How To Control The Fights Between Your Rational and Irrational Brain

September 27, 2022December 5, 2022 Neera

Have you ever got frustrated by the battle between your rational and emotional brain?

Your rational brain knows going for a walk in the morning is good for you, and it sets up the alarm.

But when the alarm rings at 5:00 AM the following day, the emotional brain takes over and rebukes, “Are you crazy? It is too early. Why not catch up with your sleep now and go for a walk in the evening?”

Then in the evening, it presents several other obstacles so that you can’t go for a walk.

It happens to me every time I try to implement a new routine, or from a new habit, or try to do something I should do and don’t want to do.

A Jekyll and Hyde battle begins within me, between my rational and emotional brain.

The rational brain knows what is necessary, but the emotional brain doesn’t want to do the hard work.

The Heath Brothers use the metaphor of ‘the rider and the elephant’ to explain the battle.

The rational brain is the rider.

The emotional brain is the elephant.

The rider can control where the elephant goes… to a certain extent.

But, at any moment, the mighty elephant can take over and do whatever it wants.

If we just instruct the rider on what to do, then we have an understanding, but not motivation.

If we only appeal to the elephant, then we have passion but no direction.

If we want to make a behaviour change, we must get both the rider and the elephant walking along the same path. The way to do this is to direct the rider.

The rider is the rational, logical part of our brain.

It knows that going for walks in the morning is good for me. It has a vision and knows the best way to get there. But it is weak. It only has so much strength to manipulate the bulky, mighty elephant below.

To give the rider the best shot at doing the right thing, we must make our desired change crystal clear.

“Lose weight” isn’t very clear, but “wake up at 4:55, put on running shoes, and get jogging out the door at 5:00” is crystal clear instructions.

“Be more productive” is not clear, but “sit down at the desk, open up the word document, set the timer for 15 minutes, and start writing” is crystal clear.

If it is straightforward, the rider can take control.

But, as soon as we lose clarity, your puny little rational rider stands no chance.

The elephant is the emotional, primitive part of our brain.

It likes to do things that feel good and avoid things that don’t. As soon as things feel complicated, the elephant is looking for an easy way out.

The emotional elephant can easily overpower the rational rider, so we need to keep the beast happy.

One way to do this is to shrink the change.

If the elephant thinks a massive change is headed its way, it’s just going to sit there and become an immovable obstacle.

I have been trying to build two habits — start walking in the mornings and do intermittent fasting. But my elephant is resisting. So I have come up with a plan to trick it by making the change small.

Rather than waking up at 5:00 AM, I have started waking up just fifteen minutes earlier than before and going for a stroll around the block.

Rather than doing 16 hours of fasting (as per intermittent fasting), I have started with 13 hours.

Once my elephant is comfortable, I can slowly start taking longer walks and increase my fasting time.

I can gradually ramp up the habit reset and make more significant changes.

Question For You

What rational and irrational brain battles are going on inside you?

What behavior do you want to change?

What habits do you want to form? Can you give your rider some clear instructions and make the goal small for your elephant?

How To Build An Author Brand

September 20, 2022December 5, 2022 Neera

One of my readers wrote, “I like the idea of a learning plan. I especially need to get organized for an author brand.”

That triggered the thought — I need a learning plan for building an author brand.

I have been writing full time for over three years and haven’t bothered with branding.

When I was new to this game (yes, I have begun to see that everything is a game), I tried to engage a branding expert to help me build my author brand. He gave me a quote of $13,000.

That was just his consulting fee. I said, “Thank you,” and ran.

I had put branding aside and concentrated on writing. Although I have spent much more money on writing and marketing courses than the branding coach asked for, I still haven’t gone back to building a brand.

Today I want to discuss with you the reason behind that.

But before I do that, I first want to discuss what an author brand means to me.

What is an author brand?

If you listen to branding gurus on YouTube and blogs, they will make you believe a brand is a logo, a colour scheme, a slogan, or a website homepage with specific images and fonts.

Yes, these elements are helpful to branding, but they are not your brand.

A brand is a much simpler concept.

Your author brand is your promise to your readers.

It’s the perception your readers have of you. It’s how your readers identify you.

Branding is recognition beyond the physical aspects of your business and your persona. It’s the thought that others have when hearing your name or your business name. It directly represents you, what you stand for and what you do.

Stephen King’s brand, in three words, is imaginative, gripping, and suspenseful.

Why do authors need a brand?

Your brand is the hat you wear while writing and serving your readers.

There are a plethora of reasons you would want to wear your brand hat:

First, it helps you differentiate from other authors in the same industry who possibly write on the same topics as you.
It gives a better perception of your work, core values, strengths, and unique offerings.
It helps your readers to recognize your work.
It converts potential readers into fans.
It increases your visibility.
It helps you to fulfil your readers’ expectations.
It helps create your author platform.
It builds trust amongst your audience.
It helps you build quality relationships with your readers.
And it creates an impenetrable layer of authenticity.

I write about writing, creativity, and productivity. Countless other writers are writing about the same things. What differentiates me from them is that I write from an amateur’s point of view.

That’s my brand.

My promise to my readers is that I do not pretend to be a know-all. I am here to learn. And whatever I learn, I pass it on.

