Tag: melon motivating

Study ordinary things intently

All creativity begins with curiosity.

About how things work.
About how things could work BETTER.
About why things are the way they are.
About why people do things they way they do.

But don’t MY word for it. Let’s hear what three of the world’s most notable creativity gurus had to say about the value of curiosity…

1. Leonardo Davinci. He called it curiosita, defined as, “An insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning.”

“The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding,” Davinci remarked. “Therefore, be always curious and observant.”

2. Edward DeBono. He encourages people to embrace curiosity by constantly saying, “Now that’s interesting…”

“Be able to find interest in almost anything,” DeBono says in How to Have a Beautiful Mind. “Be curious. Explore things. Bring up a discussion. Get people’s opinions, ideas and values. Explore, elaborate and make connections.”

3. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. He reminds us to fascinate ourselves with the ordinary.

“Evaluate critically every novelty you encounter,” he wrote in his book Creativity. “One of the surest ways to enrich life is to make experiences less fleeting.”

LESSON LEARNED: study ordinary things intently.

When you can learn to do this – every single day – three things will happen:

You will BOOST your creativity.
You will FLOOD your mind with new ideas.
You will BUILD a solid foundation of curiosity.

And the combination of those three results will mold your melon into an attractive, valuable commodity that your clients will want to access to.

See, clients don’t want to hire consultants or marketers or coaches – they want to hire cool, smart people who happen to do those things.

So, if you want to use curiosity to attract more ideas (and more clients!), follow this four-step game plan:

1. NOTICE. On a daily basis, take the time to stop what you’re doing and say things like, “Huh. That’s weird,” or “Now that’s interesting…”

2. EXPLORE. Study ordinary things intently. Then, start a dialogue. Ask other people questions like, “So, why do you think she said that?” “Hey, did you guys notice that?” and “It would be interesting to see if…”

3. RECORD. Remember, if you don’t write it down, it never happened! So, consider keeping a Curiosity Journal. Make daily entries about things you noticed and what you learned from them.

4. EXPAND. Continue to learn, ask and research these new ideas you’re curious about. Constantly run them through your personal filter of expertise by asking, “How does this fit into my picture of the universe?”

With these four steps, your curiosity will become a weapon!

Both for you AND the customers you serve.

Now … isn’t that interesting?

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What ordinary thing have you recently studied intently?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
Share your observations here!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag

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If so, perhaps I could help on a more personal, one-on-one basis.

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You don’t need lessons, pt. 2

(Read part one of this series here!)

Vincent Van Gough took ONE art class during his entire life.

The rest was self-taught.

Pretty shocking, huh?

Similarly, many notable innovators have agreed that lessons weren’t critical to the successful execution of their ideas.

Take Edison, for example.

He went to school for only three months. His teacher thought he couldn’t learn because he had a mental problem!

From that day forth, Edison realized, everything he needed to know about science would be learned from reading books and tinkering with chemicals and telegraph equipment.

Lessons, shmessons!

Now, I don’t mean to reduce the value of having a solid foundation in your area of study. Inventors, innovators, artists and entrepreneurs still need to be brilliant at the basics.

The challenge is to maintain balance.

I like what pacemaker inventor Wilson Greatbatch said:

“I don’t think the problem is too much training. The problem occurs when your training is too narrow and you get yourself on a rigid path of thinking and lose flexibility. Me? I got a masters degree, but the rest was osmosis.”

I also like what Apple founder/creator Steve Wozniak said:

“Teachers were largely a negative influence on me. I read very widely when I was a small kid, and that had the greatest influence on me. We live in a culture that makes it difficult for creativity to express itself properly. I believe in life long learning and self-education. After all, if you could solve all problems with textbooks, there wouldn’t be any real invention.”

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How do you balance lessons and being self-taught?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
You don’t need lessons. Just go.

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag

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Detach from outcomes

When you’re writing…
When you’re creating art…
When you’re brainstorming…

REMEMBER THREE WORDS: detach from outcomes.

For five reasons:

1. When you detach from outcomes, you relax more.
2. When you detach from outcomes, you lower your guard.
3. When you detach from outcomes, you lower other people’s guards.
4. When you detach from outcomes, you produce better quality work.
5. When you detach from outcomes, you lower the stakes and raise the results.

Author and creativity guru Mihály Csíkszentmihályi encourages the same.

He teaches artists, inventors and entrepreneurs to practice something called flow.

“What keeps you motivated is the quality of the experience you feel when you are involved with the activity. Enjoy the process of creation for its own sake.”

