Sunday, June 30, 2013

7 Tricks to Improve Your Writing Overnight

7 “Tricks” to Improve Your Writing Overnight

Here are seven quick “tricks” that can improve the very next piece you write.


Know your reader.

This means more than knowing a few demographics (how old they are, their average income, etc.). To know your readers means you understand their fears, frustrations, and aspirations. Writing from the reader’s perspective will dramatically change the way you write.

Know your objective.

Every piece you write (blog post, press release, video script, or anything else) must have only one objective. I call this objective the Most Wanted Result, or “MWR.” Knowing your MWR forces you to write with crystal-clear focus.

Use short words.

To persuade, you must be easy to understand. Using short words is one of the best ways to do this. Don’t show off how many big words you know.

Use short sentences.

Your thoughts come across more clearly in compact sentences. An added bonus: short sentences prevent you from confusing your readers.

Use short paragraphs.

Imagine you come to a webpage filled with a large block of text. There are no paragraph breaks. Are you likely to read it? Most people would say no. Make your writing skimmable, scannable, and scrollable. Use short paragraphs.

Use active language.

Active language is vigorous and interesting. Passive language is boring. How do you know which is which? In an active sentence, the subject is doing the acting: “Bob fixes cars.” In a passive sentence, the target of the action becomes the subject of the sentence. For instance, instead of saying, “Bob fixes cars,” I might say, “The cars are fixed by Bob.”

Passive language presents your idea poorly. It feels “backwards.” It’s also more difficult for many readers to understand. Write with power. Use active language.

Write recklessly, re-write ruthlessly.

When you write your first draft, it’s okay if it’s awful. In other words, right recklessly. After you have your first draft on paper (or hard drive), filled with power and energy, you can clean up any “messes” you might’ve made. Be ruthless when you re-write.

3 “Bonus Tricks”

I know I only promised seven, but here are three more “tricks” that can make a big difference in the quality of your writing. Think of them as bonuses.

Have a writing routine.

You already have a “recipe” for writing. You may not be conscious of it, and it may not be very good, but you do have a general procedure you follow when it’s time to write. The elements of that recipe can include where you write, what time of day, with what tools, etc.

Why not consciously engineer your recipe, or routine, for writing? Here’s a link to a good writing routine you might use as a model.

Let your writing “age.”

I learned this technique from Stephen King’s book On Writing. After you’ve completed the first draft, put it away for a week or two. Let it “age.” When you come back to it with fresh eyes, potential improvements will practically leap off the page.

Finish writing before getting feedback.

Write the best first draft you’re capable of, let it “age” for a week or two, then revise it. Only then should you share your writing for feedback. Only get feedback from a “trusted reader.” Teach them how to give you good feedback.

I like using the “C.U.B. Formula” (from Michael Masterson and Mike Palmer’s book, Copy Logic). Tell your trusted readers to highlight anything they find Confusing, Unbelievable, or Boring. Then weigh their feedback and decide if you need to make changes.

Use these simple techniques, and I practically guarantee your writing will improve.

Question: what are some high-leverage techniques you have used successfully to improve your writing?

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Stop (_____) and Start (____)

Are YOU Ready for the Ultimate Makeover?
Do you sense you are becoming a bit stagnant, perhaps slightly stale?  Do you feel it’s time to freshen your self up?  Are you ready for a ‘makeover’?

Millions, if not billions, are spent every year by millions, if not billions of people, in pursuit of a new or improved self image.  For the vast majority it’s a surface exercise focused around appearances.  Facials, hairstyling, nails, eyebrows and skin all get the treatment.  The aim is to refresh ones physical image and hopefully ‘ramp up’ ones confidence to face whatever and whoever life brings our way!  Many will embark on some serious nipping and tucking, thinning and liposuction, scraping and exfoliating, on their way to the ultimate overhaul!

