Want to keep up with the ARTrox happenings? Visit me over at www.artrox.com.au and see what’s been art rockin’ my world!
Adults learning from kids? August 15, 2010
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to view the world through the lens of possibility again. I know that there are many people who teach other people how to do this, and there are also a good many people who are perfectly happy thankyou very much living in their sensible adult world of the known, the possible and the things that just must be.
I’m not sure when I stopped REALLY living in possibility – I still ask lots of questions, and I love that about the way my brain operates – but I think it began with the increasing complexity of raising children and being responsible for things beyond myself and making decisions that have impact far beyond my immediate bubble.
With the duties of life I find I have a tendency to forget to ask better questions, to expect different outcomes and to laugh a little more over the daily drag…maybe if I remembered how to laugh more over the daily drag it wouldn’t seem such a drag!!
So it was with the ‘Oh-no’ lightbulb shining that I thoroughly enjoyed child prodidy Adora Svitak’s TED talk :”What Adults can Learn from Kids”.
My particular takeouts?
- I want to have more unhampered, irrational thoughts.
- I remember having inspiring aspirations & hopeful thinking…I will make an effort to have it again!
- I will remember to keep believing in the possibilities.
- “In order to make something a reality, you have to dream it first” I will reconnect with my dreams.
- Push the boundaries of possibility – regularly.
- Learning between kids & grownups should be reciprocal…I will remember to be open to learn more from my kids.
Gotta go, I think I need to discuss the future renovations to our family home with the kids and see if they’ve got an idea to suggest…goodness knows all mine are boring!
Think of the flip side June 24, 2010
Derek Sivers again at TED in India gave a talk titled Weird, or Just Different…
A totally WOW moment that demonstrates by example a simple thing many of us take for granted as the ‘way things are’ but also the possibility of an exact opposite rendering ‘our’ way confusing.
Think of the way your business operates, your marketing messages, what things can you turn upside down? What opposites can you create to expose your customers to a ‘different’ experience?
What kind of a WOW moment would it create? Would it be just the kind of VonRestorff effect you need to create memorability?
Leader or follower? April 2, 2010
Another wonderful TED talk ~ yes it is one of my MOST favorite resources…do yourself a favor, click here and subscribe to the audio, blog, video…you will be amazed and inspired by some of the content you are exposed to!
This one is from Derek Sivers a creative entrepreneur. He commentates and offers insights over a really funny, yet moving YouTube video of a lone dancer who is joined by a crowd.
When I first saw this video I laughed (lets face it the dancing is ‘unique’) and felt so pleased for the guy who started the dancing…’good for you’ I thought, he was really in his own space enjoying the world. As the video unfolds he is joined by another dancer, a short time later a third guy joins, then 3 more, and soon a big crowd all having a fat old time. It made me feel very happy and goosebumpy to see how one man’s fun had expanded the experience for not only those who chose to join in, but those around watching who chose not to, and now those of us viewing on YouTube.
So to the insightful TED talk on leadership from Derek Sivers…
His take on this? The leader is essentially just a crazy person out there doing his thing, it is the first few followers who make the difference. So if you are a leader, embrace your followers and nurture them.
Fave quote: “…We’re told that we should all be leaders, that would be really ineffective. If you really care about starting a movement, have the courage to follow and show others how to follow. And when you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to stand up and join in.”
The marketing message…if you are a lone nut doing a great thing believe in yourself enough to let as many people know about you, create attention, and don’t give up on your dream…you only need a few brave followers to share the vision to create a movement!
Gotta go…I’m off to hunt for some lone nuts … or just maybe I will become one???
Inspirational benefits of personal projects March 6, 2010
Trying to spend some time catching up on my subscribed blogs and I came across a posting today on the Swissmiss site, a great link to a recording of a talk by Ji Lee;
Here is the promo blurb about this presentation: Bored with his ad agency gig and the uninspiring work he was producing, Ji Lee – now Creative Director of Google Creative Lab – decided to take matters into his own hands in 2002. The result was the ad-spoofing Bubble Project, in which Lee placed blank speech bubbles on ads around New York City. The masses responded and the project went viral, gaining Lee recognition and ultimately forwarding his professional career. Here, Lee talks about how he created, financed, and marketed the project single-handedly.
I loved the simplicity of his message, that your private work can inspire your professional work and vice versa – the two are sides of the same coin.
Which lead me to put a spin on this to add that if you find they are simply not, then perhaps you need to change professions – or find the tenuous links that are surely there.
