Earlier this year, he published an article by Celine Roque on how you can become more productive, or, as she defines the problem…

On days where our tools, skills and energy come together, our output seems to flow seamlessly. On other days, though, no matter how many tools we use or how many cups of coffee we consume, something seems to be blocking us from getting anything done. On our worst days, we can’t even get our work started.

In other words, anyone who’s a knowledge worker spends their working moments somewhere between two states: choke and flow.

What’s so great about Celine’s post is that is draws from a variety of different sources and then fits them all together like puzzle pieces revealing an unexpectedly beautiful picture.

A simple way to put it is that if we waste our brain’s resources over-thinking how we’re going to do something we normally do well, we don’t leave enough brain power for the creative act itself. So instead of dwelling on unnecessary details, maybe it’s better to remind yourself that you’ve done this work before and trust the instincts that you’ve honed over the years.

But getting to the flow state requires more than alleviating pressure. It means we should sit down and work long enough to get to the point where our vision of the work is clear and we’re not distracted by anything else. But working on the web gives us easy access to hundreds of distractions. How do we avoid giving in, especially when being distracted has become a habit? [more]

I highly encourage you to take a look at the article. She cites at least a dozen different sources and attaches at least three different reports to her post free to download.

Think flow. Go with it.

Beside creating some of my favorite movies, Coppola is also a source of personal and business inspiration for me. I just finished reading an interview with Coppola and want to bring it to your attention.

The interview is in a new blog called The 99 Percent, a blog that describes itself as “It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.” (My type of motto.) Coppola has learned a lot about a lot of different things: making movies, making wine, publishing a magazine, running a restaurant and so much more.  Throughout all his different endeavors runs a bright red thread of quality, one of his trademarks.  Here, he reveals how he weaves quality throughout all he does:

What I learned, which is a simple idea, is that if you hold out with your vision a little bit, it’s like a cake being put in the oven. The scene doesn’t work immediately, you have to bake it a little bit. It’s unfair, when you begin to create a shot, say, or a scene, that it’s going to immediately be like those beautiful scenes in the movies. It needs a little bit of time to mature. It’s like taking the cake out without letting it be in the oven for more than a minute. … So you have to be patient, and then slowly everyone starts to see that the ideas are right, or make the corrections. You have to battle the lack of confidence by giving the scene the chance to solidify. [read the rest of the interview here]

This is the insight:  Time. Taking time. Using time. Throughout history, time has always been one of our scarcest resources, but, in our current age, we seem to be traveling at an unprecedented velocity with ideas and innovations circling the globe literally at the speed of light and feel pressed to perform faster and faster.

But whether we’re sending an idea over the internet or written on parchment and entrusted to the captain of a clipper ship, the important thing to remember is there may be a very important difference between the speed of ideas and their quality.

Fortunately for you and me, Baer and Nasland practice what they preach and are offering the first chapter of their book as a free download on their Facebook fan page.

One area the authors delve into is the role of social media in a crisis. Many of our contractors have ample experience helping clients through a crisis and even have some experience with using social media in a crisis. Our own experience is that social media doesn’t really change best practices, but it does change the pace of response and the number of tools available to a communicator. Here’s Baer and Naslund’s list:

Acknowledge the crisis. Most people who are in a relationship should understand this one. If your spouse has a problem, then don’t waste your time telling aforementioned spouse there isn’t a problem.

Fight social media fire with social media water. In other words, fight the fight where the fight is happening.

Be sorry. That doesn’t require an explanation, does it?

Create a FAQ. This is a great time management technique and a great way to make sure the communications team is on the same page.

Build a pressure-relief valve. Make sure the public has a way to vent their frustrations…

Know when to take it offline.  …Up to a point. Don’t be the one of own and operate the forum that’s all about punishing your client.

Arm your army. Good communications start at “home” so to speak, and a good tool is only as good as how widely it’s distributed. Make your your entire communications team is well-equipped with the best information tools.

Learn your lessons. Capture, in real time and in retrospective, what you learn and how you’ll apply it next time. Next time? Yeah, there will be a next time.

One communications consultant I know likens the discipline as that like working as a veterinarian. The vet deals with animals ranging from the parakeet to the potbellied pit and the myriad of dog and cat breeds in between. Here’s the best part: None of the vet’s patients can tell the vet where it hurts, how bad it hurts or, in general, what’s wrong. And that’s why some people maintain it’s harder to become a veterinarian than a medical doctor.

Do you see any similarity with clients? Let’s not go there.

