PURPOSESCAPING with Amanda Miller Littlejohn

PYG 114: Alternate Routes

Sometimes you have to take a different route to get where you're trying to go.
And while you may not like the idea of alternate routes - especially if you're a recovering perfectionist like me - you must admit, the route doesn't matter all that much.
Because if you end up still reaching your destination, who cares how you got there? 
I had to learn (still learning!) to give myself grace when the journey doesn't look picture perfect.
At the end of the day, all that should matter is that I end up where I originally wanted to go - or someplace even better.
 

PYG 113: What is it your season to do?

No season lasts forever, but in every ending there's a chance for some new beginning - if you keep your eye out for it.
Whether you're watching something come to an end, or you're ready to start a new chapter, what is it your season to do?
Meico Whitlock who I interviewed on Episode 41 - (How to harness your focus and set priorities) and Episode 63 - (How to Create a Vision for Your Life) taught me about the importance of being intentional with your time and setting finite priorities for each season.
As Meico teaches in his Mindful Techie courses and programs, once you identify your life vision and mission and set your specific goals, it's important to set no more than two priorities for any given season. 
I'm excited about the intentional energy I'm putting behind my writing in this season, and I can't wait to see where that will lead. But I'm clear that it's truly time to prioritize writing after seeing a significant opening in my calendar related to my kids' school. 
Again, as one season ends, another begins.
I hope that was whatever season is ending for you, in the clearing you'll see the opportunity to finally pursue the purpose that's been pursuing you. 
Keep me posted...
 
***
Speaking of seasons, it's ENROLLMENT SEASON for Package Your Genius Academy!!! We're enrolling for both of our group programs - the Personal Brand Visibility Academy that focuses on building a purposeful personal brand, and the Maximum Exposure PR Mastermind. 
If you're interested in putting some intentional energy behind your personal brand, apply for the visibility academy.
If it's your season to build momentum and land media exposure apply for the PR mastermind. 
 

PYG 112: Your genius deserves a break

Sometimes your genius needs a break. 
And you shouldn't feel bad about it.
In fact, you'll likely move further ahead, instead of falling behind as you may imagine. Rest helps you work smarter not harder - and I'm with that!
I learned this summer not to beat myself up for needing and taking rest - but to celebrate what happens to my mind, body and relationships when I take a step back and nurture myself in the way that I need.
How often do you take the break that you need to rejuvenate yourself? What's your favorite way to rest?
 
 

PYG 111: What's keeping you from making a change?

Change is hard, especially if you like tradition, routine, or growing accustomed to the way things are.
Change can also be hard when it's public-facing. You have all those prying eyes to consider. What will people think? How will this change their perception of me?
But what I've learned from experience is this: when you make a big change - say your hair color, or even your job - it may register briefly to outside world, but after that, humans do what humans do.
Adapt.
While you're fretting on and on about that big change you're afraid of making, once you make it, most people will barely notice. And if they do notice, the decision you lost sleep over will likely only register for an instant.
The new you will become the current you.
And the past you will be all but forgotten.
So if the changes we're stressing ourselves out over only register for a brief moment in time, why are we putting our lives on hold, failing to make the changes that could add more fulfillment and happiness to our days?
Is there something big you're ready to change? A relationship? A job? A service?
Your life is not set in stone. You can change all of it, with one swift decision.
The world will go on.
What's keeping you from moving forward?

PYG 110: Is your lane already saturated?

I've seen a few posts recently about saturation - one post about there being too many courses. Another post about there being too many coaches. Both posts discouraging people who'd never coached or created courses to even try.
 
Because saturation.
 
But saturation doesn't matter when it comes to having a better solution. A more convenient solution. A more you solution.
 
When you think about coaches and courses simply as education, it makes me wonder why no one ever asks why there are so many schools?
 
We have public neighborhood schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, Montessori schools, private independent schools. Co-ed schools, single sex schools. PK-12 schools. Middle school only schools. High school only schools. And let's not even get started on college options - from community, to state university to small liberal college to prestigious Ivy League.
 
No one blinks at education options when we think of children. It's considered an unspoken truth and fact of life that children must be educated, so an overwhelming list of options is what we've come to accept.
 
And when it's time to choose an educational model for our kids, we buckle down and look at what makes the most sense for our children and our family situation.
 
Can we afford private or is public more our speed? What type of programs do they have for STEM? What's the art instruction like, my kid's super creative. We appreciate options when we look at them from the vantage point of giving our kids the best because we understand each child and each family is unique and has different needs.
 
