Are your beliefs blocking your creativity?

“๐—œ ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚.”

It can be a beginning, or an end, or a myriad of things in between.
As I uttered those words this morning, a smile played on my lips.
I could hear the pure dark timbre of my voice reverberating in my chest.
The voice of my heart.

Infinite…
Unconditional…
Unequivocal love.

Who or what was the object of my affection doesn’t matter.

What matters was the surrender.
It was pure, joyful, radiant.

I don’t share this to make you go all doe-eyed or to elicit an obligatory “aww…”
I share this because there was a time when I paid no attention to my spoken voice, and even less attention to my beliefs about creativity.

Creative beliefs - Heart folded page of a book

Back then, my heart lay sunken and heavy in the base of my chest. When I did use it, the cracks were evident. Its brittle, breathless timbre told the tale of a creative writer who’d lost her light.

I was afraid.
I thought I had nothing valuable to offer – except maybe my emotion. But too much emotion makes people uncomfortable, apparently.

These days, it’s hard for anyone to shut me up. But it took time and a willingness to sit with myself in the shadow for that to change.

So this is my challenge to you, budding creator.

Next time you shy away from sharing your story, instead give your voice a stage. Talk out loud. More importantly, listen to the sound. This principle applies to every area of your written communication, but especially on social media, where the opportunity to convey your true intent and win your audience’s heart is fleeting.

I encourage you to find a way to love your voice, and live the creative beliefs that serve you. Sing, read out loud, record videos, make up silly voices. The more you do this, the more you’ll notice when something is a little ‘off’. It will give you the opportunity to nip it in the bud before Godzilla eats the city… and you’ll have fun doing it, I promise!

Trust me on this. But more importantly, trust yourself. Because creating from your heart will serve you in business, and in life.

More thoughts about living an authentic creative life here

Creating content without self-judgement

What do you want to talk about?

One of the most powerful and most untapped benefits of LinkedIn for business owners and professionals is this: you really CAN talk about anything. No topic is too โœจ’woo-woo‘โœจ or inappropriate (what is an ‘appropriate’ topic anyway?) as long as you keep one thing top of mind. Judgement. More specifically, self-judgement. Because self-judgement is the tsunami that sinks a thousand ships. In this case, your social currency ship.

As a LinkedIn educator, you’d expect me to say that cultivating the right audience is the number one thing to keep top of mind. You’re right. That will always be important. A scatter-gun or hope based strategy wastes your time and that of your audience. But…

As a creator, creating without self-judgement is my true north. It’s the one thing I keep top of mind when I’m writing, above all else.

Why? Because everything else is a technicality. I can give you the latest tools, a sea of tips and lots of pretty, optimised templates, but…

…๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ณ-๐—ท๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜, ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น ๐—œ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ธ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด.

Creating content door of your heart light shining through trees in forest

You have to lean in, love yourself and most of all, leave self-judgement out of it. Yes, it’s easier said than done, but guess what? I have your back, and so does your audience. Your audience appreciates authenticity and humility. They’ll ask for more. They’ll even tell others. And after all, isn’t that what social media is MEANT to be about? ๐Ÿ˜‰

 

Want to explore more ideas about creating from the heart? You might like this article

Looking for templates that will help you create LinkedIn posts about any topic quickly and easily, without sounding like a robot? We can help. Just drop us a line here.

Don’t wait for ‘the mood’ to create

Never underestimate the power of your own UNIQUE ENERGY. Whether you OWN IT OR NOT, it shines through in your presence on, and offline – making it a key part of your LinkedIn identity and your content.

The energy of your content is one of the first measures your reader has to gauge your personality, your knowledge and most importantly, what it would be like to work with you.

Your content conveys a myriad of things, like your assertiveness, your attention to detail, how you see yourself in relation to others, and so on.

So if you get a creative block or just don’t feel ‘in the mood’ to create content, there’s a lot at stake. It’s essential to find a way to push through, otherwise your peers and competitors will quickly fill the gap and claim your readers’ attention.

What’s the solution?ย ย 

The solution is to embrace the wave, and accept that there will be highs and lows. Ups and downs. We have to keep on creating, especially if it’s our livelihood. But how?

One of the best methods I know is to harness the raw power of my present emotion. Be willing to sit with it for a moment, as I would a good friend. Most importantly, I give it a name.

