Today's Quote: Most of Us Seek Out Art

“I’ve never met someone who had no art in them, though it’s buried sometimes. (...) We need you to stand up and be remarkable. Be human. Contribute. Interact. Take the risk that you might make someone upset with your initiative, innovation, and insight – it turns out that you’ll probably delight them instead. 

Consumer say that all they want are cheap commodities. Given the choice, though, most of us, most of the time, seek out art. We seek out experiences and products that deliver more value, more connection, and more experience, and change us for the better. You can learn how to do this if you want to.”

Seth Godin, Linchpin

Today's Quote: Making the Call is Making the Progress

“Whenever you can, swap “Let’s think about it” for “Let’s decide on it.” Commit to making decisions. Don’t wait for the perfect solution. Decide and move forward. You want to get into the rhythm of making choices. 

When you get in that flow of making decision after decision, you build momentum and boost morale. Decisions are progress. Each one you make is a brick in your foundation.” (...) 

“The problem comes when you postpone decisions in the hope that a perfect answer will come to you later. It won’t. You’re as likely to make a great call today as you are tomorrow.” 

“It doesn’t matter how much you plan, you’ll still get some stuff wrong anyway. Don’t make things worse by overanalyzing and delaying before you even get going. Long projects zap morale. The longer it takes to develop, the less likely it is to launch.”

Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, Rework 

Today's Quote: “Ing state” vs. “Ed state”

 “Back in 2000, I worked with Tim Koogle, former CEO of Yahoo! and, before that, an executive at Motorola (...). Koogle taught me many significant lessons, including the value of being a person of action. He used to say that we should be wary of people who live in the “ing” state, people who are always studying, thinking, meeting, or talking. In his view, such people were a waste of time and energy. 

Instead, he encouraged us to seek out partners who lived in the “ed state”: people who have executed, completed, and acted. The most effective business partners do their best to fulfill their intentions.”

Tim Sanders, Saving the World at Work

Make a Dent in The Universe!

There is this scene in “The Incredibles” where Elastigirl breaks down when she suspects that her husband, Mr. Incredible, cheats on her.

They have all been under a cover for awhile, trying to act normally and fit in, but this has been a major strain on everyone in the family. Elastigirl has become a housewife and in this moment of despair she seems to forget about her super identity.

“What am I going to do?” she asks Edna Mode in unusually pathetic tone, sobbing and wiping her nose in a paper tissue.
“What will you do??? Is that a question?!” comes the outraged response.
“You will show him that he is Mr. Incredible and you will remind him who you are!”

Sometimes we all need a reminder

Elastigirl needed a reminder herself. It’s actually surprisingly easy to forget who we really are. As kids we are taught to believe that we have an abundance of super powers. We know that when we grow up we can be whomever we choose to be. But something happens to us along the way – those beliefs are verified by life: bounced off of other people’s opinions and ideas of us (sometimes well-meaning, but not right by definition) and ultimately shaped by them.

When a busy career, hectic family life or other circumstances get in the way, we have to adjust to whatever it is that life throws at us, sometimes at the high cost of compromising and eventually forgetting who we really are and what our true purpose is. We lose the confidence that comes from that knowledge and let the Gremlin in.

Are you giving away your superpowers?

And the sad part is: we let other people define us, even though they rarely care, and spend little time really getting to know us; we let our jobs define us, even though sometimes they are grossly misaligned with our true strengths and passions; finally, we let circumstances and random events define us, even though we intuitively know that it makes no sense.

In essence, we give away the power to decide who we are or should be: we give away our super powers.

It’s not always obvious what those powers are and how to use them

Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl and the rest of the family struggled with being super and fitting in, all at the same time. But they managed to find their unique voices and be comfortable with their true selves through trial and error - and that’s really the only way there is.

It might be a lengthy journey of self exploration, reflection and occasionally turning a wrong corner or two, but all this hard work eventually pays off. It’s worthwhile taking the time to think about who we really are, what’s important to us, and what we stand for.

We need to ask ourselves if we are in tune with our values and passions or merely stuck in roles that are beneath us, like Mr. Incredible at one point, sitting in his tiny cubicle in the insurance company, doing a job he deeply despises.

We all have superpowers. The trick is to know what those powers are in the first place and then to not settle for the mediocre life. Instead, we can make a conscious choice to at least try, as Steve Jobs advises, to make a dent in the universe.

NOTE:
As I was finishing this post, I noticed that being super is a popular subject lately. Please check out “You Are Your Own Superhero” by the always eloquent Chris Brogan. I like how his view expands on my point: we not only give away our super powers, we actually wait for others to save us. “You don’t have to wait for someone to save you. You’re the hero. Do it. Pick up the challenge and bring yourself to what has to happen next” says Chris. Amen to that.

House & Home

Today's Quote: Slightly Famous Difference Maker

“Few things irritate me more than when people say they’re helpless, or even indifferent, to distinguishing themselves from their peers and colleagues.  

I remember giving advice to an extremely smart young guy named Kevin, who was working at the consultancy PriceWaterhouseCoopers. In the course of our discussion, he told me he wasn't happy with what he was doing or how his career was playing out. He was, he told me, just another anonymous number cruncher with no alternatives given the staid environment there. 

“Wrong!” I told him. “You have alternatives, you’re just not creating them for yourself. You have to start taking ownership of managing your career. You have to start making an effort to change your brand from anonymous number cruncher to slightly famous difference maker.” 

