Author: Linda Anger

Make No Little Plans

Posted on by Linda Anger

I receive an inspirational email every day from the Napoleon Hill Foundation. This one really spoke to me. I hope it brings you encouragement as well:

YOUR JOB WILL NEVER BE ANY BIGGER THAN YOUR IMAGINATION MAKES IT.

(Napoleon Hill)

Daniel Burnham, the turn-of-the-century architect and civic planner whose plan for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair had an enormous influence on contemporary civic design, was quoted as saying,  “Make no little plans.”  He knew that to achieve great things we must have grand ideas. If you can imagine it, you can create it. And if you can create in your imagination the job that you would like to have, it is possible to create it in the real world.

How grand are your ideas? Are you re-creating your job or your business, with a better future in mind, or trudging through the year hoping someone else will do something to improve your situation?

There wouldn’t have been an 8-cylinder engine if Henry Ford had given up on his dream when his engineers said it couldn’t be done. How long might it have taken NASA to get to the moon if John Kennedy hadn’t insisted that it be done in a certain time frame, even though the technology didn’t exist at the time?

Make No Little Plans. Dream – Dream BIG. Your job—or your business—will never be any bigger than your imagination makes it.

 

How to Write More in Less Time

Posted on by Linda Anger

The real “art” of writing compelling copy—words that matter and draw people into the story—is in knowing what goes where and how to edit for story potency.

A hint from Copywriting 101: Your first draft will never be your best draft, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be full of great fodder for the finished piece, whether it is a short story or a magazine article, blog post, or the concept for a full-length novel. Your first intention should be only to get words on paper, or on screen, if you prefer. Just get your thoughts down as if you were talking to a friend, and try to do it in ten minutes or less. Then walk away for at least two hours.

When you come back, it’s time to organize and edit. For a 300-word article or post, give yourself no more than 30 minutes. Read it out loud to yourself, note changes needed, then walk away again.  I know some will argue this point, but in my writing, I rarely sit for more than an hour before I need a mental and physical break, and I do edit as I go along.

The final round of the practice is to read your piece out loud to someone you trust to tell you the truth. If you stumble over words or phrases, change them. If your sentences are too long, break them in half. If you’ve used industry jargon or ten-dollar words, clean things up. If you’ve wasted too much space with unnecessary introductory material—a common error for new or untrained writers—your friend should tell you. Get rid of it. Make it worth your reader’s while.

My very first copy writing instructor drilled in into our heads to look for the parts of what we had written that we really loved—the sentences or phrases to which we were emotionally attached—and cut them out completely. This is the “kill your darlings” process, a challenging exercise in non-attachment and journalistic excellence that, in the end, will make your writing stronger.

 

Networking Shortage Predicted

Posted on by Linda Anger

Saturday morning, 6 a.m., I’m scanning news articles in my email box. The first headline to catch my attention reads:

Networking Skills Shortage To Continue Through 2014.

“Hhhmmm… that’s curious,” I thought. Networking training is everywhere, and most people I meet are at least reasonably good at expressing the essence of their business. So, how can a number cruncher predict the world would be “short” of networking skills for another three years?

I read the opening paragraph three times before I looked at the news digest banner, and realized the article was about computer networking – routers and switchers and those other mysterious things I simply don’t comprehend.

I admit I was sleepy, and still in my pajamas. Still, this laughable moment had a point.

The headline of the article was appropriate for the venue in which it was published and the article fully proved the author’s point. The disconnect was in my brain. I translated the headline and opening words relative to my own life and experience, and it was a totally silly misinterpretation.

The Moral of the Story?

Miscommunication happens even with what you might think are the most innocent words and phrases. As you write your next article, email, or letter, be mindful of the various ways in which even common words could be interpreted – or misinterpreted. Choose your words carefully, make clarity your primary focus, and take misinterpretation in stride.

And never read the news in your pajamas.

The Death of Traditional Publishing

Posted on by Linda Anger

“I am very happy not to be sitting as the CEO of Harper Collins,” Jane Friedman said in an interview with NPR about her new company, Open Road Integrated Media. “Because as the CEO of a legacy publishing company, you are the CEO of basically two companies: one is physical and one is digital.”

The phrase, “legacy publishing company” twisted in my brain.

Way back at the turn of century, we talked about “legacy” systems —those dinosaur systems that were the grandfather of modern technology but are no longer taught in schools or used in the business world.

