Author: Brad Johnson

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I serve on the advisory board of a tech startup in New York and was reminded of a great lesson about focus at our last meeting.

The company leaders were being pulled in several new directions — it’s hard to say “no” to revenue — but these activities threatened the core focus of the young company.

“Focus never ends,” advised my friend Rachel Orston, CEO of UserIQ. “Sometimes you need to burn the boats.”

This reference to focusing on the future without an escape plan was exactly the right advice and it served as a good reminder to us all. We can’t lose our focus on focus.

Un-focus for the fail

Some of the most heart-breaking business failures I’ve witnessed were due to an inability to focus.

Early in my consulting career, I worked with an extraordinarily talented young man. There was no question in my mind he could make it as an entrepreneur with his determination and skill. I helped him plot an excellent marketing strategy and it rapidly took root.

But every time I visited with him, he had twisted away from the core strategy, chasing some shiny red ball. To him, there was no bad idea and absorbed any suggestion that was thrown at him. Soon, he was wasting his time and money on a dozen different things that took him away from the core strategy. It was chaos. 

I did what I could to reign him in but in a short period of time, he was just flailing about again. Within a year he had crashed, burned and was selling used cars.

Stick to the plan

On a much smaller scale, I had worked with my friend John Espirian on a plan to become known, following the principles of my book. He had identified his story (or place) and was creating new value through a regular subscription newsletter.

Because he was focused and constantly improving on his new plan, John saw steady success and in fact it changed his fortunes in short order.

But then he was offered an opportunity to take over an established podcast. Were there enough hours in a day for him to stay on the current plan and take on a new content venture?

If you’re a small business with limited resources, my advice through the KNOWN book is to pick one content source — written, video, audio, or visual — and stick to it for 18 months. That gives you enough time to establish a competency and an audience. 

Taking on a podcast would mean abandoning this discipline and jeopardizing the plan. In Rachel’s words, John needed to “burn the boat” — get rid of the opportunity and never look back. He listened to my advice and his business is thriving.

Focus on focus

In these two examples, we see how large and small distractions can threaten a business.

I’ve also written about how discipline and focus are the keys to unleashing creativity and new content ideas. 

Of course there might come a time to pivot or even quit but those decisions have to be made knowing that you gave a solid effort and did your best to execute on a focused plan.

Mark Schaefer is the chief blogger for this site, executive director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, and the author of several best-selling digital marketing books. He is an acclaimed keynote speaker, college educator, and business consultant.  The Marketing Companion podcast is among the top business podcasts in the world. Contact Mark to have him speak to your company event or conference soon.

Illustration courtesy of Unsplash.com

The post Why you need to have a focus on focus appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

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You’re under coronavirus quarantine. What are you going to do with all this newfound time—and lack of outside entertainment? Why, read, of course!

There’s never been a better time to pick up a book. But what should you read under quarantine?

Here at The Write Practice, we’ve got you covered. Our team put our heads together and selected our best recommendations of great books to read while you’re under coronavirus quarantine.

How We Made Our Coronavirus Quarantine Book List

As we put together this list, we faced one enormous question:

What makes a good coronavirus quarantine read?

There are a lot of books about pandemics out there. But The Stand is perhaps more panic-inducing than encouraging when you’re trapped at home with the risk of infection outside.

Rather than stark dystopias about devastating outbreaks, we looked instead for books that offer hope, and especially humor. “Laughter is the best medicine,” said someone somewhere, and while it might not be a coronavirus cure on its own, it can certainly help lift us on some dark and stressful days.

This list spans a variety of genres and themes, from pandemic novels to mental illness memoir to nonfiction science books to cozy mysteries. Whether you’re looking for hope for the shut-in, fascinating facts, or some good old escapism, you’ll find something to love on this list.

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Ready to start reading? Here’s what we recommend.

10 Lighthearted Books to Read

Looking for something light and fun to take your mind off of quarantine, or offer a new perspective on illness? Look no further than these ten reads:

1. The Decameron by Boccaccio

You’ve heard of The Canterbury Tales, a series of twenty-four stories told by a group of pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury. Boccaccio’s The Decameron predates it by several decades.

But Boccaccio’s cast of seven women and three men isn’t on the road—rather, they’ve sequestered themselves in a villa near Florence in hopes of escaping the Black Death. The hundred tales they tell each other during their two-week quarantine span the gamut from witty to tragic.

Alternate idea: Don’t want to read books while quarantined? Gather your household and challenge yourselves to tell a story every day.

