Pazzardous Material Vol 32 – the week’s posts on a single page (most recent at the bottom):
Ain’t No Stopping Us Now
I tried a bit of yoga today for the first time – and I managed to both stay upright and turn my phone to silent before the session, meaning I avoided the horrendous scenario of hearing the theme to Terry & June blasting out of my phone just as everyone in the class was settling down for the deep relaxation part at the end of the hour.
So, yoga. That got me thinking…about monks.
And when I think of monks I think of Abbot Ale…
…and Jay Shetty, who used to be a monk. He’s also one of the people who inspired me to start blogging every day.
I’m still finding my way with this thing but I’ll carry on as it’ll do more good than harm in the long run.
A Day In The Life
A valuable lesson for kids that I picked up a few years ago:
Every job includes at least one element that you might not enjoy.
Even footballers, musicians and DJs, who apparently have the world’s best jobs, have to commit to things that they’d rather not do, whether it’s giving media interviews, constantly travelling or working when everyone else is off.
Which part of my work do I enjoy less? As a freelancer, pricing my work has often been a sticking point, and I wish I’d had some training in that respect. I’m better at it now, after a few years of practice.
And I’m naturally inclined to put off those tasks that feel like they need a lot of time and don’t seem easy to break into smaller chunks.
Move Your Body
A word on the book I’m writing:
I’ve done some significant work on it this morning.
I got up at 5.30 and focused on what I want to achieve with it so began by asking again:
- Who’s it for?
- What’s it for?
Setting the alarm so early on a Sunday morning means I’m going to make sure it’s worthwhile, and I’m less likely to poke around on Facebook or Instagram, or waste time on a Buzzfeed quiz that asks how many English football grounds I’ve been to.
Focus leads to habit which builds momentum and delivers results. And I need to get my first draft done so that I can move on to the second and finish the thing.
So, the results of the “significant work”?
I’ve decided to document the whole process of self-publishing because I want other people – you? – to be able to do the same.
I’ll always promote the idea of pursuing a project based on creative expression because creativity, especially when we’re faced with AI, ML and other emerging technology, is our best differentiator.
The first thing I have to do is recognise all the work I’ve already done: blog posts on these pages and notes in Evernote and notebooks. A whole body of work needs organising and moving into the right places.
Abide With Me
I’m a lucky boy.
While I didn’t have the best relationship with my dad, I was very fortunate in some respects.
Here’s one:
Through his job, he was given two tickets to every event at Wembley (Stadium, Arena and Conference Centre), except the FA Cup final, when he was given one.
My brother wasn’t into football much so when I discovered this gold mine, I was all over it, probably not as much as I should’ve been but I didn’t want to be greedy.
I ended up going to six Cup finals and a replay: ’84 – Watford’s first, ’85, ’86, ’88 (not ’87 because it was too painful after we’d been knocked out by Tottenham in the semis), ’89 (Everton/Liverpool, just after Hillsborough) and 1990 and subsequent replay.
Then when the supply of tickets stopped (or I stopped asking), I started working at Wembley – concerts, football, rugby, the Nelson Mandela tribute, the Freddie Mercury tribute, which I loved. WWF, which I didn’t.
And now Watford are back for this year’s final, the annual, cultural occasion that means more to me than any other.
Choosing a piece of music that I wanted played at my dad’s funeral in 2008 was easy, even as an atheist.
Spectrum (Say My Name)
My mate Big Jon, who designs my books’ covers, said to me once that marketing is like pushing a wheelbarrow:
Without effort, it won’t go anywhere.
But as someone who’s naturally shy, my wheelbarrow usually stays in the shed.
How nice it was then to receive an email the other day requesting an interview about me and my books. Someone else was going to push the wheelbarrow and say my name. Perfect. The interview’s on NFReads.com, here.
Got To Be Real
On holiday, I thought it’d be a good idea to pick up bits of driftwood and put inspirational lines on them so people to hang them in their home. Then I wondered about expanding the idea to include fabric and other materials, as well as wood.
And I suggested to Shiana and Mischa that we could try to make a business out of it by selling them on Etsy and advertising on Instagram.
One of us was going to be in charge of making the products, another in charge of promoting them online and someone else would look after the whole operation and we were going to be incredibly, unbelievably successful.
Except we weren’t.
The idea kind of got lost and we didn’t even start. That Lennon lyric springs to mind again:
Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.
To make it work – to make any idea work – you have to be realistic. It needs breaking down into each of its components, people’s roles need to be identified and tasks scheduled. Then chuck in bucketloads of discipline, perseverance, determination and positive action, and you might just have some fun with it.
Walls Come Tumbling Down
There are few (if any) better ways to convince people to use your company or buy your products than by providing praise from your satisfied customers.
Before would-be customers commit to something they haven’t used or bought before, particularly if it comes at a high price, they worry.
They’re concerned that you won’t deliver, that they’ll be wasting their time and money. They’re worried that they’ll miss out on a better alternative or be given a mountain of problems that they can barely imagine.
Summed up, they’re scared of the unknown.
This is why ‘social proof’ is so powerful: people like to know that others like them have already enjoyed a positive experience having paid the money before they commit themselves.
If I owned a construction company (ha!) I’d call it Testimonial Builders and make it my mission to place customers’ praise at the heart of the marketing message and branding.
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