Most people are aware that it’s a superficial approach which only temporarily fixes some surface issues.  There is a feel good factor that doesn’t just come out of a bottle!  But it’s short lived.  There may or may not be the realization that the whole makeover process is NOT ultimately about ones appearance.  The whole exercise is really a business deal! I attract and impress you with a new or improved appearance and you give me the energy of your attention and admiration which I can then convert into a sense of esteem and worth!  Deep down most are aware that time and money could be better spent.

A few of the many who recognise that it’s often a fools errand don’t ‘turn away’ from the makeover philosophy, they ‘turn deeper’.  They realise that if ones sense of self worth, security and serenity, even ones attractiveness, are to be enhanced, then it has to come from within. It is unnecessary to make visible changes, but necessary to beautify ones personality, to ‘nip’ those negative thoughts in the bud and ‘tuck’ away those feelings of helplessness and depression, to ‘scrape’ out those layers of habitual neediness and ‘exfoliate’ those long dead beliefs and misperceptions.

Just as the physical makeover can require an array of therapists, the ‘personality makeover’ usually entails the hunt for the personal development gurus, the experts on how realise and ‘unleash’ your full, unlimited, amazing and incredible potential as an all round human being!   There seems to be plenty of those around today! Some will head for the bookshop and then fill their shelves with the ‘how to’ self help manuals.  Others will book in for the ‘miracle changes in three days’ course, or the enlightenment in an afternoon workshop, or the transformation in a weekend retreat!  None will change your appearance, except perhaps to restore a spiritual twinkle to your eye. Each is more deeply intended to help you to do your own changing!  To help you find your own power to change what you think, how you feel and the way you act.  All are useful, all have a part to play, on the way to finding the ‘right way for me’.

Eventually there is the ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ realization. It takes time and consciously focused effort to realise and apply the wisdom, insights, tools and inner treatments on the road to the ‘more enlightened, happier and kinder me’.  The ‘inner makeover’ is really a cleaning and scrubbing of the soul.  It requires the continuous input of insight and information in order to trigger and sustain an ongoing process of self-realization.   It requires the conscious translation of those realizations into action in order to replace the deeply entenched habits of self-sabotage!  Then it requires time to review, as the ‘results of practice’ are assessed, in order to discern what is working, what ‘feels’ right and what is still way short of a me being the new ‘inner me’!  Phew!

It can all feel like hard work.  Which is probably why so few are able to turn away from the distracting stimulations of the glamorous surfaces of the world for long enough to allow themselves to work on the ‘deepest tissues’ of their mental and emotional issues.

And so... in the context of this short article, for the sake of brevity in a busy world, here are seven inner makeover ‘markers’ that you can lay down every day without needing to sit at the feet of the guru or slope of on a ten day silence retreat.  They are all a bit ‘stop and start’!  That’s because each is a call to STOP and each has an invitation to START.

Stop BLAMING and Start CREATING
“Someone else is responsible”, is one of the deepest layers of our programming.  It stops us from realising the primary dynamic of human consciousness which is the creative process of life and living.  Any workshop worth it’s salt will facilitate your realisation that ‘I am responsible for the world’.  Not the world ‘out there’ but how we create the world out there ‘in here’!  But as long as we play the blame game, as long as we point the mental finger at anyone else for what we feel and where we are, it means we are killing our creativity.  So ...STOP IT!

Then your energy is free to START thinking creatively.  Even if it’s just in retrospect to begin with.  Questions like, “How could I have responded differently or why did I react like that,” serve to interrupt the old ‘it’s them’ programming and allow you to start recovering the full spectrum of your creative abilities.  Be patient, it’s a little time.

Stop WORRYING and Start LIVING
Some people, often called ‘researchers’, spend their time measuring how much time in our lifetime we spend in front of a TV or at our computer screen or waiting in queues.  It’s usually years for each of such non-activities.  Or how much time we spend just sitting down.  That’s usually many years.  But how much time do we spend worrying in a lifetime of time?  Would it be days, months or years?  Could it be as much as a decade of our entire life?  Some seem to ‘worry so’!  It is probably our deepest habit.  All the while we will be the first to say that we know worry is a complete waste of time. It changes nothing.  We become absent from the present while we get lost in a fictitious future and make our self extremely unhappy in the process...now!  So...STOP IT!