Smashing Magazine, one of our regular reads on the web, recently ran an article entitled, Turning All Clients Into Dream Clients (or Common Client Difficulties) and you should take a look. In a nutshell, here’s their advice:

• Doesn’t Know What They Want
• Feels Left Out of Process
• Changes Mind Midway
• Doesn’t Understand Web Design
• Doesn’t Provide Enough Information
• Expectations Are Too High
• Struggles to Pay on Time

Complain, complain, complain.

Look: Here’s my point: You are working, for the most part, in the communications business and, by definition, are supposed to be better a communicator than your clients. That’s why they hire you in the first place. All the complaints listed above are just the table stakes required for you to even think about playing the game at the big table with the high rollers. If what Smashing magazine has outline above is the stuff that makes you crazy, then you need to get with a career counselor before you waste any more of your precious time … or that of the clients. Really.

What do you think?

You use all the right tools: filters, aggregation, synthesis, summary, etc. And sometimes it’s easy to forget that “normal” people don’t share your media consumption habits. Along with organization and creativity and experience, your ability to synthesize massive amounts of information is one of your most important “value adds” to your clients.  And protecting your clients from information overload is a very valuable service you provide.

McKinsey & Company, one of the world’s best known and most respected management consultancies just published a paper on how executives can best manage information overload. Take a look at the article to figure out what you’re doing to help your clients manage their professional information tsunami.

One of the things in the article that I find most interesting is what the authors describe as The Perils of Multitasking.

The perils of multitasking

<snip>  It helps us feel, at least briefly, that we’ve accomplished something—even if only pruning our e-mail in-boxes. Unfortunately, current research indicates the opposite: multitasking unequivocally damages productivity.

It slows us down
The root of the problem is that our brain is best designed to focus on one task at a time. When we switch between tasks, especially complex ones, we become startlingly less efficient: in a recent study, for example, participants who completed tasks in parallel took up to 30 percent longer and made twice as many errors as those who completed the same tasks in sequence.  <snip>

It hampers creativity
One might think that constant exposure to new information at least makes us more creative. Here again, the opposite seems to be true. Teresa Amabile and her colleagues at the Harvard Business School evaluated the daily work patterns of more than 9,000 individuals working on projects that required creativity and innovation. They found that the likelihood of creative thinking is higher when people focus on one activity for a significant part of the day and collaborate with just one other person. Conversely, when people have highly fragmented days—with many activities, meetings, and discussions in groups—their creative thinking decreases significantly. <snip>

<snip> This effect is familiar too: who hasn’t struggled against the urge to check the smart phone when it vibrates, even when we’re in the middle of doing something else?

Take a look at the entire article. Better still: Read it, figure out how you want to put it to work and then give it to your clients—with a summary and your recommendations, of course. You’re welcome.

Link to McKinsey, Recovering From Information Overload

During the past couple of weeks we’ve seen a volume of concentrated active searches that might indicate the worst of our economic mess is behind us — we hope.

Whatever the case, we’re beginning to hear reports from people and organization that there are some particular areas where demand is going up. WebWorkerDaily reported back in October there’s an increasing demand for writing. Of course, our own experience is that there’s a constant high demand for great writing as this is a rare, premium skill. WebWorkerDaily spoke with an online freelance job board and found out that these particular writing skills are in high demand: article writing, copywriting, content writing, ghostwriting, academic writing and technical writing.

But one important trend we’ve noticed is the rise of social networking plus executive visibility. This requires a specific type of writing. Through the careful application of an experienced and talented writer, CEOs can dramatically increase their own brand as well as the brand and search engine optimization of their company.

Providing cogent thought leadership and crafting compelling stories is an ART, and several of our expert consultants provide this expertise for Cisco and NetApp executives right now. These are far more than product collateral writers, web content providers or editors on the hunt for typos. They are true masters of communication who can write for internal and external audiences worldwide with the singular voice of an executive.

If you are an executive with vast responsibilities and little time for writing, you know the value of authentic, informative and easily accessible communication with your constituents. Whether it’s a speech, video script, blog, contributed article or global team email, we can help.

Click here and we can have an exec comm pro ready to write for you within 24 hours. Really.

1.  Reputation Management Meets the “WikiLeaks Age”

2.  A New Data Deluge:  Opportunities Meet Analytical Challenges

3.  Here an App, There an App

4.  We’re Back in Business!

5.  Measurement Comes to the Forefront

6.  Wanted: Engaging Storytellers & Well-Written Content

7. Value of Public Relations Continues to Rise

8.  Transformative Online Practices Mature & Grow In Value

9.  Old Practices Come Back Into Focus

10.  Sharing of Resources In a Tight Economy

11.  Finally … Something That Won’t Change

My favorite prediction is the one that says things will stay the same, prediction #11.

