Passionate Living

When we talk about success, we inevitably talk about personal development. And when we talk about personal development, inevitably we talk about business or marketing success [1]. When previously we talked about Six Pixels of Separation, this time we talk about another marketing thought leader worth following: Seth Godin.

Seth Godin is a highly prolific author who has published many books on marketing (and most of them best sellers too). Besides writing books, he also writes in his blog [2], that is subscribed to by tens of thousands of readers. Although he mainly talks about marketing terms, Seth’s primary topic is about how to spread your ideas in the post-digital world.

I haven’t read any of his priced books, but I have read several of his freely downloadable ones [3]. The style with which he writes, as one other blogger says it, is “short and succinct”. Seth doesn’t write long blog posts – not like some of my other favorite bloggers – but in the short sentences that he does, he hits the point home with thousands of his readers; this is how he spreads his ideas [4].

The books Seth has published include best hits such as The Purple Cow and All Marketers Are Liars. His latest release, just published last month, is titled Linchpin and has been bought, read, shared, and tweeted about intensively in the circle of thought readers that I follow – including musicians! There is a wealth of ideas to absorb in his books, or you could opt for the daily snackable content by subscribing to his blog [5].

Seth Godin’s main idea – or at least the one I can conclude from reading his blog – is what he calls resistance; or the lizard brain. The lizard brain is basically part of our ego whose job is to maintain the status quo. Therefore, it’s the part of our brain that creates the resistance when we strive for success.

The lizard brain is the part of the human psychology that inhibits our growth by drawing from survival instincts from back when humans still lived in wild environments. In the wild where lack of concentration could lead to physical or fatal injury, the purpose of the lizard brain is to teach us not to take foolish risks. We have survived partially because we listened to what our lizard brain said.

Unfortunately, we brought this thought process of living in the wild into living in modern society – where the rules of survival and prosperity are different. To succeed in the social environment, we need to take risks that may seem highly dangerous to the lizard brain. Our perception defeats the substance, and we retreat each time an opportunity presents itself.

In the social environment, the risk that is feared the most is failure. It’s an abstract risk, yet we fear it as if it was a physical one. We react violently towards the thought of failure, or the possibility of putting ourselves out on the line for everybody to see.

Seth’s idea is we need to defeat the impulses of the lizard brain. We need the intelligence to know the difference, which risks are physical and which ones only exist in our prejudices. When we can differentiate between the two, we are one step closer towards achieving our dreams.

Seth Godin: Quieting the Lizard Brain from 99% on Vimeo.

—

[1] Book Review: Six Pixels of Separation, 2010
[2] Seth Godin’s blog
[3] Check his website for links to these free ebooks
[4] Therefore this isn’t exactly a book review, it’s more a blog review
[5] For why and how to subscribe, check How to Use RSS, 2009

Dogma Inaction Figure 4 by preynold

I. Plenty of us only do what we need to do after being told to do so. Plenty of us act however we want and delay our obligations in favor of personal pleasure. We are slow to prevent mistakes but are quick to apologize to justify our actions.

Plenty of the small people are angry at the big people, the economists and the politicians, for being corrupt and acting not in favor of the greater good but for their own personal interest. Most of the big people themselves act as if they care, but the policies they create don’t show their integrity. They are sorry only because they are caught.

And yet, if the small people were given the chance, they would do the same also. They admire their ego, and they pursue individual satisfaction. They too are sorry only because they get apprehended.

II. The problem with inaction is fundamental to understanding why corruption is embedded in our society. Inaction is postponing to the latest possible moment, the action that needs to be done in order to solve the problem that’s threatening us right now. We postpone because the work is hard and difficult and doesn’t carry as much reward as other, selfish pursuits.

The problem with the problem is that it might not directly affect us. A dam that broke on the outskirts of town, hitting the community that survives on less than $1 a day, won’t register on a physical level with the politicians who have the influence to correct the problem long before the dam gave way. And still after it broke, the best we can do is apologize, show our sympathy, and take advantage of the situation to position ourselves in favored eye of the small people.

The problem with apologizing is that it mostly doesn’t change a thing. It only serves to make the one who made a mistake feel better, and maybe also for the victim, but in physical terms it has no concrete benefit for anybody. Worse, having the room to apologize will make us be lax in being strict with ourselves and think “We can always apologize after.”