Are traditional publishers — those with venerable New York offices and impossible-to-penetrate-without-an-agent walls — the new dinosaurs, teetering on the brink of extinction, slowly being outshone and outsold by their upstart digital children?

Not completely, says Friedman, who once was the CEO of HarperCollins, and now sits at the helm of a company focused on e-publishing. They’ve started off with e-versions of backlist books (I’ve just purchased the uncensored version of James Jones WWII novel, From Here to Eternity, for my Sony Reader), but is moving into what they call “e-riginals,” which are books appearing only in digital format.

I responded to Friedman’s interview with delight and trepidation. Delight, because in my business I turn manuscripts into e-books through editing and page compositing. Trepidation, because while I carry my Sony Reader with me everywhere, I still have shelves full of “dead tree” books that I love to hold, that carry a certain scent, and that I can flip through without pushing buttons or tapping screens. I find that I retain information from print books much more than I retain from e-books, so I read novels in e-format, but reference books, business books, important books, I want in hard copy.

I love technology, and at the same time, hate to see the old ways disappear.

Maybe I’m half dinosaur myself.

The Core of All Things

Posted on by Linda Anger

“Building relationships is the core of all things,” my friend’s Facebook post said.

She’s so right.

And sometimes tearing them down is the only way to move forward.

Like when you switch off the broadcast stations that promote dissonance and spew grossly distorted stories, or leave the abusive boss or spouse, no matter what happens next. Like refusing to listen to the voice in your head that beats you bloody for insignificant things, or closing the book on those who say they are your “friend” but do more to take you down than lift you up.

Everything revolves around our ability – or lack thereof – to create, nurture and transform our relationships.

Transformation isn’t easy. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it’s downright ugly. And sometimes, unless you are a Marine, you have to leave the casualties behind.

We grow and shift and change every day. The things and the people that once “fit” no longer do. So we have to choose: stay stuck in what is comfortable because we know it so well, or step out with courage into the unknown.

I’ve made some pretty noisy exits in my life – and I’d wager you have, too. The good news is I’ve learned to forgive myself for being human, and commit to staying on the high road next time.  Here is the formula as presented by one of my teachers, Burt Goldman, “The American Monk.”

Burt’s Five Steps to Happiness:

  1. If you like a thing, enjoy it.
  2. If you don’t like a thing, avoid it.
  3. If you don’t like a thing and you cannot avoid it, change it.
  4. If you don’t like a thing, cannot avoid it, and cannot or will not change it, accept it.
  5. You accept a thing by changing your attitude toward it.

Pretty simple, don’t you think?

Technology no substitute for the Human Face

Posted on by Linda Anger

I give thanks, most days, for the hearts and minds of the folks, way back in the 40s and 50s, who envisioned and created the first computers.

I give thanks, most days, for the ease with which I can contact friends in Florida, Australia, and Lebanon, through Facebook, LinkedIn, and text.

I give thanks, most days, that I have opposable thumbs for texting and lightning-fast fingertips for straight keyboarding.

And yet, something in my soul screams every time I get a text rather than a phone call, or an invitation to a “virtual” meeting rather than a physical gathering. Something in my soul shrinks when I turn on my Kindle, as much as I love it, and something in my soul enlarges when I pull a book from my shelf and sit down to read ink on paper.

Technology has enlarged the world. Technology could destroy it.

Charles Dickens summed it up in 1856, when he stated his sense of the “new technology” of the telegraph (italics and boldface mine):

O! what a thing it is, in a time of danger, and in the presence of death, the shining of a face upon a face!  I have heard it broached that orders should be given in great new ships by electric telegraph. I admire machinery as much as any man, and am as thankful to it as any man can be for what it does for us. But, it will never be a substitute for the face of a man, with his soul in it, encouraging another man to be brave and true.  Never try it for that.  It will break down like a straw.

What do you think? Was Dickens correct in his assessment of the “threat” of technology?  Your comments are welcome!

Just for today:  Encourage another to be brave and true – face upon face.

The Joy of Adversity

Posted on by Linda Anger

For those who haven’t learned how to be two places at once, and thus missed Linda Angér’s talk at the MCC Birthday Bash and Leadership Expo, here is a transcript…

Your feedback is requested – Thanks!

TRANSCRIPT

My name is Linda Anger. I am one of the founding members of MCC, and the founder/president of The Write Concept, a 10-year-old marketing communications company based in Rochester Hills, and I’m here today to speak on the Power of Perseverance.

