Tag: focus

Growth Perspective

Slowing down

As an entrepreneur and creatively inspired being, slowing down feels like a threat to action – the one thing I’ve grown to depend on. Which is why it has been difficult for me to reconcile that slowing down is the vehicle that moves me towards the things I want in life at the most accelerated rate.

Slowing down has allowed me to be more intentional with my actions, creating a focus that is direct and on purpose. It has allowed me to take a step back to see the bigger picture, and helps me identify and remove things that are not beneficial for my life.

If you feel overwhelmed, uninspired, unmotivated, or want to move towards an unknown “more” in your life, ironically enough, slowing down may be the vehicle that helps get you there at the most accelerated rate.

Perspective

Double vision

When our perception of a certain reality shifts, there is a stage of double vision that we can experience. It’s a point where older thoughts and perceptions collide with newer thoughts and perceptions, creating two simultaneous perceptions of the same picture.

Double vision can be a confusion experience because of the perceived separation it causes within ourselves. When old patterns meet new ones, there is a conflict that erupts as opposing sides fight for their individual existence.

Double vision is a necessary stage that accommodates the emergence of a new thought, perception or idea. So when our thoughts and perceptions seem out of focus, maybe we should embrace the double vision? The result can be us experiencing life more clearly.

Perspective

laughter

During a meeting the other day I laughed so hard that slobber dripped from my mouth, onto my face, in what is admittedly not my proudest moment. A classic “snort-laugh” combination erupted from someone else, and a brief moment later, we officially started our meeting.

The meeting was engaging, creative, and surprisingly focused. Our willingness to come as we were, express ourselves honestly…..and laugh a lot in-between, built a foundation that supported our success.

While there is a time and place for everything, if there is not enough time for laughter, that occasionally leads to unwilled slobber or a snort-laugh combo, what’s the point?

 

Brand Strategy

Minimal Focus

The minimal design aesthetic is popular and often requested by clients. It’s the process of reducing a design down to only the most essential elements.

Its success depends on the ability to…

– Focus the brand to its core

– Remove elements that do not add value

– Reinforce the brand message through strategic design

Brands commonly assume that it is…

– Easy to accomplish

– The result of a good designer

– Available without a clear strategy

A successful minimal design is only a reflection of a brand who knows who they are, it is not solely the result of a good designer. A minimal design for a brand that only has minimal focus is nearly impossible to achieve.

Brand Strategy

Consistency

In life and with brands, consistency seems to be one of the biggest challenges. Random and inconsistent efforts cost us valuable time and will always keep us short of our full potential.

In my experience, building a consistent brand requires, at the minimum, these 3 elements:

Focus: A clear understanding of the core strengths.

Discipline: The discipline to operate within those core strengths and resisting the lure of trends.

Planning: The proper planning helps us make intentional steps, at the right time, that are aligned to our goals.

The problem with consistency is that you can seem to operate fine without it for a while. It’s one of those things that doesn’t seem to cost you anything, until it costs you everything. A lack of engagement and wasted time and efforts, over a certain period of time, eventually catches up to us. And at worst, it keeps us from reaching our full potential.