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If you're trying to organize your mind to reduce decision fatigue and information overload, then you need to make sure that you organize the space around you.
In many ways, our spaces are a reflection of the state of our mind - but actually the correlation works both ways and if you have a cluttered desk or home, it will make your mind more cluttered too.
When it comes to spaces that contain a lot of information and items, your desk is one of the most pressing areas for organization. Let's take a look at some things you can do to make your desk better organized.
#1 Throw Things Out
This is really how you start making any space more organized - you throw out anything that isn't 100% necessary. If it's a decorative item, then ask yourself if it really fills you with long-term fulfillment.
If not? Bin it! Otherwise, ask yourself when the last time you used it was and whether you really cannot survive without it.
The same goes for that drawer that's full of stationary. Do you really need that much stationary? Could that space not be much better used for other things?
#2 Create a System That Reflects Your Brain
Another tip is to create systems that you can use to keep your documents in order. And a great way to get inspiration for this is to look at the way our brains store information.
Specifically, our brains have three main 'compartments' for storing information. These are:
Working Memory - which is the information we're currently working with and doesn't necessarily need to be stored.
Short Term Memory - which is the information we hold for a few days. If it doesn't get used enough it will be thrown out, if it is important, it will be stored in long-term memory.
Long Term Memory - which is the information that we have stored permanently. Nothing gets destroyed here but access can become more difficult without practice.
So how do you create something similar to this?
Simple: you make one space for each type of information.
Your 'working memory' could be your noticeboard and desk itself. This is where you keep anything that you're currently working on and need immediate access to.
Not using it anymore? Then it goes into short-term storage - somewhere like a paper tray.
Then, at the end of each week, go through your short-term storage and move anything important to your 'long term storage' and throw out the rest. That's how you create a much more organized desk and mind.
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Those who tell the stories.
It's a powerful statement this.
There's a mystical, mythical element to it, being a native American saying.
I find it interesting that Plato said much the same thing "Those who tell the stories rule society."
Two such disparate cultures and societies recognising the power of story.
Just about anyone who writes about story, talks about story, ends up using this quote.
And certainly at the level at which most people think about this statement ... anyone who tells the stories will make money in business, and rule the world that way.
Story is a currency recognised the world over.
It is a powerful marketing tool, the difference, sometimes, between a profit and a loss.
But looking at it a different way - looking at the leaders, the rulers, those who rule the world.
They lead, they rule because they are able to tell our stories for us.
We need a story to make sense of life.
We need a story to make sense of our culture.
We need a story to make sense of our world.
We need someone to lead us forward by telling our story, what is really happening, how things are going to be.
When there is a movement for change in our culture, a mass discontent with the way things are, in our world, it will succeed because someone is able to lead it forward by articulating for that mass of people, what is really happening and how it will progress, tells the story about it.
What story are your leaders telling?
Let us choose the leaders who tell the story of our highest aspirations, not our lowest common denominators of fear and greed, ego and power.
Let us then buy from the marketers who tell the story of our highest aspirations, not our lowest common denominators of laziness and competitiveness.
Futurist Rolf Jensen said "The highest paid person of the 21st century will be the storyteller."
Let's choose whom we pay to tell our stories, and choose well.
In a conversation with someone last week, the topic of a "flagship product" came up and I realized that I had never really talked about this before in More Clients.
What's a flagship product?
A flagship product is a product or service that you and your business becomes identified with. It's something that communicates a concept or a solution that people automatically and favorably associate with you.
What a flagship product does is give you and your business instant credibility. When people purchase your flagship product, they are more likely to buy other products and services from you.
A flagship product should have the following characteristics:
1. It provides a unique solution or approach to a problem and is seen as new and memorable.
2. It is the starting point for all of your other spinoff products or services.
3. It is branded in a distinctive way with a name and identity that is unlike other products or services.
What are some examples of flagship products by InfoGurus? Here are a few that immediately spring to mind:
Guerrilla Marketing - This book, by Jay Conrad Levinson, written in the 80's, has spawned a whole series of Guerrilla Marketing books and seminars. It's become a household name amongst small business owners.
Make Your Site Sell - An e-book launched in 2000 by Ken Evoy that established him as one of the preeminent Internet Gurus and was the genesis of several other e-books and online products.
The Millionaire Mind - Harv Eker's free three-day workshop on changing your mindset about money. Tens of thousands have attended and it's been a launching pad for his other programs.
The Wizard of Ads - The brilliant compilation of eZine articles was the first of three books in the series by Roy Williams, and the foundation for his 3-day Wizard Academy in Austin, Texas.
The InfoGuru Marketing Manual - The starting point for most of the customers and clients of Action Plan Marketing. Most people who take my workshops or Marketing Action Groups get this first.
Most of these are marketing-oriented examples off the top of my head, as that's the world I'm most familiar with. But if you look at your particular field, there are usually a few InfoGurus who are well known for some kind of flagship product.
I had been in business for 15 years before I launched my manual. Others take longer, some shorter. But however long it takes, it's a worthwhile goal to aspire to. It will give you leverage you can get no other way.
Your flagship product may be a book, an e-book, a workshop or training program. But it really has to be at the heart of the work you do and must have some passion behind it.
