Short-Term Memory

In this we are dealing particularly with short term memory.  Here is part of an article from McGill in Montreal that explains how short term memory functions.

In the course of a day, there are many times when you need to keep some piece of information in your head for just a few seconds. Maybe it is a number that you are “carrying over” to do a subtraction, or a persuasive argument that you are going to make as soon as the other person finishes talking. Either way, you are using your short-term memory.

In fact, those are two very good examples of why you usually hold information in your short-term memory: to accomplish something that you have planned to do. Perhaps the most extreme example of short-term memory is a chess master who can explore several possible solutions mentally before choosing the one that will lead to checkmate.

This ability to hold on to a piece of information temporarily in order to complete a task is specifically human. It causes certain regions of the brain to become very active, in particular the pre-frontal lobe.

The pre-frontal lobe is highly developed in humans. It is the reason that we have such high, upright foreheads, compared with the receding foreheads of our cousins the apes. It is no surprise that the part of the brain that seems most active during short term memory is located precisely in this prefrontal region that is well developed only in human beings.

Improving Your Memory

There are of course a number of ways in which you can improve your memory.  HelpGuide offers suggestions on  how to Improve Your Memory with Tips And Exercises To Sharpen Your Mind And Boost Brainpower

Their list includes the following:

• Don’t skimp on exercise or sleep
• Make time for friends and fun
• Keep stress in check
• Bulk up on brain-boosting foods
• Give your brain a workout - Use mnemonic devices to make memorization easier

There are some excellent suggestions in this detailed article.

Another source of Memory Improvement Techniques is MindTools.  They promise that using them will allow you to avoid frustrating memory loss.  You will be able to retain and recall more information.

Some Memories Work Better Than Others

The latest news is that some of us will never have memories that are as good as those of other people.  Recent research at Cambridge is now suggesting that our memory capability is set at our birth.

A structural variation in a part of the brain may explain why some people are better than others at distinguishing real events from those they might have imagined or been told about, researchers have found.

The University of Cambridge scientists found that normal variation in a fold at the front of the brain called the paracingulate sulcus (or PCS) might explain why some people are better than others at accurately remembering details of previous events -such as whether they or another person said something, or whether the event was imagined or actually occurred.  The research was published tin October 2011 in the Journal of Neuroscience.

This brain variation, which is present in roughly half of the normal population, is one of the last structural folds to develop before birth and for this reason varies greatly in size between individuals in the healthy population.  The researchers discovered that adults whose MRI scans indicated an absence of the PCS were significantly less accurate on memory tasks than people with a prominent PCS on at least one side of the brain.  Interestingly, all participants believed that they had a good memory despite one group’s memories being clearly less reliable.

Dr Jon Simons from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Experimental Psychology and Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, who led the research, said:

All those who took part were healthy adult volunteers with typical educational backgrounds and no reported history of cognitive difficulties.  The memory differences we observed were quite striking.  It is exciting to think that these individual differences in ability might have a basis in a simple brain folding variation.

This is indeed remarkable news and could be the reason why some memories are just not as good as others.

Post from: The Other Blokes Blog

How Good Is Your Memory

Technorati Tags: memory, pre-frontal lobe, retention

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In some ways it parallels a growing view in marketing circles, that you should be customer-centric to achieve selling success.  You must try to see things from the customer's point of view.  That is not always easy because customers may not always see things as you would like them to do. It is sometimes tough between human beings to be sure you fully understand the other's point of view.  Just imagine how much more difficult it is when trying to work with horses.

You could almost turn the title of this article into a mantra to help guide your actions if you work with horses.  See it from the horse’s point of view.  I know of at least two important people in the horse world who would be very comfortable with that mantra.

Mantras

According to Indian traditions, a mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation", according to Wikipedia.   By repeating your mantra from time to time during your day, the theory is that you will be transformed.

The simplest mantra is illustrated in the image at the right.  In sound terms it is pronounced Om or Aum and is probably very familiar to you.

The idea of using a mantra has been suggested in all sorts of of fields.  It may even improve your golf:

A Mantra for Your Mental Golf

At first, a mantra doesn't sound like something that could be helpful to your golf game, but the more I study and practice mental golf the more I realize the value of tools like this. In its basic form, a mantra is a sentence or phrase that is repeated verbally or mentally to help focus the mind on an idea.

