It is common practice to appoint new department or school managers from the ranks of successful teachers or trainers or, in industry, engineers or other “production” positions. Such appointees sometimes have had little or no practical management training. This article can then be an important “gift” to such newly appointed managers. It describes brain-friendly, productive management practice. Good managers are good leaders.The basic job of a manager is to help those who report to him or her to be successful at accomplishing their missions. Any manager who acts simply as a “boss and evaluator” is not providing members of his or her team with an environment that encourages maximum productivity. The most effective managers lead their team members with clarified goals and systems, sensitive listening, opportunities for involvement in shaping operations, opportunities for professional growth, and non-intrusive monitoring. A major goal is to give team members help when they need it, not to “catch” them at not succeeding. Solid leadership behaviors are a foundation of good management.Good managers focus on basic needs of team members. Those basic needs are:1. Belonging, 2. Personal power, 3. Freedom, 4. Fun.Let us review each of these in turn.Belonging. Employees can be most productive if they perceive themselves as valued members of a team (department, division, group). A manager-leader can support this perception by:1. Holding periodic coordination meetings to keep everyone thoroughly informed and to give opportunities for feedback, planning revisions, and cooperative discussions.2. Advance discussion with the team or an individual member about possible changes in mission, roles, resources, etc.3. Being conveniently available for discussions of individual ideas or problems.4. Being willing, where possible, to arrange special working conditions to accommodate temporary personal problems of an individual team member (making loyalty a two-way process).Personal power. Team members need to be respected and recognized to maintain their enthusiasm. The manager-leader should work to ensure that:1. Each team member has important tasks that he or she can accomplish.2. Important accomplishments are rewarded with recognition and, where possible, with broadened responsibility or authority and salary progress.3. The ideas and suggestions of each team member are carefully considered and where feasible, used.The above actions show each team member the power of his or her personal effort.Freedom. The manager-leader should give each team member as much authority and freedom to direct his or her own work as possible within school, company or mission guidelines. Having choices and control over one’s own work processes can be a major motivating factor. Second-guessing and over-direction from a manager are major demotivating factors.Fun. The best teachers know that student productivity increases with careful use of down time and relaxation periods. The best managers know that balanced opportunities for relaxation, humor, and socializing are an important part of motivating team members.Now let us review other important factors beyond needs of team members. These include Evaluation, Two Direction Management, Lateral Management and a Special Caution.Evaluation of team members. Evaluation should be a monitoring and helping process. A manager should accompany any constructive criticism with helping suggestions and/or resources. This does not preclude the right to require that some concern or issue be addressed. It simply fulfills the basic management responsibility for helping people to succeed. Also, be sure to allow evaluatees to appeal or explain evaluation issues; give their explanation sincere consideration.A manager shows strength and confidence in himself or herself when he or she decides to change an evaluation because an evaluatee makes a good case for such change. Finally, the entire evaluation process is strengthened if a management-by-objective, participatory process is followed. That process is one of the manager and an evaluatee deciding on objectives and desired performance standards in advance, each contributing to the process. Then the later evaluation can be much more objective because standards have been agreed upon in advance.Two direction management. Previous suggestions have focused on a manager being supportive of his or her members. However, remember the opposite direction. As a manager, another one of your basic tasks is to keep your manager informed – - the no unnecessary surprises principle. That allows your manager to help you and to depend on you. In other words, you are now teaming in two directions – - with your team members and with your manager. Expect this same no-surprise principle from your team members. It helps to tie an organization together.Lateral management. Whenever possible help and cooperate with your management peers, for example, other department chairpersons. Again, expect this lateral help among your team members and from your team members to those on other teams. If everyone in an organization accepts the basic task of