6 Ways Structure Can Help You Achieve Peak Creative Performance

As a business coach for freelancers and creative professionals, I specialize in working with people who are in a place of transition in their career or creative business. While their unique circumstances vary, more often than not they share one key challenge; they're not fulfilling their creative and commercial potential. I've come to believe that a successful creative business is a blend of four things: 

(1) a great product or service 

(2) good strategy 

(3) hard work and 

(4) a willingness to be out of our comfort zone more often that not. 

Hey, if it were easy, everyone would do it, right?

But the creative business is a unique and sensitive animal. If it's all about strategy and objectives, we lose the creative magic and if it's all about creativity, nothing gets done. So, how can we find and maintain balance?

After working with creative professionals for 15 years, being business owner myself for eight and benefiting from the wisdom of mentors and coaches, I've come to the conclusion that success comes down to one thing:

Creating a solid structure, within which there is a lot of freedom.

If you're in that place of transition and don't know how to balance structure and freedom, I'd like to share 6 strategies that have worked for me: 

1) Know what you want from your business

If we don't know where we want to go, we can't create a plan to get there. Set aside some uninterrupted time to really think about what you want from your business. When we're honest with ourselves, the answer is sometimes very different from what we think we want. For example:

- Are you starting a business and want to build a roster of ideal clients? 
- Are you happy with your business and clients, but would like a few more? 
- Do you want to build a business that is flexible enough to work around your family's schedule? 
- Do you want to be known as a thought-leader in your industry? 

You can see how the strategy would be vastly different for each of these businesses, so it's important to get clear from the outset. 

2) Write down everything you need to do to achieve your goal

Doing a brain dump is a great way to get all of your ideas out of your head and into one place. I love the mind-map method. It's simple, effective and perfect for visual types. Here's how you do it:

Take a piece of paper and put your main topic, e.g. your business name, at the center. As thoughts come to mind, draw branches from the main topic and write down that thought or objective (use as few words as possible). You can create sub-branches for additional thoughts or action steps. 

I love Goggle for creating mind maps that look pretty too! 

3) Prioritize and calendarize 

(I know it's not a word, but it should be!) 
Take your mind map and number your goals by priority. Start with number one, let's use Networking as the example, and list action steps you need to take. They night be: 

 
(a) Research BNI and visit one chapter this month  

  (b) Become a member of Freelancer's Union and attend one event this month 

   (c) Research local AIGA chapter

Now enter those action steps into your calendar. Once it's in the calendar it moves from a "should" to a done deal. Now you're free to do something else. 

4) Bundle your to-do's

Have you ever ended your day feeling exhausted and frustrated because you ran around like a headless chicken, without much to show for it? I have and it sucks.
I now bundle similar tasks together and take care of them in one sitting. I set Friday aside for book keeping and general admin. Monday is dedicated to content development and marketing and I cluster my coaching sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so that I can stay in the zone and be as present as I can. Clustering your efforts also helps you balance "doing" and "creating". 

5) Work with your natural rhythms

It's no coincidence that my writing/content work is slated for Monday when I'm fresh and my boring admin is on Friday, when I'm spent. I go for an early morning run on one of my coaching days, knowing that I will benefit the most from the boost of energy and clarity it provides. 

6) Make time to play and create

Do you deny yourself downtime because you feel guilty that you're not being "productive?" I struggle with this and, while we may think of it as a noble trait, it's really not. The fact is, we need time to dream, play and create. It's what gives us the magic, the inspiration and energy we need to do all of the above steps. Down time should be as much of a priority as everything else. So put THAT in your calendar and stick to it!

Your Legitimate Home Business Will Fail Without Consistency

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Embarking on a work from home opportunity can be the most thrilling time of your working life. But failure awaits those who think it is an easy road to financial freedom. Prosperity does await, but only to those who apply themselves. You don't need to be a tech guru or computer code geek, but one of the key ingredients to home business success is consistency. 

You are a professional - act like one!

