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Archive for June, 2009
Welcome to Tuesday!
Calling all Creative Men and Imagination Women!
This week is all about making you and your business stand out from the Noise Makers. (See yesterday’s Grease for the Gears if you are wondering what we are talking about!) We are going to coach you on ways to use your creativity to find your unique offer and voice that will attract your customer and clients to you.
Cool, huh?
Now, before we get down to tools and techniques that will help you to stand out and be heard, we are going to spend a moment with you! That’s right, you! Today is all about YOU!
Why?
Because you and your innate, unique creativity are your greatest resources for building a successful business and a satisfying life. And, in order to be able to listen to yourself and to be aware of your creative thoughts and insights, you have to be able to hear them when they pop into your head!
So, today, we are going to show you a very easy technique to clear some room in your head to make way for creativity!
Here’s a little review of some concepts from yesterday plus a little more information to ponder before we give you a great exercise!
You are inundated all day, every day, with millions of messages and communications and external stimuli. You filter out most of these messages at an unconscious level.
Yet there are many messages that get caught in your conscious mind. They swirl around as a constant inner dialog that is talking at you from inside your head. To be able to get in touch with your creative thoughts and ideas, we need to make some room in that wonderful brain of yours and get it to stop talking for a few minutes.
The best way we know to do this is the Mind Dump (fondly and creatively named because it is a way to dump all those things out of your mind that are swirling around and talking at you!)
The easiest way to understand the Mind Dump is to just do it (all due respect to Nike)! So, grab some paper and something to write with and let’s give it a whirl.
When I say, “GO,” start to write whatever is in your head on the piece of paper in front of you. Write as quickly as you can. Write for a minimum of 10 minutes. Don’t edit. Don’t worry about making sense. No one will ever read this. This is just for you and you can do whatever you want with what you write when you are done. (Shredding is a great idea!)
Keep writing until you feel ready to stop. Then write for one more minute. Then stop.
Are you ready? Set…GO!
Don’t read this now – go ahead – write!
OK !!! Well done!
You have just experienced your first Mind Dump!
Now, is your internal noise a little bit quieter? Do you feel like you have some extra room in your grey matter? Do you think you will hear a creative thought when it pops up?
Good, then the Mind Dump has served its purpose.
One thing we have discovered…creative thoughts love it when you clear a path for them. They have just been waiting for the right moment when they knew they could get your attention.
Just Imagine That!
Tags: Awareness Exercise
We live in a very noisy world. Audible noise and visual noise.
Seems that we are constantly surrounded these days by messages - all vying for our attention. Standing in line at the bank or supermarket, surfing the Web, driving, at the movie theatre, watching tv, listening to the radio. . . everywhere we look there are businesses of some sort talking to us.
No, most of that’s not really new, and we’ve learned to tune most of it out. Yet it has has become more and more prevalent with technological advances.
And even more of this noise is being created since just about everyone we know has started a business of some sort. Starting a few years ago when many of us realized our “jobs” were not as secure as we had hoped, the “side” or “home-based” business has been growing exponentially. And on top of that, many people have recently become involuntary entrepreneurs. Friends, relatives, people we meet on the street ~ all of them want us to pay attention to their enterprise.
On top of all that, we have our own enterprise ~ whatever that may be. Even if it’s going really well, it is mostly likely requiring more of our attention. We’re having to learn new skills, apply new creativity, and generally keep ourselves visible among all the Noise.
Whew!
Where do we find the time?
Well, using our incredible adaptability, we’ve developed internal screening methods that keep us from feeling totally overwhelmed. We’ve learned how to “tune out” most of the noise. It’s necessary for us to train our focus on the things that are most relevant among the multitude of choices we have.
No longer do we go searching for new things. So many messages are coming at us, most of the time we simply screen the incoming for what grabs our attention.
This makes life a bit easier for us in our role as consumers.
 As business people, it can present challenges. How do we become heard above all the Noise?
How do we set ourselves apart so we are one of the voices that our prospects and clients actually hear instead of tune out?
We have to do something different. We have to make our message more compelling than the others ~ to the people we want to hear us.
Sounds like a job for Creative Man!! Or, Imagination Woman!!
Join us this week for some thoughts on how to get more innovative in your offerings, your presence, and your marketing, so you will stand out from the crowd.
Just Imagine That!
