Categories
movement Nutrition and Meal Prep Self Care

A call to wellness: how you see yourself matters

What would it look like for you to value your wellness at the same level you value the people you work with? What if we challenged our typical view of always-trying-harder until we simply burn up?

We each contain within us a beautiful system of biological processes that enable us to do things like regenerate cells, find solutions to never-before-answered problems, and connect across space with other human beings. True wellness is the pursuit of living in this fully human experience. The better we get at understanding + supporting our own biology, the more we will be able to step up, engage, and connect with the world around us and our place in it.

 

You are more than a part to be consumed. Your personal wellness will become easier to pursue when you start to see yourself for who you are - biological processes and all. Here's why you need to stop seeing yourself as an organism. More at alisanelson.co

 

There’s a statement I read in an article that has been turning around in my head for so long that I can’t find the article again. It went something like this:

 

We keep trying to treat ourselves like we are machines when in fact we are organisms. We, as organisms, move circularly rather than linearly.

 

We hum along in a rhythmic pattern instead of a droll assembly line. This is why we see so much of ourselves and our lives in the natural world around us – because they too live in rhythm.

 

As I dig in the dirt planting bulbs in the cool October soil I’m drawn to thoughts of how temperature signals my own biological systems to change up the priority scheme. Did you know that the fall is the best time to plant shrubs? It’s the time of year when they will push their roots deep into the earth and focus their efforts on a sturdy foundation, while in the spring and summer they are more focused on reproduction.

 

Whether we are hardwired to think in terms of seasons or if it’s more an long-standing + ingrained cultural norm, I’m not sure yet, but the older I get the more frequently the women around me talk about seasons. Harkening our minds back to the wise King who tells us there is a season for everything (or perhaps a rebellious Kevin Bacon is more your style?).

 

When I’m digging in the dirt or watching my children eagerly wait for the falling leaves, I’m soothed by this reality of seasons. Like the turning tide, it comes because we need it to. Because there are different processes that need to take place for fullness of life. As sleep is necessary on a daily basis for the regeneration + cleansing of our cells so we move through important human moments on a larger time scale.

 

But when I’m talking to fellow moms or women immersed in their own versions of “busy season” it sounds (+feels) more like a prison than the melodic orchestration of a Creator. Like Calvin, who yells at the sky demanding for snow to fall, we ache for the next season to get here. Like now. Right now. Or we resign ourselves to the lie that this is going to be the rest of our lives.

 

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to manifest out loud to my husband that I’m anxious my son is going to be 2 for the rest of his life. As silly as it sounds (especially to the non-moms out there), some days just get us to the point where we think we might actually have to tear out of our skin if we have to live one more day in this season. One more day of anxiety. One more day of too-loud children. One more day of all our efforts making zero difference. One more day of no time for ourselves.

 

So we pat ourselves on the back and try to see a silver lining – “It’s a season!” An exhausting season.

 

How do we get to the point where we can sense the melody? How do we return to ourselves as organisms with bodies flowing + grooving to the beat?

 

I think it’s circular. When we see ourselves as organisms, we feel like it too. We hear the music.

 

A machine can go for a time without a repair. Once it’s built it can thrum along doing its job – giving its attention to others. No need to pay attention to self until its parts are consumed. Then replace them and keep truckin’. It doesn’t matter to a machine if it is day or night, or whether it is running a single cycle or a hundred. It runs the same.

 

But we are not machines. And it is a mistake to believe that we can go seasons without regular maintenance. We can’t just plug ourselves into the wall and go, go, go. We have to circle back to restore our cells and our hearts daily – even more than just during our sleep!

 

We are more like a tree than a car.

A tree can produce fruit because it receives from the roots and leaves at varying degrees throughout its life cycle. It does not stop taking in carbon dioxide or water while it pushes out flowers. This is actually when it is the neediest.

 

We are designed to regenerate on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis. You cannot expect to continue on successfully throughout your career operating as a machine. In your neediest seasons – the ones when you’re swamped with projects or your kids are struggling or your team is trying to overcome an unforeseen obstacle – these are the times when you have to double check your soil is good and get that extra bit of water.

 

But more often we feel the drought and decide it must be that we’re meant to go the long haul on our own. We let our external cues dictate our rhythms instead of the God-given internal cadence.

 

You are not a part to be consumed and replaced.

Your work environment might lead you to believe you are. Your work load might lead you to believe you have to. But that is not the melody you were made for.

 

The path to wellness looks different in different seasons. We wouldn’t call a leafless tree in January “dead.” But does your fall + winter lead to pushing up new shoots in May and a bountiful harvest in August? Or does it leave you clawing for oxygen and ready to sleep when your leaves should be breaking free? Can you rejoice during the holiday season or is it spent in recovery + anxiety?

 

Around here we won’t pretend that everyone’s wellness should look the same. But we will talk about wellness and performance as if you’re an organism that lives in a particular kind of rhythm. And I think you’ll find that when we talk as humans, you’ll start to see + feel the beautiful melody that envelops you inside and out. And you’ll want to dance to the beat.

 

 

Categories
Mindfulness and Cognitive Science Neurobiology and Behavior

Enhance client experience: give them the language

Client experience is an important aspect of your business - but it’s more than website design. Every person you work with needs you to help them navigate the language of your field. Are you making sure your clients feel confident and capable or are they wandering around lost, stuck, and confused? Instead of getting frustrated by their questions or lack of follow through, make it a priority to educate. Read on for tips on how to incorporate education into your client experience from learning methods down to the details. Help clients engage, boost their confidence, and keep their eyes on what's actually important. Read more at http://alisanelson.co

What’s your client experience like? Are your clients engaged and prompt or are they getting stuck in unimportant details and slow in making decisions? Whether you realize it or not, understanding how your clients think – and how those thoughts translate into action – is important to your success and their client experience. Without it, you will wonder why so few follow through in a timely manner and why they don’t seem to value your work.

Today this post is going to help you help your clients learn. Specifically, we want to make sure your clients can be on the same page as you by teaching them how to interact in your domain – they need language and you’re going to give it to them.

When your client is ignorant of what the real, descriptive meaning of your words are, they will experience increased stress around working with you or within your domain in general. And stress is the last word you want describing your client experience. You have several opportunities throughout the client relationship to prime them for success by decreasing their own uncertainty and confusion.