I can stand here and tell you the platitudes – you’ve heard them a million times. What I really want to share with you is the value of drawing strength from facing the adversity inherent in perseverance. Success, in my book, is not about coming through a challenge unscathed – because adversity isn’t a obstacle to “get around” – it is a part of our life.

I believe things happen FOR us, not TO us… I repeat: things happen FOR us, not TO us. I know that every single thing that has occurred in my life, no matter how positively or negatively I perceived it, happened FOR my ultimate benefit. I hope that 6 minutes from now, you will understand what I mean.

The first story I want to share with you is the tale of Matt Weinstein, a workplace humor and team building expert.  Matt was a self-made and quite wealthy man. One day, while cruising Antarctica on a Russian ice-breaking vessel, he got a satellite call from his wife, who said “Bernie Madoff has been arrested. His entire fund was a scam.” In that moment, Matt Weinstein went from a self-made and very wealthy man to a self-made and virtually penniless man. In January 2009, he said “What we came to understand was that Bernie Madoff stole all of our money – but it was up to us to make sure he didn’t steal the rest of our lives.” What an amazing catalyst that experience was FOR Matt Weinstein and his wife. They refused to allow the Madoff madness to happen TO them, and saw the ultimate benefit in their lives. THAT is the basis of Perseverance.

I ask you – when was the last time something you perceived as negative became a blessing in your life?

J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected by 12 publishers, and even Bloomsbury – the small house that finally purchased the manuscript, told her to get a day job.  She was in the midst of a divorce, her mother had just died, and she was living on government subsidies. She ignored the naysayers, kept on writing, and wrote herself into a $15 billion dollar brand.

How much of a deaf ear do you turn to the naysayers in your life?

Greg Mortenson, founder of the Central Asia Institute, and author of the book “Three Cups of Tea,” tells the story of a mullah in Afghanistan who refused to allow education for girls in his village. It took Mortenson 8 years of conversation and thousands of cups of tea before the mullah relented and allowed 1 girl to go to school.

Would you have the patience to stay with an unlikely prospect for eight years? Would you?

We have become a culture addicted to fast food, instant response and gratification, but Mortensen says “Anything truly important is worth doing very, very slowly.”

Who among you feels comfortable in saying you know me fairly well?  Would any of you say that I was shy, distant, and most of all, a negative thinker?

I didn’t think so, but I will tell you that for the first 23 years of my life, that was the absolute truth.

At the age of 12, and again at 15, I was subjected to experimental bone surgery that only served to make the perceived problems with my legs worse.  For all those years, I was told in many ways – subtle and overt – that I would never be “normal” and shouldn’t bother trying to do any of the things the other kids did without thinking. I was “Different,” and “Different” was not a good thing. For the first 23 years of my life, I believed it and let it rule me. I couldn’t see, at the time, that it was a blessing for me.

Then came the day that a friend challenged the “victim” mentality I was trained to carry. He laid down a challenge I couldn’t refuse – I was determined to show him that he was wrong, that I was physically incapable of doing what he challenged me to do. I surprised myself and did it, and I loved it. That young man’s insistence on getting me out of the psychological straitjacket I wore for so many years changed the course of my life forever. I thank the gods for his persistence – he was the one who taught me to drink deeply of every opportunity, and never substitute “I can’t” for “‘I’m afraid to fail.” It was one of the greatest things that ever happened FOR me.

From the time I started writing stories at 9 years of age, I was told I could never earn a living as a writer. But I have, inside the corporate world for several decades, and as as a small business owner, for over 10 years. That’s Persistence… and trusting that the Universe will always conspire in my favor.

12 years ago, my house burned to the ground. When all you have left is your life, you quickly realize that “stuff” doesn’t matter, and you become far more persistent in pursuing the things that do matter, like – friends, and Wisdom,  your capacity to love, your willingness to give of yourself.

For the better part of the last year,  I’ve been conquering cancer. Many of you have been with me through this journey – and it is your part in it has made cancer an amazing blessing that happened for me. My gratitude to each of you is boundless.

For those who can’t fathom how cancer could be a blessing,  I invite you to contact me and we’ll talk.

My doctor and my chemo nurse tell me they have never seen anyone come through cancer and chemo as cheerfully and uneventfully as I have.  I told them what I learned from Aimee Mullens, a parolympian who holds world records in the 100 meter dash, and long jump. She once said, “Opening ourselves to adversity, dancing with it, is natural and useful. No prognosis can be as powerful a determinate as WILL.”

