For fifteen or twenty years, this question is relentlessly answered, whether or not we ask it.
After we learn fractions, the teacher moves on to decimals. After we read O’Connor, we’re handed Faulkner. In music history, Debussy follows Brahms. Chemistry after biology.
It persists in some places after school… the museum hangs Picasso in the next room after Braque.
And in the old days, the newspaper editors spent a lot of time organizing their stories and their pages.
But now… nothing.
Random access. No attention paid to what we need to know now, what follows from where we are, what’s about to be important.
Not at work and not as citizens.
Instead, it’s a random-access blizzard of emails, meetings and alerts. A mob screaming about the emergency of the moment without lining up the context first. Part of our dislocation and ennui come from the lack of a shared curriculum.
Choosing what’s next might be the most important decision we make today.
It’s not up to us to fix the world all by ourselves. But we vote with our attention and our dollars. If we’re attracted to the wrong stuff like moths to a flame, don’t be surprised when folks spend time building new fires.
Each of us knows that we’re motivated by positive feedback. We’re drawn to behaviors and activities that earn us a smile or a prize. And yet, we often forget to reward the businesses, behaviors and systems we want more of.
Many of us are drawn to invented controversies, hustles, one-click bargains, come-ons, convenience that comes at a high price, division, brawls, tired tropes, social networks that trap us and, while we’re at it, a big bag of fried chips.
Actually, you’re a philanthropist, doling out attention and cash to the behaviors you care about. Invest wisely.
If people stop going to the circus, the clowns go home.
It might be at school, at work or at home.
Hunkering down, hoping we won’t get noticed. A safe spot, worth concealing.
The problem with hiding out from responsibility or change is that we’re also hiding from time. But time always finds us.
Three paths are now available:
We face this choice daily, but rarely name it or prepare for it.
The moment just before shipping is where magic and leverage can dance together.
Updates:
Live in NY on September 21: I have 55 seats left for the Knot launch event happening in a few weeks. All the details are here. Ticket buyers will receive the five-pack and a Spindex as well. If you’re local to New York, I hope to see you there.
and…
By popular request, we’re offering a pre-order 5-pack of The Knot along with the limited-edition Spindex. It’s $95 and there are a few hundred available.
Problems can be solved.
That’s pretty new. Letters sent by Thomas Jefferson from France often took months to get a response. No points for shaving a day off a 90-day correspondence lag.
The 800 toll-free number shifted the dynamic we expected from marketers. If we call you, we expect you to answer. Now, not later. FEDEX did the same for physical items–yes, of course I absolutely want it here tomorrow.
The race for speed doesn’t often have economic justification. I can probably live without a return label or customer service or some rabbit chow for a few minutes or even a few days…
But it’s the thought that counts.
If you’re not selling a commodity at the lowest price, that’s what you’ve got to sell. The thought.
Stories are built on a foundation of thoughtfulness, the empathy of seeing where the others are, what they dream of and what they fear.
And ‘quick response’ is one of the cheapest and most reliable ways to demonstrate that empathy.
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