I had the privilege of attending one of Amanda Daniels' (Koogar.co.uk) talks on Marketing strategy and found it to be one of the most inspirational talks I have attended for some time. Although the basic premise of the talk was about Marketing, the strategy and advice could easily be applied to personal development as much as business.
It’s much easier to initiate a phase of self-reflection if your business or marketing strategy is the focus, than it is to reflect upon yourself. We can look at the business objectively and decide what is working and what isn’t, but when we focus on ourselves feelings start to get in the way, or we become uncomfortable with being the subject of scrutiny. As uncomfortable as this process might be to do, with yourself as the subject, it is a very important part of self-development as it identifies the areas in your life in which you could make changes for the better.
Start with the Why
Amanda spoke a little bit about a TEDx talk by Simon Sinek which I had recently caught on Youtube which focuses on ways of telling stories, or describing your business and uses Apple as an example.
Seven Life Lessons
Amanda shared seven life lessons with the group, which like the rest of the advice, could be applied to business, or to an individual.
Marketing / Life isn't about technology, it's about psychology.
1 Who you hang around with matters
2 Go with your gut
3 Don’t worry about what others think
4 Be yourself, life is too short
5 Try things all the time, take a risk
6 Be the best you can be at EVERYTHING you do
7 Don’t settle for something to be OK, make sure it is remarkable
Some of these things seem obvious, but they are often overlooked or forgotten completely, and it is important to remind ourselves of these things at regular intervals to ensure that we remain on track.
Advice for Blogging
Have a voice
Be conversational - find your audience
Ask questions - answer them for people. Your process, etc, why?
Tell stories - Emotion, Imagery, Audio, Video
Give it your ALL
Recycle evergreen content
Calls to action - what do you want people to do?
What's on trend?
Add visuals
Mix content and type
Include Influencers
Respond to comments
Be yourself
People see content 7 - 15 times before they interact with it
Passionate people buy from passionate people
Who you hang around with matters
Changing who it is that you keep around you is an important aspect of making positive changes in your life. If you surround yourself with people who only send out negativity, you are likely to pick up a negative mindset, start doubting yourself, and even stop yourself from doing things before you try. Amanda said that the Top 5 influencers that you keep around you have the most impact on your life. Choose your Top 5 very carefully.
I had an experience as a teenager where I was going to college and hanging around with a group of friends who also attended; but then one by one they began to drop out, until we all became wasters. I didn’t realize it at the time, but they all began to influence each other by dragging those around them down to their level. It was only when I decided that I needed to cut off my entire ‘friends list’ that things started to change for me for the better. I began hanging around with positive people who started to lift me psychologically, and things started to happen for me.
We have to re-evaluate our Top 5 on a regular basis to make sure that we haven’t let somebody who has a negative impact take one of the spots.
I will definitely be using the time over Christmas and New Year to reflect on things, and for the first time since adulthood, make some actual meaningful resolutions for 2019. I expect that any changes I make may not necessarily be easy, but if you persevere with something you want to change it forms a habit, until eventually it becomes part of who you are.