being helpful when possible to anyone else in the organization, the culture of belonging gets even stronger. Organization productivity can go even higher.A special caution on your manager. Before you take a management position, have a two-way discussion on these suggestions with your prospective manager. If he or she does not agree with some of the basic principles in this article, think carefully before you accept an appointment. For example, if your prospective manager does not plan to give you a significant degree of freedom and authority, you will find it far more difficult to grant such to those who work for you! If your prospective manager does not see evaluation as a helping rather than a do-it-to-you process, it will be more difficult for you to emphasize helping.If your prospective manager “never changes his evaluations” when such are appealed or explained, he or she is not someone who listens carefully to others; that could leave you treated and evaluated unfairly in a new management position. If you do accept a management role under a manager with beliefs or habits that could undercut your effectiveness, do so with full recognition that such managers tend to blame the results of their brain-unfriendly practices on others; you could become one of those others. Avoid such managers if possible. Certainly do not become that type of manager yourself.Summary of main points. Here are summary lists of some brain-friendly (good) and brain-unfriendly (bad) management practices. The numbering in each list is related to the other list. Work at using the good practices and avoiding the bad ones.Brain-friendly/Good Management Practices:1. Clarify mission and goals.2. Listen carefully to others.3. Involve your team members in planning and decision-making in a management system.4. Provide your team members with professional growth or learning opportunities.5. Use monitoring data to help your team members succeed.6. Hold coordination meetings. Keep everyone informed.7. Be conveniently available for individual discussions.8. Be willing to arrange temporary special working conditions to help individuals with special personal problems.9. Define meaningful tasks; recognize and reward progress on same.10. Consider and use suggestions from team members when feasible.11. Give team members as much freedom and authority as you can to direct their own work.12. Support balanced opportunities for breaks, relaxation, socializing, humor, and fun.13. Emphasize the helping and encouragement aspects of evaluation.14. Keep your manager supported and informed (no surprises).15. Promote lateral helping between peers.16. Evaluate the philosophy of your prospective manager before taking a job as a new manager.Brain-unfriendly/Bad Management Practices:1. Assume that team members know their mission and goals.2. Emphasize telling those who work for you what to do.3. Emphasize telling those who work for you what to do.4. Let team members shift for themselves on professional growth.5. Evaluate at the end of tasks; do not “bother” folks until then.6. Emphasize memos to tell team members what to do.7. Restrict your availability for individual meetings.8. Enforce the same working conditions and rules for everyone at all times.9. View solid performance as normal and expected, not deserving of specific recognition.10. Emphasize telling those who work for you what to do.11. Require team members to do things exactly the way you define.12. Concentrate on work and production at all times.13. Use evaluation to “shape-up” others and to tell them what to do.14. Do not give extra information to your manager; just answer when questions are asked.15. Keep focused on individuals doing their job and not on them being concerned with others in the organization.16. Do not be concerned with the habits or beliefs of your prospective manager. You cannot do anything about those.And now, good luck with the responsibility and the fun of helping others to succeed! Following that theme can make management positions very rewarding.
Reality Internet Marketing: It Takes Time to Build Your Internet Business, Remember Magic Stone Soup
You bought into the Internet Merchant Dream. You now have one or more websites selling products online that you are convinced are in great demand. Now that the entire internet world becomes your customer base, you figure that your sales will blossom your websites into a ‘Wal-mart of Websites”!Most likely you have received one or two calls per week from a number of Internet Marketing companies who promise you the glories of improving one or more of these:
Your traffic by establishing reciprocal links
Your Google Ranking through Hundreds of Directory registrations (registrations that are repeated 2 -4 times each month)
Web Traffic through writing articles for eZines and BLOGS
Traffic (up from the number of Visitors you now have – whatever that number is) using Marketing using email campaigns
Search Engine Page inclusions based on the proper selection, webpage positioning and page density of Keywords, Meta Descriptions and Meta Keywords to improve search bot sweeps of your site.
