Project 364

Don’t Always Know

Life is built to be regimented into routine.  At least the way our society works.  Just about everyone works a 40-hour week, but regardless, you most likely work a routine sequence of hours.

If not, hey, that’s great.  Tell me sometime what you do.

Anyhow, the work routine is a tough nut to track.  Outside of asking for flex schedules, and remote work, the only thing thing that could remotely change the routine is the idea that some have (and some use) of the 4 days, 10 hour work week.  But then you have 10 hour work day routines.  And so on.

Let suppose you can’t fight the work routine.  But what can happen with the work routine is a life routine.  Everything gets easy once you’re in a comfortable rhythm, knowing exactly what’s going to happen.

Always knowing isn’t always good.  There are possibilities out there that get missed all the time, possibilities erased by routine.  Now, if you have everything you could ever want already, great, perhaps you should return to your routine then.  Or maybe you don’t.  Either way, you are missing experiences just under your radar.

Next time you opt for Thursday night pizza, opt for Ethiopian.   It’s awesome, trust me. And hey, if you don’t like it, you can always try Korean BBQ the next time.  Use sites like grubhub.com or urbanspoon to explore some genres.  Or hell, learn to cook it on your own.

And when you sit down to eat said Korean BBQ, which I love too, try changing what you do while you eat.  Talk with your family if you normally watch TV.  If you normally watch network TV, try Bravo, or PBS.  Better yet, get the Roku player I like harping about so much and watching something different every night.

That is, unless you’re like me, and you have a baby in the house.  I’m not saying I’m immune to this, but there is a LOT of routine that follows babies.  They love it.  I’m doing what I can, trying to find time to mix it up a bit but still do my fatherly duties.

So if you’re a little more free of responsibility, try some things.  Try them now.  Because you’ll probably want to have a family someday, and it will change everything for you.

So don’t always know what you’re going to do all the time.  Improvise, try, like, hate, and try again.  Then let me know how it is, so I can live a bit vicariously.

Intangibility and Ritual

So I’m watching Velvet Goldmine right now, it’s a solid film, but what struck me to ramble this evening was the records.  You know, round black things that you used to have to actually own, and put on some sort of shelf.

Well, there’s a scene with Christian Bale, yeah, Dark Knight Christian Bale.  Anyhow he’s taking great care getting a record home, in a brown paper bag, and there’s a bit of an unboxing thing that happens.  He slowly opens the gate-fold, and slides out the record carefully.  This is when they had actual lyrics on album gate-folds too.

Then the ritual happens.  The record slides out of the cover; the center imprinting considered, then the record placed, again carefully, in the record player, the peg into the hole, the rotation started, the needle lifted, and lowered.  The warm groove begins, until a short time later the record ends, and another ritual begins.

I have a few records; I wasn’t quite born into the record era, though, much more the tape and especially CD era.  Thus my experience with music lacks the ritualistic element, beyond glancing at the liner notes.

What’s my point? Now that music has gone fully digital — almost completely actually — we have left ritual and warmth for convenience and commodity.  It’s like hey, I can fit 30,000 songs now in far less shelf space.  Now I’m all for having 30,000 songs.  It’s resulted in I think people being exposed to more music overall.  And that’s cool.

But sometimes I mourn for what we’ve lost for it.  We’ve lost each album being a gift of sorts, to unbox, sit next to as it plays and daydream.  Each album had real impact; and like my minuscule record collection, every one of them has a point to being there.  Not just to fill kilobytes of data, and be able to say “I can play 32.5 days of songs without repeat.”

Music has become more of a commodity than an art form to many.  We try to still celebrate the music, but it seems the latest Kelly Clarkson mp3 isn’t quite the same as Quadrophenia on vinyl, now is it?

The Authentic Experience?

There’s been a lot of talk lately, with the “downturn” about the economy.  That made me want to look into the current nature of our economy, versus previous versions through time.  It’s through multiple perspectives of the economy that we’ll find the fruit just appearing, and that fruit will help us through.