Tags: Business Relationships, Possibility
Have you been paying attention to your daydreams in the past two days? (If not, see our posts from Monday and Tuesday.)
 Have you noticed recurring themes?
If you tend to go down the same path often when you daydream, that’s probably a sign that you’re either trying to work out something complex, or that perhaps you’re just trying to escape the doldrums of daily life on a regular basis. Either way, it may be worth examining those themes to see if they have some tips for you that can help you resolve something.
Now, there are all sorts of daydreams. Some of them are about things on your to-do list, your daily schedule, etc. These daydreams may be helping you to stay oriented in your daily life.
And then there are those daydreams that leave you wondering… where have you just been? What was that all about? These are the daydreams that may have some creative clues in them that you might be able to consciously use.
Does it feel funny to think about using your daydreams? It sometimes does for me, too. Yet, if we spend up to 1/3 of our waking time daydreaming, can you imagine how productive we might be if we mine those daydreams for information and then put what we find to work?
The first step to putting the insights in your daydreams to work is to notice your daydreams. If you have been doing this the last couple of days, you probably have a pretty good idea of the times and places when your mind likes to set itself free and drifts off. The next time you enter a daydream-prone period, set the intention that you will notice that your mind is starting to wander.
Then, as you begin to drift, try guiding your thoughts as little. Think of an issue, a challenge, or just something that you’d like more clarity on. Focus on it briefly – just a few seconds…then let your mind go wherever it wants. Resist the temptation to “think” the issue or topic through logically - you’ve probably already done that a number of times, anyway. Just plant the seed, and see what comes up.
Imagine that you are an outside observer to your thoughts. I know, that sounds strange…and sometimes it’s not that easy to watch your thoughts without trying to influence them. It does get easier with practice, though.
So, give it a try, see what pops up, and let us know if you have positive results. We love hearing about the amazing results people find when they just let go!
Just Imagine That!
Tags: Awareness, Awareness Exercise, Imagination
Isn’t it amazing that when we are daydreaming, our brain is as active – maybe even more active – than when we are concentrating and forcing our attention on something? It almost seems counter-intuitive, doesn’t it?
Well, popularly accepted statistics say we use only 5 to 7 percent of our brain. Have you ever wondered what the rest of your brain is doing? Some researchers theorize that a portion of that “unused” part is actually a HUGE file cabinet that stores everything we have ever learned, observed, read about, experienced, etc.
We have ready access to certain things that are stored in those files because we have formed mental habits (known as neuropathways) that pull out frequently used information when we are consciously problem solving. The rest is tucked away until we access it.
What if daydreaming is our brain’s way of accessing those files? Now – that would be a great tool!
And one that operates on a very different principle that the conscious problem solving techniques we have developed through trial and error.
When we are looking for a solution to something, we usually plug it into our problem-solving formula and “work” on coming up with a solution. When we daydream, we let go of working on something and give our minds the space to wander through our mental file cabinets…sort of like doing a Google search when you want more information or some new insights!
Are you willing to give your daydreaming search engine a try?
Here’s a simple experiment:
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Today, when you think of something you would like to “solve,” take a breath before you go into your usual problem-solving mode.
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Close your eyes and imagine you are typing the topic into the search box of your favorite search engine.
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Mentally hit the GO button.
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Open your eyes and go on with your day.
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When you find yourself coming back from a daydream (You won’t have to wait long! Remember yesterday’s newsletter? You may actually spend about 1/3 of your time daydreaming!) think about the search instructions you mentally typed in and see what pops up!
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Jot down anything that sparks your interest or feels good when you think about it!
Well done!
Now - here’s one more really great feature of your internal search engine. Daydreaming gives you access to what you know that you know AND what you don’t know that you know…
Pretty cool way to use more of your brain, huh?
Just Imagine That!
Tags: Awareness, Possibility Exercise
We all daydream, most of us quite often during any given day. The question is, how do you react to your daydreams? Do you see them as distractions to your focused and productive brain time – as a waste of time? When you notice yourself daydreaming, do you immediately “bring yourself back to reality?”
There’s some very interesting scientific research that shows that daydreaming is much more prevalent (perhaps as much as 1/3 of our waking time), and much more productive than we’ve ever imagined.
This research suggests that daydreaming, or mind-wandering, is actually our mind’s “default state.” When we are not focused on outside stimulus, like when we’re doing tasks that require little attention, out mind naturally wanders.
That’s not too surprising, is it?
