Motivation & Mindset Archives - Page 3 of 6

October 3, 2020

Be a Highlighter in a Room Full of Crayons

Life is colorful and people are like crayons. Each of us impacts our spheres of influence in a unique way. When we walk into a room, people notice. But I don't need to tell you what they notice. You already know. You know what you enjoy and what you don't. What you're good at and what you're still learning. What you look like and what others look like. What I need to tell you is to be a highlighter when you walk into a room full of crayons. Highlighter people are in very short supply. What is a highlighter person? Why should you leave the crayon world behind and become one? Read on and find out. Afterwards, you'll be able to leave a mark on the world like never before.

July 25, 2020

Dr. Seuss Changed the World and You Can Too

Your attitude towards established rules says a lot about your inner workings as a creative. After all, rules are meant to be...broken? Enforced? Bent? Do the rules matter a great deal or do they not matter at all? What are the rules anyways when you want to express an idea? What are rules for entertaining? Rules for educating? What are the rules if you want to do something new? Something no one was ever bold enough to do? Living on the edge is different than living in the center. Dr. Seuss changed the world with his ideas and style of writing. But here's the real kicker. You can too.

July 11, 2020

Low Self-Worth is a Writer’s Archenemy

A fine line exists between self-interest and selfish. While the self-interested takes accomplishments, skills, needs, and wants of others into account as fuel for the pursuit of something remarkable, a selfish mindset views everyone and everything as a hindering comparison. Have you ever heard the saying, "If only the best birds sang in the forest, the world would be a quiet place"? This truth applies dramatically to us humans and it all starts at what we believe about ourselves. Is your view of yourself high or low?

May 24, 2020

Great Stories Leave Lasting Impressions

There are two primary camps when it comes to story telling - content generation and content consumption. Reader or writer. Baker or eater. Sure, we all do both, but one drives us. One we research. One we have goals and dreams about. The other is simply other. Regardless of the camp, lasting impressions are a game changer in the world of content. Here's why we should care and what we must do if we hope to leave lasting impressions with our readers.

September 21, 2019

Holding Back Your Best Work

We hold ourselves back all the time. We bite our tongue in a meeting when we know we should speak up. We keep our writing private instead of letting it help someone else. We pretend our artwork is just doodles to ensure we aren't hurt if no one wants to buy it. Holding back isn't just about fear of rejection. Holding back is an identity crisis.

September 20, 2019

Is it Time to Make a Radical Change?

Change isn't scary. It's terrifying. Radical change even more so. We are hardwired for consistency. We take the same route from home to work and back again, telling ourselves it's because it's the shortest path. Not true. We are not agents of change even if we pretend to be sometimes. We are agents of consistency. Agents of repetition. But should we? What if that which feels most comfortable and natural to us is bad for us? What if the change, a radical change, is the best thing we can do?

September 16, 2019

Building a Brand on Trust

When I think of a trustworthy brand, my mind splits in two directions. On one hand, higher quality brands are trusted to make good on their promises of delivering an exceptional product, like the latest Apple iPhone or a new car. On the other hand, large businesses have been cutting away at the cords of trust over time with ever worsening incidents. Private data is sold to the highest bidder. Financial information is hacked despite the promise of safeguarding. And high-end products don't always deliver. Trust is growing as the commodity of choice in the modern age and that is a very good thing for you.

September 15, 2019

Success is a Tweak Away

Doing the same thing over, and over, and over while expecting a different result is insanity. Why on Earth would the results change if the application of effort does not? That, my friends, is truly living on a hope and a prayer. We tell ourselves, "This is how it should work!" And yet, it doesn't. So the next day, we do it again. Instead of considering how things "should work", let's consider how things "do work". What I've found is that success, the kind of success we are feverishly after, is often times just a tweak away.