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Critical Skill 10: The 4 Keeper Traits of Productivity — Are YOU the New Killer App?

Filed Under Inside-Out Thinking, Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | 7 Comments

Think and DO!!

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Are you guilty of having too many ideas?
Do people run when you get a brilliant thought?
Been there. The Internet and the innovative offline world are bursting with what ifs and how abouts.

BUT . . .
ideas vaporize when all we do is think about them.

We need to DO something with ideas to make something happen.

The 4 Keeper Traits of Productivity

In this series, I’ve laid out critical thinking skills important to success in a world of thinkers. Each is a way of using our minds to work with information and ideas to solve problems and move actions forward. The first nine skills aren’t much without the ability to manage and to apply them.

Productivity gets noticed because it produces results.

Various Language Products Written or Managed by Liz Strauss

Self-sustaining productivity gets noticed.

Whether it’s millions of books made especially for kids or it’s millions of kids who learned to read, because teachers cared that they did.

Results are the point. What good is all of this critical thinking without something to show for it?

Self-sustaining productivity has four keeper traits.

They all begin with C.

  • Commitment. Keep believing in your goal. Self-sustaining productivity demands that we stick to plan even when something shiny looks attractive right now. Commitment brings our priorities into focus when we’re distracted.
  • Competence. Keep training to achieve it. Without high-end abilities, skills, and experience, it’s hard to produce high-end results. Things move more quickly and with fewer problems when we’re geared for the challenge. It’s hard to be productive, if we don’t know what we’re doing.
  • Consistency. Keep your standard high. Self-sustainining productivity relies on effective and efficient performance.
  • Credibility. Keep your promises. We’re most productive when do what we say we will. Credibility is the trust and confidence that inspires people to help.

Self-sustaining productivity is confidence in relationships on the street, in the workshop, and in the boardroom. It’s confidence in ourselves and confidence that others invest in us.

I wrote this paragraph in the introduction to this series.

Intellectual property–content–is an asset that not only gets produced, but reproduced, reconfigured, and repurposed for variety of media. Those who produce intellectual property are builders of wealth. An original idea that solves a problem or presents an opportunity is worth more now than it ever has been. Those who develop and mold original ideas are the new “killer app.”

Be social. Network all you can. But don’t neglect the time to stretch your mind.

What are you doing to think ideas, solve problems, and make new realities?

Yeah, you. Can you be. . . will you be . . . are you the new killer app?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
The 10 Skills Most Critical to Your Future
Finding Ideas Outside the Box
Personal Branding: Strengths Assessment Tool
Brand YOU–What’s the BIG IDEA?

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SOBCon08: Badges, Subscriptions, Thank yous, and Biz School Mastermind Program

Filed Under Inside-Out Thinking, SOB Business, Successful Blog | 6 Comments

So Long 08, Here Comes 09!!

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Now that I have a moment to reflect, I’m overwhelmed by the people who contributed to make SOBCon08, Biz School for Bloggers, the first of it’s kind. Not every moment came off without a hitch, but we were all on the same side of the table, pulling the same direction. How cool is that?!!

This weekend we’ll have finished going through the email lists and sponsor subscription offers so that we can send out the codes for you to sign up for pro accounts next week to those who attended. That email will include other news so watch for it.

Meanwhile I wanted to share a few badges with you to say “Thanks for the memories.” Feel free to “steal” one for your blog. I’ll be putting them in the SOBCon blog sidebar as well.

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The Thank Yous

Thank you to the speakers who brought what they know without holding back. The content offer was 10 to the 23rd power higher than the price of admission. You all did that.

Thank you to our generous sponsors and partners.

And, of course, THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE ATTENDEES who’s ideas and participation really made the event what it was.

Introducing the Models and MasterMinds Group

Models and Masterminds

For those who couldn’t attend and for those who would like to extend the experience, I’m forming a limited mastermind group. The mastermind group program will cover the SOBCon08, Biz School for Bloggers, content in depth and extend it in detail to fit your business. This is an opportunity to learn solid business models, make an immediately actionable plan, and form deep networking relationships with a support group that will help you move your business forward.

The first Biz School for Bloggers mastermind group of five starts June 16. Other projects limit the space I can offer. Email me now if you want to participate –> lizsun2 at gmail.com.

Watch for other offers.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Focus your business like never before. Join the MasterMind Program with Liz!!

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10 Advantages of Being A Beginner in a Blogger’s World

Filed Under Basics, Inside-Out Thinking, Successful Blog | 17 Comments

I Feel So Lucky!

Girl watching

We’ve all had the experience of not knowing how to do something. From the first day of school to the first day of work to our first try at almost anything, the experience of a new challenge can be joyful, exciting, and intimidating.

We like to know things. We like to learn things, but we don’t always like folks watching us learning.

That’s the special appeal of blogging.

The Advantages of Being a Beginner in a Blogger’s World

When I came to my first blog as a beginner, I found an realm of amazing people who made the way easier and more meaningful. They offered their shoulders to stand on as they shared their experience. I can’t help but recognize all I’ve learned in this Blogger’s World.

Some folks want to be an expert blogger. Me? The longer I’m here, the more I want to stay a beginner, for these and a bunch more reasons.

