“Why Bloggers Should Meditate” plus 1 more

Posted: 06 Nov 2011 12:04 PM PST

This guest post is by Orna Ross.

If you're a blogger, you should meditate. That's the conclusion of a flurry of recent research from the fields of psychology and neuroscience.

Willpower, discipline, and hard work may squeeze your blog post out. But if you want to produce words and ideas with ease, if you want to revel in the joy that makes it all worthwhile, and if you want to be as good as you can be, you need to know how to nurture inspiration, detach from daily distress, and cultivate creative mind states.

For all of this, meditation is the best tool in your pack.

What is meditation?

A meditation is a moment—long or short—when the thought traffic that normally marches through our minds slows or ceases. To meditate, in the sense that most people interpret the word, is to deliberately focus attention in a way that makes this happen. We minimize surface thought to help our mind slip into stillness.

Meditation does not, as some people seem to think, make you withdrawn or oblivious. On the contrary, it fosters a deep awareness of what is being created in any given moment.

It moves us from being caught in surface thoughts and life circumstances towards the condition that Buddhists call Big Mind—an alert, relaxed, creative, present-centered awareness. This ancient understanding of how the human mind works is now being understood in a new way, and validated, by contemporary science.

Meditation offers enormous benefits for everyone—and particular benefits for those who are engaged in a creative activity like blogging.

1. Meditation opens creative space

Neuroscience is showing, through brain mapping, how meditation affects brain wave activity. The most striking difference is a shift, in the meditator, from the stress-prone right frontal cortex to the calmer left frontal cortex.

Regular meditation also shows increased brain activity in areas associated with the creative and the mystical.

This is the shift that Albert Einstein described as "the most beautiful emotion we can experience…the [underlying] power of all true art and science." What it means for the blogger is experiencing more ideas, insights, and connections—the currencies in which we trade.

2. Creates conditions for insight

Insight, perception, revelation: these are the qualities that mark out the good blogger from the mediocre, the great blogger from the good. Meditation creates the mental and emotional conditions in which they are most likely to flourish. For centuries, it was thought that such qualities were the innate gifts of a special elite—born not made. Now brain mapping shows them to be available to all who meditate.

3. Meditation eases blogger's block

It's not easy putting yourself out there, day after day, post after post. It can make us edgy—vulnerable, raw, a little crazy sometimes. Brain scans show that meditation reduces activity in the amygdala, where the brain processes fear. It blunts our edginess, creating a place of safety from which we can take risks. It allows us to become, as Flaubert suggested we should, steady and well-ordered in life, so we can be fierce and original in our blog.

4. Meditation gives us roots

With that steadiness comes what Buddhists call “solidity,” a calm acceptance of self (see also #5), and a centered belief in what we have to offer.

5. Meditation quietens the critics

This steady solidity makes us very much less vulnerable to critics and to the pressures and persuasions of others. And it also muzzles the meanest critic of ‘em all: the great fault-finder within.

6. Meditation claims the essential self

"Be yourself," Oscar Wilde once said. "Everyone else is taken." But it's not always easy, especially if you're trying to do it in print. Consciously quieting the chatter of our surface mind helps us to claim, and express, our unique self—the indefinable essence that makes us different from anyone else who ever lived.

Also, by detaching us from our surface, chattering mind and the sticky grasp of personalized emotion, meditation allows us creative distance to observe ourselves, others, and life itself with clarity. This makes our blogs more original and compelling.

7. Meditation improves attention and concentration

Essentially, meditation is focus. Practicing it daily helps us to have it and to be able to draw on it when needed—an essential when negotiating the distracted and distracting online world.

8. Meditation makes us mindful

Blogging is a never-ending game. As soon as we finish one post, we're thinking of the next. Regular meditation develops our ability to appreciate what we're achieving and getting right, as well as what still has to be done. To enjoy what we are making in the moment of its making. To value process as much as product.

9. Meditation fosters flow

For bloggers, flow is that delectable condition where words seem to appear of their own volition, where all we have to do is turn up at the page and dictate ‘em. Analyzed in depth by creativity theorist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi and others, flow has been found to induce similar brain states as meditation.

10. Meditation makes us happy

The transformations induced by meditation and creative activity decrease stress, early depression, and anxiety. This brings about a long list of proven physical and emotional benefits, from eliminating insomnia to easing addiction.

