When I Fall in Love

We're all apt to do it - falling in love with the idea, the technology, the wonder and fascination of building something new that works.

We can waste a lot of time and money on a more interesting or ingenious way of doing something, without asking ourselves if it's actually a better way of delivering our desired end result to the customer or consumer (which could be just ourselves or millions of paying customers).

Ask yourself if your new 'technology' is about action or distraction, and cut it out if necessary.

Simple is usually best.

Roy

Permission Granted

You don't need permission to plough your own furrow, make your own way or start your own enterprise.

There are no rules to say who can and who can't make a difference in this world with their own initiative, ideas and hard work, so the next person who does that may as well be you.

Be authentic, be exceptional and have a memorable story to tell and you'll have as good a chance as anyone else of making it.

Roy

The Stories I Could Tell

There are some things that should stay private, but everyone likes a good story. That makes storytelling the best way to get someone's attention - and hold it.

So, if you have a need to communicate and share - whether that's selling toothpaste or asking for help - try telling rather than selling.

The best copywriters practise storytelling at least as much as sales psychology. And the most interesting people are the ones with a story to tell, not a product to sell.

Roy

PS. Did I ever tell you the one about the unlit tunnel, the unlit cyclist and the oncoming car?

You, the Expert

So you get a call or an email from a client or a customer, asking for your opinion on something.

Is it a test? Will you pass? Can you evade the question or pass the buck?

No. It's a compliment. It means they value your opinion (even if, from time to time, you don't).

So give them the benefit of your expertise. It's only your opinion, but it's obviously something they value. It's a gift that's yours (and only yours) to give.

Lucky them!

Roy

Tough it Out

If circumstances (like the weather) seem to be conspiring against your plans you have three choices:

1. Give it up as it clearly wasn't meant to be
2. Adapt your plans so you can get somewhere near where you wanted to be
3. Stick to your plans anyway, but maybe by a different route

The first one is just stupid - What does "meant to be" mean, in this context?

The second one is better, but what will you be compromising on?

The third one? Well, you either wanted or needed to do that thing you planned, or you didn't. If you did, go ahead and do it.

Roy

Be There or Be Nowhere

At the risk of sounding like a broken record (remember those?) I was very, very pleased indeed yesterday to see the best ever visitor numbers (ever!) for my cycling blog.

Each day on that blog, I post a cycling tip, aimed at getting an inexperienced (or at least unfit) cyclist to the start line for a big ride or tour in about a month or so. I do this partly because I've set myself a challenge to ride over 120 miles on 6th April - for a very good cause. Every tip is written from personal experience, not just theory or accepted wisdom. That means people might disagree with some of the tips, but that's fine.

But the point is, if you blog daily, or email your list daily, or even just update a Facebook page or twitter account regularly, you need to 'be there' in the content you share. Useful tips are perfect blog or newsletter material, but they're even better when you can include some of your personal experience, character and opinion along with the facts.

If you're worried about people disagreeing with your opinions, don't be. Only you can write about what you know from your experience. And, since you're the one taking the trouble to write it, it's your opinion that counts.

The same goes for any communication.You know what you know.

And when you share what you know, you both contribute and benefit.

Roy

"I Would Like to Thank..."

I was pleased and surprised to be nominated for the Reality Award by Anne Rainbow, whose blog can be found here, and whose explanation of the rules I have borrowed:

"The rules are: visit the blog of the person who nominated you and link to them on your post. Answer the questions, nominate more bloggers and let then know. That doesn't sound too difficult."

If you could change one thing, what would it be?



I would speed the spread of the humanitarian revolution to the rest of the world, removing the oppressive and harmful influence of dogma, dictatorship and superstition.


If you could repeat an age, what would it be?


I'd like to make a better job of my teenage years, but I'm not sure I'd actually want to go through all that again.

What one thing really scares you?


I used to be scared of so much, it was embarrassing. These days I get most upset by conflict and naked hatred. Fortunately, I don't encounter it much.

