I've mentioned that I worked as a consultant before. Really the job that I performed was to do quick research on certain topics and give my customers ideas to choose from.
I had quite a bit of experience with computers to draw on, but when you work in any tech field there is always going to be something new to learn.
Buckets:
I call a bucket anything that needs filling in my life. Sometimes I fill my own buckets. Sometimes I fill other people's buckets. A housewife might need to have meals ready. A construction work might need to buy a tool. Fresh towels, clean clothes, coffee and sugar in the cupboard, the money for an Internet connection ready to pay the bill. The trash is getting full (to use a literal bucket).
I have a bucket for charity. I have a bucket for my weekly rent. If I'm lucky I have pre-defined buckets to fill at work.
Recipes:
Sometimes buckets are simple to fill and only require the most basic of recipes like clearing off a desk or counter top. Getting ready in the morning when I wake up isn't very complex either, just a series of steps. A clean bathroom is a bit more complex. There are different places that need cleaning and each one takes a recipe, a specific set of instructions that build up your know-how.
Working in Information Technology you find that there are a number of big hairy problems thrown at you in different shapes, varieties and velocities at any given time. People can't get online. Someone has a virus. Someone else wants remote connectivity to their desktop at work. Someone wants a collaborative e-mail environment set up for their workforce.
Recipes should also include the tools that you need.
Puzzles:
I'm sure everyone is familiar with what a problem is. A pipe burst in the cellar. A bill collector calls. You forgot the baby's bottle at home. Your excise tax is due. Your neighbor put a fence three feet within the zone of your property. Tension with a loved one.
My role as a computer tech has been for much of my life a series of other people's problems thrown at me. I didn't resent that, I looked forward to it. These have always been puzzles for me more than problems.
To solve these puzzles I took two steps. First, I got a list of what buckets needed to be filled. Even if I didn't make a physical list on a piece of paper, I still had to know what they were. If I had not addressed this particular problem before, I would check on the Internet and see if someone else had to get ideas about what to do. After finding a potential solution I would pitch it to my customer and talk over the pros and cons. If they agreed, I would implement the recipe or "solution".
Tip: bad ingredients for recipes include disappointment and blame in order to reach objectives. Avoid these ingredients like the plague.
Snags:
Snags are present in everyone's lives. Even if the snag isn't yours, sometimes other people around you have snags that affect you. I define a snag as something that I don't have the ability to achieve on my own (or in some cases, haven't looked at objectively enough to create a recipe for).
A snag is where someone gets stuck. For one reason or another someone can't satisfy something that they either want or need to get done.
From my personal experience, I've always wanted to go on a vacation that I wanted to go on (rather than tagging along with someone else who's going somewhere I don't have much interest in). I simply haven't known how to address that problem. Frankly, I haven't ever had much interest in marching off in disgust in order to make it happen in spite of others.
Some people say that it is the words that we use that define our outlook in life. I find that only partially true. When someone is upset, relaying those emotions have distinct words. If you resent something, you resent it. There's no ifs, ands, ors, or buts about it. If you're upset, you're upset. Saying that you're "mildly distressed" is only going to delay the problem. You either resent something or you don't.
But when it comes to directions that you are going to take, when you are defining your approach to a given situation, changing the words you use has the power to get you un-snagged.
I said I simply haven't known how to address that problem. I think the issue here is that you can't address a problem. In and of itself if you call something a problem, you're calling it something that you don't want, and if you don't want something the last thing you want to do is be patient enough to look at it.
You'll likely only want to make your problem someone else's problem.
So what if my problem isn't a problem, but a puzzle? A puzzle that I can make buckets for? Buckets that I define that need filling? One bucket might be a place to put money aside for the vacation. Another bucket might be the ideas that I have for the places I'd like to go. Makes sense to me.
Now what I have isn't a problem, but a puzzle, and a recipe to fill some buckets.
I've had neck pain for the past few years. There are two common recipes for this. 1.) Go to the doctor, get prescription or therapy, repeat. 2.) Visit a chiropractor.
I did that a couple of times and it didn't do squat for me. Instead of taking the regular recipes over and over again, I found a series of simple stretches, and practiced some different posture techniques. I had to suffer through it, which wasn't pleasant at all, but I came through it.
Do you know how many recipes I had to try? About a thousand, but now I have just what I need to keep my neck and shoulder pain at bay. Three posture instructions I tell myself and three quick and easy stretches that take no more than fifteen seconds. That's my recipe.
Pitches:
There are some buckets that can't be filled by you. Sometimes you don't have the money. Sometimes you would have to learn an entirely different trade. In any case, someone else has to fill a bucket for you in order to get you out of a snag.
You're going to have to make a pitch -- unless you're going the mercenary route (which I don't advise).
It's a baseball metaphor. And you can throw all sorts of pitches.
In baseball the goal of a pitch is to strike out the batter. The goal for our pitches however have to do with us BOTH getting to first base. It's an exchange, a barter, a fair deal. It's a dance of figuring out which buckets you need filled and which buckets I need filled.
How many situations do you think you could un-snag with that philosophy?
Lets say for instance that I don't know how to build a website. How can I get that to happen? I can do all the reading and work on my own or I can get someone else to help. In order to do that I have to come up with a pitch, a recipe for sort of partnership.
The pitch needs to define the parts people are going to play. It is a partnership after all. Who is going to fill which needs? Are additional people going to be needed in order to satisfy other requirements?
In video games, it's easy. The roles are predefined. In World of Warcraft and many other role playing games you need a tank (someone to take the damage while you defeat the monster), a ranged attacker (someone who stands off at a distance to throw high-damage attacks), a healer (to keep everyone alive), and a berserker (for dealing damage when there are multiple assailants). That isn't a spot on description, but it's a decent example of pre-defined roles laid out by some game makers.
In most life situations, you'll need to follow someone else's example or come up with these roles on your own by looking at the variety of puzzles that you have in your life or business situation.
Games develop when people are stuck, competitions on the same team, making goals further off if reachable at all. What you need to figure out is who is getting stuck, where they are getting stuck, and determine what recipe is going to get that situation flowing again.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Identifying The Grind.
