nwolf38

So this week I am testing the limits of human sanity because I will need to give attention to another project I thought was dead but came back to life (circulou.com). I have no life so I apologize for any late call backs or email responses. I thought about the complexity of a job, and 3 start-ups I am engaged with and went on a mall walk to clear my head and gain focus of the spinning swirl of clutter in my mind.

Looking at the kids playing in the mall (there’s a playground in the middle of the mall over here) it hit me. When we are young our creativity knows no bounds, we play and interact and find usefulness from the most insignificant objects (we all remember the fun of large cardboard boxes). The fact is they get dirty, try out and live out moments of creativity and imagination and enjoy it! They do not quite know exactly what they’re doing but their doing and enjoying every minute of it!

I saw one kid wanting so badly to jump on a giant plastic ant hill but had to wait until his mom got her starbucks fix. The overwhelming drive and all this persistence finally paid off and no more than 10 seconds later he found himself finding more interest under the plastic log with a steering wheel! On the other side was a boy watching (wanting to play) but filled with trepidation. As his mom tried to coax him out but he was fearful to leave her side and with his opportunity wasted his mother and he left the area to continue shopping. As they walked away his eyes staid fixated on the playground of imagination and when he realized what he missed out on he tried to fight to go back but his mother pulled him further away into the land of Coach Purses. I had to leave after this because apparently it’s creepy to stare intently at a group of children for an extended period of time.

The lesson learned is that I transcend this into the difference between imagination of ideas and the reality of actions, between the analysis of theories and the commitment of practice. Yes we may have an idea and thought of what our ant hill might be but staying stagnate analyzing, planning out our actions is of no use if we have no desire to act purposefully.  The idea seems great, the more we plan the more we analyze all seems perfect and right, we see the potential we know it will work, but all we really do is produce an illusion of safety in incorporating ideas into our current state of being. Suddenly the idea is almost ready yet we haven’t stepped one foot onto the play ground and once we venture to look at this new environment with our analysis and plans the situation is on a totally new perspective and we step back and re-analyze, create new plans and the cycle continues, we miss our opportunity and continue life with no change - we live in the thought of change. I have learned that we should get back in touch with our “inner child” and learn and plan through experience, sometimes the ant hill we thought was so grand in the environment we wanted to enter isn’t that great. Once we step into this new atmosphere, once we immerse ourselves and are directly engaged with our idea in this new environment; through action and trial we find uniqueness in new problems and or opportunities we otherwise could not have previously imagined. We might fail once or twice or a thousand times, it doesn't matter, because we have experienced and experience in following through with an idea through action produces growth - thoughts and talks about ideas in safety of complacency hold no wisdom or validity over the one who experiences.   

“Our need for consistency is stronger than just about any other intrinsic need we have. People will behave in a manner that is consistent with their previously existing self-concept, even when this behavior is unrewarding to them otherwise.” –Prescott Lecky

This is the issue I face when talking with decision makers of companies and organizations wanting to join or build in the “social media” environment. They want to join, but it’s always changing, it’s so new, how can we control it etc… Talking with facebook today I realize our job in the social media environment is not an easy one. We are witnessing some innovative things with social media marketing (in regards to facebook look for some interesting changes in October). In talking with Toledo’s e-commerce department they are actually looking at creating a social media graduate course! This just opens another can of worms. The fact remains; be it a client or your own company, when it comes to marketing online with a purpose to engage with your audience be innovative, genuine, transparent and act don’t just think.