Children grow up to be adults, and their education needs evolve but don't disappear.
 
And if you're a lifelong learner you already know that.
 
That's why new books come out every day: there are constantly new ways to explain old problems, more modern methods, more up to date approaches.
 
Which is why there are so many courses and coaches on the market. Since the economy is dynamic and changing, we need more people lighting the way not less. More styles of instruction, not fewer. More diverse voices and content, not the same old same old.
 
In Todd Rose's book Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment, he talks about among other things what he calls the Standardization Convenant. He shares that after the Industrial Revolution, we reached peak standardization - everything had to be uniform. But now we're entering a new era - the age of personalization.
 
 
One of the premises in the book is that in the era of personalization, education and work will be personalized - which we are already seeing with the advent of different types of schools and for adults, courses and coaches.
 
The proliferation of coaches and courses then, is a natural response to this new Wild Wild West of personalization: people who have been educated in the standardized way have to relearn how to listen to themselves and uncover what they're good at.
 
People are more and more interested in investigating what unique difference they can make with their lives - not how they can fit into a role that was designed for just anyone with a certain set of skills to fill.
 
So the next time someone sows seeds of doubt around your new course or coaching venture - and even if you're the one doing the sowing, remember that as our economy and society shifts from standardization to personalization, the need will likely grow for good coaches and course creators and guides - if you don't like the term expert - who can light the way.
 
If that is you and you have a message to share, don't miss the wave.
 
***
I break down a 5 step process for personal branding in Package Your Genius: 5 Steps to Build Your Most Powerful Personal Brand that starts with brand clarity. If you haven't ordered your copy, grab the book and companion workbook to get clarity on your personalized career path.
If you're ready for PR results, and want a PR team that won't be happy until your face is splashed all over tv screens and newspaper pages, apply to join us in the Maximum Exposure Mastermind.

PYG 109: Feel behind on your goals? You can turn this year around

Today is the first day of July, the first day of Q3, and the official halfway point of the year.
Since we only have six months left in 2019, if you've had time to reflect on the six months that have passed, you may be lamenting on how far you are from the goals you set in January.
 
(Or you may have crushed your goals completely, to which I say, yay you!)
 
But if you are nowhere near where you thought you'd be, consider this your pep talk - it's time to get back in the game.
 
I'm here to let you know, all is not lost.
 
Even if you were asleep from January - June, you can make up the difference with the months we have left. You simply need to revisit your goals, tweak your strategy, and decide what you're going to do differently.
 
But first, realize you're not alone. According to U.S. News & World Report, the failure rate for New Year's resolutions is said to be about 80 percent, and most lose their resolve by mid-February.
 
I for one am guilty of hopping off the consistency train. At the end of May, I looked at my annual goals and felt a little demoralized; I simply was not on track with many of the goals I'd set.
 
But in true Amanda fashion, I had some surprise "sleeper" wins that helped me close out the month, the quarter, and the first half of the year in spectacular fashion.
 
Here's what's been going on:
One of my goals for the year? More international travel.
But for whatever reason when I set the goal in January, I failed to book any tickets or plan any trips. Fast forward to May: a friend asked if I could join her in Italy on the heels of a big conference she was attending for work. I said yes, spent an epic week in Italy in June, and just like that, my travel and adventure goals are back on track for the year.
 
Another goal? Double my podcast downloads in 2019. As June approached, I could see I wasn't on track to meet that goal. I had exceeded last year's numbers up to this point, but doubled them?
 
Not quite.
 
Then by chance I went looking for parenting podcasts to help me navigate a few issues with my kids as puberty is setting in, we're switching schools in the fall, and I need a more effective way to communicate with my soon to be teenaged son. I randomly met a parenting podcaster at a media event in mid-May. She's doing a challenge to record an episode every day this year, which inspired me to challenge myself to publish an ambitious 30 episodes in 30 days.
 
While I set out to do the challenge because I was inspired by the parenting podcast, I inadvertently boosted my podcast downloads due to the sheer volume of new episodes. And just like that, we're back on track and back on schedule to reach the 2x goal for the year.
 
Sidebar: I learned a lot about epic productivity, motivation, and building habits during that challenge and will share the lessons in a future missive, but for now, here are a few of my favorite episodes:
 
PYG 108 - You have to sell it
PYG 100 - What are you willing to create?
PYG 99 - Muscle Memory
PYG 97 - Making yourself at home on a new level
PYG 92 - Build a brand library so people can find your ideas
 
Another big goal? Land media exposure.
 