It’s easy to say START living.  But it somehow doesn’t compute.  Just saying it doesn’t renew our enthusiasm.  Probably because we cannot see that we are not really living.  We don’t easily notice that we are often just passing time before we die, occasionally interrupting our self with fleeting moments of excitement that we mistake for a happy life.  Occasionally, in between such moments, we might think, “Is this all there is”?   Then we worry if we will ever know authentic happiness before time runs out!  Life only begins when you realise you have no future!  Now there is a meditation!

Stop REGRETTING and Start FORGETTING
Sometimes we need to refer to a previous experience in order to deal with what’s in front of us now.  That’s when looking back is OK.   But wishing it could have been different, that we could have made a better choice, that things could/should have been avoided or defended better, is to lose your self in a fictional and speculative mental movie.  STOP it!  Forget the past.  The past, as they say, is past!  What keeps the past alive is our ‘idea’ of the future.  We keep using the future to create a better past!  It’s all about the ‘story of me’.  It’s the story we tell ourselves about ourselves.  We don’t realise ‘I am not a story’ of a future or a past, I am me, here and now!  If there is any desire for success and/or achievement in the future then the past will often be a heavy weight pulling us back into doubt and excuses, “I can’t succeed/achieve because I said this or did that or thought this and chose that”.  All references to what is long gone.

To START forgetting requires the conscious practice of releasing our self from the story of our life.  That requires the realisation that, “I am not a story”!  That means forgetting what other people in my story have said and done, and what I have said and done in response, yesterday.  That means forgetting any sorrow and suffering that you felt throughout all your yesterdays.  It is possible.  We are capable of starting a new story every day.  But first we have to experiment and taste the difference it makes to the quality of our life, to our relationships in life, when we cease to regret and just forget.

Stop RESISTING and Start ACCEPTING
It’s seems that we are fated to live a life of resistance while not being aware that we do so.  Even when we seem to know that whatever we resist will persist, we still insist to resist!  Whether it’s someone else’s ideas, or their desires, or their opinion, or just ‘them’, we square up against them, even if it’s just in our own mind.  In such moments we are essentially killing our contentment and generating anxiety.

So ...STOP IT!  Try starting to accept everything.  It doesn’t mean agreeing, but stop disagreeing.  It doesn’t mean condoning, but stop condemning.  As you do you will generate a very different quality of energy.  When you START to accept all and everything and everyone as they are you will start to feel calmer and much more positive about ...everything and everyone.  You will start to connect with others in a way that builds and nurtures the relationship.  The needle jumps out of the old groove and your life plays a new and delightful note.  Oh yes it will!

Stop TAKING and Start GIVING
Any impatience means we cannot wait to receive.  Wanting, having, keeping, holding, grasping, are all forms of taking.  It’s not wrong.  It’s just not very enlightened.  Notice there is always a tension, an anxiety, perhaps an intense fear, that sits behind each.  This is how to make your self stressed.  So ...STOP IT!  Start receiving.  START realising and knowing that you are always receiving what you need, at each and every moment.  That’s a revolutionary idea to most minds.  Don’t fight that idea.  Try not to resist it as an assault on logic.  Stop and reflect, look around, notice where you are.  Can you see what is happening around you at this moment is exactly what you need.  And if it seems or feels like nothing is happening, then know that ‘that nothingness’ is necessary in this moment.  It is probably there to help you to acknowledge and cure your addiction to the agitations that accompany the desire for something to happen all the time!

START releasing, offering, sharing, giving and you’ll also notice you naturally start receiving.  There will likely be the feeling of a very different energy that comes not from others or from the world, but from your own heart!   Wise is the soul who lives to give.  Happy is the soul who cares and shares.  Clever is the soul who receives, but never takes, in order to give!


Stop THINKING and Start FEELING
We tend to leave our heart and live in our mind.  We live ‘in’ what’s ‘on’ our mind and this is where and why emotion is created.  We have an idea or we create an image in our mind.  That’s OK.  But it’s not so OK when we lose our ‘self’ in the image/idea.  Then, when something happens to what the image and/or idea represents in the world around us, it feels like it’s happening to us.  What we feel is a disturbance in our consciousness that we call ‘emotion’.  It’s not long before we start to believe that our emotions are all we can feel.

