Tagged: inspiration
Insights-Musings about life and business.
We are all in the same boat. We all are being forced to adapt to the blistering pace of change we see in the world. It’s unsettling, it’s scary, and, worst of all, nobody knows what will happen next. Alvin Toffler predicted that we would live in a state of “cultural anxiety” in Future Shock. Who would have known that what he predicted in 1970 would come true?
For many, death is something to be feared…hence the massive pain we see in the world as we witness the end of the Industrial Age. And why is it that death is promoted as the ultimate “dark” experience? Are we even aware of what is dying?
It appears that the 300 lb. gorilla in the room is that what we have known to be true is not only being questioned, it’s dying. (Kubler-Ross talked about grief in her famous book: “On Death and Dying” ).
Fear not…what is dying is what we are conditioned to believe…not life itself.
Life constantly moves forward regardless whether we like it or not. Engaging fully with life is the hard part…especially when we are desperately holding on to the past to make sense out of our future.
Accepting is to let go. It is impossible to truly accept and be fearful.
If you understand the process of grieving you will be on your way to accepting your current circumstance.
The fascinating thing is if you let go, you won’t break. You will be set free.
Creating Community: What is your goal?
If you are a business owner, a marketer, a concerned individual or all of the above it probably occurred to you that “community” is a buzz word that is generally misunderstood depending on where you stand.
Building a community is hard work. And, like any endeavor, without clear goals the chances of success are slim to none.
When defining a goal there are usually more questions than answers. What can easily be missed is in this process is the underlying intent behind the action.
Are you honest with yourself about why you want to build a community? Is it for money? Is it to satisfy your ego? Is it altruistic? Is it to amass power?
It can be all or none of the above.
Beyond understanding the building blocks needed to create a community (barrier to entry, influence, shared emotional values etc), it is important to be clear about your underlying motivation as well. Clarity of purpose (intent) and motivation will guide your every move going forward. Success will require following a predetermined road map along with enough gas in the tank to get you there. Intent and motivation provides the fuel needed to make the journey.
It’s a funny thing about human beings: we all perceive information differently and to a large degree will spin information so that it falls in line with existing beliefs (confirmation bias).
In “Blink” Malcolm Gladwell talks about our innate ability to determine truth from fiction based upon facial muscles, instinct, context etc. No longer is “do as I say, not as I do” a valid strategy. This falseness will be apparent to everyone. Like “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, let’s hope you are not the last to know.
Building a sustainable community requires being clear about your intent and motivation. The quickest way to discover that is to look inward with honesty. Your audience/community will then be able to determine if the value you offer warrants their attention. If they choose to participate it will because they perceive that membership is of higher value than the real or implied “barrier to entry”.
Thought for the day.
I had a conversation last night about giving. It is a curious thing-giving. If you really think about it when you give with love the intrinsic rewards far outweigh what is received. As a result the reward is in the giving not the receiving…
Give with out expectation…be grateful for whatever comes back.
BTW-Today is my brother’s birthday. Happy Birthday Craig.
“Don’t wait for inspiration-just start”
I met a friend for drinks last night and invariably the conversation turned to the creative process and what that entails. I was fortunate to have as a mentor a very experienced arranger/musician. His name was Billy Byers. I was 17 years old and green to the gills. I trusted him implicitly an made myself available to help in whatever capacity in return.
Most all of us at some point have experienced the same anxiety over: “How do I begin?”
Let me share a few pearls of wisdom Billy imparted to me:
“Don’t wait for inspiration-just start”
“If you sit there long enough it will get finished”
“It only takes a little longer to do it right”
The lesson?
Creativity-IMHO- comes from training yourself to concentrate your focus and attention on the task at hand. If you let your mind wander-(what’s in the fridge?, I didn’t take out the garbage, what is so and so doing,etc, etc,) it is impossible to come up with any ideas because you are thinking of something else. “Don’t wait for inspiration just start”. This is not a game of perfect…it’s about volume. It’s about trial and error, revisions, and taking risks to increase your knowledge and experience.The only way you can be objective about your work is to physically get it out of your body…take a break…and then, go back to it with fresh eyes and mind and see what you think.
There was only one Mozart…everyone second guesses their choices when creating something. I would like to think that he went through the editing process in his head BEFORE he ever put pen to paper. And even he made revisions later in his life.
The second part of this idea is that you MUST become an objective critic of your own work. It’s the only way you will grow and actually get better.
So, the deal is this- put your ideas out there, get to the end, step away, be objective about it and either change or leave it alone.
No matter what your endeavor-music, art, photography, mashing, writing, coding-whatever, the art of inspiration is the same as practicing your instrument. No real mystery here…just hard work.
The only way to get better is to just do it, often, with as much passion and disciplined, focused attention as you can muster.
More on the other quotes soon.
CHRIS BOARDMAN 