If you could be someone else for a day, who would it be?


That's tricky. There are people whose jobs I would like to see done better, but I'm not sure I'd be the one to do that. Sir Bradley Wiggins come to mind, as long as I could choose the day. Then it would be the day he won the Tour de France.

Nominees

I don't know if the rules specify Blogger blogs only, but they're hard to find, so...


A blog I dip into quite regularly is one by Randy Gage, who talks about prosperity in all its forms.I would like to nominate John Ravenscroft, who's a much admired writer and wit, but his website isn't quite a blog... 

And I'm sure I can add some more...

To Get More Done, Do Less

If you want to get more done - I mean actually done - try doing less.

Or do less 'trying'. In other words, stop trying to do so much.

It's natural and human to be overwhelmed by a big 'to do' list, and we often react by finding even more things to do, just to avoid tackling the overwhelming list. By distracting ourselves we achieve very little.

So, keep your 'to do' list very small - keep to only three or four tasks per day of an hour or less - and forget the things you'll need to do tomorrow and the day after, and so on, until today's jobs are done and dusted. 

Get things done by deciding what today's things really need to be.

Roy

How to Do Your Greatest Work

The only way you will ever do your greatest work is if you truly love what you do.

It is possible to do 'great' work by trying your hardest, even if you don't actually love what you're doing (and that can still be tremendously rewarding), but your greatest work only comes from genuine love and passion.

Don't worry if you haven't found your passion yet - most people haven't and most of them never will.

But if you want to be exceptional and make a real difference in the world, only genuine passion will be enough to make you do your greatest work.

Of course, being ordinary is okay too, if that's what you want to be.

But if you have the choice...

Roy

Attracting the Right People

On the subject of having the right people in your life, the best place to start is with yourself. In fact, it's the only place to start and finish, since you can't (or shouldn't) control who else comes and goes.

And being the best, most authentic version of you is the best way to attract and keep the people who are the best fit with who you are. Again, this is true in life and in business.

Note 'the best' and 'most authentic'. You can change for the better and still be 'you'.

One thing you need to accept, though: when you change, the people you attract will change, too. But it's better that way around than you forever trying to be someone you're not, to attract or keep hold of the people who don't really fit with the real you.

They don't really belong here, do they?

Roy

Not Targeting But Serving

If 'targeting' an audience sounds a little too calculating for your liking, even though your business needs to be all about making the best decisions in order to survive and thrive, look at it another way.

Instead of aiming your service at a group of people who ought to want it, first decide who you want to serve (for whatever reason) and set about actually serving them.

There are few things more rewarding than serving people you like with what they really want.

Roy 

My Enemy's Enemy is....

In the dark science they sometimes call 'the art of the possible' - that's politics to you and me - there's an expression that goes: "My enemy's enemy is my friend".

I think it's a throwback to the days when we were almost permanently at war with someone, and anyone who could help us 'beat' them was seen as an ally. It led to some pretty unsavoury alliances, too.

Back in the real world, I like to think I don't have any real enemies, but I know people who do.

The thing is, if we're to take sides and choose between friends and enemies (as though there's only those two categories to choose from), we're obviously going to choose friends. But, if those friends have a habit of making enemies, how long is it before we become one of them?

Now, I know some long-standing friends who have fallen out with one or two people, but that's different. I know them for the decent people they are. 

But choosing a friend on the basis that he or she is an enemy of someone we don't care to be around is like choosing a smouldering firework over a flaming one. And making friends with someone who can't wait to tell you about all the slights and insults he or she has suffered from other people is like befriending an unexploded bomb.

The same goes for clients, employees and employers, too.

I don't need people like that in my life. Do you?

Roy

It's NOT How Long, It's How Far

One of the things most of us would like to be is 'interesting'. Or at least, not boring.

When we tell a story we like people to be hanging on our every word, eager to know more or hear the next twist. What we don't want is to see them switching off.

But if we're in business there's a big danger people will be doing that all the time. It's fair enough if you've interrupted them and what you have to say doesn't interest them, but if you thought they were interested and they still can't wait to get away, you have a problem.

