Month: June 2024

 

I am guilty of using this term ” Republic of Not Enough ” many a times on this blog. Probably an outcome of observing people (yours truly included) unwilling to look up from our ” ledger of lack “. Big Tech and their well( or is it veil) crafted algorithms nudging you perennially into FOMO( Fear of Missing Out) mode, never lets you off the hook.

 

If perfect (in lieu of being content) is the default expectation dancing in our heads all the time, it is an unattainable destination that is rarely reached taking us down the rabbit hole of wanting  more  in comparison to someone else, as what you are whining about is that you never have enough.

 

The only thing that whining or complaining does is to convince other people that you are not in control. Helpful? Far from it. And for all those who are under the mistaken impression that whining burns calories, sorry to disappoint you..it doesn’t!!

 

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are far more blessed than the million plus people who will not survive this week. If you can read this blog then you are far more fortunate than the millions who cannot read it at all. Are you ready to compare now?

 

Nobody is going to invite you and say ‘ here’s some cheese to go with your whine “- Whining, at best, is a symptom, it’s rarely a cure for anything. So, you know what to opt out of!

We are all fellow travelers in the hedonic treadmill. The hedonic treadmill( or hedonic adaptation) is the idea that an individual’s level of happiness, after rising or falling in response to positive or negative life events, ultimately tends to move back toward where it was prior to these experiences. Leading to the never ending pursuit for more. Exactly what big brands tap into- the attraction of ‘ the thrill of the chase “- the shiny new object syndrome.

 

So, time to step off the hedonic treadmill. Elimination and subtraction is a powerful proxy to make progress. So is discomfort. But the jury seems to be still out on that since we live in the ‘Republic of Not Enough‘ and ‘more‘ is the operative four letter word.

 

Comparison is an act of violence against the self. It is a thug that robs your joy. So, where are you headed?

 

There is tremendous power resident within the act of saying no. The domino effect is that we tend to value ourselves more, prioritize ourselves and can even lead us to new opportunities that wouldn’t have been achievable by saying yes. It also allows us to set boundaries.

 

Way back in the mid 1970s there was a book released titled ” Don’t Say Yes When You Want to Say No ” which got cult status in transforming mindsets. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with saying no when necessary. This includes when you simply don’t have the energy to do everything you’re asked or when you want to prioritize self-care.

 

As they say, “ the best movies are so not because of what you see, but because what you don’t see “. The director and editor would be in tandem saying no to such stock even though it might be alluring to retain it within the film but because they realise that leaving out will only add to the appeal and the aura of the film.

If you are tongue tied up about saying no, and find it hard to articulate it, here is an incredible example that you would want to take inspiration from. Writer and translator Estelle Gilson picks up this extract of a rejection slip put out by a Chinese economic journal :-

 

“We have read your manuscript with boundless delight. If we were to publish your paper, it would be impossible for us to publish any work of lower standard. And as it is unthinkable that in the next thousand years we shall see it’s equal, we are, to our regret, compelled to return your divine composition and to beg you a thousand times to overlook our short sight and timidity.”

 

Now, go better that!!!

 

Saying “No” is an essential skill, but so is knowing how to say it without antagonizing people. If you can get the balance right, you’ll be all the more successful for it. We might be capable but that does not mean that we become the walking talking epitome of being a ‘yes man’.

 

So, stop being a people pleaser! We can learn how to set boundaries and say NO – Without Feeling Guilty! And you will discover that it is counter to what runs in your head. Especially if your worry is putting off or upsetting people. Imagine being able to turn down requests and decline invitations with confidence and poise. Imagine saying no to people asking you for favors, and inspiring their respect in the process. Only the guilty are afraid.

 

Start taking control of your life. Start with that beautiful word “no”.

 

 

 

When the outcome is a foregone conclusion, when you are secure in the comfort that what you seek is what you would be getting, when the sequence is linear and the numbers all add up as expected, you are dancing with the knowns, the certainties which will assure you that 2+2 will indeed be 4. No unpleasant surprises.

 

There’s beauty in the unknown and beauty in what may be, beauty in the promises of tomorrow, and beauty in all we cannot yet see.

You might be a scientist or a chef or a scriptwriter or an entrepreneur or an actor or a gardener or a painter or a game designer or a monk or a stand-up comic, if you know something is going to work, there is hardly any thrill in it. You are not putting your neck on the line, you are not embracing uncertainty and the unknown, you don’t need the courage or the faith, you don’t need to have skin in the game. It is all very predictable.