  1. Bloggers love beginners. We all remember our first blog post.

  2. Bloggers are connectors — link love is the culture. Beginners meet a friend and find a community.

  3. Bloggers are explorers or we wouldn’t be here. Beginners can find help to explore anything.

  4. Bloggers are generous and helpful people. Bloggers love to share their discoveries with beginners.

  5. As a beginner, I can try to blog about almost anything.

  6. The beginner in me can talk to bloggers who are as passionate as I am — even what I’m just trying.

  7. Every blogger knows something I don’t — it’s an endless opportunity for a beginner’s mind.

  8. Blogging is more fun when it’s about what I’m learning, not about what I know.

  9. Beginners get comments from people who see and know more. Every comment connects us and offers a new way to see the world.

  10. Beginners don’t look to be the best of all — today I want to be better than yesterday.

Thinking, writing, having ideas and talking about them has been a wonder. Making relationships and connections has made my life richer. I’m a better writer, listener and marketer. Most of all being here has made me a better person. I want to stay a beginner. New beginnings are exciting.

Have you thought about staying a beginner?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Register now!

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Getting Unstuck: Clear Thoughts During Chaos

Filed Under Inside-Out Thinking, Successful Blog | 9 Comments

Stop, Look, Listen

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Ever felt like your life is about weaving a fabric and events seem to keep unraveling what you just made? To me, that’s the definition of being overwhelmed. The chaos of too much to do in too little time can get us in a frenzy of reacting, rather than being in control.

What to do first is the decision we’re after. Sometimes we decide. Then we decide again.

Later hindsight tells what the decisions should have been. Why is hindsight better?

At times of chaos, we’re off balance. We get stuck in our heads. Our heads and our experience try to interrupt, but they’re more noise in the middle of too much. When the situation is over, hindsight brings all three together to look at what we did. Decisions are clearer when we calmly bring all of ourselves to them.

Getting Unstuck: Clear Thoughts During Chaos

One way to bring calm to chaos is simply getting out of where we’re stuck. I learned this from No Enemies Within, a book by Dawna Markova. (It’s unfortunately out of print. Still if you can find a copy I highly recommend it.)

  • Put the problem, issue, or overwhelming pile of work out of your mind.
  • Get in touch with where you are on the planet. Think about who you are, the geographic location you’re in, the people in your life.
  • If you can move to a place where you can see things not made by people, such as trees and sky, go there. This step is optional, but it adds immeasurably if you can make it happen.
  • Check in with all of your senses in a deliberate way. Take a few minutes to record mentally what each sense is picking up. Go through them one by one exhausting the possible options to fill in each blank.
    • Right now, I can see _____. (the window I’m looking out, the sky, the lake, the harbor, the empty docks, the lights, the trees, the water moving . . .)
    • At this moment, I feel _____. (my feet on the floor, my jeans on my legs, the softness of my sweater, the hair on my face . . . )
    • I can hear _____ . (the cars on the road below, I can hear the blower on the a/c, I can hear, the noise of the chair as I shift my weight . . . )
    • I can taste or almost taste _____. (the coffee I’m drinking, I can almost taste the lake air . . . )
    • I smell _____. (the flowers on the table, the coffee . . . )

    Be sure to consider and explore each of your senses until you’ve really gotten fully back into yourself.

Getting in touch with who we are, where we are, what we’re physically doing gets us back in balance. Stress lifts. Anxiety is relieved by perspective. Noise becomes information or fades away. We’re no longer stuck in one angular view. Empirical data centers us in the universe and in ourselves. We bring a sense of ourselves to sorting chaos . . . head, heart, and purpose focused together.

How do you still yourself so that you can move forward?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!! SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Register now!

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Get Unambiguous and Get More Customers

Filed Under Inside-Out Thinking, Successful Blog | 7 Comments

“Give Me Ambiguity or Give Me Something Else!!”

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A client comes to you with a problem. The person you meet is your perfect “work soulmate,” but for some reason you don’t get the job. Why is that?

Could it be that you’re ambiguous?

When it comes to hiring people, we want to know exactly who they and what they promise unequivocally. We also want to know what they won’t do.

That’s why it’s critical when someone says, “What do you do?” You have a strong and interesting answer that invites them in to ask you more.

I say, “I help companies and individuals develop irresistible offers (products/services) that attract customers.”

Shama Heyder says, “I help service professionals built a long-term plan to get more clients.”

Chris Brogan says, “I use social media and technology to show businesses, organizations, and individuals how to build authentic conversations between coworkers, customers, and even competitors.”

Do we all do more than that? Of course we do, but we’re umambiguous about where our focus is. People know who to go to for which thing.

Get Unambiguous and Get More Customers

Here are some ways to get you closer to unambiguous.

  • Choose the client you want to work with most. We can’t work with everyone. Not everyone is a good fit with our skill set or our personalities. The time we spend trying to make a bad match work good be better invested in finding a great client. choose group that talks to each other and can afford to pay you.
  • Think about what you do well and why you like doing it. What skills do people often ask you to help them with? What have people already paid you for? Those are a place to start.
  • Make a list of what exactly you can do. Assign that list a monetary value.
  • Prepare a story to explain how what you do it takes a continuing problem off the desk of your chosen client group. Explain how you can do the work easier, more efficiently, in less time, and still make them look like a hero.
  • Stick to the list for a month or two. Talk to the folks who can use the service you’ve outlined about their goals. When you hear a way you might help, tell them what you offer.

Do the above steps and suddenly, you’ll not only know what you do. But you’ll also know what you don’t do too. You’ll feel unambiguous.

It’s much more fun to know who we are and sitting across the table with something to offer.

How might you get on the road to unambiguous today?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Register now!

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