Let’s face it, mankind is selfish by nature. “What’s in it for me” has been the underlying theme of humanity since its conception. However, through the ages, the evolution of technology has required us to modify the way we answer this self-indulging question. Up until the Iron Age, mankind spend most of it’s time hunting and gathering. Little thought was given to preservation or material accumulation because most of their effort was spent on basic survival. Civilizations, tribes and individuals struggled with the elements of nature, diseases & illnesses, hunger, and the trials migration. Power was exhibited mostly through physical force, and leadership was mostly determined by strength and cunning.
Through the Iron Age, men began thinking differently. There was a shift. We settled, built and traded. Trade necessitated currency, and agriculture obliged the accumulation of land. The power rested with those who had amassed most of it. Although land became the new measure of wealth, it still needed to be worked manually. Crops needed to be planted, harvested and sold. Work ethics were strong, but life expectancy was low.
There was another shift in our way of thinking, and the Industrial Age brought with it some alternatives to hard labor. Invention, manufacturing and interchangeable parts became the solution for many agricultural problems. However, the ability to facilitate hard work with less physical effort began to build an entire economy of its own. Soon, the production, maintenance and replacement of machines and their parts became its own independent industry. Big businesses wielded most of the power. Men slowly started replacing themselves in the work place with smarter computers, faster machines, smaller gadgets, and more efficient systems.
In an effort to stay competitive, another shift was inevitable. We now find ourselves in the rush of the Information Age, where the world is shrinking. Whole nations are being swallowed up overnight by other nations through business deals instead of warfare. Local and national economies are weakening under the weight of a looming global economy. With virtually everything at our finger tips, and with the advent of the internet, information and ideas are the new currencies of mankind. The power lies with the clever and the creative. Anyone with a good idea can compete. Coins and paper money rarely exchanging hands anymore. These days, transactions are made with electronic credit exchanges. The digits in one account decrease while another’s digits increase. In today’s world, mankind still hunts and gathers. The difference is that, now, we hunt for profits, thrills, and shortcuts while we gather weight, debt, and storage.
I’ve made a few key observations and followed them through a bit as they relate to me. It seems that everyone and their dog has their own business. I think this is due to two things. First people are more gutsy and creative than ever before. Second, prices of everything are sky rocketing because the US dollar is collapsing, and income isn’t keeping pace. Most families have been almost forced into either 2 income situations or starting their own “side businesses.” I’m no exception, though my motives are mostly creative. I can see where the future is headed too. Social security won’t exist when I retire, and no one works for a pension anymore. No one in my generation even works for one company for more than 5 years anymore for that matter. Investing in stocks, bonds and mutual funds is a gamble if you’re not an economics major. I’ve experienced by own shift in thought. “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em."
I’ve examined my own business methods, services and products and have concluded that I don’t need to produce more, or work any harder. What I need to do is to work smarter. Over the past few weeks, my Word Designs have begun evolving a bit themselves. The more of them I do, the more elegant and symmetrical they get. For nearly a decade now, I’ve been designing these custom designs for friends, family and the occasional friend of a friend, or visitor to my website. Until recently, my designs have always been custom orders. Folks contact me, give me the names or words they would like to see in the design and I fill the order. Although I’ll always do the custom designs (because I love doing them), I’ve started to think a bit more…well, intelligently.
I’ve noticed that many people love Chinese and Japanese characters. They love them for their artistic appeal as well as for the words or mantras they represent. I see my designs as the English equivalent to these characters. Artistic and symbolic. So, what I’ve stared doing is utilizing my unique style to create pre-made designs that can be sold over and over again. I’ve stared designing around words such as Love, Honor, Family, Peace, and Friendship. These are all words that most everyone can identify with in some way. Combine these with my custom (but reproducible) mat and frames, and I just might have something. Design once, and sell over and over. Work less…make more.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Slugs, Crabs and Ants
Anyone who knows me really well knows that I’ve got more ideas than I know what to do with. Sometimes I share them, but hardly ever make a very big deal about them. Although I have a few successes under my belt, the vast majority of my ideas are back-burner projects. Still, I always write them down in my "Brain Vomit" book for safe keeping. That book, however, as its name might imply, really isn’t meant to be shown off. It is just a collection of randomly archived ideas that I don’t want to forget altogether. Sleeping seems easier when I don’t have a ton of ideas hovering over me at night.
Besides the obvious archival purpose, one of the reasons I keep this book is to put my ideas through the test of time. It’s been said that one way to know whether an idea is good or bad is to sit on it for a little while. Let it roll around in your mind and simmer a bit. If the idea you have still seems good after a few days or weeks after its initial conception, it just might have some merit. Recently, as I was reading through Brain Vomit, it occurred to me that I’ve got quite a few ideas accumulated that still seem very good to me…some, even after YEARS of sitting.
