Consumer Behavior

Did anyone else see it? The Tower of Babel image in the Wall Street Journal caught my eye. In the article "Lost in Translation," http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467304575383131592767868.html?mod=e2tw, the article's author, Lera Boroditsky, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, suggests "language profoundly influences the way people see the world." As a marketer and writer, I see it more... as a way to identify the cognitive process a business or a writer would want to address in marketing their products/books globally.
So much hinges on our perceptions. In turn, that which we perceive hinges on the language we receive it in... and furthermore, as Boroditksy states "...does the language shape cultural values, or does the influence go the other way, or both?" How do consumers contextualize any product or service, including the books, and in fact any writing, we offer?
More heavy thoughts posited in the article: "How do we come to be the way we are? Why do we think the way we do? An important part of the answer, it turns out, is in the languages we speak."

Time Management

Tim Ferris (author of the 4-Hour Work Week) says this about time management: "Forget all about it." He defines effectiveness as doing the things that get you closer to your goals. Efficiency is performing a given task (whether important or not) in the most economical manner possible. Two corrolaries:

1. Doing something unimportant well does not make it important.
2. Requiring a lot of time does not make a task important.

I'm guilty of both. TO WIT-- How BUSY am I doing the unimportant?

I'm trying. I'm trying. But it's so hard.

How does this sound? "Being busy is a form of laziness -- lazy thinking and indiscriminate action." Also comes from Tim Ferriss. And: "Lack of time is actually lack of priorities."

I've even been known to busy myself making lots of priorities. Here's a trick (from Ferriss): define a TO DO list and define a NOT-TO-DO list. Wow.

J.J. Abrams' mystery box | Video on TED.com

J.J. Abrams' mystery box | Video on TED.com

Four Hour Work Week

Is it possible? Is it a pipe dream? Well, Tim Ferriss, in his book, The 4-Hour Workweek, says it's possible. In fact, there are hundreds of people who approach and conquer his "luxury lifestyle design"and blog about it on his blog: www.fourhourblog.com.

It sounds like a scam. But then, I haven't tried it yet. The process requires a step out of the automaton existence most of us lead (I do), and a commitment to self-examination that few dare to engage. Defining dreams (and making corresponding goals to achieve them) takes time, honesty, and oh, trust. (Do I REALLY think this will work? I am risking FAILURE!) How can I spare the time? I am SO busy being busy.

In the book Ferriss teaches how to control the three ingredients that achieve this seemingly fictitious, (impossible?) work/life balance: Time, income, and mobility. Can I? Will I? I'll let you know.

A Sense of Urgency

It's the name of a book I'm reading by John P. Kotter. It's a book about CHANGE—organizational change. Kotter posits that the main barrier (among others) is complacency. The goal is activity with purpose and the real challenge is discerning fruitful activity from that breathless, mindless doing that we attend for its own sake because it makes us feel safe. I think the principles apply equally to personal change. I believe there has to be an honest sense of urgency for both organizational and personal change to occur, More to come as I read further in this book by one of the gurus of change.

Technology II

It's done. I'm a Tweeter. Or is it Twitterer? Or is it Twit? The value may be questionable, but I won't know until I experiment and see where it takes me. For if I don't try, I'll never know. Trying is doing. Doing is so much more than the words we use to prepare to do, or think of doing, or dreaming, or wishing, or wanting. Yoda said "Try not. Do." Nike says "Just Do It." I just did.

Technology

We need it. We want it. We are all but slaves to it. Like Hal in 2001 Space Odyssey, the Technology monster seems to be running us rather than the other way around. 

Our writer's group had a panel on it. Some of us had stuck our big toe up to our knee in the ocean of technology, but it appears that the tsunami has us running to the high ground...wherever that is. Because the high ground keeps getting higher.  And like Tantalus we keep reaching for it, but it's just beyond our grasp. 

Surrounded by it, neck deep, we tread water and try to go with the flow, and without surfboards, we ride until we meet the sandy beach flopping and flailing, wondering what to try before the newer wave comes and pushes us around just a little more. 

But we live through it.