In other words, a mantra is a very simple device to keep you focused and thinking along the right lines.

A Mantra For Design

When I was young growing up in the north-east of England, I remember traveling circuses would visit and set up their Big Top in the local park.  It was really exciting to see the circus horses as they moved at high speed around the circus ring with their death-defying riders performing incredible feats of horsemanship.  What could be more natural and exciting.

Here in Vancouver we have just been blessed with a visit by Cavalia, a really exciting show with horses and acrobats again performing mind blowing acts.  However surprisingly this is not done in a big top with a circus ring.  Normand Latourelle, the creator of Cavalia, is an enthusiast about horses for their beauty and power and the links that have been established between humans and horses over the centuries.  However at every step of the way in creating the setting for Cavalia, he is thinking of how it will appear from the horse’s point of view.

I first designed the stage, I wanted a place where the horse will have enough room to play, to run, in order to give a playground to the horse. So it is a stage that is 150 feet wide, the biggest touring stage, and it's 80 feet deep, which also is very big.

A Mantra for Horsemanship

That same mantra, See it from the horse’s point of view, could well be the tagline for a celebrated natural horseman here in Langley.  That is Jay O'Jay, who is also a director of Valley Therapeutic Equestrian Association.

That phrase implies a whole set of factors that are important in working with a horse.  It has some overlap with other concepts in phrases like Think Like Your Horse, but to my mind it goes much farther.

To understand the concepts involved, you could not do better than to see Jay O'Jay in  person at a clinic or visit his website.  Here we will just explore one or two aspects of this mantra.

The reason why you must See it from the horse’s point of view is that in some ways a horse is an alien creature.  The way its brain works is very different from the way a human brain works.  Only by trying to understand how that alien brain is working can we start out on a path to a relationship.

Establishing a relationship with a horse is in a way a most unlikely thing to do.  A human is a predator and a horse is a prey animal.  Lions and lambs rarely lie down together in real life.

Although you may have signed the legal papers and paid out money to become the owner of the horse, the horse knows nothing of that.  There's a deal of work to do before the horse will acknowledge that it is Your Horse.  If the relationship is built up in the right way, then your horse will respond to you with its whole mind, body and spirit.

Many new riders are excited to jump on a horse and start riding as quickly as possible.  This can be especially so with children whose parents are eager to see what their young offspring can do.  With a horse that has been well trained, they may achieve credible results.  However this is more by good luck than by good management.

At some point in time, the horse will refuse to do what is being asked.  Although forceful actions may cause the horse eventually to do what was needed, the horse is an unwilling partner in that relationship.  It will never deliver 100% of what it is capable of.  It is so much better to remember the mantra and see it from the horse’s point of view.

Post from: The Other Blokes Blog

See it from the horse’s point of view

Technorati Tags: Cavalia, horsemanship, Jay O'Jay

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Professional writers blog: that is my short and emphatic answer to the implied question in a guest post by Larry Brooks on the Problogger blog.  His cryptic title, as he described it was, Why Professional Writers Need a Blog. Or Not.  His article raised some interesting questions and on some of these I profoundly disagree with what he said.

What Is A Professional Writer?

To avoid any unnecessary debate over terms, we should clarify what we mean by a professional writer.  In my book it is someone who writes for an audience and enjoys a success in so doing.  Success can be measured in monetary terms or perhaps merely in the number of readers that the writer draws to his writings.  Some successful professional writers are so well known that anything they write will attract a large audience.  For them is the luxury of doing what ever comes naturally and the audience will be there.

Should Professional Writers Blog?

Leaving aside the highly visible and well-known writers, what is the answer to our question for the average professional writer who may be unknown to his first time readers.  Larry Brooks divided such writers into two groups and felt different rules applied.  His groups were

• Non-Fiction Professional Writers
• Fiction Writers

If we examine what a blog really does, I think you will see that really the same answer applies to both. 

Blogs Versus Websites

A blog is really one type of website so in fact the comparison here is between blogs and websites which are not blogs.  Non-blog websites contain static web pages and normally little new content is added from one period to another.