The bathroom is dirty again. I'm going to have to clean it. Again.
It didn't dawn on me that The Grind was the very label that most of the rest of society uses to define the unpleasant repetitive tasks that we are left to do in our daily lives.
These tasks aren't altogether unrewarding. Grinding (as it has been dubbed by video game players) yields us access to things in both video games and real life.
I know intuitively that I've neglected to look at this aspect of my life -- for most of my life.
Grinding (see the wikipedia definition) in my recent favorite free video game, The Lord of the Rings Online has dealt mostly with hunting wild animals and gathering ore in the forests of the surrounding areas, gathering their pelts and furs, and then returning to workbenches and furnaces to craft tailored items. I chose a hunter class for the character.
In the game, as I repeat these tasks, I gain experience in that given craft. If I make more cloaks, I get experience toward my Tailoring mastery, I come closer to being an expert in the craft. This makes it possible for me to make, for example, more extravagant clothing and padded armor.
In other words, my daily back-and-forth of gathering stuff and tailoring it to my needs increases my know-how, and my know-how is where I become a master, an expert, the best at doing a particular thing.
Life isn't much different, but The Grind in life doesn't have an avatar that runs without food and water. While my online character might roar when in battle, my physical persona would feel pain and like to rest a lot more often than my level sixteen dwarf needs to (which is never).
Is anyone on the planet bored of cleaning the bathroom? I get that way, apathetic. Fortunately for me I currently live in a rooming house, so while I still have to watch the messes that I make, I don't have to worry about the thorough cleanings that someone who owns their own home might. All I have to be concerned about is my room, and since I can't have company due to the rules of this place, I don't even have that motivation to keep it tidy.
Laundry is another grind. Sometimes I wonder if The Grind is a term created from sharpening axes and refining wheat, or if it's more of a matter of what people do with their teeth when they have to do laundry again this week.
I mention laundry as an example because I don't mind it. I like doing laundry. I don't like carrying my clothes four blocks to a laundromat, but I really don't mind swapping the clothes in and out of the machines or folding them when they are dry.
I used to hate folding laundry.
I didn't know how to fold shirts well, but after a few pointers I straightened up and was able to take my time enough with it that I could breath through folding laundry. It became a cathartic exercise, releasing. Maybe even zen-like. I made conversation with the ladies at the laundromat and got their pointers. I asked a few questions. I tried a few methods.
I can't tell you how many years I refused to ask others how to do something I was having trouble with. Homework to housework, I assumed it was entirely my responsibility to know how to do everything on my own. Rare it was that I would find a soul who showed me how to do anything. I usually gave up.
But life doesn't have to be like that. If there is anything you need to know how to do, there is always someone around somewhere who can help you figure out how. If you are in a place where there is no one who can show you how to do something, find another place where someone does.
There are many ways that a person can address The Grind, but primarily, most importantly I think the message I would like to convey about the difficulties of The Grind is this: there is always a way to do it without anyone involved having to become emotionally or physically depleted.
It didn't dawn on me that The Grind was the very label that most of the rest of society uses to define the unpleasant repetitive tasks that we are left to do in our daily lives.
These tasks aren't altogether unrewarding. Grinding (as it has been dubbed by video game players) yields us access to things in both video games and real life.
I know intuitively that I've neglected to look at this aspect of my life -- for most of my life.
Grinding (see the wikipedia definition) in my recent favorite free video game, The Lord of the Rings Online has dealt mostly with hunting wild animals and gathering ore in the forests of the surrounding areas, gathering their pelts and furs, and then returning to workbenches and furnaces to craft tailored items. I chose a hunter class for the character.
In the game, as I repeat these tasks, I gain experience in that given craft. If I make more cloaks, I get experience toward my Tailoring mastery, I come closer to being an expert in the craft. This makes it possible for me to make, for example, more extravagant clothing and padded armor.
In other words, my daily back-and-forth of gathering stuff and tailoring it to my needs increases my know-how, and my know-how is where I become a master, an expert, the best at doing a particular thing.
Life isn't much different, but The Grind in life doesn't have an avatar that runs without food and water. While my online character might roar when in battle, my physical persona would feel pain and like to rest a lot more often than my level sixteen dwarf needs to (which is never).
Is anyone on the planet bored of cleaning the bathroom? I get that way, apathetic. Fortunately for me I currently live in a rooming house, so while I still have to watch the messes that I make, I don't have to worry about the thorough cleanings that someone who owns their own home might. All I have to be concerned about is my room, and since I can't have company due to the rules of this place, I don't even have that motivation to keep it tidy.
Laundry is another grind. Sometimes I wonder if The Grind is a term created from sharpening axes and refining wheat, or if it's more of a matter of what people do with their teeth when they have to do laundry again this week.
I mention laundry as an example because I don't mind it. I like doing laundry. I don't like carrying my clothes four blocks to a laundromat, but I really don't mind swapping the clothes in and out of the machines or folding them when they are dry.
I used to hate folding laundry.
I didn't know how to fold shirts well, but after a few pointers I straightened up and was able to take my time enough with it that I could breath through folding laundry. It became a cathartic exercise, releasing. Maybe even zen-like. I made conversation with the ladies at the laundromat and got their pointers. I asked a few questions. I tried a few methods.
I can't tell you how many years I refused to ask others how to do something I was having trouble with. Homework to housework, I assumed it was entirely my responsibility to know how to do everything on my own. Rare it was that I would find a soul who showed me how to do anything. I usually gave up.
But life doesn't have to be like that. If there is anything you need to know how to do, there is always someone around somewhere who can help you figure out how. If you are in a place where there is no one who can show you how to do something, find another place where someone does.
There are many ways that a person can address The Grind, but primarily, most importantly I think the message I would like to convey about the difficulties of The Grind is this: there is always a way to do it without anyone involved having to become emotionally or physically depleted.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Contests of value
One man can call another man devoid of skills and that man may or may not be lying. In other words, you can call me unskilled in a particular discipline and you might be accurate. When it comes to sewing, for instance, I'm just no good at it.