I work in an industry that would seem on the surface quite unrelated to my passion of children’s art and creativity – yet there are opportunities that I am creating and discovering to utilize my skills and passion to bring this element to life in my professional employment. When I allow my passion to shine through is usually when I can create ideas for my employer that provide the best opportunities for differentiation and brand building.
When I am just doing what is expected of a ‘marketing manager’ I produce results that anybody could do, and stay in the safe lane because ‘that’s just what you do’.
So, full of renewed passion for combining my personal projects with my professional work, and filled with the reminder that if I want something to happen I have to do it myself…lookout…watch the video below, it’s a great 7 minutes…I’d love to stay and chat but I gotta go create some exciting visuals for my next campaign….
I can’t get the video to embed…drats…but do yourself a favour and go here and check it out. Ji Lee: Power of personal projects
How many days? February 2, 2010
I have been alive for 14,556 days (work that out in your head!). Like many people approaching a ‘number’ birthday I am delving back into the ‘who am I & how do I get what I want’ question of my youth. Only now I find myself pondering more the ‘who am I & how can I make a difference’?
So all those days equate to around 349,344 hours…wow…say it slowly three hundred and fifty thousand hours…so knock off say half of that to allow for foolish youth and you have around 175,000 hours, then 1/3 of that is sleep time, leaving 116,666 hours of conscious living!
Where am I going with that? Well as the date of my 40th birthday draws closer (shh don’t tell), that small little number seems so much less significant. Assuming that I am around half way through my life, I still have (allowing for sleep time) 233,333 hours to contribute to my family, society, myself…it’s such a wonderful thought. So rather than new year’s resolutions, I am developing my new decade conspectus…fourties here I come!
Honest Scrap Award January 16, 2010
Well, I had never heard of this before until the fabulously talented Kari Lonning @karibaskets ‘tagged’ me to take part.
I decided to find out a bit more about this, which lead me on a journey, Kari was tagged by Susan Cohan who was tagged by Gardening with confidence who was tagged by…well you get the picture. 15 blog hops later I hit a dead end with the prior tagger not being referenced but isn’t that amazing!
I guess it is a bit like a chain letter we used to send as kids, but there is no promise of either good luck or a curse…it is simply an honour bestowed upon you by a fellow blogger who appreciates you.
So, here are the rules as they were handed on to me:
The award has two components. You have to first list 10 honest things about yourself (and make them interesting), and second — present the award to seven other bloggers.
I’m not sure at all who started it, but I like the idea of it, so here goes, here are some honest truths about me and how my brain ticks…
- I am very very inquisitive and continuously feed a very strong need to keep learning…I’m on a mission to know simply everything about everything…I’m getting there….
- I have 2 gorgeous children who I love with all my heart. I made all my control freak mistakes on the first child, learned to totally loosen up for the second child and marvel every day at their differences in personality and wonder how much of that is my ‘fault’ and how much of their early years ‘stimulation’ has contributed to their brain functioning capabilities today! The nurture or nature debate continues…
- I love art, design and being creative yet never seem to find the time to get out of gallery gazing and into some real nitty gritty….or perhaps is that just an excuse for my own fears of the outcomes being less than I hope for?
- I believe wholeheartedly in the laws of attraction, yet find myself not applying them to gain maximum benefit.
- I wish I lived in England or the South of France, somehow I just feel like I am home when I am in these places…
- I love the cold and hate the heat…I think I have a faulty internal thermostat. Temp gets over 27 Celsius and I am like a she-devil from the fiery depths.
- I collect anything that would be material for art works and never throw them away…I have a dirty secret…I have spent hundreds of dollars on art supplies and things I will surely never use because they are ‘special’…shhhh don’t tell my husband!
- I am trying very hard to love the skin I’m in! When did I start to look like this? At nearly 40 (shhhh don’t tell anybody) and carrying more weight than I should be; I swing between acceptance, chocolate & happiness; and the realisation that acceptance probably just = laziness because from a health perspective I really should lose weight, eat less and exercise more!
- I love christmas cake, hot cross buns, fruit cake, christmas pudding…catching a pattern here…it can’t be bad for you with all that fruit in it!