A blog on the other hand has continuing new content added on a time sequence basis.  Very often it has an associated news feed, which is a file that automatically alerts aggregators of news that a new item has been added.  This double-up visibility is one of the key reasons why blogs are much more effective in bringing in visitors to the online property.

Blogs Have Heightened Online Visibility

An even bigger leveraging factor on blog visibility is that Google, the dominant search engine, in some ways overvalues blog post web pages relative to static web pages.  Google does not make public why its behavior should be like this, but one element in this is that the Google search engine values recent new web pages above more established and older web pages, at least for a few days.

This means that if someone wishes to have an online presence, a blog is far superior to a regular non-blog website.

Who Should Blog?

Given this heightened visibility for blogs, who then should be blogging?  A better way of opening up this topic is to ask, Who should not be blogging?  If you are aiming to communicate with the world via an online presence, then this online presence should be a blog.  It may be appropriate to add other more static website components such as a forum or a wiki, but their content will be slightly less visible through the search engines.

Some will question whether they have sufficient ongoing content to be able to create new blog posts with some regularity.  The answer to that is perhaps best illustrated by discussing the group that Larry Brooks suggested should have a static website.

Should Fiction Writers Blog?

Larry Brooks had the following advice for fiction writers:

Why doesn’t a blog work to promote a novel?

Because you can only blog about your book for so long.  And blog readers are almost completely intolerant of self-serving, thinly disguised promotional agendas.

You have to earn every single moment of personal mindshare from a prospective buyer through the delivery of content they can put to work in their lives.

Blogging also comes with another type of risk.

Even if you have valid to offer.

Blogging can be addictive and hungry, it can eat up energy, time and mindspace like no other intellectual pursuit you’ve ever been tempted to give in to.

If you dive in, you need to be all in.   And that’s a huge commitment.

Given that line of thinking, Larry Brooks pushed for a static website for each novel.  However he ignores the fact that blogs are several times more visible than static websites in search engine results.  The blog can be very effective during the buildup to the book launch and following the launch. 

Indeed even thereafter, devout readers may be interested in whatever further developments have occurred about the novel and any sequels. Such content may be less hot with human readers but it serves to maintain visibility among those search engines.  The importance of this is such that a blog is always worth the effort even though these blogs will require only limited extra content as time passes.  Nevertheless they create a much larger impression on the search engine radar screen around the static website that is specifically for the novel.  In this way, the visitor traffic to the novel website will be maximized on an ongoing basis.  That should lead to higher book sales, which is after all the key objective.

Post from: The Other Blokes Blog

Professional Writers Blog

Technorati Tags: Blog, Larry Brooks, novel, website, writer

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In writing about the Other Brain, we conveniently slid over a confusion about just what other brains there may be.  Just which is the Second Brain and could there be a Third Brain.

Dr.  Michael Gershon, an expert in the nascent field of neurogastroenterology, laid the seeds of confusion with his 1998 book The Second Brain.   A Scientific American article earlier in the year was a useful  recap of what is involved.  It was called “Think Twice: How the Gut’s ‘Second Brain’ Influences Mood and Well-Being.”

There is an often-overlooked network of neurons lining our guts that is so extensive some scientists have nicknamed it our “second brain”.

A deeper understanding of this mass of neural tissue, filled with important neurotransmitters, is revealing that it does much more than merely handle digestion or inflict the occasional nervous pang. The little brain in our innards, in connection with the big one in our skulls, partly determines our mental state and plays key roles in certain diseases throughout the body.

Although its influence is far-reaching, the second brain is not the seat of any conscious thoughts or decision-making.

Marghi Merzenich provides more details on this “Second Brain”.

The second brain is a mass of tissue in our intestines that shares many qualities with our brains–millions of neurons, many of the same key chemicals (like dopamine and serotonin). This “second brain” is officially called the “enteric nervous system,” and it’s a fascinating part of the body.

The brain and spinal cord are known as the “central nervous system.” The “peripheral nervous system” connects the central nervous system to the rest of the body, moving the messages along until they reach their destination. The enteric nervous system (the “second brain”)  is part of the peripheral nervous system.

What makes the “second brain” unique from other parts of the peripheral nervous system, though, is that it can function even without input from the central nervous system, and sends many more messages to the central nervous system than it receives. And while it’s not a center of conscious thought, it has widespread influence on our physical bodies and our emotional well-being. This may have implications for how we treat emotional problems like depression.