Turning people off can hurt you in other ways, too. After a while you'll find fewer people even notice when you start talking. And it turns out the same applies to your website. Google's infamous 'bounce rate'* is not a measure of how quickly people leave your site (or walk away, in real world terms) but how many of them only visit one page. That could be the real world equivalent of pretending to listen while they don't really engage at all, even if they don't actually walk away for some time. So, although they stay, they're not really with you.

If you want people to be interested, tell them a better story (by whatever medium you use), and one they want to hear. Your business, and your Google ranking, could depend on it.

Roy

*Google increasingly penalises a high 'bounce rate' by demoting your website in the search results.

What is it Good For?

Guilt has a purpose, but its purpose is not to make you feel bad about yourself or less worthy than anyone else.

So, if there's something troubling you, something you feel guilty about or responsible for, what good is that feeling of guilt doing you?

It's there to encourage you to either,

1. Put it right
2. Not make the same mistake again

So hanging on to guilt is a total waste of your energy. Either do that thing you promised to do, fix the problem you caused, or deal with the consequences. If it's too late to fix it, it's too late. Learn the lesson and move on.

We tend to be possessive about our feelings - they are ours alone, after all - but some things are better left behind, where they belong.

Roy

Getting it Done

I mentioned my cycling blog a couple of days ago and how pleased I was that people were actually reading it. That wouldn't happen if it wasn't there to read and it wouldn't be there if I didn't write it.

So, getting it done was the key. Not getting it finished (it won't be finished until it's finished, if ever), but getting it done. One post was all it took, and then another, and so on.

Even without an end in sight, an end is being achieved - just by getting on with it.

Roy

It's True What They Say

It's been very pleasing to see how many people have been visiting my cycling blog, Be Stronger Tomorrow since I started writing a daily cycling tip a week ago. The tips are designed to get you ready to do a big ride or even a tour, in about six weeks or so.

(We're up to tip number nine now, so you can still catch up.) 

But the topic isn't that important. The lesson we can all take away from this is that, if you want to make any kind of impact at all, the best way is to add value to other people's lives.

It's a small impact in this case and each tip is only valuable if cycling interests you, but it's a universal lesson you take away and apply anywhere.


Oh, that and just getting it done - which I'll talk about another time. And congruence - remind me if I forget!

Roy

Transferable Skills

I was writing a newsletter for a client today and got onto a topic that was relatively easy to write about, since I do it every day myself, when it occurred to me how many of my skills I use across all my various interests (personal and business).

Have you ever run an audit of your skills? Maybe the last time you applied for a job or wrote a CV? Was that recently?

Two points:

1. A lot of our skills can be applied to many different areas of our lives and work
2. We all have a lot more skills and knowledge than we often realise

Really, it's amazing what knowledge and skills we accumulate over the years and take for granted. Even if you can't always find a 'buyer' for those skills (or even want to) maybe you should take the time to appreciate just how many things you know about and are able to do.

You really are amazing!

Roy

A Change of Direction

With several of our other blogs and websites concentrating on various aspects of marketing and training I've decided to reclaim this one and take it in a different direction.

The problem with a corporate blog is that personal opinions, ideas and interests don't really belong there, unless you are your business and it's built on the back of your unique character.. That doesn't always work in a partnership, and some of the things I want to write and talk about are more personal to me. So, at the very least they would dilute the company message if I posted them on one of our other blogs and sites.

You can, of course, find out more about our marketing services at Cinnamon Edge and our SEO and training services, just by following the links above. This blog, though is going to be less about Cinnamon Edge and more about me and, I hope, you too.

I'll still include ideas and tips but in a more individual way, and mixed in with articles and shorter posts on whatever else is interesting me at the time.

I hope you'll like it, maybe get to know more about me and what I have to offer, and come back for more. Feel free to comment on anything I say and contact me if there's anything you need.

Well, almost anything :-)

Roy