Grad School Adventures: Tips for Stimulating Creativity, Leadership, Perspective, and Innovation: Be Curious!

Tips for Stimulating Creativity, Leadership, Perspective, and Innovation: Be Curious!

 

As I was looking at material for another post that I was writing, I kept coming across articles on with titles like “50 Things That Make You an Entrepreneur Without Thinking” or “20 Things Successful CEO’s do Daily” , etc. I am sure many of you have seen and read these articles. There were many common and awesome tips and I thought about, how many of these do I do, and can I apply to being a Master’s Student. So I decided to create a list of 10 things that Master’s Students can do daily that will help balance life and stimulate Creativity, Leadership, Perspective, and Innovation.

1)   Read Daily:

•  Even just 5 minutes a day, know what is going on in your markets, and the world

2)   Network:

•  Always be growing your network, you never know who you will meet and what they can do for you either personally or professionally

3) Weed out Negativity

•  Life is too short to be surrounded by negativity, strive to surround yourself with positivity. Surround yourself with people who will help you grow, inspire, challenge you to be the best version of you.

4) Exercise physically

•  This is the best form of stress relief and will take your mind off the million to-do list you have to do, take 15-30 minutes daily, whether its yoga, running, or weights, find time away from school.

5) Talk with strangers

•  You never know who you might meet, and how you or they will affect each others lives

6) Go out and be social

•  Part of balancing life as a student is to enjoy time with friends and live a little. Nothing will re-energize you like a good meal and conversation with friends and classmates

7) Be Curious and Learn from everyone

•  Everyone in your class brings something new to the table, be curious, find something that you can learn from everyone you meet and talk to

8) Forget the idea of perfection

•  No one or thing is perfect, know your strengths and weaknesses and always work to improve, and know that sometimes mistakes will be made. Handle them with poise and learn from them.

9) Live your Personal Brand

•  Incorporate your brand values in your everyday life.

10) Never Stop Learning

•  Whether a new skill, technology, game, or method; always be a student of the game. Continuing to learn will always help you gain perspective and grow.

When studying in a Graduate Course, you are exposed to amazing sources of information, use them, enjoy them, make the most of the situation. You are preparing and molding your personal brand to take out into the world, and you just never know where you creativity will be sparked and lead you. Why are you not making the most of it?! 

Grad School Adventures: Content is Key in Building your Personal Brand:

“Content is King”- Bill Gates, 1999

How many times have we heard this?

In today’s fast moving society, we always hear content is king, but what exactly does that mean?

Seth Godin, a Marketing Guru, (look up his TEDtalks), said that “Content Marketing is the only marketing we have left.”

In Marketing, Content has to do with the what, why, and how of your product or service you are selling. It is a way to promote and market your product online to “differentiate”, another key marketing term. You can read all kinds of articles and blogs on content in terms of business.

But what about the Content that YOU share. With our digital community we are always using social networks to like, share, post, discuss, promote, rave, rant, etc. But how is it affecting your brand positively or negatively? Do you share the same content across platforms, or do you differentiate based on platforms?

I believe that we as Marketing and Business professionals should read, watch, and post content weekly. We are in the ‘Content’ business, we are the passionate and excited people that love “innovation” and new products. So why not talk about it? It is extremely important to read what is going on in not only business, but sports, current events, etc. to truly understanding what is happening in the markets all around the world. There is no longer a concept of Marketing to the Masses, people want the “experience” and we have to give it to them.

Start by challenging yourself to read 3-5 articles daily and share 1 piece of content a week. If you just read a great article about a new campaign that excites you tweet it.  Did you just watch a great TEDtalk? Share it. Did you earn an award for a great presentation or portfolio? Is it on your LinkedIn? It should be. Competition is the world is HIGH for new graduates, how do you differentiate yourself from the competition to potential employers if you have little to no experience? You can create a portfolio of content, when they look you up on social media, they should see that you are talking about relevant topics. They should see your work, this gives them a glimpse of your skills and long term potential.

As you continue to become more confident in sharing content, take the next step and write about it. Share your voice with the world, whether you decide to start a blog, use Facebook, or publish a post on LinkedIn, try it. Start connecting and talking with the world. If you truly want to work in this industry you have to be competent across markets and understand what is happening.

Challenge yourself to be bold and daring, start reading, sharing, and posting!