language

Why Thinking Like A Fish Can Help Your Business

by Paul Joseph June 1, 2011 Featured

When we are operating a business, we are often told to try and think like the consumer . To ‘walk in their shoes’ or to ‘get inside their head’ and know what they are thinking and feeling. All this is done with the end goal of creating a better experience for the consumer or of providing them with exactly what they want. I remember a story told by a famous copy writer about a fisherman. This was no ordinary fisherman. He had gained legendary status in fishing circles. He was always top of the trophy board. The fisherman was routinely famous for out fishing a boat of fisherman all by himself! And he did it with old school tackle. None of this fancy rod and reel stuff that his competitors had. How Did He Manage To Do It? He says the secret came to him years ago when he was thinking about how to catch more fish. He reasoned if his desire was to catch fish, then he needed to know everything he could about fish. So he vigorously set about learning everything about fish. He learned their feeding habits, how they fed, when they fed, their migration habits, their relationship to currents, how they behaved in different types of water, how they fed in different seasons and weather conditions. He spent a lot of time studying the ocean, and weather. He studied the relationship the fish had to the ocean and weather. His competitors were out studying to become better fisherman. They were investing their time in fishermen related things. Buying fancy lures or bait, upgrading their rod to the newest model and playing with their sonar fish finders. Come tournament time, because the famous fisherman had spent so much time trying to think like a fish, he knew exactly what they, the fish, wanted. All the guess work was removed. So he would size up the weather, the currents and sea conditions, and he knew exactly where the fish would want to be feeding. So all he did was pick the right location to drop anchor, based on his intimate knowledge of the fish’s behavior, and cast out a line and start reeling them in. Moral of the story: To catch fish, you need to think like a fish NOT like a fisherman. Translation for the entrepreneur: To sell your product or promote your business, you need to think like the customer NOT like a businessman. For the entrepreneur business person, we must always keep in mind our customers . Despite the fact what we want or think is best, our personal desires come second to the customer’s. It is something that is very hard to do, but the sooner you can start applying this principle, the better service you will be providing your customer. Walk In Their Shoes There are instances where by chance or luck we have walked in the shoes of our potential customers. Think of people who have transformed themselves through weight loss and are now sharing their methods with other people. They can relate to their potential customer in the most real sense, because at one stage they were in the exact position of that customer – the position of an overweight person looking for a weight loss solution. Do you think they would know the emotional journey of their potential customers? What about the ‘ hot buttons ’ of the customers? Would they have a good idea of the doubts and fears that an overweight person has while looking at diet solutions? They would know the answer to all these questions and more, because they have personally been there . If you are fortunate to be doing your entrepreneurial endeavors in an area where you were once in the shoes of the consumer, then that is great. You have been inside the head of the customer. You know their wants, needs, desires and objections.  Everything you offer should cater to their needs and help move them closer to their end goal. This can be applied to end product creation and also in the building of relationships with the potential customers. If you are in the information niche, it may be the offering the perfect free report you use for an email opt in, the content on your website or the angle of your email autoresponder series. This type of insight into the mind of the potential customer can also be gained from having a lot of contact with that type of customer. Think of some personal trainers at the gym. They would know all the nuances associated with weight loss and the head space that someone who is trying to lose weight occupies. Simply because they have spent considerable time communicating and being around overweight people. At times you may find yourself entering a market which is way out of your comfort zone and you may venture into totally new territory, which you have no idea about. This is common in affiliate marketing, especially when you are promoting the next ‘hot thing’ or a high converting product. What If You Don’t Have Experience Being A Consumer In Your Niche Or The Niche You Are Entering Is New For You? Then you need to do some investigative work and role playing. You can discover this by visiting sites like these: http://www.boardtracker.com/ http://answers.yahoo.com/ http://omgili.com/ http://blogsearch.google.com/ http://www.samepoint.com/ http://alltop.com/ Above is a list of forums, websites and blogs. Find and hang out in forums related to your niche. Be a fly on the wall. Do some market research . See what people in the niche are talking about, how they are talking about it, what frustrates them, what hopes they have, what obstacles they face, etc. Sometimes, you