- I love the end of the day and the start of the day…they are the signposts of possibility and that excites me! Although sometimes I lament the wasted possibility when I get sucked into some kind of time wasting vortex, but then I move on and anticipate the new day to come again…
So who am I going to ‘point the bone’ at…well many people that I would love to learn some ‘secrets’ about, who I love chatting with are not all bloggers, or have professional blogs that may not be appropriate for the disclosure of such revealing honesty!!! ie: @maikelvdm @susanAnichols @benandefrat @pripper @michelleoxman @rebeccalange @zataylor @designosophy @ideasculture @sammutimer (who should have a baby by now and be waaaay to busy to be involved anyway) @gariphic oh so many wonderful conversations….
There are just some of the gorgeous people I liaise with on Twitter so I tried to find twitter buddies with more personal content on their blogs and came up with these three gems….
My mysterious friend @BWLight at UmBecauseISaidSo….love it!
Oh and the delightfully inspiring @StaciJShelton from Love Staci
A man with such lovely manners and the web designer dude we love to love @BKMacDaddy at BKMacDaddy Designs
So friends…you have been tagged…and now people know a little more about me!
Giving your brain a boost with social media December 13, 2009
Just catching up on my podcasts and listened to a great episode, #258 of the Engaging Brand from Anna Farmery.
You can download it here engagingbrand.com show 258 guide to brain fitness
Anna talks with Alvaro Fernandez of SharpBrains, all about his Guide to Brain Fitness.
Anna asks:
- What is brain fitness?
- Why learning is physical
- The importance of learning how to learn.
- How experiences aid learning
- The importance of regulating your emotion
- How social interaction is needed for a healthy brain.
- Do some people have higher natural brain fitness than others?
- The key facets to a maintaining healthy brain
It is worth a listen as Anna, in her usual perceptive style, points out that blogging and podcasting is a very good form of brain boosting behaviour. One of the discussion points that Alvaro makes is that talking about what you have read and learned and reinforcing the neural pathways is what cements learning – hence gossiping around the water cooler the next morning at work about a tv show is not conducive to brain boosting activity!
However reading a book or attending a seminar and then repeating that knowledge, discussing it, asking yourself questions about it – that is what will help keep the neurons active. As Anna points out, by blogging and podcasting she is exploring new ideas every day and then imparting that knowledge to others via her blog and podcasts.
Brilliant stuff! So people, not only is blogging a great way to boost your brand or expertise, it is a great way to boost your brain and keep your neurons active and firing. If ever we needed another reason to keep on blogging!
So I have renewed energy! I did feel that what I had to say was surely nowhere near as interesting or important as what other more intelligent marketing and creative minds had to say -but you know what? I’m blogging for me, and if you find it interesting from time to time then welcome aboard!
The Existentialism of Branding November 25, 2009
Søren Kirkegaard statue in Copenhagen, credited to be the father of existentialism
I tweet therefore I am…does anybody else out there think that modern marketing, in particular social media seem almost to perfectly fit into the existentialist philosophy (and I totally paraphrase here) to be true to one’s self?
According to the site all about Philosophy “existentialism is a philosophy concerned with finding self and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility. The belief is that people are searching to find out who and what they are throughout life as they make choices based on their experiences, beliefs, and outlook.”
The word “existence,” comes from the Latin “existere,” meaning “to stand out.” Is it not a marketers role to make the brand or product stand out? And with the advent of social media channels the message we hear over and over again is that marketing today requires transparency and authenticity.
So as a marketer, it is my job to help the brand find itself, its authentic message and fulfill its responsibility to society. So much easier as a corporate than as an individual don’t you think!
Yes, a very simplistic view and the exsistentialist movement is much deeper than that…but given my current phase of exploration this just seemed to resonate…plus it is a cool word don’t you think!
Ride of the year! November 1, 2009
I worked out today that my children have a different perspective on motivating thoughts than I do!
We just completed part one of a 36km return bike ride from Lilydale to Warburton. Not an all together taxing ride, just fairly constant.
So we get to within 2km and Miss 11 has like her 3rd major meltdown for the day, not too bad considering! I said come on honey you are just 2km away…you can do it! To which she replied is that supposed to help?
OMG!!! In my book that was 34km down only a smidge more and heck I’ve made it this far what’s a few more? To her it was like we are not there yet, i have to keep pedalling amd my butt hurts, end of story!
Well after singing to her and trying to make her laugh for the 15th time today we finally arrived, crashed into the hotel for a shower and later tonight we will go out hunting for food, and it’s gonna taste good.
So until the return journey tomorrow when the whining starts about sore butts again…I’m proud of my 2 children even if it was a grudging achievement!!