What’s more, Csíkszentmihályi’s idea of “flow” describes a person who is autotelic, not exotelic.

o Autotelic means there is there is no reason for doing something except to feel the experience it provides.

o Exotelic means people do things not because they enjoy them, but rather to accomplish a later goal.

So, if you want to produce better quality creative material, strive to be more autotelic.

Love the work more than what it produces.

See, it’s REALLY easy to create for the wrong reasons.

Money. Fame. Ego. Power. Self-validation. Approval.

All are outcomes.

Which doesn’t mean they’re bad things!

They just suggest that your creative process is results-based, not process-based.

SO, HERE’S YOUR CHALLENGE: focus on process, not product.

Verbs, not nouns.
Pursuit, not attainment.
Journey, not destination.

Don’t do it all for the nookie.

Do it because you love doing it.

Detach from outcomes.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Why do you create?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
Share your best technique for detaching from outcomes here!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag

Are you a friend of The Nametag Network?

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13 Steps to Entertaining an Idea

Ideas are your major source of income.

As such, you need to become a MASTER of entertaining those ideas.

Aristotle once said, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

Note the distinction.

He’s talking about being objective.

Being open. Brainstorming. Considering the possibility that an idea MIGHT be good.

Or, that it might suck.
You won’t know until you entertain it.

So, whether you’re working on a new product, a new business or a new piece of writing, you need a system.

Here’s the Content Management System I’ve been using for years. Feel free to adapt it to your own creative process…

How to Entertain an Idea
1. Write it down. Start a new blank document. Put your idea – or the key point of your idea – at the top of the page.

2. Save. Make this phrase your file name. Save it in a folder called “Ideas,” “Brainstorms” or “Modules.”
3. Start with a List. Write a bullet-point list of everything you know, every question you have and every example you can think of that relates to your idea. Dump your brain until you have nothing left. (This could take five minutes or two hours.) Don’t worry about spelling, grammar or order. Order comes later.

4. Search. Spend a few minutes on Google. Find out what else has been thought, written and said about your idea. Check out blogs, articles, and Wikipedia for verification. Also, hop on Amazon to see if any books have been written specifically about your idea.

5. Gather. Take the facts, statistics, quotations and related information that support your idea and add it to your list. Still keep your document as a list. Don’t organize anything just yet.

6. Stop. Now would be a good time to take a five-minute break. Go work on something totally unrelated to your new idea. This will help you return to the task at hand with an objective perspective.

7. Organize. When you return to your idea, re-read your list. Edit, delete, add to and modify any points that need clarification. Trim the fat and only keep the best material that supports your idea.
8. Filter. OK, now it’s time to bring ideas from one field of knowledge into another field of knowledge. Ask yourself the following Filtering Questions:

*How does this idea fit into my picture of the universe?
*What does this idea have to do with me?
*How does this idea relate to my expertise?

9. Stretch. Expand on specific points as they relate to your expertise. Think about past experiences that would be make good support material.

10. Organize. Break up the list into logical groups. Rearrange key ideas and points together.
11. Edit again. Repeat your editing process.

12. Evaluate. Ask yourself if this is a good idea or not. Decide whether you want to move from “entertaining” to “accepting.” Solicit feedback when necessary.

And, the final step…

13. Leverage. Sell that idea for millions of dollars.

Good luck!

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How do you entertain an idea?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
Share your creative process here!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag

Are you a friend of The Nametag Network?

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23 (more) ways to speed up your learning curve

It doesn’t matter how young you are.

It doesn’t matter how inexperienced you are.

You can still learn a LOT at a young age.

Because, as Indiana Jones said, “It’s not the years; it’s the mileage.”

If you want to rack up your “Melon Mileage,” consider these 23 ideas. I’ve been living and working by them for years:

1. Read lots of books. Highlight, underline, take notes and annotate. When you’re done, recopy those notes onto a Word file. Then save them in a folder called “Book Notes.” Refer back to them regularly. And never loan those books to anybody. Start with one book per week.

2. Google everything. Ideas, people, YOURSELF, information, companies, competitors, trends and the like. Do it daily.

3. Ask smart people smart questions. In person, via email, online and ESPECIALLY when you’re in the audience during a speech. Have a handful of smart, open-ended toughies ready to go for any occasion. My favorite example: “What was the biggest mistake you made in your first year of business?”

4. Take notes. Listen closely to (and write down) those smart people’s answers. Keep those ideas in a separate folder called “People Notes.” Refer back to them regularly.