Apply yourself to your home based business like a professional - because you are a professional. You need to think like one and act like one. Professionals in any endeavour work hard - think sport for example. The dedication required to reach the top in any sport is truly admirable. The danger in home business is that almost no one starts out as an expert, yet most people seem to compare their rate of success with those who now are experts and have a solid track record of success.

So how does this apply to a legitimate home business?

Starting a work from home opportunity part time is a highly recommended strategy. The danger or trap to avoid is the start and stop method where you have a burst of activity for a day or so, then you put it aside for a week or more. There is a high risk that this will kill your business dead. A far better strategy is to spend say a couple of hours a day, 5-6 days per week, working consistently on your home business. 

Is there a reason your home based business is not growing? 

Showing your products and services to new people (also known as prospects) is the key to success in any home based business. 

1. Finding Prospects

2. Inviting Prospects to understand your products or opportunity.

Read: Launch: An Internet Millionaire's Secret Formula To Sell Almost Anything Online, Build A Business You Love, And Live The Life Of Your Dreams

The biggest problem most people have is fear and procrastination. This stops them doing the activities that could eventually reward them with all the success they could ever want.

The main reason your business (or any business, for that matter) isn't growing is because you are not getting in front of enough people on a consistent basis. There is that word consistency again!


Got a plan?

Develop a plan for doing daily activities to build that consistency. And give yourself a pat on the back for being consistent. And don't criticise yourself if you miss a day. Sometimes we simply do have other priorities and we just need to acknowledge that. If you find yourself lacking consistency for the wrong reasons (we know what they are!) then don't beat yourself up. Instead recognise what prevented you doing what you should have and find the determination and motivation to overcome it next time. 

This is the positive mindset that will set you on the path to success. Whinging, moaning and complaining is old school and you need to dump that mentality quickly in order to make your home based business succeed.

Your plan will depend on your business and your strategies. It may mean talking to two new prospects every day, it may mean blogging, posting and syndicating new content everyday, it may mean hosting training gigs every week. Whatever the strategy, consistency in your home based business is crucial.


Not coping?

If you are feeling overwhelmed by all the work that needs to be done, then follow this simple but surprisingly powerful routine. Decide what your five most important action steps are each day. Ideally do this at the end of each day in preparation for the next day. Then on the next day, prioritise these steps before you get distracted by anything else. Because distractions are the killer disease that stops us achieving our goals. Turn off your Facebook (unless of course you are working with it!), put the dog in the yard, no texting, and get to work. Once the "must do" priorities are done, then you can turn your attention to the other jobs that you would "like" to get done.

Embrace your work from home opportunity. To work from home (or wherever we choose) is the way of the future for many of us. But be prepared to work at it and to work consistently. All the gurus will tell you (when they are being honest), that overnight success only came once they knuckled down and really worked hard and consistently. Definitely have fun doing it, but just chip away, prioritise and be consistent. Your legitimate home business will eventually reward your efforts and set you on the road to financial freedom.

The Importance of Goal Setting

Goal setting is the first step toward successful goal achievement. It marks your first point toward success. It is what put your life into real action mode. Without this step, the other steps of goal achievement cannot take place.


Here are a few reasons why goal-setting is very important. 

Clarifies Your End Vision
Without setting a goal, you will be driving in a road where you are not sure where to go. It also gives you a clear vision of what you really want. Setting a goal would help you clarify what you really aiming for. It wouldn't be good to have an ambiguous goal for you will surely be confused. 

Look for the right words to express your goals. This way, you will know what truly excites and motivates you.


Drives You Forward
Your goals are a representation of your inner desires - desires which motivate you in life. The point when you set goals marks one the points when you are most connected with your source of motivation. It is when your motivation is at its peak. Having goals at your side serve as constant reminders of your motivational sources. They are the fuel which drive you forward and keep you going when the going gets tough.