Search Engine Page Inclusions with XML and ROR sitemaps for Google and Yahoo Search Bots
Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns
Web Banner campaigns
Advertising Revenue through Affiliate Programs, Adsense, el al
Each Marketing Company will pitch you the importance of their company’s offering providing you the “winning formula for the Internet Selling Bonanza”. Well almost!Take it from me – someone who operated a “mortar and brick” business: a franchise that offered a great new way to merchandise healthy life style products and services. We all want to hear how quickly we can make thousands and thousands of dollars as a Retail Merchant. We all get convinced by a few of these “get the sales quicker” Internet Marketing Companies pitch that their product or service will vault us into Conversions (fancy name for Internet Sales) with unbelievable speed.We entrepreneurs, each and every one of us, must first buy into the concept, the products, the vision of demand for the products and services offered. Our hope for a successful business, coupled with our zeal to quickly start our business, clouds our vision in applying the basics of building a business. Beware these purveyors of “Business Bliss”!I am often reminded of a story we read back in elementary school called Stone Soup. It is fable about a traveling Minstrel who had devised a simply ingenious way of obtaining food at each of his stop-over destinations. The housewife invites the Minstrel into her home intrigued by the promise of a “Magic Stone” capable of turning plain boiling water into a delicious soup.While the Minstrel is stirring the Magic Stone (free for the taking from the roadside) in a huge pot of boiling water, he begins to tell the unsuspecting housewife how wonderful the soup is going to taste. He weaves a tale of a tasty and healthy meal for her family. But then he states, “As delicious as this Magic Stone Soup will be, it would be even more delicious if we added a few carrots.” The housewife always obliged and would eagerly add diced carrots to the Magic Stone Soup.The Minstrel would continue this charade of suggesting other vegetables to enhance an already excellent tasting Magic Stone Soup. And the housewife, or another person in the village or town, would eagerly add what vegetable the Minstrel suggested to the soup pot. At the end of the story, the soup created was a great soup, filled with vegetables donated by the towns people! This Magic Stone Soup is then shared with the lady of the house, and the whole town. Once he has had his fill of soup, the Minstrel would remove his Magic Stone and continue on his way to the next village or town. This is the technique used by many Internet Marketing Service companies – Stone Soup Selling. They start you with something simple (and free or of little value) and before you know it, you have to invest more of your money and time to make what they originally sold you work.I will agree that a balanced approach toward applying ALL of the items above (and more) are necessary for getting people to your website. But getting them to move from Visitors (browsers) to Sales Conversions (buyers) requires good old merchandising and pricing and promotion techniques as well.So don’t buy into the Stone Soup ‘Quick Fix’ messages delivered by most of these Internet Marketing Companies. Like any business, whether it be Mortar ‘n Brick or Internet, it takes months to years to build a loyal client base and reap your Merchant Fortunes. Be patient. Be diligent. Apply the many aspects of marketing; whether it is theFIVE P’s: People, Price, Product, Promotion, Place orFIVE C’s: Customer Solution (benefits), Customer Cost (competitive) , Convenience (right to your door), Communication (engage emotion, information).Remember: there is no such thing as a quick road to riches (at least not morally and legally). There is no magic Stone Soup. Beware the “Minstrels of who weave a tale of Quick Money”.