Get the book here.

2. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Ask someone for literature about pandemics, and Love in the Time of Cholera is one of the first books that comes to mind. Hey, “cholera” is right there in the title!

In fact, this book is about more than just cholera. It’s about love and relationships that span decades, and it asks if maybe love isn’t the real disease.

If coronavirus quarantine is your opportunity to revisit the classics you missed in high school and college, this is the perfect book to start with. Or, if you want to say things like “literature in the time of coronavirus” with more knowledge of the source for your clever reference, read this.

Get the book here.

3. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more fun and entertaining read about the end of the world. With their signature darkness, satire, and clever twists on mythology, Gaiman and Pratchett created a wild tale of apocalypse.

You might have seen the Amazon Prime miniseries adaptation. If you haven’t read the book, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. Actually, go ahead and watch the miniseries, too; you’ve got time.

Get the book here.

4. Agorafabulous!: Dispatches from My Bedroom by Sara Benincasa

What if you weren’t stuck in the house because of a virus, but because you couldn’t make yourself leave? That was the case for Sara Benincasa, who faced down agoraphobia, depression, an eating disorder, and panic disorder.

Ultimately, she’s become a standup comedian, a far cry from her days of never leaving her college dorm room. Her memoir is a humorous beacon of hope that whether the illnesses we face are mental or physical, we can still find ways to thrive, and one day, even open the door.

Get the book here.

5. Going Bovine by Libba Bray

The bad news is, 16-year-old Cameron has mad cow disease. It’s incurable, and he’s going to die. The good news is, he’s going to have the adventure of a lifetime first—even if it’s all in his head. Plus, there’s a wacky road trip, so you can travel in your imagination.

At once morbid and hopeful, Going Bovine is an inspiring challenge to find wild adventure and satisfaction even when our world is closing in on us. If you’re not interested in reading about terminal illnesses right now, this isn’t the book for you. But if you’d enjoy a wild YA romp that Publishers Weekly likens to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, definitely don’t miss this.

Get the book here.

6. I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong

Why not use this time of uninterrupted reading as an opportunity to learn something new? I Contain Multitudes is a fascinating exploration of the microbial world, the bacteria that keep our entire ecosystem running.

Read this, and you might just look at the microbes around you in a fresh and even positive light.

Also, wash your hands and don’t touch your face.

Get the book here.

7. Crowdsourcing Paris by Joe Bunting

Remember when you could travel around the world to exotic locales, visit famous monuments and museums, and sit in streetside cafés watching the world go by? Remember when you could walk through an airport, get on an airplane, and arrive in another country without worry? In fact, remember when you could go out in public, period?

If you’re missing the thrill of travel, a travel memoir is the perfect book for you. Take in the sights of Paris with Joe Bunting’s crowdsourced adventure. It might just inspire you to find ways to make staying home an adventure all its own.

Get the book here.

8. The Hike by Sarah Gribble

What if travel weren’t so peaceful as a trip to Paris, but a harrowing, life-threatening, man-against-nature risk in its own right? This short horror read about a daylong desert hiking trip gone terribly wrong will remind you why you’re glad to stay safe at home after all.

Did I say this was a lighthearted read? Well, it might take your mind off viral threats, at least. Does that count?

Get the book here.

9. Still Life by Louise Penny

Louise Penny didn’t publish this, her first book in the Inspector Gamache series, until she was in her forties. It was worth the wait.

Here’s what Joe Bunting, the founder of The Write Practice, has to say about it:

I like the occasional mystery, but it’s hardly my go-to genre. But I haven’t been able to stop reading these books, and I’m now on book nine in the series after starting just eight weeks ago (and launching a book in the process).

Still Life drips with wisdom and strength. You’ll want to move to Quebec, drink a cognac or café au lait, and get warm next to the fire while reading this. You’ll probably also wish Inspector Gamache was your best friend, grandfather, and boss all at the same time.

All that to say, everyone should read this book. And quarantine is the perfect time to start a long mystery series that will keep you turning pages (and not thinking about illness) for weeks.

Get the book here.

10. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Just because there’s a zombie apocalypse doesn’t mean you can’t find love. That’s certainly the case for R, a zombie who’s not a fan of eating human flesh, and Julie, the woman whose boyfriend’s brain R eats.

This reimagining of Romeo and Juliet with zombies inspires hope that while we have the power to infect each other, our search for a cure—and for love—might just bring out the best in humanity.

Get the book here.