 

The foundry is where you forge your chips is the unknown. Anything important ever invented was because someone took that leap of faith into the unknown. Happily sitting in the domicile of discomfort and taking the plunge with only uncertainty as your ally is what moves mountains and give us the opportunity to leave our dents in the universe.

 

“ When nothing is sure, everything is possible “- Margaret Drabble

 

The assertion here, however, is that there really is no creativity without uncertainty. Put another way: dubito ergo creo. This is Latin for, I doubt therefore I create.

 

The outside world provokes, persists and insists that we change the story we tell ourselves. Our attitude doesn’t have to be driven by the outside world, but sometimes they overlap.

 

Specifically, when we experience the unknown – no matter how uncomfortable and unsettling and destabilizing it can feel – the good news is that it opens vistas of possibility for new thought and action. If we have the confidence and willingness to take creative action in that moment, then our experience with the unknown can lead to new ways of thinking and acting. Taking action, of course, does not guarantee creative outcomes, but it is through new thought and action that we can, at least temporarily, re-stabilize our experiences in new and better ways.

 

Organizations are created, powered, and led by people. To lead organizations well, we train people in disciplines such as marketing, finance, and leadership. But uncertainty and the unknown presents a special challenge since few of us have received training in how to deal with it. As a result, although we may call for innovation, transformation, and change, most people back down at even the hint of risk, falling into a series of behavioral traps that limit organizations’ ability to grow and adapt. The challenge is that all growth, change, and transformation inevitably come paired with uncertainty, the unknown. We have to go through the uncertainty to get to the possibility.

 

“In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty…in the wisdom of uncertainty lies the freedom from our past, from the known, which is the prison of past conditioning. And in our willingness to step into the unknown, the field of all possibilities, we surrender ourselves to the creative mind that orchestrates the dance of the universe.” ~ Deepak Chopra.

 

So, are you willing to knowingly venture into the foundry called the unknown?

 

The concept refers to the narratives and beliefs we create about ourselves, others, and the world around us. These stories can shape our perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. And furthermore, how these perceptions and beliefs materialize in our lives.

 

It is election year in two of the world’s biggest democracies India and the US and there is no better time to unleash the spiel that dances in our head. There are multiple stories running between our ears and a lot of them are invented, planted, coerced or some might be voluntarily accepted as you gracefully offer room for it.

 

But as we absorb it, use it, misuse it, we have to remain cognisant of the fact that all these narratives do come with caveats, that there are many a loose end and it is better not to miss the wood for the trees. Distill the myth from the reality- your presumed role in the world versus the actual role you play. It is all a shortcut- so, we have to be mindful of the fact that the map is not the territory. Information is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom; just like education is not learning.

The sensible thing to be is to be agile and alert about the spin doctoring and backtrack where warranted to change the story especially if it is polarising, intimidating, untrue, misleading and not serving the human cause.

It is a post truth world. The more we recognise it, the better.

 

 

The much touted (yet severely under practiced) ‘ leap of faith ‘ has nothing to do with what fate has in store for you. You can either furiously hang on to the coat tails of impasse( status quo in other polite words) and pretend that you are making progress( in a time where people have to run hard to stand at the same place) or embrace uncertainty( and the accompanying comfort of opening up possibilities) because that is where discovery, invention, progress and connections converge.

There is never ever a perfect time to begin- on the contrary, all the time you spend on pontificating, over analysing, deferring, not deciding and standing still is a serious trade off with not creating, not evolving and not living life to the fullest. There is a beautiful quote by Rumi which puts this in perfect context-” As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.”

 

Enlightenment is the natural enemy of the mind as articulated by Eckhart Tolle in his seminal book ” The Power of Now “. The clarion call here is to live fully in the present, liberated from the burden of the mind and being intensely in the now.

So, time to write that script, start your project, pitch your idea to investors, apply for that job, travel to that destination in your bucket list, call that friend whom you have not in ages, move base to a new place- and see the magic unfold- the obstacle becomes the way (When the Obstacle Becomes the Way Forward — Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations 5.20).

 

The perfect time to start? It’s now. What are you waiting for?

 

 

The most desired resource ( fast becoming even scarcer) is attention. And there is a furious race going on to attract (even steal) attention. ” Everything Must Go “, ” Last Day “, Right Now “, ” Never Again ” , ” Last Chance of A Lifetime “, are clarion calls where your attention is expected to be traded off for the seemingly ‘ manna from heaven ‘ that you do not want to miss out on. Needless to add, it is a race to the bottom.