June was an exceptional month for our PR clients in Maximum Exposure.
After two months of crafting ideas and pitching, I was honestly getting a little worried that we hadn't had more media wins. So at the beginning of June, I decided to further examine our process to figure out what might have been missing.
 
We focused more on breaking news, increased our time spent on research, and changed the order of the weekly program touch points.
The result? Our changes worked like magic.
 
In the month of June alone, our students were interviewed or featured by Fast Company, the Washington Post, the Washington Post Express, ABC Milwaukee, V100.7 FM in Milwaukee, ABC 7 DC and Let's Talk Live.
While media exposure wasn't tied to a specific goal I set at the beginning of the year, it was tied to a goal I set when we opened our doors to the program in April.
 
And it was a great example of how sometimes you may plan for a trickle of sustained success over time, but end up with a flood of it all at once - if you can hone in on the right new strategy.
 
At the end of the day - by trickle or by flood - you can still reach your 2019 goals.
 
It may not happen out of the gate, but when you're honest about what isn't working and you decide to win, success can come at you fast.
 
If you're looking at July 1 with a side-eye because you are nowhere near where you thought you'd be by now, remember, you can change your results if you change your strategy.
 
You can make big things happen fast.
 
You can make up the difference in the months we have left.
 
You simply need to revisit your goals, tweak your strategy, and decide what you're going to do differently.
 
If your incremental strategy hasn't worked so far, maybe it's time to do something absurdly different so you can get absurdly different results.
 
Even if you're not blown away by what you've accomplished in the months behind us, get excited.
 
You can turn this year around!
 
***
 
We have one more spot to join us next month in Maximum Exposure. This is a high touch group PR program designed to get you media exposure - interviews, segments and features to pontificate about what you know best.
 
If you're ready for PR results, and want a PR team that won't be happy until your face is splashed all over tv screens and newspaper pages, apply here.
 

PYG 108: You have to sell it

Making yourself visible means nothing if you're not willing to close the deal.
And yet, I see so often high achievers who are willing to teach others what they know, but unwilling to let people know how to take the next step and pay them.
But if you want to grow your brand, increase your salary and add commas to your business revenue, you have to sell yourself.
You have to sell yourself in meetings and mid-year reviews.
You have to sell yourself to your network and potential customers.
You have to sell yourself to the viewing audience of the tv segment you're on.
You have to sell yourself from the stage.
Here are 6 things to keep in mind as you set out to sell yourself:
Decide on what you want, quantify it, write it down.
I've said before, there's power in writing your goals down. I don't know what the science is, but I can tell you that it works.
Go after what you want.
If you want 4 new clients, make a list of 10 people who may be interested in what you're doing and call them up. Speak up and let people in your network know what you're looking for.
See the opportunity.
So many people look at company conference calls and meetings as a chore. But you should see them as an opportunity to get in front of new people with what you can do. Don't shrink from the opportunity to be seen and heard at work and at networking events.
Activate your network.
Talk to the people who already now you and ant you to win. Let them know hat you're doing now and how they can be helpful. Talk to your former clients and ask them who they know.
Take advantage of the spotlight.
If you have speaking engagements built around your coaching or book, don't forget to tell the audience how they can engage you more.
Be bold.
On my recent trip to Italy, I encountered an extremely confident waiter who proclaimed his cafe's coffee was not the best in Rome, but instead it was the best in all of Italy. That's the kind of bold confidence I want you to bring to your brand. That confidence helps others believe in you and what you have to offer. But it starts with you.
 
***
Get the book - I just shared step 5 - Sell Yourself - in the 5 step process I detail in Package Your Genius: 5 Steps to Build Your Most Powerful Personal Brand. If you haven't ordered your copy, you've got to get it - it's amazing!
Get Maximum Exposure - We have one teeny tiny spot left in my group mastermind Maximum Exposure for July. Do you want to land media exposure for your personal brand in a small group setting with other high achievers? If so, submit your application so we can find out if you're a good fit for what we're doing.

