How are you currently dealing with Stress?

Recently I read this awesome book called, "Building a Story Brand." It was an amazing book on simplifying marketing messages and getting more sales and exploding business. A great read and I highly recommend it for anyone looking to expand their business. Alas, that isn't what this post is about. The other night I was up against a daunting deadline, literally slammed with creating a giant multi-page (graphic design project) business proposal. (and not the cookie cutter type)

The stress was really kicking in especially when it was due the next morning and I was quickly approaching midnight, with so much to review and clean up.

Yes, I was feeling the pain. One of the processes I usually follow when creating these larger projects is loosely sketching out the entire project, just to get it done quicker, then if I have time, I'll revisit and clean up pages. The hardest part is just getting down all the random "whiteboard" content into word or notepad and then jumping into Photoshop or Indesign and laying out the pages.

So you guessed it, Story Brand came to the rescue as it really helped me to "simplify my focus" and the stress I was feeling. Going through that book shot some creative ideas into mind, and made me stop on certain pages and think "Is anyone going to understand this?" and so I came to the conclusion:

If I have to explain it, start over.

As simple as that sounds, it wasn't. Breaking down content-heavy projects into simple phrases and keywords is a lot harder than you would think. Alas, I trusted the process and kept pushing forward... After filling out the Story Brand questionnaire located at www.mystorybrand.com (You'll have to read the book to understand the process) it made my goals a lot clearer, not just in this project, but also how I was managing my stress. It forced me to think about what was causing the stress, and did I really need to stress about it, eventually, I realized I caused much if not most of my stress.

It really made me stop and think: "Why am I stressing right now?" , "is it doing me any good?" and what could I do in this project to reduce my stress and get the project done faster? - Then by applying the "Story Brand" method to my project, I was able to not only simplify the project, but also get it done a lot faster. Keep in mind, this project still took me into the wee hours of the morning. I think I finished at like 4am, and said myself, "You're too old for this shiz..." lol #ThatsLife

This image portrays exactly what I'm talking about!

All the scattered notes, ideas, whiteboard sketches, etc... all spread out, I had to take the most complicated parts and run them through story brand and it allowed to me simplify my messages, and create a solid piece of work. Sure, there will be changes, and you gotta make the client happy, but when things get stressful, STOP!

PAUSE, and think about what you are stressing over and if you are creating that stress, think about the main goal, and simplify until it all makes sense. "If you have to explain it, then START OVER" - I cant believe it took me this long in my career to figure this out! Had this book came out sooner, perhalps I would have saved thousands of hours of my life! lol

To be clear, I am not including any affiliate links, nor am I getting paid to talk about this book. Plain and simple I just love it, and it was worth my time and money. If your interested in it, I suggest hitting up Amazon or Audible and checking it out. If you like it and still want to reward me with some Steem love, then hey! I wont stop you! lol 😉

Curious where I get my images? I either shoot and use my own or purchase stock via Getty Images 🙏

Storybrand website which has a pretty cool blog: http://buildingastorybrand.com/ (They have a cool 5 mintue Free Video Course, which explains a lot about the book, plus you can use their https://www.mystorybrand.com/ for free.

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