In
This Issue: February 22, 2007
- I've got your
number. In this article I look
at my favourite numbers - and ask some
provocative questions to get you thinking
about your own numbers.
- Market Place
Products of the Month:
- The best "facilitator's guide..." I've
ever seen. For any coach, trainer
or consultant wanting to add a proven
product to what they already offer,
How Much Joy? is Suzanne Falter-Burns
excellent creativity workshop (and
it's on sale).
- MichaelBungayStanier.com. My
snazzy new website - part of this
year's commitment to sharpen up how
I show up on the web
- A completely new
way to organize time. Jen Louden,
Comfort Queen has just published her
new book, The
Life Organizer. In this
article she shares some of the secrets
behind its effectiveness.
- Got It Going
On: Australia. Prague. Finland.
Istanbul. Cyber Space. Some places
I'm showing up to speak over the next
few months.
- Intuition as a Sustainable
Business Advantage. My second guest author, Arupa
Tesolin, is the author of Ting! In this
article she shares eight ways to use intuition
to increase your impact.
- Survey Winners: Over
1,000 people who completed the "what
product next?" survey.
Five people won prizes - find out if
you were one...
Know anyone who's not so good with numbers?
Please forward Outside the Lines (in
its entirety please) to anyone you think
might be interested. This community grows
with your help.
Like to reprint any of my articles? Please
do - details on how to go about it are at
the end of the newsletter.
Michael Bungay Stanier
Principal, Box of Crayons
I've Got Your Number
I love number jokes.
"Five out of four people are bad with
fractions" is one of them.
So is "There are three types of people
in the world: Those that can count... and
those that can't."
I've just started working with
someone to
help me better understand the world of the
internet - and one of the things he's most
interested in are "my numbers".
As well as subscriber numbers, customer
spend, and newsletter opening rates, it's
got me thinking about other number in my
life.
Here are some of my favourite numbers -
and some provocative questions to get you
thinking about yours.
One + Two + Two + Two + Four
That's one way to think of my family: one
wife, two parents, two brothers, two sisters-in-law,
four nieces and nephews.
(They're on my mind, as I'll be hanging
out with them in Australia).
- Who's your family? How do they nourish
you? How do they not?
- Who's consuming your time? To whom
do you want to redirect it?
Five and Three-Quarters
The title of my next movie is The
5 3/4 Questions You've Been Avoiding.
We'll be releasing it in a couple of month's
time, assuming the Animation Gods are kind.
Stay tuned!
- How many years left do you have? (If
you're in the United States, you
can have a stab at figuring it out here.)
What do you want to do in that time?
- What's not quite finished? What do
you need to get done so you can clear it
away?
Six
The hexagon is one of the easiest forms
to construct - a blend of circles and triangles.
It's also the shape that is the most efficient
use of space and energy/materials. (Yes,
that's why bees construct their hives using
the hexagon).
(I got this information from a fantastic
book The
Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe which
looks at "sacred geometry" -
and the power of the numbers one through
ten).
- What's your source of strength? What
do you need in your life to be "stable"?
- Where do you feel safe? What's your
perfect environment to live and work?
Eleven
One of my favourite movies of all time is
the heavy-metal music "mockumentary" This
is Spinal Tap.
One of the many glorious pieces of dialogue
involves a conversation between the not-so-bright
lead guitarist, Nigel, and the documentary
maker. It's about an amplifier that goes "up
to eleven". I've discovered, in writing
this article, that it's actually impossible
to convey how funny this is... so I'd encourage
you to either:
What needs an extra push? What do you
want to "take up to 11"?
What makes you laugh? How can you get
more of that in your life?
Comments? Feedback?
michael@boxofcrayons.biz
Market Place Products
of the Month
1. Uber-Joy: The Joy Facilitator's Guide
This is the best facilitator's guide
I have ever seen, and should be seriously
considered by any coach, trainer or facilitator
looking to add a new service to their current "mix".
You can check it out here.
I had a cunning plan when Suzanne Falter-Burns
told me she was having a sale on the facilitator's
guide for her course on how to create, book,
fill and lead a creativity workshop
I thought: I'll get myself a copy, check
it out and when I write my own facilitator's
guide for Get Unstuck & Get Going, I'd
have a useful template.
The plan's gone horribly wrong.
I'm now not sure I could ever create something
this good. I feel a little daunted.
Here's what makes it so good:
- It's got wise
things to say about creativity. In
other words, the core content is rock solid.
- It's a plug and play workshop that comes
in four or five different formats,
from a full weekend to a teleclass
- You have an
unlimited license that lets you change
it at will.
- The material's been tried and
tested for six years
- It's crammed full
of information: 400 pages - of process,
stories, encouragement and support, as
well as supporting CDs
- It does a brilliant job
at helping you visualize the course,
doing all it can to help you understand
and then "own" the
material.
- It has a wonderful
section on how to market the tool
- this from a woman who's written one
of the definitive guides on getting
known
- It's wonderfully written. Suzanne's
a former copy writer, and she writes
elegantly.
... and what's more, it's on sale and for
a short period of time Suzanne's offering
$100 off the course during her Uber-Joy Festival.
Check it out here.
