping, it just wasn’t as viable a work option as I’d hoped. Instead, with no real ‘net access to speak of, I managed to write a rough draft of the first two thirds of my new eBook3.

I’ve been planning and meaning to write the book for the last couple of months, but something always gets in the way, whether it’s my own procrastination, a feeling of too little time or a simple perception of “writer’s block”.

Today, by getting away from my usual distractions and by having almost literally nothing else to do, I settled down, I focused and I ploughed through way more, way faster than I ever thought I would.

The next time you have something you really want to do but can’t seem to find the time, see what happens when you move yourself away from your usual workspace and take yourself to a place where you can’t be distracted by the usual things. Be it a park, a library or anywhere that doesn’t offer fast-as-lighting internet access, find the place that fits and see just how much you plough through.

I see many more days of internet-off writing ahead of me. Let me know what you think if you’ve tried it, or if you have your own tricks for getting super-productive.

1. and, it turns out, my luck [↩]
2. where I accompanied my fiancée to calm her nerves before her exam today [↩]
3. which I have also now announced to the world, giving myself accountability and therefore less ability to avoid it, but more on that in a future post [↩]

It’s a very badly hidden secret that I’m a loyal supporter and devotee of Seth Godin, the man I can most single-handedly credit with re-energising me in my low moments and helping me believe that anything is possible.

Never more so than with the latest free eBook from his Domino Project publishing company. Not only is it a great example of using something you give away for free (the ‘SXSW Pokes‘ eBook) to promote something you’re selling (the full-length ‘Poke the Box‘ book and eBook), it’s also full of stories that help you realise that anything really is possible.

The single most important element of SXSW Pokes is that it’s not just a few people telling stories that make you think, “Well, I could have done that if I’d thought of it first,” but instead contains 50 stories from people who make you think, “If they can do that with their lives, just think what I could do with mine.”

I cannot stress just how important I think this book is for anyone to read. Go get it.

If you are the only one getting in your own way of going after your dreams, stop and realize that you are the last person who should be doing that!

C. C. Chapman, SXSW Pokes

What’s your lifelong dream? As you step out to make it real, reach out to someone you’d like to know and emulate. That one phone call may change your life forever!

Sandy Harper, SXSW Pokes

The initiative I took for myself will always remind me that I’m teh one driving this train, and that I’m accountable to ther person in the mirror most of all.

Amber Naslund, SXSW Pokes

I’ve long been a loud advocate of the power of social media and digital marketing if used in the right way. The biggest issue that I try to drive home to all of my clients, however, is the simple truth that social media is – and must be seen as – an investment for your business.

It costs money in terms of resources, but it also costs far more in terms of time – the time it takes to develop a social media strategy, to build an audience of friends, fans and followers and to maintain that tribe of people in a way that makes them feel valued by both the brand and the people behind the brand.

Which is why I was so disheartened to see this article on Mashable.com this week on time-saving tips for Twitter.  While I agree that there are ways to increase your productivity by developing processes and systems to optimise you and your company’s time on social media sites, I was taken aback to read this (under Number 3):

Another way to fit tweeting into your schedule is to develop tweets in bulk and schedule them to go out later.

Leyl Master Black, mashable.com

This is possibly the single most misleading piece of advice that is bandied around about Twitter. Scheduling Tweets isn’t conversation, it’s broadcasting.  Social media is specifically that: social. It’s about interaction, conversation and community, not about broadcasting your “message”1 – that’s what traditional media and paid-for advertising is for.

If you only take one thing away from this blog over however many weeks, months and years it exists and you subscribe, let it be this: don’t schedule your Tweets. If you’re not prepared to invest the time to be part of the conversation with your tribe around your brand, then this form of online marketing isn’t for you.

Most importantly, remember that not being on Twitter, or Facebook, or LinkedIn, or Tumblr, or Blogger, or WordPress or any other social media, blogging or online marketing site doesn’t automatically make you “un-hip” or “out-of-the-loop”. If it’s not right for you, your audience or your budget, then not being on them makes you a far savvier marketer than anyone who’s simply using them as just another broadcasting platform.

I’m getting down off my soapbox now.

1. whatever that may be: sales, social good, charitable [↩]

Our lives are a rush of different stimuli, from our multiple social media accounts to emails to phone calls and text messages.  In order to boost your own productivity, take a break from it all for a set period of time each and every day.