We make this mistake so often it feels normal.  We then become addicted to our emotions and we forget how to feel.  Which really means we forget how to choose our feelings.  Which really means we forget how to ‘be undisturbed’ within our consciousness by anything that happens outside of our self.

It’s easy to say STOP IT i.e. stop living in what’s on your mind.  But it’s probably the most ingrained habit of man and womankind!  In order to START feeling, which means start consciously choosing what you feel, you will have to leave your mind and return to your heart, the heart of your being.  When you live from the heart you then become the master of your mind.

Sit quietly and make the journey of no distance in one second, from your mind to your heart, from thought to feeling, from noise to silence, and you may see for your self if that ‘feels’ right to you?

Stop DOING and Start BEING 
Its tough to stop being a compulsive doer! The speed of events is accelerating.  The imperative is to do more in less time.  The world is now filled with rushaholics! It’s not difficult to become and action addict, especially when there is the fear of being left behind.  From the day we arrive all we seem to hear is, “This is what you have to do...This is what they did....This is what needs to be done...”!

We even feel we have to do something in order to relax and do nothing! ‘I’m busy’ is our mantra. Preoccupied is our attention.  Agitated is our state.  We believe we have to be seen by others to be always doing something, working on something, creating something.  So we chase feelings of importance, fulfillment and worth through action.

So... STOP IT!  Stop being a ‘human doing’ and start doing a human who is just being!  Can you start just allowing whatever is happening to happen, to occur, to appear, as it will!  Can you just be with others without trying to advise them, find out about them, fix them, make them feel what you think they ‘should’ feel?  Can you just be with others and with the world and watch the variety forms and multilayered textures of life just...appear, and then disappear?  If you can you will notice the fictions that you have been creating, the illusions that you have been sustaining, through all your incessant ‘doings’.  You will feel the reality and the power of ‘the being’ that you are.  And you will know that that is all you are.  And that will be enough!  Quite enough!

Question:  Which one of the above did you find most challenging and why?

Reflection:  Take each one and ask your self, “Why is it not so easy for me to do this?”  Reflect slowly!

Action:  Take one of the above each day for the coming week and experiment with it throughout the day and see what a difference it makes, or indeed how challenging it is to enact.  Then reflect on how you did at the end of the day.

© Mike George 2013

The last two Clear Thinking e-articles were:
Have YOU Restored Authentic Happiness to Your Life?
Are YOU in Conflict with Anyone?

Clear Thinking is Monthly at the moment.

A Retreat in August in Somerset, UK

5 simple tips on using the little things you see etc as motivation

《 5 simple tips On using the little things you see, hear or read daily as a motivational push to help you excel in what you most desire to 》

Hi everyone, I have spent some of my free time the past week to write up something which I feel could help our friends out there. If you think this is good please help me share this post and also like my page to stay connected to my future postings.

PS: I am not a professional writer and therefore pardon me for any poor English. Everything I write here is purely based on my own personal experiences and any similarity to any persons are purely coincidental.

For me looking at facebook is an awesome source of inspiration and energy:
seeing a lot of my friends and even friends of friends on Facebook closing deals, going for holidays, collecting pay checks, spending quality time with family, helping clients fulfil their needs.. etc etc makes me feel motivated and happy that this world is full of opportunities and love.

______

Tip number 1:
BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF

I make it my hobby to learn new things everyday and I always try to ask for honest opinions from friends and business partners/associates on how I am able to do better. Always being ready for comments from others is essential as we are always good at observing others but lack the skills of observing ourselves.

I understand that a lot of people actually spend their free time on reading comics, playing games, online chatting etc. For me i enjoy spending my free time on reading new articles of listening to tutorials on YouTube.
I also use my free time on motivation reading, writing and postings especially during breaks or personal leisure time, (eg: toilet breaks, coffee breaks) rather than do it as my core priority.