๐Ÿ”ด Love
๐ŸŸ  Anger
๐ŸŸก Frustration
๐ŸŸข Jealousy
๐Ÿ”ต Joy
๐ŸŸฃ Excitement

It is what it is, so don’t demonise it, and don’t wait to be ‘in the mood.’

share speech bubble

Here’s a quick, simple activity you can try right now.

First, name the emotion you’re feeling.

Then, if it’s positive, go on a rampage of APPRECIATION and brainstorm other words you could use to describe it. (synonyms)

On the other hand, if it’s negative, name its OPPOSITE, then follow the steps above.

I love to work with my emotions. Sometimes I sink into them and LUXURIATE, snuggling down as if I’m under a doona, soft and FLUFFY.ย  Other times, the emotion makes me feel like I’m like a toddler stomping in MUDDY PUDDLES,ย  a wet, glorious, filthy MESS. If you’ve ever watched Peppa Pig, you know what I mean!

I’m a professional writer, but even I get caught.

Sometimes, my emotions sneak up on me, like they did this morning. As the bedside alarm clock rang out, its melodic sound gently unravelled a tight, tense nightmare which seemed to threaten everything I love.ย  I lay in its grip, the charred scentย  lingering long after I awoke, and an acrid taste on my tongue. All I could recognise was that I felt STONE COLD FEAR.

What was the solution, you ask? Well, I pulled a silly face, said to my cat Lady Gaga and to myself, “not today, fear!”, and then I laughed in the cheesiest, pantomime villain voice I could muster. What a performance.

What do you think the effect of that was? More importantly, how did it make YOU feel?

Explore more ideas about creating content here

Are you making LinkedIn headlines for the right reasons?

Sometimes, the most powerful lessons come from unlikely places.

Thank you, Judith.

In 2008, my grandma’s best friend and neighbour Judith died. She was found in the living room of her small villa unit, a cup of milky tea and her tabby cat Mildred at her side.

Her living room was sparse and dim. Heavy lace curtains muted the sunlight which barely reached her favourite recliner, and the air was always thick with the cloying scent of lilac. She said it suited her, because the soft light made it ‘relaxing’ and the floral aroma reminded her of her mother, who had long since passed.

Most people never saw beyond the living room. They only saw what she wanted them to see: independence. Not the decades of stories that lay beyond those four walls.

She ventured out every day. At 5’10” her tall yet stooped figure, always in pastel colours, would be seen shuffling to the community hall to play bingo or gin rummy. Then she’d shuffle home in time for her daily dinner of lamb chops and boiled vegetables. Always at 4.30pm, and always with the dayโ€™s newspaper tucked under her arm.

Judith bought a newspaper every day, because it was what she’d always done. My grandma said she didn’t even read it most days, but every day she went through the motions. Every day, people saw her doing her thing. She’d return to her living room, her milky tea and Mildred and chalk up another day of what she called “dodging the obits.”ย  (obituaries)

Judith’s measure of success

The newspaper ritual was a measure of success. Judith always believed in keeping up appearances. Her family had given up challenging her habits, so no one spoke about it.

It was my grandma who found her. She already knew about the newspapers, and she knew to leave well alone, but for everyone else who walked through the door after Judith died, the floor to ceiling piles were all they could talk about.

They discovered a history of newsprint spanning not just days, weeks or months, but decades, all carefully closeted behind French bi-fold doors that separated her living room from the rest of the home.

No one understood why. No one except my grandma. Only she saw the yellow-edged envelope that had been laying in Judith’s lap when she died, my grandma’s name scrawled in shaky cursive on the front. When the commotion of questions and busyness subsided, and she and Mildred were finally alone, my grandma opened it.

“Jean my wonderful friend, thank you. For making me laugh, for sharing a sherry or three, and for never asking why. Love, Judith xoย 

PS. You’ll probably be asked about the newspapers, to which I say let ’em ask! I never did care for reading the damned things. But it felt nice to have a reason to go out each day, apart from gambling my pension on bingo… ha ha!”

Ginger cat face LinkedIn

The moral of the story

Judith’s tale is no different to many of us on LinkedIn.

Business owners, leaders, marketers all pumping out multiple posts a day, and accepting connections from every Johan, Yiannis and Yolanda. All to create a perception of success and keep up online appearances. But bright shiny posts and 6-figure followings often have little more than a sparkly string of vanity metrics holding them up. No commercial drivers, no revenue.

