Most books that reach their one year anniversary have run their course and the authors who wrote them are already on their way to “what’s next?”. While that latter part is true the former is not, not least because the world continues to be a challenging place and The Sniper Mind offers a timeless approach to decision-making, self-improvement, leadership and self-development.
But while in the most gratifying fashion possible the book continues to empower and inspire its readers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiWgPnN7wWg
It’s in the introspection of the journey itself that I, the writer, felt myself not just grow but also be grateful to all those who made the journey possible. Some of that journey and its effects on me I write openly about on my writer’s blog on goodreads but there are many other facets of it which I can’t always mention because of constraints of time and space and even style and focus.
So, this is my way of redressing this. In Part I of this I mentioned the generosity of all those I approached who gave me their time, attention, ideas and opinions and became my sounding board for some of my wild flights of fancy. A writer (and a marketer) who isn’t willing to take chances, who isn’t afraid of being wrong is, in my opinion, not only failing in his craft but also being irresponsible to his audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uv53tCayFk
Sure, there is such thing as “greatest hits” and writers can and often do deliver more of the same but to continue to do just that when the world is clearly progressing and when what is demanded is something new is to not unlike being in a Groundhog Day world populated by Dynasty re-runs of the 70s, disguised as progress.
So, clearly, to write The Sniper Mind took guts or, I should say, courage. After all I left the comfort zone of my perceived supremacy of semantic search and dove headfirst into the world of neuroscience, brain analytics and behavioral psychology. That courage however was only made possible because I wasn’t alone.
I reported on that sense of companionship from my readers in a post-writing post but here I feel compelled to detail it more. I wrote about the role of the writer as an explorer before and this is where it becomes exciting. Unlike explorers of old the writer today is not cut-off from the reader. The excitement of fresh discoveries, the frustration of dead-ends and the thrill of a book taking shape and shedding light upon something entirely new are emotions that are amplified the moment they are shared.
Writing The Sniper Mind would have been impossible were not for the encouragement I received from people like Michel Reibel and Errol Doebler whose deep military background helped frame some of my thinking, or the enthusiasm of fellow writer Pierre Provost whose suggestions for marketing and promotion became a springboard for some of my ideas. Those who follow me across social media platforms know that Zara Altair first grasped some of the concepts behind The Sniper Mind, Teodora Petkova made suggestions that got me thinking and Gina Fiedel responded to the sharing of some of my ideas in ways that made me realize what I had to do next.
These are all representative of a much wider audience of people whose attention, thoughts and ideas kept me company as I write late through the night and for whom I can never express sufficient gratitude. People like Oleg Moskalensky whose support at some of the difficult bends of my logic made more of a difference than he can know.
So, here we are, at a crucible: 365+ days and asking what next? A few things. There is a personal-development orientated, Decision Science Masterclass course coming which I am determined to make available free to everyone and which, itself is only being made possible because of all of you.
The Sniper Mind website has more and more resources, some fun but others like the Cognitive Audit Poster or the Free Project Planner more practical.
There is another book in the pipeline about which I can say nothing at the moment but which I expect will build on the ground broken by The Sniper Mind. There are collaborative projects across countries spearheaded by Michel Reibel to help established businesses and start-ups to better grasp the framework they need to apply to raise their game.
While all this is going on I am busy translating some of the concepts behind The Sniper Mind into practical steps that can be used in marketing. Sniper Marketing is about using available resources in a more efficient way and targeting the audience so precisely that conversions increase in direct contrast to effort required.
In addition I will be producing more podcasts and video next year to help make some of these concepts even easier to understand and apply. The next step for The Sniper Mind is a wider adoption in more countries and languages, a process already started by Chinese. The next step for the author of The Sniper Mind would be a resolution to get, perhaps, a little more sleep but seeing how I am at the point in my life where the years behind almost (hopefully) balance the years in front I kinda want to totally give up on sleep entirely in order to get done everything I want to do.
So, expect lots more goodies from me and posts and insights that further peel back the layers of who I am and what I do. By now I was kinda hoping that the world would be an awesome place where we could all kickback and enjoy the benefits of the virtual world while we networked across the globe and used the web to order groceries and take out.
We’re not there yet, or more correctly, we’re not at the point where the challenges we face can safely be ignored as just work-related inconveniences. We all need to now care more, do more and work more intentionally than at any other time in our lives. The future is uncertain. How it falls will depend upon what we do, all of us, together and in that regard I am burning the candle at both ends, at least for as long as I can.