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The Invisible Mentor Weekly Newsletter: Brain Food Wednesdays Number 102: How Do You Solve Problems?
Dear Reader,
Last week, I shared a 5-step process for producing ideas that I found in A Technique for Producing Ideas. I talked about looking for ideas to increase the number of subscribers to my membership site, the Art of Learning. Reading books on subscriptions and membership sites has been a very humbling experience for me because you don’t know what you don’t know.
A few days ago, I read Gym Membership Sales: Triple your growth, develop your team, change your life by Ryan Moore and I found some ideas to use. After I previewed Membership Recruitment, before reading any of the chapters, I came across some great ideas. The book mentions the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), and how it has consistently grown in membership, even when other associations are in decline.
The organization publishes a magazine and newsletter for its members. Additionally, it has an Ask an HR Advisor service where their members can call, chat or email a human resources expert to get answers to questions and problems. These are the kinds of ideas I’m looking for. SHRM provides a lot of benefits to its members and that’s a key reason why it’s able to grow membership.
This made me think of what I could do that’s similar to Ask an HR Advisor. I know one of the things I plan to do is an FAQ sheet and I plan to hold office hours. Since I don’t have the capacity at this time for people to call to ask questions, besides office hours, I could use a messaging app, such as Voxer. If you have other recommendations, please let me know.
The membership fee for the Art of Learning is low right now as I build out the content, and as I identify more benefits to add to support your success.
In the ASK Avil section, I’ll present you with another model that will help you to generate ideas and solve problems.
On another note, I’m creating a daily sequence for my readers to effortlessly read more books. If that’s one of your goals for next year, the tips will help you. I’ll share the tips and strategies on Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram. At the end of this newsletter, you’ll find the links to connect with me on the various social media platforms.
Join my Facebook group Reading Rocks: Read a Book, Discover Solutions, Change the World.
In the News
Here are some podcasts I appeared on. They’re packed with a lot of information.
Ellevate Network: http://ow.ly/s8pR50GCBTy
Envision2BWell: https://blog.envision2bwell.io/post/1157/envisionwell-podcast-invisible-mentors
313 Challenge with Ryan Foland: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/avil-beckford-read-and-get-new-ideas/id1484382840?i=1000523572323
I would appreciate your support in growing my YouTube channel.
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Ask Avil
How Do You Solve Problems?
The model below is from The MacGyver Secret: Connect to Your Inner MacGyver & Solve Anything by Lee David Zlotoff and Colleen Seifert Ph.D. It’s to help you to creatively solve your problems. The model presented will teach you unconventional problem-solving.
I’ve always liked the hit TV series MacGyver because the main character has a knack for getting out of difficult situations. He uses raw materials that he has access to. Lee David Zlotoff used the technique described below to come up with the idea for the MacGyver TV series.
One of the weaknesses of the model is that it does not explicitly state that you need to gather information. But you need to do that. This is important because, when you think of the TV show, MacGyver, the main character was able to solve problems because of his vast body of general knowledge. This is worth thinking about.
Step 1: Getting Started
Write down your question or problem that you have to solve. It is important to write and not type. You have to immerse yourself in the problem before your inner Mac can find a solution.
This is a 3-step process:
- Construct a problem.
- Identify its key elements.
- Formulate an apt description.
Keep refining the problem.
Be as detailed and specific as you can.
Do not be concerned about overloading your inner Mac.
You want to start a conversation with your inner Mac.
Write down any answers that come to you.
Tell your inner MacGyver to start working on the problem for you.
Let it go.
Step 2: Let Your Inner MacGyver Get to Work
Let your inner Mac do its thing.
Find an enjoyable activity to engage in.
Do something physical yet not demanding.
Good tasks to perform while your inner Mac is working on the solution are low-demand incubation activities such as:
- Cook dinner.
- Clean the house.
- Work on a word find puzzle.
- Take a shower.
- Walk the dog.
Activities to avoid while your inner Mac is working on a solution. They will not engage your inner Mac because they are ‘busy’ work.
- Watch television.
- Read a book.
- Engage in conversation.
- Play intense video and computer games.
- Give your inner Mac a time limit. It can work while you sleep.
When you set aside a problem you are incubating. You want to get to a state where you can ‘zone out’ from the problem. This is a common activity in the creative process. You work on one of the recommended tasks above to preoccupy your conscious mind, so that your subconscious mind can take over.