That’s all well and good but that Second Brain term was being used by others in a different context.  A 2009 article proclaimed, Introducing Our Second and Third Brains: We Do Think With Our Heart and Instinct

This article noted that neuro-scientists have demonstrated that we have a brain in our heart and another in our intestines. What we have in each of these, in actual fact, is an extensive mass of neurons that behave in a fashion similar to the neurons contained in the brain, and that appear to function at mega-speeds, often much greater than those of our cerebral neurons.  

What they are referring to is the work of J. Andrew Armour, M.D., Ph.D. in Montreal and others.  Their picture is that the heart brain is the second brain and the enteric (intestine) brain is the third brain.

Whether you consider that we have two brains or three brains, either picture states very clearly that your logical brain is not the sole way you are assessing information, processing it and making decisions.  At least one other brain or perhaps two is/are unconsciously involved and you probably never realize it. 

Becoming more aware of these different brains and balancing the way they interact can bring significant improvement in the way you try to achieve your goals.  The Three Brain Synergy website provides more information on these issues and can show you what is involved in ensuring all your brains are working in the most effective collaboration.

Post from: The Other Blokes Blog

Second Brain Or Third Brain

Technorati Tags: Brain, Central nervous system, Neuron, Peripheral nervous system, Spinal cord

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What image comes to mind (your brain) when you hear those words, the other brain.  Surprisingly those words can be used in a number of different contexts.  In this article we will describe some of these different concepts that are involved in different people’s interpretation of the other brain. 

The Head Brain

If the word brain makes you think immediately of what is held within your cranium (head) then clearly the brain is an organ of the human body.  Where it gets interesting is how that brain thinks.  Dr. R. Douglas  Fields believes that the brain is much more than the gray matter that we all talk about.  We are all familiar with the notion of the small electrical currents that are moving around in our brain as we think.  That is our Gray Matter at work, or so we might think.  However Dr. Fields would encourage us to focus on the White Matter in the brain.

"Gray matter" is possibly our most common nickname for the brain, that is, the folded-up layers of neurons found in the cerebral cortex, responsible for memory, perception, language and logic.

Famously, scientists pondering slices of Albert Einstein's brain under a microscope found no discernible difference between his brain and anyone else's.  It turns out, Einstein's brain contained much more white matter than the average Joe's. And that is just one clue to white matter's importance.

So what exactly is White Matter?  This includes four types of brain cells known as glia.

Unlike neurons that operate by electrical signals, glia behave chemically.  Glia interact with neurons in previously unknown ways.  One type of glia, myelin, is what allows us to carry good heads on our shoulders that are not any bigger than a breadbox.

The insulation they provide to nerve axons speeds the impulse conduction 100 times and allows the miniaturization of our brains.  Glia perform a range of important duties. They take in information from neurons, respond to their signals, control velocity and timing of conduction, act as the immune system of the brain, provide the brain with new neurons and control other complex brain activity.

This use of the concept of the other brain as part of what is going on inside our heads is clearly justifiable.  However others have used the term other brain or second brain to describe quite different concepts.

The Gut Brain

Although it is a myth that dinosaurs had two brains, it is true that a second or other brain may exist in us all.  This is sometimes described as the gut brain because it deals with extremely basic reactions such as fight or flight when danger threatens.

Although not everyone thinks it is located in our stomachs, Dr.  Michael Gershon does not agree.    He is an expert in the nascent field of neurogastroenterology and author of the 1998 book The Second Brain. 

There is an often-overlooked network of neurons lining our guts that is so extensive some scientists have nicknamed it our "second brain".

A deeper understanding of this mass of neural tissue, filled with important neurotransmitters, is revealing that it does much more than merely handle digestion or inflict the occasional nervous pang. The little brain in our innards, in connection with the big one in our skulls, partly determines our mental state and plays key roles in certain diseases throughout the body.

Although its influence is far-reaching, the second brain is not the seat of any conscious thoughts or decision-making. 

That is a very literal interpretation of the term got brain, but others have interpreted this term, gut brain, more figuratively.  Perhaps it may be linked to the limbic area of our cranial brain that is the area that handles all those basic instinctive reactions.  What is quite clear is that it deals with non-logical and extremely rapid reactions.  They might almost be described as unthinking responses.

