Finally, a course that has led to a breakthrough
You’ll know only too well if it’s ‘just you’ in your business, how many things you take responsibility for writing. From emails to website content, client proposals to Instagram posts. The list goes on. But for me, it isn’t so much the time it takes. It’s the frustration!
The frustration of knowing how carefully crafted words have the power to resonate, inspire, even turn a ‘no thanks’ into a ‘yes please’. Yet regularly finding myself going round in circles trying to articulate the ideas in my head in an impactful way.
A painful process. Or at least it used to feel this way...
This time last year I opened an email from The Do Lectures about their Keyboard CEO online course. Pitched as course to help CEOs (Chief Everything Officers in their terms) think strategically in order to write better, I felt compelled to sign up. It was the line about not needing to be a great writer to get great results that really swung it for me.
I knew anything from The Do Lectures would be top-notch. And it most certainly was. Solid gold in fact. David Hieatt and Mike Coulter generously shared their collective wealth of knowledge, insights and wisdom from their experience as advertising copywriters and building influential brands.
What I hadn’t expected was that the course would penetrate way beyond writing, beyond business even, to positively impact many other areas of my life.
To give you a flavour – and in the spirit of Mike’s “stop telling me what you’re going to do, tell me what you’ve done” – I thought I’d share 8 actions that I’ve taken as a result of enrolling on the course. I hope you find something in here that inspires you.
1. Redesigned my morning routine
It took Keyboard CEO to remind me of the importance of turning up at my desk feeling energised to write (or do any creative work for that matter). And so I went away and looked at steps I could take to prime myself for the day ahead. I now:
Start my morning with this gentle 5-minute wakeup workout that I discovered online. It’s so convenient, you barely even need to get out of bed for it! The exercises themselves aren’t groundbreaking but for me the impact is. I had become so accustomed to waking up with headaches for years, not feeling my best became my norm. This 5 minute workout is so quick and easy, I do it every day without fail and it has made a real difference.
Say to myself “today is going to be a great day” as soon as my feet touch the floor each morning – a habit I learnt from Professor BJ Fogg (who I was introduced to via the course – more on him later) called The Maui Habit. As I say these words I try to feel a sense of optimism. If positivity is evading me I might tack-on the word “somehow” to the end of this phrase.
Make time for a short meditation – something that I had let fall by the wayside, despite knowing it does me the world of good. I’m currently on a 342 day streak of my Headspace App. Even a short 3 or 5 minute session helps me to feel more mindful throughout the rest of the day.
Turn up my music and dance around on those days I really need to boost my energy for the task ahead. This is good any time of day when you need a little pick-me-up.
Are there any tweaks you could make to your morning routine that would inject a little more energy to start your working day?
2. Changed the way I approach forming habits
I came away from the course with a reading list as long as my arm and tons of interesting people and topics to research further. The aforementioned Professor BJ Fogg was top of my list after Mike introduced us to Behaviour Design, having undertaken extensive training himself with the Stanford University professor. Intrigued, I read Fogg’s highly practical Tiny Habits book, aimed at helping people to make positive change in their lives. I’ve learnt:
To create a new habit, start really small and make it as easy as possible. My 5 minute morning workout is a good example of this. When you approach a new habit in a non-intimidating way the momentum soon builds. If you set a timer for 3 minutes to sit and write it’s likely you’ll find you keep going beyond the timer going off.
Anchoring my habit to another activity works reliably well as a prompt. For example, every time I hear the Eastenders theme tune (please don’t judge me!) I do a set of tricep dips using the edge of the sofa.
The best way to wire in a new habit is to celebrate immediately afterwards rather than incentivising yourself with a reward later. It could be saying as simple as saying to yourself “Good job.” The feeling of success helps motivate us to do more.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve begun to explore Behaviour Design for business. If you’re interested in transforming your personal habits I believe the Tiny Habits book has the potential to change your life.
3. Re-assessed my digital notes system
Over the last decade I’ve squirrelled away a ton of useful information, sources of inspirations, research, thoughts and ideas in my digital note taking app. Saved for a day when I might find them handy again – somewhat foolishly believing I was being organised.
During Keyboard CEO David shared an image of his garage so crammed with stuff you don’t want to even open it. An analogy to explain that your system should get easier as you add to it, not more complicated. And it struck a chord – my growing collection of digital notes had begun to feel overwhelming. This was the nudge I needed to act before it was too late.
It’s been a massive (and ongoing) task. I’ve renamed notebooks, created new notebooks, gone through old notes and reassigned which notebook they make most sense to belong to.
