Software is eating the world. A popular line. In my world it feels more violent. Software has eaten my brain and spat it out onto the pavement.
The net effect of Microsoft, Apple and Google in my life is grim. I have an inability to concentrate on anything for more than one minute. I blame the software.
Blurgh.
Some thoughts on contrast:
In the world of fashion, I’m told it is a good rule to follow to wear one piece of clothing as the focus for your outfit. Make the focus piece obvious (colourful and/or patterned) and make all your other clothes darker and more plain in comparison. For example a brightly coloured, patterned shirt as the focus, and plain dark pants, jacket, and shoes to support. It is the contrast which makes it work. If it was all bright patterns, it would clash and likely not be pleasing to the eye. The same if it was all black. No contrast. Boring. Slightly morbid too!
The same thing happens in food. Eating a chocolate, washing it down with a sweet soda and an ice cream with syrup on top. It’s too much of a good thing. No contrast. Food manufacturers have figured out the perfect balance of salt, sugar, and fat to tease our senses. There needs to be a contrast in tastes, and in food types to satisfy truly.
The same with music and audio. A piece of music needs to have light and shade to work. A whole song of thrashing guitar solo after guitar solo is just too much and becomes very boring. Too much bass in the mix gives you a headache. Use light and shade to build up to a crescendo however, and it will raise the hairs on your neck.
Contrast is the way forward!
Autopilots are inhuman. They take away all responsibility. All tension. This is great if you have to travel from A to B – a well defined path with a roadmap. Not so good if you have to build something great. Something that people need to relate to. Something that needs a response. That needs responsibility and effort.
Any great art comes with humanity built in. That means it has a tension built in. To be human is to be constantly in a state of tension. Light and shade. Contrast.
Think of any great story you have heard. The hero likely wasn’t all good. Similarly you could probably identify with the villain to an uncomfortable degree. If not, there is no tension and a boring lack of humanity.
Will it work out? Despite all the forces against us (think of gravity, atrophy, ageing) we can create wonderful art (think of blues music, Shakespeare, skyscrapers). But it will never happen without recognising the imperfect humanity in everyone. That should be step one.
Step two is turning off your phone and getting to work.
Disinfectant, needles, white lights, sickness. As much as we fear and dread going to the hospital, it’s actually a great place to be. A great place to lower the risk of something terrible happening.
My child needs help in the hospital and I’m lucky we have a good one within reach. I’m on my way to see her. Sitting in the Uber putting everything else in perspective.
Hospital hospital hospital – over and over in my head.
Our personalities are made up roughly of 5 different traits.
If you take a personality test, there is a high chance that it will grade you in terms of the above personality traits. Each personality trait and aspect (and your relative position with respect to them) has advantages and disadvantages.
It’s an interesting exercise in self-assessment. I was surprised by the results I got at first, but then upon thinking about them I saw how it might be accurate.
As with anything, you build up a narrative about yourself inside your head. This narrative is your own to create and change – and it might not be the same story that everyone else would tell about you. The more you can align your story with the outside world’s assessment of you, the more at ease you will be with this difficult life.
Emotional labour is hard because we don’t feel like doing it. Put yourself in the shoes of another on purpose. It takes effort. By doing this you can make things easier for them to understand and to enjoy your company. They are more likely to listen to you.
At its easiest this process is smooth – Showing your child the stars and the moon. Explaining something to someone you already love. Maybe this doesn’t even count as labour, but it is rewarding – it gives as much as it takes – I saw the Milky Way with fresh eyes after taking it for granted for so long. I was proud and confident to sell our night skies to her.
At the business end of the spectrum emotional labour is often incredibly difficult and the crux of any transaction. To understand what drives another person – what will affect their status and their emotions? And to convince them of your ability to add value – that is work indeed. Marketing at its core. Do they need you? What are they thinking?
I market the galaxy to my daughter and it’s simple. I market a service to a bank and it’s brutally hard.
I have just gotten chimpwithcans.com registered.
It feels good. It costs money. It’s mine.
Fred Wilson blogs on the power of streaks (link)
This is something I have not been able to generate in my life lately. Life with two tiny children is challenging, fun, tiring, amazing and, above all, interrupted! There is not a minute goes by where the parent is not needed for something – especially true when both parents are working from home as we are. Starting a streak in ANYTHING is tough.
Things in which I could start a streak, even with two little demanding limpets attached to my leg all day:
etc. etc.
Streaks are the result of habits, and habits change your world…..limpets-permitting.
More important is to care about the customer’s point of view, to do the maximum emotional labor possible and to believe that what you do is worth money.
Giving a discount cheapens your work and probably makes the customer think they were hard done by – that they could have actually asked for a bigger discount.
Discounts don’t work.
It’s an old Aerosmith song – I’m pretty sure Steven Tyler is referring to wearing down a woman’s rebuttals, but I am using the phrase to refer to creativity and making something good.
There is no such thing as a fully formed masterpiece. It has to be worked on day in and day out over time. Some examples:
You can’t reap the true benefits from a healthy diet by merely throwing up after eating a Macdonalds. Or even by cutting down on the bad stuff for a week. It needs to be a sustained, long term effort to have any impact.
The Beatles honed their craft in Berlin for years before releasing a hit record.
Apple iterates on its software more times than I care to imagine.
Chimpwithcans 