This gut brain can come into play in even the simplest situations for example in deciding whether you click away from a website or stay to explore.  This is not something that search engines get involved with as their spiders think only logically and only about the digital content.  However to create engaging websites, you must be aware that instinctive reactions will play their part.

Taking this notion to even larger and more important situations, although he does not use the term 'gut brain', Simon Sinek covers similar ground in thinking about inspirational leadership.  For him the key is a golden circle and the question "Why?"

Someone may try to sell us on a cause by describing the What and the How.  That engages our logical brain but it is not the logical brain that determines the precise moment when we switch from a non-committal position to one of engagement.  Determining what is right for us is not determined by a cold-blooded accounting of the pluses and minuses.  At some point we know it feels right and we're in.  At that point suddenly we know Why we want to get involved.

Sinek points out that you don't bring people onside by explaining in detail What it is that you want them to support nor by a long description of How you will be delivering on that What. That's all grist for the logical brain. It is necessary that they get enough of that logic to remove any barriers, but it is not sufficient to get them motivated. That comes by linking with that part of their brain that determines Why you do things. You must engage with that second brain and satisfy that urge to know Why I should get involved. As Sinek says in his book, Start With Why.

Here is a Ted lecture video where Simon Sinek describes what is involved. He is an engaging speaker and you won't regret spending time on hearing what he has to say on this.

... or perhaps in discussing the other brain, we have been talking about the third brain all this time. It's all food for thought.

Post from: The Other Blokes Blog

The Other Brain

Technorati Tags: Albert Einstein, Cerebral cortex, gut brain, Neuron, other brain, Second Brain, White Matter

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One of the most moving (long) blog posts I have read in a long time was written by Andy Jenkins in his Blog with the tagline, Irreverence, Rebellion and interweb marketing.  Among other things he covers the reasons why he left StomperNet, the company he set up with his partner, Brad Fallon.  It’s a great read. There is a somewhat tangential comment about Mind Maps:

Mind Maps and I get along swimmingly.  I made a mind map of this post before I wrote a single word.  There’s something about mind maps that just make sense to me – they work far better than flow-charts or check lists or any other organizational tool that I’ve ever used.

I made mind maps for Email Subject Lines, Email Copy, Landing Page Copy, Sales Funnels, Sales Copy, Shopping Carts, Upsells, Video Script Writing, Joint Venture Partnering, Video Sales Letter structuring, Lead Generation…

Yeah, I’ve got a Mind Map that I use just about every time I write an Email Subject line.  I don’t know what that says about me personally, but I do know that when I was figuring it out, I had a damn good time doing it.

Mind Maps is a tool I have not considered for some time, although I have always found it useful. His comments inspired me to check them out again.

The technique was developed in the late 1960s by Tony Buzan, and they are now used by millions of people around the world whenever they wish to use their minds more effectively. His explanation is a little over the top but is as good as any.

A Mind Map is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlock the potential of the brain. It harnesses the full range of cortical skills – word, image, number, logic, rhythm, colour and spatial awareness – in a single, uniquely powerful manner. In so doing, it gives you the freedom to roam the infinite expanses of your brain. The Mind Map can be applied to every aspect of life where improved learning and clearer thinking will enhance human performance.

In tuning in to Mind Maps again, I find it is a current hot topic among the movers and shakers.  For example, recently Robert Scoble and Michael Deutch looked into Mind Mapping with MindManager from Mindjet.  For Scoble this was apparently a somewhat recent interest:

I’ve been getting more interested in mind mapping lately (the act of getting ideas into the computer). I’ve found MindManager from Mindjet to be the best software out there and I sat down with their evangelist to learn all about how to use MindManager and why it’s important.

Steve Rubel also in Mashable used a Mind Map to explore What is the Future of Blogging? He suggested using MindMeister, an Online Mind Mapping system.  MindMeister is a free web-based collaborative mind mapping tool for brainstorming and project-management although there are premium versions incorporating more features.

Looking around, I was pleased to find FreeMind, which is free mind mapping software and having now downloaded it I can thoroughly recommend it.

