Editor’s Note: This is a continuation of our core conversation on “Great Connections Lead to Great Ideas.” Yesterday, Mark Silver wrote about the power of surrendering to wherever the talking is coming from. In today’s post, Andrea Lee reminds us that great connections start within.
***
In a discussion about connections, conversation and great ideas, a lot can be said about the importance of other people. I’d prefer to focus on you.
How well do you know yourself, in all the little nooks and crannies of self that constitute you? Could you get to know yourself better? Is a more considered connection to yourself worthwhile pursuing?
Answer: more so than another speed-networking event, in my opinion. In fact, I think we spend far too little time connecting to ourselves before trying to connect with the coveted others who might lead to the magical business breakthrough.
A great connection to yourself is a solid place to start if you’re looking for great ideas that are uniquely you. You might think you know yourself fairly well. If so, try asking yourself these questions:
What emotions are you repressing, in the effort to fit in, be ”˜good’ or even hide from yourself?
What point-of-view have you only whispered, rather than spoken firmly, or shouted from the rooftops?
What fear are you experiencing, and what is it saying to you? More importantly – how can you listen to it more precisely?
A conversation is happening inside you, right now. If you’re anything like me, actually MANY conversations are happening inside me. My job is to connect with those, and to the degree that I do, I get great ideas, and even better, know which ones to act on.
Answer the questions above and see what connecting you can do within yourself. Therein lie some great ideas with very honest roots.
Given that connecting with yourself is a fundamental building block to great ideas, is there some easy way to do this aside from the navel gazing? Again, the answer is a clear yes.
In addition to getting to know yourself in this moment, how about becoming an active partner in creating your future self?
When you connect with great ideas – the very accessible output of people you admire, including cool thinkers – you will generate more great ideas.
Ask yourself this:
If you become most like the 5 people you hang around with, what is the state of your brain based on the 5 things you read most often?
The barrier to entry to improve your answer is so low, it’s a blessing, because anybody can do it.
Read things outside your comfort zone to get out of the box ideas. Use these ideas like peanut butter to your chocolate and find peanut butter cup ideas. Use the more challenging ideas as flintstones to spark more of your own. Without another idea, yours might not be sharp, or challenging enough to break through the noise in the market.
In response to reading this article, or others in this series, what would YOU write? Because knowing Charlie, he is planning to feature lots of new thinking in future Core Conversations. Maybe next time you’ll be writing, instead of reading, at this blog.
I have a date in my calendar to regularly read An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes’ Theorem. It hurts my brain and I like that! The big stretch it represents makes me think new things every time.
What’s something you can read right now that’s completely out of your normal field of vision?
Go on ahead, connect with it now. Then listen to the conversation inside, and watch your ideas improve.
More about Andrea: Andrea J. Lee is an Entrepreneurial Futurist with her finger on the pulse of the entrepreneurial spirit. Throughout her life, Andrea has done one thing – help those she loves make money. Not once, but twice, she has helped reinvent the coaching industry beginning with her book ”˜Multiple Streams of Coaching Income’ and then she went on to architect the Pink Spoon Marketing craze.
Along the way, her company was named by Seth Godin and Fast Company Magazine as one of the extraordinary ‘Bull Market’ companies helping their clients stand out and prosper. She now thrills to helping 5, 6, 7 and 8 figure entrepreneurs become Wealthy Thought Leaders by harnessing the power of innovation to drive income. Her next Wealthy Thought Leader Event is going to be from April 19-21, 2011. (Interesting aside: Charlie was voted the “Wealthy Thought Leader of the Future” at the first Wealthy Thought Leader Event.)
As always… is is so great to read your insights Andrea. You are an amazing women and someone to look up to! I as well, have tons of conversations going on in my head. Love this: “Go on ahead, connect with it now. Then listen to the conversation inside, and watch your ideas improve.”
Ah, Jessica, you are so sweet. And yes, the ‘multiple-personalities-inside-my head’ thing is prevalent, but many people benefit from admitting that. Then you can assign roles to the voices — you may have ‘the voice of reason’ ‘the neurotic Annie Hall character’ and the ‘devilish little boy’ lol. Which one will you listen to, and when? Peace inside leads to peacefulness outside… I wish you lots and lots of both! 🙂
I’m notorious for repressing and ignoring things floating around in my head. I’m always preoccupied thinking about how my clients feel, what their prospects feel that I never pay enough attention to what I feel and go with that. Probably the reason I’ve been feeling void of innovation and creativity lately 😉 Thanks Andrea.