Gives You Focus

Goals can help a person stay focused and maintain motivation to maintain certain activities required to achieve a goal, such as exercising to lose weight or saving money to buy a certain item. Goals can help direct behavior and define a person's priorities, report educators at the University of Illinois Department of Disability and Human Development. Setting goals breaks down the process needed to achieve a specific outcome.

Forces You To Work on your Action Plan

Having a goal enables you to focus your energies on devising ways to achieve it. When someone makes a decision and begins focusing on achieving a specific goal (and even better in a specific period of time), the powerful subconscious mind goes to work and begins playing with ideas and developing strategies of various ways to bring about the successful completion of the goal. When you set yourself a goal both your conscious and subconscious start working on it and begin to develop an action plan. You will find you begin asking yourself questions about what needs to be done to enable you to reach your goal. You may find yourselves coming up with amazing ideas and solutions to problems or obstacles that have been in the way of achieving your goal. Solutions and ideas that you are surprised you ever thought of may start popping into your mind. Our subconscious is an extremely powerful tool.

Reminds You of Priorities

You will not stray away anywhere if you have set a goal for it can surely remind you of what needs to be done. Doing your priorities is a sure way to reach your goals but of course, you have to know what those priorities are. You can write them down on a post it so that you can be reminded anytime.

Encourages You To Always Do Your Best

Sometimes, you think that you won't be able to do something. But when it is already there, you discovered that you can actually do it because you were motivated to attain your goal. Setting goals can also let you go beyond the limits that you already know and be a better, stronger person. You can even discover other skills along the way.

Gives You Self-fulfillment

For sure, when you are able to set goals and attain them, you will feel fulfilled and this will even fuel you more to do better in life. You will also feel happy that you were able to do something valuable in life and that you have discovered new things about yourself due to reaching a certain goal. Having the feeling of fulfilment can surely make you a happy person leading to better work attitudes and perspective in life.

Personal Growth And Success Tips You Can Use Today

Helping yourself to become more dynamic and successful can be a little intimidating if you have never done it before. It can easily lead to a bad case of information overload because of all of the tools and resources available to you.

Here are some tips to assist you in getting all of this information organized to a point where you can start improving your life now. 

Picking challenging goals is vital to successful personal development. 

Stretching yourself is the only way to expand your limits. An overall goal should be one that is at least a little outside your grasp when you begin the journey towards it. Reaching for more than you think you can achieve will teach you how to do more.  

Your self confidence during personal development periods will benefit from a harmonious relationship to your core self. If you're in tune with your mind, body, and soul, you'll find it easier to defend yourself against challenges to your core beliefs and values. This helps you strengthen the impact of your beliefs, and your confidence in them. 

Going through a strength finder assessment is one of the best ways to get a grasp on how well you understand your strengths and areas of weakness. 

This kind of assessment will provide you with your top five strengths, which you can then incorporate into your daily life and apply to both your personal and professional life. 

Personal development is an intimate and challenging process. 

To make the search for self-discovery easier, consider starting a journal detailing your goals. This can help you visualize your progress and determine optimal time lines for personal goals. You can also use this journal to detail obstacles and successes along the way - you may find your work is reaping more than you'd imagine.  

Keeping a journal can be a key routine for personal development and can give you insights into your true thoughts and feelings. If you have ever felt that you don't know what you want out of life, keeping a journal can be the answer to discovering what it is that you really need to be a better you.  

Make small gradual changes in your behavior. Quitting bad habits cold turkey works in some instances but in other situations smaller and more gradual changes more effectively achieve long-lasting change. Walking one block every day is better than running a half mile one time and giving up because it is too hard.  

A great tip for people who suffer from depression is to try and keep up with your social life, even if sometimes, you really don't feel like it. Often times, being around a lot of people will make you feel more comfortable coming out of your shell and engaging with the rest of the world.  

While the path to your personal development goals might be long, it need not be arduous. Keeping your eyes peeled for new personal development ideas is always a good idea. You may run into more handy tips like the ones in this article that can get you to your goals faster - or at least keep the journey to them from getting dull.