I’m no economist, but if you think about how the economy works now versus, say, 800 years ago, the difference is remarkable.  Before the industrial revolution, before we could make products to sell, the only option was selling what the earth provided — grain, eggs, milk and such.  Then we figured out how to make stuff, and sold that stuff.  Then we improved on that stuff.

Then people started being fairly comfortable with all the stuff — they kept themselves fed, warm, and dry.  Once basic survival is taken care of, people start needing entertainment.  That’s where the experience economy was born — as a response to a consumer need.

And now each experience is becoming customized to each consumer, addressing their needs and wants in a more and more individual way.   Now there’s more of a need for an ‘authentic’ experience.  In a way no experience is inauthentic — you’re there, seeing it, feeling it — that is not until experiences become fully virtual.

The challenge with delivering authentic experiences as a company is by manufacturing it in the first place you render some inauthentic, technically.  And this just refers to physical experiences.  What happens in the virtual space? Is World of Warcraft, for example, an authentic experience?

I would say yes, and that’s because WoW is true to itself, and is what it says.  It’s true to itself by being a unique experience, a combination of clever game design with endlessly intricate stories.  It is what it says by truly being a world of sorts, it is vast, and populated by lots of real people.  It has countries, populations, everything a world has.

WoW is one example of an authentic experience, online.  Consumers will only look for more authentic experiences like it online, with the ability to be a customized, controlled experience.

I think quite a few industries could learn a lot from what WoW offers its players, and how to offer their customers a more authentic experience.

Scare Yourself (sometimes)

In life there are times when its important to scare the crap out of yourself.

Not at an American ripoff of a Japanese horror film.

No, not when you open your credit card bill.

More like with something you’re going to do, that you don’t quite know how to — yet.

Good example is skydiving.  Skydiving scares the crap out of me.  Have I done it? No.  Will I? Probably not, now that I have a daughter.  But that’s not my thing; maybe its yours, and you’ll know if it makes your stomach clench up at the thought of it.

The thing is, when you defeat something you’re afraid of — like skydiving, like public speaking, or, hell, writing a novel — there is a feeling one hardly ever experiences.  It’s like true and complete freedom, and it builds on your own confidence in your badass self.

So what is mine? It’s this project, right now at least.  For some reason, on January 2nd, 2009, I thought, hey, what if I could write something smart (or reasonably so) every day for the entire year? That sounded really cool in the shower.  Most things do.

Then I realized I have quite a bit to say, so its not impossible.  Nearing the end of month one, there’s some fear setting in.  What if I miss a day? What if I can do it every day? What if..

See that’s the fear, and like in Dune, fear is the mindkiller.  You can know its there, acknowledge it.  But don’t let yourself listen to it, or it will stop you.  It’s like how I won’t listen to it; I’ll find something to talk about every day.  It may get, uh, dodgy at times, but hopefully it will be always entertaining.

And that’s something to build on.  So what do you want to do?

Be Like..Fedor?

Fedor Emelianenko is this guy.  A, uh, tough guy, you could say.  He’s the guy walking away from the knocked-out guy in the picture.  He’s a mixed-martial artist, who competes in MMA matches around the world, and has yet to be beaten.  He’s mythical in that realm, no one can really touch him.

That guy on the ground, Andrei Arlovski, tried, then got himself countered by Mr. Emelianenko there.  The story of the night was Arlovski had Fedor in “trouble”, backing him up into the corner.  Then Arlovski launched a flying knee, a bit of a fancy move in MMA.  Then, Fedor countered:

“There’s certain techniques that I practiced and worked on and certain scenarios and this is one of the scenarios that I anticipated,” said Emelianenko. “When that scenario came up, I knew the right thing to do was to go with the right.”

Go with the right.  That’s it, just a quick overhand right and show’s over.  What interested me was Fedor’s quote there, that he works on certain scenarios, and having someone come at you with a flying knee in the corner is one of them, apparently.

I think the fact that Fedor said something like that is more impressive to me than his actual knockout of Arlovski.  His tone suggests he never thinks he’s in trouble, never unprepared for a “scenario” and that no one can beat him because of it.  Because of his faith in his preparation, said preparation must be just insane.  If you compete at the highest levels of anything, and honestly think no one can beat you because of your preparation, well, that’s something to learn from.