5. Screw up. Big time and small time. Keep a running list called, “Things I’ll Never Do Again.” Consider partnering up for this exercise. Regularly share your list with a safe, accountable person.
6. Daily appointments with yourself. Take this morning time for reflection, journaling, meditation and thinking. This quiet time will help you listen to your intuition, which will enable you to learn more about yourself. Do it for at least 15 minutes, and do it ever-single-day.

7. Be uncomfortable. Understand, step out of, expand and LOVE your comfort zone. Daily. Because you can’t learn when you’re comfortable. Also, ask yourself, “What three situations make me the most uncomfortable?” Make it your goal to intentionally involve yourself in ONE of those situations over the next 30 days. (As long as it’s safe, legal and appropriate.)

8. WRITE. Chronicle, journal, blog, diary, (whatever … just WRITE) your thoughts, experiences, feelings, emotions, philosophies and concerns. Daily.
9. Just do stuff. Don’t talk about it. Don’t plan. Don’t take lessons. Just go. The best way to learn how to do something is to DO that something. Action is eloquence.

10. Make lots of lists. Best creativity tool EVER.

11. Eclectic education. Once a month, go to Borders. Buy a cup of coffee or a brownie. Spend an hour or two reading every magazine on the rack. Especially ones you wouldn’t normally read, i.e., Tiger Beat.

12. Hang with super smart, cool and creative people. Ask yourself, “How smart are the five people I spend the most time with?”

13. Find out where you suck. Because that’s the only way you’re going to get better.
14. Learn how you learn. Visual? Aural? Kinesthetic? Take a personality assessment if you have to. Anything to identify your learning style. This will help you better educate yourself in the future.

15. Mentors. Three types. Directly, through an official program like SCORE. Casual, with a colleague, friend or advisor. And indirectly, via books, audiotapes and online content. Mentors are GOLD. And don’t forget to take lots of notes!

16. Motivate your melon. How many books on creativity did you read last month? How many courses in creativity did you take last year? Train your brain. Daily.

17. Grill yourself. Pretend you’re on an interview. Ask yourself tricky questions like, “Who can hurt me the most?” and “If everybody did exactly what I said, what would the world look like?” REMEMBER: questions are the basis of all learning.
18. Bedtime Brain Boosting. Keep a stack of index cards and a Sharpie next to your bed. Every night before you hit the hay, think of ONE lesson you learned that day. Jot down a few words on the card. Keep them in a pile. Then, once a month, lie in bed with all your lesson cards. Take a few minutes to review everything you’ve learned.

19. Quotations. Any time you hear a great quotation, movie line, proverb, psalm or old saying, write it down. Keep a running list called “Quotations” and file it in a folder next to your “Book Notes” and “People Notes.”

20. Teach. Other that writing, teaching is probably the best way to learn. Share your notes, ideas and lessons learned with others. When you pass your wisdom on, you learn it better yourself. Teach via writing, blogging, speaking, talking or mentoring.

21. Talk. Conversations are laboratories. People are libraries. So, exponentially increate your activity level. Especially with diverse individuals. And maintain an expectation that you will learn at least ONE thing from every person you encounter.

22. Unlearn. Make a list of ten childhood assumptions taught by your parents, teachers and faith leaders … that ended up being totally bogus. Use affirmations and self-talk to reprogram yourself. REMEMBER: part of learning is also UN-learning.

23. Extract. Lessons from others, that is. For example, any time someone tells a story, follow up by asking, “So, what lessons did you learn from that experience?”

Now.

You probably noticed a few commonalities among the items on that list.

Namely, “writing” and “daily.”

Guilty.

That’s because writing is the basis of all wealth. (Gitomer)

And that’s because you can’t change your life until you change something you do daily. (Maxwell)

SO REMEMBER:

It doesn’t matter how young you are.
It doesn’t matter how inexperienced you are.

All that matters is that you’re willing to learn.

And if you follow even a handful of these suggestions, in no time you’ll start hearing people say, “How did you learn so much at such a young age?”

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How did YOU learn so much?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
Share your list of secrets here!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag

Are you a friend of The Nametag Network?

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10 Critical Components of Creative Environments

Creative professionals MUST exist in a creative environment.

Here’s why:

1. A creative environment provides stimulation.
2. Stimulation creates, expands and refines ideas.
3. Ideas are your major source of income.

Not to mention, the place where you spend the majority of your time needs to be enjoyable!

