Because he was a fun-gi.
Telling Jokes Makes You a Better Speaker
Anyone who knows me, knows I love telling and hearing jokes. What they don’t know is I tell jokes all day long to cashiers, waitstaff, and anyone else I come across. Besides bringing joy to someone’s day (hopefully), I’m practicing my delivery, experimenting with vocal tonality, changing up my rhythm, and refining jokes so only essential words remain. I especially enjoy telling folks who speak English as a second language. I am forced to be extremely clear and exaggerated at times.
A Little Bit Everyday
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the past few months is the extraordinary value of small to moderate levels of action done consistently. Don’t underestimate the effect of cumulative action. When I create a habit of dedicating time to a specific type of work, I begin doing very concentrated, quality work in very short amounts of time.
Examples:
* Scribbling down creative snippets throughout the day in my one-subject notebook. I take my creative snippets and talk about them into my digital audio recorder and that is my audio journal.
* Writing my top 12 goals in goal notebooks each morning and night.
* Taking the approach that I will commit 100% to a new document template and as soon as I start treating it like it’s the absolute new way, I begin seeing ways it can be improved.
* I make good use of my driving time by having audio books going all the time. Those 20 minute errands add up to whole books pretty quickly!
Creativity Needs to Breathe
My sons begin school tomorrow so we went fishing today. Fishing is one of our favorite things to do and I love seeing what innovations the boys will bring. The first creative idea they came up with was to have a large bin to contain the fish we caught. We only do catch and release but they love the fish so much they wanted to hang onto them a bit longer. So we fill a plastic tub half with lake water and whenever the kids get a catch, we all yell, “Throw him in the pot!” Today, they caught minnows in the lake and used them for bait. Last month, they cracked open clams and used them for bait. It would’ve been easier to tell them, “No - I don’t want to drag around a big bin.” However, letting them do it brought a whole new level of engagement for them. Pregnant ideas need space and freedom to develop - allow your creative ideas to breathe and you’ll arrive at places you couldn’t possibly predict.
Mel Robbins and Exercise
Mel Robbins had an excellent point about our connection to exercise. We don’t have to like exercise - it’s ok if you hate it! But do it. She compares the discipline of exercising to brushing her teeth, washing dishes, and picking up dog poo - they are simply things that need to get done. You don’t need an emotional relationship with these actions. I need to get this through my head. I’m not a physical, in-my-body type of person. If I could sit and read while chomping eat sesame bagels all day, I would!
Sunsets and Cell Phones
While driving home, I drive past a glorious sunset atop a large hill. One day, I was impressed with the long line of cars parked on the side of the road - presumably to watch the sunset. I realized 9 out of 10 people had their heads buried in their cell phones. It was confusing because they made the effort to pull over with the intention of watching the sunset. Odd, hah?
Lack of Insight
Personalized marketing is the future - says Thomas O’Toole, executive director of Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Reward memberships are very popular and they yield a massive amount of data about you, the buyer. Emily Collins, analyst with Forrester Research said it best: “They’ve got oceans of data and puddles of insight.” I agree with that - a ton of info is gathered but they need to interpret it to make it effective in selling. I believe there is reams of info if you are patient enough to let it say something to you. I’ve always thought restaurants should take note of food left on plates before dumping the scraps into trash bins.