Step 3: Ask Your Inner MacGyver for Answers to Your Questions and Problems
Return to your question. Have it in front of you because you want to connect to where you started the process.
Re-read your question so that it is fresh in your mind.
Have your pen handy.
Ask your inner Mac, “What is the answer Mac?” You can do this silently or aloud.
Start writing. Write anything.
Answers will start to pop into your head as you are writing.
Write what you want, and it will write back to you with the answers.
Give yourself enough time to recover the answers.
If you are dissatisfied with the answers you receive from your inner Mac, ask the question again. If it responds with questions, that means it needs additional information, so keep the conversation going.
Practice to become more skilled at this process.
Reading List
- The Forever Transaction: How to Build a Subscription Model So Compelling, Your Customers Will Never Want to Leave by Robbie Kellman Baxter
- The Subscription Boom: Why an Old Business Model is the Future of Commerce by Adam Levinter
- Gym Membership Sales: Triple your growth, develop your team, change your life by Ryan Moore
- Retention Point: The Single Biggest Secret to Membership and Subscription Growth for Associations, SAAS, Publishers, Digital Access, Subscription Boxes and all Membership and Subscription Businesses by Robert Skrob
- Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days by Joey Coleman
- Membership Recruitment: How to Grow Recurring Revenue, Reach New Markets, and Advance Your Mission by Tony Rossell
- Subscription Marketing: Strategies for Nurturing Customers in a World of Churn by Anne Janzer.
- The Leadership Gap by Lolly Daskal
- Brave Leadership, Kimberly Davis
- How Women Rise, Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith
- Business Model Shifts by Patrick van der Pijl, Justin Lokitz
- The Invincible Company by Alexander Osterwalder , Yves Pigneur
- Love-Based Business Models by Shawn Driscoll
- Why Leadership Sucks by Miles Anthony Smith, Book 1
- Why Leadership Sucks by Miles Anthony Smith, Book 2
- Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
- The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions . . . and Created Plenty of Controversy by Leigh Gallagher
- Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal by Nick Bilton
- Levers: The Framework for Building Repeatability into Your Business by Amos Schwartzfarb
- Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great by Carmine Gallo
- I Got There: How a Mixed-Race Kid Overcame Racism, Poverty, and Abuse to Arrive at the American Dream by JT McCormick
- One Big Thing: Discovering What You Were Born to Do by Phil Howard Cooke
The Invisible Mentor Blog
Blog Posts
Marketing: Strategies for Nurturing Customers in a World of Churn by Anne Janzer, Summary
Reading with the Intent to Learn to Grow Your Business
Hook Point: How to Stand Out in a 3-Second World by Brendan Kane, Summary
The One Problem
I’ve published 41 podcast episodes already. How time flies. You can also find these on my YouTube channel.
- Jenny Siede, Chief Design Thinker, Green Neurons
- Pamela Jeffery, Founder, The Prosperity Project & Women’s Executive Network
- Alta Odendaal, Financial Coach and Consultant
- Larissa Russell, Founder and CEO Queer Voicez and Creative U Business
- Glain Roberts-McCabe, Founder, the Roundtable, Group Coach Academy
- Dr Marsha Carr, Professor, University of North Carolina, Wilmington
- Gabriella O’Rourke, Business Consultant, Borden Ladner Gervais
- Stefanie Booker Atchison, Wisdom Coach & Motivational Speaker
- Michelle Griffin, Founder Brandthority, Building Your Personal Brand
- Donna Knutson, Founder of Write Journeys
- Sophie Gray, Founder of DiveThru: Being Disconnected from Yourself
✅✅Subscribe to my YouTube channel ✅✅
Product Alert
7 Day Reading Makeover Challenge
This is an affordable program to get started on leadership reading. Leaders read to learn what they need to know. You’ll also learn how to synthesize information.
Art of Learning Membership Site
How would you like to access the best, most useful information I have, that’s better than book summaries? Buy monthly access to the Bookish Note that’s behind my paywall. I group Bookish Notes together by a common theme, turning them into a course. Imagine reading themed Bookish Notes and starting to lay the foundation for a new skill.
Until Next Week,
Avil Beckford, Founder, The Invisible Mentor!