I have a great network of business pro’s that I meet up with for a variety of reasons. Some are clients. Some are soon to be clients. Some are just awesome people that I have a good chinwag with about business concerns. It was during one of these chinwags that someone shared a tool that turned in to an idea that grew. After all, what’s the use of a tool if not to create bigger and better ideas?
So this tool share began with a coach who was working with a friend of mine. He provided her a tool to help her visualize and tap in to her existing ideas. We all have that knowledge and ability to succeed but sometimes it’s a bit harder to find than we’d like. This tool helps you to relax and listen to those little “voices” that we sometimes ignore but can provide awesome insight. You picture a “safe” place (mine is the local library). Use that place to anchor yourself and then ask, “What do I need to know today?”. Now? You wait and see what pops up.
Here’s where the tool grew. My friend shared the basic principle of this exercise with me. She shared how she uses it. I then took it and added a few twists of my own. Just sitting and visualizing doesn’t usually work for me. I need a kinesthetic component to relax me so for my “mind tool time” I chose to start writing in a notebook about my business concerns, etc. and then let the awesomeness flow. Or at least hoped awesomeness would flow.
Never one to keep good ideas to myself, I shared with a few more friends. One in particular advised that he already used this tool but he took it one step further. He also used a library for his safe place (great minds think alike) but he actually visualized himself walking around, picking up books and having chats with anyone from Freud to Einstein to whomever showed up. Now that’s more imagination than I can muster but I found it amazing how discussing the use of this tool with 4 or 5 different people led to the iteration of how I now use it.
I’ve also been on the other end of the spectrum where I’ve worked with people who are too afraid to share ideas. They keep anything they learn so tight to the chest that I’m surprised it hasn’t developed a little permanent crest of it’s own. If they learn something that could help everyone do their job better, they still keep it to themselves and when someone does share (usually me, just saying), their response is: “Oh I discovered that months ago!” I can’t share what I would have liked my response to be but it rhymes with duck and gives a direction.
My point? In the big picture, what are you losing by not sharing ideas such as visualization tools? I’m not suggesting that if you’ve cracked the Caramilk mystery you should give that up to everyone you meet but what’s the harm if you’ve got something that will hep others succeed? You might just find a new way to use the tool or generate even better ideas than what you originally shared.
Ways to Share an Idea / Tool
- SlideShare – create a slide deck and share it through social media.
- Newsletter – hopefully you’re using this great tool which is also a way to share specific tools with parts of your list that would benefit the most.
- Blog posts – what a great way to share ideas 🙂
- LinkedIn Groups – if you belong to a specific group that a tool would benefit, start a discussion and see how the idea grows.
- White paper – this is an option to generate leads and hopefully it will lead to discussion. Either way, somebody benefits which is the goal.
Have you got an idea you’d like to share? Great! Post it in the comments and let’s get the discussion going!