Tag: blogging

Accounting and Expectations

It must be satisfying to have a completed project proudly on display. I am picturing a private art collection worth millions. The various pieces hanging perfectly on walls throughout the house for visitors to “ooh” and “aah” at. Each piece has a fabled story, and a price tag to match.

Seems to me that when we think up a project, it is in our human nature to be attracted to the end result rather than the steps along the way. When I think of how long it takes to actually create an art gallery of any substance, I am put off by the idea immediately and that is why I pay to look at someone else’s.

Accounting is a loaded word. It brings to mind tough exams, nerdy calculators, stiff people in white collared shirts and boring number crunching. However the concept of accounting for what I have now and what may come through the life cycle of a project is essential to any art. It forces us to be realistic. It manages our expectations.

With some accounting for what is in store, you could conceivably take a very long term view on creating your gallery of priceless art from scratch, and you would be more likely to succeed. With no accounting and managing of expectations, you’re likely to get frustrated and not even try.

Painting versus writing

Yesterday I painted a wall from green to white. Not the most exciting thing I’ve ever done, but I learned something nonetheless.

For good results, there is a definite, clear, systematic way to best paint a wall in one single colour. (FYI, first comes covering up the parts you don’t want to paint, then comes painting the delicate edges, then comes moving systematically from one side of the wall to the other, filling in the gaps. Once dry, repeat). Not much room for improvisation, dawdling, doodling or spitballing. Not much creativity once the system is in place.

I love writing because it is completely different. The blank page doesn’t have to be filled with one particular type of word, it can involve as many or as few words as I like. The end result is variable. I can do what I want within the parameters of the page. I can take you to the moon or throw you into a hole. I can create a new world out of thin air, and I can drown it in a flood if I so choose. (I generally wouldn’t so choose – but you get the point) – this writing process is creative versus the industrial, repeatable painting job.

I’m glad I am not a wall painter. But at least I got another blog post out of the time spent yesterday :).

A reboot reblog

I have fallen off the bandwagon in a big way in terms of regular blog posts, so to get back on the bandwagon (what is a “bandwagon” anyways?) I am going to reblog a Godin post about intention. Do everything with intention and you are in control of your live.

Something done unintentionally, is essentially done by someone or something else. And that amounts to slavery. Check out the post related to intentional media consumption.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2017/03/whats-on-tonight.html

Media – an African perspective

Seth’s latest is about the most succinct and important post I have read this year. Give it a read:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2017/02/nextstep.html

What interests me is the perspective that Seth has on the issues he raises – namely he is American and is at the heart of the most developed, sophisticated economy in the world – and the media he is exposed to is a reflection of that. On the other hand, I live in Africa.

In many ways, we Africans are leapfrogging Americans and Europeans in terms of consuming media – we are keen to use technology. We get the latest TV shows, movies and sports from all over the world. Premier league soccer games are passionately followed even in the poorest slums in Nairobi. We have access to Twitter, Facebook and the internet. Mobile telephones have been taken up far quicker here than they were in the developed world – so there is a case to be made that the surplus of the internet and the ‘race to the bottom’ trends Seth speaks of are likely accelerating quicker here than in the USA.

There is also huge scarcity in Africa – however rather than an artificial scarcity controlled by the FCC or its local equivalent, African scarcity is driven largely by poverty. Unfortunately poverty combines very neatly with any media agenda that is pushing us to think short term – to care about now and not later. I think Africa’s environmental degradation and lack of investment in culture or education is in part a reflection of this. Scarcity is in conflict with the ubiquitous internet. I am still getting my head around how this plays out locally in terms of media consumption. The pace of change and media consumption is slower because of scarcity. Access is restricted. Africans cannot contribute as much to their own media and culture because of poverty. We are influenced by other continents far more than we should be. Just ask a local if he’d watch South African or English soccer. My bet is England any day of the week because of the exposure it has gotten through the TV networks.

Despite these differences between geographies, Seth’s ending point is still completely true the world over: “We’ve been willing participants in this daily race for our attention and our emotions. But we don’t have to be.”

Every now and then we must get out and do something other than consume.

 

Chasing ratings

When creating something, the problem with following ratings, clicks, likes, engagement online is that it has its own set of rules to win – it is its own game, in and of itself. When the art of popularity is refined, it usually (always?) becomes a race to the bottom to appeal to the most people. This distracts you from the real task at hand – making something cool.

Creating something authentic and original – whether it is a book, an experience in a BnB,  a song – means that it will not appeal to everyone. By definition. This is ok.

Instead we must double down on the people we want to please, who matter to you and whom you want to engage with your art.

I don’t think you can possibly matter to everyone. We must stop chasing ratings for ratings sake.

Publish something – it’s good for you

Publishing is good for you. It’s like an apple a day.

I have decided to take the publishing process from blogging, and apply it to my ‘day job’. It’s getting me really excited about work and play.

Marketing my supply chain risk assessment services online is essentially like writing a more technical blog, and searching for people who may be interested to read it is like an easter egg hunt. Don’t worry I would never subject you to that writing on this blog! My point is that the process is valuable and can be applied to many situations.

Everyone should publish something. It doesn’t matter what it is, because the longer you do it, the better you will get at writing. Publish ideas regularly enough and it will become a database of thoughts to throw at any given situation. That is a remarkably valuable and powerful thing.

Sci-Fi @home

My watch woke my whole family up at 5.45am this morning with an alarm. Is this the start of the rise of the machines? Maybe it starts with unreasonably early, unexplainable alarms to soften us up into sleepy victims. Then the computers can have their way with us and Skynet will bring us down with nukes.

I will be on the lookout for balls of lightening and naked Austrian bodybuilders for the rest of the day.

Dune update

Following on from my previous posts, Dune is becoming more than a pleasant read for me, it is so good that I am treating it as a sort of Sci-Fi guru and teacher. A reference book to refer to when creating futuristic worlds.

Its scale and scope started out very large and wide – moving between two planets, explaining complex political relationships, alien life forms, technologies, religions and histories. However, passing the half way mark the author has chosen to zoom in on a few characters, killing off a big presence Ned Stark style, and focusing on subtlety and detail in the characters and their particular situations. It’s very absorbing!

This ‘zooming in’ technique (for want of a better word) has been a revelation to me and I plan to try and use it in the future.

 

New Year’s startup

I have been away for about a month and barely written anything in that time.

I am trying to get back in the swing of things. So to start with, a simple re-blog. I don’t believe in resolutions every new year, but I do believe in long term behavioral goals. This list sounds pretty good to me:

More creating

Less consuming

More leading

Less following

More contributing

Less taking

More patience

Less intolerance

More connecting

Less isolating

More writing

Less watching

More optimism

Less false realism

From: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/