Blogging 101 - Where else to look for ideas - Part 2

BLOGGING TIPS – Where Else to look for Ideas – Part 2


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC April 2012

Last time we looked at using Celebrities and their causes or keeping a journal for inspiration for ideas for articles of interest that pertain to your particular passion.  Today we will have a look one more.

Gestures
How about that for a common daily occurrence?  We all use gestures in our daily communication.  Usually we use them in conjunction with our speech, but often gestures are an alternative form of communication – when you can’t find the right words.  More often than not, when you are a visual person like I am, the gesture can make more of an impact that the written or spoken words themselves.

Let me explain.  I mentor several individuals, one of them is quite an artistic person who operates in the entertainment arena.  Let’s call her Susan.

Susan is looking to embark on a journey of her own into the world of business.  She is bright, articulate and open to ideas and absorbs information at a rapid rate.  At the moment, Susan’s greatest challenge is taking all the ideas and discarding what she doesn’t need and ‘parking’ what she does.  Her greatest fear is that she doesn’t have enough time and enough of ‘her’ as a resource to accomplish all that she perceives she needs to get done.

I explained to Susan how to ‘unpack’ things so that they become ‘bite sized’ chunks that can be easily dealt with and we also chatted about the art of delegation and outsourcing.  You see Susan doesn’t have to do anything other than give the project her name and put in an occasional appearance.

As Susan ‘got it’ and realized that she had been focusing on the wrong issues, she lifted her hands to the center of her forehead and made a motion like someone, whose face has been pressed up close to a curtain and who was now opening that curtain, curiously, to peek out into the wild world beyond.  This simple gesture had a profound effect on me and the visual had far more punch than any written or verbal explanation.  You see I had opened her mind to other possibilities.
Think about the gestures that you make to add value to your words and be aware of the gestures of those that you talk to – all could be used as or in the topic of your next blog.

Next time we have a look at some more ideas to keep those blogs flowing.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za