7 Critical Factors That Define A Home Based Business’ Potential To Succeed
A lot of people are now looking for opportunities to start a home based business and earn money from home. For some people the main reason is to just earn extra cash, while for others it’s the hope that the home business will replace their job’s salaries.Whatever your goals may be, it is essential that you choose the right home based business that has huge potential to grow. Although there are various types of home based business, internet marketing has become one of the most popular ways to make money online.What factors must you look at while deciding the best home based business to get into?1. Must have a huge and expanding market. Your chances of succeeding will be very limited if you start a business for which the market is decreasing. For you to succeed with your home based business there must be a huge and expanding market for your product or service. If you want your home based business to have long term potential, it must be targeted at a huge market. So what are some of the growing markets with huge potential in the future? Work from home online, health and fitness, nutrition, e-commerce or personal care are some of the expanding markets. To expand your potential profits, you can start a home based business in several of these expanding markets.2. Positive market trends that are supportive to your home based business. Starting home based business in a huge and expanding market is the starting point. You will also need to ensure that market trends are in a direction that supports your business. In terms of our home based business, key trends are that more people are seeking to work from home and retire early, a lot of people are aiming to have better health, and some people are seeking more money and financial security and freedom. Make sure that your home based business will meet some of these market trends. You must a home based business for which there are positive market trends to ensure that it will continue being viable in the long term.3. The product or service you offer in your home based business must be useful and needed often. This is an obvious factor that is often underestimated. A product which people will need regularly means more repeat business for you and a steady flow of income. Your product must bring a benefit or must solve a problem. All these factors will ensure that what you offer in your home based business will have constant demand which is good for the success of your business.4. Easy, quick and cheap delivery of the product. If your home based business can be offering a product that you have to post and will take days to get delivered, this is time consuming and it limits your income potential. The best home based business is one where what you offer can be delivered automatically or electronically on the internet. This is cheap, quick and efficient.5. A proven and successful business system you can leverage on. Time is of essence. You need to start a proven home based business with which you will quickly start to make some money. Ideally, the home based business must have integrated marketing tools and effective automated systems that will make it easy for you to get started to actually get some checks rolling in!6. A good support structure to help you while you build and develop your home based business. A home based business with which you can easily succeed is one where you can get some support. Forum networks, tools or mentors who can help you develop your home based business are essential during the initial stages of your business. You will want to make your learning curve as short as possible, so you will need all the support you can get.7. A stable, credible and financially sound organization. This is a very important factor while you are looking for your home based business. You will need to deal with an organization that is established and with a good reputation. Factors to consider are the duration they have been in business, their reviews, refund policies and remuneration promises among other factors.If you make sure that the home based business opportunity you are considering has these factors; then you are most likely going to succeed.
Making Sure That You Have a Legitimate Home Based Business
A lot of people want to work from home without knowing the depth and breadth of efforts that are needed, not only to keep the business alive, but starting it from scratch. For instance, some people think that it is very convenient to start up a home business, and that it requires very little watching over in order to maintain. Another common misconception is that you can make millions immediately from your home-based business. True, some people can put their home-based businesses on auto-pilot, and other people are known to have been instant millionaires. However, let’s be realistic: not everyone is going to be as fortunate in the cutthroat world of business in general, and it’s best to keep expectations low, and efforts high.So what should you do to turn your stay at home business into a financial behemoth? You need to see if it’s fit to be there at all. Now we’re not just talking about market studies and money-making efforts: we’re talking about the legal boundaries set for home-based businesses. There are a lot of things that you need to know in order to keep yourself afloat, lest you would like to have the law barging into your office and confiscating everything that you’ve worked so hard for.First, not all work from home businesses are allowable in your neighborhood. There are certain zoning laws that will keep you from turning your home into a place to receive your clients. There are certain parking and transportation laws that will keep you from allowing people to park outside your home, or to drive large trucks in or out in order to get orders or sent them to your clients. There are certain licenses that you will need to have in order to operate out of your kitchen, in order for you to distribute the food that you cook, and even to sell it. You need to know what these laws are before you proceed: some of them will require you to pay certain fees and to make yourself ready for inspections. This is especially true if you need to make products that will require some degree of safety precautions on your part.You can also have a home based business through opportunities that you find online. It is here that the law gets a little bit blurry, and more so because it’s hard to pinpoint which businesses online are actually offering legitimate business opportunities. Some companies may offer what looks like a lucrative business deal that will require you to pay a fee – and then they can run off with your money, and take your hopes of a better future for you and your family. Other companies may actually be engaging in schemes that are hard to make money from. Still, other companies may actually not have the license to operate! So what makes that opportunity real and trustworthy?First, trust your gut reaction. You may come across schemes that promise an easy home based business that you can earn millions from in a week, and that will require very little effort from you – this sounds too good to be true, and for the most part, it is. Make sure that you are not falling for get-rich-quick schemes that promise too many big things in too short a span of time. You can find out more about companies through their About pages on their website, or you can contact them directly. A telltale sign of a bogus company is one that refuses to disclose anything whatsoever about themselves; people who refuse to answer your questions directly no matter how many times you send your polite letter of inquiry; and a website that is all promotion and promise, but with little to no detail.Second, do research! The best home based businesses will stand the test of time, and will spread through word of mouth. Read more about the home based business that you want to engage in and see what other people’s experiences are. Chances are, there will be a lot of resources online to help you weed out the bad seeds from your prospects pool.When looking for a business to start from home, make sure that you are operating within the bounds of the law, and that you are prepared to take responsibility for whatever happens. A business that begins from your home will be no different from any other business out there, and thus, it demands your full effort and brain power to get it started and to keep it running.
