Image by Laszlo Ilyes

Every day we do simple things that could remind us to take the step towards change. I like to call these actions a mental trigger.

What Is A Mental Trigger?

Mental triggers are anything you use to signal your brain to take action. Anything you do on a frequent enough basis that could help you form a habit.

Personally, I have a couple of mental triggers I’ve used to create focused change in my life. Anything from walking through a doorway to going to the bathroom.

The mental trigger goes off and I know I have a task to do.

Using A Mental Trigger

Let me share with you a couple of mental triggers I’ve created in my life.

• Walking through my kitchen doorway: This may sound silly but it’s helped me improve my upper body strength. We installed an Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar in the walkway. Now, every time I walk through the doorway, I see the Iron Gym and do 5-10 pull-ups. Throughout a day this can add up to quite a few pull-ups.
• Going to the bathroom: This will probably sound even sillier but going to the bathroom helped me develop the habit of push-ups. Thanks to the wonderful article at Art Of Manliness, I’ve made the decision to do push-ups every time I have to use the restroom. The act of getting up and heading towards the bathroom tells me it’s time to do a bit of physical exercise so I drop and give myself 10 push-ups.
• Leaving for lunch: While I’ve always loved to read, it was difficult finding time to open a book and devote time to reading. I’ve used leaving for my lunch break as a mental trigger to open up a book and read. The trigger is leaving my workplace and getting in the truck. My mind begins to process and knows that it’s time to grab a good book and put down a few pages.

As you can see, there’s many different activities you can use as a mental trigger. Some are silly, some are benign. But once you’ve associated as a trigger it is effective.

Create a list of goals you’d like to accomplish this year. If there’s physical fitness goals, search for triggers like my bathroom break or doorway to spur you to take a few minutes to creep towards the goal. If it’s reading more, find something that will excite your mind to read. If it’s loving your spouse more, find a trigger to make you think on the things you love about her.

Question: Do you have any mental triggers in your life? What do they trigger? If not, what could a mental trigger help you take action on? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

The antagonist is usually an enemy. The Joker to Batman. The Taliban to the US army. The resistance to your creativity.

Image by Niles Geylen

You face an unseen enemy in your leadership. It raises it’s ugly head and tries to tell you it’s okay.

That things shouldn’t be this hard. You should have it easy.

One of the enemies of leadership is convenience.

Why It’s An Enemy

Convenience becomes an enemy because it creeps in and tells you the lies you want to hear. How your job should be easier. How you’ve arrived and others should serve you. That you don’t need to work as hard.

When you begin to listen to and accept these lies from the enemy you will begin to become lax in leadership. It’s easy to slip into the comfort convenience offers and believe the lies.

Before you know it you’re surrounded in comfort and no longer leading.

How To Break Free From Convenience

To continue leading well you will need to rid yourself of convenience. You’ll have to enter into times of trial and trouble. You’ll have to go where you’ve never gone before.

Breaking free from convenience will cause you to be uncomfortable and unsure of yourself at times. You won’t know what the path ahead holds for you.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

Want to get away from convenience? Want to continue leading strong? Try doing any of these three suggestions:

• Rid yourself of those who surround themselves in comfort: It may sound harsh but when you surround yourself with those that seek only comfort, you’ll begin to seek comfort and convenience as well. It’s true that we’re the average of the five people we associate the most with. If you want to be free of convenience you’ll have to get away from those that seek it.

• Remove yourself from convenient solutions: Humans are creatures of habit and comfort. We love to find convenient solutions and use them over and over again. We must be willing to break this habit. When the urge comes to find easy solutions, note it in your mind. Decide to look for other, opposing solutions that will stretch and test you. Put yourself out of the reach of convenience.
   
  Pam and I did this in our daily life by getting rid of our microwave. This was a struggle for me at first. I longed for the convenience of putting dinner into the microwave and pushing a button. Minutes later, dinner would be ready. Now it takes time to prepare and eat. And I don’t miss the days of the microwave.

• Create challenges in your life: You don’t have to do anything drastic but set up small obstacles in your life. Something that can throw a wrench into your plans. And get you thinking differently. The challenge could be as small as finding a new way home from work tonight. Your brain will begin to fire in new ways and generate new ideas. Be willing to let challenges enter into your life.

Getting rid of convenience won’t be easy. You’ll be tempted to fall back into old habits. That’s the problem of convenience. It stunts our growth.

Yet when you’re ready to break free of convenience you’ll begin to see new solutions and new ways to lead. Your creativity will return. Vision will flourish. You’ll be ready to lead well.

Question: How has convenience stunted your growth as a leader? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Through trial and error, I’m learning what works and what doesn’t. Today, I’d like to share the keys to building a loyal blog following with you.

Image via Creative Commons

Why You Should Build A Loyal Blog Following

If you’re serious about blogging, I believe you should be serious about building a loyal following. Why? Because you’re writing for someone and that someone should be listening.

While writing can be therapeutic, there should also be a point behind it. For me, it’s been to build a loyal following that I can influence with the leadership insights I’ve gained over time. Your reason may be different.

How To Build A Loyal Blog Following

A loyal following isn’t easy to build. It takes time. It takes building trust. It takes giving them the information they need to hear.

However, there are a few keys that you can use to build your loyal following. They’ve worked for me. I hope they’ll work for you as well.

1. Connect with other bloggers: One of the best things I did starting out was to reach out to other bloggers and connect with them. Don’t worry about the size of the blogger, worry about whether or not you connect with them on a personal level. If their message rings true to you, begin building a quality relationship with that blogger.

Disclaimer: Don’t abuse the relationship and make it all about you. Relationships are give and take and shouldn’t be based on what value you can extract from them. Connect with them because you want to get to know them, not what they can do for you.

2. Comment on other blog sites: Find sites that interest you and comment on their blog posts. Don’t leave comments that are bland and generic. Instead, offer value in your comments. Answer the questions the blogger poses or answer the questions that other commenters are leaving. Be a resource to others.

3. Post on a consistent basis: Blogging on an inconsistent schedule can kill your blog. Create a schedule and post on a consistent basis.

For me, it’s been 3 days a week. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Once in awhile I’ll toss in the random Saturday post but rarely do I stray from my three posts a week.

Find a schedule that works for you and your audience and stick to it. Having a schedule will create a mental note in the minds of your readers and they’ll remember when your posts are published. Keep up the consistent content and they’ll keep coming back.

4. Create quality content: I probably should have put this before key number 3 but you must be able to create quality content on a consistent basis. No one likes fluff and meaningless posts. Give your readers something to chew on.

Get into a sweet spot and create the killer content that people will be reading for years to come. Pack it full of the information your audience desires. Make them want more!

5. Share the work of others: This goes hand in hand with key number 1 but begin sharing the work of others. Be willing to Tweet, share on Facebook, post on LinkedIn, or share an image on Pinterest. Doing so creates a feeling a belonging and that you recognize what others are doing.

Sharing the work of others allows you to reward and spread the message of others, including your followers. Do you remember the first time someone shared one of your posts? You felt like you were on the top of the world. Give this feeling to others.

Creating a loyal blog following will help you spread your message and increase your leadership skills. Follow the five keys outlined above and you’ll be well on your way to having a loyal blog following.

Question: What other keys do you have for building your loyal blog audience? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.