I’m not the only one sitting on potential success. Many of us have hidden and undeveloped talents, lofty aspirations, or just simply great ideas that we do nothing about. While there are a myriad of reasons, one reason in particular is very interesting to me. It has a lot to do with the company we keep. Now don’t get me wrong, you might be surrounded by great people, but consider this. We’ve all heard the sayings "You are what you eat," or "Birds of a feather flock together," or "It takes one to know one." Are these just sayings, or is there some truth to them? Personally, I couldn’t agree more with all of them. Figuratively speaking, I think you ARE what you eat. Or, put another way, I think you will become what you study, fantasize about, or immerse yourself in. I believe that if you want to become a great musician, your chances are GREATLY improved by seeking out the best instructors of music and listening to the types of music that inspire you. I think the opposite is also true; that if you want to become, say, a neurologist, hanging out with a bunch of deadbeat high school drop-outs will surely decrease your odds for success in THAT goal.
Birds of a feather do, in fact, flock together. The well-known maxim is really just a clever way of stating the obvious. For example, motivated achievers tend to seek out others who will push them towards their goals. They do this, naturally, to improve their chances of success. One might call it natural social selection. It may not even be a conscious effort. They often just click better with those with whom they share common personality traits and interests. In my opinion, there are 3 kinds of people when it comes to ambition.
First, there are slugs. Slugs are slothful and generally indifferent to they’re surroundings. They are apathetic. Theirs is the "don’t bother me, and I won’t bother you…," mentality. They don’t do much more than litter their path with a slimy residue of mess, and they’re very sensitive. For many people, just the word slug conjures a mental picture of "eeeww." As the very epitome of laziness, they even have their very own adjective…”sluggish.” The people who I put into this category are the ones who either ride on the coat tails of others, or go through life offering nothing of substance for one reason or another. They prefer not to act, but to be acted upon. Some are shy, some are incapable, but most are just lethargic and irresponsible. Ironically, many are easily offended when accused of being lazy or free-loading, and retaliate by "working hard" on winning frivolous lawsuits and seeking welfare checks.
Second, and most common, are the crabs. Almost everyone knows that once you’ve successfully captured a few of them, you don’t really need a lid on the bucket or hole you’ve dropped them into. Crabs won’t let each other escape. Once one of them begins climbing towards freedom, the others will pull it right back down. Is it an act jealousy? Fear of abandonment? Is it selfishness? Or perhaps it’s just stupidity. Who knows? But it does teach a good lesson. Most of us are not only stuck in a bucket of mediocrity, but we’re also surrounded by “crabs” that won’t let us leave. Unlike slugs, crabs are not lazy. Oh, they’re busy alright. They’re so busy criticizing your efforts that they totally discontinue any of their own. Sure, they say they want you to succeed, but their actions indicate otherwise. Although their discouragement is usually not even intentional, wishing you success is really just lip service when commiseration is the underlying intention. Misery really does love company…and just to be clear, so does laziness, despair, selfishness, insecurity, and jealousy. When we begin to succeed, the crabs around us naturally come out in droves and act on instinct. "How dare you achieve your goals when I have not achieved my own?" Of course they don’t say that…but they do feel it, and they will try to pull you back into the bucket of inaction. "Let’s watch TV." "How about we grab a bite and then catch a movie?" "Let’s just hang out and play some games." Watch out!!
Finally, there are ants. Now ants know how to make things happen. They’re among the most ambitious and resourceful creatures in nature. They’re virtually impervious to distraction or fatigue. If you’ve ever dropped an object in the path of an ant trail you know what I’m talking about. They acknowledge the obstacle, and then immediately begin searching feverishly for ways to overcome the obstruction by reconstructing a new path of progress. Ants are notorious for taking on projects that are many times bigger than they are. They’re amazing enough individually, and still, they opt to synergize their strengths through a network of their equals. There are very few people that fit into the "ant" classification. These people are usually the millionaires and billionaires. They’re they ones who can make a come back after losing everything because they’ve got that ant-like trait of unyielding ambition.
There comes a time when you need to evaluate your own performance. Actually, to maintain a balanced life, this evaluation should happen regularly. The result of these evaluations can either cause discouragement and cessation of effort, or inspiration enough to ignite the spark of change for something better. Success and failure can both be objects placed in our path of progress. Both have the potential to encourage and discourage. We all have the ability to take on projects that are many times bigger than we are. The trick is to mimic the ant while avoiding the crabs and slugs.