Client experience is an important aspect of your business - but it’s more than website design. Every person you work with needs you to help them navigate the language of your field. Are you making sure your clients feel confident and capable or are they wandering around lost, stuck, and confused? Instead of getting frustrated by their questions or lack of follow through, make it a priority to educate. Read on for tips on how to incorporate education into your client experience from learning methods down to the details. Help clients engage, boost their confidence, and keep their eyes on what's actually important. Read more at http://alisanelson.co

Let’s quickly look at why you might want to decrease uncertainty. I’ve written about it a lot (like here) but a quick refresher, maybe?

Uncertainty is stressful for the brain. The brain is busy trying to determine if things are safe and when a shadow is cast over something, it assumes it is dangerous. With a rise in cortisol we get behaviors like procrastination, excessive questions, loss of focus on the important stuff, etc.

You don’t want that happening to a client. Whether you work 1-on-1 or they are a part of a group, it’s your job to help them succeed. They can’t do that if they are wandering around lost, stuck, or confused.

Your clients won’t succeed if they are wandering around lost, stuck, or confused

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Back in the 80s there was some research done on skill acquisition that helps us form a strategy here. You might not have thought about it this way but you are trying to help your clients gain the “skill” of working within your domain. Learning the language of that domain is essential to engagement. Without knowing what words mean or how to use them, a person literally cannot participate. And since you have been in the field for a while, words that are difficult for your clients likely seem obvious to you.

In fact, it’s probably a source of frustration because why the heck do they keep asking for photos in dark, windowless churches when you clearly state that you are a natural light photographer??

Hint, hint: they probably don’t know what natural light really means.

And that’s ok! You’re the professional, right? It’s not their job to know, it’s your job to educate them on the important stuff.

Related: 3 things you should know when you work with people

So how do you do that?

First, go into every meeting with the assumption that your new client is a novice in your field.

Here are a few characteristics of a novice:

  • No actual experience in the area they are expected to perform a task.
  • Lack situational awareness (what’s important in this moment).
  • Don’t know what they don’t know.

What they need from you:

  • Context free learning – descriptive language.
  • Patience for their unrelated or out-of-order questions (and desire to have those questions answered as if they are the most important concepts).
  • Sequential uncovering of information to avoid overwhelm and help them see the big picture.
  • Check-ins for understanding along the way.

Recommended sequence for uncovering information:

  1. Big picture – with constraints on the edges
  2. Big ideas
  3. How those big ideas interact
  4. Details.

The details are last because just like any problem, we need orientation to the big picture before we can make any sense of the details. Your client will just be overwhelmed if you jump into talking about which collateral items they want when they have no idea what that is or how it relates to their brand.

Without effective education, they will prolong the process because they don’t know how to make a decision or what’s going to be important. That wastes time for both of you.

“Ok, Alisa, I get it. A better client experience includes teaching my clients the language in a way that systematically reveals what is important at each stage of the process. So can we talk about how to do that now?”

So glad you asked! Answer: You need a good strategy that involves these big ideas:

  • Pair a word or idea with a visual (whether in story-form, picture, or video) is better for helping people understand words — words defining words is the worst (ex. What does methodology mean? “A set of methods.” That does not help me use the word effectively.)

  • Never give more information than they need at that moment (help your clients avoid overwhelm!) – be concise and descriptive.

  • Create space + safety for questions and provide prompts to stimulate the “oh yea, I don’t really know what that means” conversations.

What we want is for every step of your client process to leave your client feeling confident and excited about their newfound capability. We want them to experience that security of knowing they are communicating effectively with you and therefore the end product will in fact be what they’ve been hoping for.

Let me give you a quick example —

My son is 20 months and learning words like crazy. Every time we label something important to him (from an animal at the zoo to the snack he is enjoying) he lights up. And he starts to use it to ask for what he wants or to further enjoy his play. When he is struggling to ask for something and I manage to guess – and tell him the word – he starts giggling with joy. Oh the joy of being understood and getting what you want.

Do you see the value of increasing someone’s understanding? When you help people learn new things you give them new tools to use to express themselves + their needs, and to operate even just a little bit more comfortably within a new space.

[Side Note: In our instant-gratification world, you might see people reject your attempts to educate them in the domain language. Sometimes it’s because they are already fully saturated and unable to take in new information (but still need a job done) and other times it’s the unfortunate reality of not cultivating curiosity. Be sure to check for understanding along the way so they don’t end up frustrated by the end result, even if they aren’t opting in to your attempts at education.]

So how do you introduce your domain language without slowing down the onboarding or work process?

This is an important consideration because while people love to learn new things, they can also be very one-track minded. They are coming to you looking for a specific outcome and they want to jump right in.

But you know better. You can see the big picture here because you’ve been through it over and over again. You know exactly what a client needs to know in order to make your relationship run smoothly all the way through.

So your job is to fish through your memory or your notes and identify the ESSENTIAL understandings your clients need.

Then, you need to categorize them into where they fall in the timeline.

  • What do they need to know before they sign up to work with you?
  • What do they need to know right after they sign up?
  • What is important halfway through the process?
  • What is important just before closure?
  • What do they need to be successful after your relationship is complete?

Make these essentials available in a user-friendly manner

These days – where information overload is a constant – everybody goes a little crazy over “actionable” information. But you, as the professional developing into a real expert, have the job of ensuring the essential pieces of the puzzle are not lost. For example, your client will want to just jump in a pick a color scheme (or maybe they already have one in mind) but it’s your job to make sure they know what colors communicate before they make a final decision. Your client process needs to make time for helping them make informed decisions.

Now for ideas on the user-friendly way to educate your clients:

A product / services page that provides real information.

Sell-able copy is important, but even more important is that your potential client gets a real sense of what it’s like to work with you, if you will be a good fit, and what the process looks like.

Use concise yet descriptive language telling visitors who you are, your mission, what the product includes, and who fits best for the product. If you can, pair your description with a video or a set of images that complements your words. At-a-glance understanding and a real sense of what the client will experience should be your goal.

