by Marty Coleman | May 31, 2012 | Blog World NY, Ellen Degeneres, Procrastination - 2012 |
See, I told you procrastination was a good thing…Wait, I MEANT to tell you but I didn’t get around to it, sorry.
Type P vs Type A
It’s true, for all the angst and wringing of hands over procrastination it’s really important to discern when you are being a ‘procrastinating’ person and when you are being a ‘hundred mile an hour control freak type A Energizer bunny who is going to have a heart attack if you don’t slow down a bit’ person.
Seeing and Knowing
How do you know the difference? When you are the latter type you get injured. You get burnt out, you hurt yourself and others, you hate your life, you don’t see the big picture, you don’t see the small picture. You barely see anything at all. If you are the former type, a true procrastinator, then you see the world passing by and you are too afraid, too lazy, too paralyzed, to oblivious to your true self to take a step.
Be it Resolved
Be honest and look at yourself, you do know which one you are. Your world will not collapse if you admit it to yourself or others. All the others already know the truth anyway, you really just have to admit it to yourself.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who is Type P.
Quote by Ellen DeGeneres, who has to quit stalking me.
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by Marty Coleman | May 30, 2012 | Blog World NY, Franz Kafka, Procrastination - 2012 |
I know today will whoosh right by, but stop and smell the procrastination, won’t you?
Expect the Unexpected
As I have gotten older I increasingly am aware of how many things can go wrong at the last minute of a project or upcoming event. As a result I really do try to get organized and prepared with plenty of time. And even WITH that mindset I am always seeming to be down to the wire in my preparations.
I am expecting it to be the same with my presentation on procrastination and content creation at Blog World next week (Wed. June 6th). This is drawing #5 of the procrastination part, but it will include a lot more I still need to get together. I hope I don’t have too many interruptions but if I do I at least feel I have a strong foundation prepared. We shall see!
It’s about Respect
Here is what I am thinking about today to include in my presentation. The act of being deliberate in your content creation, working away at it as best you can, is showing respect to those you will give your content out to. It’s no different than arriving late for something and knowing in advance you were going to be late and leaving late anyway. That, to me, shows disrespect for those awaiting your arrival. Not preparing your work properly is the same thing, right?
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who doesn’t like the sound of the whoosh
Quote by Douglas Adams, who wonders how much whoosh a woodchuck whooshes if a woodchuck would chuck whooshes.
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by Marty Coleman | May 29, 2012 | Blog World NY, Pablo Picasso, Procrastination - 2012 |
I put it off as long as I could, but it’s day #4 of the Procrastination series and of my journey to Blog World NY to talk about it.
Dying and the Worst Fear
When I think about dying my worst fear is that all the artwork I have done over the decades will be lost. That it will be so disorganized, so hard to find and sort through, that no one will want to do it and it will just disappear eventually. I have a lot of things I want to get done still, but I have done a lot of things so far and I want them recorded and stored in a way that others can see or hear about them later.
Technology
I have to leave things undone each day, and many days I leave them undone on purpose because I don’t feel like working so hard at it. But in the end I keep coming back to my tasks, both the current art creation tasks and the cataloging and organizing of my prior work. It’s not as if it’s going to end since as soon as I get everything organized on CD or DVD another technology comes along that demands it be done all over again. For example, I have been going through old family photos this past Memorial Day weekend and I came across a floppy disk full of images. That was modern and safe at one point but now it’s ancient technology I can’t access without spending money on it.
What is your greatest fear in dying and do you put off dealing with it? Why so?
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, whose many scribbles are unaccounted for.
Quote by Pablo Picasso, whose every scribble is pretty much accounted for.
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by Marty Coleman | May 24, 2012 | Blog World NY, Procrastination - 2012 |
What do you see?
Can you see what’s going on here? It’s not about masturbation. It’s about waiting, hoping, wanting, dreaming, thinking, desiring, yearning, lusting, needing, fantasizing, pretending. It’s about dreaming vs doing. It’s about doing the easy thing, maybe out of habit, maybe out of boredom or fear or comfort instead of the hard thing.
Production vs Procrastination
Producing is working at a relationship, a job, a goal. Procrastination is avoiding it, paying attention instead to something you can control, but not really take advantage of. While fun, and maybe harmless, you can’t go anywhere with the object of your procrastination. You can only do that with the object of your productivity.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who has a cat.
Quote by Anonymous, who only looks at the pictures
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by Marty Coleman | May 23, 2012 | Blog World NY, English Proverbs, Procrastination - 2012 |
The journey to blog World in New York continues.
