Whereas I am but a small drop in a large ocean, Merlin is a pretty good-sized pebble, to put it mildly. Owner of 43folders, Merlin’s humor and helpful wisdom have spared many thousands of people from the bowels of a boring, monotonous, unproductive worklife, not to mention the all-too-common attempts of the “I’m the new productivity guru on the block!”, please-let-this-blogging-thing-make-me-money crowd.

So, if you haven’t seen what Merlin has been writing lately, and if you’re wondering why I haven’t posted in so long, you really have to go take a look. Seriously.

Now, I’m not about to pawn the explanation of my silence off on Merlin’s shoulders, but he so eloquently puts into words a whole bunch of my feelings about blogging, attention, and the social-media-crack that’s running rampant these days, that it just wouldn’t make sense for me to try to do it any better than he has.

Read it? Good.

Now, on to my side of the story.

When I stopped writing over at Viverati (my old, old site) in June `08, it wasn’t really a planned hiatus. I just woke up one day and realized I didn’t have anything else to say. At least, for the time being.

As faithful readers know, I transitioned from Monk at Work to Viverati with the intention of expanding my scope, to include all kinds of stuff about all kinds of stuff, and not just about spirituality and personal development, and how they interface with our work life.

But, as it turns out, expanding my scope meant losing my focus. And that exposed an underlying issue that needed to be dealt with.

Namely, that I was blogging for the wrong reasons.

When I got into blogging, it seemed like a great marketing idea. I thought, “I’ll write about healing, personal development, and spirituality, and people will like it so much, they’ll hire me as a healer, take one of my workshops, or buy one of my products. Yeah, that’s the ticket!”

Did it work? A little. Not as much as I’d hoped, and it turned out that feeding the blogging-and-social-media-beast took more out of me than I wanted to admit. Arbitrary (and sometimes grueling) publishing schedules, and the pressure to post!post!post! took precedence over listening to the inner voice than wanted to speak. It ended up taking more than it gave, at least on the outside.

But what did come out of it was priceless; the realization that community is really important to me. That people come first, and everything else second. And that I no longer wanted to hawk my spirituality for money.

Sound harsh? Maybe it is. But the deeper I got into realizing what worked for me on a heart-level, the more I saw that I wanted to separate my income from my searching. And, since I had been deriving my family’s income from being a healer for over ten years, there was a lot to unravel and rework.

Hence, the hiatus. I couldn’t put words to what I was going through, and I still don’t know if I can. But what ensued was a complete re-tooling of my business, my spirituality, my interests, and my writing here.

On the other side…

As you can see, I’m now putting a many-year hobby into use and doing web work full-time. But, once a teacher, forever a teacher… the focus of my work as a webdesigner is less about designing, and more about teaching people how to use their sites to do whatever they want to do (which, from what I hear, is a far more precious commodity than webdesign).

And the blogging? Yep, I’m back to blogging, but no longer am I blogging to feed the beast, and no longer will I hold myself to someone else’s standards of what I should be writing, or how often, or the number of links per post needed to get to the front page of whatsawhoosit. Screw all that.

If I can’t write authentically, in every way, then I can’t write.

If I’m writing by rules that aren’t my own, then I can’t write.

And if I’m not writing something that matters to me, then I doubt it’s going to matter much to you, either.

So thank you, Merlin, for once again paving the way, for helping me open the door that I’d closed and held shut for so long.

So, what now?

We’ll see, really. I’m not pretending to know how this is going to go, nor am I promising that everything is about to go back to how it was. Quite the opposite, really, in case you couldn’t guess.

What I do know is this: I’m committed to writing about what I care about. It’s going to be from my perspective, as all writing is, if the writer is being honest. Some of you will stay, and some will go, and that’s fine. Community is a fluid thing, and I get that.

And, as Vitor helped me to see, it’s about the person, not the URL. Monk at Work, Viverati, whatever… the door has opened again, and I’m walking through it.

Image by mrhayata.

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2008. | Permalink | 22 comments

And that’s the crux of it, right there. Why aren’t people lining up around the block for your service?

Maybe it’s because you aren’t giving them a compelling enough reason to.

If you’re unique, then why are you marketing yourself just like everyone else? Do you really think that just calling yourself a coach/trainer/designer/whatever-it-is-you-do is going to help you stand out from the rest of the vanilla, white-bread, snore-inducing coaches/trainers/designers/etc.?

It’s not a question of uniqueness. You are unique. Just ask a forensic scientist.

What makes or breaks the success of your marketing campaign (and thus, your business) is how clearly you can communicate what it is you do in a way that reflects your uniqueness. As Marty Neumeier, the author of Brand Gap says in his latest book, Zag: “When everybody zigs, zag.”

Now the question becomes, “Where to start?” Try these:

Nosce Te Ipsum

Of course, in order to communicate your uniqueness, you’ve got to get in touch with it first. And that takes introspection, self-awareness, and some serious soul-searching.

Nosce te ipsum (or Temet Nosce, for you Matrix fans) means, “know thyself.” And before you can be anything to anyone, you’ve got to be true to yourself, and working in the service of your own passions, strengths, conviction, values, and purpose.

And now, to take this a level deeper: The full version of the “nosce te ipsum” motto translates to:

Know thyself – and thou shall know all the mysteries of the gods and of the universe.

