Tag: Seth Godin

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Seth Godin’s lesson about balance

Many’s the time when I’ve made reference to the lessons Seth Godin has taught me. In very nearly every keynote presentation I’ve made, I’ve referred to Seth’s teachings.

SethGodinSeth Godin - change

 

I read his book, ‘The Dip‘ recently, and it helped me apply some strategic thinking to a situation I’d encountered. His biggest selling book, ‘Linchpin: Are you indispensable?’ is a book I revisit regularly. It’s taught me a lot about my purpose in an organisation and how I can best work to effect change. In a recent podcast I was interviewed for it was the book I said teachers should read, especially those working in leadership positions. His discussion in this book about the Amygdala, what he refers to as the ‘lizard brain’, has helped me understand my reactions in stressful situations and has allowed me to self analyse and adjust behaviour accordingly.

The lizard brain is the reason you’re afraid, the reason you don’t do all the art you can, the reason you don’t ship when you can. The lizard brain is the source of the resistance.”
― Seth Godin, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

“The linchpin feels the fear, acknowledges it, then proceeds. I can’t tell you how to do this; I think the answer is different for everyone. What I can tell you is that in today’s economy, doing it is a prerequisite for success.”
― Seth Godin, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

I’ve listened to some podcasts recently where Seth was interviewed (The Moment with Brian Koppelman, On Being) and some of the insights into his character and the way he protects his time and his personal wellbeing have been very insightful. Seth doesn’t allow comments on his blog and he doesn’t use Twitter other than to post links to latest posts he has written. The essence of what he was saying was that he would find this kind of engagement time consuming and potentially detrimental to his mental state. Instead, he blogs prolifically, relying on his own experience and beliefs and has become incredibly successful in the process. You’ve got to admire his approach and his commitment to pushing ideas out  – I know that I benefit greatly from what he is prepared to share.

Seth got me thinking about the things I don’t do that help me retain a semblance of balance in my life. You will note I use the word semblance, because there’s no way I’ve got this right. If I had it right, then I would be spending my evenings curled up in the pursuit of some form of relaxing hobby, not typing emails, thinking about the next day’s work or trawling through Twitter reading posts that expand my mind but often have me up way past anyone’s reasonable idea of bedtime.

So here’s what I don’t do.

I don’t participate in Twitter chats. I don’t have time to devote to a regular time slot and an hour spent trying to keep track of an often fast moving stream of people’s responses feels taxing.

I don’t attend TeachMeets. That’s not to say I never will, but most TeachMeets occur on weekends or after school in locations a fair distance from where I live. Weekends are a bit sacrosanct for me. I’m seeing my elderly parents, spending time with my husband and children and catching up with good friends. Oh, and yes, I’m trying to get my house in some sort of order too – not easy when you work full time. I think TeachMeets are a wonderful way of making connections and sharing great practice, but it’s a choice I’ve made not to participate in the interest of trying to attain that semblance of balance.

I don’t write on this Blog anywhere as frequently as I would like to. I love blogging – I love penning a post and feeling satisfied if I think I’ve shared something worthwhile. After starting a new job in July last year, I’ve really downed tools in this space and it’s something I do regret, but I’ve had to do what Seth does and find a way to preserve my head space and be kind to myself. This is my eighth year of blogging (actually, it’s the 8 year anniversary of this blog today – happy birthday blog!) and I’ve blogged consistently enough that there are posts in every month of that eight year period. Last year would have to be the year with the least amount of posts, but it’s also the year that marked the significant change of job so I’m going to cut myself a break on that one.

The reality for me is that learning about the impact of technology on our lives, and on the education space in particular, has become my hobby. I enjoy learning, something I’ve talked about in previous posts when I’ve described myself as an information junkie. Even driving to work for an hour doesn’t see me tuning out – I’m soaking up podcasts at a rapid fire rate and feeling better for it!

Balance is something I’m aspiring to – I’d like to be more relaxed and feel more in control of life, but it seems to be out of my grasp. I shared the following tweet last night in a discussion with Alice Leung about this very thing.

balance

What followed from this was a tweet from Georgia Constanti, who shared some research from Dr. Adam Fraser who discusses what he calls ‘The Third Space’ in the following video.

