It's all about the timing, too

This is a paradigm shift -- doing a bunch of different versions of the same thing, rather than doing a wide variety of things with only one version.

Time was, a writer was only a writer. Now, they can also be a publisher. And a public speaker. And a podcaster.

Time was, a writer could get away with only being a writer. Now they have to be more, to even make it out of the gate.

The audiences we can reach are wider than ever, and the old ways of "broadcasting" informaion no longer apply. Because not everyone wants the same thing, anymore, and not all eyes are on the same show, anymore, and not everyone even knows the same things, anymore.

To do more, you have to focus more, and actually do less -- less quantity, more quality. Less mass-market, more in-depth relationship-building. Because in this day and age, when easy information abounds, and superficial relationships are easy to strike up, what people want, what people need, is depth and involvement, and the sense that the person(s) they're dealing with actually know and understand and are relevant to them.

Happy New Year.

Success...One Day At A Time: Shouldn't You Be Doing Less To Achieve More?

Shouldn't You Be Doing Less To Achieve More?
By Gary Vurnum
[Visit http://www.oursuccesspartnership.com/blog/archives/003379.html to read more great content]

One thing has struck me today as I have been working.

The battle with your inner voice is the KEY to your success.

Without question.

You see, working in my home office, I've found that it is easy to get distracted when I'm trying to focus on something, and even easier to find myself interrupted when I am actually focused on something!

Little one-year-old Skye certainly has a habit of going crazy at the times when I'm really concentrating!

Yet - on the days like today, when I've had a lot of time to myself as Lesley has taken the children out - I've found that I'm not taking advantage of the situation!

You see - I'm not perfect after all!

Of course - I haven't completely wasted the day - I wouldn't allow myself to do that.

But...it has reminded me that I 'function' better at different times of the day than others.

Bet you do, too.

I can do great things at 6 a.m.
Can crank out an excellent article at 2 p.m.
And even focus on a little future project at 7 p.m.

Yet - often in the middle of all that - I check stuff, re-read forums, scan emails, and generally don't get as much work 'done' as perhaps you would expect.

Now...that's not to say that I am not motivated.

Nor...am I particularly 'bothered' about it!

I decided some time ago that beating yourself up for being YOU is a road to nowhere, that's for sure.

The more that you try to do what you THINK you should be doing, the less likely you are going to do the stuff that you NEED to be doing to help you towards your future.

That's why I'm not bothered.

An hour at 6 a.m. is worth two or three hours of mid-afternoon sighs!

(Guess why I have started to get up at that time so that I can ACHIEVE something before everyone else in my house gets up?)

Where success is concerned...it's not all about the firing on all cylinders - working your guts out - just to make as much as you can.

Nope.

For YOU - success should be about being able to lie on your bed at night - and actually KNOW that you have done something that has moved you forward towards your goal.

Will YOU be doing that tonight?

I certainly will."

It's all about the depth, baby!

Had a great e-mail from one of my podcast clients today, talking about the "monster" it's so very easy to create, when you've got a bunch of online initiatives going. With ezines, websites, podcasts, training materials, and more, it can be really, really easy to get swept away in the logistics. And it can really make your head spin, if you're thinking about how to get the most out of everything.

Same goes for me -- I mean, with no less than 16 different PEAPOD projects slated for 2006, I've got my hands full, and it's easy to spin wildly out of control on the adrenaline, alone.

So, what's the answer? Paradoxically, in this time of plenty, with all the varieties of information and info providers out there, the key to success in a crowded field is, doing more with less. That is, rather than trying to do all things with all your properties, turn your focus to doing one thing extremely well with a wide variety of properties.

I think of it as a "full spectrum" strategy -- you start out with a critical mass of core competencies and ideas you wish to put out there. With your intention, you "filter" and direct your interests into different areas of presentation -- like below.



Working off a common set of interests and ideas, you can transform them into different modes of communication, and get a full spectrum of exposure to your target audiences. But you need to know what your intention is. And you need to have targets to point to. Or, you'll just get lost in the crowd, like so many others.

But if you can target your offerings, and you add a little uniqueness to each piece of the communications spectrum, you can achieve far more depth in your communication, than you could do in print or web or audio alone. And if you throw in the in-person, too, well, then you've offered your audience a very robust set of "information packets" to digest in different ways, at different times of the day, with all five senses, not just their eyes OR their ears.

It's all about depth -- which is a rare commodity, these days.

Of Passion and Prolificness

Spent all morning going through my Podtopia and VeryPeri podcasts and culling out what I don't want, posting what I do want, and thinking about what direction I want to take with each podcast.

I've got more ideas coming. The only question is, when I'll find the time to do it all. Again, the time issue comes up. I'm thinking (hoping) that now that the holiday season is winding down, I'll be able to really focus on doing some serious production. And that I'll be able to reach the level of prolificness that I seek.

It's not so much that I'm an overachiever (tho' I've been warned against being one), it's just that there's so much that interests me, that invigorates me, that drives me, that gets the proverbial juices flowing, and one things leads to another.