You see Fedor not only had his scenarios worked out — if the flying knee in the corner was one of them he must have hundreds — but he has developed his techniques enough for them to be simply muscle memory.  He can do them perfect each time, because the muscles themselves know what to do.

So when Arlovski comes charging in, a couple of nodes fire, one to recognize the scenario and the other to trigger the counter, an overhand right practiced thousands of times.  End result is pure effectiveness.  Just ask the guy on the ground.

I’m not saying go out and figure every scenario you could be put in.  Just think about how Fedor applied preparation into his art; it has become part of his strength.  Whether its your personal or professional life, think of some scenarios.  Situations which may occur, or have in the past.  Not crazy moments, but situations that can and will happen again.

Then, think about how you’d counter.  From several angles.  It’s like that last interview, when you were asked what you’re weakest at.  Think about that scenario from several angles, and have several counters.

That way, you won’t get beat to the punch.

Perspective, Part Two

Now, how to benefit from this rapid change in just about everything, due to the development of the net?

One is to realize the behavior tendencies the internet enables — its a ton of communication, no doubt, but its impersonal communication. People throw out their thoughts on sites like twitter and facebook, and hope to find someone listening. That’s all great, part of this perspective is to realize you are now able to communicate with people all over the globe, in multiple contexts and in a ton of ways.

The thing is, those connections, virtual as they are, will only get you so far. There needs to be a point where you put down the laptop and see people, face to face, and see what they’re all really about. We twitterers can create an image of ourselves that can be either authentic or a fake, like Fake Steve Jobs. You can get people to believe a lot by just being consistent at it. I would think most twitterers are a combination, mostly in an effort to create a new image of themselves. This isn’t bad per se, we just need to remember the point where we end and the image begins.

It’s really the individual connections, cemented through face to face contact, that drive us as humans. And you’ll find that friend on twitter will be an even better friend after a couple of beers and some good conversation. The moral of the story is: be accessible. No one likes someone who just talks but doesn’t listen. Be willing to listen to everyone, and do it as much as you can. Show a bit of empathy too, while you’re at it.

A great story to visualize all this is the difference between Obama, er, President Obama, and McCain’s online campaigns. Obama, at some level, realized the importance of the online community in the election and brought in exceptionally smart people. People who knew the online space, not just knew of it. It drove his fundraising, then it drove his social networking. He became known for his efforts and it became a stark contrast to McCain’s pedestrian efforts. The GOP really is going to be at a disadvantage unless they learn from it, real fast. And considering how handily Obama won, I’d say his accessibility, through his social networking efforts, made him not only into a viable candidate but a kind of rock star that everyone became fans of.

So be available. Not just that, seek people out. Talk, but listen. Hear, respond, interact. There’s lots of opportunities. Oh, and be nice.

Perspective, Part One

Lately, at least to me, it has been easy to lose a sense of perspective.  Perspective on what all this, and my this I mean the internet in general, and how it has evolved, grown, and connected to other channels.

Think about it this way — the internet was invented.  There was a time, not too long ago, mind you, when it did not exist.  People would call each other, or even write.  They would meet each other in supermarkets, bars, street corners and other unusual ways.  They wouldn’t know complete strangers in other cities, and especially other countries.

They watched TV.  And the commercials.  Because they had too.  Unless they recorded their shows on VHS and fast-forwarded it.  But I didn’t know anyone that had that many tapes.

To show the true contrast between not that then and now, I’ll back a bit to my childhood in the 80’s.  My friend list was the kid next door, across the street and a few blocks over.  We played things called Atari, and Nintendo, and built tracks for our radio-controlled cars.  We didn’t have myspace pages, facebook profiles or twitter account.  And yet, we had a good time.  We got into trouble, started a few things on fire, and built with Legos that didn’t have manuals.

But generations move on, and I’m sure our activites may have sounded crazy to those before.   But for some reason it really seems there’s the most contrast in how we live today than from even 15 years ago.