Why don’t you use FreeMind? You have a tool at hand that remarkably resembles the tray slips of Robert Pirsig, described in his sequel to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance called Lila. Do you want to refactor your essays in a similar way you would refactor software? Or do you want to keep personal knowledge base, which is easy to manage? Why don’t you try FreeMind? Do you want to prioritize, know where you are, where you’ve been and where you are heading, as Stephen Covey would advise you? Have you tried FreeMind to keep track of all the things that are needed for that?

I’m sure you can do that and much, much more.

If you really want to get your teeth into Mind Maps then I would recommend the Topicscape Blog.  Through that I found the ultimate resource that includes all you could desire on Information maps.  You may wish to check it out: it is called WikIT.

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Post from: The Other Blokes Blog

Mind Maps Organize Thinking

Technorati Tags: FreeMind, Mind Map, MindMeister, Tony Buzan

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The incident that triggered the thought was that my news feed aggregator service, Bloglines, added a new look and functionality. To each news feed item, it now adds at the right-hand end a column of possible related search terms you might wish to explore with Ask. The problem it creates is that I wish to see as many news items on the screen line-by-line as I can. This allows me to scan many more items and I rely on the Titles to determine whether they need to be perused. Now with each item taking up a space five times as high I have only one fifth of the productivity. You might assume that there would be a button that would allow me to switch off this unwanted extra service. Not so. It seems impossible to return to the classic simple look.

I tried to get some information on a way to correct the situation via Twitter. Someone with the username Bloglines did suggest I use a Firefox Addon to change the style. It was partially successful but I never managed to get back to the original simplicity. Reluctantly I have now switched to Google Reader, which with a little manipulation gives me close to what I want. I have been a long time Bloglines user and it is only with the greatest reluctance that I made the switch.

The counter view on these matters was one that Tom Peters suggested, and there is even a book about it now. If it Ain’t Broke…Break It!: And Other Unconventional Wisdom for a Changing Business World (Paperback) by Robert J. Kriegel and Louis Patler.

Being product directed is often said to be the reverse of being customer centric and this really sums it up. Microsoft is an extreme example of this ‘Break It’ approach with its constant upgrades. Overall they may make more money this way, but they leave behind them a trail of disgruntled customers. When something does exactly what the customer wants, it takes a lot to have them accept that they need the product or service to be changed. If it ain’t broke, please don’t fix it.

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Post from: The Other Blokes Blog

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

Technorati Tags: break, customer centric, fix, product-driven, Tom Peters

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I noted this morning a blog post by Dean Rieck on 7 Easy Ways to Energize Your Creative Writing Powers.

His key message is that if you’re feeling like you’re in a creative daze, take a new path. Do something different. That’s one way to discover fresh ideas and energize your creative powers. He then suggests 7 others:

1. Learn your craft.
2. Get off auto pilot.
3. Stop avoiding failure.
4. Focus on important problems.
5. Find new uses for old ideas.
6. Break down false barriers.
7. Set the conditions you need to create.

If you are bereft of ideas on what to write about, Google has a huge store of other places to find how What To Write About. Two that caught my eye were:

• What to Write About – Finding Content for Web Pages
• Writer’s Block Help – Inspired Creative Writing Ideas and Techniques

I must admit that I think they are all approaching this from the wrong end.  So much has been written already, why add to the mountain.  They all seem to be approaching this in the way an artist might decide to create a work of art, whether there is an audience or not.  It is what is sometimes called the product-driven way of doing business.

A much more productive way of doing business is to be customer-centric.  Let us see how that concept can be applied.

What are three great tips for choosing great blog topics.  Remember the problem is not lack of choice, but rather too many possible topics you might cover.  The solution is the same as the advice in running a successful business.  Focus, focus, focus.  The three tips to focus on are:

• Picture your ideal reader and what they will be doing at the time they consider reading your fine prose.
• Try to home in on something you know about that will really take their fancy and may even be a bit of a surprise and a delight to them.  Remember you bring your own unique perspective to what you will write about.  Make sure this will shine through your writing.
• Now that you have your topic, think of the 3 most important aspects of that topic around which you can create the best blog post you have ever written.

Of course the fourth unwritten tip is if you are not happy with the result of this process today, then don’t do it today.  Instead make sure that, as you live your life today, you are keenly aware of your surroundings.  Smelling the roses or the coffee or watching how a young child delights in unexpected findings may just be the trigger that suggests what the topic should be when you go through the three tips  again tomorrow.

