Helping Bloggers Overcome Writer’s Block: A Tale of Creativity

Life has enough anxieties. Blogging doesn’t have to be one of them. There have been times when darkness has clouded my inspiration and the ability to produce has vanished from my consciousness. In those moments I’ve always sensed that demon lurking by. The strange irrational fear of losing my creativity implants itself in that part of my mind that doesn’t realize that there is nothing to fear except fear itself. I summon all my courage and pounce at the frightening image lurking in the shadows. In the ensuing battle, I realize that I am fighting myself. The demon was a figment of my imagination! This realization jolts me back to life. Darkness disappears and light floods my inner being. Creativity and inspiration begin to flow out of the depths of my imagination. My tongue gets loose. My fingers start writing. My mind begins to produce. Energy begins to flow out of my inner being. Watch this:

Long time ago in the land of blogauthorsphere,
There lived men and women who found pleasure in writing,
Theirs was a peaceful land until the ghosts and demons invaded it,
Thirteen thousand imaginary ghosts and demons!

They named the huge one Writer’s block,
If he had a father no one knew,
If he had relatives, no one knew,
Only that they feared him so much.

One day a fighter arose from their midst,
His name was Knowisdomagic – full of insight and power,
Knowisdomagic decided that enough was enough,
He dragged writer’s block to the bottom of the lake,
And they all lived happily ever-after in blogauthorsphere.

There’s no ‘i’ in ‘Team’, but there are two in ‘Winning’

In my last post, I wrote about learning from the NBA playoffs. Well, I had a busy weekend and couldn’t watch the games. I was pleasantly delighted, however, to learn that my favorite team, the Detroit Pistons, had made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. I don’t want to make a commentary on the NBA – there are many other sites that do that. I want to uncover a leadership principle that can tremendously boost any team, be it in sports, business, at school or even in the home.

Intermission Disclaimer: Winning in this article (and in my personal philosophy) is simply pursuing your personal potential and measuring yourself against what you could do. It is not about beating your competition, coming out first or measuring yourself against other people.

Let’s find our leadership principle - ”There are two ‘i’s in winning”. Michael Jordan once said that “there’s no ‘i’ in team but there is in win”. I want to take it a notch further. It takes more than one ‘i’ for a team to win. A team with one ‘i’ can win every now and then, but for a team to continue winning, there must be at least two ‘i’s. Here’s a prediction, the Cleveland Cavaliers have one superstar, Lebron James (that’s one ‘i’). The Detroit Pistons have three stars, Chauncey, Rip and Prince (three ‘i’s). Watch that series closely. I predict a Pistons win. Anyway, back to leadership, for you to win as a leader you need to align yourself to other ’i’s who will enable you to leverage your potential. Rather than aim to win, you need to produce a winning combination. No single initiative, quality, person, idea or other factor will bring you the ultimate level of success you are destined for. You’ve got to find the winning combinations that will guarantee you victory. Start thinking outside the box. You’ve got to find a way of aligning any competing ideas, people or resources into one unit that fits and works together.

The key to winning therefore is in having an arsenal of ideas, initiatives, strategies and resources and then knowing when to use which. You’ve got to have a bag of tricks up your sleeve, so to speak. You have to build your organization or business around a solid vision (your ultimate goal), have a driving mission (winning) and execute both the vision and the mission flawlessly (aligning with great ‘i’s). There’s no ‘i’ in ‘Team’, but there are two in ‘Winning’! 

Learning from the NBA Playoffs

It’s playoff season and all eyes are on the teams that are battling it out for the 2007 NBA Championship. Around this time a few notables always emerge with great plays. However, one team has been very consistent over the past five to six years when it comes to playoff season is the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons normally have the same challenges that any team experiences during the regular season but when it comes to playoff time, they somehow come alive and play great basketball.

I think we can learn a lot from this team. We may be beat and fatigued during the regular affairs of our lives but when the rubber meets the road, we need to be able to deliver results. It’s all about mentality and that’s in our power to control! It’s time to look at things differently because what worked yesterday may not necessarily work today.

Our success in 2007 will hinge on our ability to embrace a superior mode of thinking. The thoughts that brought us to this point will not take us to the next level. We have to see things differently and approach them from new angles. We must embrace new strategies that will yield even better results than what we’ve had before. We need to approach every situation with the understanding that it has the potential to bring huge rewards to us. Do this, and I will definitely see you with a trophy at the end of the year!  

Tapping into the greatness and potential within us

A few weeks ago I got a unique card whose message can be very helpful in guiding us out of those moments when we feel stuck in a rut. What caught my attention first was it’s title: Follow Your Destiny, Wherever It Leads You! This title was powerful to me because I’ve always loved anything that empowers me in pursuing my destiny. Here’s part of what it said:“There comes a time in your life when you realize that if you stand still, you will remain at this point forever. You realize that if you fall and stay down, life will pass you by.”

This was huge for me because over the past few months, I have made many decisions that are allowing me to take huge leaps of faith in my personal life. We start to walk in the fullness of our personal potential when we realize that we need to press on towards all that we can be. The card went on to say:

“Rather than wondering about or questioning the direction your life has taken, accept the fact that there is a path before you now. Shake off the “why’s” and “what if’s” and rid yourself of confusion. Whatever was – is in the past. Whatever is – is what’s important. The past is a brief reflection. The future is yet to be realized. Today is here.”

What a beautiful message! This card cemented for me the truth that we are engineered for greatness. We were born for accomplishment. The key to greatness is in being able to seize every single day and utlizing every single opportunity life offers you to live up to your full potential. Don’t settle for less when you can have more. You were designed for accomplishment and engineered for greatness!