Besides the obvious archival purpose, one of the reasons I keep this book is to put my ideas through the test of time. It’s been said that one way to know whether an idea is good or bad is to sit on it for a little while. Let it roll around in your mind and simmer a bit. If the idea you have still seems good after a few days or weeks after its initial conception, it just might have some merit. Recently, as I was reading through Brain Vomit, it occurred to me that I’ve got quite a few ideas accumulated that still seem very good to me…some, even after YEARS of sitting.
I’m not the only one sitting on potential success. Many of us have hidden and undeveloped talents, lofty aspirations, or just simply great ideas that we do nothing about. While there are a myriad of reasons, one reason in particular is very interesting to me. It has a lot to do with the company we keep. Now don’t get me wrong, you might be surrounded by great people, but consider this. We’ve all heard the sayings "You are what you eat," or "Birds of a feather flock together," or "It takes one to know one." Are these just sayings, or is there some truth to them? Personally, I couldn’t agree more with all of them. Figuratively speaking, I think you ARE what you eat. Or, put another way, I think you will become what you study, fantasize about, or immerse yourself in. I believe that if you want to become a great musician, your chances are GREATLY improved by seeking out the best instructors of music and listening to the types of music that inspire you. I think the opposite is also true; that if you want to become, say, a neurologist, hanging out with a bunch of deadbeat high school drop-outs will surely decrease your odds for success in THAT goal.
Birds of a feather do, in fact, flock together. The well-known maxim is really just a clever way of stating the obvious. For example, motivated achievers tend to seek out others who will push them towards their goals. They do this, naturally, to improve their chances of success. One might call it natural social selection. It may not even be a conscious effort. They often just click better with those with whom they share common personality traits and interests. In my opinion, there are 3 kinds of people when it comes to ambition.
First, there are slugs. Slugs are slothful and generally indifferent to they’re surroundings. They are apathetic. Theirs is the "don’t bother me, and I won’t bother you…," mentality. They don’t do much more than litter their path with a slimy residue of mess, and they’re very sensitive. For many people, just the word slug conjures a mental picture of "eeeww." As the very epitome of laziness, they even have their very own adjective…”sluggish.” The people who I put into this category are the ones who either ride on the coat tails of others, or go through life offering nothing of substance for one reason or another. They prefer not to act, but to be acted upon. Some are shy, some are incapable, but most are just lethargic and irresponsible. Ironically, many are easily offended when accused of being lazy or free-loading, and retaliate by "working hard" on winning frivolous lawsuits and seeking welfare checks.
Second, and most common, are the crabs. Almost everyone knows that once you’ve successfully captured a few of them, you don’t really need a lid on the bucket or hole you’ve dropped them into. Crabs won’t let each other escape. Once one of them begins climbing towards freedom, the others will pull it right back down. Is it an act jealousy? Fear of abandonment? Is it selfishness? Or perhaps it’s just stupidity. Who knows? But it does teach a good lesson. Most of us are not only stuck in a bucket of mediocrity, but we’re also surrounded by “crabs” that won’t let us leave. Unlike slugs, crabs are not lazy. Oh, they’re busy alright. They’re so busy criticizing your efforts that they totally discontinue any of their own. Sure, they say they want you to succeed, but their actions indicate otherwise. Although their discouragement is usually not even intentional, wishing you success is really just lip service when commiseration is the underlying intention. Misery really does love company…and just to be clear, so does laziness, despair, selfishness, insecurity, and jealousy. When we begin to succeed, the crabs around us naturally come out in droves and act on instinct. "How dare you achieve your goals when I have not achieved my own?" Of course they don’t say that…but they do feel it, and they will try to pull you back into the bucket of inaction. "Let’s watch TV." "How about we grab a bite and then catch a movie?" "Let’s just hang out and play some games." Watch out!!
Finally, there are ants. Now ants know how to make things happen. They’re among the most ambitious and resourceful creatures in nature. They’re virtually impervious to distraction or fatigue. If you’ve ever dropped an object in the path of an ant trail you know what I’m talking about. They acknowledge the obstacle, and then immediately begin searching feverishly for ways to overcome the obstruction by reconstructing a new path of progress. Ants are notorious for taking on projects that are many times bigger than they are. They’re amazing enough individually, and still, they opt to synergize their strengths through a network of their equals. There are very few people that fit into the "ant" classification. These people are usually the millionaires and billionaires. They’re they ones who can make a come back after losing everything because they’ve got that ant-like trait of unyielding ambition.
There comes a time when you need to evaluate your own performance. Actually, to maintain a balanced life, this evaluation should happen regularly. The result of these evaluations can either cause discouragement and cessation of effort, or inspiration enough to ignite the spark of change for something better. Success and failure can both be objects placed in our path of progress. Both have the potential to encourage and discourage. We all have the ability to take on projects that are many times bigger than we are. The trick is to mimic the ant while avoiding the crabs and slugs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