So, if what you do in between what you do really does make a difference, then I best be leaving the podcasts in the car ride home for another time. You do need to understand though, it is an hour long drive. Maybe if I give myself 20 minutes before turning a podcast on I might find that ideas have coalesced and I can find better ways forward to do my job well and achieve a greater sense of balance. It’s going to be hard though -have you ever listened to Guy Raz’s voice from the TED Radio Hour? Mesmerising. The car practically drives itself. An autonomous vehicle before its time, powered by the podcast. 😉

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Five years in….

On a camping holiday in January, 2008, an idea occupied my thinking. Maybe I could start a blog and write about technology and its impact on education? Two weeks at the beach, with no Internet and plenty of thinking time, cemented the idea. I tossed around what I would call it. I told my husband I wanted to intercept things that were happening in the Web and share them with people. He drove off to work later that morning, but rang soon after and said, “What about Lucacept?” I had the name. I just had to start the thing.

Come January 12th 2008, we returned home from our camping holiday and I sat down and created a blog in WordPress. I called it Lucacept – intercepting the Web, and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I knew how to hyperlink, but had no clue how to embed content or what I was going to write about. I was nervous, wondering if it would be read and how it might be received. I worried about whether or not my school would be comfortable with me potentially sharing things that happened in my working day. I wondered if I was starting something that might peter out after a few months.

Five years later I’m still at it. My life has changed as a result of this little bit of Web real estate. I’ve written fairly consistently, sometimes about not much of consequence, but other times about things that matter. I’ve shared my personal life and occasionally felt nervous about pressing the publish button. Opportunities have come my way and I’ve traveled extensively presenting my thinking at conferences here in Australia and overseas. My passion for and commitment to my profession is focused – moreso now than at any other time in my 25 years as a Secondary School educator. This year, I’m taking on a new role at my school as Director of ICT and eLearning – a role I can perform thanks to the learning that began in part with the first time I penned a post in this WordPress editor, five years ago today.

Seth Godin refers to those of us who use the Web to transmit ideas as artists. Here’s some of his thinking from one of his latest posts.

I don’t think the shortage of artists has much to do with the innate ability to create or initiate. I think it has to do with believing that it’s possible and acceptable for you to do it. We’ve only had these particular doors open wide for a decade or so, and most people have been brainwashed into believing that their job is to copyedit the world, not to design it.

That used to be your job. It’s not, not anymore. You go first.

 

I never used to think of myself as a creative person, but I do now. And that’s because I’ve chosen to believe that it is possible to initiate change with words and the resultant action that comes from wanting to make those words reality. I don’t know what the next five years hold, but hopefully this little bit of Web real estate will be holding its own. Heck, it may have even gone up in value – time will tell.

Would I still be writing if I had no readership? Probably not. I’m forever grateful to all of you, whoever you may be, who either purposefully read or maybe stumble over this blog. Knowing that what you’re writing has the potential to be read is a motivating force. I hope my words have added a modicum of value to your life. Your presence has certainly added so much more value to mine.

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Sometimes, Twitter raises my stress levels

One thing I’ve noticed during this holiday break, is that increased access to Twitter is raising my stress levels.

Why, I hear you asking?

During the working week, my exposure to Twitter is infrequent. I read and share when I can, and that’s usually at the end of a working day. I just don’t have time to check in regularly at work, unless I’m seeking information to help us solve an issue. Holidays afford me the leisure of watching the stream more frequently throughout the day, but I’m noticing the obsessive hold it can have on you. What comes with the stream is the need to read more, to engage with the content, to think. I’m supposed to be relaxing, and instead my mind is racing as I think about the recent changes to Facebook and what that might mean for our students, the release of the Kindle Fire, Seth Godin’s thoughts about  the forever recession and the coming revolution, and just what on earth is Google Gravity?

Maybe it’s because I’d found what I thought was a kind of balance in my life in recent times, that this imbalance seems to make my heart and mind race.

I know the answer. Tune out. Check in at set times. Don’t constantly watch the stream. All things I’ve told myself before, but I think I need reminding…

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School’s out Friday

My husband sent this to me this week, and I think my reaction was just as extreme as the guy’s girlfriend! He’s lucky she didn’t keel over from a heart attack!

And because it’s the end of term here in Victoria, here’s another to warm the cockles of your heart and send you off to the holiday break with a smile on your face (if you’re a teacher here in Victoria at least!)

I found this on a Tumblr blog called Dancing Dads, and I think I’m going to have to visit there whenever I’m needing a good laugh. A good laugh is medicine for the soul, and it comes in high doses at this site!