Against this long list (which grows longer as each tranche of research turns up new benefits) bloggers regularly cite one problem. They'd love to meditate but they "can't": they don't have time. For all the reasons outlined above, it's clear that for bloggers, meditation doesn't take time, it makes time.

What's your experience? Have you ever meditated for creative benefit? What happened? Would you like to try? What's stopping you?

Read Orna's ebook, Inspiration Meditation – A Guide For Writers Artists & Everyone.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Why Bloggers Should Meditate

Fiverr Outsourcing Tips for Bloggers

Posted: 06 Nov 2011 06:06 AM PST

This blog post is by Rhys Wynne of The Blogging Dojo.

Recently I’ve been a part of a great discussion on a few blogging forums where we’ve talked about Fiverr. Fiverr is a website where, for $5, you can get a variety of tasks completed. For bloggers, particularly those starting out, outsourcing some of your blog to a third party may seem to be a luxury you can ill afford. However, with Fiverr, you outsource for small tasks (known as “gigs”) to individuals.

The forum and myself have gained results, some good, some not so good, from the site. As a result, here are the five things I’ve learned from Fiverr.com.

1. Use it to test software

There is a plethora of blogging software on the market, from ebook creators to social bookmarking software. How do you know which get results? I use Fiverr.

Use the search box to search for the name of the piece of software, and you will get a list of people who will offer to run the piece of software on your behalf. I use this with various link-building pieces of software (such as directory and article submission software). If I get a stream of links back from them, then I know the software is good, and I’ll probably buy it.

Secondly if you need to do something once or twice (such as create an ebook cover from a static image), it can be more cost effective to buy the work off Fiverr than purchase the software yourself.

2. Combine “gigs” to get what you want

A good friend of mine told me about this idea. Basically, a number of Fiverr gigs (particularly an audio track or a video message) are offered on a time-limited basis. Say you want a two-minute narration of a video, but the buyer only has one-minute slots. Simply buy two one-minute gigs from them.

Most are okay with doing two minute jobs; you can also contact the seller to ask if they’ll give you a bulk discount. I’d recommend this if you are need a longer piece done—say ten minutes or so.

3. Use it for low-level social proof

Here’s something I use Fiverr for when I’m starting a new project. I usually create a Facebook fan page along with a website, then pay through Fiverr to get 25 “likes” on the fan page. Why 25? Well, if I get 25 likes, I can secure a shorter, brandable URL.

Once I have that URL, it will never be taken away from me. I don’t care if I get unliked by those 25 people. It doesn’t matter, because once I can more effectively target people who would be interested once I have my branded Facebook URL.

4. You get what you pay for

Overall, you get what you pay for. A lot of things in life seem too good to be true, and often they are. My advice is don’t expect to get written blog posts that will go viral, or graphic design that will make your blog jump out, on Fiverr. However if you keep your expectations low, you should get exactly what you want.

5. The most important skill I’ve gained from Fiverr

The most important thing I’ve learned from using Fiverr is experience in dealing with people who you are paying to do a job for you. This skill will be transferable to more highly paid people associated with your blog in the future (such as contractors or even direct employees).

While I can’t give you a definitive list for dealing with contractors, here’s what Fiverr has taught me about managing gigs on the site.

Specify clearly what you want: Use simple language to clearly explain what you want. A good idea is to use examples of previous work that’s similar to what you want to achieve. That way, there’s no confusion.
Analyze failures: Often you won’t get exactly what you want back. Analyze where the communication breakdown occurred, and learn from your mistakes. It’s far better to do this when you’ve lost $5, rather than $500 (or more).
Have fun with it! Fiverr is fast becoming a guilty addiction of mine, and I use it to prank people (such a record ranting videos on my mates, or getting them “Facebook Girlfriends” for a week). It helps the day go faster!

By learning these skills for such a small amount of cash, you’ll be more effective with outsourcing later on … and that’s worth a fiverr of anybody’s money.

Fiverr.com is one of the strategies of link building discussed in the free e-book “How I Ranked Page 1 In Google For Under $50“. In it, Rhys Wynne – the writer of this blog post – discusses an SEO strategy that can help you get a site running and earning in your blog empire. Rhys Wynne is a 7 year blogger and an SEO with over 4 years commercial experience, and you can follow him on Twitter at @bloggingdojo.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Fiverr Outsourcing Tips for Bloggers

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