Tip number 2:
ALWAYS KEEP A NOTEPAD WITH THINGS YOU'VE WANTED TO EXPLORE

Always ask your questions.
Eg: if others can, why can't I, and how exactly can I?
Asking yourself such simple questions are forms or self reflections on what you are lacking or what areas have you been missing out.

How many times have you thought of going into a new venture, and for the next half year you've actually forgotten totally about it?
MAKE SURE you keep a small note pad in your phone on the various things which you've wanted to explore and the next time when you are free you can take your notes out and , work towards them.


Tip number 3:
DO NOT WAIT FOR HELP TO COME TO YOU

If you really cannot figure out how others managed to accomplish tasks, or you're impressed with their time time management skills which you've never believed you could.. Immediately call mentors or even your friends up, I am very sure they are more than ready and eager to give you their sincere advise.
(Honestly I feel that most of your mentors get pretty worried when you don't call them often enough..)

For me if I am unable to get my immediate help, I make it a point to send an SMS, Whatsapp or even emails to the person I want to contact. I believe if we wait for help to come and it doesn't, the problem lies with ourselves because we don't find it important enough for us to look for the answer. And most of the time, we eventually forget to ask...

Tip number 4:
SPEND MORE TIME ON RESEARCHING

DO NOT feel inferior, DO NOT feel jealous, DO NOT be defensive, and DO NOT feel offended.

Do not take things personally, there are people that I know whom thinks that the whole world is against them. Therefore whenever they hear people saying good things about others, they start to turn jittery and actually they themselves don't realise that.

A better way is to use this opportunity to find out more and keep these information and research on them during your free time. Whenever you see people getting awards and accolades, go and google their names and see what you can read up about them and learn as much.


Tip number 5:
MAKE FRIENDS , NOT FOES

Feeling happy when you see others do well is a healthy way of life, be generous
with your compliments and cut down on comments about others.
People don't like to share information with those who are defensive and critical against others. If you show people you're always kind with your words, they'll likely be more willing to share their experiences and ask for your comments.

Do not be angry by negative things you see, read or hear because those are usually lop-sided There are already enough of negative people who are always angry and frequently writing nasty stuff about others. So actually you can save your time on thinking how you could prevent getting yourself into bad situations like that.

Always remember, successful people do not get angry easily.
Be kind to people who treat you badly and LOVE those who treats you well.

_________

Thanks for reading and do remember to like and share if you think it's helpful, looking forward to connecting with you.

Should you have any comments please feel free to PM me. Thank you and God bless you and your family. 


Marcus Luah *ML*

Monday, June 3, 2013

Treasure Time

Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day.


Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course?

Each of us has such a bank. It's name is TIME.

Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.

Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose.

... It carries over no balance. It allows no over draft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day.

If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against "tomorrow."

You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success!

The clock is running!! Make the most of today.

To realise the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.

To realise the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.

To realise the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realise the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.

To realise the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who just missed a train.

To realise the value of ONE SECOND, ask someone who just avoided an accident.

To realise the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal at the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with. And remember time waits for no one.

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why its called the present.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Metta Practice and Recollection

It is good to meditate everyday. Here are the phrases to help us retain the effect of Metta meditation long after we start to get on with our normal routine.


Reflect, recollect and contemplate on the phrases below, whenever we noticed the arising and effect of greed, hatred, delusion, aversion, sloth, torpor, restlessness, worry and doubt.

Do it before we respond with unwholesome body language, action and speech!

May I be…

- Filled with loving – kindness

- Well in body & mind

- Free from troubles of the mind & body

- Safe from inner & outer dangers

- Free from hatred & enmity

- Free from hurtfulness

- Endowed with right speech & moral conduct

- May I be able to protect my own happiness

- May I be truly happy & free

Then spread the good wishes above to our teachers, elders, loved ones, friends, all other beings known & unknown, and adversaries.

May all of you be happy and blessed in your diligent practice.

With Metta, Chao Loy NB: Thanks to George Lim and Dr Henry Yeo.