This doesn't seem to be that much of a problem for me. Specifically, if you would tell me that my skills as a troubleshooter in technical support were shoddy, you would be a liar. I'm one of the best software troubleshooters on the planet. That isn't a matter of competition. I just am.
A person's value though, that's a different topic. It might seem like it's the same thing, to be unskilled versus someone making a claim that another human being is not valuable enough to keep around.
Every human being is valuable enough to keep around. Even a mass-murderer, if imprisoned, is still capable of contributing to society. Even if it's just knitting.
One could debate that the cost of the man's imprisonment wouldn't be covered by his humane labor, but that might be the crux of it.
The question becomes this: when does one man have a right to call another man a disappointment? That is where the question of a person's value comes in to play.
No man can be a disappointment to anyone other than those he is responsible for. Those are questions for God to answer. No man can measure the struggle in another man's heart -- or a woman's (with except rare exceptions by maybe Jesus and Mohammad or Buddha).
There are things to appreciate about any human being.
Take the glass is half full versus the glass is half empty, a metaphor often used to determine one's outlook to situations on a regular basis. The insinuation (as I intuitively gather) is that this means that I am either a negative or positive person at the time.
In the same regard, contests of value can be used in much the same way. One can try and sway the opinion of people to look at a person's value as the half empty glass, convince others that the person devoid of value. One could also attempt to have everyone look only at the positive attributes of an individual.
A bad contest, but one that most people have seen I suspect, if they've been to public school in the past few decades.
Contests are everywhere from sweepstakes to marathons. There's nothing wrong with contests in general. People work hard to be the best at something and they want some recognition for it. Nothing wrong with recognizing people for their hard work and applied talents. I don't see anything wrong with raising awareness of a product though the buzz of a giveaway.
But when it comes to the value of human life, there is no contest. There is no knowledge of what a person will achieve in their life. There is no knowledge of how a person has been wronged unless you have been wronged in the same fashion.
It's a matter of resources and agendas as a goal, but much more subtle than threats and intimidation. Someone might simply try and work harder than me in order to prove he should be more valued.
I myself have been subconsciously attracted to the idea that if I knew more than others about getting computers to work that I would be somehow rewarded.
Don't get me wrong. Knowing how to do what it is that I do is a good thing. A good thing. But it's a matter of struggle, of reason why I should be accepted over another human being.
If I were a famous man: a movie star, the president, a quarterback for a famous football team and I said that my life is worth no more than yours, would that be relieving? Would it make it easier for us to be friends? Would you heart loosen it's grip on the necessity of trying to be something that you are not?
In any regard. I am not a famous man, and I am not a rich man. I keep the bonds I have with those that I love the best I can. I try and learn skills and employ them in manners that offer me both reward and relief. I am fair to others and myself as best I can be, to the limits of my humanity.
These limits, these reasonable places where our commitments stop reaching, are often the reason that these contests of value take place. Because when you are made to work harder and faster than you are capable of, when you are beyond your limits, your human heart has no recourse but to try and find blame.
I have no need to be more than myself. I appreciate about life what I appreciate. You appreciate about life what you appreciate.
Often people get confused there, I think, where people's appreciations become mixed. Keyword coming up here: when people's appreciation become mixed, not knowing what they truly enjoy about life, these appreciations become a matter of value, then developing a contest over it.
Rather than a one-to-one connection, appreciation turns into a tool of bartering.
I will qualify this.
My vanilla ice cream has fallen victim to this time and time again. In fact my vanilla ice cream has been so shamed that I feel like less than a person to admit that I love it. It's been suggested that my poor vanilla ice cream has no flavor at all. A travesty.
The best flavor? It hasn't been decided yet. It's a moving target. It's somewhere between velvet hazelnut frappuccino and lemon raspberry gingerbread.
Those sound pretty great actually. And if those flavors are ever made, I'll be sure and try them. But the point of this is not to make your mouth water. The point I'm trying to make is that favoritism is what becomes a matter of value for contests.
Per quart I would have to guess that these ice creams are probably the same amount of money. So the value that I'm talking about here isn't summed up in dollars and change. It's the kudos. And what flavors get which kudos.
I have to ask. When was the last time you actually tried to taste vanilla? I don't mean put vanilla in your stomach. I mean taste it. That is where the appreciation is.
Don't get me wrong. I know flavors get boring. Day in, day out, vanilla. I get it. Who wants vanilla all the time? I'm not saying that you're supposed to like vanilla all the time.
The right sneakers: Air Jordan's, I have to admit, I love the freaking sneakers. All I can afford is New Balances. They work well enough. But the contest? The contest tells us that only Air Jordan's will do.
But that is where the contest of value is: the attributes of things. Where they came from. Who made them. What color they are. Is it a gay color? Is it a boring flavor. Does it send the right message?
As I sat in the middle of a value-contest today (one that I won't remark on due to the highly sensitive nature of these contests -- hence why I used ice cream) I asked myself this question: why do I feel so threatened by these contests of value?
I came up with the answer. I don't feel safe within them. It isn't because I'm incapable of competing. I am of a decent enough build. I have my hair. My teeth look okay. I could buy some different clothes. I can throw a decent right. I could use hurtful wit to make other people feel bad. I could intimidate people who are friends with pretty girls.
But for who? For what? For someone who loves my contest winnings? Someone who loves my trophies and not me as a person?
Is that person going to take care of me when I'm sick? Are they going to give a shit if someone I love dies? Would that person be my partner in our common struggles or someone who only wants to show me off?
The only reason these contests hold power over people is because they contain intrinsically the power to gloat. Gloating is a large piece of the least important material on the planet.
Compare winner and loser with the word brother or sister. With the word friend. How about with fellow human being. Instinctively when these things are paired, the contests seem to shut down, moral fortitude kicks in. But to have these things removed and to have only the contests of value to drive one towards more for you life, how do they end?
These contests not only contain the power to gloat at the end of the race, but the unerring ability to eventually evolve violence and abandonment, even murder.
Take inner city folk. I'm one of them presently. In these parts the most people have to look forward to is welfare and food stamps (and pantries). People are suffocated for both resources and dignity.