What is very interesting, though, is that the same research shows our brain is actually working harder in the areas of complex thought (like problem solving) when it’s daydreaming than when our thoughts are focused on tasks and outside stimuli.
Sounds like maybe we have access to some (internal) resources that we may be overlooking.
Just for today, let’s do an experiment:
Keep a pad near you, and pay attention to what’s going on in your mind. Without trying to influence it, just notice all the times you “disconnect” from what you’re doing and where you are.
When you’re showering, getting dressed, driving, doing laundry – any of the mundane tasks that you do without a lot of conscious thought – pay attention to what your mind is doing.
Each time your mind wanders from what’s in front of you, jot down a word or two about where it goes, unless you’re driving, of course.
We’re going to be talking about ways to harness this natural resource on our blog this week.
So, let’s start with just noticing any patterns in your daydreams – themes and recurring thoughts. You might be surprised at what you’re really doing all day.
Just Imagine That!
Tags: Awareness, Awareness Exercise
On Tuesday we talked about substituting “I want…” with “I prefer…” and how that can change the energy around how you feel about what you’d like to have.
And that’s really good for your internal conversations, and in many other applications. In daily practice, though, sometimes it can be a bit awkward for conversations with others. Not everyone will immediately understand your meaning when you put it that way.
For example, if you see a new car that you’d like to have, and you say to your friend, “I prefer that one.” Sounds just a bit strange from the outside, doesn’t it?
So what do we do, go back to “I want that one?”
Well, I’d prefer not to, because it seems to keep me in a place of wanting - and what I’m telling myself is that I don’t have it - I’m lacking something.
So, here’s another substitute that works in conversation, without the negative side:
“I’d love to have that.”
Go ahead, let that sink in for a moment.
Think about something you “want”, and say, “I’d love that.” “I’d love to go to the beach this summer.” “I’d love to be driving that car.”
Now, here’s a bonus feature that comes standard with this substitution: You can also use it when you’re asking someone else for something…
Think about the difference between: “I want you to help me” ~ and ~ “I’d love it if you helped me.”
Hmmm.
Feels better to me, and to the other person. Try it for a day, and see what you think. Could change any number of things, for you and those you talk to.
Just Imagine That!
Tags: Awareness, Awareness Exercise, Perspective, Relationship
Yesterday Diana gave you some great tips on changing your perspective from wanting something to preferring something. And that felt pretty good, didn’t it? Amazing how substituting one word for another can make a real difference.
Are you ready to look at another simple change in the way you say things that will make your words and energy line up to get the results you prefer?
First, think of something you would like to do today. Pick something that is not an absolute “must,” but something you would like to do.
Now, fill in this blank with that something:
“Today I will try to _______________________.”
Take a breath and notice how that feels. Do you feel committed to doing it? Do you feel optimistic you will do it? Do you feel solid, wishy washy, undecided, empowered, on the fence? Do you feel a combination of these things, all at the same time?
In my experience, when I say I will “try” to do something, I feel the same kind of energy that I do when I say “maybe.” I am thinking about doing something and I don’t yet have both my feet on the “I really prefer to do this” side of my decision line.
I have also discovered that I use “try” to give myself an “out” because I am afraid that I really won’t be able to make what I prefer to have happen actually happen. And sometimes when “try” pops out of my mouth, it let’s me know that what I think I want to do and what I truly prefer to do are not matching up.
Wow…what a powerful little word “try” is! By using it to help sort out our preferences and set our priorities, it narrows down how we use our time and energy to create results that really matter to us. And once we are clear on those, our “inner mental organizer” gets busy working on ways to make what we prefer happen.
And, when you use “try” to help you get clearer on what you prefer, you can more easily line up your energy with the words you say. Here’s a substitute for “try” that helps me do that:
“Today I will do my best to __________________.”
Go ahead and fill in the blank with the “to do” you used above.
Now, how does that feel? Is it still a real preference? If it is, does it feel more possible? More likely to happen? Easier to do? Like a path has been cleared?
Let’s take this one step further.
Throughout your day, notice when you use the word “try” and then restate the statement or thought with “Today I will do my best to__________.” See if you feel good and get better results when you say this. If you do, add it to your toolbox!
One more really cool thing…by saying you will do your best, you make being your best and doing your best a bigger part of who you are.
And no matter what, your best is always, always more than good enough.
Just Imagine That !
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