needs doing

Two things that hit me this morning:

1. The power of the unexpected
2. How successful entrepreneurs tend to get their Big Ideas: based on someone else's bright spark.

Now the first happened because I read a post in the Huff by Mark Olmsted here. And I thought Mark you're damn right: things happen all the time we don't plan on and it's hard to foresee the future, even more so because things change so fast. Should we give up trying to assess where out future is going and simply focus on that which is important to us? Focus and doing seem to be the most essential items in the tool kit.

The second thing clicked in my blond brain simply because I thought of a friend who told me how he got his Big Idea and set up for early retirement which was listening to someone else who gave it to him, also I finally watched The Social Network which showcases how Mark Zuckerberg (supposedly of course) got his Big Idea for The Facebook and consequently I thought of other stories that came to mind, all with the same scenario: Big Ideas are seldom unique, they are simply built on that which already was before. It's catching the strands of other ideas and connecting the dots.

I realized another thing: I connect dots but don't always utilize this ability as things usually move too fast for me to do something with it. What I decided is to de-fluff. Some ideas, especially those filled with nostalgia or grandeur might look pretty and be fun, but ultimately now is a time of practicalities. It's simply about finishing things and getting stuff off our to do lists. Boring? Perhaps. Sensible? Absolutely! Great? It's the answer.

For me finishing things on our farm in order to continue the plan of action that involves more then I'm willing to share at this time is paramount. Working simply to generate income to finish said plans is two. I had to reshape my planning idea I had a while back as my time-slots simply didn't allow all the things I wanted to do. This forced me to choose. Back-scaling to the essentials therefor is both simple, pragmatic and ... feasible. So I'm done with the many Big Ideas and am working on that which just needs doing. If I have time left over I will work on that prototype I'm developing. Which is an actual feasible and sensible idea.

As Mark Olmsted so aptly stated in his blog-post for the Huff: "The one thing that we can be sure of is that we can't be sure of anything. But we can expect the unexpected."

So my new motto is: stuff needs doing, just get on with it. How are you dealing with your plans?

Picture source: Spoon-Tamago

personally

This last week I have noticed numerous instances where people online have entered comments to defend their hurt feelings regarding online topic debates or to simply observe participants at play. Fascinating. As many of us spend so much time online, including grandmothers and grandfathers who are a growing demographic on Facebook, we are taking the daily conversation to the inter-sphere. Nothing new there, but how we incorporate these platforms IS. It is likely we will see increases of different and more seamlessly joined forms of communication, both technically based, and not. It's an exciting time to live in.

So why is the way of communication changing? Not just because we have access to all the techy gizmos. We basically upgraded to other forms of connection then we did previously. Mind you we still stand around the bbq in summer and catch up on all the highs and lows too, as we have physical bodies to sustain. Online at times we seem to be more honest then we would be in real life, giving our opinion more readily. On the other hand there are plenty of people who enjoy the game of make pretend. Calling people names or sharing our inner most secrets is really an individual choice. The whole behavioral dynamic is what I personally find most wonderful to watch.

And then there is the choice you have to make in all aspects: how much do you want to share? Once it's out there it's hard if not impossible to erase. The written or video-made testimony is out there for as long as there is internet. I have discussed this with various people. The credo is: if you don't have anything to hide, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. On the same token: common sense rules. Always remember, as you do offline and online, the rules of the game are the same: if you behave like a jerk people will stop wanting to play with you and no longer choose to respect or like your word. Social online communication does require some skill and practice. Being a douche doesn't. Something to ponder.

A good friend of mine says: "don't take it personally". There is truly a lot of wisdom in that.

the conversation?

Did you ever think of yourself as being amusing? We forget sometimes. Life is so serious and all.

(image by Gapingvoid)


Of course the more serious we take ourselves the less fun we are likely to be. Ah. Yes quite a revelation. I didn't mean that we have to be entertaining all the time by any means, but by golly we might as well be pleasing. I mean why not? (Apparently researchers have developed the means to automatically find "trolls" on internet posts who are in need of anger-management: read here)


In several conversations with (online) friends and the hubbaliscious, a trend of what-we-would-like-to-see versus oh-I-actually-meant-that and yikes-I'd-rather-be-doing-this-instead was popping up. Our abilities to "play nice" are getting a bit frayed. If on twitter we can only have 140 characters and on Facebook a bit more, the fact that we reduce the message by shortening it doesn't necessarily imply that the reader "gets" what we're broadcasting. Not anymore. And also: if we are feeling frustrated, tired or what-have-you, why take it out on other people?


Most people are in a hurry. The "information absorption rate" is dropping. The ability to cope and showing signs of irritability have increased a lot across the board. So, do we still have time for each other? Can we make time to "chill out"? Ah yes. Prioritizing. And saying: no. And thank you. Please?


As Fastcompany puts it: "Constant connectivity means we are constantly distracted. It's now difficult to be truly alone. As a result we never get a chance to think deeply about who we are and where we are going. This links to Nicholas Carr's point in The Shallows that our thinking is becoming hurried, cursory and superficial. Interesting counter-point here. We have never been so connected and yet U.S. research is showing that we have never felt so alone.

24/7 access to everything is creating a culture that values immediacy over and above almost everything else. We can no longer wait for things to happen. Again, this can give rise to a lack of rigour and reflection but it can also cause serious mistakes. I'd predict a single-tasking movement as a reaction against multi-tasking.

Digitalisation is creating too much information and choice. There is now so much to consider that we take shortcuts to knowledge."

(except taken from post: Mind map of the Digital Age.)

So, all the more reason to unhook ourselves from the web, and return to the actual world. My favorite pastime is at home, sitting in a grass field in the sun in my farm overalls, watching the goats and highland calfs gently chew their cud, not showing a sign of worry in the world. They look content, calm and healthy. Escapism or not, it beats playing Farmville on Facebook any day of the week.

the online addiction

Nowadays the real world translates into the virtual global maze of networks. Since I've started tweeting (here) there's a whole new dimension to being online for me. Compared to facebook I find tweeting more fun and the interaction immediate. (No games and gazillion quizzes to do.)

The weird thing is that people we do or do not know are accessible and we can talk practically to anyone on the planet. How weird is that? It's surprisingly easy to chat to someone who's into the same line of work or has the same interests. As we work work work it makes it harder to see friends offline.

How do you communicate? Have you dived into Facebook, Hyves, as well as write a blog or follow others? What do you read? Online newspapers/magazines or blogs? Both? Are you on twitter too, do you run an online business? How does typing away everyday make you feel better? Why do you do it? One connection on my twitter professed to be hooked and wondered why no one was sending him a tweet for 18 minutes! Communication moves at an ever increasing speed nowadays. We wonder whether we can we do without the tool that is the internet, as it is practically everywhere.

As we have friends online and off, how do relationships develop? Have you got the feeling you're being listened to online? Do you feel the need to connect to others and is that why you're there? Making or having the time is the question. How does your real life connections compare to the ones online? I've noticed that a few of my friends have the habit at the moment to talk a lot but not to necessarily have the patience to listen as they're in a hurry to tell their own story. Why the need to talk so much? Is it harder and harder to just "be"?

The forward momentum of communication technology hasn't reached it's high yet and it will be fascinating to see where we're all heading towards. Let's hope that we can separate the online world to the "old fashioned" offline one and remember what our own and the actual reality is. Getting connected is a great thing, but if the power goes >>PLOP<<> that's it, we're on our own again.