Alan Watts. Reading his thoughts and feelings on almost any topic will make you a better and more well-rounded person. And when I talk about meditation and people think they can’t do it because it’s too hard… it’s usually because they think of meditation as like, a monk on a hill with an empty mind free of attachment to the worldly blah blah blah. I instantly want to point them towards his quotes on the topic:
You don’t try to stop those thoughts, you just let them run as if they were birds twittering outside, and they will eventually become tired and stop. But don’t worry about whether they do or don’t. Just simply watch whatever it is that you are feeling, thinking, or experiencing – that’s it. Just watch it, and don’t go out of your way to put any names on it. This is really what meditation is.
So meditation IS NOT a special skill you have to learn, it’s not something that involves systems or charts or getting the most out of it, it’s not when you can stare into space and think about nothing (which, practically speaking is like trying to look at your own eyeball)…
Random cat photo depicting meditation is purr-fect
It’s the process of releasing yourself from all of that and decompressing. Your brain isn’t meant to be quiet. It wasn’t evolved to be quiet. It was meant to wonder, to run and observe without being directed at the day’s critical task. It’s about just experiencing the world without imposing your goals and your judgments on it. Once you’ve started to do that, you’ll really start to notice how stressed and overrun you can let yourself get over practically nothing.
So how busy are you?
Most of us have a hectic life with a hectic schedule and we wonder why we feel stressed out all of the time.
You’re bouncing around from one project to another. But just like you have to get away from that and take care of yourself physically, you have to take care of yourself emotionally, even if it’s just 20 minutes per day in the morning before you get started with your work day.
BETTER FOCUS
Everyone knows that multitasking is a big part of marketing, at least if you’re doing the solopreneur thing. Most people will have ten windows open on their desktop along with a multitude of programs. It’s very easy to lose track, lose your mind, and lose half a day wondering what you *should* be doing, but if you take time to meditate on a regular basis you can better ground yourself and focus on the tasks at hand instead of rolling into twenty different positions during your profit time.
MORE CREATIVITY
On the surface, meditation isn’t really designed to clear your mind – but it does anyway. When you let yourself think and absorb the stuff that you’re constantly learning, you’ll be shocked at the new ideas you come up with. The cobwebs are cleared out of the corners and you have an enhanced ability to come up with new ideas and make new connections in your brain. Removing that clutter leaves room for other things to come into your mind more easily, and once you find your groove you will be surprised as to how easily the ideas flow.
Copywriters do something really similar. They sit down with something, they brainstorm ideas… and then they leave it there. Go for a run, play some SEGA Genesis, read a book (I’m reading Guy Gavriel Kay’s Lord of Emperors right now)… then the ideas tend to pop up to the front.
Heightened Awareness and Relaxation Combined
When you meditate, it develops your ability to pay attention and allows you to respond in a more rapid and intuitive manner to each new situation that is presented to you. You’ll find yourself possessing a unique combination of relaxation and awareness that helps you to not only feel good but deal with the stress of your business.
When you’re in that zone, you can make content that’s edgy, more entertaining and different from the crap you usually produce.
Not you. You know what I mean. Other people.
ADAPT AND LET GO
When you clear your mind and adapt to the current state of things more easily you can adapt to things as they are.
The world around you changes extremely quickly and those who are highly flexible are usually the most successful. Adapting means that you will not be left behind in the dust while new marketers take over with new, fresh and creative ideas.
And when things do go south, you’ll be able to deal with failure in an appropriate way. Without throwing a tantrum, without blowing things inward or outward, without blaming your parents, a Global Cabal, or your dog…
But figuring out what went wrong and fighting through the present moment. There’s a serious balance between being driven to do things the right way and not getting hung up on a single result. Living in the moment and letting your brain accept things as they are helps you live that balance.