Keith Ferrazzi, Never Eat Alone

List of Things to Do Before We Die

I came across an interesting book recently, Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, by Joshua Foer. I have not read it yet, therefore this is neither a review nor a recommendation per se. But when I did a quick research, I found a short interview with the author in which he touches on a well-known yet widely ignored point: life is short and you have to enjoy it while it lasts. Enjoyment isn't just about fleeting pleasure; rather, vivid experiences create the memories that distinguish the events, people and places important to us through our lives. This is what I want to concentrate on today. I will return to Foer’s other focus, memory building, at a later date.

Q: What is the connection between memory and our sense of time?

A: As we get older, life seems to fly by faster and faster. That's because we structure our experience of time around memories.

We remember events in relation to other events. But as we get older, and our experiences become less unique, our memories can blend together. If yesterday's lunch is indistinguishable from the one you ate the day before, it'll end up being forgotten. That's why it's so hard to remember meals.

In the same way, if you're not doing things that are unique and different and memorable, this year can come to resemble the last, and end up being just as forgettable as yesterday's lunch. That's why it's so important to pack your life with interesting experiences that make your life memorable, and provide a texture to the passage of time.

Interesting experiences help our memory

Joshua speaks about the importance of having interesting experiences that will allow us to distinguish one year from another when we look back on our lives. This reminds me of a really interesting presentation I saw awhile ago. It was run by James Lafferty, Procter & Gamble executive at the time, currently with Coca Cola West Africa. He talked about 15 steps to achieve better work/life effectiveness (in other words: balance) and although I picked up a lot of golden nuggets, one really stood out for me: Jim talked about his list of things to do before he dies.

At first glance, this doesn’t seem to be a new idea. In fact, most of us have one of those lists in one form or another. They might not even be lists at all, but only a special wish one holds on to for way too long: an exotic vacation, amazing road trip or doing something really crazy with friends. My lists have so far included big goals to be achieved with broadly defined deadlines, as well as more specific, short term timelines for professional and financial goals. I make annual, as well as monthly, weekly and daily to do lists. All of these though, are very different from Jim’s list.

Are we sufficiently serious about fun?

Jim’s list was all about fun, in some cases hilarious, crazy fun (Wife Carrying Championships anyone?). It was not designed to build his professional credentials and further his personal development (and Jim is certainly highly accomplished). It was designed to create interesting, challenging and memorable experiences for him and his family. And although it will be satisfying, maybe even pleasurable, to achieve the goals on my list, it does not actually include things largely considered to be fun. How come I have not noticed that before?

This post is not aimed at listing many personal and social advantages of having fun. I leave that to my client, friend and fun expert, Lisa Reichenbach who is writing a book on this very subject. It is merely a gentle reminder to intentionally and generously include fun in our life to make it interesting and memorable. In other words: worth living.

It takes time to make a list, says Jim. It is a process that took him four years. Every year he tries to cross at least one point off and he adds new ones as well. Inspired, I am starting from scratch today.

How about you? Do you have a list of your own?

House & Home

Why do you need to know Seth Godin?

Inspiration is a magical thing, a productivity multiplier, a motivator. But it won’t wait for you. Inspiration is a now thing. If it grabs you, grab it right back and put it to work. (Rework)

I have been a reader of Seth's daily blog posts for a few years now and at one point, before I had a coach of my own, he was an invaluable ally to have. Even though he has challenged me and poked me and pushed me and kind of ridiculed sometimes, his voice has subsequently guided me through my career transition and inevitable occasional self-doubt.

I have a lot of favourite quotes. There is this elegance in the simplicity of his words and metaphors that speaks to me. Some of his posts have penetrated to the very core of who I am. Many of them are printed, pinned on my vision board, included in my journal notes, and the drafts of my future blog posts – they are everywhere really. 

He is a Coach

Seth’s versatility is amazing - for marketers he might be an expert in the art of marketing, for writers: in writing and publishing, for others he might be a talented entrepreneur, but for me he is predominantly an expert in the Art of Coaching. Even though I did not have a professional coaching relationship with Seth, I can testify that not only does he help in creating a personal shift by asking uncomfortable questions (much like I do today with my clients); but he also talks about the importance of being indispensible, which is helpful in understanding the bigger picture of work and how one can fit in. To me, it is a path to discovering one’s professional identity, or in other words: the personal brand. 

He is an Artist

Seth is a closer. He does not speak for the sake of expressing himself. He makes it clear that shipping is a crucial part of every creative process, no matter what one does professionally, and without this essential component one is not really an artist. And there is no question that Seth is an Artist.

He pushes his readers to be fellow artists as well, and to do work that matters. On top of all that, Seth has paved the way for us to understand how to effectively communicate our newly defined personal brand: he explained the concept of permission marketing, he taught us why and how to build the tribes and pointed out how to engage them through storytelling. He is also a living example of breaking the rules and pushing the boundaries. In essence, the man walks the talk.

He ships great content too

Seth has done all that and more, as he has written 13 books to date and continues to ship great content. I have probably overlooked half of his contributions, but this is what I have taken from him to date and what I value dearly. So it is only fitting to say that Seth has been my professional coach way before I made the decision to be one myself. And for that I am very grateful. 

I could not have imagined a better Coach. You see, for me much of my traditional co-active coaching training would be incomplete without his big picture thinking; it would be missing a context and would leave me behind the fast paced trends of the world of work. 

I encourage you to listen to the interview with Seth produced by his Canadian counterpart, Mitch Joel as well as to read three separate interviews with him on Tom Peters website (#1, #2, #3). Seth is poking the box nowadays and continues to inspire his tribe.

ELLE DECOR