Remember: We don’t want is to bog down potential clients with too much information – giving important information too soon makes it unimportant and decreases the likelihood that your would-be-next-client will follow through and sign up. We do, however, want to thoughtfully eliminate any barriers that might lead them to move on to the next website (assuming they are an ideal client).

Give them a lay of the land in the welcome email

It can be tempting to jump right in to the onboarding details but a new client needs to know that the questions they have will be covered – and when. Map out the journey including a timeline and major landmarks. If you know what clients are usually thinking about when they first sign up, give them assurance that you will get there. Use descriptive language so they can feel confident they understand what is expected of them (and what they can expect from you).

Include “glossary”-type page

Short, description definitions that your client can find all in one place has a couple of good effects. The first is you have a place to refer to. When you give your client an action step, you can remind them that if they need, they can refer to the glossary in their packet (or attached in an email).

The second effect is it will keep your client from googling. Perhaps you normally tell your client to email you with any questions but many people don’t like to ask for help – especially when they think they should know the answer. Instead they will likely try to figure it out themselves and you never really know what sources they will end up finding.

Create a blog series about your client process + how you work.

Here we’re going for posts that include screenshots, video, and / or images that give the client a mental image of the process that will include some working definitions of the language you will use.

By putting these types of posts into your archive you give a potential client a place to go if they are interested in reading more about how your design process works (like this one by Elle & Co) or how to streamline content creation (like this awesome post by Maya Elious!).

Links to essential blog posts

Think of this as your “index” if you were writing a book. Link your client to that blog post series you’ve created and be sure to categorize them so they can go directly to what they need in the moment. Use your experience – what questions do you frequently answer? Where do you see clients getting stuck in unimportant details?

 

Make a set of introductory videos, screencasts, or well-crafted visuals to be dripped out to your client at the appropriate time.

What’s your client onboarding like? From the couple of years I ran a personal training business out of my home I know there can be questionnaires, scheduling, setting communication expectations, setting up client profiles on a member portal, ensuring they know what steps to take + when, etc. It can be a whirlwind of chaos. And it can make or break their experience.

A welcome packet with step-by-step instructions is all well and fine. Your new + excited client might read every word when they first receive it. But reading every word might leave them overwhelmed – even if they don’t realize it. Meanwhile, videos that are delivered when needed will set your client up for success – they will avoid overwhelm and be more likely to retain the information.

Be approachable

People don’t like asking what might be a stupid question. By checking in with them you set the standard that understanding is more important than fast communication. Including statements like: “If any words I’m using are confusing feel free to interrupt me or shoot me an email if you have questions later” regularly tells your clients that you expect they will need some clarity AND tunes them to look for words they don’t understand.

If they don’t ask questions but appear to be lagging on their response or lacking follow-through, don’t assume they understand. Instead ask directly – “I’m noticing that you are struggling to follow through. Is there anything I can clarify? Where do you find yourself getting stuck?” They may have an alternative explanation but better to be corrected than to proceed when your client is lost, stuck, or confused.

 

Take action:

  1. Define your big picture → what MUST prospective clients know about you and your services in order to confidently hire you? Polling previous clients might help you with this one.

  2. Define your big ideas → once you’re hired, what are the major steps that are taken? How can you effectively inform your client of those steps? Imagine you are showing them a lay of the land before you head off on your adventure. Point out the landmarks.

  3. Define how the big ideas interact → how does step 3 rely on a successful step 2? These interactions need to be understood so your client knows the most important decisions to make.

  4. Fill in the details → as you approach landmarks, what details do they need to know / understand to ensure they will accomplish the next task?

  5. From the list above – or your own creative ideas – plan out how you will inform your client from pre-hiring to saying goodbye.

Whether it’s simplifying your sales page, scripting + recording video, or putting together a “guided tour” through images / icons, break it into actionable steps, schedule it, and take action. Trust me, it is worth your time to ensure every client has clarity and confidence while working with you – you’re building trust + loyalty.

So tell me, what’s worked for you? What actions have you found to uplevel your client experience?

Categories
Neurobiology and Behavior

How to deal with the uncertainty of running a business

Today we’re going to talk about uncertainty in business and how goals that emphasize learning will keep you engaged in your business for the long-haul.

We often hear “engagement” used to talk about your audience but we also need to turn the microscope around and analyze your engagement. The way you interact with your business can either increase or decrease your level of uncertainty – a major source of stress on you as a business owner. If you aren’t careful, uncertainty can take control of your goals, your priorities, and your motivation. Uncertainty accompanied by disengagement leads to acting out of fear – picking a route with least resistance even if it is in the opposite direction of everything you care about.

But uncertainty paired with effective learning habits? You gain the capability to move forward with confidence even when you can’t see the path.

Uncertainty is certain. Business is not exception. I'm helping you build some awareness around two behaviors we tend to exhibit because we're letting uncertainty run the show. Learn how to deal with uncertainty and how to take back control of your focus and your drive.

How do we typically respond to uncertainty?

For our ancestors, uncertainty kept them moving from place to place – to find food, shelter, a good water supply, new potential mates, etc. It also kept them abiding by tribe culture unless they knew they could overpower the strongest of the group.

These actions had proven to keep them alive. Survival was uncertain and the brain had a special response that helped motivate the person to pursue certainty. We call that response stress.
Today we are able to stay in one place for long periods of time (generations upon generations) but our brains are still pursue the safety of certainty. In the presence of uncertainty – where we perceive the need to outweigh our available resources – we see a rise of cortisol and a focused pursuit of something that makes us feel secure.

Often that looks like focusing in on the details instead of figuring out the more important problem.

I talked about this recently as we considered why we reach for social media when we start to stall on a project. It’s also true in any number of other instances, like binge-reading blog posts on how to grow your email list or downloading 10 different guides to launching your first online course. But herein lies a problem. Our brains dislike uncertainty but often our response to that stress is to turn to something that only gives a moment of security. Then, when we attempt to re-enter work mode, we find that the problem has not been resolved.

What happened? We failed to proactively address the heart of the problem and instead hyper-focused on minute details that only matter when the biggest issues are covered. It’s like making the best gravy known to man but forgetting to cook the potatoes.

There’s another way this happens: when we only do the bare minimum.