I once worked with a woman who had spent a year writing a book but who really didn't want to work with clients in that area. In other words, her flagship sank! There was nowhere she could sail it to leverage her own business.
Coming up with a new concept takes some time and creativity, but it's certainly worth the effort. Coining the word "InfoGuru" seemed like a gamble at the time (one of those titles that came to me in the shower) but I think it's better than many books or e-books that are completely generic and therefore unmemorable.
Not only has the manual served my business well in terms of being a foundation for all my products and programs, it has earned me substantial income over the past five years. A flagship product can create real marketing momentum.
Oh, here's another one:
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray. This wildly successful book on relationships was the first of many other Mars-Venus Books. In fact, every book John now writes contains that flagship identity. I'm waiting for "Marketing Secrets of Mars and Venus." I'll get that one!
What's your flagship product going to be?
*
The More Clients Bottom Line: The time to start working on a flagship product or service is NOW! It will make a huge long-term impact on your business. Find a way of developing something that stands out from everything else and you're on your way.
Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing
Helping Independent Professionals Attract More Clients
http://www.actionplan.com
ISBN: 9780671868918 | Format: Paperback | Publisher Pocket Books
In a world where the negative occurs by default, programming one's mind with a positive antidote is necessary on a regular basis. Books such as this will help you obtain that needed mental nourishment.
Thousands of studies have shown how much stress affects your emotions and health - and how reducing stress can have an incredibly powerful effect on your daily life. The mindset you set up for yourself each day can literally make you more healthy - and keep you that way.
This is where Norman Vincent Peale's book comes in.
Norman Vincent Peale's philosophy of positive thinking has had an unprecedented influence on millions of people throughout the world. Now, the wisdom of nine books -- including The Power of Positive Thinking -- can be found within these pages.
“I look at this GREAT little book every single day. Why? Each page has date. And below each date there is a short, highly meaningful quotation from Norman Vincent Peale that helps me keep my perspective.”
Timeless in their message, invaluable in the course of daily life, Dr. Peale's classic books provide inspiration when you most need it and lead the way to a fuller, happier, more satisfying life.
“These short but potent quotes are like a shot of psychological and spiritual Vitamin C.”
‘For example, here's one. "For the next twenty-four hours, deliberately speak hopefully about everything, about your job, about your children's marks in school, about your health, and about your future." Isn't that an amazing thought - that it might be a challenge to be hopeful, just for 24 hours? If you were actively hopeful, what kind of beneficial ripple effects might that have on others around you? It could literally make your entire environment incrementally better.’
With a new introduction by Dr. Peale, Positive Thinking Every Day will help make your every day the best it can possibly be.
Buy the book (and postage is free) ...R.R.P. = AU $16.99 Our Price $14.99
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A field guide to the twenty-first century, written by one of its most celebrated observers.
In his most ambitious work to date, Thomas L. Friedman shows that we have entered an age of dizzying acceleration--and explains how to live in it.
We all sense it―something big is going on. You feel it in your workplace. You feel it when you talk to your kids. You can’t miss it when you read the newspapers or watch the news. Our lives are being transformed in so many realms all at once―and it is dizzying.
In Thank You for Being Late, a work unlike anything he has attempted before, Thomas L. Friedman exposes the tectonic movements that are reshaping the world today and explains how to get the most out of them and cushion their worst impacts.
You will never look at the world the same way again after you read this book: how you understand the news, the work you do, the education your kids need, the investments your employer has to make, and the moral and geopolitical choices our country has to navigate will all be refashioned by Friedman’s original analysis.
Friedman begins by taking us into his own way of looking at the world―how he writes a column. After a quick tutorial, he proceeds to write what could only be called a giant column about the twenty-first century.
His thesis: to understand the twenty-first century, you need to understand that the planet’s three largest forces―Moore’s law (technology), the Market (globalization), and Mother Nature (climate change and biodiversity loss)―are accelerating all at once.
Due to an exponential increase in computing power, climbers atop Mount Everest enjoy excellent cell-phone service and self-driving cars are taking to the roads.
A parallel explosion of economic interdependency has created new riches as well as spiraling debt burdens.
Meanwhile, Mother Nature is also seeing dramatic changes as carbon levels rise and species go extinct, with compounding results.
How do these changes interact, and how can we cope with them?
These accelerations are transforming five key realms: the workplace, politics, geopolitics, ethics, and community.
To get a better purchase on the present, Friedman returns to his Minnesota childhood and sketches a world where politics worked and joining the middle class was an achievable goal.
Today, by contrast, it is easier than ever to be a maker (try 3-D printing) or a breaker (the Islamic State excels at using Twitter), but harder than ever to be a leader or merely "average."
Friedman concludes that nations and individuals must learn to be fast (innovative and quick to adapt), fair (prepared to help the casualties of change), and slow (adept at shutting out the noise and accessing their deepest values), and he explores how communities can create a “topsoil of trust” to anchor their increasingly diverse and digital populations.
With vitality, wit, and optimism, Friedman shows that we can overcome the multiple stresses of an age of accelerations―if we slow down, if we dare to be late and use the time to reimagine work, politics, and community. Thank You for Being Late is Friedman’s most ambitious book―and an essential guide to the present and the future.
The book is available from The Book Depository and Amazon