may have to pick up some new lingo to converse on the same level as potential customers. Outside the seduction niche if I used the words PUA, SHB and AFC, they mean nothing to you. But within that niche, this is their language and if you don’t use it then you may not be accepted as ‘real’. To take it a step further, after your research you want to create a fictional avatar of your potential customer. Give them a name, find a photo on the internet of what you think they would look like. You want to be able to write ‘their story’. Who they are, what they want, what they are currently doing, what frustrates them, what are their dreams and goals etc. Now to really get inside their head you can use what is called an empathy map . The empathy map represents aspects of that person’s sensory experience. What they are thinking, feeling, saying, doing and hearing. Filling it out is a really great way of “getting to know” all aspect of the person. When it comes to doing anything related to promoting your business or product you simply look at the avatar you have created and write as if you were writing to them. So now all communication you do for your business is more focused on your potential customer . You are writing to a ‘real person’, you are communicating to a ‘real person’, you are helping a ‘real person’ get one step closer to their goal. Knowing your potential customer well can only help you provide them with a better service, and if you can help people achieve their goals better, then this ultimately leads to a more successful business for yourself. Leevi Romanik Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: customer, internet, language, mind, mindset, people, research, words

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If Content Is King, How Do I Generate Enough Content For My Blog?

by Paul Joseph April 19, 2011 Featured

I like to use my time and the space Yaro gives me here at Entrepreneurs-Journey to base my articles on questions I often receive and this one will be no different as I am going to discuss how “Mitch’s Blog” became a company with 18 current writers . While the building a company part I have talked about in the past and I’m sure I’ll talk about it in the future, this article is going to focus on the variety of writers on my site: who they are, how they got there, and just about everything else that people would want to know if this is an approach they are thinking about. Since this is a huge topic, I’ll break it down the best I can, and of course if you have questions, fire away in the comment section; as usual I’ll do my best to respond to all of them. How Do I Find People To Write On My Blog? This was one of the odd things for me because at first I didn’t always actively look for writers, most often they have contacted me. I have a lot of content already and I cover a lot sports, which appeal to a broad segment of the global population. There are literally thousands of people who would love the opportunity to write and have their work read. I get at least ten emails per week from people asking to write on my site regarding a variety of sports and the bulk I turn away (I’ll talk about the process of who I choose in a moment), but with the pool given to me, I can find people who not only want to write, but who are also a good fit with the site and with me. Once in a while, if I am looking for writers to beef up a particular section of the site, I’ll write a short post saying so, very directly and stating exactly what people should include in their response. While this is one that is more general, here is an example of something I have used in the past. If you have been doing your work all along and have good traffic, enough people will read articles like this, either by happening upon them on your site or through Google , so you should be able to have at least a pool of people to work with and choose from. To be honest, I am always looking for talented and inspired writers , particularly in a sport or area we have light or no coverage of. I don’t usually accept guest posts. I get requests from people wanting to do so, but at this point it doesn’t help my site enough to make it worthwhile. Usually the guest posts I get are loaded with links and marginally related to my site, I would rather not have them at all. We produced 800 articles last month , I don’t think having or not having someone’s one-off guest post is going to make or break us, so I would just rather not have it. At Sports Chat Place , we only post original and unique content . How Do I Choose Who Gets To Write? Picking who is a good fit to write on my blog isn’t an exact science and it has been a learning process, but it is something I have gotten better at over time through lessons learned. I used to let anyone, who wanted to write on my blog, contribute. As the blog has become bigger, I no longer do this for a lot of reasons. What I have learned is that while people are enthusiastic at first to write, it usually doesn’t take long to realize it is a job and like any job everyone has good days and bad days. While some people are motivated by money and others by getting notoriety, if you truly love what you do and are passionate about what you are writing about then it makes it a lot easier to get through the bad days. Some people are just good at writing and some people enjoy it more than others, the ideal writer is both of these . While it’s tough to find these people, they are out there, but