Copying someone else verbatim, getting client work done just so you can cash in, solving a problem just enough to get it out of the “urgent” category – these are bare minimum efforts. And you deserve more in life.

So how do we do it? How do we tackle this problem of uncertainty proactively instead of these passive methods like focusing on details or doing the bare minimum?

We train our brains to look for growth.

Certainty involves a sense of control. And what better way to assert control than to acquire the skills you need to overcome common obstacles in running a business?

Here’s the why behind our maladaptive habits in the face of a problem:

  1. When the panic button is hit or we’ve been hacking away at a difficult task for a while, our brains look for happiness. So it uses pre-formed habits that previously resulted in a boost of happy chemicals — like eating fat + sugar (aka a donut) or getting virtual high-fives.
    Related: Why you keep obsessing over social media
    How to stop obsessing over social media
  2. These pre-formed habits have taught our brain that reward is immediate. So we derive less pleasure from the pursuit of understanding because it takes a while and usually involves first experiencing some sort of pain (physical, mental, emotional, etc).
    Related: When vulnerability makes you feel like crap

It’s time to take action:

  • Build awareness around the types of problems + circumstances that send you running for donuts.
  • Practice stopping and sitting with that feeling – the one that makes you feel a little jittery and fidgety.
  • Compile a list of personal case studies – highlights of how you’ve grown over the past few years, stories of clients you’ve impacted, your favorite memories of when you overcame a significant trial, etc.
  • Ask yourself “Why am I doing this?” Link the overcoming of this problem with your biz + life aspirations.
  • Establish a routine for getting your head in the game. Play epic music, watch a video clip of your hero telling her story, curate a list of quotes from people who have overcome major obstacles.
  • Then tackle the problem systematically. Don’t just start swinging wildly like a newbie – you’re growing into an expert, remember? So start practicing like the experts. Identify the problem, gather relevant concepts, and find a viable solution. (I told you how to do this over here.)
BONUS: GRAB MY PERSONAL RESEARCH PLANNING TEMPLATE AND START LEARNING LIKE A REAL EXPERT.

 

Uncertainty rises when you let your gauge of success be how many followers or even how much money your work has brought you. Those metrics puts your capability in someone else’s hands. By instead aiming to understand the system you’re working in and assessing where you fall in the stages of development, you take back control of your focus and your drive. There’s a lot you simply cannot be certain of in life, but you can stack the deck in your favor.

Categories
Mindfulness and Cognitive Science Raising Capable Kids

How to really establish your expertise

You’ve likely heard it over and over again — narrow down into a niche and position yourself as an expert.

Today I’m here to tell you, from the brain science perspective, what it really takes to be an expert in your niche. It’s more than blogging about a range of topics relevant to your niche and it’s more than being quoted in the media. It’s way cooler than that, actually.

 

As a business owner it’s your job to solve problems. There is a method to problem solving that will put you on the track to becoming a real expert in your niche. Here are the characteristics of an expert-like learner versus a non expert-like learner. Read on to see why the way you respond to being wrong and the effort you take to understand the problem are two big indicators in whether you will actually become an expert or if you just claim to be one. Read more at http://alisanelson.coPin that image, girl boss! Or click here to pin directly from Pinterest.

In any domain we can all see that there are those who have knowledge + experience, then there are those who have knowledge, experience, and also this indescribable ability to do everything better. Doctors, entrepreneurs, musicians, athletes. The first will still go on to be a good doctor but the second will go on to extend what it means to be a doctor. Why?

Well I’m all about focusing on the 20% (most significant / important information) and here’s what it is:

What scientists have found is that it comes down to how they learn. How they go about acquiring new skills like responding to a crisis in the operating room or diagnosing a patient.

Whaaa? Yes. The way they approach a problem is different than their peers.

CLICK HERE NOW TO GRAB MY PERSONAL RESEARCH PLANNING TEMPLATE AND START LEARNING LIKE A REAL EXPERT.

 

Getting a better picture of the expert at work

You see, every single one of us forms an idea about how the world works. As we gain new knowledge or experience, we fit it into our mental model of the world (or that specific domain). But the method of how that new piece fits is different between the expert and the non-expert. And to help us get a good understanding I’m going to use an analogy of putting a puzzle together. First, let’s talk about how we put puzzles together:

When you start a new puzzle, do you just start trying to put pieces together or do you first study the box? Do you categorize the pieces? Often you see someone begin with the border, then move on to the bigger sections (the main image or the very colorful ones), then they fill in the details or the more mono-colored pieces (like the sky or the snow).

Why is that an effective method? The edge pieces are of course easy to spot and the big, colorful parts of the picture are easier but I observe that there are deeper principles afoot:

  1. Establishing the border constrains the puzzle. It gives you a concrete edge in which all the remaining pieces must fit. The border acts as your first frame of reference.

  2. Moving next to the big, colorful spots you are able to get a clear orientation to the puzzle. This helps you to be able to start predicting where pieces go as you begin to envision how this first image affects the other elements of the big picture (like distance, perspective, orientation, etc). (Psychologically speaking, these first two steps also tend to build morale. Small wins and rapid succession of success boosts you enough to be more patient with the more difficult pieces).

  3. Finally, putting the rest of the sky together is made easier (most of the time) because it is more like filling in space. You’ve acclimated yourself to the tone of the puzzle so slight variations in color are easier to see and the unique shapes of the pieces are easier to identify. Since this is often the part of the puzzle where the box fails to be helpful, having the established reference points and familiarity with the puzzle helps you continue to be successful.

 

If you’ve read my previous posts on problem solving and learning, you might be starting to make the connections between a puzzle and learning:

  • Understand what the problem is and establish the desired outcome
  • Identify key concepts and language within the domain
  • Use these first two steps to fill in the details, doing small dips into research on these more detailed elements.

These first two steps anchor you so that when the more detailed pieces become important, they don’t cause you to get lost, stuck, or confused.

The better you understand the problem, the less likely you will be lost, stuck, or confused.

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So you want to be an expert in your niche?