Yes, it’s our spring holiday break here in Victoria, and from my perspective, it couldn’t come soon enough. These last two weeks have been huge for me at work. I’m exhausted and in need of sleep. I’m looking forward to no routine, no school lunches to make, and no alarm waking me at 6.30am. I’m also looking forward to trying to pen a few words here as I feel I’ve seriously neglected this blog of late. Seth Godin wrote a post tonight entitled ‘Talker’s block‘ and it really sounded like me. I have very few problems talking to people about the work I’m doing, but it seems arduous to write it down. I’ve had a blog post simmering for well over two months about the work I’ve been involved with all year, but every time I try to get it finished, something stops me. I need to stop thinking and just write it. When I think about when I started this blog and how I committed to writing nearly every day for 6 months, I really wonder how on earth I managed to do it. So, to get me moving again, I’m going to commit to write at least six posts over the next two weeks. Watch this space!

Have a great weekend. Find some sunshine and warm your bones. : )

 

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Seth Godin on libraries – take heed

Seth Godin has written a brief, but pretty accurate in my view, summation of the future of libraries. I’ll post it in it’s entirity here, but make sure you start reading Seth. I do nearly every day.

The future of the library

What should libraries do to become relevant in the digital age?

They can’t survive as community-funded repositories for books that individuals don’t want to own (or for reference books we can’t afford to own.) More librarians are telling me (unhappily) that the number one thing they deliver to their patrons is free DVD rentals. That’s not a long-term strategy, nor is it particularly an uplifting use of our tax dollars.

Here’s my proposal: train people to take intellectual initiative.

Once again, the net turns things upside down. The information is free now. No need to pool tax money to buy reference books. What we need to spend the money on are leaders, sherpas and teachers who will push everyone from kids to seniors to get very aggressive in finding and using information and in connecting with and leading others.

It’s that final sentence that holds the key to survival of the Library profession, and it’s up to Library professionals to understand this and skill themselves up so that they are up to the challenge. If you’re a Librarian right now and you don’t know what Diigo or Delicious are, or how you use Twitter for real time search, or how to go about trying to find the experts out there who may be able to answer the questions your students are posing, then you better start rethinking what it is you are doing. Libraries are not going to be about the book collection forever; they’re not about that now in my opinion. They are about being a connective space; a space where reading, discussion and discovery take place. The professionals in those spaces need to be the information sherpa enabling new understandings of how we go about finding out what it is we need. It means letting go of knowledge and giving it up to empower others. Don’t see that as a threat, view it as an opportunity. If we don’t, the information sherpas in our school are not going to be emanating from the school library. Instead, they’ll be the educational technologists out there who will rise to the fore. Missed opportunities could mean a lost profession.

Joyce Valenza, Doug Johnson and Scott McLeod have all posted responses to Seth’s post. Make sure you visit these for their insights.

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Misconceptions

Seth Godin’s latest blog post reminds us how we can be relaying misconceptions to the students we teach.

The internet certainly presents us with possibilities. We can become creators and have our work appreciated by others. We can make a name for ourselves and reap the rewards that come from this. But we can also become part of the long tail of creators who are vying for voice and attention who don’t get noticed and don’t reap rewards.

Seth quotes a report from Charles Blow in the NY Times about the music industry;

“A study last year conducted by members of PRS for Music, a nonprofit royalty collection agency, found that of the 13 million songs for sale online last year, 10 million never got a single buyer and 80 percent of all revenue came from about 52,000 songs. That’s less than one percent of the songs.”

Pretty staggering figures really. So for every young band out there vying for an audience, the odds are pretty much not stacked in your favour.

That’s not to say we shouldn’t be encouraging our students to use this medium to be heard. What we should be doing is presenting them with the   realities of  the medium. You can’t expect that loading your latest and greatest effort onto YouTube is your entry point to worldwide noteriety. You need to face the reality that if you are going to take a crack at it you need to explore the medium to it’s full potential. You need to know how to market your online presence to full effect.

Even more reason why educators need to get up to speed. These are skills that need to be taught. The business model is changing.  It’s a new world out there.

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Why blogging matters

I often try to articulate why I think blogging has been such a  transformative action for me. Seth Godin and Tom Peters have articulated it brilliantly in 1 minute and 37 seconds.  They are both marketers, but what they say is relevant to anyone who writes a blog. Watch this.

Then start blogging.