Post from: The Other Blokes Blog

Three Tips For Choosing Great Blog Topics

Technorati Tags: Arts, Blog, Creative writing, writers-block

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This article is specifically written for my readers who call themselves life coaches or business coaches. It’s about the 7 major mistakes I see coaches making online.  Go through each of these and really examine your practice to see if each element is holding you back. In every coach I’ve consulted with at LEAST 2 of these roadblocks were holding them back. I expect the same is true for you if you aren’t at the six figure level at least.

His Road Blocks are:

1. You Are a Generalist
2. You’ve Never Defined Your System
3. Limited to Hour Based Income Only
4. Not Generating Enough Leads
5. Limited Selling Skills
6. Not Recognizing your True Value
7. Doing It All Yourself

His article expands on these topics and is well worth a read.

Checking Google for ‘business coach online’, there are clearly a great number of people who are offering such a service.  How many of them, I wonder, are running into those roadblocks that Terry Dean has identified..

Google’s current number one choice for a business coach blogger is Ken Troyer, an Online Business Coach & Mentor, who is Quietly Working Behind the Scenes.

He posts somewhat rarely so clearly Google must be aware of many of his grateful customers who presumably link to his website.  Since the start of the year he has only two posts, Lost Your Job? on February 16th, 2009 and Meet The Mentors Of The Niche Power Group on January 3rd, 2009.  He clearly is using his own recommendation: Set, and Forget…Get 250 One Way Links Automatically …with your keywords as anchor text. This is the how I got on page one of Google for my keywords.

What exactly does a local business coach do for you?  I believe strongly in the words of Peter Drucker, Help is defined by the recipient.  A good business coach is someone who can complement your own skills and experience.  It is someone with whom you have a mutual relationship of respect and confidence.  If the personal chemistry is good, then you will find that there is a synergy in working together.  The business coach provides a mirror in which you can better see exactly how you are running your business and how it can be strengthened.

A good example of such a business coach is Donna Fontenot, a fellow moderator at Cre8asite Forums. who is very well known in Internet Marketing circles, and who offers eBusiness Coaching & Consulting services   She provides expert assistance, as she says, for anyone wishing to transition from an office cubicle to a successful online ebusiness capable of generating substantial buzz and profit.

Team action with your local business coach is essential. Google’s new enthusiasm for local search gives new opportunities to leave your competitors eating your dust. The coach must be there whenever you need them, although thankfully with mobile phones and the Internet that is much more practical.  He or she will provide help as and when needed.  No more and no less. If you would like to explore how that can work for you, why not send us a message.

Post from: The Other Blokes Blog

Local Business Coach Online

Technorati Tags: Coach, mentor, online, Peter Drucker

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The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has announced it will use “With Glowing Hearts” and “Des plus brilliants exploits” as the Games’ English and French mottos.

Both phrases come from O Canada. They will be used leading up to and through the Games. The phrases were recently trademarked by the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee. According to VANOC chief executive officer John Furlong: “With glowing hearts’ is connected and familiar to all Canadians through our anthem, O Canada, and it also embodies what it takes to be an Olympic or Paralympic athlete.” It seems that this really appeals to the athletes but the general public is more divided. At the present time in a Castanet poll the votes split fairly evenly:

Poll Question: Do you think words from the Canadian national anthem should be used as the motto for the 2010 Olympics?
Yes 342 No 321 Total Votes: 663

In a way it is not surprising to see that split. It links to a topic raised by Guy Kawasaki on whether one should work on Mantras or Missions. Missions often tend to be long-winded and empty. He felt that mantras would better fire up the troops.. On the other hand, I felt that mottos or taglines were better since they tell your customers what you will do for them.

I believe what VANOC has delivered is a great 2010 Olympics mantra. It links in with all that good work done by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on Flow. Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Who better than Olympics and Paralympics athletes to feel that Flow “With Glowing Hearts”.

Related: Faster Is Better

Post from: The Other Blokes Blog

2010 Olympics Motto – Or Should That Be Mantra

Technorati Tags: mantra, motto, Olympics, Paralympics, VANOC

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