This is how a woman becomes a real expert. The puzzle might be a picture of entrepreneurship, or it might be her specific domain as a graphic designer or biz coach, or it may be a specific project like building her first training program. No matter the scale, the expert-like learner will constrain the problem, gain orientation to the language + the various elements involved, and use those anchors to fill in the details. Also:

  • They will refer to the prior art (the box) — and not someone else’s unfinished puzzle.
  • They will not assume they understand the puzzle just because they got the border together.
  • They will not start with the sky.
  • They will not try to place single, random, stand-alone pieces on the table as if they know exactly where they belong.
  • They will not assume that the next puzzle can just be thrown together because they figured this one out (they use the same method every single time, even with the same puzzle).
  • They remove pieces to be reconsidered when a new piece starts to make it look out of place.

Related:
Why you keep obsessing over social media
How to turn self-doubt into an asset

So…is this how you solve a problem?

Let’s take one last look at that idea of a mental model I mentioned at the beginning of this adventure. You have a model in your mind of what it looks like to be a graphic designer or a biz coach or how to create your next product. And because you are still young – even if you’ve been building your biz for a handful of years already – your mental model is incomplete. Do you see it that way? Are you continuing to carefully reference the box and consider the border or are you assuming your puzzle is done? Are you open to having a piece in the wrong position and willing to remove it so it can be placed correctly?

You care about your clients. You’re here, at this point in your life + career, because you want to make a difference in people’s lives and you want to grow into the type of person that people can depend on and even look to for guidance and encouragement.

Related:
4 ways to improve your focus throughout the day
Get consistent: 4 mindsets hurting your business

Take action:

Look at the domain where you repeatedly feel lost, stuck, or confused. Have you done the border work or are you neck-deep in anchor-less details? Take a step toward building that border:

  1. Write down the bigger problem – you have an outcome in mind for your biz or for your clients, now what obstacles are standing in the way?

    Example: Are you dreaming of building a course about a certain topic but wondering how to ensure people buy it before you waste your time? One of your bigger problems here is: How do I effectively influence people? What builds trust between producers and consumers? What are people looking for when they buy something?

     

  2. Write down all the words you can think of that relate to that problem and outcome.

    Influence, building trust, marketing, consumer behavior, positioning, etc.

     

  3. Look beyond other bloggers.

    Influencing other people or any other business topic is going to have principles that transcend our fast-paced online business world. Bloggers will give you the detailed steps to follow but it’s rare for them to teach you the underlying principles. When you look at the bigger principles, the details will become much more obvious.

BONUS: GRAB MY PERSONAL RESEARCH PLANNING TEMPLATE AND START LEARNING LIKE A REAL EXPERT.

 

So tell me in the comments — is this how you put a puzzle together? Does that analogy reveal anything new or interesting about how you go about learning?

 

Categories
Mindfulness and Cognitive Science Neurobiology and Behavior

How to stay focused when learning new things in business

Learning new skills and establishing your footing is essential to surviving in business. But how do you stay focused in a world of information overload?

Let’s say you’re thinking about developing some new products to begin scaling your business efforts and you need to really understand content marketing so you can form a strategy and implement. How often do you head for Google only to find yourself in a rabbit hole in 2 minutes flat? When you finally emerge, you’re signed up for 5 more email lists yet no closer to actually understanding the issue at hand.

In recent posts we’ve talked about the importance of effective problem-solving — when you look at each of these questions (what is content marketing and how does it apply to my business?) as a problem to solve, you increase the likelihood you’ll actually get the answers you need.

In today’s post we’re talking about how to stay focused within the miry bog of the internet. It’s tough work to separate the genuine signal from the noise and on top of all the useless information, you’ve got your own brain to consider. So that’s where I’m coming in – brain science meets creative biz life is where I thrive after all.

Tired of every business question leading to hours of unproductive research (and youtube videos?) Here are 12 tips for maintaining focus and beating procrastination while solving problems like a boss. Plus a bonus template for important “before you google" work to ensure your learning is effective and relevant to your biz.

Cognitive load refers to the capacity of a person’s working memory. The associated theory is applied to learning environments in order to optimize for a common human shortcoming – we can only handle so much new information at one time. Add another layer of ideas to remember without a system in place and you’re bound for information overload.

Luckily, scientists have found useful methods for processing new information and keeping cognitive load low but it’s likely that you’re not employing these methods as you rapidly scroll through google search results.

Use these 12 tips to stay focused the next time you need to learn something new in business

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Here are 12 tips to help you stay focused as you head off to learn new things:

Building awareness

  • Know your signs of overload — It may be feeling angry or overstimulated during or after your work or perhaps your mind goes a little numb and you head for Facebook and start reading unimportant – but funny – posts about hipster princesses.
  • Know your triggers to overload — Are you trying to multitask? Are you tired? Are you diving into google search before you’ve even really thought about the problem? Which behaviors do you see coming before you overload happens?
  • Know how you learn best — If you’re a visual learner but your main source of learning is a podcast you’re going to have trouble processing the information given. Maybe you need to take notes at the same time (whether listening or reading). Maybe you need to map out the problem with pen+paper before you can sit down at your computer.
  • Practice bookmarking or pinning potential resources — We’ve all been there – you’re looking at one post and the author is smart and has back-linked to a different post. It might be interesting but if it’s not actually related to the problem YOU are trying to solve, save it for later. No need to quick learn that information – it’s not going anywhere.
BONUS: GRAB MY PERSONAL RESEARCH PLANNING TEMPLATE AND GET YOUR LEARNING DONE FASTER!

Know the problem

  • Get clear about the big question
  • Brainstorm a list of words / concepts related to that big question
  • Build a list of anchor concepts – the big principles that go beyond online business – to help you sort new information as it comes (useful or not?)
  • Break it into small chunks so you can search in smaller doses with more specific questions
  • Have a clear objective for each of those small dose searches

Pin these related posts for later:
4 steps to problem-solving like a pro
How to stop obsessing over social media

Assess for new understanding

  • Know your intended action (plan to act!) to hold yourself accountable
  • Stay present – checking each new piece of information against the problem / objective (have you solved it yet? Are you staying on task? Are things getting clearer or more confusing?)
  • Relate what you are learning to what you already know – use those anchor principals and your previous understanding to integrate new ideas into your schema. (Move from working memory to long term memory).

