Blue Helm

Don't let The Rage Monsters get you!

Another blogger has offended you. You’re mad at yourself for doing something dumb. Anything anyone does infuriates you. Your mind is clouded and you can’t think straight. You’re frustrated that your PR plan isn’t working. You’re thinking of doing something rash and it’s very possible you just might snap. These disheartening symptoms are indicative of only one thing. Whether you like it or not, you are a victim of The Rage.

What do you do when you get The Rage?

1. Recognize The Rage has you – When The Rage has taken over, the most crucial step to defeating it is to realize you have it. Once you recognize that you aren’t thinking straight, you can make the appropriate adjustments to countering potentially embarrassing and harmful actions.

2. Think before you leap – Take a moment to stop and think before you do anything. Ask yourself a few questions: Who is your angry blog post going to effect? Will it hurt your business? Will your mom read this? What good is your reaction really going to do? Is the fleeting euphoria of reacting really worth the consequences? Posting a rant is only okay if you’re in control of your emotions and have calmly thought through what you’re about to post. Remember, there is a difference between acting and reacting. The key to avoiding negative consequences online is to avoid reacting, especially when The Rage has you. You don’t want to end up getting fired, losing a client or offending a loved one because you reacted in haste.

3. Take a break – Sometimes you’ve just hit the wall. Maybe you have a case of writer’s block. Take a walk, a nap, eat lunch or work out. Often a change of scenery will help you clear your mind and chase out The Rage.

4. Meditate – Meditation is powerful. Take time to simply sit and think with no distractions. Find a quite place, turn off your phone, computer, MP3 player or anything else electronic and just think.

The Rage is unavoidable, but you can control it. What do you do to beat The Rage?

Writer's block just destroyed this person's soul.

I tried yesterday to update Blue Helm’s blog but I struggled to come up with something decent or interesting to write about. What’s a poor soul to do when the slippery demon known as Writer’s Block veers his ugly head? You need to update your blog, but you have no idea what to say. If such an unpleasant dilemma occurs, try the following to come with blog ideas:

1. What are leaders in your industry talking about? Read through your RSS feed and the Twitter updates of opinion leaders in your field. Find out what topics are relevant to your business right now.
2. Search for topics in Google News. It’s one of my favorite tools on the web. Just use key words that relate to your business to find out what’s newsworthy in your field of work. Whenever I type ‘social media’ into the Google News search box, thousands of articles appear that I can use and cite for a blog post.
3. What are your customers saying? Do you often hear the same comments, complaints, questions and observations from your clients or customers? Then write about it! My BFF Dave Navarro further explains how you must connect with your audience to forever end the writer’s block disease. 
4. Ask someone for ideas. I just asked Chad for some ideas about what I could write about for this blog, and he recommended #5:
5. Stop thinking about it. If your writer’s block is acting particularly stubborn, leave the office and clear your mind. Go for a drive, take a walk around the block or treat yourself to a boat ride. Your creative juices will be flowing before no time.

What did I miss? Tell me how you cure your writer’s block.