in most cases it’s best to compromise and have some give and take with people, as long as it’s in the right areas. Some people will throw together a hastily written article and submit it to me as a writing sample, that doesn’t really work. Some people try and talk about what great writers they are, I don’t really care much about that either. I need and will only allow people to write on my site who are passionate about what they are writing about, and as long as they can write coherently with minimal editing and need just light coaching and some pointers, I usually give them a chance. While my writers are compensated (another topic I will discuss shortly), if a person’s first contact with me centers around compensation, they probably aren’t a good fit. A lot of my writers worked for free back when the site wasn’t making any money, they did it because they loved writing and they loved what they were writing about. Receiving a check or Paypal from me doesn’t change that at all with any of them, feel free to ask them, most don’t care about the money and getting them to give me Paypal info or a W-9 so I can pay them doesn’t rank too high on their priority list. One thing I am leery about, which is usually a warning sign, similar to money questions or demands for money, are people who say they are “good writers” . Usually I get this from people who went to schools known for Journalism or people who maybe were told by a teacher or friend they were a good writer. While getting nice marks in school is a great thing, it doesn’t mean or make a person a good writer. Having perfect sentence structure, solid grammar, or even an editorial background for a known publication or website don’t make a person a good writer. The public decides who is a good writer and they decide who a good writer is by reading a person’s writings. So in order for a person to truly be a good writer they need to write consistently , write passionately , and need to have a following . While it’s nice for a college professor to think someone writes well, I’ll take the guy who misspells a word here and there, uses questionable grammar at times, and writes several times a week with so much passion the world wants to read more, and thousands of people read their articles, any day of the week. How Do I Compensate My Writers? Everyone who writes at Sports Chat Place is compensated, though (believe it or not) getting them to take the money isn’t always such an easy thing. Everyone who writes at the site has signed a contract that was written by a lawyer that clearly defines what is expected of the writer as a writer on the site and how their compensation works. No writer has ever had an issue with the contract, but I always offer to them that if they do see something they don’t like, we can possibly amend it if it works for both of us. Without getting into too much detail, the compensation is based on the contribution to the site and the income of the site over that period . Some writers only write certain sports and those sports are only played during certain months, some writers write about multiple sports at the same time, everyone gets treated the same as they are paid based upon each of their total contribution. Basically there is a pie and the pie is based on income. The division of the pie is based on the formula we have agreed upon and recalculated monthly. While I like paying everyone, this isn’t what makes the site a success or a failure as I couldn’t always afford to pay the writers and I still always had plenty of people to write and plenty of success. While the number of articles over the pay period each month is the biggest consideration in dividing the writer’s compensation pool, other things like timeliness of article submission and if articles need a lot of editing are other factors that are involved. The writers can also use affiliate programs and promote those within their articles, do product reviews , etc. to earn extra income and we have separate deals that address those. Everything is up front with the writers and I, there are no surprises unless it’s me throwing them an extra payment or bonus which is known to happen. Payments go out to the writers on the 10 th of each month. Some writers prefer to be paid every other month so they receive a bigger check, it doesn’t make any difference to me. As I will say over and over again, no one writes on my site for the money alone. While some of the people like getting the money and care about it more than others, we are talking about a group of people who are over the top passionate about what they are writing about, and being able to write at a place where 400,000 people a month (and growing) read it – is something they think is pretty cool. While it’s usually a feel-good situation, not everyone works out over the long term; it’s just part of having a business. Like any job, writers have responsibilities to the site and have parameters they need to work within. We have deadlines, as sports have starting and end times, however the shelf life of a lot of what we write about isn’t too long, therefore timing is important . Communication is important as well and although quality is paramount, I’m also a big believer in quantity , not something most bloggers hear too often. How Do We All Communicate And How Do We Keep It All Together? Before I get this question, the answer is that my writers are all over the world. I have writers in Australia, Ireland, Canada, all over the United States as