There is an excessive amount of traffic coming from your Region.
#EANF#
Keep These 5 Rules in Mind for Successful Commercial Designing
Who doesn’t want an excellent commercial design? Excellent commercial design is important to maintain the reputation and brand image of the company. As it is said, the first impression is the last impression, a good impression always attracts potential customers. It’s obvious no one would ever love to walk in a congested environment with bad lighting.
Bad design and interiors deteriorate the productivity of the employees. It can be a confusing task when planning a commercial designing project for the first time, hiring expert Commercial Architects Melbourne can be the best option to know about the latest trends and perfect matching designs.
This blog is about some basic rules to consider for making the commercial project successful.
Keep structures versatile
When it comes to transforming any commercial space, focusing on convertibility and keeping office interior decor versatile can be the best option. It can be done by implementing a versatile structure to spaces such as cafeterias, offices, and many more. Everyone gives preference to comfort hence, focusing on spatial and versatile design will help to complete commercial designing projects in an optimal way.
Consider the latest technology implementations
Technology plays a supportive role to enhance the commercial designing project. Moving forward with the latest technology is important to execute any business smoothly because technologies make the work much easier and comfortable for the employee as well as organizations. Implementing centralized and decentralized digital control is much needed in any commercial design.
Keep office aesthetics updated
Good aesthetics and interiors impact the overall representation of the office and make the place functional and attractive. Hire a reputed designer for modern décor and furniture ideas. Hiring a designer reduces half of the project stress and helps to meet the contemporary fashion and latest trends. They can help to choose the perfect theme that blends well with the office decor, atmosphere, and colour.
Provide personalized space to prevent congestion
Majority of customer prefers personalized space such as different seating to seat comfortably and do the personal work. Personalized space is one of the crucial factors for customer-based service offices such as hotels and cafeterias to provide an ambient and comfortable place.
Always keep safety first
Safety is the central feature of every construction and designing project. Hence, it’s the high-priority factor to keep the aesthetic and functional safety at the working place. It can be compromised for interior decoration and design purposes but it’s not at all affordable to compromise for safety purposes.
Following the above useful ideas can easily help in the successful completion of a commercial designing project in a safe and pleasing way. In today’s, modern construction, reliability, and comfort is also an equally important factor.
Final words,
It’s important to hire the experienced Building designer Melbourne to make the commercial designing project worthy. Hope the above rules helped you to scale up your interior designing projects with a better outcome. Follow the above tips for any renovation or remodelling project and surely you will get award-winning and achieve a better office experience.
How Long Should A Laptop Battery Last And How To Increase the Battery Life
No matter how expensive your laptop is, its battery won’t last more than four years. According to experts, a new laptop battery gives you as many as 1,000 cycles. In other words, you can charge and recharge the battery up to 1000 times. However, many factors play their role to increase or decrease the lifespan of a laptop battery. For instance, the material used for producing the battery substance. So, if you want to ensure that your battery stands the test of time, given below are some of the tips that can help.