I'm hard pressed to believe that if you
buy this product and commit to making it
an active part of your toolkit, you won't
easily make your money back within a year.
PS - I know Suzanne, and as should be well
and truly obvious from the above, I stand
behind her products because I think they're
excellent and I'm delighted to offer them
to you.
2. MichaelBungayStanier.com
As part of an on-going commitment to improve
your experience at our online store, we've
recently launched a portal page, a way of
better showing you the various products and
services that are available.
You can see it at MichaelBungayStanier.com
A completely new way
to organize time" by Jen Louden
Do you feel a pull to be present, to match
your pace to the fluid and complex world
ours has become? If so, the more traditional
approaches to managing your life and structuring
your days can hog-tie you, forcing you to
relinquish the skills most needed in today's
world -- like intuition, emotional intelligence,
creativity, and big-picture thinking.
I've got an alternative. This process, what
I call life organizing, is infinitely richer
then plotting your days in fifteen-minute
increments in your planner.
But here's one warning...
Read
the rest of Jen's article.
Buy
a copy of The Life Organizer before April
1st here and get a bonus CD worth $30.
Jennifer Louden has sold more than 3/4 million
books, including The Woman's Comfort Book,
She's a certified coach, magazine columnist
for Body+Soul magazine and creator of learning
events and retreats around the country.
Got It Going On
Curious what I really look like?
You can see a photo of me at my
new speaker page.
I love the opportunity to talk to people
within organizations and at conferences.
Here's some that are coming up soon.
March
I'm going to Australia in March
to see family and friends and to meet old
and new clients. I'll also run some workshops
for the local coaching chapters. I have
chosen as my topic "Be Different
- or Be Dead: 12 levers to differentiate
your practice." Save these dates:
There's no Get Unstuck teleforum in
March. The next one will be in...
April
Get Unstuck teleforum, 2pm EST on Wednesday
21st. We'll be looking at three barriers
to personal creativity. It's free -
and you can sign
up now.
May
Mind
Camp Taster - May 26. Topic to be
determined, but the location will be
in the Greater Toronto Area and it will be
fun and funky.
June
- Prague Coach Conference. I have the
pleasure and honour of returning to
Prague this year to host their conference.
June 6. See
details here.
- European Coach Conference,
Helsinki. I'll be presenting two different
workshops, one hugely practical, one
slightly philosophical. June 7-9. See
details here.
- ICF Turkey. I'm still ironing out the
details, but I may well be in Istanbul
the week of June 11th.
Curious how I might be able to liven up
your team, conference or organization? Check
out some of my most popular speaking topics.
"Intuition
as a Sustainable Business Advantage" by
Arupa Tesolin
Sure as the sun will rise on another day,
the current economy will change, swiftly
and often unpredictably. The early 2000's
upward surge in technology (and just as unwittingly
its consequent downward lurches) went contrary
to most analyst views.
Could it be that analysts are just as reined
in by unsubstantiated information as non-analysts?
Just how relevant then in today's unprecedented
and changing business and economy is the
analyst view? For all its facts, market studies,
corporate reports, knowledge and information,
it can still be wrong.
The challenge of highest magnitude is certainly
this. How can we ...
Read the rest of Arupa's article.
Arupa Tesolin the author of the new international
business book "Ting ! - A Surprising
Way to Listen to Intuition & Do Business
Better". Her company Intuita provides
learning that inspires people to create.
Survey Winners
Thanks to so many of you for completing
last week's survey. Over 1000 of you completed
it, an amazingly generous amount of feedback
for me.
I'm still processing what you told me. There
was a lot of positive response to most of
the ideas... now I just have to make up my
mind!
I offered some prizes to encourage you to
complete the survey.
Congratulations to these folk:
- iPod: Teresa
Meyers, United States
- GU&GG Complete
Program: Joelle Khouzam, United States
- GU&GG Complete Program: Laurel
McElreath, United States
- GU&GG Complete
Program: Naila Chowdhury, Bangladesh
- $30 gift certificate: Nel Nadal, United
States
- $30 gift certificate: Loni John,
Canada
- $30 gift certificate: Mark Walker,
United States
About Michael
Michael Bungay Stanier is the Head of MichaelBungayStanier.com,
a company that provides products and services
so people can have lives of fun, inspiration
and action.
He is the author of Get
Unstuck & Get
Going ...on the stuff that matters,
a coaching program and tool endorsed by leaders
in the coaching and training professions,
and creator of The
Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun,
a movie that's taken the internet by storm.
He was the 2006 Canadian Coach of the Year.
To learn more about his corporate offerings,
see BoxOfCrayons.biz
You can find out contact Michael directly
at Michael@boxofcrayons.biz or +1 (416) 532-1322.
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attribution:
Michael Bungay Stanier is a professional
keynote speaker, the author of the best
selling coaching tool, Get
Unstuck & Get
Going ...on the stuff that matters and
the creator of Eight
Irresistible Principles of Fun. A certified
coach and Rhodes Scholar, he works with
teams and organizations to help them do
less Good Work and more Great Work
Schedule - Outside the Lines is distributed
on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month.
Your contact information is never traded,
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a month detailing programs and offers.
©Box of Crayons 2007. Box of Crayons
is a registered trading name of Maida CC
Inc.
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