Anytime
This quote, ‘What can be done at any time is never done at all’ probably exemplifies my procrastination nemesis more than any other. I like deadlines. I fail at deadlines sometimes but not nearly as much as when I don’t have any at all.
Busy Boy
Another element that really helps me is to be busy. It makes for a certain amount of stress, but not so much as to be negative. When I am busy, like I am now, I think faster, I act faster, and I make plans better. I have to fit something into a smaller time slot and that helps me focus my time and my brain.
I am in the middle of helping my daughter move into her first ‘big girl’ apartment in Dallas. A lot of moving, truck renting, decision making, appliance buying, etc. etc. I have to fit everything else, my clients (who I am not ignoring if you are reading this, I AM working on that header), my dog who has a torn ACL and has to be crated and walked every few hours (not fun for her), my running group that I organize and lead 5 days a week, and my photo group I help lead by doing the library presentations (one of which is tonight and I just came up with the topic this morning).
Blog World here I come
All the while I am preparing for Blog World. And I am actually preparing better for it because I am so busy. At least I think I am. You be the judge when you come to my session if you attend, ok?
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, busy boy
Quote is an English Proverb
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by Marty Coleman | May 21, 2012 | Anonymous, Blog World NY, Procrastination - 2012 |
Day One of my Blog World New York Journey
Blog World New York 2012
I am speaking at Blog World in New York in about 2 weeks. The title of my talk is ‘Overcoming Procrastination from Start to Finish’. I am going to document my preparation for the presentation from now until the day of the talk, Wed. June 6th.
As a result I am deep into figuring out the themes, graphics, words, images, napkins, schedule and organization of it all. I want to be prepared and I don’t want to procrastinate. I don’t want to make the mistake of thinking ‘someday’ will actually come. I need to plan it with real days not pretend days. I need to organize it so that by the time I am standing on the stage in front of the (put in hopeful large number here) people in attendance I will be able to give them something of value.
Something of Value
I can give them something of value in direct relation to how well I know the material and how refined that material is. That means I can only think about it so long before I have to actually practice the presentation. It’s in the practicing that I will learn what works. To practice I need to have the presentation lined out and organized at the draft level. I don’t need all the images and I don’t need every word in place, but I do need to have the basic theme outlined and organized. I find that even that will likely change but I start with something that way.
Since I am doing this as ‘The Napkin Dad’ the majority of images will come from my napkins. Thus, I need to prepare a good set of napkins that will illuminate the theme and the ideas. That means finding past napkins, which I can only really do if I have them named consistently and well organized in my electronic files. It also means creating new ones that meet the direct needs of this presentation and today is Procrastination napkin #1
Your Contribution
So, here we are. Day 1 of my blog journey to Blog World in New York. What I am looking for from you are your pearls of wisdom about procrastination. Why you think it happens, what you do about it, what is good about it, and what your favorite procrastinating activity is. Whatever other insights, references or resource you have I would love to hear all about them.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who tried out for the Procrastination Olympics that were never held.
Quote by someone too lazy to demand attribution so Mr. Anonymous gets the credit
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by Marty Coleman | May 18, 2012 | Anonymous, How To Persuade - 2012 |
Can you find the secret, subliminal, self-advertisement in the napkin today? Let me know in the comments if you find it.
I am not a pacifist. I believe there are times to use force. But there are definitely times not to as well. Trying to persuade a people of something is not a good time to be violent. You may get them to submit, no doubt. But you won’t get them to convert to the idea you want them to.
Force is not always violence. Force can sometimes be verbal or material coercion based on shame, guilt, ignorance, lies. You take away enough of a person’s material sustenance and they will submit to your idea. But you won’t get them to truly believe it, only persuasion can do that. You can manipulate all you want. It can even look like victory for a while. But it will not succeed in the long term.
Persuasion, true honest persuasion, is the result of freedom to argue, debate, talk, reason, ponder, listen, walk away, reject, agree and disagree. And being free from the threat of violence is the only way to do that effectively.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who put a secret self-advertising message in the napkin today.
Quote by Anonymous, who always puts secrets in my drawings and I don’t even know it.
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by Marty Coleman | May 17, 2012 | How To Persuade - 2012, Mark Twain |
I promise you won’t be debauched if you read today’s napkin on day #4 of Persuasion week. Really.
I am a sucker for political speeches. Give me a great orator at his or her best and I will easily be persuaded. I take them at their word, I believe they are sincere in what they say. Then the speech ends and I compare their words to reality. If they don’t match up, forget it. But that doesn’t spoil my joy in hearing the speech. I just put the brakes on and stop myself from being a converted cult member by thinking through the ideas, claims, and goals to see if I really agree or not.