No prognosis can be as powerful a determinate as WILL… and I’ve determined that I am and shall remain a cancer Conqueress.

I ask you: what role does WILL play in your life so far? and, I tell you: no matter how outrageous or scary it seems, when you can see and feel your dream in your minds eye – leap like your pants are on fire!

This amazing universe will surely catch you.

I came here today to talk about the power of perseverance… to honor the unstoppable spirit of Terry Bean in his vision of building the best networking group in Michigan…. he’s succeeded, as this day proves.

And I leave you with this:

Sir Edmund Hillary, the famous explorer, said,  “It is not the mountains we conquer… it is ourselves.”

Another wise person said “Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.”

And finally, the saying from the Chinese that has been my mantra for many years:

“Those who say a thing cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.”

My name is Linda Anger, from The Write Concept.  THANK YOU for your attention.

Now go out there, and make your day magnificent!

If We The People Raised a Billion Dollars

Posted on by Linda Anger

I read an article stating that the original 19 presidential candidates of 2008 raised and spent more than $1 billion in their efforts to add “Leader of the Free World” to their CVs.

The article’s authors noted a few alternative, and perhaps more appropriate, uses for that amount of cash. $1 billion would buy:

      • Basic health coverage for 250,000 of the 46 million uninsured Americans.
      • More than 415 million school lunches for needy American children.
      • Nearly 6,700 fully armored Humvee’s for our sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, friends and neighbors serving in the military.
      • Hurricane relief. Foreign nations offered nearly $1B in aid after Katrina. For reasons unknown to “we, the people,” none was accepted by our government.
      • Treatment and prevention for more than 150 million cases of malaria in Africa.

 

So I ask you… if “we, the people” could raise $1 billion, would we use it to change the world?  Tell me what you think should be at the top of the list.

You Say You Want a Resolution

Posted on by Linda Anger

Blame it on the astrologer—and a New Year’s Eve full of Beatles records—but I’m engaged in a resolution revolution. I’m asking 100 people to commit to holding only positive thoughts for Michigan, America, and the World, throughout 2009.

The astrologer tells me it is in the stars—that it’s my job to be a lone voice of vision, inspiration and faith in the future; it is my job to uphold and prove the power of positive thought in the thick of a horde of negativism, and that 2009 is an important year for this “talent.”

My first thought was, “Yikes! How am I supposed to do that when I’m surrounded by reports and predictions of doom and gloom?” Seemed kind of a heavy assignment, even for a perennial Pollyanna like me.

Then I received an email from another member of my favorite networking group, Motor City Connect, saying, “I think you’ve been one of the true inspirational leaders in the MCC community with your 6 word challenges and seeming omnipresence in the MCC community. I don’t know how you find the time but you have emerged as a point of positive energy within the community. So keep doing that!”

And, I realized that one of the greatest gifts we can give each other is a simple, often underrated, four letter word: Hope.

Existence is against all odds, according to scientists. Happiness is against all odds, according to pessimists. And yet, existence and happiness “are.” We have all that we need, internally, to make miracles happen in us and around us.

Here is my resolution for 2009:

I resolve to ignore the odds… because predictions for tomorrow based on the beliefs and behaviors of the past don’t factor the immense power of human spirit and passion into the equation.  I’ll be counting every tiny bit of joy, achieving what I need, and supporting the causes that make my heart sing.

 

My Now and Zen Kitchen

Posted on by Linda Anger

It happened accidentally, the day I reached below the sink for a dishwasher “tablet” and found the box empty. Dang! I had a washer full of sticky, dirty plates, guests coming for dinner, and no time to run to the store.

So I washed all those dishes by hand, and in the midst of it, I realized several things. One was that the job was done in 20 minutes rather than running an hour’s worth of electricity and gallons of water through the dishwasher. That’s good for my electric bill and good for the environment.

The other was that in those few minutes I wasn’t thinking about the mortgage, the president, the price of gas, or where I needed to be the next day. I was focused only on feeling the plate in my hand, enjoying the sensuality of soapy water on my skin, and the “wax on, wax off” aspect of washing, rinsing, and wiping dishes. That’s good for my spirit, and good for my mind.

The zen teachers say the way to enlightenment is to “chop wood and carry water.” Allowing my thoughts to ebb away while I concentrate only on the task of washing the dishes reminds me daily that extraordinary understanding comes from doing the simplest things with absolute focus.

And it’s helping to save the planet.