All this burden of getting attention comes at a cost. Cheaper is not better. Obsolescence. Badly designed products. Undercutting by the competitor means taking the shortcut- read going cheaper( the inevitable race to the bottom). Most stakeholders in the game have already surrendered their self-respect and self-esteem and the quintessential never ending pursuit is that of getting attention. At any or all costs.

 

Once reputed media outlets now shamelessly and diligently toe the ‘ if it bleeds, it leads ‘ narrative, e-commerce and click bait are best allies and partners in crime, and deep discounting and never before offers remain suspect.

All this said, the encouraging news is that there is a very viable alternative. A chance to work up the ladder to the top. The ground up model. A race to the top. Of creating products and services that are so good that people talk about it( as it is remarkable) and influence others to come on board, crafting authentic and relevant messages that are tailored to inspire your audience( not all and sundry, no ‘spray and pray‘) who look forward to receive them( because you are concerned and care for your MVA- the Minimum Viable Audience).

 

People who know this craft will define it as marketing.

 

 

Fandom: Fandom refers to a community of people who are passionate about something, whether it’s a film, a band, a television show, a book, or a sports team, a brand or an operating system. A die-hard fan is someone who is strongly or fanatically determined or devoted, strongly resisting change.

 

And the following, the craze, the obsession, the advocacy , the possessiveness, the blind faith, the brand love continues unabashed even though their team is losing or the film is a flop or their single album has under-delivered or the TV Show ratings are nothing to write home about. Our affiliations give us a sense of status and identity within a community. Remember- People like us do things like this. Birds of the same feather…

 

This also extends to our choice of automobiles, noodles or our leanings to a political party or a leader. Rational has nothing to do with this. The emotional connection is so strong that rules of confirmation bias( due respect to Cialdini) get re-written. Belief is created even when reason and possibility dictated otherwise.

 

The connection with a logo or a team or an individual is so all-encompassing that the fan continues to turn up in large numbers even though the team is losing or the celebrity is well and over the hill to command that blind adulation, or the leader is not worthy of advocacy.

If you have earned and enhanced your self-worth by being the devoted, selfless, loyal fan, you can use your voice to address the wrongs that the leadership is doing because when fans speak up, there is a high probability that the other side will listen. Be generous with your voice. Therein lies your ‘test‘.

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the post-entertainment society. Where(unfortunately), culture has taken an infinite sabbatical( coerced into, I dare add).

 

It is the year of the Presidential elections in the US and we would have the ubiquitous ” State Of The Union ” speech. Nothing much changes in politics- your local grocery would have more variety to offer. That is why the need of the hour for all of us in The Creator Economy is to have a ” State Of The Culture ” speech.

 

The year 2024 has already been a tumultuous, fast paced and dangerous time for the creative economy(if one can still call it that). Entertainment will be soon writing its obituary, forgive my sounding alarmist.

 

If one were to equate politics with culture, the two pegs on which culture thrives are Arts and Entertainment. We have already seen the HIPPO in the room there was undeniably Entertainment, by a long way and Arts got relegated if not subsumed totally. Call it collateral damage if you may.

 

That is not the point here but. What we are witnessing is a post-entertainment culture where the arts is certainly not getting a helping hand. Worse, the big daddy aka Entertainment is in hot waters too. Big studios viz Disney, Paramount, Universal, Warner etc are on delicate ice. Layoffs, having to release a big film on OTT within a few days of theatrical release, hiving off business divisions and canceling movie releases seem to be the order of the day amongst these established giants. Music labels see more value in artists who are old than young, dead than alive( look at Sony Music’s acquisition of Michael Jackson’s catalog of songs for US$ 1.2 Billion).

What is causing this tectonic shift? Swiping, scrolling, wasting time or call it whatever you may want to. The non-stop run of ceaseless(meaningless) activity. And who is the boss here? Yes, you guessed it right- distraction– a few seconds of dopamine hits, is all that it takes and BigSocialMediaTech( TikTok, YouTube, Meta, Instagram, Twitter etc) are playing all the best cards they have to ensure a non-stop supply where looking up from our ‘domicile of nirvana‘(mobile phones) is made to seem like an avoidable, painful chore.