The overuse of e-mail and technology to hide from reality. Leaders will continue to hide behind technology when dealing with tough issues. Our ego and desire to stay away from conflict will mean we continue, at times, to choose a method of communication that feels better, but won’t be as successful, and in the end, will waste valuable time. It might feel good to send off an angry e-mail, but passive-aggressive conflict on e-mail escalates faster and lasts longer.

People, including professional communicators, have come to hide behind veils of email, IMs, Facebook likes and Twitter updates. Text can be shaped into wondrous creations of enduring beauty but are a poor substitute for the sound of an earnest voice, firm handshake and sincere eye contact.

What do you think?

We are all more comfortable hanging around with people who are like us. It is a lot easier to pop into a discussion with other copywriters, or other web designers, or other management coaches, than it is to get engaged in discussions with a group focused on manufacturing, or financial services, or small business strategies.

But there are many, many benefits to making the effort to “move in” with your target market, to become at home in their world:

* Get advance intelligence. If there are changes coming to your clients’ industry, if there are going to be shifts in the way they do business, you’ll learn about it much more quickly from them than you will from either your peers or from the media. [more]

Getting advance intelligence about your clients’ business is priceless.  It might tip you off that there are new opportunities, or it might give you the ‘heads up” that it’s time for you to reinvest in your new business efforts.

The project begins. The client has a clear expectation about what the deliverable should look like.  The texture, color, shape and size.  You’re the marketing communications person, not the client, and this puts you at a disadvantage. By definition, you’re the better communicator of the two, or you should be.

Then there’s the second scenario:  The client has, at best, a vague notion of what she wants but will let you know when she sees it and now you’re working in Nordstrom, hoping you have something on the floor she’s going to love. And that you don’t burn up so many hours letting her try things on that the project becomes hopelessly unprofitable.

Freelance Switch has a post you might want to read, A Method for Meeting Client Expectations.  I sincerely hope you don’t learn too many new things in this post because you probably need to be at a more advanced, competitive level.  On the other hand, you really need to have these lessons incorporated deeply into your consulting practice. For example…

On some instances, I’ve shown clients clips of my work to show them the different options in tone they can use; otherwise, they may think all copy is the same. For example, do they want short, punchy headlines? Do they want the content with bullets? Do they want things written in first- or third-person tone? I go right to the nitty gritty, because the more information you have, the better you can produce what the client has hired you to do. Just because they cannot articulate themselves doesn’t mean it’s a free for all–you have to know how to get your clients to express what they want. (And most of you know, that’s more than asking, “What do you want?”)

Here’s a link to the entire post. What tips can you share?

Remember Howard Beale in the movie Network?  The year was 1976 and Faye Dunaway and William Holden were the big, sexy stars of the day. (Just to put this into a chronological perspective, Kate Hudson was minus three-years-old at the time.) Anyway, even though I was in diapers at the time, the movie made a deep impression on me and I recently read something that made me think about the famous “mad as hell” scene.

I was reading Erika Nepolotano’s blog. You might remember Erika if you used to shop at T.J. Maxx in Denver. She was the redhead. Erika made a successful career transition from gadget store clerk and waitress at TGIFriday to a copywriter. Really.

While I don’t always agree with her opinions (and don’t approve of some of her language), Erika has a sense of style and level of energy that’s hard to match. Essentially, Erika can get mad. Really mad. Redheaded mad and she shows no mercy and asks for none in return. Sometimes I wish I could be so ballsy. Recently, Erika attended DEMO in Denver and totally lost her cool about the buzzwords bandied about and here’s a sanitized snippet from her blog. Communicators, take note:

You and your buzzwords. They’re meaningless. They’re the uncooked spaghetti of marketing-speak: you throw them out there and they don’t stick, they just fall to the floor with a pathetic splat. And it’s because they no longer have meaning.

…Here’s an idea: if you’re going to tell me about your product or service, tell me how it solves my problems. I don’t care HOW it does it. I want the hook. The reason I’d push over a pregnant woman standing in line in front of me to be the first one to taste what you’re cooking. I could give three fine frog hairs if it’s an innovative software that integrates my content to provide an overarching, game-changing perspective.

…Why do we even bother with buzzwords? Do they make us feel smart? If anything, they make us look pretty dumb for using the same nonsensical speech as everyone else. To make yourself stand out from the crowd, why not do yourself a solid and actually talk about solving problems instead of playing a zero-sum game of monkey see, monkey do?

…I’m never afraid to be the a@(#**@e. My gig as a writer is words. Which is why when companies and potential clients inevitably ask me what I do, it’s easy.

Here’s a link to her entire post and you’ve been warned about the language, right? And let me know if you think Erika is channeling Howard Beale.