Do we need to spend money on branding?

The best form of branding is costless.

You don’t need to purchase different products to ‘start’ branding.

A better way to build a reputable brand is by being present, consistent, authentic, valuable, and unforgettable. As an author, these aspects of your brand are free.

You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to engage in image building to build your brand.

You’re a storyteller, and a brand is a story. Tell your story authentically and you have a brand.

Each author has a unique backstory. Mine is that I sucked at writing. Rather than accepting it as my weakness, I made it my strength. I connect with those writers who think their writing sucks (which most writers do).

I began building my brand a long time before I published my first book. I was building it when I was writing my blog, I was building it when I was writing articles on Medium, and I am building it through The Whimsical Writer newsletter and LinkedIn posts.

So, how should you build your brand?

The answer is — through your writing.

Nurture your unique style of writing.

That is why readers read your articles, subscribe to your newsletter, or pick up your books to read. Fulfill their expectations.

But it’s not enough to be good at what you write.

You need to create an emotional connection with your readers – often before they’ve read your work.

You need to open communication channels with your readers. You need to encourage them to talk to you, either through your website or social media. Ask them questions. Invite their opinion. And when they respond, write back to them. Keep the conversation going.

It is not as hard as it sounds. I have formed many friendships with readers worldwide through Medium articles and LinkedIn. These people have become my cheerleaders. They read everything I write and encourage me through my project more than my family or physical life friends do.

Jeff Bezos is right when he said:

“A brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”

Another thing you can do is become a storyteller.

Early in my writing career, I realized I couldn’t become a literary writer because I lacked the skills. But I can become a good storyteller.

Being a skilled storyteller means being able to deliver a story in a way that is whimsical, amazing, and irresistible, and forces your audience to bow at your feet metaphorically. People love good stories.

Tell stories from life. Sharing personal stories is hard, but it gets easier with time. Besides, most of our information is already on the internet, either on Facebook or Instagram, so why not share it with our readers who connect with us at a much deeper level through our writing?

Author Branding is different from Book Branding

Book branding is about how good the book is and how well-packaged it is to attract the target audience. Is the cover right? Does it include all the elements of the genre? Would it appeal to the target audience?

An author’s branding establishes that the writer is the perfect person to solve readers’ problems. Readers don’t care about your book; they only care about what your book can do for them.

A fiction author’s brand promises this book will be as entertaining as the previous one.

Effective branding is foundational to developing your writer platform and audience-building efforts.

I hope I have addressed some questions in your mind, Carol.

But you still would need to make a Learning Plan for your brand, and it will take you a while to get to the point you want to get with your brand. But keep the above information in your mind while creating your brand, and don’t just stop at a logo, a colour scheme, and a slogan.

Although I have moved along since I tried to engage a branding expert, I still am nowhere near where I want my brand to be.

So, I if you are looking to build your author brand, here are some questions you need to ponder.

What is your uniqueness?
What is your brand in three words?
Who are your audience? What are their needs?
What channels of communication do you have with your audience? How often do you communicate with them?
What problems do you solve?
What level are your storytelling skills?
Have you discroved your voice?
How are your growing your audience?
What are your distinctive physical features (logo, color scheme, slogan)?
What books/ articles, podcasts, and other resources you need to learn more about author branding.

Here are some resources:

The Power Of Subtraction

September 13, 2022December 5, 2022 Neera

Richard and Maurice were running a barbeque restaurant in Los Angeles, but it wasn’t doing very well. So they took a brief break to decide what to do.

They audited their sales receipts to see which products were selling more. Once they found out, they wondered: why don’t we focus on these products that are doing well? So, courageously, they slashed their menu from 25 items to a mere 9.

That’s when “McDonald’s Barbeque” actually started growing. The McDonald brothers could improve their food and reduce their costs by reducing their product line. And serve more customers per hour! That’s how Ray Kroc got interested in partnering with the brothers and franchising McDonald’s.

Subtraction is the key to excellence.

Ask a good chef how to make the soup more flavourful, and he’ll tell you to add a few more spices to it. But ask a great chef how to make the soup more flavourful, and he will tell you to boil away excess water.

Ask any Pulitzer prize-winning author, and they will tell you that the art of editing is more important than the art of writing.

Why does subtraction work?

As James Clear says:

There are two paths to improvement”

Option 1: Do more great work.

Option 2: Do less bad work.

Doing less of what is not working intensifies our focus on doing more of what is working. And that is why subtraction helps us succeed faster. By subtracting the inessential, we enable the essential to shine much brighter.

Adding is easier. Subtracting is not.

And that’s because we are hard-wired to add.

Leidy Klotz and his colleagues from the University of Virginia have conducted various experiments that prove that we humans are inclined towards addition.

When an incoming University president asked for ideas to improve things on campus, only 11% of the suggestions involved getting rid of something. Instead, 89% of requests were geared towards adding and doing new things.

In a study where college students were asked to improve their essays and resubmit them, only 17% did so by removing parts of them. 83% of the essays had a higher word count.

Takeaway

Subtract the inessential to intensify your focus on what works best.
Add monthly reminders to your calendar with a prompt question: “What can I subtract from my workload to focus on core projects?”