Home Lifestyles Advice Brainstorm E-Bulletin for August

Brainstorm E-Bulletin for August

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First, thanks to everybody who offered to sign up for the trial run of my new Breakthrough Strategy program. Even after I expanded it to 30 places, it filled up fast and we’re now in the third week (of eight). It is exciting to see all the goals and how well people are moving toward them. Another version of this will be available in a couple of months and I’ll let you know about here first. My little bit of excitement this month was the appearance of my new book in the UK. It’s called "Marketing for Entrepreneurs" and is published by Pearson. In it, I’ve tried to de-mystify the process of marketing, especially for free-lancers or people who run a small company. You can find it on Amazon.co.uk, WH Smith travel outlets, and other online and offline retailers – and please tell any friends or colleagues who might benefit from it.
If you’re in or near London in September, you might be interested in signing up for my two workshops. Or if you’re near Seattle in October, I’ll be teaching there, too. See more details after item 3 below.
And now here are some ideas I hope you’ll find inspiring or useful:
1: Good news: you don’t have to do anything!
OK, we’ll leave aside breathing, eating and a few other functions, but here’s a liberating thing: as an adult, you don’t have to do anything!
I am a fan of the philosophy of the late Albert Ellis, who came up with Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy. One of the foundations of that approach is getting rid of the "shoulds" in your life. Let’s look at some common examples:
" I should lose some weight." No, you can lose some weight. If the benefits of losing weight are important to you, then that will be the right choice for you.
"I really should clean up my office." Again, you can clean up your office. And if you frequently are frustrated by not being able to find files or supplies, or you regularly stub your toe on the boxes piled up everywhere, then that choice will be rewarding.
Of course this applies to "should nots" as well.
"I shouldn’t spend so much time watching TV." Are there other things you’d enjoy more or that would benefit you more? Then you can choose to do them. The key question when you find yourself facing a "should" or "shouldn’t" is "Who says?" If it’s a genuine desire on your part, go ahead and choose that course. If it’s somebody else’s idea of what’s right for you, get in touch with your inner brat and say (if only in your mind) "I don’t want to, and you can’t make me!"
Action: Are you being held prisoner by any “should” or “shouldn’t”? Is it time to liberate yourself?
2: Get 15 percent happier instantly
A new study by psychologist and author Richard Wiseman reports that people who were asked to remember something good that happened the previous day got an immediate 15 percent boost in happiness. (Don’t you love how precise social scientists pretend to be?)
Action: What’s one good thing that happened to you yesterday? If you have trouble remembering, jot down good things as they happen – I have a hunch that would be another great happiness-booster.
3: Change your life with a Cylie Rule
I featured this on my blog, but I like it so much that I wanted to share it here as well. In an article a while back, How design magazine mentioned a schoolgirl named Cylie Pastian, who had developed bone cancer. She was sad that her bones were too fragile to allow her to continue playing basketball. In response, the players and coaches at her school in South Dakota invented the Cylie Rule: whenever there’s a foul, anyone recovering from bone cancer has the right to check into the game and shoot her team’s free throws.
Action: Is there a rule or standard procedure in any part of your life that holds you back? What Cylie Rule can you create to overcome it?
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Two London workshops + one near Seattle
On Saturday, Sept. 19, I will be holding a Feedback Workshop. This is limited to only eight people. Each person can bring in something on which they’d like feedback from me and the others – for instance, the concept for a book, a scene from a play or film, a chapter from a book, an article, a query letter, or anything you want. You get half an hour for the presentation and feedback. It’s from 1-5:30 p.m. in Central London. The fee is £49 + VAT and you can get more information or reserve a spot by e-mailing Sheridan at [email protected]. As I write this, there are only four spots left.
On Saturday, Sept. 26, there will be an Impro for Writers workshop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s limited to only 12 participants and you will learn how to use improvisational techniques for creating great characters, moving a plot forward, overcoming blocks, and more. You don’t have to be a performer (in fact, it’s for writers only) and I know you’ll leave invigorated and with new writing tools you can use in the future. It takes place at Regent’s College, the fee is £79 + VAT and if you want more information or to reserve a spot, please e-mail Sheridan at [email protected].
If you’re going to be anywhere near Seattle, come see me at Field’s End on Oct. 17. I’ll be doing a workshop on how you can electrify your creativity, and the early-bird rate (available during August) is only $65. For more information, go to www.fieldsend.org.
4. The writing is on the… postcard
It was a pleasant surprise to hear that the Royal Mail processed 30 million more postcards last year than the year before. The Times (London) magazine quoted Emma Wooley of elite London stationer Smythson: "There’s a luxury to receiving handwritten letters. It brings joy to the recipient. People are starting to remember that."
Action: Who could you pleasantly surprise with a postcard (you don’t have to be on vacation) or a hand-written note? And if you’d like to be surprised by one, e-mail me your mailing address and sometime in the next year I will send you a postcard from somewhere in the world (it may be signed by one of my secret identities). I won’t share or use your address for anything else, of course. The e-mail address to use is [email protected],and please write ‘postcard’ in the subject line.
5: One tool against procrastination
Writing in Money Magazine, Tyler Cowen offered an insight into one of the major causes of procrastination: we over-estimate the amount of control we have over our day. So we could do that unwelcome task first thing in the morning but we say we’ll do it later; however, as the day goes on there are more interruptions and more demands from others and it becomes more and more difficult to do what we’ve postponed – so we promise ourselves we’ll do it tomorrow… but not necessarily first thing…
Action: I, too, find it tough to tackle the least appealing task first thing but one strategy I’ve found helpful is to apply the micro-task method to this. Spend a minimum of five minutes on the hardest or least appealing task first thing. Often going that far makes it easier to finish right then. If not, then give it another five minutes first thing the next day.
6: And a quote to consider:
"You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend or not." – Isabel Allende
Until next time,
Jurgen
PS: If you haven’t looked at my blog lately, you’ve missed posts on the power of music to kick start your creativity, top ways to beat creative blocks, what makes a good story, multi-tasking and mini-tasking, getting out of creative ruts and much more. It’s all at www.timetowrite.blogs.com – why not have a look right now? If you’re near London and want to come to one or both of the workshops, do get in touch now, they will fill up quickly.
PPS: If you want to a free course (eight mini-lessons, one per week) on overcoming procrastination, just sign up at www.tameyourinnercritic.com. You’ll also find a wealth of right-brain breakthrough ways to achieve your goals in my newest book, "Focus: the power of targeted thinking." The Web site for it is www.focusquick.com

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