The Prowess Wheel – Visual Guide

At the Buffer Blog one of my favorite writers there Belle Beth Cooper posted an article called

The Secret to Creativity, Intelligence, and Scientific Thinking: Being Able to Make Connections.

She included a cool graphic (adapted from a creation by Hugh MacLeod, see below) that gave a keen picture of the difference between knowledge and experience. (Cooper inserted knowledge in place of MacLeod’s information and experience in place of knowledge, in her version.)

hughmacleon
By Hugh MacLeon
(Adaptation of original by Hugh MacLeod's work, by Belle Beth Cooper)
(Belle Beth Cooper’s adaptation of original work by Hugh MacLeod’s.)

 

COOPER’S SUMMARY:
• Experience works like rods–connecting the dots that are the bits of knowledge we gain. Don’t you love it, too?

That means, people who are good at connecting (knowledge bits) dots are creative types.

Creativity, then, is not the stuff of genius, it’s the stuff of connection.

It got me to thinking and using my creativity, thus defined as “connecting dots”.

 

It’s like my brain had a baby. Here’s what I created to go a step further than Hugh and Belle Beth:

Tell me if it makes sense.

I’ll call it THE PROWESS WHEEL

The Prowess Wheel

Skills are knobby tires for the wheel. Traction, baby!

You can embed the graphic by copying the code below, if you’d like. I’m happy to share.

More great things are coming, want in? Please sign up for direct email delivery through Feedburner in the sidebar!

-Lisa

5 Tips for Writers & Creators in 2014 (Infographic)

Valuable Content!

I’m making it my 2014 goal to give my writer and creator friends a lot of valuable content this year to help you get your message out, potently, all year long.

 

This will be a big year for you. You don’t just have to waste hours on Facebook, playing your phone Apps, or punching out blog posts 47 people read. You can offer related products and services based on your strong suits and build momentum.

If you’d like to gain a bit more recognition or make money on the side,  I’ll give you a bunch of ways and ideas for doing that…and no, the point isn’t to somehow get you to buy something from me. I may offer some useful, related things to purchase, but most everything will be free.

 

More importantly, I’ll help you with the marketing and web optimization side of things, so you don’t have to spend hours researching it for yourself. That’s like having two jobs.

 

I was reading Preston Yancey’s blog post the other day where he laments, perhaps even sincerely,

I #don’t hashtag because #ithinkitmakesmelooklikeanidiot and I don’t #knowhowtodoit #right.

Maybe he shouldn’t have to worry about all that. It got me thinking that some people are in the boat right with him…and Jesus,  Buddha, and baked goods.

If this is you…breathe in deeply and calmly. Slowly sip your coffee and relax. It will be okay.

 

You might not know all the big changes. For instance, did you know that Google has changed its main algorithm again? It affect searches. . .a lot. It’s had ripples…like layoffs. Some companies died because of it.

Getting noticed is harder than ever, if you care about that.

And unless you have a hefty following already, then, it matters.

(Rest assured, Preston does have a big following or Zondervan wouldn’t hand him two book deals. They aren’t people of faith precisely. They make take some shanks, but they don’t gamble. They are people who have a business to write about faith in a way that will sell, so they can have bread on their tables…in the wilderness, or, and more likely, in the classy subdivisions of city suburb in the Midwest.) You probably aren’t in Preston’s league.

If you want to just write for fun and the few friends that you attract from Facebook when FB feels like allowing your stuff in the news feed now, that’s cool. But maybe you’re hoping that doing something you love, like writing or creating, can also help you pay the internet bill a bit more, or even get you more exciting opportunities. That’s what worked for me. I write for other people more than ever at this point; and it’s fun to get paid for it. Really. It is.

You’ll find more of that sort of help here in 2014 in addition to other more familiar things you read here when I wax of the unseen and lasting things and get to use this space to explore, in both writing and deeper thoughts.

But, this is the announcement that I’m ready to help and share the info I’ve researched and the work I do in the MARCOM world.

 

To get us kicked off, these are the 5 Best Tips for starting your year off right. These trends are important to consider as you work and create in a noisy world.

Considering writing a blog post about the challenges of changing technology. What might you do or not do about it this year. I’ve made this infographic easy to embed to help you get started, if you want it.

 

Tips-for-Writer-&-Creators

Did that help you? I hope so!

Do you have writer or creator friends, too?
You can share the knowledge. Go ahead and embed this right on your site, if you’d like.

See you soon.xo

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