If you’re looking to motivate your melon, here are 10 Critical Components of Creative Environments:

1. Appeal to your eyes. Multi-sensory stimuli stimulate more ideas. Cover your walls with beautiful art. Include visual representations of your goals, ideas, motivational words on sticky notes, past work you’re proud of, fan mail and other positive images. Blank walls are the enemy!

2. Appeal to your ears. Crank some tunes. Set the ambiance of your room or studio with the right music. Consider creating your own playlist or mix for certain times during the day, projects or moods. Music sets moods.

3. Appeal to your nose. Light candles, incense or other pleasant smelling tools. Smells, fragrance and aromas also have a direct influence on mood. Follow your nose!

4. Appeal to your mouth. Just as long as it isn’t pure sugar or starch. Stick with protein. And don’t eat too much of it, either. Creativity expert Doug Hall says, “When the body is stuffed with grub, your body is spending too much time and energy processing food and your brain in shortchanged.” Carbs are the enemy.

5. Colors. Use pink and orange sticky notes. Buy the Sharpie 36 pack. Collect ideas and information on multi-colored note cards. Colors stimulate creativity.

6. (Dis) Order. It doesn’t have to be spotless, but sometimes disorder can be helpful. Be chaotically tidy.

7. Lose the clocks. Don’t let time impose limits on your creativity. Make it easy to get lost in your ideas. Get lost in your art.

8. Insulation. No, you don’t need to soundproof your walls. But try to avoid working near distracting noise. Wear headphones all day if you have to do! Just be sure you can easily get into your zone. Get lost in your art … seriously.

9. Natural Beauty. Be sure you have quick access to some sort of natural beauty, be it plant life or sunshine. Mother nature is a great artist companion!

10. Toys. Or, anything you can play with on your break to motivate your melon.

NOTE: if you’re not one to be cooped up in a studio or office all day, no worries!

You just need to figure out where your brain thrives.

Make a list of five alternate environments for your creative success. Perhaps your art is more conducive to the park, the bus station or sitting in a public square. If so, great! Experiment by displacing yourself regularly.

Once you’ve narrowed your list down to a few options, visit them regularly. Learn to incorporate various components of creative stimulation into your “portable creative environment.”

That way you can thrive anywhere!

Whatever type of creative environment you choose to create, remember one thing: make it yours.

Customize your surroundings to best fit your learning style, creative abilities and work schedule.

And you WILL motivate your melon!

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What’s your ideal creative environment?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
Interview five other creative professionals like yourself. Find out how they motivate their melons!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag

Are you a friend of The Nametag Network?

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ALL YE WHO ENTER BEWARE!

You’re a creative professional.

That means you make a living off of your ideas.

SO, HERE’S THE BIG QUESTION: how do you deal with people stealing your material?

Tough issue. Has been for a long time.

Plagiarism comes from the Latin plagiare, meaning, “to kidnap.”

It’s defined as “the practice of claiming, or implying, original authorship or incorporating material from someone else’s written or creative work, in whole or in part, into one’s own without adequate acknowledgment.” (From Wikipedia.)

Because idea piracy is such a big issue, here’s a list of seven potential solutions to deal with it:

1. Take legal action. This is an expensive, frustrating and timely pursuit. However, it could pay off in a BIG way if you win. Not to mention, become a deterrent for future offenders. HINT: ask more experienced creative professionals (or lawyers) if you have a case first.

2. Catch it early. You can’t control your online image. You can only monitor and participate IN it. That’s where Google Alerts come in handy. And if you’re tracking the right search terms, you’ll be the first to know when someone is stealing your material. Do you know every time someone is talking about you?

3. Kill ‘em with friendliness. Sometimes “stealing” and “using” isn’t the same thing. Still, it’s your job to find out. For example, last year my Google Alerts informed me that someone WAS using one of my taglines. So, I found they guy’s email, dropped him a line and cordially asked him to stop using my registered trademark. He was totally respectful and apologetic. He had no idea! So, if this happens to you, be friendly first. No need to get nasty or defensive.

4. Karma. Be honest with yourself: have YOU ever stolen someone else’s material? Just something to think about.

5. Protect thy content. On your blog or website, include a piracy notice or reprint policy. Tell visitors they are welcome to use your material if they:

a. Email you to ask for permission
b. Give you full credit with your specified BIO
c. Send you a copy or a link for the inclusion

Most people will respect this, especially if you drop Creative Commons on them.

REMEMBER: people respond to policies.

