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Step One Worksheet: Finding Your Yawp
The following 9 Action Items will guide you through the process of Finding Your Yawp. Once completed, you move on to Creating Your Web Presence.
Action item 1) Write Your Life Summary:
Obituaries are something that are written about someone after they pass away. Too bad—they provide a great summary of what they achieved and those things that meant a lot to them.
Start finding your Yawp by writing your Life Summary. Pretend that you’re looking back on your life in its entirety. Write down what you did with your life, those things that really mattered to you and what you did to make a difference to yourself and others. Don’t just focus on what you’ve really done so far—write about what you would dearly want to do.
Some ideas that may help kick start your thinking:
* Politics
* Family life
* Your career or profession
* The environment
* Your faith
* Health and well being
* The arts
Don’t by shy. Imagine yourself in the best possible
light you can. That’s the kind of Yawp you want!
Action item 2) Build Your Yawp From The Inside Out:
You’ve made a great start. Using topics identified in your Life Summary, let’s build on that by answering these questions:
1. What in the world makes you the happiest? The most angry or upset? Why?
2. At the beginning of the day, what do you look most forward to? Why?
3. At the end of the day, what do you recall doing that gave you the most satisfaction?
4. What did you miss doing the most? Why?
5. Did you ever have a dream or wish in your life that you had to put aside for some reason? What was it and why was it so valuable to you?
Take your answers to these five questions and find the common element or elements that each contains. See how they match with themes in your Life Summary.
Action item 3) Putting Your Yawp Into Action:
Now, let’s put some legs on those potential Yawps.
1. Think about one of your potential Yawps. How do you see it? Is it something that you enjoy and would want to share and discuss with others?
2. Is your Yawp more controversial in nature? Is it a topic where you would want to sway others’ opinions and feelings?
3. In either case, would your Yawp be a topic or a point of interest that you would enjoy discussing on a regular basis?
4. Would you mind if someone disagreed with you or would you see that as a point of challenge and debate?
5. Do you see your interest in the issue as something that could grow and mature?
Action item 4) The Practical Side Of Your Yawp
1. Is financial benefit important to you?
2. Would you be willing to invest time to help your understanding of the topic or issue grow and mature?
3. How much time do you think you could reasonably devote to sharing your Yawp with others?
4. Would you be willing to learn new ideas to help express your Yawp, such as technical skills?
5. Do you see your passion as something that will genuinely capture your interest and energy for a long period of time?
Action item 5) Putting Your Yawp Together
By this point, your thoughts and ideas about your Yawp are coming together. Let’s put them down, along with supporting information and detail:
1. My Yawp is:
2. I am passionate about my Yawp because:
3. I want to share my Yawp with others because:
4. I have the following goals for my Yawp:
5. In the future, I can see my Yawp becoming:
Don’t worry if you don’t have complete answers for everything. Since it’s important to have a clear understanding of your Yawp and what you want to achieve with it, take as much time as you need to think your Yawp through. Revisit the questions if you need to.
But most importantly, enjoy the process.
PART 2: REFINING YOUR YAWP:
Action item 6) Define Your Yawp
Think about these questions as thoroughly as you can:
1. My Yawp is:
2. My Yawp is special because:
3. My Yawp is unique because:
4. Others are also interested in my Yawp because:
5. My Yawp will remain interesting and unique because:
Action item 7) Review Your Yawp
Review your answers from the prior section. To determine if your Yawp is everything it might be:
1. Picture yourself as someone reading your blog or visiting your website. Is what you see interesting, passionate, compelling? If not, what’s missing?
2. Share your Yawp with a family member, friend or colleague whose opinion you value. What do they think? Is your Yawp fresh and provocative to them?
3. Search the Internet for other blogs or sites. Does yours stand out or is it one of dozens with a similar approach or perspective?
4. Is your Yawp fresh enough to address your goals for sharing your Yawp with others? Do you think it can make you a profit or influence others’ opinions?
Action item 8) Refine Your Yawp
Now, let’s take the final steps to make your Yawp everything you want it to be:
1. Look at your overall topic or message. Can you define it more specifically?
2. Can you approach your Yawp from another angle to make it more unique?
3. Is there any issue or aspect you may have overlooked?
4. Is your Yawp too specific? Would it help to take a broader view of your topic?
Action item 9) Final Review of Your Yawp
In light of what you’ve considered, think about these questions one more time as thoroughly as you can.
1. My Yawp is:
2. My Yawp is special because:
3. My Yawp is unique because:
4. Others are also interested in my Yawp because:
5. My Yawp will remain interesting and unique because:
Next Action Item: If you have completed the above 9 Action Items, then you are ready to move on to step 2:
Continue To Step 2
: Creating Your Web Presence
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