Hi Amber — this is a really poignant point! Sometimes the situation you’re describing winds up leading to moments when you wish you’d said stuff, or even anger and resentment. This is no way to feel if you want to build connections, as I’m sure you know! This is why I think it’s so important to allow yourself to ‘feel things out loud’ and ask (instead of what do my clients feel and stop there, but) what do I feel, what do my clients feel, and how do those things overlap. Of, for those of you reading with regards to networking or making great connections – sometimes the excitement of a great new connection leads to a similar type of ‘I forgot how I feel about things’ as in ‘Well Oprah called, of course I told her yes to everything!’ Back to the questions in the article – to know thineself better… 🙂 So fun chatting with you here, Amber!
This is so right on. I can definitely relate. Thank you!
Hehe, glad you liked. Thanks, Chels!
As usual you’ve made ME think Andrea. 🙂 Great article and I think it is much smarter advice than finding another speed networking event or bemoaning the fact there’s no “easy” button to push to get more clients. If people can feel the real you, they’re more likely to want to be around you, hire you or refer people to you.
And if you like yourself, it helps too. 🙂 Thanks, Michele!
Great advice! I often feel it is so hard to understand ourselves. I feel so much more comfortable looking at other people’s situations and analyzing them rather than my own. It is always hard to see the picture when you’re inside the frame and these questions are such great tools for hearing what your subconcious is trying to tell you!
Thanks, Lindsay! Glad you liked the article and thanks for dropping by!
Andrea,
I really appreciate your emphasis on looking within. All important change comes from within. I think most of us operate on automatic and don’t take the time to really get to know our own mind. These three questions are challenging ones. That’s why I love them so much. They are powerful indeed.
I’m curious, Sandra, of the three questions, did you find your answers to one of them more helpful than the others?
Andrea,
I appreciate your contribution here and thanks to Charlie for featuring your work on his excellent blog. It was really a pleasure to read about your ideas and experiences.
“Know thyself” is an idea advocated by philosophers for thousands of years. Socrates, Plate, Aristotle and many others considered self-knowledge to be an essential virtue to grow as a human being. Self-knowledge inevitably has a positive impact on your work-life.
We tend to run on automatic pilot. Why? Because in our society, we are encouraged to be go-getters. We are paid to get things done. We live in a “get results” culture, which is fine. After all, performance is important in order to create wealth and achieve success. However, we tend to be so externally-driven that we forget to listen to the whisper of our own conscience. The inner voice is drowned out by external pressures and conformity.
Mahatma Gandhi dedicated at least an hour every day for prayer and meditation. Gandhi was interested in listening with empathy to his “inner voice.” When he tuned in, Gandhi was able to manifest amazing events and people started to flock to him for suggestions.
This “inner voice” can also help you in the business world: if you know what you are interested in, for example, you can find your niche in the market. Knowing about your uniue skills, talents and abilities helps you to gain a competitive edge. Otherwise, you may find yourself working for others and groping in the darkness. Cheers.
Nice points, Archan. Although I will admit to not being sure whether Gandhi ever debated whether he should go to workshops/conferences or networking events. 😉
I’m curious how it is you manifest this inner exploration in your business – do you have any tips to share, and how are these working for you?
Andrea,
Thanks for your response. Your point is well-taken. Rest assured, however, that the Mahatma debated the pros and cons throughout his life. Even in political life, you are called upon to attend events, such as conferences, workshops, networking, etc. So, Gandhi had to be picky and choosy, very selective, about such matters. Gandhi also lived in another era, where travel meant travel by ship and computers had not been invented back then.
Gandhi also had to be careful about what image he was projecting by attending such events. As a subject, the Mahatma had to be careful about associating with his overlords, the British. Such associations could easily be misinterpreted or taken out of context.
Back in those days, people were dealing with a different set of issues.
Steve Jobs interest in a calligraphy class helped him much later in designing computers and other gadgets. Jobs just trusted his intuition and pursued his interest in the class. He could not have known that it would help him much later in life. Intuitively, Jobs knew he was interested, that’s all. Similarly, Steven Spielberg knew intuitively as a teenager that he was interested in making films. I think we all have this ability for “inner exploration.” Whether you are a CEO or President, you have to play your hunches because, more often than not, your intuition is what will get you to move forward. We ignore a hunch at our own peril.
Cheers.
Archan, your comments remind me that one of the biggest blocks to listening within is the noise that inundates us. If we’re to connect well, I think it’s even more important to know how to turn noise off inside our heads. Just like going to the country to connect with nature so that we can hear our thoughts, I think we can create an inner ‘nature program’ so that we can do that connecting internally, no matter where we are. Maybe there’s an app for that coming?? 🙂