III. The young people who care about how society is hurt, grow up to be the ones who hurt society in continue. The money beats their idealism, and the ones who keep fighting are marginalized and isolated from the circle of influence. The circle of death continues.

We need to take action, but we also need to take the right action. Learning from our mistakes is crucial to prevent further mistakes, and yet we always rewind the same sabotage again and again. We cry out foul play when the perpetrator was in fact nobody else but us.

Even good action may not be enough. Be careful with what you think is true, because it may not be real as long as it’s still tie to your personal interest. The real right action tends to be the one that has the least benefits personally for you.

—

[1] Photograph by preynolds.

Peacekeeping - MINUSTAH

Chris Brogan recently wrote a blog post on “How to NOT Help Haiti” [1]. He talks about how after the Haiti earthquake, although many citizens of the world showed their concern using the various media channels available, most of them were only concerns. Chris says how not to help is by sending out tweets that only show sympathy but not solicit action.

In Indonesia, there have been several disasters that come into my mind when reading these words by Chris: the JW Marriot Bomb Part 2 (because you have to have a sequel) [2], the Padang earthquake [3], and of course the historical Asian Tsunami several years ago. Ever since the advent of social media tools and their heavy use in Indonesia, it’s come to my attention that most of the people do what Chris mocks about in the article: only send out tweets or status updates of sympathy but no action. And we believe that’s enough, we believe that our meaningless participation actually effects or helps to alleviate the suffering of the victims.

One of the things that infuriates me the most is Indonesia Unite [4]. I have to say this, and I’m sure many will feel offended – since Indonesia Unite is huge here with the young generation and famous local artists, major label and minor label, are involved (and are actually turning a profit from their attachment with the cause) and it’s good for business or at least to establish more fame – but I think it’s (mostly) a big ball of bull … baloney. To think the act of putting a “twibbon” – a small emblem of the Indonesian flag on your twitter picture profile – means anything is fooling ourselves: it has no real effect in helping to solve the problem.

No glory in being a hero

Do you ever think that Hercules wanted to be Hercules; or Sherlock wanted to be a genius detective; or Jesus wanted to be the Son of God? [5] None of the great people who were great wanted to be great in the first place: it’s much more comfortable to be a normal person leading a normal life. And yet, the biggest changes in society are made by these great people.

Every “hero” would understand: there is no glory in being a hero. Every person who does action to help would understand: there’s no fun or fame for showing you care and taking the concrete steps to help. Every person who has been in the front line of defense knows, instead of gaining something we actually sacrifice things in order to change and help society to be better.

Only a rookie is eager to go to war; the veterans now there is no end to the suffering. And yet our world is full of rookies who are eager to show they want to help. Our world is full of twibbons and movements, charity concerts and 100% proceeds, but the disasters and deaths keep happening.

Show Give your support

The problem is simple: we act tough, but we cower in the face of adversity. Or, when the time comes to act, our words amount to nothing. Or, we just don’t have integrity.

Which is the worst thing that can happen to a person, when she doesn’t know she’s a hypocrite. It’s better to either be a wrong person completely and admit it, or be a right person completely and walk the walk. Being the one who talks the walk but stays at home is the worst kind, yet the majority of people have this as their primary occupation.

We’ve had enough of politics; it’s time for real action. Change isn’t in the big things but the little things (and so is the Devil, as they say). Consistently chasing down every disaster is like shooting at leaves to bring down a tree; we need to get to the root of the problem and make the change there.

Next problem: what is the root, and do you *want* to go there?

Clue: it’s not convenient, and the truth is something most people would rather ignore.

—

[1] How NOT to Help Haiti, Chris Brogan
[2] The JW Marriot Bomb on TVOne News
[3] The 2009 Sumatra Earthquakes on Wikipedia
[4] Indonesia Unite (or #indonesiaunite) became a Twitter trend after the 2009 JW Marriot bombing
[5] For dramatic emphasis, since most of these characters are fictional; though not Jesus (or as I prefer to call him: the Prophet Isa)
[6] Photograph by UNDP. For dramatic effect