 

This is the best ” rewards program ” on the planet. AmEx etc are you guys listening?  Sell our attention cheap(and carelessly) to the predators listed above and in return get bouts of the neurochemical dopamine to feel good and trigger the stimuli to rinse and repeat. You by now know where we are headed. The cycle of consumption, reward, repetition is so habit forming that we are hooked(with no line, no sinker). Addiction is a better terminology. And billions are unwitting volunteers in the biggest social engineering experiment in human history.

The goal of the giants of social media is only one- amp up the ‘ addiction quotient ‘. Get people to crave more, day in, day out. Make them feel pulverised at missing out-FOMO(Fear of Missing Out) if you may. Create a world of junkies where they are the dealers and the peddlers. And laugh their way to the bank. Everything is designed in a manner to lock users into an addictive cycle. Fixate you with dependent junkie status. Optimize the dopamine doom loop. And the virtual reality headsets that the likes of Apple, Facebook etc are urging you to try out raise more concerns-as they rewire users’ brains.

 

Even the dumbest entertainment( read a goofy looking cat video) would seem like Macbeth. Or a photo of a hamburger would do just as nicely.

 

Welcome to the new culture- sorry mindless entertainment- sorry compulsive activity- sorry dopamine addiction!

 

The clock is ticking or is it TikToking?

 

The caption is inspired by the origins in Matthew 13:12 of the King James Version of the Bible.

 

Driving scarcity and craving exclusivity is an acquired prerogative. A false entitlement. The myth floating around is that excluding or leaving behind people actually benefits the people who are doing the excluding. That by keeping them at a distance and putting barriers on participation will work to the advantage of those who do that.

But in a zeitgeist where connection, collaboration and community bring momentum, possibility and the network effect, with the magic of combining ideas and people, making things scarce or exclusive runs counter to that. If at all, we need more creators, more artists, more musicians, more coders, more designers, more scientists, more front line workers, more entrepreneurs, more educators because what they contribute when they get the education and the opportunity benefits everyone. In case that opportunity is deprived, we actually pay for it, we end up being the losers. Being poorer for it.

Depriving others by staking your claim to be exclusive is retrogressive. Agreed you might get the chance to be labeled” Ivy League ” when in effect you are actually putting the breaks on people moving forward. This is no wheat and chaff. There is potential and promise and talent can meet the opportunity, if offered gracefully. In a philharmonic orchestra, there are sax and cello players, drummers and trumpeters, the clarinet and trombone players, the pianists and the horn instrumentalists, while playing from the same hymn sheet, create the magic of harmony because of inclusion and through diversity.

 

We need to be undoing the toxic myth of exclusion and scarcity.

 

Artificial intelligence. Sophisticated UI|UX design. Predictive analytics. Recommendation engines. The Algorithm salsa. All of these have seemingly made the job of brands, marketers and organisations much easier than before. The outcome has been creating a large corpus of convenience for customers who have fallen for it, hook, line and sinker.

 

If we were to look t the trifecta of human consumption and associated behaviour, it would ride on the trinity of convenience, status and affinity.

 

Convenience sells. Ask Amazon. And well before the world’s biggest online shopping mall permeated(trespassed?) our homes and lives lives for all things necessary and otherwise, convenience became the dominant force in our culture with product innovations like the microwave oven, the washing machine, the drive through fast food joint, the remote control, the automatic gears in your car and from the not so distant past articulating your voice over 140 characters on Twitter. We happily pay ‘ convenience fee ‘ to travel brands and airports. Can you beat it? And rather than creating more than we can consume, we fall prey to perennial doom scrolling and taking in all types of information, dis|mis information and be led by vested interests. The ROI on convenience is questionable.

 

And in the (must)scalable industrial complex of education, convenience holds the Doctorate. Howard Gardener might have had a theory of multiple intelligence (where each individual is as different from the other as possible) but education would have none of it- so, the outcome is standardised tests(you see one size fits all), a rigid curricula that never was sensitive to the heterogenous aptitudes and skill sets of the students and terms that seem to have emerged straight from the Republic of Shackles– Test, Conform, Uniform, Comply, Adhere, Standardise…toe the line…

 

If education were to segue into learning( which is what it ought to be in the first place), effort and discomfort will be its allies. Treading the path less trodden, embracing inconvenience in the quest for something new but better and realising unabashed curiosity can skill the cat. Explore the unexplored. Moving the needle from where we are to where we want to be. From status quo to status novis.

Con venience anyone?