Still reeling from my losing battle with the apologetic sales rep from Big Telco, I went searching for solace and inspiration from the many great writers that I follow. Two posts from two professionals in very different fields stood out as particularly thought provoking and inspiring.

Grab Control of the Negative Beliefs and Perceptions that Are Holding You Back!

The first, “How to Do (Almost) Anything and Feel Good Doing It,” is from Mary Jaksch of the Goodlife Zen blog. I featured one of Mary’s posts in an earlier Fresh Voices column a few weeks back, and I’ve made it a priority to keep current with her work.

As you might gather from the titles of the post and blog, Mary offers up inspirational and thoughtful content intended to motivate and encourage. In a world filled with an over-abundance of bad news and seemingly unconquerable challenges, we can all use a good dose of what Mary has to offer.

This “How to” post offers up some outstanding and thought-provoking ideas on grabbing control of our negative beliefs and preconceptions to start focusing on thinking and doing the right things. Mary offers a nice roadmap and some great advice for dealing with our demons, establishing goals and moving one step at a time towards those goals.

While you might be rolling  your eyes, thinking, “I’ve heard this all before,” I know more than a few people that are struggling in their personal and professional lives that will benefit from having Mary as a guide.

The Self-Development Power of Blogging:

The second post is entitled “9 Hidden Benefits of Blogging” and comes from someone that I hold in high regard, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing fame. John is the author of the great book, Duct Tape Marketing and he runs a successful business, website and coaching network that share that same name.

Note from Art: if you are in business, the book is a must-read and his website is chock full of remarkable resources and suggestions.

While one might think that the topic of blogging is old news, I still find that a good number of friends and family and way too many professionals that I encounter (all non-bloggers) either don’t understand the medium or don’t see the value of participating. Sadly, many of these individuals have some great insights to offer and the world would be well served by hearing from them. Many have lumped blogging into that uncomfortable category of something that people do in pursuit of over-night riches and instant internet fame. Those perceptions are very wrong.

John eloquently and convincingly highlights the professional and personal benefits that have accrued to him from a sustained approach to writing about marketing and business. This has turned out to be a powerful self-development tool for John as it has for me and can be for you.

John’s “9 Benefits” very effectively make the case that there is a great deal to be gained from challenging yourself to think big, write diligently and convincingly and sustain the effort over a period of time, whether you are doing it for an audience of 1 or 1 million.

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Thanks to Mary and John for the great, thought-provoking and motivating posts!