Stories Mean Business - Nick Warren

Today is my 52 second birthday ... and I'm not dead yet.

Episode home:

https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/825:-Getting-Older-Is-A-Gift

Last night, I saw a local church choir do a Christmas concert. It's not the kind of thing I do often, but this choir is a little different ... my Mum is the musical director.

Here's the thing. Last night, I got to see my Mum in a different light, in another dimension you might say. And that extra dimension brought all kinds of connections, ideas and value that I don't see when she's "being my Mum."

This is the opportunity we have when we tell better stories about ourselves and our business... the chance to be three dimensional. The chance to connect with other people on a deeper level.

Episode home:

https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/824:-A-Different-Light

I talk a lot about books on this podcast, but I want to make something clear. When it comes to learning, I start simple.

In a world with too much content, curiosity can be a curse ... or at the very least an off-ramp to distraction. Before I read an author's book, I'll often read a summary, watch a YouTube video or looking for a diagram of key concepts.

I'm 51. I don't have time to dive into everything.

Often, the key concepts are all you need ... especially when it comes to business books.

If they grab me, I'll go deeper. If not, I move on.

For example, I've not read Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, but I understand the key concept well enough to be building my life around it.

There's a lot of snobbishness around book summaries and takeaways, but smart people know that the best way to learn is to start simple.

Episode home:

Sometimes, it pays to start thinking about negative space.

Episode home:

https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/822:Be-More-Negative

How can your bring your product or service closer to the identity of the people you seek to serve?

Episode home:

Here's the simple, creative question I ask almost every day.

"How does this apply to that?"

It's origins are buried deep in my psyche – along with Major Tom, primary school and my first lost love.

Episode home:

https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/820:Space-Oddity

Yesterday, we took delivery of a huge pile of logs, and filled the woodshed for the winter.

It's a small thing, but it fills me with deep, primal satisfaction.

Shelter is a fundamental need that sits at the base of Abraham Maslow's pyramid.

In my case, the full woodshed also speaks to me about caring for my family, the comforts of home ... and thinking ahead.

But here's the thing I'm thinking about.

Sooner or later – whatever you're selling – the work you do has to link back to one of your customers fundamental needs.

So, which one is it?

Episode home:

https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/819:-Ive-Got-Wood

The end matters more than (almost) anything else.

The climax of your presentation, the last paragraph of your book, the last paper you published, the last time you saw your kids.

That's the thing people will remember ... and it will affect how they feel about everything else.

This is the latter half of the Peak-End Rule, and it's worth thinking about.

Episode home:

https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/818:-The-End-Of-All-Things

Where doing you get your ideas?

Hmmm. A few people have asked me this again recently, so I thought I'd go back over my process.

This is always evolving, so I'm not promising it will the same next year, or even tomorrow... but this is how it is right now.

1) Put a lot in. There's no real way around this.

"In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time – none, zero." - Charlie Munger.

It doesn't have to be books, but it does need to be quality.

2) Read three or four things at once ... sometimes in wildy different areas, genres or styles.

This is important for creating connections. Your mind will look for patterns and parallels in whatever you feed it ... and most of that creativity comes for free.

As I've said before, almost all of these podcasts are the result of putting 2 or 3 or 5 things together. I sometimes cook that way as well, but it's a lot less successful.

One of the common pieces of creative advice is to then do something else – walks in the woods, or epiphanies in the shower are endlessly mentioned ... and that definitely does work, but one advantage of reading wildly is that the 'thinking about something else' part kind of happens as a default.

Right now, I'm also writing Morning Pages, which I've talked about before. This is three long-hand pages first thing in the morning ... which I do first thing when my mind is ready to pour out over the page. It's a sprint. This morning I had five ideas in this as many paragraphs.

3) When the thoughts or connections come, capture them.

It's easy to get obsessed about tools, apps or the kind of pencil you use. This is fun, but it's also a trap. What we want is speed. Easiness.

I have two methods of capture available almost all the time. There's a pen and notebook with me at all times, plus I have my phone.

The phone has a one-tap short cut that will take whatever I say and add it to my Ideas note. It's the simplest thing in the world. The Ideas note is synced across my phone, Mac, and iPad.

Easy... I've got the wind behind me.

Actually, that's worth mentioning. I try to make doing the work as easy as possible. Take this podcast. It's about storytelling and business and life ... which means that I can talk about anything I like ... it often just needs a little twist to make it relevant.

That's like parking on a downhill slope.

BUT ... before we end I want to challenge the question. "Where Do You Get Your Ideas?" implies that ideas are the problem. In my experience, that's not the case. I have more ideas every day than I could ever use.

The challenge, of course, is the execution. What do we do with what we have?

That's the question worth asking.

Episode home:

https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/817:-Where-Do-You-Get-Your-Ideas