People don't have the money to fix their teeth: they are shamed. People don't have the money for the right sneakers: they are shamed. People don't have the money for food: they are forced to food pantries and food stamps (which face it, is commonly also given shame). People don't have the strength to carry things from point A to point B so they use a shopping cart: they are shamed. People don't have transportation so they buy a SCOOTER: they are shamed.
And amidst all these shames, amidst all these hardships that one has to endure, throw on top of the the gloating of the "haves". Those who think it looks "silly" that people are on scooters. The people who are doing the shaming. The people who have won the value contests.
Couple that with the pressure of being the right kind of anything.
Here is the fundamental hypocrisy that I find in these attitudes. Any of these people who put another nail in these situations has never had to go through the same struggle.
I've stated before in this blog that it is necessary to have support in order to thrive, and I suspect that most of the people who will read ever read this blog have the support that the people I'm talking about don't have.
You have some sort of an Internet connection. You have (or had) parents who cared about you and passed down the values of their heritage. You've had some sort of an education where it's been more important to learn than to prove you aren't fit to be the Rudolph of the school, the scapegoat of angst, the sacrifice for our inadequacies.
If I had to wager, I'd put my money that that is what we are all afraid of at our core. That we are the ones who are going to be outcast, shamed, un-needed, deserving of being offed.
Our tailored suits might cover it. A BMW might provide a temporary place to hide. A good education might provide a safe vantage point to throw rocks from for a while. Having taken advantage of a good opportunity might even breed the illusion that everyone has them available (as not all people can meet the same opportunities that someone else did -- unless they are supposed to have the same valued attributes, I suppose).
These things build up. Tensions rise from the contests of value. Parents hold out a carrot for their kids. "Hey, if you're more like this, I might actually invest in you."
Children see that the guys on the football team are more admired by the pretty girls. So what's more important? Sports or education?
Television shows young ladies that it's more important to be thin than healthy. Young men too.
Triple fruit sorbet or vanilla ice cream? Vans, Chucks, or Air Jordan's? Electric scooter or Harley? Can I get away with just riding a bicycle?
The right stuff. That is what these contests are calling for. Smoke weed or not smoke weed? Drop acid or not drop acid? Drive recklessly or not drive recklessly? Get a loud radio to harass every living person within three blocks or not use a loud radio to harass every living person within three blocks?
Permission gets drawn from the attributes that others place value in, rather than from the guidance of our fathers, our mothers, our teachers.
None of these contests of value will ever tell you what things mean to you. The trading market of the perfect attributes of people and things will never get you to happiness. They will never build an unbreakable bond with another human being. They will never, ever tell you what you find important about life.
These contests encourage people to believe they are failures. Because they use shopping carts and scooters to alleviate their burdens. Because you love a girl for her commitment to the needs of others but everyone else thinks she's worthless because she won't conform. Because you have a preference for vanilla ice cream.
Someday people are going to smell the coffee for themselves rather than for their acceptance. Someday people are going to wake up and realize that the price of a good cigar is precisely the amount of money you paid for the one that you like. Someday people are going to realize that it is these contests of value that create the need to punish people with what they deserve.
Someday people are going to figure it out.
No matter how much others will try and convince us otherwise, no matter how badly the unappreciated want to shame others to get what they want, people will eventually stop being afraid of not meeting the standards of value contests and come to grips with this one simple fact:
We are all worth the same.
This doesn't seem to be that much of a problem for me. Specifically, if you would tell me that my skills as a troubleshooter in technical support were shoddy, you would be a liar. I'm one of the best software troubleshooters on the planet. That isn't a matter of competition. I just am.
A person's value though, that's a different topic. It might seem like it's the same thing, to be unskilled versus someone making a claim that another human being is not valuable enough to keep around.
Every human being is valuable enough to keep around. Even a mass-murderer, if imprisoned, is still capable of contributing to society. Even if it's just knitting.
One could debate that the cost of the man's imprisonment wouldn't be covered by his humane labor, but that might be the crux of it.
The question becomes this: when does one man have a right to call another man a disappointment? That is where the question of a person's value comes in to play.
No man can be a disappointment to anyone other than those he is responsible for. Those are questions for God to answer. No man can measure the struggle in another man's heart -- or a woman's (with except rare exceptions by maybe Jesus and Mohammad or Buddha).
There are things to appreciate about any human being.
Take the glass is half full versus the glass is half empty, a metaphor often used to determine one's outlook to situations on a regular basis. The insinuation (as I intuitively gather) is that this means that I am either a negative or positive person at the time.
In the same regard, contests of value can be used in much the same way. One can try and sway the opinion of people to look at a person's value as the half empty glass, convince others that the person devoid of value. One could also attempt to have everyone look only at the positive attributes of an individual.
A bad contest, but one that most people have seen I suspect, if they've been to public school in the past few decades.
Contests are everywhere from sweepstakes to marathons. There's nothing wrong with contests in general. People work hard to be the best at something and they want some recognition for it. Nothing wrong with recognizing people for their hard work and applied talents. I don't see anything wrong with raising awareness of a product though the buzz of a giveaway.
But when it comes to the value of human life, there is no contest. There is no knowledge of what a person will achieve in their life. There is no knowledge of how a person has been wronged unless you have been wronged in the same fashion.
It's a matter of resources and agendas as a goal, but much more subtle than threats and intimidation. Someone might simply try and work harder than me in order to prove he should be more valued.
I myself have been subconsciously attracted to the idea that if I knew more than others about getting computers to work that I would be somehow rewarded.
Don't get me wrong. Knowing how to do what it is that I do is a good thing. A good thing. But it's a matter of struggle, of reason why I should be accepted over another human being.
If I were a famous man: a movie star, the president, a quarterback for a famous football team and I said that my life is worth no more than yours, would that be relieving? Would it make it easier for us to be friends? Would you heart loosen it's grip on the necessity of trying to be something that you are not?
In any regard. I am not a famous man, and I am not a rich man. I keep the bonds I have with those that I love the best I can. I try and learn skills and employ them in manners that offer me both reward and relief. I am fair to others and myself as best I can be, to the limits of my humanity.