4 Sober and Grave Books to Read

Ready for something a little more serious for your coronavirus quarantine reads? Check out these four books that deal with the gritty reality of contagious illness:

1. Typhoid Mary by Anthony Bourdain

Mary Mallon was a cook for wealthy families in New York from 1900 to 1907. She was also an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever, and though authorities pursued her through several jobs with several families, it took them years to detain and quarantine her. By that point, she had infected dozens of people and earned the nickname “Typhoid Mary.”

Anthony Bourdain approaches Typhoid Mary’s sordid history from the perspective of a chef, exploring turn-of-the-century kitchens and her dogged determination to maintain her career as a cook. If a nonfiction case study of carrying a disease sounds like your perfect quarantine read, you won’t want to miss this.

Get the book here.

2. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

What happens after a pandemic decimates the population and reshapes civilization as we know it? It’s been two decades since a virulent strain of the flu changed the world, and for Kirsten and her traveling band of creatives, survival means keeping the arts alive in this dismal new world.

As the New York Times Book Review puts it, “Station Eleven offers comfort and hope to those who believe, or want to believe, that doomsday can be survived, that in spite of everything people will remain good at heart, and when they start building a new world they will want what was best about the old.”

Get the book here.

3. The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber

If the first two picks feel a little too close to home for you, try The Book of Strange New Things. This otherworldly novel will take you galaxies away, where a devout man shares his faith with an alien population. But things aren’t as tranquil as they seem—at home on Earth, his wife is watching the world collapse around her.

Get the book here.

4. Company of Liars by Karen Maitland

We started this list with a shoutout to The Canterbury Tales, and here we’re calling back to Chaucer again. In Karen Maitland’s retelling, the band of travelers doesn’t journey on a religious pilgrimage, but flees north in hopes of escaping the Black Plague.

This historical fiction tale weaves in mystery as the travelers each tell their stories and dark consequences ensue.

Get the book here.

Bonus: 2 Short and Serious Stories to Read

Quarantine reads don’t have to be long. Enjoy these bite-sized pandemic stories right now, for free:

1. “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe

No list of dark and harrowing literature would be complete without a little Poe. This short story features a prince who’s sheltered himself and his court in the castle, safely sequestered away from the Red Death. Outside their doors, the disease ravages, but inside, they’re safe and revelrous.

Of course, you might guess that Poe is loath to end a story happily, so if you’re looking for something to lift your spirits, this might not be it. But if you’re a Poe fan, you certainly won’t want to miss this plague-themed short.

Read “The Masque of the Red Death” here.

2. “Viral” by JD Edwin

This story stands out from everything else on this list for one major reason: it’s a story about coronavirus in Wuhan right now. Though fiction, it draws heavily from accounts from the author’s family friends, who are currently enduring the Wuhan quarantine.

As fun as it can be to have extra time to read, it’s also important to pay attention to what’s going on around us in the world. This story offers a window into what quarantine looks like in the most heavily impacted areas.

Don’t miss “Viral” here.

And for another sobering glimpse of Wuhan, check out this drone footage of the city under quarantine.

Your Writing Prompt

As we put together this article, we looked for all the novels we could find that combine pandemics with humor. For all our searching, you might notice that there aren’t a lot of lighthearted illness books on this list.

As it turns out, funny books about plagues, pestilence, and pandemics are in short supply. And understandably so—it’s a heavy topic, and writers treat it with the gravity it demands.

But a great coronavirus quarantine read is one that doesn’t offer more reasons to panic, but more reasons to laugh, to endure, and to hope.

So if you’re looking for a writing prompt, an untapped literary niche, if you will, here it is.

Why not write a funny pandemic story yourself?

What are your favorite coronavirus quarantine recommendations? Can you think of any funny pandemic books we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments.

The post 14 Good Books to Read While You’re Under Coronavirus Quarantine appeared first on The Write Practice.

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Want more leads, connections, and exposure from the live events you attend? Wondering how to use LinkedIn to build rapport with people who follow the event? In this article, you’ll discover a strategy for using LinkedIn to build awareness for your business before, during, and after a live conference or trade show. Why Use LinkedIn […]

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With the concerns about a global health pandemic, the necessity of shifting more events and meetings to be virtual is on everyone’s mind. There’s only one problem: most of us have spent too much time in virtual meetings that are a waste of time.

I should know, I’ve probably spoken or participated in well over a hundred over the past years – both as a virtual keynote speaker and a remote workshop leader.

Some of them have sucked.

But I don’t believe that virtual meetings or presentations need to be bad. The real problem is that no one seems to know how to run them well.