How this helps your focus problem

Overload tends to lead to being lost, stuck, or confused. And those are three words you do not want describing your work day. Those words lead to more awful words like procrastination. They lead to dwelling on the unimportant information and tasks that won’t move your business forward. They lead to premature decisions based on incomplete information because you just want to get it over with. You start telling yourself “Just do something!” yea?

Pin this related post for later:
4 mindsets killing your consistency

Following the tips above will help you stay focused on the bigger picture – and the actual problem – while wading into the world of google. They will help you start to systematize your problem-solving, which in turn helps you to stay on top of all the essential tasks of being an entrepreneur. There will always be problems and with a plan (and your free template!!) you can keep solving them like a boss while you wear all the hats / spin all the plates / keep all the balls in the air.

BONUS: GRAB MY PERSONAL RESEARCH PLANNING TEMPLATE AND GET YOUR LEARNING DONE FASTER!
Categories
Mindfulness and Cognitive Science Neurobiology and Behavior Raising Capable Kids

How to stop obsessing over social media

Earlier this week we looked at WHY we tend to obsess over social media – clicking over to Facebook or scrolling through Instagram every time there’s a lull in our work. Today we’re looking at HOW TO STOP. It’s not quite enough to tell yourself that you will only check it twice per day…I’ve got 6 conditions that need to be satisfied in order for scheduled check-ins to be successful!

As I said in this blog post (go read it if you haven’t!), our reaction to social media notifications is similar to a drug addicts response to building drug tolerance. So how do people effectively overcome a drug addiction?

 

We covered WHY you obsessively check your social media...but how do you create a healthy balance between growing your business and not getting obsessed? Many recommend limiting yourself to just a couple check ins per day but that only works if you're satisfying these 6 conditions. Are you setting yourself up for success or are you wasting time obsessing over your social media profiles? Read on to save time. http://alisanelson.co

Pin that image so your fellow girlbosses stop wasting their time too!

If you took the first step and started building awareness around your social media distraction then you’ve moved it from unconscious thought to conscious — that’s huge.

Get the workbook >> your personal action plan for overcoming obsession so social media can be an important tool instead of a waste of your precious time.

So how do we solve the problem?

The next step in problem solving (after understanding the problem) is to look at other similar kinds of problems and investigate the use of its solution. In the case of checking social media every time you start to feel a little stuck or bored, addiction is a good comparison.

In my searching, genuine relationships appear to be the best form of recovery from addiction.

Relationships provide

  1. a way for the addict to gain better self-awareness,
  2. the support + connection a person is usually seeking under the surface, and
  3. purpose to following through.

All three of these characteristics are also key to handling any kind of stress well. So it seems plausible to use these solutions for our issue with digital notifications and their effect on our creativity + productivity.

Related: How to turn self-doubt into an asset

Putting the plan into our context

You’ve likely heard others talk about scheduling when they check social media. I think this has an area of validity so if we add a few things to it, it can serve you well in your business. Here’s when I think it works:

  1. You understand the the compulsion to scroll through pictures is due to chemicals in your brain, not because there is anything life-or-death happening.
  2. You are well-connected to other people whom you feel understand you and support your work.
  3. You have meaningful work that is making progress.
  4. As you establish the new habit, you are self-aware of what triggers your desire to jump on Instagram and actively talk to yourself about why you don’t need to do it.
  5. You choose a constructive + creativity-boosting alternative after recognizing you feel stuck or you’re doubting yourself.
  6. You practice having an abundance mindset: social media can wait./

By satisfying these conditions and forming a plan for when they are not satisfied, I think scheduling one or two specific times when you are checking on social media can be highly effective. You will need to test out what you need after you’ve finished. Meditation or a walk or less-demanding work may be necessary to help you transition back into focused + creative tasks like writing. And this can be applied to other areas as well like email and text messages.

So let’s walk through those conditions.

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You understand the the compulsion to scroll through pictures is due to chemicals in your brain, not because there is anything life-or-death happening.

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Stress in your work can trigger your fight-or-flight stress response. If you’ve conditioned yourself to mentally check out whenever stress arises – even if just for a little while – you’ll need to build awareness around that behavior. Starting with recognizing that it’s a chemical surge in your brain that is directing your attention to social media. Your brain has been wired to see it as a solution. Whatever reason you tell yourself for why you need to check instagram for the twentieth time today is really just an excuse.

Unless of course you actually do have a reason – but then it’s not just a distraction, right?

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You are well-connected to other people whom you feel understand you and support your work.

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Social media can be a great connector. It can also be a cover for real-life-isolation. Whether you are introverted or extraverted, you need people. Our brains are even programmed to seek out security within a tribe. So if in real life you are feeling insecure in your relationships, the pull to social media – where your followers are praising your work and seeking your engagement – will be stronger.

On the flip side, if you are investing in real-life community — people whom you see face-to-face or talk with over Skype — social media is going to be an easier distraction to overcome.

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You have meaningful work that is making progress.

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Purpose is a major influencer. As a business owner you probably had a big reason to put yourself through all the stress of working for yourself. You probably have a future vision in mind that keeps you going when you think about quitting. Are you letting that through in each project you take on? Are you creating a course simply because someone told you to or is it serving your bigger vision? If it’s in line with your bigger vision remind yourself of it! Keep it front and center as you work so you can channel the stress of the struggle toward creating your best work.
If you are struggling and your project isn’t making progress you will be more likely to move on to less important tasks, like instagram or twitter. It’s discouraging to feel like you’re not getting anywhere. Rather than force yourself to struggle (or disengage from the project), look again at the problem you are trying to solve and the outcome you want. Do you have all the information you need? Is there someone you could reach out to who has the skill you’re trying to hack?

Related: 4 steps to solving problems like a pro

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As you establish the new habit, you are self-aware of what triggers your desire to jump on social media and actively talk TO yourself about why you don’t need to do it.

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Stephen Covey talks about how easily we get distracted by urgent, unimportant tasks. He concludes that a sign of a highly effective person is that they focus on the important tasks (and know how to distinguish between types of tasks). What you really want right now is the expected outcome of your project or task – so figure out a way to get that rather than letting yourself get distracted by social media.

You’re not solving the right problem when you disengage from an important task to do an urgent / unimportant one. You’re just wasting your energy.

You’re just wasting your energy when you distract yourself from a difficult but important task. Use it to solve the real problem!