These limits, these reasonable places where our commitments stop reaching, are often the reason that these contests of value take place. Because when you are made to work harder and faster than you are capable of, when you are beyond your limits, your human heart has no recourse but to try and find blame.
I have no need to be more than myself. I appreciate about life what I appreciate. You appreciate about life what you appreciate.
Often people get confused there, I think, where people's appreciations become mixed. Keyword coming up here: when people's appreciation become mixed, not knowing what they truly enjoy about life, these appreciations become a matter of value, then developing a contest over it.
Rather than a one-to-one connection, appreciation turns into a tool of bartering.
I will qualify this.
My vanilla ice cream has fallen victim to this time and time again. In fact my vanilla ice cream has been so shamed that I feel like less than a person to admit that I love it. It's been suggested that my poor vanilla ice cream has no flavor at all. A travesty.
The best flavor? It hasn't been decided yet. It's a moving target. It's somewhere between velvet hazelnut frappuccino and lemon raspberry gingerbread.
Those sound pretty great actually. And if those flavors are ever made, I'll be sure and try them. But the point of this is not to make your mouth water. The point I'm trying to make is that favoritism is what becomes a matter of value for contests.
Per quart I would have to guess that these ice creams are probably the same amount of money. So the value that I'm talking about here isn't summed up in dollars and change. It's the kudos. And what flavors get which kudos.
I have to ask. When was the last time you actually tried to taste vanilla? I don't mean put vanilla in your stomach. I mean taste it. That is where the appreciation is.
Don't get me wrong. I know flavors get boring. Day in, day out, vanilla. I get it. Who wants vanilla all the time? I'm not saying that you're supposed to like vanilla all the time.
The right sneakers: Air Jordan's, I have to admit, I love the freaking sneakers. All I can afford is New Balances. They work well enough. But the contest? The contest tells us that only Air Jordan's will do.
But that is where the contest of value is: the attributes of things. Where they came from. Who made them. What color they are. Is it a gay color? Is it a boring flavor. Does it send the right message?
As I sat in the middle of a value-contest today (one that I won't remark on due to the highly sensitive nature of these contests -- hence why I used ice cream) I asked myself this question: why do I feel so threatened by these contests of value?
I came up with the answer. I don't feel safe within them. It isn't because I'm incapable of competing. I am of a decent enough build. I have my hair. My teeth look okay. I could buy some different clothes. I can throw a decent right. I could use hurtful wit to make other people feel bad. I could intimidate people who are friends with pretty girls.
But for who? For what? For someone who loves my contest winnings? Someone who loves my trophies and not me as a person?
Is that person going to take care of me when I'm sick? Are they going to give a shit if someone I love dies? Would that person be my partner in our common struggles or someone who only wants to show me off?
The only reason these contests hold power over people is because they contain intrinsically the power to gloat. Gloating is a large piece of the least important material on the planet.
Compare winner and loser with the word brother or sister. With the word friend. How about with fellow human being. Instinctively when these things are paired, the contests seem to shut down, moral fortitude kicks in. But to have these things removed and to have only the contests of value to drive one towards more for you life, how do they end?
These contests not only contain the power to gloat at the end of the race, but the unerring ability to eventually evolve violence and abandonment, even murder.
Take inner city folk. I'm one of them presently. In these parts the most people have to look forward to is welfare and food stamps (and pantries). People are suffocated for both resources and dignity.
People don't have the money to fix their teeth: they are shamed. People don't have the money for the right sneakers: they are shamed. People don't have the money for food: they are forced to food pantries and food stamps (which face it, is commonly also given shame). People don't have the strength to carry things from point A to point B so they use a shopping cart: they are shamed. People don't have transportation so they buy a SCOOTER: they are shamed.
And amidst all these shames, amidst all these hardships that one has to endure, throw on top of the the gloating of the "haves". Those who think it looks "silly" that people are on scooters. The people who are doing the shaming. The people who have won the value contests.
Couple that with the pressure of being the right kind of anything.
Here is the fundamental hypocrisy that I find in these attitudes. Any of these people who put another nail in these situations has never had to go through the same struggle.
I've stated before in this blog that it is necessary to have support in order to thrive, and I suspect that most of the people who will read ever read this blog have the support that the people I'm talking about don't have.
You have some sort of an Internet connection. You have (or had) parents who cared about you and passed down the values of their heritage. You've had some sort of an education where it's been more important to learn than to prove you aren't fit to be the Rudolph of the school, the scapegoat of angst, the sacrifice for our inadequacies.
If I had to wager, I'd put my money that that is what we are all afraid of at our core. That we are the ones who are going to be outcast, shamed, un-needed, deserving of being offed.
Our tailored suits might cover it. A BMW might provide a temporary place to hide. A good education might provide a safe vantage point to throw rocks from for a while. Having taken advantage of a good opportunity might even breed the illusion that everyone has them available (as not all people can meet the same opportunities that someone else did -- unless they are supposed to have the same valued attributes, I suppose).
These things build up. Tensions rise from the contests of value. Parents hold out a carrot for their kids. "Hey, if you're more like this, I might actually invest in you."
Children see that the guys on the football team are more admired by the pretty girls. So what's more important? Sports or education?
Television shows young ladies that it's more important to be thin than healthy. Young men too.
Triple fruit sorbet or vanilla ice cream? Vans, Chucks, or Air Jordan's? Electric scooter or Harley? Can I get away with just riding a bicycle?
The right stuff. That is what these contests are calling for. Smoke weed or not smoke weed? Drop acid or not drop acid? Drive recklessly or not drive recklessly? Get a loud radio to harass every living person within three blocks or not use a loud radio to harass every living person within three blocks?
Permission gets drawn from the attributes that others place value in, rather than from the guidance of our fathers, our mothers, our teachers.
None of these contests of value will ever tell you what things mean to you. The trading market of the perfect attributes of people and things will never get you to happiness. They will never build an unbreakable bond with another human being. They will never, ever tell you what you find important about life.
These contests encourage people to believe they are failures. Because they use shopping carts and scooters to alleviate their burdens. Because you love a girl for her commitment to the needs of others but everyone else thinks she's worthless because she won't conform. Because you have a preference for vanilla ice cream.
