Photo courtesy of Damian Morys
“Creativity is intelligence having fun.”
Albert Einstein, Physicist
Earlier this week, I was asked a question about how I create & promote events / courses / workshops. I can actually boil it down to 2 steps.
Many years ago, I realised that when I sat down to create marketing materials (something I found very stressful), there was a background thought along the lines of “How can I convince people to buy a place on this programme”. This felt creepy, stressful and uninspiring. The moment I “saw” that thought, I realised how clearly in opposition this was to what I’m passionate about (sharing cool stuff with people and making a difference to them).
I reflected on it for a while, then asked myself this question:
1) If I had a room full of people for 2 days, what would I love to share with them?
I reflected a little more, then started writing down ideas, and got really connected with what I’m passionate about sharing, and what I love exploring. Once I had a page or so of ideas about what I’d love to share, I asked the second question:
2) If I didn’t have to worry about getting people to book a place, how would I love to let them know about this event?
Again, I reflected, then started writing down ideas. Inevitably, most of these ideas involved things I enjoy doing (speaking, sharing ideas, inspiring people etc). By the time I’d made that second list of ideas, I was very excited about the event I was creating (“If The Secret’s So Great, Where’s My Ferrari“). Around 160 people came to the event, and I launched my first one-year programme that weekend (this was back in June 2010, 4 years ago). It’s been a wild ride since then, but I still have the same “attitude” towards creating events.
Here’s the important piece: The power in this isn’t in the questions; the power is in life itself, and it flows through you when you fall out of your insecure thinking, and into your clarity, passion and creativity. The more deeply you understand the principles behind clarity, the more you get to benefit from that understanding, in terms of inner security, peace of mind, resilience, creativity, wisdom etc.
All the articles, audios and videos and products here at www.JamieSmart.com are devoted to helping you deepen your understanding of these principles, so I encourage you to keep exploring.
To your increasing clarity,
Jamie