If commerciality is not your thing, that’s ok. But if you’re frustrated by lack of ROI, or by trying to keep up appearances, I’d say you’re out of alignment.

Every aspect of your LinkedIn presence needs to align with your broader marketing, content and social media strategies. If it doesn’t, you might as well be playing bingo with your time, and your customers.

Are you making LinkedIn headlines for the right reasons?ย 

 

Get more tips for building your LinkedIn presence here.

Finding Focus and Flow: 14 Songs for Content Creators

Each of us has our own unique way of finding focus at work. That perfect setting for achieving maximum productivity and creativity.

For some, it’s total silence. Others are inspired by background chatter and the whir of the espresso machine at their favourite cafe. But music is also a powerful tool for helping you get in flow.

It’s not just a feeling… numerous research studies have proven the ability of sound to influence our thought patterns, brain waves and mood. Binaural beats in particular have receive heightened attention recently for their ability to shift thought speed and intensity, though you’ll only reap the full benefit wearing headphones, which isn’t always practical.

So what do people listen to when they want to tune out the world and get things done, or when they find themselves in a funk and need to inject some energy?

I put the question out to my LinkedIn network recently, and these were the 14 songs that received most votes.

What’s your favourite song for regaining energy, or finding focus? Share it in the comments!

7 Songs for Energy

happy is Pharrell's path to focus

1.ย ย ย ย Happyย โ€“ Pharrell Williams

2.ย ย ย ย I Feel Goodย โ€“ James Brown

3.ย ย ย ย Best Day of My Lifeย โ€“ American Authors

4.ย ย ย ย Walking on Sunshineย โ€“ Katrina and the Waves

5.ย ย ย ย Letโ€™s Goย โ€“ Calvin Harris

6.ย ย ย ย Brown Eyed Girlย โ€“ Van Morrison

7.ย ย ย ย Only to Beย โ€“ Six60

7 Songs for Focus

love actually shows us that love is everyone's focus

1.ย ย ย ย I Will Be Foundย – John Mayer

2.ย ย ย ย Fields of Goldย โ€“ Sting

3.ย ย ย ย Gayatri Mantraย – Deva Premal

4.ย ย ย ย Le Telephone Pleureย – Claude Franรงois

5.ย ย ย ย River Flows in Youย โ€“ Yiruma

6.ย ย ย ย Claire de Luneย โ€“ Claude Debussy

7.ย ย ย ย Glasgow Love Theme (from the ‘Love Actually’ย Soundtrack)ย โ€“ Craig Armstrong

 

What song gets your vote?

 

Inspiration: itโ€™s right under your nose!

These days, content creation is a cornerstone of marketing communications. We know our customers want information – and lots of it โ€“ before many of them will even consider doing business with us.

Thankfully, weโ€™ve come a long way from the days when advertising ruled the marketing roost and messaging followed the Henry Ford philosophy: โ€œYou can have any colour as long as itโ€™s black.โ€ But itโ€™s not just a case of checking off a set number of โ€˜touchesโ€™ between you and your audience before theyโ€™ll be motivated to act. Read more…

Emotion and Engagement: Why Words Still Matter

Today visual content, especially video, is everywhere. And there’s no denying the influence of great imagery on our emotion and memory:ย Researchย shows our ability to recall information jumps from 10% to 65% when it includes a relevant image.

But never underestimate the power of the right language. Not just clever words, but ones that spark emotion. Think back to the novels you read as a child. A well-crafted story would carry you away, ignite your imagination, make you feel. Read more…

LinkedIn: it’s not just for job seekers!

When LinkedIn launched in 2003, its goal was to be the social networking site for professionals. However it soon became known as the social network for job seekers, a place to publish your ‘online resume’.

This wasn’t a bad thing in its own right. But it created a reputation which still lingers for many LinkedIn members. And so, the wideย range of benefits and features LinkedIn offers go largely unused by millions of members. Which translates to millions of business owners and professionals missing out on opportunities to connect, collaborate and achieve their goals. Read more…

5 Quick Tips for Finding Shareable Content

We all know that person who talks about nothing but themselves. Annoying, right? Well, your customers feel the same way when your content talks about nothing but your products or services!

As business owners and professionals, we do it to stay front of mind. But there are more effective ways to do this… and they have nothing to do with your business.

Your customers are looking for information, not self-promotion. So give them greater value and show your breadth of knowledge by sharing other people’s content. Read more…