Someday people are going to smell the coffee for themselves rather than for their acceptance. Someday people are going to wake up and realize that the price of a good cigar is precisely the amount of money you paid for the one that you like. Someday people are going to realize that it is these contests of value that create the need to punish people with what they deserve.
Someday people are going to figure it out.
No matter how much others will try and convince us otherwise, no matter how badly the unappreciated want to shame others to get what they want, people will eventually stop being afraid of not meeting the standards of value contests and come to grips with this one simple fact:
We are all worth the same.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Race. Is it a competition or a cooperation?
What does it mean to be a member of a race? There are a few.
There's a rat race. There's the human race. There are the difference ethnic races.
It's the meaning that the word holds that gives me pause. Are we competing?
The word race means to me that there are different kinds of people in the world. We look different. Remove deodorant and we would probably all smell different.
What bothers me the most about the word race is that it seems all too often that instead of defining differences in order to appreciate different strengths and areas where others can use assistance, it's used to create sentiments of disappointment.
What is a racist? Am I a racist? I'm not sure if that question is so easy to answer. Do I contribute to racism? I'm sure I have accidentally, at one point or another, because I spoke without thinking first.
It's difficult to resist being a racist. There are so many mocking sentiments about other types of people that it can be difficult to find where I truly stand.
Does being a man mean I need to find some way to be superior or does it mean I need to find a way to be more useful?
People take it personally when I choose not to be a member of their clique.
With African Americans living in the United States, I think the situation is even more complex than this. A lot of African Americans are poor. Their heritage has been nearly obliterated by slavery. What has not been restored through personal struggles and prosperity?
Someone decided that the word race is to imply different lineage, different ancestry. It apparently caught on. But does the meaning of the word reflect what is in people's hearts? That's my question.
Is another type of person something to get ahead of?
There's a rat race. There's the human race. There are the difference ethnic races.
It's the meaning that the word holds that gives me pause. Are we competing?
The word race means to me that there are different kinds of people in the world. We look different. Remove deodorant and we would probably all smell different.
What bothers me the most about the word race is that it seems all too often that instead of defining differences in order to appreciate different strengths and areas where others can use assistance, it's used to create sentiments of disappointment.
What is a racist? Am I a racist? I'm not sure if that question is so easy to answer. Do I contribute to racism? I'm sure I have accidentally, at one point or another, because I spoke without thinking first.
It's difficult to resist being a racist. There are so many mocking sentiments about other types of people that it can be difficult to find where I truly stand.
Does being a man mean I need to find some way to be superior or does it mean I need to find a way to be more useful?
People take it personally when I choose not to be a member of their clique.
With African Americans living in the United States, I think the situation is even more complex than this. A lot of African Americans are poor. Their heritage has been nearly obliterated by slavery. What has not been restored through personal struggles and prosperity?
Someone decided that the word race is to imply different lineage, different ancestry. It apparently caught on. But does the meaning of the word reflect what is in people's hearts? That's my question.
Is another type of person something to get ahead of?
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Taking a walk: Location, location, location.
The market is a very general term. Based on context it can mean a single building where goods are sold or it can mean the entire network of transactions between business entities.
I've been doing a great deal of walking lately. I've been looking at every proprietorship I can get my eyes on and asking questions about these businesses. Where do they get their stock? What makes their products alluring to me? Why would I want to buy something from them? I wonder how much their rent is. Where do they get customers from? Do any of these business owners have problems they might pay to have resolved? How did they get their start? What buildings would I want to buy in this area if I had the money? Where is the most foot traffic?
It's an old business adage I've heard repeated my entire life. What are the three most important things about business? Answer: Location, location, location. When it comes to business they say this is the most important thing.
My observations lead me to believe this is because different locations have different potential traffic passing by that is going to stop and buy something. There are simply more chances that your product or service will be noticed.
People travel from point A to point B. If you are in the midst of that, you're the most likely to get your products or services noticed.
Where are the customers already traveling? I have portion of my personal website dedicated to energy drinks. I used to have 300+ visitors per day. How likely would I have been able to turn those visits into selling them energy drinks online? Fairly possible I'd say. I created an informational site and put advertising on it. What I didn't think to do was to offer the sale of cases of energy drinks. Nor did I think to create variety cases for sale. I probably should have.
Perhaps that's still a possibility for me.
Customers are also centered around semi-monopolistic companies (meaning companies with a diverse product offering in a particular genre). What if I could market to all of Verizon's customers? Or how about all the people in a particular union?
Where is the watering hole for the customers you want and how can you get near their path to get noticed? Is it a particular website? The chamber of commerce? How about a skating rink? An interstate on-ramp? Someone's home page when they start their browser? A weather report on television? A forum? The entrance to an industrial park? A local user group? A college?
How about a vendor your customers use that is not a direct competitor of yours?
What I've been looking at the most is foot traffic in my city and which businesses prosper from it.
When you don't have traffic (foot, car, or web) to rely on, another marketing principle is the "vertical market". How I was introduced to this business concept is a little different from what I've read. (The definition of a vertical market is not the same in economic text books).
Here is the difference between a regular product or service and one tailored to a "niche market" (I like niche better than vertical. I'm not sure why that term stuck in my head all these years). You could make a DVD player and market it to the consumer - the entire consumer marketplace. You could otherwise make a DVD player that is made specifically for mounting in SUV's.
If you made a DVD player strictly for SUV's, you are going to have less advertising overhead because you're only marketing to SUV manufacturers (or after-market consumers) rather than all people who might by a DVD player.
These smaller markets are typically where one can find business to do with little to no competition. That's why finding a niche is so important. You can get a head start before anyone else shows up rather than compete with others for a share.
I can make web sites for everyone or I can make websites for sporting goods stores. These niche markets are much easier to prepare for because customer requests and complaints are going to be less diverse. You're also going to have a more intimate knowledge of your customers' operational needs. It's a more focused area to work in. If you are not fond of getting tired out, I suggest preparing for niches you are interested in.