6. Validate. OK, let’s say someone DOES steal your material. Ask yourself three questions:

a. Will this person’s dishonesty, unoriginality and lack of creativity cause their execution of the idea to fizzle anyway?
b.Is this SUCH a minor incident that I shouldn’t even bother worrying about?
c. Is there really anything I can even do about it?

REMEMBER: Lincoln said, “You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.” Eventually, most thieves get caught.

7. Let it go. The nature of the Internet makes it VERY easy for people to steal material. The question is: how concerned are you?

Creativity Guru Lee Silber says, “Very few people have the intent, ability, follow-through or malice to steal your ideas. Don’t let this fear hold you back. Do what you can to protect yourself and your ideas, and then go out and spread the word.”

So, this isn’t about naivety, this is about reality. Is it really worth losing z’s about? And is it a problem or a predicament?

Those seven approaches notwithstanding, here’s my answer to the idea-stealing issue

The best way to block a punch … no be there.

Those were the words of Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid II.

IN OTHER WORDS: if you don’t want people stealing your material and using your ideas, make them unstealable.

Create and position your material in a manner that is SO unique to you, your brand and your voice … that nobody COULD steal it.

And if they did, people would know it.

That’s what I would do.

Ultimately, whichever approach you choose, just know this: idea piracy DOES happen.

Your challenge as a creative professional is to create a plan that effectively and efficiently deals with it when it does.

And, if you’re one of those unfortunate artists who DOES get her ideas kidnapped, remember this old scripture: (I learned this from my high school English teacher)

“And let us not be wearing in well doing: for in due season we shall reap a harvest if we faint not.”

Because at the end of the creative day…

People who steal ideas are cowards.
People who steal ideas are unoriginal.
People who steal ideas are uncreative.
People who steal ideas are going to get caught.
People who steal ideas are not going to sustain themselves.

So, don’t let it get you down. Piracy is flattery.

After all, if your idea was so good that somebody wanted to steal it, maybe that should tell you something 😉

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How do you prevent and/or deal with idea pirates?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
Share your best piracy story here, along with how you handled it.

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag

Are you a friend of The Nametag Network?

Read more blogs!
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How absurdities become antidotes

Every day when I slap a new nametag on my shirt, I remind myself of what Einstein once said:

“If at first your idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it.”

FACT: Einstein’s greatest scientific discovery sparked from a mental picture he had when he was 16 years old.

One day, while taking a walk, Albert envisioned himself riding atop of beam of light into outer space, traveling at 299,792,458 meters per second.

That ridiculous image helped him better understand accelerated motion.

Which helped him create the Theory of Relativity.
Which changed the world of science forever.
Which earned him the Noble Prize.
Which made him pretty much the smartest dude of all time.

All because of a totally ridiculous, totally humorous image.

Now, I’m not trying to compare myself to Einstein.

Still…

LESSON LEARNED: absurdities become antidotes.

In the book How to Think Like Einstein, author Scott Thorpe explains how this principle of melon motivating works:

“A brain has a mechanism that is the mental equivalent of an immune system – it rejects ideas that are foreign to it. But humor suppresses your mental immune system. So, if you treat a new idea humorously, you will be able to explore it more thoroughly because you wont immediately reject it. And your mind will be free to make other absurd connections with the seed idea, generating more concepts for solutions.”

How many crazy ideas have YOU had this week?

The answer is probably “not enough.”

ANOTHER FACT: as an entrepreneur, ideas are your major source of income.

So, a HUGE component of your professional success will be a function of three things:

1. How many of ideas you have.
2. How many ideas you write down.
3. How many ideas you put into action.

Wanna start thinking like Einstein and turn absurdities into antidotes?

Consider these three recommendations:

1. Observe. Grow bigger ears AND eyes any time someone says, “That’s funny,” “That’s weird,” “No way!” “Cool!” “You’re out of your mind!” or “Get the hell outta here!” This is your first indication that an absurdity might become an antidote.

2. Write it down. My three principles of idea capturing are always the same: 1) If you don’t write it down, it never happened; 2) That which goes unrecorded goes unmemorable; and 3) Writing is the basis of all wealth. So, just remember: every time you choose NOT to write your absurd idea down, you’re losing money.

3. Stick with it. Einstein once said, “I’m not smarter than anybody else, I just stick with it longer.” So, understand that your absurd ideas WILL be met with resistance – from coworkers, bosses, colleagues and competitors, even friends! And odds are, that resistance stems from jealousy, ignorance, fear, or some combination thereof. Which basically means, don’t sweat it. Instead, stick with it!

