Seth Godin

by Toku on Uncategorized

My 1st Project With altMBA (Seth Godin)

Have you ever wanted to do something for years but can’t seem to find the time? The event is compelling, the trip inspiring, but the timing just isn’t right?

For years I’ve wanted to attend Seth Godin’s altMBA.

I heard about the potent impact it has on people, but I could never find the time. But with the pandemic in full swing and my dating life on full pause I decided to take on this challenge not to get anything specific, but to have fun and get back into the mode of creation.

As I take on this challenge I want to share with you some of what I’m learning so you can consider what is possible when you step outside your comfort zone and do the thing you’ve wanted to do for so long.

How altMBA Works –

altMBA is a 30 day SPRINT And they aren’t kidding

You “ship” 12 projects in 30 days – that’s 3 projects a week.

Some of these projects you do alone, some of them you do working with a small group, but the idea is to learn by doing, by staying engaged, and getting feedback.

My commitment to altMBA My core commitment to altmba is to have fun, to learn, and to connect.

PROJECT #1

The first project for altMba was all about goals. How to set them and how to present them in a compelling way.

Because my commitment is to have fun I thought of goals like an investment.

I choose what I want to create and I have to convince myself that this thing I want is worth the investment of time and money.

For me, that meant creating a “PITCH” to convince myself that I should invest in this goal. The goal for me was to publish a book for new coaches. A book I have already written by the way, but haven’t gotten out into the world yet. *

So I treated myself like an investor and made the pitch which you can watch below

Any goal you make is an investment.

An investment of the most valuable resource you have. Your life. If you’re going to take on a goal, you need to make sure it’s a sound investment.

Why wouldn’t you treat this as the biggest pitch of your life?

https://vimeo.com/465642777

I hope my pitch inspired you in the same way it inspired me. Your life is so valuable, invest wisely, but once you do, go ALL IN.

Then I got some AMAZING feedback on my post.

The main things people mentioned were about WHY I was the one to write this book? Why did I care about it? What is the book really about? And what might I create in publishing it?

What it helped me see was that even when I am enrolling myself in a commitment I HAVE to keep why I’m the right person or why I’m doing something at the center.

I also learned that doing all of this is FUN and can be fun. It’s so easy for us to make things super heavy and significant instead of simply just enjoying the act of creation itself.

*Since this was written, the book has been published. Learn more here.

 
by Toku on Skillset, Uncategorized

Using Feedback to Improve Writing

As a coach, I’m good at helping people produce their best work. But that doesn’t always translate to me producing my own best work.

Last week my marketing and writing assistant informed me that I’m entirely too hard on myself. That my writing is good, she enjoys reading it, and many other people do as well. Yet I’ve had this feeling there has to be a better way to make my writing better.

After all, I’m a coach, I give people feedback and perspective for a living, so how could I use that skill to improve my writing?

I found the answer in an online course

ALT-MBA

For the past two weeks, I’ve been taking Seth Godin’s ALT-MBA which is a crazy business learning sprint where you ship 12 projects in 4 weeks and give feedback to your peers along the way.

After shipping my first two projects I noticed something.

Every time I gave feedback on someone else’s project I improved my own.

I started to realize that something interesting was happening when I gave feedback to other people. A different part of my brain was turning on.

When I published my own projects I thought, this is pretty good!

I couldn’t really see what was missing. As much as I tried to look at my work through other people’s eyes I couldn’t do it.

THESE ARE MY WORD BABIES AND I LOVE MY BABIES

But all I had to do was take a stroll around the nursery and see what other people had made and I found all sorts of stuff that could be different.

I saw what I liked

  • Clever titles
  • Explanations of the process of creation
  • Fun stories about team members

I saw what I didn’t like

  • Vague descriptions
  • Missing information
  • Hints at gold but no gold to be found

After giving 1-3 people feedback I immediately had 5-10 ideas about how I could make my own project better.

And so I would go back and edit my project, make it better, and smile.

Don’t get me wrong, my projects aren’t perfect, but I’ve been blown away by how simple this trick is.

Ever since I’ve found it, I’ve used it to improve my writing, work on my website, even my coaching ability.

Here’s how you can do it:

Step 1) Find something you want to improve – your writing, website, pictures, whatever

Step 2) Create a rough draft, a mock-up, a few sample shots

Step 3) Find other examples of that thing you want to improve

Step 4) Give it feedback using the following format:

Brilliance – here’s what I loved about this, here’s what worked, here’s what I enjoyed.

Opportunity – Here’s what would make it better, here’s what I wanted to know more about, here’s what was missing

Step 5) Go back and look at your work and integrate the feedback you gave to other people into your work.

It’s that simple.

Creativity never happens in a vacuum, it’s always a conversation, if you’re willing to invite a different part of yourself to the table, you may be amazed at what you discover.