PYG 107: Make your visibility a PRIORITY

Visibility is important, but I don't believe in visibility for visibility's sake. 
Media interviews, speaking engagements and social media content have been my method of creating inbound opportunities - opportunities that come to me. 
In the last few months, visibility has yielded the following:
a bulk book order from a Fortune 100 company's subsidiary
a semi-conductor company invited me to develop a personal branding talk, and ordered a bulk order of the book
a devoted listener of the PYG podcast referred her mentor who joined the PYG Academy
countless coaching clients have said "I saw you in Forbes..." or "I heard you on Sirius XM...."
A client who saw me speak at a conference in 2015 has been a client everyday since
It's worth it. Visibility helps you avoid feast or famine so your client pipeline never dries up.
To get started with your visibility efforts, follow these three steps:
Think about the audience that buys what you're selling. What do they watch? What do they read? What events do they attend?
Make a shortlist of opportunities you want to go after - which events would you like to speak at? Which media would you like to appear on? Remember - these should be where your audience is going.
Craft a compelling pitch  with a timely message, a seasonal hook, and the takeaways the audience will get from your segment or talk. Why does this particular audience need this information right now? Include that in your pitch.
 
***
I just shared step 4 - Make Yourself Visible - in the 5 step process I detail in Package Your Genius: 5 Steps to Build Your Most Powerful Personal Brand. If you haven't ordered your copy, um...what are you doing? Get your life and get this book - it's amazing!

PYG 106: How to find and define your BIG ideas

We all know we should say something to be seen and heard, but...what?
How to find your thought leadership ideas is a topic I'm extremely passionate about, as most people are so close to their brilliance that it's hard for them to see how they can package it for other people.
Here are a few ways to know what you have to say if you're "too close" to your genius"
AGGRAVATION. Look at what irritates you or aggravates you - this could be the basis for a powerful Op ed.
SOLUTIONS. Look at the problems you solve. How can you create tactical content to help others?
CONTENT. Look at your existing content: if you speak, can you turn your deck into the basis for a book? If you write articles, can you turn them into a talk?
YOUR INSPIRATION. Look at when you first started doing what you do - what inspired you? What stories do you remember from that time?
YOUR AUDIENCE. What audience do you serve? Who was the first person representative of that audience that you remember helping?
When you're clear on a starting point for a big idea you want to explore, you can:
Make a list of your frequently asked questions
Make a list of the best and most timeless advice you typically give
Make a list of people you'd love to interview - how can they serve as protagonists that illustrate the points you want to make?
Make a list of your best results - let the case studies form your chapters or episodes
***
Define Your Big Ideas is the third step in the five step process of Package Your Genius. If you're interested in learning more about defining your big ideas, as well as the other four steps to building your most powerful personal brand, check out the book Package Your Genius: 5 Steps to Build Your Most Powerful Personal Brand, available on Amazon.

PYG 105: What you can learn from what comes easy to you

I've said it before - and I stand by the statement. You have to make the case for what you've done in order to get what you want now.
 
Simply having the epiphany that you want to use your skills differently is not enough - you need receipts to back up your claims if you want people to pay you.
 
But where I see most people getting stuck is they fail to look at the evidence and results they're closest to.
 
The unpaid work, the help you lended a friend, that time you totally helped a family member regroup, save money, or plan the vacation of a lifetime.
 
Most people think that if their results aren't tied to paid work, they don't count.Or if they're not tied to formal training, they don't count.
 
But all you need to have evidence that you can do what you're telling people you can do is a repeated pattern of success.
 
Whether you trained for it or came by it naturally, if people keep showing up to get a solution from you and you keep delivering, this is work you're capable of being compensated for.
 
When you look over the evidence, what is your life telling you?
What is your work telling you?
What are your results telling you?
 
Now look closely at the support you give people who may not compensate you. Notice I didn't say the work you do for people who don't compensate you, because often times the genius we share in those moments almost feels accidental; it's not difficult, it requires such little effort from us that if it weren't for the praise others give us, we wouldn't even realize the impact we've made.
 
And it can be a tough thing to think about building a business around something that feels effortless, because work is supposed to require effort, right? Work is supposed to be hard!
 
If I were to go out on a limb, I'd bet you that day after day, month after month, the people with immediate access to you are benefitting from your most purposeful work - the work that doesn't require you to be anything other than who you are naturally at your core.
 
And you are probably leaving some impact on the table if you're not open to widening the circle of people who have the opportunity to experience your most natural gifts.
 
Whatever form those gifts take.
 
Even if you already have a successful business or career, more often than not, there's some gem you're leaving on the table if you can find your effortless evidence.
 
Even if you're happy with what you're doing now, that thing you do so easily could be the key to the next service you offer, the next level of growth, or your next professional pivot.
 
Here's an exercise - let's underthink our results. Let's under think our evidence.
 
Let's look for the evidence that it doesn't even feel right to claim because the work didn't feel like work, and the task was so easy.
 
It is there in that effortless evidence our true purpose can be found.