well as other places. It’s global and it’s the Internet, it doesn’t matter where everyone is as long as they can communicate. I use the most common method which is email for a lot of my communication, but it certainly doesn’t end there and on most days it doesn’t begin there either. Because of the number of games being played in a certain day, as a group we try and cover as many different games as we can without duplicating coverage of the same game. Of course there are days with a lighter schedule or more prominent games like playoffs, tournaments, and championships where we have several writers cover the same games but really those are less common. Our current primary source of communication is Google Docs . We have a shared spreadsheet that list all of the upcoming games of the sports we cover and when a writer is about to begin an article about a particular game, they put their name next to that game on the spreadsheet so all of the other writers know that game is covered. We still get double coverage once in a while but it is very rare and really doesn’t do any harm, it just helps less than a fresh topic would. While it sounds too simple, simple is usually best, and we also weren’t smart enough to come up with anything more complex, so it works for us. Every few days or so I update the schedules of the various sports, move things around, delete the old games that have passed, add new sports that come into season, whatever. The whole scheduling takes me about five minutes per week this way. We also use this schedule Doc to post if we can’t write or cover any games on a particular day, this gives the other writers who cover a sport a heads up that there are some extra games if they want to cover them, or if it was a day they may have taken off, maybe it’s not the best day. It’s rare two people need the same day off, but when it happens, we usually get it covered. One thing is for certain, days off are expected, but letting everyone know that someone is taking one makes the site run a lot smoother. I also do conference calls with the writers and try and do so every month though we miss some months. I also like to talk to each of the writers at least once a month to talk about what they are doing well, what needs work, and any ideas I have for their areas or any ideas that they have for the site. I like to stay in touch with everyone and though we are growing, it’s still important for me to do so. I use the phone , Skype , Google Chat , or whatever we need to use. How Do The Writers Post Their Articles And What About Quality Control? All of the writers on my site post their own content live on the site. Because of the language in the contract they signed and because I am pretty picky about whom I bring aboard, I know there won’t be any objectionable content on the site. I also know the writers aren’t perfect, but they can edit their articles as well. If there is a larger issue, it can be sorted out in the comments or forums through interaction with the readers, or if I can edit everyone’s articles. I don’t read everything the writers write, they know this and aren’t insulted by it nor do I worry too much about it. I do read at least a few articles each week by each writer just to make sure they are still on the right track. Most of the headings and such are auto formatted by a system I had custom built. As far as style, every writer has their own personality , but there is a specific style of writing that works well on the internet and works well with our readership , and I have a document which hits on the key points . I also spend at least an hour before each writer starts to go over a few of the real basics as writing on the net is just a different animal than print or anything else. As I say often, if the people who come to the site have something fresh there to read, that’s the most important thing, the other stuff is just secondary or will sort itself out over time. So far this system has worked well for me. Mitch Wilson Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: article, australia, communication, internet, language, online-business, paypal, time, work, writer

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Ego, Passion And Expertise: How To Find Balance And Win Clients

by Paul Joseph April 6, 2011 Featured

I started freelance writing in May of 2008 with no professional portfolio or credentials to speak of. All I had in my freelancer’s toolkit were decent writing skills, a love of the written word, and a burning passion to make it as a self-employed professional. Yet within four months, I had built up a strong enough client base to quit my full-time job and embrace my fantasy lifestyle: working when I wanted, working where I wanted, and throwing the word “commute” out of my vocabulary. It wasn’t long after that I started to earn as much freelancing as I did as a full-timer. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve had my share of lean seasons, but they have trended as the exception, not the rule. Initially, I chalked the success up to a healthy dose of luck. What else could explain a novice freelancer actually getting good paying (and steady!) gigs? But the more I connected with the true earning superstars of the freelance writing community, the more I realized that my success came from consistently utilizing two universal business-winning strategies when pursuing clients. These two business-winning strategies have served me very well in both my freelance writing work and my entrepreneurial endeavors. Interestingly enough, I’ve been able to identify them as key success indicators (and failure indicators when not implemented) in friends who’ve gone down both tracks. I encourage you to examine how you utilize each of these strategies in your own niche or version of entrepreneurship, whether you’re a blogger, a product designer, or an information marketer like E-J’s own Dr. Mani . Communicate Your Passion Early in my freelancing career, I had the opportunity to pick the brain of a successful and established writer and blogger. I’ll never forget their biggest piece of advice: “Treat your service like a business, not a hobby. Too many new writers don’t take their work seriously and they never get anywhere.” This writer meant what they said, and I could tell from the tone of their voice that they took their work very seriously. In fact, a little too seriously. When they spoke about writing, there was no passion or love of the work in their voice. It was all just business. A few months later, when we spoke again, they confided that their clientele had begun to slip and they were struggling to win new gigs. From where I sat, it was no surprise why – with a job market flooded by eager scribes, clients were opting for individuals who communicated enthusiasm for potential opportunities, not a matter-of-fact coldness. It is easy to confuse being businesslike with being flat, monotone, and almost somber. But handling your service or product in a businesslike manner doesn’t mean putting a lid on your passion and enthusiasm for what you do. In fact, communicating a love for what you do is an essential business-winning strategy. When a potential client sees you’re fully engaged in your business and enthusiastic about it – whether you freelance write or sell eco-friendly toilets – it sends a message to them that you value quality, high standards, and successful engagements. Now, passion and enthusiasm doesn’t mean going bonkers with overly gregarious speech or wild body language (think Tom Cruise on Oprah’s couch). But it does mean letting the client know, often in subtle way, that you believe in your product or service and find personal satisfaction in at least some element of it. Think about your current sales pitch, long copy, or gig-responses letter… does your language communicate to the potential client your passion for your work? Focus On The Client’s Needs One of the biggest mistakes I used to make when writing cover letters for writing opportunities was to spend four paragraphs talking about me . I’d mention various awards or accolades I’d earned, exclusive academic societies I was a member of, areas I specialized in…on and on and on, anything I thought would make me stand out from the 800 other responses the client was getting. It wouldn’t be until the final few lines that I would mention anything about the client’s project. I didn’t win many gigs this way. Why? Because the only thing a client cares more about than your credentials is what you can do for them . Markets for an entrepreneur’s product feel the same way… “yeah, yeah, enough about you already…but what can you and your product do for me?” I became aware of this problem when I asked a friend to review what I thought was a particularly impressive gig pitch. “Um, Nacie…” she started slowly, “This is nice…but, who are you writing this for – your ego, or the potential client?” Ouch. My blunder is one that is often repeated by other newbies in a variety of entrepreneurship situations – when you are feeling insecure about your platform, portfolio, or experience, the immediate response is to overcompensate. OK, and there are a few established pros that just want to brag about how wonderful they are. But mostly, I’ve noticed this to be a rookie mistake: maybe they won’t notice I have very few writing clients if I talk a lot about other achievements? Maybe my potential sales demographic will think I’m qualified to sell this product if I spend 1,000 words talking about my story… Savvy freelance writers (and entrepreneurs) know that one of the best ways to win business is to share just one or two words about yourself – your ultimate highlight reel – before turning the focus on the client’s needs and how you can meet and exceed them: Yes, I did have two stories published in Chicken Soup for the Soul…but what I’d really like to discuss today is this fantastic opportunity. My vision was… Think (again) about your current sales pitch, long copy, or gig-responses letter… How much time are you spending talking about yourself versus the potential client and their needs? From Freelancing To Entrepreneurship When I first started my freelancing career years ago, I never imagined it would lead me to where I am today: blogger, soon-to-be-published author, and entrepreneur. Freelance writing gently taught me the basics of business, including what it takes to win business and keep business. These two major strategies, simple as they may appear, have served me very well in a variety of business situations, from getting writing gigs to selling my book proposal to a major international publisher. So as you think about building or continuing to build your own empire, consider this: passion, enthusiasm, and a genuine interest in providing a service will get you farther than you think, even when you’ve got a blank resume. Here’s to your Entrepreneur’s Journey! Nacie Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: entrepreneurial, internet, language, online, potential

