Stop, revive, survive - a timely lesson to avoid crash and burn

In New South Wales (NSW) Australia, we’ve had a long running road safety campaign called Stop, Revive, Survive. The campaign urges drivers who have a long journey ahead of them to stop every 2 hours for a short break - whether it’s to have a coffee and something to eat or to walk about and stretch their legs.

The point of the campaign is to reduce the number of deaths on the road, particularly during major holiday periods when just about everyone packs up and jumps in the car to go somewhere.

Research has shown a long journey is very fatiguing, particularly so for the driver as they require high concentration levels. It has also shown that about two hours concentration is all we can take before the possibility of mistakes creep in.

What has this go to do with creative infopreneurs? A lot, I believe.

I don’t know about you, but when I’m in the ‘drivers seat’ in front of my computer I’m very eager to get to my destination - whether it’s writing, research or general catch up. So much so that when I start to feel a bit stiff in shoulders from all that hunching over or my mouse arm aches, I ignore it.

I say to myself, ‘just a few minutes more, then I’ll stop for a break’ - but I don’t. And when I finally do stop, it takes me quite a while to iron out the kinks in my neck and back enough to get out of the chair!

Maybe it’s me, I don’t know. But what I do know, the longer I sit in the ‘drivers seat’ the more fatigued both my mind and body become. And that’s not good as it takes a toll on the quality of my work, and I take pride in what I do. Even more so if I’m being paid for it!

I believe we owe it to ourselves to get into the habit of every couple of hours to stop what we are doing, get up and move around. Take advantage of this time to chill out, have something to eat, reflect on what you’ve been doing, do some exercise. It doesn’t matter what. But of one thing I’m sure, when you go back to what you were doing, you’ll feel refreshed and motivated and a lot more productive. I know I do.

Give it a try and and you’ll soon reap the benefits.

Stop, Revive, Survive.

Here’s some facts about time. There are:

• 60 seconds in every minute,
• 60 minutes in each hour,
• 24 hours in a day, and
• 7 days in a week.

It’s the same for all of us. The difference for each of us is how we use this time.

As infopreneurs and solopreneurs, time is a precious thing. We are very aware of it as we work towards our deadlines.

So let me ask. Do you control and use it as a friend? Or does it control you so it’s become your foe?

Friend or foe. Which is it for you.

And if you answered friend, that’s fantastic. We’d love to know your secret, so don’t keep it to yourself and let us all know you’re secret to managing time.

But I digress…… No matter if time is your friend or foe, we all need to take a ‘time-out‘. Just like in a basketball game where the coach calls a time-out so he can gather the players together and discuss and revise tactics, you need to do the same.

Why, because you need to go to the sideline and take a total game view. When you’re busy playing in the game, you have a different perspective of how it’s playing out. You’re focused on your next move. The coach on the sideline is focused on the big picture and what the team needs to do to win.

So take a leaf out of the coach’s book and call a time-out for yourself. Give yourself time to review your play and tweak and adjust as necessary and then get back in the game. Being able to take time-out and prepare for different possibilities makes it much easier to cope with anything thrown in your way. Just like in a basketball game.

Here are three suggestions on how you can put your time-outs to good use.

Review your game plan

Sit down with your goals and objectives and ask yourself questions such as:

• Am I you on the right track to achieving them?
• Do I need to change my play strategy?
• Do I need change what I do, my tasks?
• Are they still realistic?
• Are they still needed?

Review your timeframes

Once you’ve looked at your game plan, think about the timeframes you’ve put down to achieve them.

Are they too ambitious? Are they too easy? Either can be demotivating, making it difficult to achieve your goals.

Remember timeframes are only estimates you’ve given yourself. Make sure you build in time for the flow of day to day life and interruptions.

Getting from the back court to the basket isn’t always a straight line, you need to allow for the occasional zigzag or backwards step. And that’s OK, because you know you will ultimately be heading forward to that basket and scoring.

Know your workstyle rhythm

By knowing when and how you like to work, you are much more productive and effective. I talked about this in Rhythm of Creativity so I won’t repeat myself.

Once you find and understand your rhythm you will be amazed at how much you can get done. Use your time-out to reflect on your creative rhythm and how you can continue to make it work for you.

Final thoughts

Be kind to yourself and use the refreshing power of a time-out regularly. This way you’ll make time your friend, not your foe. I know you’ll find it very empowering!

Did you know ‘provocation’ is an extremely effective way of helping you create new concepts?

And before you think I’ve gone absolutely mad - by ‘provocation’ I mean the lateral thinking tool developed by Edward de Bono!

Provocation is about breaking the way you think to help you create new thinking patterns. Huh? I can hear you say…. I did the same too. Let me explain.