It’s one thing to get in touch with your own passion and purpose… and it’s a whole ‘nother thing to get in touch with a sense of the heavenly passion and deep, spiritual meaning that flows through your soul. You can’t think your way there, or infer your purpose based on personality traits or life events — you’ve got to connect your heart to the Oneness in all things, bask in the outpouring of Divine connection and flow, and feel what inspires your heart to act, and how to be, in perfect synchrony with the source of your innermost being.

How’s that for a to-do list item?

The Air To The Bird

Unless you’re gifted with a greater self-awareness than everyone else on the planet, you’re going to need support to see yourself the way that people outside your own head see you. As my favorite Hindu proverb states:

There are three mysteries in the world: the air to the bird, the water to the fish, and man to himself.

In other words, don’t try to do this alone; get help from close friends, mastermind partners, and those close to you whose only investment in this is for your highest growth (this isn’t the time to consult naysayers and fearmongerers, if you know what I mean).

Now, take your message out there, and broadcast it to the world. Because every business has a message. Is yours going to be heard?

Image by Wayne’s World 7

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2007. | Permalink | 24 comments

With all these gazillions of blogs out there, it sure can seem like a lot of noise.

So, does the world need your blog?

If it’s a spam blog, the answer is clearly no.
If it’s a blog about your cat, well, good for you — but sharing with it anyone but your cat isn’t really necessary.
But if you write because of something that you have a passion about, then I’d say yes — the world needs your blog. Very much.

Why?

Because you are a shining star in the firmament of the universe.
You are a jewel like none other.
You are a rose in bloom, honeyed and resplendent.

Let me ask you something, honestly: Did you read that last bit, or did you skip over it? Did you really take it in, as if I was writing to you (yes, you), or did you brush it off as banality?

As Horton said, “I meant what I said, and I said what I meant; an elephant (ahem, monk) is faithful one hundred percent.” I really do mean it when I say that you are special, precious, and unique.

How can I say that, when I don’t even know who’s reading this?

Because I believe — not as an airy-fairy dream, but because I’ve seen it in everyone I’ve ever met — that you have a special purpose inside of you. You have a light burning inside you to share with the world. It’s your contribution, your precious gift, your offering to the world.

And the world needs that. We need your gift. We need your voice. When you share your passion and your purpose, letting yourself be moved by the stirrings of your deepest yearnings for life, joy, connectedness, and expression, then the world benefits from your contribution.

Just as a symphony wouldn’t be complete without the contribution of the violins, the world around you hasn’t experienced fullness until you’ve given what you have to give.

So, does the world need your blog?

If you’re just adding to the noise, then no, probably not.
But if you’re sharing the music inside you, then yes. A resounding, full, and overwhelming yes.

Image by MyklR.

And thanks to all those who commented on the two previous posts so far: Pixelhead, Wendy Piersall, Joanna Young, Dawud Miracle, EM Sky

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2007. | Permalink | 31 comments

Every other word she utters is, “Why?”
Every answer to her, “Why?” is followed up with another, “Why?”

And so I started thinking: That’s a great question.

Why do you do what you do?
Why is your work, your work?
Why do you stay at it? Why do you love it? Why?

In Jim Collins’ landmark book, Built to Last (Good to Great, his more famous book, was written as a prequel to Built to Last), he shares an exercise which is profound (and profoundly simple) for getting at the deeper reasons for what you do. He calls it The Five Why’s:

Start with the descriptive statement, “We make X products” or “we deliver X services,” and then ask “why is that important?” five times. After a few whys, you’ll find that you’re getting down to the fundamental purpose of the organization.

When you ask, “why?”, five-levels deep, where are you taken?

I’m taken to some of my core beliefs that motivate my work, and the kinds of differences I want to make in the world. And when I do that, the reasons why I do what I do come into really clear focus. And, they expand.

When I started Monk At Work, I was coming from ten years of working as a spiritual and energetic healer, using my intuitive abilities to help people know why they were sick, what they needed to do to get well, and then help them get there, through personal development and spiritual growth.

And yet, when I asked myself, “Why?”, the reasons always came down to my desires to make the world a better place. I realized that in order to do that on the scale I wanted to, in the way I wanted to, I would have to change just about everything about my business. And so, I did.

Now, I teach spiritual development, intuition, and productivity (well, I used to…). But why?

1. Because if you can become the best of who you were born to be, open your heart to your patrons, know what they need, and then get good enough at doing things to actually get done the things that will help your people, then you can create a remarkable business. But why?
2. Because if you create a remarkable, client-centered business that truly serves people, you are becoming an immensely deep, beloved friend for your patrons. But why?
3. Well, besides making obvious business sense (talk about laying the ground for rich client relationships, lifelong customers, and a reason to spread the word!), it’s because that’s what people long for. Love. Richness. A great life. And your business can help foster that. But why?
4. Because the more love that exists in the world, the better world we have to live in. More love = more happiness = more respect for self and others = more caring for, well, everything… including the environment, the needy, and those who are in your world, in one way or another.

So, those are four of my Why’s (no one says you have to get to five). And, it’s also the foundation, message, and vision of my business. Now you know what Monk At Work is all about:

I’m here to help you become a beloved friend to your patrons, and in turn, create rich, meaningful lives for all.

The “how” is through spirituality, productivity, and intuition, of course… but that’s a discussion we can get further into at another time.

What are your Why’s? I’d love to hear.

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2007. | Permalink | 13 comments