Over the last few years there seems to have been an awful lot said about getting your “message” out. We all have something vitally important to say and the world needs us to say it, according to the “on trend” marketers. Back in the day it used to be all about passion and purpose and now it’s all about “message”.

You’d have thought I’d have learned my lesson from all the years spent searching futilely for MY passion and My purpose but no, I bought into the “message” thing, hook, line and sinker.

I searched hard for MY message and paid lots of money to those who were apparently in the know, so they could help me find it. This despite secretly suspecting I didn’t have one and, quite honestly, not being that bothered about getting it “out there” if I did!

Initially, I thought I had a problem verbalising what I wanted to say because I noticed that others seemed to be able to articulate my ideas better than I. So, having been inspired by William Keiper‘s words below, I started collecting quotes, ideas and notes that resonated with my thinking or made me ponder or see things in a new light, and my ‘bag of bits’ was born.

“I then decided to create an action plan that would embody my unique offer of service. As part of the construction of my plan, I carefully selected words, quotations, references, catalogued “what others say about me” and even found photos that were representative of my uniqueness and my ability to serve others. I put these into an online template at first only accessible by me.
This creation allowed me to read, see, touch, and modify (without consequences) what my future could look and feel like if created in a certain way. It wasn’t important for me at the time to actually have the plan completed. It was started, and it was an active creation that helped me prioritize and make decisions in the now. It gave me the clarity of vision to help drive my value proposition and service, leading to a (hopefully) perfect future.”
Life expectancy – William Keiper

That was 5 months ago and, if you read yesterday’s post, you’ll know that I’ve found a use for my ‘Bag of Bits’ which does not involve the construction of an action plan, as it did for William. If you didn’t read it you can catch up here:   If I was Writing a Book.

Number 2 of 366 Book Bits.