1. Install a good battery monitor
If you are looking for an alternative, you can choose from tons of third-party utilities. Basically, the software programs help you monitor your laptop battery. These programs have no compatibility issues with any type of laptop.
Using these tools, you can find out which programs are using most of the battery power. You can then close the unwanted programs to save battery power.
2. Install maintenance apps
You can use some manufacturer-recommended maintenance tools for maintaining your laptop battery. Based on the type of your battery, you will receive different suggestions. Apart from this, your operating system will come with a built-in utility that can help you keep an eye on your battery condition.
3. Maintain your device temperature
You should try your level best to ensure your laptop maintains its temperature. In summer, electronic devices tend to heat up, which negatively impacts the life of the battery packs.
Therefore, you should make sure that there is a little bit of space between the bottom of the device and the table you have placed your device on. Besides, the ventilation system of your device should be working properly. For this purpose, regular cleaning of your device is quite important.
4. Don’t use maximum brightness
When your screen brightness is at maximum level, your device will use the maximum power. So, turning down the brightness is the first thing you can do to save power. Also, it is not a good idea to keep the brightness at max level as it can have a negative impact on your eyesight.
So, by following these simple tips, it will be easier for you to extend the life of your laptop battery.
5. Change the power-saving settings
Before you do anything, go into the power options of your laptop. If you are using Windows operating system, you can go to the control panel to access the power options. The control panel can be accessed from the Start Menu.
Some users have MacOS. If you are one of them, you need to access Energy Saver, which is found in the System Preferences. If these values are set to default, your computer will use the least amount of power.
So, what you need to do is make small changes to the settings so that you achieve a balance between power and performance. For best performance, there is always the choice to connect your device to the AC outlet.
The Best Ways I’ve Found To Make Money Online From Home
Have you been looking for a way to make money online without having to know much of the internet stuff? Wanting to work at home but don’t know how to do it? Here is the key gem: Between all the tricks on joining the craft beer movement, opening a gallery or being a tour operator, you will find clever advice that anybody can apply to make money online quickly.
The most basic way to make money online is through affiliate marketing. It is really easy. Basically you set up an ad for someone she is selling something and when they click through and buy it, you make money! Simple enough if you have no technical skill at all. Here are some simple tips on how to earn using affiliate marketing:
Drop-shipping is one of the most useful methods. You select a product in which you believe there is a demand and then drop-ship it to your customers in small quantities. You make money from the difference between what the stock costs and what you sell it for. For this method, it is important to note that you may need to make space for your inventory on your premises or perhaps wait until you have a build of an inventory before you can start drop-shipping; but the advantages make it a good choice for those seeking to make money online from their spare time.
Paid surveys are a great way to earn some extra cash. These can be accessed easily and there are many sites where you can get paid from spending your spare time. There is one site, though, which is said to pay $200 a week for twelve weeks straight – you can’t beat that kind of money making potential. With paid surveys, it is important to note that the sites are generally scams, and that you need to do some research to ensure you are making good money making opportunities.
Finally, a passive income generating method that can bring in money on autopilot is eToro’s Forex trading. This works by allowing you to invest on a demo account and earn money from the performance of the currencies being exchanged. The best thing about this system is that it allows you to do virtually anything and still see profits coming in. eToro has an average starting price of less than $50 and can generate an income of five figures in just a few months.
These are the best things I have found for making money online from your home. Though none of them are as good as, say, a paid-online course, they are much more affordable and can provide a valuable education to start earning money immediately online. With just a little research, you should be able to find a legitimate opportunity to get paid to learn the basics of making money in the currency markets. This is a truly remarkable opportunity.