Thanks to concerns about the coronavirus, we seem to be headed into a season where more events will happen virtually. So we should all have an interest in making them better. To start, let’s consider five of the most common reasons that virtual meetings go awry …

Problem #1 – Increased distractions.

Presenting the same thing you might have done in person in the same way doesn’t work in a virtual session. There are too many distractions and other things people may be doing at the same time.

Problem #2 – Lack of audience.

The entire idea of a laugh track for television sitcoms was created because the lack of an audience made creators worry that people wouldn’t know when to laugh. In a live meeting, we can look to the people around us for a cue as to how we might react. A virtual setting lacks this and so we feel isolated in our reactions and it’s harder to engage.

Problem #3 – Intrusive malfunctioning tech.

If you have ever started a conference call with ten minutes of participants asking if you can hear them, you’ve already experienced this. The fact is, much of the technology used for virtual sessions creates a lot of friction. People have to download something, microphones don’t work and Internet connections fail.

Problem #4 – No accountability.

When you are sitting in a live meeting or you show up late, there is a reputational and social cost to being tardy or being on your phone or checking out. Everyone else can see what you’re doing. In a virtual session, there isn’t any social pressure to keep you engaged or to prevent you from multitasking.

Problem #5 – One-way interaction.

Too often in virtual meetings one side has a camera on and is delivering content while the other is silently and invisibly listening. This creates an unbalanced meeting because one side has no insight into how the other side is reacting.

So, how do we fix these issues?

It’s easy to think that these are all thing that will always be the case with virtual meetings. After all, it’s not reasonable to “lock the doors” of a virtual session or force everyone to be on video to hold them accountable, right? And you certainly can’t wish away technical issues just by hoping they don’t happen.

Yet despite the difficulties these problems create, there are some techniques I have seen and used myself to help make virtual meetings and presentations a LOT better than they might otherwise be. Here are a few suggestions:

Solution #1 – Make virtual tech an advantage.

If you know everyone who is participating in your meeting will be on their computer during the session, a lot of possibilities open up. You can have them all visit a landing page directly to enter information. You can host and integrate a live poll. You can even tailor your content based on immediate responses you get. Virtual meetings can enable faster real time engagement if you can bake the interaction into the session.

Solution #2 – Use multiple mediums/styles.

While people may be able to sit through an hour long meeting or a 45 minute keynote, the rules are different for virtual sessions. In a world where people are used to 90 second YouTube videos, keeping their attention is more demanding. Sometimes, I will integrate videos more frequently into virtual sessions, or use interactive exercises asking participants to draw a picture or answer a question. These allow for a mental break and help audiences stay engaged for longer because you are mixing up the content.

Solution #3 – Reduce the friction.

Often the technology platform for a session is selected based on what is the approved platform for a particular organization or what presenters are most comfortable using. Both are not great ways to choose technology. Instead, consider what tech would be easiest and fastest for your audience to get working. Who has the best live support to help people with issues? What tool doesn’t require downloading? Considering the friction of the tech tools for your audience first can help prevent tech issues later.

Solution #4 – Expect distractions and reiterate often.

In a virtual environment, repetition becomes much more important in order for ideas to stick. When you are presenting virtually with slides, for example, you may need to insert more summary slides or add more “bottom line” style reminders to reiterate your main points. Just because your audience may have been distracted or multitasking doesn’t mean they are bad people or didn’t really want to hear your message. Being more patient and proactive by changing your presentation style slightly can make a big difference in what your audience retains afterwards.

Solution #5 – Focus on the follow up.

Perhaps even more than in-person meetings, the follow up from a virtual session becomes much more important. If you have recorded the session and promised to share it, make that happen quickly. If there are downloadable materials make them easy to find and get. The moment right after a virtual session is a critical one for engagement and a time when your audience may be most receptive to anything you can share. So plan the follow up and do it quickly.

Is the future about virtual events?

I have never been someone who believed that virtual events could replace in person events. There is something magical about getting the right people in the room to make connections and a serendipity that happens face to face which is impossible to recreate virtually (yet!). I hope that live events never get replaced.

I do, however, believe that a virtual presentation can be highly effective and in many cases preferable – for example if you have a widely distributed group that can’t be in the same place at once, or a global health scare that makes travel riskier. Hopefully this list helps you transform your next virtual meeting or presentation into one that doesn’t suck and really does engage your audience.

We all need to find more ways to make our virtual meetings better. For the near future, it’s at least pretty clear we can expect to have more of them.