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The Secret Language Of Your Creative Genius

by Paul Joseph March 28, 2011 Featured

Well, actually, if you’ve read any of my other posts, you are probably aware of the secret! Today, we’re going to learn more about this language however, and hopefully become more fluent in it as we gain a greater understanding of how it works. We’re looking at play, and it’s connection to creativity, because play is the language in which our creative genius speaks most fluently to us. Many of you have completed my play personality/creative character survey and know which kind of play personality you inhabit the most, so we’re going to investigate how these play personalities connect you to your creativity. I’ve trumpeted away about how play holds the keys to how we access our individual form of creative expression, but I’ve never spent an entire article going into depth on why this is so and how it really does this. Last week, I was directed by a friend to an interesting article about play and creativity, in particular the link between our childhood play and creativity . This post was written by a man named Gabor George Burt , funnily enough, I’ve never encountered his work on creativity. But when I researched him, I found this; “Gabor George Burt is an internationally recognized expert on strategy, innovation, creativity and business development. A leading proponent of Value Innovation and Blue Ocean Strategy for over a decade, Gabor has also gained recognition as a thought-leader on the creative perspective of Defying Conventional Wisdom. ” Goodness, that’s quite a cool phrase, “a thought-leader on the creative perspective of Defying Conventional Wisdom.” More importantly however, this man seems to have connected similar dots as far as play and creativity are concerned. An interesting thing about this is, Gabor doesn’t go into detail about how the play and creativity connection works, he’s promised to do so in his next post. So, brace yourselves dear readers, we’re about launch! AND, I’m going to be bouncing back over to Gabor’s take on this same subject and sharing with you the link, so we can compare notes and see what new insights can surface. Remember from a previous post, that in order to access and express creativity and innovation, we need freedom and autonomy. Play is integral to the creative process because, as Dr. Stuart Brown states, the essence of play is freedom . Dr. Stuart Brown is the world authority on play behavior in humans and he has described 7 fundamental elements that characterize authentic play. We’re going to look at the 7 elements, so we can see clearly that these elements are deeply ingrained in the creative process. I’ll be quoting Dr. Brown then adding my own commentary about how this connects with creativity at the end of each element. Good For Nothing Or Vital To Our Success? 1. “Play is apparently purposeless, done for it’s own sake. It doesn’t help in getting money or food, it doesn’t have a (recognized) survival value.” I added the word ‘recognized’ into Dr. Brown’s quote, I’ll come back to that later. Now, why is purposelessness (that’s a very hard word to say, physical challenge – try repeating it three times) so important to our creative process? Purposeless play is connected to improvisational potential. I’ve mentioned that in order to think creatively, we need to be able to think holistically, to use our ability to take as many disparate themes and concepts as possible and draw insights from them. This is what happens in purposeless play. Because of the inherently purposeless nature of authentic play, we naturally slip into a holistic mind set . If you look back at my articles on different techniques to access creativity, you will find a lot of the techniques are designed to get you to engage in “purposeless play” or to shift your thinking process to holistic rather than linear. The biggest hindrance to accessing our creative or holistic thinking ability is to be intently focused on getting some outcome, figuring something out, or under stress and pressure to produce a result. This is the opposite of purposeless play, and we become locked in narrow, linear thinking . Purposeless play does not and cannot happen by consciously thinking about it! We have to literally be playing, just for the fun of it, and allow it to happen naturally, to become absorbed in our playful activity. We could begin the play activity with the intention of gathering some insights about a problem we’re working on, but consciously thinking about the problem has to be left at the doorway to play in order for us to access the kind of thinking needed to find our answers. So, that’s the first major connection between play and accessing our creativity, let’s move on. Freedom vs Force 2. “Play is voluntary, not obligatory or a required duty.” Put another way, freedom and autonomy are vital to the creative process. This is something we’ve covered at length in previous articles . Basically, both play and creativity don’t exist without freedom and autonomy. So if we’re playing authentically, we’re in a very fertile creative space , because we’re engaged in something that is completely voluntary. We cannot be forced to play and we cannot be forced to be creative, by ourselves or anyone else. The very act of someone imposing their will or any kind of restraint (including our own self inflicted restraints) on us immediately closes down our