“Trust is the conduit for influence. It’s the medium through which ideas travel.” — Amy Cuddy
Your ability to influence the world has nothing to do with your fame or follower count.
Go swipe through this Erika Brooks Adickman post and you’ll see what I mean.
Now, on to this week’s ideas…
1. HOW I IMPROVED MY SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILES IN 15 MINUTES
“When was the last time you reviewed your social media profiles? Not your feeds or your stats, but your actual account profile pages — the ones people look at when they decide whether or not to follow you?”
When it comes to social media profiles, most of us take a “set it and forget it” approach to them.
But this week I spent a few minutes reviewing mine and made five simple changes that improved my social media profiles in 15 minutes.
The changes included to adjust my cover images to reflect my brand instead of my branding, add a Start Here highlight to my Instagram page, and create a pinned tweet designed to drive engagement instead of promotion.
RELATED: Nine surprising things you can do on social media platforms.
2. HOW TO FOCUS ON THE ESSENTIAL
“If you really believe that a few things are exceptionally valuable and most other things are noise, then you will automatically, naturally start to change your behavior. It’s about what matters most to you in life — it’s not just about less, it’s about essential things.”
This isn’t about minimalism, it’s about focus — and it’s a must-watch.
In a 9-minute video author Greg McKeown talks to Matt D’Avella about how to focus on the essential and the disciplined pursuit of less.
He explains how to apply essentialism to the things you own, work you do, and way you spend your attention.
RELATED: How to declutter your home.
3. HOW TO HAVE A DIFFICULT CONVERSATION
“During difficult conversations, it’s important to be extremely concise. Aim to describe your observations, feelings, needs and requests in less than 40 words. Using more words suggests you’re justifying your needs, and this decreases their power.”
Your willingness and ability to engage in a tough conversation can make a huge difference in your work, company, or life.
Dave Bailey explains how to have a difficult conversation including the importance of recognizing the difference between observations and evaluations, emotions and thoughts, and needs and strategies.
RELATED: The art of making difficult things look simple.
4. THE “HIGH SCHOOL PARTY” MARKETING STRATEGY
“Imagine if you could be the ‘popular kid’ among your clients and customers — and get them to give you business on the back of that popularity. You can get to that level faster than you think.”
It turns out one of the same things that makes kids popular in high school can make your business popular among potential clients and customers.
Gary Vaynerchuk shares his “high school party” marketing strategy, which revolves around using Facebook ads and social media content to attract an audience and invite them to an exclusive event you host.
RELATED: The secret to getting more followers and customers.
5. 100+ RESOURCES TO OPTIMIZE YOUR PRODUCTIVITY AND PERFORMANCE
“I spent well over $100,000 in the last five years in a quest to optimize health, maximize productivity, and install systems to ensure peak performance. In the process, I have purchased and tested hundreds of products, programs, apps, and services, unearthing the critical few that actually make a difference.”
Chris Sparks has compiled a list of 100+ products that will improve your productivity and performance with everything from sleep and habits, to work and wealth.
I won’t bother explaining it in more detail because I know you’re already curious to check it out.
RELATED: 100 resources that will make you a better writer.
6. HOW TO TRICK YOURSELF INTO A FRESH START
“While there are only so many first days of anything on the calendar, what matters is finding and emphasizing days that are personally meaningful or motivating to you — like a birthday, an anniversary, the start of an event or activity, or a religious occasion. Highlighting these as opportunities sets you up to feel that burst of motivation more frequently.”
You don’t have to wait for your birthday or New Year’s to benefit from the motivational boost that comes from a fresh start.
Ashley Abramson breaks down how to trick yourself into a fresh start including to mark up your calendar, schedule breaks, and seek out small changes.
RELATED: How to get motivated to do something.
7. HOW TO REPLACE YOUR TO DO LIST WITH INTERSTITIAL JOURNALING
“During your day, journal every time you transition from one work project to another. Write a few sentences in your journal about what you just did, and then a few more sentences about what you’re about to do.”
It might seem like adding another task to your plate would decrease your productivity, but this post suggests the opposite may be true.
Coach Tony explains how to replace your to do list with interstitial journaling and suggests doing so can actually help you pivot from one piece of work to another and make you more productive as a result.
RELATED: Screw your to do list. You need a done list.
8. SEVEN NON-OBVIOUS TRENDS SHAPING OUR FUTURE
“With tech moving as fast as it is, old things are quickly getting replaced by shinier, newer, often more complex things. But not everyone’s jumping on board — and some who’ve been on board are choosing to jump off in favor of what worked for them in the past.”
One of the best ways to figure out where we’re headed is to look beyond the obvious trends in our world right now and find the ones beneath the surface.
Rohit Bhargava has done just that and come up with seven non-obvious trends shaping our future including retro trust, muddled masculinity, and enterprise empathy.
RELATED: The jobs of the future won’t be professions.
9. WHY WE PROCRASTINATE
“Procrastination isn’t a unique character flaw or a mysterious curse on your ability to manage time, but a way of coping with challenging emotions and negative moods induced by certain tasks — boredom, anxiety, insecurity, frustration, resentment, self-doubt and beyond.”
The cure for procrastination isn’t to get better at managing your time — it’s to get better at managing your emotions.
Charlotte Lieberman interviewed a series of experts about why we procrastinate and discovered the root cause of procrastination is an attempt to avoid negative feelings She also suggests several ways to overcome your procrastination habit.
RELATED: What will happen if you start today.
10. HOW TO FIGURE YOUR LIFE OUT
“The more we focus on the future, the easier it is to overlook the value of our past.”
Our lives are a reflection of the choices we make and the choices we make are influenced by what we give our attention.
In this post I explain how to figure your life out by paying closer attention to your words, instincts, and time.
RELATED: How to gamify your life.
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WHERE I FOUND THIS STUFF
I got some of this week’s ideas from Rahim Hirji, Kyle Westaway, Khe Hy, and Article Group — they’re awesome and worth checking out.
Image via travelnow.or.crylater.