If you can remember those three keys, you’ll be certain to turn absurdities into antidotes!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go wash the adhesive gunk out of the upper left side of all my shirts.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Are you turning absurdities into antidotes?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
Think about your three craziest ideas, and what each of them led to. What commonalities do you observe?

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
www.hellomynameisscott.com

Are you the luckiest person you know?

Watch Scott’s interview on 20/20!

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What’s the potential value of a great idea?

Joey Reiman is the CEO of BrightHouse, an Atlanta-based “ideation corporation.”

According to this article in FastCompany, he likes to boast that his firm conducts “business at the speed of molasses.”

“You can’t hurry great ideas. I tell our clients that we’re the slowest company they’ll ever meet – AND the most expensive,” Reiman says.

“But you only have to see us once.”

And plenty of big-name companies (including Coca-Cola, the Home Depot, and Georgia-Pacific) like what they’ve seen.

HERE’S THE BEST PART: BrightHouse works with only one client at a time.

HERE’S THE SECOND BEST PART: BrightHouse charges $1,000,000 per project.

That’s a million dollars.

For one idea.

And if you think about it, that’s really not that much.

Take the new iPhone, for example.

According to this article in Reuters, Apple moved 700,000 units in the first weekend.

Multiply that by a $600 sale price.

Then factor in six more months left in 2007.

That’s a whole lot of revenue.

THE QUESTION IS: Do you think Steve jobs would have paid a million dollars for that idea?

Absolutely.

Because he’s the kind of guy who understands the potential value of a great idea.

Do you?

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Are you charging enough for your ideas?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
Think about the last expensive idea you paid for. Maybe you attended a seminar or bought a training kit. Consider the upfront cost vs. the amount of money you made over time as a result.

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
www.hellomynameisscott.com

Are you the luckiest person you know?

Watch Scott’s interview on 20/20!

add to del.icio.us * digg it! * email this post

How to read a book

Have you ever bought a book, read it, then threw it on your shelf and never thought about it again?

Yeah. Me too.

It’s OK. Everyone’s done it before.

SO, HERE’S THE CHALLENGE: how do you read a book … effectively?

ANSWER: by using three different pairs of eyes.

First, your Superficial Eyes.

They don’t require much. All you have to do is, um, read the book!

You don’t need to read every word.
You don’t need to devour every page.
You don’t need to understand every concept.

Just get the key ideas. Figure out the ONE thing the author is trying to get across to you. And when you’re done, think (and rethink) about how it applies to your life.

That’s it. Pretty cut and dry.

Second comes your Student Eyes.

They require more of you. Namely, learning how to become a better writer yourself.

Now, it’s possible you’re thinking, “Yeah, but I’m not a writer! Who cares?”

Wrong-o, Shakespeare! Everyone is a writer. Whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not. Writing is the basis of all wealth.

For that reason, use your Student Eyes to observe the author’s writing style, vocabulary, page structure, sentence variation, and of course, unique voice.

Then, think about your own writing style.

ASK YOURSELF: How could I make my writing more effective, persuasive and creative?

Pick out little things and trends you noticed from other authors and adapt them to your own writing.

NOTE: that doesn’t mean copy! That means be inspired by someone else’s unique style to develop one of your own.

Lastly, use your Creative Eyes.

They require the most out of you. See, while you’re reading, you also need to watch, listen, associate, brainstorm and create related ideas of your own.

For example, let’s say you read a book in which the author says something powerful like, “The future is your property.” (Dan Sullivan actually says that in his awesome new book.)

Here’s how to use your Creative Eyes to “pluck” this scenario:

1. Stop reading.
2. Highlight or underline the key passage.
3. Put the book down.
4. Make a list of all the reasons, examples, ideas and stories that come to mind when you apply that idea to your own life.
5. Save that document in its own folder.
6. Come back to it later and expand on what you read.

That’s called Plucking. And it only works with the help of your Creative Eyes.

HOW I KNOW THIS: I’ve been writing books, articles, speeches and training materials for about five years now. And I can attribute HUNDREDS of ideas, chapters, articles and modules these very three principles.

PROMISE: they WILL work for you! And if you to begin reading books with Superficial, Student AND Creative Eye, you’ll speed up your learning curve faster than you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Man, that really IS a long word.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How do you read books?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
Share your best techniques here!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
www.hellomynameisscott.com

Are you the luckiest person you know?

Watch Scott’s interview on 20/20!

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