Say you’re in a creative slump. You’ve hit a low point and your mind just doesn’t want to think creatively.

But it needs to - you have an article to write, a blog to get out, a chapter in your book to get finished and you can’t keep sitting there staring a blank screen or page.

You’ve tried all the normal tricks to get you going. But have you tried ‘provocation’? It’s a great way to help you break out by de-structuring your day to day thinking patterns and letting you get on with creating new thinking patterns.

And before you know it, you’re off and running again! So how do you use ‘provocation’ to think creatively?

Easy, just make a silly or stupid statement.

It doesn’t have to be connected with your problem, that’s the beauty of it. You can take any statement and apply it to what you want solved. It’s purpose is to be a starting point.

Now go ahead and think of a provocative statement. It could be something like “the sky is red” or “I can breathe underwater” or even more sillier. It’s up to you.

Once you’ve thought of your provocative statement, write it down. I suggest you make sure you can see it easily as you may want to walk around whilst thinking about it.

Now look for ways to make the statement less provocative.

You could ask yourself:

• what is needed to make it more sensible?
• what could be the benefits or costs to it?
• what are the positives and negatives?
• how would it work?

These may sound like strange questions, but give it a try. It’s a great lateral thinking tool and helps you to think more creatively without bringing or minimizing our judgments and experiences into the frame.

You can use this tool whether you’re alone or with a group. Let me know what you think.

I was humming the tune “The Rhythm of Life” from Bob Fosse’s musical “Sweet Charity” to myself earlier (for what reason I have no idea) and it suddenly struck me creativity has a rhythm as well. The song goes:

“And The Rhythm Of Life is a powerful beat,
Puts a tingle in your fingers and a tingle in your feet,
Rhythm in your bedroom,
Rhythm in the street,
Yes, The Rhythm Of Life is a powerful beat”

And if you think about it, the same applies to creativity. It too has a powerful beat. When you’re in the creativity zone, it’s a marvelous thing. Nothing around you matters except what you’re doing. To me it’s like being in a bubble where time and the universe stands still.

Mornings are when I’m at my creative best. I’m at my freshest, my head is clear and my mind is ready - and usually willing - to go on that creative journey. And because I know I’m a morning person I make sure I allocate all the tasks that require me to think or be creative to this time.

If you want to take advantage of the powerful beat of the creative rhythm:

1. Work out when you feel most creative.

Are you a morning person? An afternoon person? A night owl? It doesn’t matter which it is, what matters is that you know and take advantage of it. It’s when you are ‘in the zone’ and most productive.

2. Get into the routine of being creative at that time.

It helps because you’re mind and body are ready for it. As I mentioned, I’m a morning person and my routine it to get up early, walk the dog as the exercise limbers both my body and mind, and then sit down in front of my computer or pen and paper with freshly brewed coffee in hand and rev up that creative beat.

3. Allocate a specific amount of time for your creativity session.

Set your watch, cell phone, computer or any type of alarm for the time you’ve set aside. Respect this time. You don’t have to go over it, but don’t go under it. Even if you don’t feel like writing or particularly switched on creative-wise, use it to read, take notes, daydream about what you want or are planning as your next infopreneurial opportunity.

Remember, the rhythm of creativity is a powerful beat, so let it put a tingle in your fingers and feet and go for it!

Have you ever wondered what separates the ‘men from the boys’ or ‘women from the girls’ in infopreneurial terms? What makes the ‘men and women’ more success than the ‘boys and girls’?

After pondering this for a while it seems to me these successful women and men have something in common.

They are willing to take risks. They take actions that have a real risk to achieve an advantage or benefit.

Is this you?

Taking risks doesn’t mean these successful infopreneurs haven’t done their homework. They have! Usually lots of it.

They know what they are doing (well most of the time…) because of seven key factors.

1. Opportunities don’t just land in their lap. They go out and find them. Successful infopreneurs are always on the hunt for opportunities and are always open to possibilities.
2. Once an opportunity has been found the infopreneur goes hunting for as much information about it as they can. How else can you work out if it’s worth the time, effort and money pursuing?
3. They use tools and techniques such as forcefield analysis, cost benefit analysis and so forth to help them evaluate the opportunity.
4. Decisions to go ahead (or not) are made based on both the upside (benefit) and the downside (cost). You need to understand both if you want to make an informed decision. ‘Gut feeling’ will only tell you so much!
5. Communication is key. A successful infopreneur is confident and competent as a communicator. It’s their business after all. They are about information and you must be able to communicate well in all the different forms to be effective.
6. Successful infopreneurs know how to convert opportunities and possibilities into profitable results.
7. And most importantly, they are persistent. They don’t let a non-success (my word for failure) to stop them. They learn from it and move on. They know dwelling on it is unproductive and pointless.

Does this ring true to you?