Morphing Concepts

July 16, 2009 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off 

picture-27Concepts emerge, divide, converge and morph. SEO is a good example. At one point there were two distinct camps: the search engine optimization folks and the organic optimization folks. But now the distinction is blurred. Highly technically focused search engine businesses now evangelize organic content.

Content-marketing is another example. The convergence was faster. The concept was based on: make the content interesting, relevant, compelling, appealing and valuable to the reader, and people will find it, share it and want more from the producer. The cream will rise to the top. But now, companies are tightly connecting content with SEO tools, techniques and technologies. Tailor the content to what they know people search for, and sell the system to drive traffic.

Who knows what’s good or bad, right or wrong, or which way to go?

This makes life interesting for professional service firms. How do you differentiate and position your services when the needs, problems, solutions and competitors are shifting and morphing?

Think of it as the ultimate opportunity to be unique.

For example: I became aware at one point that people need help with “what they don’t know they don’t know” and really had a passion for that space. So over time, I developed a model based on that realization that’s helped guide my strategic and creative decisions and that’s resulted in solutions that clients value.

I suggest getting very clear on what’s always been important to you, what you stand for, what you have passion for, and what you’re enthusiastic about. Build your frameworks around those. Who knows, someday the next big concept could be yours.

Filed under: Creativity, content-marketing, innovation, intuition, knowledge, self-awareness, solo psf, strategy
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Space

May 20, 2009 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off 

Creativity and Natural Influence

We’re made up of more space (dark energy and dark matter) than visible form and matter, but we spend most of our lives totally identified with the latter. Its one thing to think about the concept of spaciousness but yet another to experience it, for even a short period of time. Anyway, why would we want to and how do we do that?

We want to because we now know that the physical and conceptual structures that we’re identified with are unstable and will be replaced with new ones that are yet to be created. We want to be part of that. But fear and worry about that instability, and how it will affect our lives and businesses, lead to more attachment and rigidity that then shows up in how we respond to change: protection, judgment, guilt, resentment, complaining, blame, etc.

So instead of a desired growth direction we get stuck on the survival path. Life and business experience becomes relentless reactivity to an endless series of crises and lack . We know that the way towards new and better experience is through creativity and innovation, but forget that creativity comes through us. Its not something we can reach out and attain. Rather, we have to make space for it and knock down the walls that block it.

Making space for creativity in challenging times requires vigilance over individual and collective thought and action. Space is created by ceasing thinking and constant doing, and by softening the physical and conceptual boundaries constructed in attempt to keep out everything not wanted, like vulnerability. It can be as simple as taking deep breaths and setting time aside for short periods of stillness. It can also be more challenging and require a lot of courage, putting oneself on the line without a safety net for one’s convictions, so to speak.

The challenges we’re dealing with now are opportunities for dropping resistance and defenses to receive the wave of creative energy that is always available. It comes through us when we let it. It takes faith. The biblical metaphor for our self-constructed creativity barrier is the Wall of Jericho. When we blast ours down, we’re then freed to enter our Promise Land. That’s the metaphor for the place and point of power from where we can expand our natural influence, and contribute the best of who we are to what is yet to be created.

Filed under: Cognition, Consciousness, Creativity, Metaphysics, Natural influence, creative habit, direction, expansion, innovation, intention, metaphor, mind mapping, presence, shift, wave
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Concept Fatigue

April 11, 2009 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off 

Isn’t it wonderful to have access to a world of knowledge for our consumption and upon which we can build our businesses, differentiate our brands and better direct our personal lives? Or not.
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In fact, when we’re overly driven to add more, to learn more, to understand more, to know more.. we can set ourselves up for the suffering that sneaks up when we’re overly attached to more and more of anything. The excitement of discovering new content, and following new threads and people, wears off and we’re left bewildered about why there’s a sudden shift in our mood to one of tension with mind and body in a knot.

We’re all susceptible to concept fatigue although I believe its easier to see in others.

For example, self-awareness is the cornerstone of my business and personal direction. So I’ve been stoked to recently discover new ideas, insights and perspectives at the intersection of consciousness, neuroscience and cognition. This week alone I added several books and videos. I was on a roll, stuffing my mind non-stop with great new stuff and figuring out how it would fit. My ego loved it. But the resulting dissatisfaction and total energy drain helped me recognize, and hopefully be more mindful about, the paradox of concept attachment in the conceptual world. You get stress, not success.

Antidotes include stopping at the first sign of tightness, breathing, relaxing and reading anything by Pema Chondron.

Filed under: knowledge, self-awareness, stress relief
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