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Related: 4 mindsets hurting your business

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You choose a constructive + creativity-boosting alternative after recognizing you feel stuck or you’re doubting yourself.

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Your creativity is stalling and you’re losing focus because you feel stuck, you’re doubting yourself, etc. That is the worst time to get on instagram and start scrolling through perfectly styled images! Your brain needs a break. So reduce the stimulation and step away. Get present and take a few deep breaths.

Better to go outside and spend 30 minutes people-watching then to scroll through images in rapid fire.

Related: 15 super-easy self care ideas for creative entrepreneurs

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You practice having an abundance mindset: social media can wait.

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It’s not going to be gone forever. People won’t revoke their likes just because you haven’t responded yet. It can wait.

Really. It can wait.

Not indefinitely – in fact you know exactly when you will get to it. Because it’s scheduled. (And hey! With all the new algorithms, you don’t have to worry about missing your favorites in your feed!)

When each of these conditions are met, you can and should be successful in scheduling 1 or 2 social media check-ins throughout the work day. These will likely be longer because you’ve got an outcome in mind so you aren’t just endlessly scrolling.
As far as the time of day you check, I recommend afternoon and evening based on what I know about trying to create after consuming rapid-pace media but being home with kids all day I’m still working on fine-tuning my own schedule.

So tell me in the comments, will you try scheduling your social media check-ins?

Ready to move past obsessive social media checking? CLICK HERE NOW to grab your free workbook loaded with bonus content + guided questions and start building better habits that boost creativity + productivity.
Categories
Neurobiology and Behavior

Why you keep obsessing over social media even when you know you shouldn’t (+ free workbook)

Picture this:

You’re sitting at your desk and while struggling through writing content for your new ebook you decide to check Instagram. When you open the app on your phone, a big orange rectangle pops up in the bottom corner telling you that you have 40 new likes, 10 new followers, and 10 comments. A smile stretches across your face. You were testing out some new hashtags and these are exciting results. So you start going through them and momentarily forget all about your writing.

You start to transition back to your ebook (30 minutes later) but your mind is still buzzing with those numbers. You struggle to regain focus. Within a few minutes you pick up your phone again and open up that app and this time there’s another dozen new likes. But inside you feel yourself deflate a little bit. Now when you turn back to write your ebook you find it impossible to stay focused and besides all your inspiration is gone so you start clicking through blog posts about Instagram and eventually anything that catches your eye.

Sound familiar?

Why does this happen? What’s going on and how do we make it stop?

These are the questions I’ll be answering in today’s post.

Do you find yourself on social media whenever you start to drift in your focus? Here we're using the science of human behavior to understand WHY it happens even when you know you shouldn't. Plus download a free workbook and start building new habits that will boost your creativity + productivity. Social media doesn't have to be the bad guy. Regain your focus and your drive. More at http://alisanelson.co/blog

First, we understand.

Notifications – mobile + desktop, push + in-app – are designed to get your attention. That’s kinda the point right? And they do a bang-up job. Whether it’s email or social media or text messages or slot machines (whaaa?? Yes.), the brain science is all along the same lines.

First piece of data: notifications (and slot machines) give what psychologists call variable-ratio rewards. An unpredictable reward that increases your anticipation of receiving it so you return frequently in hopes that this will be the time to receive the reward. Like our example above with the Instagram notifications, your brain is programmed to boost dopamine in anticipation to checking your social profiles because some time previously you received a great reward – like new followers or maybe even a client inquiry.

A study done in monkeys shows the same response. When the monkey does work, he receives a reward. A look at his neurochemistry shows that during the work dopamine is spiking, motivating him to do the work in anticipation of a reward. When a new experiment is run in which the monkey only receives the reward 50% of the time, dopamine skyrockets.

There is greater anticipation — greater motivation to pursue the reward — when the reward is not guaranteed BUT occurs often enough to feel possible.

Important note: we can also convince ourselves of a greater probability. That’s what casinos do – making it appear that the odds are 50/50. If you understood the real odds you wouldn’t give them any money.

CLICK HERE NOW to grab your free workbook loaded with bonus content + guided questions and start building better habits that boost creativity + productivity now!

 

Second piece of data: we are always pursuing happiness. Dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins are all chemicals that our brains use to condition our behavior for the sake of happiness. Back to our hunter-gatherer ancestors, our brains used dopamine to help us remember where we found food. It uses serotonin + oxytocin to condition our behavior within our group or tribe for acceptance and safety.

The involvement of these chemicals forges a new neural connection instantaneously (where repetition builds new connections gradually). This means that when emotion is involved, we instantly get a new habit and when it’s not involved we have the painful process of practice.

When you are sitting at your computer and struggling to focus on writing your new ebook, your brain is looking for ways to feel happy. Due to the neural pathway formed other times you’ve checked social media, you get this bright idea to pick up your phone. And your brain gets dopamine. You feel happy, even if you haven’t actually solved any problem.

Every time you pick up your phone, you reinforce the habit. That neural connection gets insulated (making the electrical current travel faster) and strengthening the drive to pick up your phone when you’re feeling stuck or doubting yourself.

Third piece of data: the brain is always seeking happiER. Think about drug addiction. We know that the first use can send dopamine levels soaring in the brain. But the next time, with the same amount of drug, dopamine levels do not go as high. The brain seeks novelty. So what does a person have to do when they use drugs again? They have to up the dose.

If you’ve programmed yourself to eat a donut when you feel rejected, soon you will have to eat 2 in order to get the same feeling, or deal with the disappointment of an unfulfilling donut (and assume the shop screwed up the recipe this time).

In our scenario when you picked up the phone a second time your brain didn’t respond the same way. Rational or not, it doesn’t much matter, you feel disappointed. You feel disappointment due to the absence of dopamine (and probably serotonin + oxytocin as well).

This bears repeating: You feel disappointment when there is an absence of dopamine where you’ve experienced it in the past. It is a feeling brought on by chemicals in your brain.
We tend to blame the situation – and ourselves – when we feel down about not getting the attention we were hoping for. But that disappointment is neither selfish nor warranted. It just is.

Second, we make a plan.

