Get comfortable for your 5 minutes of sparks to hack.

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✨ Spark

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I am an avid reader but I used to detest writing because spelling was a challenge. I scored 8/20 in writing at the French Baccalaureate. To my defense, French is so challenging - I see that with my kids (French speakers at home in a German-speaking school system). Indeed, when they send me WhatsApp messages, I need to read them aloud to understand the meaning 😅 ("Je les es laisser à la maison", "je peu fer mon tem d'ecran.." please don't tell them🤫).

So why do I now love to write?

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✏ Why I started

Initially, I started for my business with the goals to 1 - increase my visibility on social media, 2 - diversify my client base, and 3 - enhance my reputation as an expert in healthcare innovation. While the above remains true, my primary source of motivation now is for me.

Indeed, this has now become a form of daily meditation and a habit for upskilling. This helps me to:

Gain CLARITY: Writing helps me organize my thoughts and distill complex ideas into digestible content.

Foster SIMPLICITY: Simplicity is the best way to engage readers; by breaking down ideas, I make them accessible to a wider audience. I am becoming a better storyteller.

Improve RETENTION: writing clearly and simply helps me remember concepts, books, and quotes. This ultimately enhances my expertise, coaching, and consulting skills.

"Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation." - Graham Greene, English novelist.

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✏ How am I organized

To make it a lasting habit, I had to structure the topics, focus on frequency, and use technology to save time (yes, I do all that for free, up to 6 hours a week 🙈).

Topics: I talk about :

• Entrepreneurship
• Personal development & productivity
• Facilitation & design tips and technics
• Women and working mums in the workplace
• Healthcare innovation and digital health startups
• Open and corporate innovation programs and organization readiness
• Methods to help teams design better services in healthcare (design thinking, lean startup, business model, visual thinking)

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Frequency:

I block out time each day until 10:00 AM to write - no notifications, emails, or Slack. It's not easy, as it never feels like the priority, but in the long term, I know it will pay off (or at least I hope so 🤞 - what do you think?).

I publish 4 times a week: Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Since I started in November 2021, I have published 211 posts 🥳.

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Technology as a multiplier :

I have set up, tested, failed, and successfully implemented a system that makes my life easier (if you're interested, let me know and I could do a newsletter about that). In a nutshell, I leverage automation for publication and metric measurements, and AI for the content: Voice-to-text AI, and ChatGPT for formatting and spelling.

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✏ What is the impact

300 000 views:

Since 2021, my content on LinkedIn has garnered over 300,000 views.

My followers count is relatively small (2,555), but this is not my goal. I prefer a small, interested community. This is not a personal, ego-driven strategy but a value-for-others strategy.

I strongly believe that if I give free content, people will one day come back to me for innovation coaching, agile capability building, or access and pricing expertise. This is true, as in the past two quarters, I have gained two new key accounts from past colleagues who followed me on LinkedIn.

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Ease the development of Bambooster Academy.

I've built discipline 😓, resilience, and self-confidence to make my voice heard. The "Bambooster Touch," as a client said last week, is more prevalent.

Also, I've started to accumulate plenty of content, saving enormous time when developing each new lesson of the online Bambooster Academy. Today we have 7 modules with more than 35 lessons to help teams design and test new innovative services in healthcare (more information​ here ).

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✨ Hack

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Don't like the idea of writing? Maybe you remember a strict, boring teacher (like me 😉)? But trust me; it is possible to enjoy it. I am a big fan of visual thinking and sketching, and I love this quote from Voltaire, a French philosopher: "Writing is the painting of the voice."

I see at least 3 reasons to write as an employee or entrepreneur. Let me convince you :

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✏ Solidify your learning : teach others

The best way to solidify your learning is to connect it with your current practices and skills. The next time you attend a training on negotiation, active listening, or digital health, write your observations. I am not talking about note-taking during the training, but afterward. For example, write about the top 3 most surprising things you learned, 5 things you changed your mind about, 3 reasons why someone in your role should do this training.

You will remember better and be able to teach others. "The best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write about it."

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✏ Reflect on your career path: coach others

Take time regularly to reflect on your career experiences: a new role you took, a 3-year assignment abroad, a trainee you welcomed for 3 months... Same here; write about what you have learned and your biggest failures.

You will remember better and will be able to coach others.

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✏ Value your impact: convince others

Last but not least, I remember how I had to dig into my past before interviews. Which projects did I lead or contribute to? What were the outcomes? What impact did I have? (ok the last time I had interviews was a long time ago - more than 8 years ago - but still I remember this feeling 😓)

If you write about it regularly, you can showcase you and your team's competencies to others.

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✏ How to start? :

Convinced? Yeeesss! 🥳

1. Block out time, and find your motivation - not for others, as this will not last.
2. Decide what you want to write about, your interests, and what will benefit your career or connections.
3. Decide on your audience: you could write just for yourself; you don't need to publish anything. Or you could also start a blog or social media.

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So now, take a pen and paper or your laptop to WRITE (or reply to this email with thank you 😉). I hope you enjoy this content, from resistance to resilience, on my writing journey.

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Hit reply to let me know if you liked this edition or tried these tips. I respond to every person who writes to me!

See you in two weeks. Keep the spark alive, and be intentional :)