Observe your surroundings. It seems simple but do you truly use your sense of observation daily? In the ever increasing hustle of the world, the general population has become less and less observant. As a writer, your observation skills can set you apart from the rest of the book-writing crowd so make sure you invest in yourself and your book by opening your eyes and mind to the world around you.
Observation, What Is It?
Observation is the act of observing someone carefully or to gain information. At the core, observation is using your eyes to see what is around you. However, it is more than just seeing. To truly observe something is to take the act of seeing and go deeper. It is to use your mind and your critical thinking skills to distill some knowledge from the scenes around you. Though it is a few years old, Writer’s Digest has a great blog post about observation, specifically the first section about what it means to truly observe.
Observe and Write
Why does observation matter for writers? It’s simple; the more we observe the better we become at using our words to express what we see, what we think, what we teach, and more. As I mentioned above, observation is going deeper than just seeing. Grab a pen and paper or your computer, sit down and take a few minutes each day observing and writing. When we take the time to observe our surroundings we should also spend our time writing down what we see. For example:
- Do you see a group of business people walking down the street?
- Do you see four middle-aged men, obviously tired from the long hours they have worked, take a slow walk down to the local pub?
- Maybe you see a mother and father happily swing their young child between their arms.
- Perhaps you see an animated, young woman who looks to be arguing with whoever is on the phone.
We always encourage writers to spend a minimum of 15 minutes a day writing to hone their craft. A great way to exercise your writing mind is to write what you observe during those 15 minutes. Go out to your local park or coffee shop and watch the sky, the sidewalk, the road, or whatever you can and describe what you see. You are going to be surprised at how much your writing improves when you take the time to consciously observe the world around you.
Beginning Your Book
As a business professional and entrepreneur, writing a book has become a great way to showcase you, your business, and the lessons you have learned. If you are looking to begin your book but aren’t quite sure where to start, using your skills of observation is a great place to begin. Take time every day to observe what you see in business; observe how you act, how your employees act, how your clients respond to you, how your products and services are received, what your clients need, and more. When you take the time to really see what is happening in your industry you will quickly realize the gifts you can bring to your clients.
If you are looking for a good resource to understand the knowledge you can impart on the world check out our new complimentary guide, “The Guide To Develop Your Best Seller.” We created this ten question guide to help stimulate your mind and understand the wealth of knowledge you hold and what would be good to share in your book. Take a few minutes of your observation time and look at one or two of these questions!