Think about your skills and open up the yellow pages. You'll probably think of two or three niches in about five minutes just by looking at how these businesses are grouped.
If I were a computer person (which I am), my best bet would probably be to get familiar with the most profitable businesses in my area and get on the phone with someone who works there to ask them what problems they face that I could help get acquainted with -- even offering to work for free in order to get familiar with their needs on a trial basis.
How would that sound if you were a business owner? I need customers so I'll work for you for free for three hours in order to get you as a client. No obligations. Does that sound like a fair deal?
That three hours I spend with them can help me pitch an even better deal for the next customer with similar problems in the market. It will get me acquainted with their software and operational needs. Most of all it will let me know almost immediately what is bothering them the most about their computers.
And knowing what computer problems a customer has (as a computer guy) is pure gold when it comes to preparing options to make pitches to customers in a niche market.
I've been doing a great deal of walking lately. I've been looking at every proprietorship I can get my eyes on and asking questions about these businesses. Where do they get their stock? What makes their products alluring to me? Why would I want to buy something from them? I wonder how much their rent is. Where do they get customers from? Do any of these business owners have problems they might pay to have resolved? How did they get their start? What buildings would I want to buy in this area if I had the money? Where is the most foot traffic?
It's an old business adage I've heard repeated my entire life. What are the three most important things about business? Answer: Location, location, location. When it comes to business they say this is the most important thing.
My observations lead me to believe this is because different locations have different potential traffic passing by that is going to stop and buy something. There are simply more chances that your product or service will be noticed.
People travel from point A to point B. If you are in the midst of that, you're the most likely to get your products or services noticed.
Where are the customers already traveling? I have portion of my personal website dedicated to energy drinks. I used to have 300+ visitors per day. How likely would I have been able to turn those visits into selling them energy drinks online? Fairly possible I'd say. I created an informational site and put advertising on it. What I didn't think to do was to offer the sale of cases of energy drinks. Nor did I think to create variety cases for sale. I probably should have.
Perhaps that's still a possibility for me.
Customers are also centered around semi-monopolistic companies (meaning companies with a diverse product offering in a particular genre). What if I could market to all of Verizon's customers? Or how about all the people in a particular union?
Where is the watering hole for the customers you want and how can you get near their path to get noticed? Is it a particular website? The chamber of commerce? How about a skating rink? An interstate on-ramp? Someone's home page when they start their browser? A weather report on television? A forum? The entrance to an industrial park? A local user group? A college?
How about a vendor your customers use that is not a direct competitor of yours?
What I've been looking at the most is foot traffic in my city and which businesses prosper from it.
When you don't have traffic (foot, car, or web) to rely on, another marketing principle is the "vertical market". How I was introduced to this business concept is a little different from what I've read. (The definition of a vertical market is not the same in economic text books).
Here is the difference between a regular product or service and one tailored to a "niche market" (I like niche better than vertical. I'm not sure why that term stuck in my head all these years). You could make a DVD player and market it to the consumer - the entire consumer marketplace. You could otherwise make a DVD player that is made specifically for mounting in SUV's.
If you made a DVD player strictly for SUV's, you are going to have less advertising overhead because you're only marketing to SUV manufacturers (or after-market consumers) rather than all people who might by a DVD player.
These smaller markets are typically where one can find business to do with little to no competition. That's why finding a niche is so important. You can get a head start before anyone else shows up rather than compete with others for a share.
I can make web sites for everyone or I can make websites for sporting goods stores. These niche markets are much easier to prepare for because customer requests and complaints are going to be less diverse. You're also going to have a more intimate knowledge of your customers' operational needs. It's a more focused area to work in. If you are not fond of getting tired out, I suggest preparing for niches you are interested in.
Think about your skills and open up the yellow pages. You'll probably think of two or three niches in about five minutes just by looking at how these businesses are grouped.
If I were a computer person (which I am), my best bet would probably be to get familiar with the most profitable businesses in my area and get on the phone with someone who works there to ask them what problems they face that I could help get acquainted with -- even offering to work for free in order to get familiar with their needs on a trial basis.
How would that sound if you were a business owner? I need customers so I'll work for you for free for three hours in order to get you as a client. No obligations. Does that sound like a fair deal?
That three hours I spend with them can help me pitch an even better deal for the next customer with similar problems in the market. It will get me acquainted with their software and operational needs. Most of all it will let me know almost immediately what is bothering them the most about their computers.
And knowing what computer problems a customer has (as a computer guy) is pure gold when it comes to preparing options to make pitches to customers in a niche market.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Two planning approaches
It could be said another way. It could be said there are two types of gains: short-term and long-term.
When it comes to creating initiatives though, I can only see two options as far as putting my effort into things. Making a fast buck or making a steady buck.
Both require an investment.
As an example, let's take our flag guy who made out by predicting what was going to happen after the 9-11 attacks. He invested in flags, after watching the last time the nation took a hit and what the reaction in the market was. That would be a major success in short term gains as it provided him with a temporary monopoly due to flag availability. He also had the previous experience of watching what happened the last time flags were scarce in the US after a previous tragedy. (Note: when it comes to profiting off of the hardships of others, I'm definitely not a fan.).
In another example, one might continually prepare to make a better pizza in hopes of having it available on command or making awesome pastry. Creating a platform of skills to offer customers on demand. Learning how to write music; that takes some investment.
The difference between to the two seems to be where the investment takes place. The short score would be investing time in watching the reactions of markets so one is prepared for the next lucrative event. The long term score would be to create better foundations for customer offerings, like learning a trade to gain employment but instead creating a way to be ready for your customers.
The risks seem different too. While our flag entrepreneur risks a lot of up front money by purchasing all kinds of flags, the baker risks his vested time in hopes of learning what he must in order to stay afloat.
Next up: Either that "taking a walk" idea I mentioned in the last post or "building the system". I'm not sure which yet.
When it comes to creating initiatives though, I can only see two options as far as putting my effort into things. Making a fast buck or making a steady buck.
Both require an investment.
