Smelling Flowers

Through the pandemic, I have gotten a lot more reflective. I'm not suggesting I've climbed that mountain or executed the billion dollar idea that has made me rich beyond my wildest dreams, but it has given me pause about a lot of things about life. I did make a career significant career shift which turned out well but I haven't ordered the Bugatti just yet. I can honestly say my mind is clearer or at the very least more inquisitive than it has been in years. It has given pause to whether I'm utilizing my time well. 

I was running late for a client meeting last week and found myself getting angry at the audacity of other drivers being on the road slowing me down. Then I took a deep breath and laughed out loud. By myself in my car. If the roads had been clear, I may have made it to my destination four minutes earlier. 

Take a breath

It's those moments where I seem to be taking a longer pause to discover what really is important. Countless books have been written about being present now and not fretting so much about the past or future. If we could only be more like my cat. She does not worry that she purred wrong yesterday or that she's sleeping on my good sweater. She just lives in the moment. 

We spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about stuff we can't change, won't happen, or has happened. Why do we do that? It usually works out and even if it isn't exactly how we envisioned it would turn out, it's fine. 

Did nothin'

The Sunday before last, I got up early, had a coffee, read some news, had a nap, got up, had some breakfast, watched a Formula 1 race, had a nap, watched a show, made some dinner, watched another show, went to bed. And you know what? The sun came up the next day. Nothing terrible happened because I took a day off.

I think it's been accredited to the great philosopher Confucius who apparently said; "Life is simple; we choose to make it complicated." So I was four minutes late for my appointment. As it turned out, my client was 15 minutes late. We laughed about it over a spectacular cup of coffee.  

Cherishing every moment remains excellent advice.

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Information Super Gridlock

We are pummelled with shards of online content constantly. It's like downtown Cairo traffic.

I saw Henry Rollins a few years ago talking about his trip to Egypt and he said there are four lane highways with six lanes of traffic.

The chatter, garbage and noise begin to blur while our ability to decipher crap from non-crap is tougher every day.

Good or Bad?

Technorati monitors around 200 million blogs; there are opinion columns, online news sites, forums, chat rooms and social networking spaces that give us choice. And that's over and above all the news, sports, information and entertainment portals.

But these options have created a problem. We have too much choice and all the good stuff is mixed with the stuff we don’t want or care about. That's why we often visit the same sites everyday, we are frozen in indecision.

The World Wide Maze

Search Engine Optimizationists (it’s a word now, just made it up) say it’s all about rank, bloggers stomp their keyboards for free speech and we marketing/social media types talk about open source conversations and collaboration.

If you don’t reside in those worlds, you don’t care. You just want to be entertained, informed and get details on that new rider mower. And you may not want someone to tell you what to choose or think.

How do you navigate the deafening racket?

@knealemann
marketing and social media strategy

image credit: google

Call Me In September

It begins with the usual signs. Traffic is a bit more congested on the way to the office in the morning. Ah yes, school is back and the unofficial end of summer is upon us. Depending on your region or level, school goes back on different dates but school is back for everyone as of tomorrow. It is Labor Day in the U.S. and Canada and there is no denying it – school is on.

Fall is on its way in North America. It’s September, a month of transition and rites of passage. It is a time to remember school summers of yore or the one that just passed. It is the month that turns summer in to autumn and projects in to deadlines.

Ah yes, dear sweet September. Call me after Labor Day and we can discuss it. Let’s revisit that in September. A month filled with many expectations and new beginnings.

As we gaze upon the Halloween displays in stores and thousands of additional cars on the way to work, reality sets in.

But let’s remember with fondness, the lazy hazy days of call me in September.

@knealemann
Let's create experiences, not campaigns

com•mu•ni•ca•tion

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines communication as; 1) A verbal or written message. 2) A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs or behavior. 3) A technique for expressing ideas effectively.

Excellent, but do we practice it?

I’ve been in the media for a long time. It’s a cliche in media to say that we are in the communications business but do a pour job communicating with each other. Frankly, this is a human thing not an industry thing. I’ve been both victim and the guilty party when it comes to miscommunication. Haven’t we all? Sift back through your memory and pick out an email that you sent where the intent was misunderstood.

Merriam-Webster defines miscommunication as; failure to communicate clearly. They define clearly as; unencumbered by debts or charges.

Are we too busy to properly communicate with each other? Do we use busy as a crutch?

These theories work wonderfully without people. The problem actually starts with ourselves.

Where we get in to trouble is when we fail to make a contract with those around us – including those we don’t know. This is the source of road rage. We are late for a meeting and that idiot that cut us off on the road and flew through the amber light ruined our plan to do the same. It’s not his fault we’re running late. He slept in too.

I received an email the other day from someone who didn't think I was returning their notes in the right tone. Oh brother. Instead of sending back a quick chirp about their attitude and misunderstanding which stemmed from miscommunication that occurred before they misread my communication from earlier, I picked up the phone. The more layers between us and our intention the closer we get to trouble.

So in theory, it’s best to be clear with any verbal or written messages with other individuals through a common system of signs, symbols and behavior unencumbered by debts or charges.

Perhaps we should start by abolishing email, traffic, money and egos. That should fix it.

km