ability to play authentically or think holistically/creatively. You will hear me consistently reiterate that we need to allow the play and creative process to happen naturally, because it MUST, it’s the only way it works. It can’t be contrived or forced. We are naturally playful and creative beings, we’re born like this. When we were kids, we just did it, and we still do if we let ourselves, we inherently know how to be playful and creative. Inherent Attraction, Heightened Mental And Physical Arousal (It’s Not What You’re Thinking) 3. “Play = Inherent attraction, it’s fun and it makes us feel good. Play is exciting and it’s a cure for boredom.” Dr. Brown says that nothing lights up the brain like play , referring to the increased neural connections being made when we’re engaged in playing. The experience of fun and excitement in play puts us in a heightened state mental and physical arousal (increased neural connections), which increases our creative thinking. Visualize the massive influx of neural connections taking place in the brain during play, then translate that to our ability to take abstract themes and concepts and connect them to come up with creative and innovative solutions to problems. It’s a weird thing to comprehend, but literally, the more neural connections we generate through play, the more we’re able to make the connections needed for creative and innovative thinking. The “F” Word Again 4. “Play gives us a sense of freedom from time, when we’re fully engaged in play, we lose track of time.” Ha! There it is again, the “F” word! In relation to play and creativity, it just keeps coming up again and again doesn’t it? Most of us experience time as a very linear, sequential process. Remember what we’ve said about linear and sequential processes as far as creativity is concerned? Linear and sequential sucks when it comes to creativity! Certainly, we love process, as aforementioned, creativity is a process, not an event. But the creative process thrives on a multilevel, holistic and even cyclical approach. Linear and sequential constraints of time totally mess with play and creativity, if we allow these constraints to dictate our creative brainstorming. This is, understandably, a big issue we all face . We live in a world where we are constantly under time constraints, and we have to deal with that, but we can and do, every day. The trick is to ensure you give yourself the time out needed in any given moment or day to recharge and refresh your creative batteries. Ensure that when you do give yourself this time out, you do whatever you need to get into a play state where you become totally absorbed and don’t clock watch. Of course, sometimes it isn’t possible to leap away from your work and immerse yourself in play, but I do this whenever I can if the need arises. Two paragraphs ago, I lay on the couch for 15 minutes as I was hit with a wave of tiredness after being up very early for an interview. I have to be relaxed, awake and alert to make the mental connections needed to write this article on play and creativity. If I find myself losing this state, I go outside and talk to my chickens, move my body physically, or lie down (you may remember the creativity enhancing technique called “lying down on the job,” I was quite animated in my joy at finding scientific proof that it improved creative thinking!). All of these things are a combination of play and relaxation for me, and they shift my mind temporarily from a single pointed focus and let it slip into a kind of soft focus that’s characteristic for me when I’m thinking holistically. Even lying down is a form of play, as my mind is allowed to wander off on it’s own little tangents like a curious child and I give myself permission to let it forget about what I’ve been focusing on. If I allow myself to lose track of time briefly through play to recharge myself for creative thinking and writing, I know my work will improve as a result. Again, many of the techniques given in previous articles are designed to absorb the person in a way that they will lose track of time, ie, shift out of their sequential and linear thinking process. Being In Flow Or In The Zone 5. “Play gives us a diminished consciousness of self. We stop thinking or caring about what others think. We are fully in the moment, in flow, or the zone.” Having a diminished consciousness of self is a massive part of being successful with our creative and innovative thinking . Researchers have done studies proving that people will knowingly give incorrect responses to questions if they think being right will set them apart from the group or make them appear different. What’s this got to do with creativity and play? It has a lot to do with a diminished consciousness of self and caring what others think. If we, as humans are so wired to be concerned about fitting into a group that we will knowingly give incorrect answers just to ensure we belong , then finding a way to trip this hard-wiring is vital to our creative abilities . We can (and will) stifle our creative insights if we’re concerned what others might say or think about them, or in other words, if we’re sensitive to external judgment or criticism (and we are). Play is our trip wire , as Dr. Brown has stated, in authentic play, we stop caring about what others think, and we lose our sense of self-consciousness. Ask any creative, if they’re concerned about what someone thinks of their work, how badly does it mess with their creative