Once you find something(s) you're passionate about, prolific activity just seems to flow. At least, it has in my experience. The energy that swirls in the universe is just waiting to be tapped and directed, and when you find something(s) you can be truly excited about, well, then there's no end to how much you can do around it, with it, about it, for it, because of it.

When you are able to find and tap your passion(s), there is nothing that can stand in your way.

Assuming, of course, that you trust that the things you create and the activities you pursue, are worthwhile and fun. If you don't have much faith that anything you do will be useful or fruitful or enjoyable, morale sinks, and it gets a whole lot harder to get things off the drawing board. After all, if you don't think anything will ever come of your activities, why bother starting at all? Why indeed?

Kinda reminds me of the ennui that set in, in an old job I had. No matter how much we got accomplished, and how much good we did, nobody at the top seemed to understand what we'd accomplished, and it didn't really count for much, when bonus and performance review time came around. The passion that a lot of us had for the work we were doing, got quashed and squashed along the way, and so our productivity and eagerness waned. Especially mine.

I'm the kind of person who has to believe something will come of my efforts, before I launch into it. Something useful. Something interesting. Something invigorating. It drives me and informs my decisions, and it makes my life worth living. And because so many of my ideas have not been particularly well grasped (or outright denied/ridiculed/devalued) by people I worked with (that's perfectly alright, it means I'm doing the right thing by coming up with these concepts -- all the great ideas go through the same process of ridicule and denial that eventually leads to acceptance and matter-of-fact embracing, so I know my ideas are in good company)... and I couldn't get popular backing at work for them, well, I've taken matters into my own hands and created my own work in my own way, on my own time. When my passion for ideas hasn't been mirrored in the workplace (or quashed by political concerns), I've followed my passion into the hidden recesses of free time, weekends, early mornings, and stray moments grabbed in the car, here and there, when I had my iRiver MP3 recorder and microphone and could record podcasts while driving to and from work.

I've never been one to dwell in the differences between myself and the world around me. I'm a singular creature, and I don't know anyone like me. I know a few people who "get" me, but they are precious few and far between. I don't waste time trying to court the understanding of others -- I figure, if you get it, you get it. If you don't, then we can go our separate ways. Rather than cursing darkness, I prefer to light my own candle. And follow that little light into the dark recesses which frighten most people away.

If you're not going to take chances in life, then what will your life become? If you're not going to make your own chances in life, then what can you expect from life? I'm not one for waiting around till someone else makes a move for me. I'm not one to wait around for others to identify my needs and meet them. I'd much rather do things myself. And rely on my own resources -- my own passion -- to guide and direct me through life to the things I want most.

And there are a lot of things I want. Freedom. Independent wealth. Abundance of ideas. Infinite possibility. The opportunity to write and publish and put my passions for the written word and a well-designed book into tangible form. These are things that I could probably never do with the "help" of a larger organization, because at a larger level, passion can become a liability, rather than an asset (too many passionate, strong-willed people can spoil the collective soup). But these are things I can do in abundance, and in spades, propelled by the drive within me.

And it can be done.

Anything is possible.

Oh, and another thing. I need my RSS feed(s) developed.

Soon. Because the list of blogs also takes RSS submissions, and Blogger (bless 'em otherwise) doesn't do RSS. They do ATOM. {Sigh} Oh, well. It'll give me something else to keep me busy and occupied and moving forward.

Got my list of blogs and rss directories to submit to

There are 88.

Something tells me, I'm not going to get all my blogs submitted to all of them in one night... or one week, even.

I'll have to pick and choose, where I want to put my energy -- right now, with Fuel, for sure. Oh, and this PEAPOD Mix blog, which chronicles the fabulous experiences of putting out Fuel.

Pick one area and excel in it. Pick one endeavor and develop effective, successful habits around it. Then, after you've achieved mastery in that area, move on to the next area, and pretty much start from the top, all over again.

But think big about it.

Think very big, indeed.

One of the nice things about having a whole lot to do...

... is doing it, each and every day.

I've come across a lot of folks over the years (myself included), who start things and then get distracted and wander off to do other things. So, the things they start(ed) fall by the wayside, and they don't make the progress they were hoping for. Then, when New Year's comes around again, they ask themselves why, oh why, they didn't get everything done that they wanted to.

Like I said, I'm included in that bunch o' folks.

In his Master Key System, Charles F. Haanel talks about the importance of just keeping going. "The only way to keep from going backward is to keep going forward. Eternal vigilance is the price of success." So he says. Hear, hear! It's absolutely the truth, and the times when I've found myself lagging, it hasn't been from having too much to do, and having too much challenge in my life -- it's from having not enough challenge, and not quite enough to keep me fully engaged and occupied.

Having plenty to do, over the course of time, is critical for me. So, when I look at the roster of things I've got going on, and I wonder if I'll be able to get them all done, I have to honestly say, "Yes, I am going to get them all done. Perhaps not tomorrow, perhaps not next week, but I am going to do all of this -- and more that I haven't even thought of yet."

It's not that I'm an overachiever. I just like to look back on my year, and have some tangible proof that I've actually done something with myself. This is one of those years. And next year will be another.

So be it.