Then, there wasn’t an internet.  Not at all.  Not a public one at least.  I remember using modem to dial local bulletin-board services to connect into message boards, and multi-user dungeons.  Now that text-based MUD has become World of Warcraft, which looks amazing, but in a way totally insane.

And yet with the MUD, the boards and such, I was ecstatic that I could reach all these people.  Now, it seems like almost too much.  Too easy.  There’s a impersonal quality building that is a bit worrisome.

Tomorrow, the benefits of the proper perspective on all this.

Facing Fear

There’s a lot of times in life when hesitate.  We aren’t sure.  We don’t know what to do.  They’re these little moments where fear manifests itself and stops us.

It stops us from moving.  From acting.  From taking a risk.  From trying.  From succeeding, and from failing.

There are good aspects to fear.  Like pain, it can tell you when to stop, when danger is imminent.  However it can keep you from making important decisions.

It’s called being safe.  Now, safe, sometimes is good.  Like looking before crossing the street.  Or not grabbing a hot pan.

But sometimes, its not.  Like a decision to try something new.  And outside of things like drugs, new things can be really eye-opening, and even change your life.  People tend to unconsciously associate failure with fear, with taking risk always the precursor to imagined failure.

What’s funny, maybe, is that the safe route can lead to failure too.  It’s not always the thing to do.  In a recession or downturn like now, everyone defaults to acting conservatively.  This is the perfect time to take a risk.  I just read a blog that talked about it, and said “and if you fail, you can always blame the economy!”.  But considering the conservative sameness of those around you, it could be just the thing to differentiate.

Next time something scares the crap out of you, try it.  I’m not saying do something stupid, and there’s such things as calculated risks.

Let’s say its an idea.  Sometimes, ideas will make you feel lukewarm.  Others will make you feel mildly good, and the rare one will scare you.  You won’t know how to do it, how to sell it, maybe not even how to visualize it.

But the fear that it will instill in you won’t leave. That’s where you face it.

And take the risk.

Fall Down 7 Times, Get Up 8

I’ve touched on this a bit in various ways, so I figure I should directly address it.

Failure.

It seems to be a fairly universal feeling now, with thousands and thousands of people being laid off, and businesses shutting down.  We are being put into bad situations, and we are beyond the point of finger pointing.  Since we are all feeling a degree of this pain right now, perhaps some ways of approaching it will be timely.

First off, as mentioned earlier, take responsibility for what was your doing — to be accountable and gracious in these situations will often lead to other opportunities.  In other words, you can’t win all the time, look at the Patriots from last year.  They lost the most important game.  Realizing this, have a way to deal when you do lose.  And make that being gracious, and agreeable.  No one likes a sore loser.  If you can be gracious about it, the faster you can move on to the next thing.

Next, get up quickly.  Don’t let a momentary slip ground you forever.  It’s like stumbling on a crack in the sidewalk — you keep walking after the stumble, but you remember that crack was there and learned from it.  The important thing is to not let yourself fall down, and stay down.  Get up, and get up fast.  No point in wallowing in your own self-pity.

Before you move on, take a hard look at what occurred.  It is often said we can learn more from our failures than our successes, and I believe it.  Consider your failures your biggest learning opportunities.  Have a thorough post-mortem, or, as I like to call them, after-parties.  Dissect, break down, analyze.  Find pieces to learn from for the future. The more you do this the more you can avoid what might have caused it.  Spend the most time here, analyzing, learning, seeing cause and effect.  Turn the failure into opportunity by learning from it.  Without this part you lose any possibility of turning it around into something positive, so do it and do it well.

And finally, take a moment before you move on to realize you’re human.  You, and everyone else, makes mistakes.  Don’t be too hard on yourself or others.  Be understanding of the human condition.  Computers crash because they’re flawed objects created by flawed humans.  But often its our flaws that give us character, that sets us apart.  If we are were perfect, and looked the same, who would we be?

Realize, too, that if you are out there, trying hard, taking risks and sharing ideas, you will fail sometimes.  That’s how it is.  But do not stop doing what you think is right, and taking risks and getting after it because you slip once in a while.

Just make sure you learn from it when you do, and you’ll be alright.