Here’s where I’m going to get a little bossy. We all know how easy it is to read a post and walk away unchanged. But if you’ve made it this far it’s time to take action. You’ve got homework, love.

Step 1: Start paying attention.

You need to build awareness around this behavior. I want you to journal or bullet out answers to these questions:

  • What triggers do you see in your thoughts or environment?
  • How are you feeling when you reach for your phone or click over to Twitter?
  • What kinds of projects are you usually working on?
  • How long has it been since you talked to real people?
  • How’s your sleep these days?

If you only go this far, I commend you. Increasing your awareness around a behavior is a vital first step and can, in itself, influence change.

But if you’re ready to go all in and want to develop a healthier relationship with the social side of your business, go on to step 2.

Step 2: Get the free workbook and start building your personal action plan for overcoming social media obsession

CLICK HERE NOW to grab your free workbook loaded with bonus content + guided questions and start building better habits that boost creativity + productivity now!

 

Categories
Mindfulness and Cognitive Science

4 steps to problem solving like a pro

You run a business. Problem-solving is a necessary part of your everyday. But do you ever stop to consider how you solve problems?

There are two kinds of problem solvers.

The first focuses on the moment. They like to make small pivots whenever needed to get around an obstacle. They aren’t thinking much about the effect that pivot has on their trajectory, they are just solving the problem for today and will solve tomorrow’s problems for tomorrow. Their aim is to avoid present disruption and they value that outcome more than the path they originally started on.

The second kind of problem solver is one who does whatever is necessary to get through the obstacle while maintaining their chosen path. They are solving a problem so that it never appears again. Their aim is to get to point B and they value that outcome more than avoiding disruption or set back.

The first form of problem-solving is a waste of time. It avoids learning for long-term ROI and leads to habits + behaviors that don’t align with the vision you most-likely have for your business.

If you want your business to be able to bear load — multiple products + tons of happy customers falling over themselves to get at those products, all while you spend less time running around like mad and more time pouring into your relationships + passions — then the foundation must be predictably strong. Your processes, the quality of your products, the way you handle problems when they arise — you need to know without a doubt that it all holds up to the new weight of your growth.

Are you “solving” problems by short cutting? I get it, it saves time and solving problems can be painful. But if you’re always stepping around a problem instead of getting to the heart of the issue, you risk the survival of your business and your ability to be creative + productive. Instead, use the numerous problems that arise while running a business to learn and you’ll set yourself up for success in the long-term. Check out these 4 steps for problem solving like a pro. More at http://alisanelson.co.

 

I’m going to walk you through 4 steps of expert-like problem solving. But first, why should you even care?

Problems cause cortisol levels to rise in our blood stream. They stress our system as they introduce uncertainty to our path. Turning uncertainty to knowledge is often a painful experience because it requires new thinking and expanding our comfort zones.

Here’s the thing: every time you decide to deviate around the problem to avoid the mental + emotional pain of understanding, you steal from yourself and your clients. And you increase the likelihood that your business won’t survive in the long-term.

When you prioritize painless over learning, your business suffers.

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You’ve chosen to be an entrepreneur and you’ve chosen to move past your most-obvious options for revenue in order to serve more people and create the life + space you want. Now it’s time to resolve that you will solve the many problems you face in a way that builds resilience, hope, and a business that really meets the needs of its clients.

Ok, ok, on to those steps:

  1. Understand the problem — the knowns, the unknowns, the conditions
  2. Make a plan — do you know a related problem and can you use it here?
  3. Carry out the plan
  4. Assess the result

Effective problem-solving is a skill. And like any other skill, it requires practice. You wouldn’t jump onto Adobe Illustrator for the first time and expect to know exactly what to do, would you? How do you even know it’s the best tool for the project? You should know without a doubt how + why it will do the job before you start.

So first you would think about what you need to do for your project, then you would consider the various methods for answering the need, finally you would consider the technology at your disposal.

After you’ve really understood the problem, you would form a plan for how to use the technology to apply the method and solve your problem.

>>>> You now have a process to test-run for solving the problem. (Woohoo!)

Once you’ve carried out your plan, you need to look at the result and determine if it aligns with the need. If it doesn’t, you go back to the first step – did you miss something? What part of the need didn’t translate?

The common response here is to just start fiddling. Not sure why your CSS isn’t coming out correctly? Let’s just add x, y, and z to the code and see what happens.

You’re deviating again – stop it! It’s the old throw spaghetti at the wall and see if it sticks. It’s an attempt to conform a problem to your current understanding — assuming there isn’t anything else to learn. You are capable of more sophisticated + effective forms of problem solving, ok? Ok.

So how does all of this translate to resilience, hope, and a business that really meets the needs of your clients?

Easy. It programs your brain to effectively respond to stress. (Tweet that).

Responding to a rise in cortisol by getting away from the problem as fast as you can programs your brain to disengage from life when thing get tough. You use the energy your brain is giving you to escape the problem instead of solve it. It’s why you think of eating sugary + fatty foods when you get not-so-great-feeling feedback from a client. It’s why you keep clicking over to Facebook when you’re supposed to be writing a blog post but the words aren’t quite coming out right. It’s also why you blindly follow what someone else says (since it sounds close enough) instead of making sure the solution is solid.
Following the above 4 steps to solving a problem keeps you engaged in the present world. It uses the rise in cortisol to your advantage as you channel the surge of endorphins + dopamine to focus on the problem. That in turn reinforces the belief that you can solve the problem, which builds hope + optimism since your brain really likes feeling capable and in control. Those good feelings forge neural connections telling your brain that a great way to feel happy is to focus + solve the problem. That’s resilience.

And all those new habits are what is going to lead you to do only the best things for your business + your clients.

Are you “solving” problems by short cutting? I get it, it saves time and solving problems can be painful. But if you’re always stepping around a problem instead of getting to the heart of the issue, you risk the survival of your business and your ability to be creative + productive. Instead, use the numerous problems that arise while running a business to learn and you’ll set yourself up for success in the long-term. Check out these 4 steps for problem solving like a pro. More at http://alisanelson.co.

Take action:

  1. Pin that infographic (hover over it for the pin it link) for reference when your next problem comes up.
  2. Leave a comment below with a problem you’re trying to solve right now and I’ll help you come up with a first step using the above method.