As an example, let's take our flag guy who made out by predicting what was going to happen after the 9-11 attacks. He invested in flags, after watching the last time the nation took a hit and what the reaction in the market was. That would be a major success in short term gains as it provided him with a temporary monopoly due to flag availability. He also had the previous experience of watching what happened the last time flags were scarce in the US after a previous tragedy. (Note: when it comes to profiting off of the hardships of others, I'm definitely not a fan.).
In another example, one might continually prepare to make a better pizza in hopes of having it available on command or making awesome pastry. Creating a platform of skills to offer customers on demand. Learning how to write music; that takes some investment.
The difference between to the two seems to be where the investment takes place. The short score would be investing time in watching the reactions of markets so one is prepared for the next lucrative event. The long term score would be to create better foundations for customer offerings, like learning a trade to gain employment but instead creating a way to be ready for your customers.
The risks seem different too. While our flag entrepreneur risks a lot of up front money by purchasing all kinds of flags, the baker risks his vested time in hopes of learning what he must in order to stay afloat.
Next up: Either that "taking a walk" idea I mentioned in the last post or "building the system". I'm not sure which yet.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The principle of regular availability.
I worked at a pizza take-out restaurant in my late teens and early twenties. While this was a virtual gold-mine for a number of business concepts for me personally, there is one situation that the owner faced that I would like to bring up.
Lunch.
We typically opened at 4pm, on time to prepare food items for the dinner rush. Delivery drivers would flock in the door at 5pm and get ready to make their deliveries. The phones would start ringing.
The owner had taken to showing up much earlier than 4pm. He told me that he was getting calls earlier in the day from some of the local businesses asking for lunch orders. Unfortunately, nothing was prepared. The pizza oven was off. There were no drivers. He had to apologize to them.
I believe when it came to one day where there were five or six people who called asking, he was really interested in the prospect of more orders.
He decided to open at 11am for a few weeks. He did this on and off for a few months. When he would prepare early he wouldn't get any orders. Then later when he would be early but not prepare for lunch, he would get callers asking if he was open.
He was perplexed and he asked me the question. Was it worth it? I had no idea at the time.
Enter Taco Bell. Are they open late? Do you know for sure?
The truth of the matter is that not all Taco Bells are open until 2. I suppose the individual franchise owners decided against it for money's sake so they stopped the 2am advertising to substitute the phrase "Open Late".
I contrasted the ideas between the pizza restaurant owner and Taco Bell. The times were different, but the principle seemed to be the same.
When it's lunch time, who is open? When it's 12pm on a Sunday, who is open?
If I were back at that pizza restaurant I would have said to him, open at 11am. Then market to the businesses and wait. If they know you are open, they are going to get tired of what they eat for lunch eventually and give you a try.
So years later I have an answer for my friend by drawing this conclusion: It isn't so much about whether or not people are going to order for lunch. The real question is, are you an available option for lunch when they are going to eventually order?
That pizza restaurant owner eventually sold the business, but I wish I had known then what I know now. Those customers he turned away would probably not call back even though he had opened. If it were me, I would have started to open the doors at 11am and then delivered one free small cheese pizza, a coupon for another free small cheese (delivered to get them over the hurdle of ordering from us as a habit), and then given them discounts based on individual orders and bulk orders.
Why do people order as a group for lunch? Why do they order alone? How are you going to get new customers over the hump of habit in order to order from you?
People need to learn through experience or advertising that you are available to services their needs. And giving people better options for their lunches would have been a great way to get those folks coming back again and again.
My advice? Really look at the business opportunity and ask more than one or two questions. Then be prepared for what you are going to offer. Then learn to be the best at it.
The question becomes, how do you find what you want to do? How will you know if it's something that you're going to be bored of in just a few months and not want to do it anymore?
Answer: You go for a walk and check some stuff out.
Lunch.
We typically opened at 4pm, on time to prepare food items for the dinner rush. Delivery drivers would flock in the door at 5pm and get ready to make their deliveries. The phones would start ringing.
The owner had taken to showing up much earlier than 4pm. He told me that he was getting calls earlier in the day from some of the local businesses asking for lunch orders. Unfortunately, nothing was prepared. The pizza oven was off. There were no drivers. He had to apologize to them.
I believe when it came to one day where there were five or six people who called asking, he was really interested in the prospect of more orders.
He decided to open at 11am for a few weeks. He did this on and off for a few months. When he would prepare early he wouldn't get any orders. Then later when he would be early but not prepare for lunch, he would get callers asking if he was open.
He was perplexed and he asked me the question. Was it worth it? I had no idea at the time.
Enter Taco Bell. Are they open late? Do you know for sure?
The truth of the matter is that not all Taco Bells are open until 2. I suppose the individual franchise owners decided against it for money's sake so they stopped the 2am advertising to substitute the phrase "Open Late".
I contrasted the ideas between the pizza restaurant owner and Taco Bell. The times were different, but the principle seemed to be the same.
When it's lunch time, who is open? When it's 12pm on a Sunday, who is open?
If I were back at that pizza restaurant I would have said to him, open at 11am. Then market to the businesses and wait. If they know you are open, they are going to get tired of what they eat for lunch eventually and give you a try.
So years later I have an answer for my friend by drawing this conclusion: It isn't so much about whether or not people are going to order for lunch. The real question is, are you an available option for lunch when they are going to eventually order?
That pizza restaurant owner eventually sold the business, but I wish I had known then what I know now. Those customers he turned away would probably not call back even though he had opened. If it were me, I would have started to open the doors at 11am and then delivered one free small cheese pizza, a coupon for another free small cheese (delivered to get them over the hurdle of ordering from us as a habit), and then given them discounts based on individual orders and bulk orders.
Why do people order as a group for lunch? Why do they order alone? How are you going to get new customers over the hump of habit in order to order from you?
People need to learn through experience or advertising that you are available to services their needs. And giving people better options for their lunches would have been a great way to get those folks coming back again and again.
My advice? Really look at the business opportunity and ask more than one or two questions. Then be prepared for what you are going to offer. Then learn to be the best at it.
The question becomes, how do you find what you want to do? How will you know if it's something that you're going to be bored of in just a few months and not want to do it anymore?
Answer: You go for a walk and check some stuff out.
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