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Leo Babauta writes about the Tao of Marketing

February 21, 2009 /

Over at Micro Persuasion was an interesting guest post, “Leo Babauta on the Tao of Marketing”. Leao wrote about his own marketing experiences connected to his site Zen Habits and his book “The Power of Less”>. He wrote about the old way of marketing before getting into the new way.

Marketers must adopt an entirely new strategy — more than that, an entirely new mindset. They must get away from trying to create new desires in people, trying to push and force themselves on people, trying to control people.

Instead, find a more natural way. Find out what people want, and then give it to them. Offer them value, and they will appreciate that. Be a resource. Give things away. Don’t force — let them come to you, because of all the value you offer.

Leo lists these points, each explained more in his blog post:
• Accept things as they are.
• Don’t control.
• Don’t force.
• Do less.
• Do small things.
• Be valuable.
• Attract, don’t smother.

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

The Law of Attraction requires action

December 7, 2008 /

In his book, Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth, Steve Pavlina comments on the Law of Attraction under Effort:

What about the Law of Attraction? Can’t you just sit on your butt all day and manifest what you want through the power of intention?

That would be a gross misunderstanding of how the Law of Attraction works. When you focus single-mindedly on what you want, you’ll begin to notice new resources appearing in your life. If you don’t take action, however, those resources will dry up and you’ll be no closer to your goals.

I am not keen on the Law of Attraction, there are too many that think that manifesting is all it takes. To sum it up, Attraction = Attract + Action.

Keep in mind that the word Attraction ends with action.

Update March 21, 2009.
Over at The Discomfort Zone, Tim Browson’s blog, is a guest post by Sean Platt, “Writer Dad” and “Ghostwriter Dad”. The post The Secret Is, You’re Busted is a great post with many great comments (mine included).

See also Is The Law of Attraction A Con?.

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

Using SWOT analysis for personal purposes

November 29, 2008 /

The image below comes from Wikipedia’s article about SWOT analysis. The article starts like this:

SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture.

SWOT

I have used SWOT for business purposes but it turns out that SWOT can be used on a personal level too. Mary Jaksch at Goodlife Zen has a very interesting post about how to Optimize Your Life with the SWOT Matrix. The second part was posted on December 3rd, 10 Questions That Will Change Your Life: SWOT Analysis Part #2.

Do not get too hang up on your weaknesses. When it comes to weaknesses we shall think wider than about what we can improve. Do we need to improve in that area or can we team with someone else that balances our weakness?

Keep in mind that what shows up as weakness in one situation can be a strength in another situation, and vice versa.

When searching for more information about SWOT I came across this one, Using a SWOT Analysis in Your Career Planning. There is an example that helps you get started on your own career assessment.

Update November 30, 2009.
There is a new post on Good Life Zen, How to Reboot Your Life With the SWOT Matrix

Read more:
SWOT analysis method and examples, with free SWOT template
SWOT Analysis Discover New Opportunities. Manage and Eliminate Threats.
A Business Owner’s Secret Weapon: Swot Analysis
SWOT Analysis Mistakes to Avoid
An essential guide to swot analysis

This was originally posted at Forty Plus Two, another blog of mine.

Do you have a personal motto?

November 15, 2008 /

I came across Your Life’s Story Told in One Sentence over at Marc and Angel Hack Life. It is a very interesting and useful post that starts like this:

Constraints make us focus. They force us to zero-in on a specific purpose. The less material we have to work with, the more resourceful we must be. Can you sum up your entire outlook on life in one sentence? Do you have a personal motto you live your life by?

The mission sentence is mainly for your own use:

When you define your mission sentence, you craft a powerful tool for yourself. You create an abbreviation of all your goals, values, and passions… a guiding symbol of your life’s story. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a phrase others will understand. It’s not for them or for promotional purposes. It’s for you.

Creating a mission sentence is a great exercise, it helps you stay focused. My mission sentence is “I am making the world a better place”. What is yours?

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

How To Discover Your Life Purpose

November 9, 2008 /

Jonathan at Illuminated Mind writes an excellent post about “How to Find Your Purpose in Life” (site no longer exists). I love his explanation of purpose:

Your purpose has nothing to do with your degree, your resume, your career, or vocation. Your purpose is independent of all those things. In fact, it’s much bigger than any of those. Purpose has to do with your creative self expression. It has to do with what makes you feel alive. It’s something you do, where at the end of the day you think “I made a difference.”

Jonathan gives a four step exercise where you answer the question “What is my true purpose in life?” or “How would I want to be remembered when I die?” There is also a part about aligning your job and your life purpose.

The exercise comes from How to Discover Your Life Purpose in About 20 Minutes where Steve Pavlina writes about how he found his life purpose.