Since I started training for the 3 Peaks, which currently involves 5 trips to the gym a week and a lot of pain, I’ve discovered the enormous benefits of being in an environment with none of the usual distractions.

My creativity has come on in leaps and bounds in the last few weeks as I give myself 45-60 minute periods every day of the week to be completely cut off from my communications, to enjoy some much needed thinking time and to focus my brain on the things that really matter in my life and work, rather than the things that too easily consume my attention when I’m in the thrall of social media maintenance and ever-flowing emails.

You may not be a gym-bunny, but if you can find the space in your day to force yourself to silence your phone, shut your laptop and spend even half-an-hour away from everything and alone in your head1, you’ll notice the benefits creeping into your headspace rapidly.

1. or with friends and loved ones [↩]

I picked up a voicemail from my dad last night around midnight. I figured it probably wasn’t a great idea to call him back right then, so I deleted the message. As I did, I thought to myself, “Now I’ve deleted that, I’m pretty sure I’ll have forgotten in the morning and fail to return the call.”

In accordance with the prophesy, my phone rang this afternoon and Dad’s name popped up on the screen. Luckily, it wasn’t anything too important1, but it reminded me how important knowing yourself is if you want to be truly productive.

I know I can be pretty forgetful, which means I should have made a note that Dad had called and wanted me to get back to him so I did it first thing this morning.

If you know and are aware of your little foibles and common mistakes, it makes it far easier to compensate for them. I’m all to aware of my forgetfulness and I take steps to deal with it2 to keep me on the ball and at my peak of productivity.

What are your little niggles that dampen your productivity? How do you work your way around them?

1. Did I want to go round and watch the game on Saturday? [↩]
2. such as making use of Evernote as widely as possible [↩]

I wrote a few weeks ago about getting ‘a job‘ to help get me out of the house and a little less stir-crazy (one of the pitfalls of working from a home office).  I expected it to be hard work, but that was kind of the point; it would hep my mental state, my writing and my honeymoon fund.

What I didn’t realise was that it would be such hard physical work and that as a consequence, I’d become stronger and fitter so much more quickly than I’d been planning on with my regime at the gym.

The unexpected benefits of the things we do in life can be some of the best. The same thing goes for business, writing and filmmaking, too. Sometimes we do things because we enjoy them, sometimes we do things because we think they’ll be good for us or for others and sometimes we do things because we feel we have to.

Whatever your motivation for doing something – positive, negative or self-serving – it’s always good to be on the look-out for those things we’d never have had access to or experienced had we not taken that certain task on.

In one of those strange pieces of serendipity that come along now and again, no sooner had I Tweeted out yesterday’s blog post than I came across this Tweet from friend and fellow Twitterer, Jeanne.

A Twitter pimp extraordinaire, screenwriter and black belt in Tae Kwon Do, Jeanne is an inspiration to many, from her Twitter feed and blog to hosting the weekly US #scriptchat sessions.

And what wonderful timing as I resolved to give up fear for lent, for Jeanne to link through to her blog post about doing exactly the same three years ago and never looking back.

In 2008, I gave up fear for Lent.  It changed my life forever.

Jeanne V Bowerman, jeannevb.com

Read her full post here and be inspired to join me on my fear-shedding journey.

I rarely give things up for Lent. A few years ago, I gave up going into hospital , but that one didn’t last, thanks to those pesky medical people trying to keep me alive.

This year, though, I’m vowing to give up the fear of failure.

Too many of life’s decisions are governed by the “what if it all goes wrong?” question or “what if I look silly for trying it?”. Too often we skip over great opportunities because we can’t immediately see how to make them work and we worry about what it’ll look like to our friends, colleagues and clients if they don’t.

So this month I’m going to enter into every project with a sense of the infinite possibilities as opposed to the dread of defeat.

That’s not to say that I will be hurling myself into projects willy-nilly. Fear of failure is very different to realistic expectations for the success of a project and if it doesn’t make financial (or time-cost) sense, then it will remain on the back-burner for the time being.

What are you going to commit yourself to for Lent? What are you afraid of failing? Announce yourself here – loud and proud – and we’ll all keep tabs on each other.