But more importantly, when I create a new note I’ve begun to pause and think how I can make the note more useful for when I might need it in the future. I’m more consciously deciding which notebook to file it under. I’m exploring additional tools that help to capture information and export to my notes app.
Even when writing this blog post I’ve now got a more organised, accessible, useful repository of notes at my fingertips to help compile it more easily and efficiently.
What I’ve learnt? The better your system the less information you need to keep in your brain and the more space you have to think clearly and be creative. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to work for you.
4. Taking more time over writing headlines
Now onto something a bit more directly related to writing. Doing this course renewed to me the importance of investing extra time and effort on writing your headline. If the purpose of the headline is to get a person’s attention so they read further then it’s a no-brainer. Sounds obvious, but easily not paid the attention it deserves.
As David beautifully summed up, the pro writes around thirty headlines, the amateur writes one.
Therefore I’ve been writing more headlines before making my decision. Getting the bad ones out the way then refining the short list. This blog post was very nearly titled “I wrote 99 headlines but I chose this one.” I think in trying to be clever (by loosely borrowing from those famous song lyrics) all I really might have done was confuse.
5. Being more me when I write
Not an entirely new concept to me. After all, my advice to clients struggling to compose their website content has always been to try writing how you speak. But the course made me re-evaluate if I could do even more to practise what I preach and let people see more of the real me.
I’ve been paying attention to how I speak. I don’t talk in long, big-worded sentences. So I’m not going to write like that. Even if my mum disapproves of me not using full sentences (sorry Mum!). I’m embracing keeping things clear and simple.
The course has taught me what you say is more important than how you say it. Sharing my own unique point of view and enthusiasm for my subject beats letting perfection get in the way. I’m giving myself permission not to overthink before I hit publish. It won’t be easy. But isn’t it better to be more vulnerable than to never say anything at all?
6. Using Focus Mapping to prioritise
Focus Mapping, another BJ Fogg method introduced to us by Mike, has been such an epiphany for me I felt it deserved its own section. I’ve started using Focus Mapping to determine which behaviours I should prioritise in order to achieve my objective.
Let me explain further. I begin by coming up with a broad list of potential behaviours that could help me achieve my aspiration – creative ideas encouraged.
I then plot these behaviours on a chart, from low to high IMPACT along the y-axis, and low to high FEASIBILITY along the x-axis. The behaviours that sit top right are the ones I then prioritise – the easiest i.e. that I’m most likely to get myself to do AND the most effective.
It seems so obvious and yet I’ve never approached prioritisation in this way before.
7. Making time for the big idea
I’m sure I’m not alone in having an idea that you’re so excited about you can barely sleep. And yet when it comes to actually following through and fulfilling that idea it never sees the light of day.
Somehow with an already overwhelming to-do list we often don’t prioritise and progress the big idea that is going to change things. Which is madness when you stop and think about it. Because before you know it, it’s too late, someone else got there first.
Not any more. I’ve made a dedicated notebook in my note taking app for the big idea. If I read something that might help me fulfil my big idea I add it to my notebook. If inspiration strikes, you’ve got it, it goes in my notebook. Slowly but surely I’m plugging away at it. And without even realising it, the idea is no longer simply just an idea. It begins to take form.
8. Prioritising making life easier for you (and for me)
If you’ve read this far you may have noticed a recurring theme. It’s that I’m all about making things as simple, easy and convenient as possible. So much so, it’s one of my core business values. And my learnings from Keyboard CEO have validated to me the importance of prioritising this. When you make life easier for people it leads to action.
It’s spurred me on to explore how I can take it to another level for my clients and audience. I’ve been examining each part of the experience I offer. Looking at ways to fine-tune the process so everything flows with ease. Thinking of the resources I can create that will help bring you clarity. Exploring new offerings to fit your needs better.
As a small business owner myself, I understand only too well the many demands on your time and energy. There’s so much noise out there, so many shiny new solutions (or is that distractions?). My mission is to make your life easier. Watch this space.
Conclusion
I won’t pretend I now miraculously find writing challenge-free. But I can firmly say The Keyboard CEO course has changed my mindset and my approach. It’s made me re-assess my business strategy and unexpectedly made a positive impact in many other areas of my life too.
Now I see those 26 characters on the keyboard as an opportunity. An opportunity to connect and hopefully inspire. An opportunity that no longer feels beyond my reach.
Writing feels much less painful. In fact, I think I might actually have begun to enjoy it.
Rather than seeing it as spending time writing, I see it as investing time – writing strategically to grow the business and do more of what I set out to do when I started on this journey.
Now for the extra good news. Doors are currently open to sign up for the new Keyboard CEO Pro online course.