See also:
What do you REALLY want to do with your life?
Motivation Is Garbage
What If Money Was No Object?
How to find your passion in life

Read elsewhere: Do what you love. Find Your Purpose In Life

Read elsewhere: What am I Doing with My Life? 10 Questions to Upgrade Your Mindset

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

How to make gradual changes

November 9, 2008 /

Sometimes it feels too overwhelming to make radical changes. When that is the case then it works much better taking one step at a time and to change gradually.

Kaizen, which means “Continuous Improvement”– slow, incremental but constant, is a concept for that. Companies like Toyota use Kaizen to improve their production, we can use it to improve ourselves.

Mary Jaksch has written two posts about using Kaizen for personal changes. At Zen Habits is a post about How to Establish New Habits the No-Sweat Way and at her own blog Goodlife Zen is a post about How to Get Back into Shape – Painlessly.

This was originally posted at Forty Plus Two, another blog of mine.

Mission statement, visualization and pitch

October 19, 2008 /

Jason at JibberJobber posted about The Visualization – Where Will You Be? and Career Management Visualization – an example.

I hate your job had an interesting post about “Personal Mission Statements: Way Cool” where it says something well worth to remember and consider:

Do you realize that the average person spends more time planning a vacation than they spend planning their life?

In another post, “An Explosion of Purpose and Fulfillment”, was good advice:

Avoid putting in fluff and buzzwords unless you’re a corporation–try to create a document that really focuses on actions that you can perform each day and that are meaningful to you.

I work as a coach and am working on some pitches for that:
• I make the world a better place, one person at a time.
• I help people change their life for the better.
• I help people find and attain their goals.

Here are some interesting openings from The Life Coaching Handbook
• Call me only if you are serious abut making the changes you have always wanted to make.
• I am a magician. I reawaken dreams and make them come true.
• I am in show business – I show you how to achieve the life you want.

I avoid using the word coach because then people already have a label for me and stop listening. My intention is to make them interested enough to ask more.

See also:
Elevator pitch – Networking pitch
Hook, line and sinker
Mission Statement Builder

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

How to ensure that you are the best possible version of yourself

September 11, 2008 /

Jonathan Mead is one of my favourite bloggers. He had a guest post at Zen Habits about “7 Essentials For Living Your Fullest Potential”.

As a coach I use the tag line Unlocking your potential. It is your life, make the most of it!. Jonathan’s post is highly relevant, potential is a fussy term. Jonathan writes that:

Even though we may not ever be able to measure our potential, we can develop habits to help us grow. Here are 7 essentials I’ve found to ensure that you are the best possible version of yourself.

The seven essentials are:
1. Have an open mind.
2. Seek out new perspectives and contexts.
3. Ask for what you want.
4. Help other people succeed.
5. Think different.
6. Work smart, not hard.
7. Change your auto-response.

This is a great list and each is point is explained in the post.

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

The Rule of One or Curly’s Law

September 6, 2008 /

When browsing around over at Rebel Zen I came across Curly’s law. It is from the movie City Slickers. Jack Palance plays Curly (which gives him an Oscar for best supporting actor) and Billy Crystal plays Mitch.

Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is?

Curly: This. [holds up one finger]

Mitch: Your finger?

Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean shit.

Mitch: But what is the “one thing?”

Curly: [smiles] That’s what you have to find out.

I remember that part from watching the movie many years ago. It stuck somewhere in my mind but did not make much impact at that time. Now when I am older and (hopefully) wiser I realize that Curly’s law makes a lot of sense and summarizes things nicely.

One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean shit.

Just do one thing – see How to find your passion.

Do one thing at a time.

Do one thing at a time and be fully present – mindfulness.

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

The Garden of Your Daily Living

August 22, 2008 /

I got this lovely text in a Yahoo Group I belong to. Original author is unknown.

PLANT THREE ROWS OF PEAS:
1. Peace of mind
2. Peace of heart
3. Peace of soul

PLANT FOUR ROWS OF SQUASH:
1. Squash gossip
2. Squash indifference
3. Squash grumbling
4. Squash selfishness

PLANT FOUR ROWS OF LETTUCE:
1. Lettuce be faithful
2. Lettuce be kind
3. Lettuce be patient
4. Lettuce really love one another

NO GARDEN IS WITHOUT TURNIPS:
1. Turnip for meetings
2. Turnip for service
3. Turnip to help one another

TO CONCLUDE OUR GARDEN WE MUST HAVE THYME:
1. Thyme for each other
2. Thyme for family
3. Thyme for friends

Water freely with patience and cultivate with love. There is much fruit in your garden because you reap what you sow.

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

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