When the universe kicks in your door and shouts at you, it pays to listen

👉 practical musings on the mind-body connection

A slight diversion today, but one I think will help you with your newsletters and emails.

Last week Kathy and I discovered the Libby app which gives you online access to pretty much every magazine you might want through your local library card.

Of course, we’d lost ours so we walked up to our library to get new ones. And on the way the idea behind “the #1 mistake new newsletters make” struck me.

At the weekend we spent some time walking up to a coffee shop that’s a bit off the beaten track near us…and on the way I had a rather smart idea about a promotion we’re going to run in Kathy’s business next month.

And on Tuesday we walked up to the big Tesco near us to grab a couple of things to take with us on a little mini-break.

We’d both been in a bit of a rut workwise that morning. You know the thing: sitting at your computer, not really making any progress with anything but reluctant to do anything else because you’re supposed to be working.

Being forced to go to the shops got us out of the house and active. We bounced a few ideas around on the way and returned thoroughly energised in a way we just wouldn’t have been if we’d stayed put supposedly working.

I don’t know about you, but I spend a LOT of time in front of a computer. And my brain tells me that when I’m not at the computer, I’m not really working.

But this week the universe kicked in my door and shouted “don’t be an idiot Ian…sometimes you have to get away from work to make progress”.

In particular, for some reason, going for a walk works wonders.

“Methinks that the moment my legs began to move, my thoughts began to flow.” Henry David Thoreau

As if to rub it in, I stumbled on an article from Steven Johnson about the power of walking and how great thinkers have often used walks to stimulate their brains. In fact, he highlighted recent research from Stanford that showed walking outside could double your creative output.

So today’s tip on creating better emails and newsletters is a simple one:

If you’re stuck, struggling for ideas, in a rut, or just want a bit of creative input…

…get out and go for a walk.

You can thank me later :)

- Ian