process? Ask yourself this same question in relation to anything you’re working on, if you care too much about what others think, does it diminish your ability to do it well? Being able to immerse our selves deeply in any activity so that external influence or approval doesn’t interfere with our creative process is vital to our success. It’s through play that we can find the path to this lack of self-consciousness . After all, we’re just playing right? It’s no big deal, it’s a game and we don’t place the same expectations on ourselves when we’re playing, and neither do others. Play gives us the “out” we need to shake off the expectations of ourselves and other people, and open up to our creative potential . Mixing It Up 6. “Play allows for improvisational potential. We aren’t locked into rigid ways of thinking or doing things. We are open to serendipity or chance…we stumble upon new behaviors, thoughts, strategies, movements, or ways of being. We see things in a different way and have fresh insights…You never know what’s going to happen when you play.” I mentioned at the beginning that purposeless play was connected to improvisational potential. We’ll look at this some more, as well as just how integral improvisational potential is to our creative process. Obviously, our ability to improvise is an essential part of creativity and innovation . Improvisation is what takes us from a known to an unknown path . Improvisation is how we make a map to navigate unchartered territory . When we play, we allow ourselves to go off on tangents, to entertain unusual ideas or methods, and we allow ourselves to slip between what we know (or think we know) and the unknown . The same thing happens in our creative process. Both play and creativity require improvisational potential in order to flourish. Without it, the game stops , and so does the creative process. Play is an important ally for accessing our creativity and improvisational potential because in a play state, we’re more open to it. The purposeless element of play allows us to recognize and respond to the things that might normally slip by unnoticed or unexplored if we were purely focused on an outcome. Through purposeless play, we let ourselves pick up seemingly random elements, and improvisation is the skill we use to makes sense of these elements. We then engage our creativity to express the discoveries of our improvisational play. Play, Our Element And Mastery 7. “Play involves continuation desire, we want to keep doing it, the pleasure of the experience drives this desire.” This aspect of play relates to fine tuning our creative gifts more than anything else. Continuation desire helps us achieve mastery, which is an innate human psychological need. I’ve mentioned previously that humans have three innate psychological needs . Dan Pink discusses them in his book “ Drive .” Just to recap, these three needs are Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. Continuation desire is connected to fulfilling our need for mastery . I read that anyone who has achieved mastery has spent at least 10,000 hours practicing. I don’t think we’re going to achieve mastery in anything if it requires that much practice, unless we really love doing it. And what was that about play? Oh! Wow! We want to keep doing it and the pleasure of the experience drives this desire? Cool! This last aspect of play in relation to our creativity really leads into another whole world of exploration, and that is Sir Ken Robinson’s work on finding our element . I spoke with Sir Ken’s co-author, Lou Aronica this morning about certain aspects of finding my element. (I’m busting to find out if Lou quotes me in Ken’s next book on “The Element” Basically, one of the things that quantifies finding my element for me is I want to keep coming back to it again and again. In other words, there is a strong continuation desire in my element ; my element, which is my unique form of creative expression, is also a form of play for me. I would never put in the hours I do if I didn’t love what I am doing, my creative expression has to be a form of play for me in order to achieve any degree of mastery. And I’m pretty sure this is the same for anyone who has accomplished any level of mastery in their lives. I’m going to have to leave it there, I honestly cannot drag you all into another world of Sir Ken Robinson and The Element, I’ve gone way over my preferred word count as it is. I truly hope the long read has been worth it, and it’s very clear to those who wanted to know, just how play is integral to our creative process, and how your preferred style of play shifts you into the alternate space you need to be in to access your creativity. As you know, I’ve been working some more on my play personality/creative character survey . My aim is to make this an incredible resource of information about how to find your unique blend of play and creativity, and how you access these gifts. Like any creation, it’s constantly evolving, and I am loving the process. Next week, I am going to explain how each of the individual play personalities and certain activities and techniques cause the mental and emotional shift needed to access your creativity. Thanks so much for reading, and please leave any comments you have at the end of the article, I love hearing about other people’s creative insights and process. Cheers, Neroli. Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

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