Читать книгу Metacopywriting. Mindfulness in advertising text - Natalia Maiorova - Страница 5

Usually, every coaching session starts with the words: “Hello, nice to see you, and now sit comfortably, please”. Most people change their position, despite the fact that they have already sat on their chairs.

– Why were you sitting uncomfortably before I asked? You didn’t even notice it. Why didn’t you sit comfortably in the first place?

Why do you not write easily from the very beginning? It is important to remember: if it is hard it means you are doing something wrong. It should not be hard. Imagine: you want to shake out the bag of a vacuum cleaner and you are trying to pull the container out. Is it hard? Perhaps you are pushing something the wrong way. You will break the plastic if you do not understand the design.

What could be wrong when you are writing? Three things:

– lack of interest and waiting for inspiration;

– state and position;

– lack of information and wrong meaning.

Right place

I decided to create my writing lessons when my friend asked me how I wrote. He was a coach and he started to explore my writing approach. Modeling in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) is not only copying something but obtaining a certain skill through the gathering of criteria: internal (beliefs and values) and external (specific rules and actions/behavior). So, he watched everything I did while I was writing.

We noticed that I sat fixedly. My legs and body did not move; only my hands and eyes were doing the work. It might be obvious to you, but my friend was surprised. Normally, when he was writing, he constantly changed his position; his hands were on his face, lips, keyboard; he was bending his legs or sitting with his feet on the floor. He fidgeted.

The beginners’ mistake is that they do not pay attention to the right place, position and condition (state). That is why they think they need ‘patience to work’. When the body is resting, the head is working, productivity is higher, and attention is more focused. The body does not ask for comfort, food, convenience – it is fine. It is in a trance. A trance is achieved when you can fully concentrate on writing, excluding everything else. It is a state of focusing completely on one thing – in our case on writing. It is the only way to love it. But how can you find this state?

Look for a comfortable body position while you are working. Think about your favorite place: the chair, the sofa, the floor? How do you prefer to sit: foot on foot, legs straight, legs under your bottom? Or maybe you like to lay down? Which sounds help you: silence, classical music, office noise, subway noise? What do you want to see around you: a mess, an order, a beautiful interior? Or where do you like to be: at home, in the office, in a cafe, in a co-working studio, in a park, in the countryside? Analyze and prepare your place for work. You do not live in outer space or in a prison, I hope, so you can always leave, change your setting, and arrange a work space, or… just go into a trance. I can write anywhere; I do not care what is around me. I just open my laptop and start to work. My body is still, and my breathing slows down. I achieve a trance-like state and do not notice anything around me. Nothing can irritate or distract me. Remember that a trance is a full mental concentration on one object. It is natural to all of us when we read, watch a film or drive a car. It is natural and useful when we are writing, and it helps us to be more focused on something and, thus, to be calm and productive.

If you know a comfortable place and a body position you can work in while relaxed, you should sit the same way and in the same condition next time. It seems easy: the body can always be seated in the right chair, with your arms and legs perfectly aligned. Well, what about the state then? It is vulnerable and has no shell.

The right state can be achieved as soon as you get into the right place. Actually, the state is achieved with the right pose: when your body is relaxed and fixed in a comfortable position, and your breathing is slow, you feel calm. But there are a lot of states (interest, inspiration, excitement, curiosity), so it is not only achieved by position. It is also dependent on a process. The state does not exist separately from you, you can create it on your own.