Finding the Best Business Idea For Your Home Based Business
How many home based business opportunities are available to you? If you want to make money online at home, you really have many options to choose from. The big question is – which one will give you the biggest chance of success? Is there a ‘one size fits all’ answer? The simple truth is that not every opportunity is right for everyone, and not every opportunity will bring you the greatest amount of profit.
So, what are some home business ideas that can make money online for you? The quick and dirty answer is: the one that best suits your particular set of needs. Make a list of your priorities, including a high income; a low-risk schedule; freedom; flexibility; work-life balance; independence; something in your range of skills and expertise; and interesting work that you have an interest in… You can take this list with you and talk to people who are working from home on the same things that you would be considering. Chances are that you will find some great niches that fit your standards and your desires.
But what if you want to get started right away? It’s easy to think that you can jump into a new business idea and be successful immediately, but this often isn’t the case. It takes many different things to make sure that you will be able to get through the hurdles and actually make it to a point where you are seeing profit. If you don’t work at it slowly, you will be setting yourself up for failure. Here’s the lowdown on some different things that you should consider as you create your own business idea:
First, you need to think about what you have to offer. If you don’t have any ideas as to what to do as a freelance writer, a lowdown on finding a niche is very important. Many beginners go into this completely clueless. But if you know that you have a skill that others are desperately seeking, you may be able to provide them with the service they are looking for without having to spend much time building up a website or getting traffic to it.
Another thing to consider is what kinds of products or services would best fit a niche that you would like to get started in. In this case, the lowdown on finding the best business idea for you would include taking a look at what you love to do and what you can offer others. If writing is not your strongest point, but you love to get creative, consider freelance data entry. Freelance data entry does not require a lot of startup capital, but you still need to have the skills that will allow you to be successful in this area. The best lowdown on finding the best business idea for you is to simply start looking at what you like to do and what you can offer others.
There are many other areas of freelance writing that you can explore in order to make the most out of your home based online business. Freelance writers are in high demand online. If you have the skills that are needed to do well in this field, there is no reason that you should not be able to find a great home-based online business that will give you the income that you want.
Earn Money Writing From Home And Never Run Out of Ideas
Is it your dream to work from home as a writer and earn money from everything you write? That was my dream for years, and 20 years ago it became my reality.
One of the hardest things at first was to come up with ideas of what to write about. I started by doing freelance writing and I also set up my own website and I wanted to write and publish books. It was all a great plan, but it meant coming up with thousands of ideas.
At first I didn’t think it was possible, but it turned out that not only was it possible to come up with endless ideas for writing, but I ended up with notebooks full of ideas because I had more than I could ever use at once.
And I’ll tell you 3 things that helped.
1. I write fast. Once I’m into writing an addictive story or an interesting article – or series of articles, I get into a writing ‘flow’ and can write for hours. I never stop and second-guess myself. I just keep writing because fast writers are mega producers and never have time for writers’ block.
2. The more I write and the faster I write, the more writing ideas I have. Productive writers always get an abundance of ideas as they write. When I’m immersed in my writing, my creative mind goes into hyper-drive. Even if I started with only one or two ideas, once I sit down and start writing the ideas start flowing. And it doesn’t matter what I write. Even if I’m journaling or copying out someone else’s writing by hand (just for practice), it inspires ideas.
3. I love to write. Most days I’m excited and motivated to sit down and write. I hurry through other chores I have to do so that I can get to my desk and write.
At first, being a writer was hard because it’s not easy to work from home with no boss, no set hours and too many distractions. But once I got a writing routine, I found that once I sat my backside in my chair and started writing, it was easy to ignore everything and motivation arrived and kept me going.
So if you find yourself longing to write but stuck for ideas, just sit down and start writing. Write anything even if it’s just nursery rhymes you were taught as a kid, or open a book and start handwriting it out.
And if you’re like me you’ll find that even on days when you think you don’t feel like writing and the ideas just won’t come, sit down and write anyway, and before you know it you’ll be overloaded with ideas.