What about you, are you a fan of great speeches, even if you don’t believe a word they are saying once the speech ends?
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Drawing by Marty Coleman
Quote by Mark Twain
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by Marty Coleman | May 16, 2012 | Abraham Lincoln, How To Persuade - 2012 |
If you’re my friend, you’ll read #3 in my Persuasion series. If you aren’t my friend yet, I hope that changes soon!
Have you ever planned a grand adventure with a stranger? Have you ever decided to do something scary, maybe even dangerous, because a stranger asked you to? Not likely. It usually takes a friend to convince us to do crazy things.
It also usually takes a friend if we are going to be persuaded to believe something new, something opposite of what we might have believed in the past. Whether it’s ideas about the universe and God (or no God), politics, cultural affairs or even science, we are much more likely to consider new ideas if it is a friend who sets the idea before us.
Are wanting to be influential? Be a friend first.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who is a friendly fellow and has yet to be President.
Quote by Abraham Lincoln, who was a friendly fellow and was President.
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by Marty Coleman | May 15, 2012 | How To Persuade - 2012 |
WOO HOO! I persuaded you to continue on our ‘How to Persuade’ series!
Imagine if Eve had better persuasive abilities. Perhaps she could have convinced the serpent that it should eat the apple, not Eve (by the way, do you think it was a male or female serpent?). Then what would have happened?
What’s up with the word ‘seem’ in this quote? Does it mean you can just fake listening? Can you just pretend to be open to persuasion or do you really need to be open to it?
I think it’s obvious that at least the author of the quote (Lord Chesterfield, not sure what he was Lord over though) thinks you can just appear to be open to it. The good think about appearing to be open to persuasion is that you eventually actually do become open to it. That is a good thing. It doesn’t mean you are going to fall for anything, or accept something blindly. It simply means you are willing to have a conversation with an open mind.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who does indeed usually think he is right.
Quote by Lord Chesterfield, who, it turns out, was Lord over the County of Nottingham way back in the 1600s. Alas, his Earldom became extinct when his descendent forgot to petition for a writ of summons to the House of Lords, died, and that was that.
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by Marty Coleman | May 14, 2012 | Benjamin Franklin, How To Persuade - 2012 |
I hope I don’t have to persuade you to read my ‘Persuasion Series’ this week at the NDD.
I am not a licensed counselor but I have counseled my family, friends, students, and strangers about all sorts of things for many years. There is one recurring concept I try to persuade them to grab on to when they want something to happen and they have to persuade someone else in order for that to happen. I say this: “Explain to them why it is in THEIR best interest to help you.”
Have you ever watched those reality TV shows where the participant is asked at some point, “Why do you think you deserve to remain in the competition?” The participants will unfailingly say something like, “I really want this.” or “I really need this.” What I don’t hear nearly enough is “Because I know I can help you better than any of the other participants and I want to do that.”
The host and producers of that reality TV don’t care if you need it or want it. They care if you are who THEY need and want. You actually have to convince them of that, not anything else. You have to help them see why it is in their best interest to keep you, not in your best interest.
It’s exactly the same in business, in relationships and in a million other areas. If your reasons don’t meet up with their interests, your reasons really don’t matter.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who has talked his way in and talked his way out.
Quote by Benjamin Franklin, who did the same.
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by Marty Coleman | May 11, 2012 | Latin Proverbs, Revenge - 2012 |
It’s day #2 of our Revenge Series at the NDD
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Here’s a question for you: How do you kill something that only you are keeping alive?
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Drawing and question by Marty Coleman, who likes cemeteries.
Quote is a Latin Proverb
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by Marty Coleman | May 10, 2012 | Revenge - 2012 |
It’s the first in a series on Revenge at the NDD!
The essence of revenge is to get back at someone. How do we do that without destroying ourselves is the question.
Hair is one way. After all, Hair is as hair does, right?
What are some others?
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who hasn’t gone grey yet.
Quote by Ivana Trump, who has but hides it well.
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by Marty Coleman | May 9, 2012 | Quote Authors |
I am going to do Wordless Wednesdays for the next couple of weeks. You add the quote, caption, concept, idea, whatever you think the drawing is saying.
The cast of characters include Singing Snake, Wiggle Dog, Wormy Worm and Not, the Bluebird.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who likes bear claws best of all.
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by Marty Coleman | May 8, 2012 | Anonymous |
I think this will end up being an indispensable philosophical addition to your day.
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Control out of Control
When we first joined our Sunday School group back in the 1980s there was a young wife and mother who had ALS. She had suffered for many years and many of the group tended to her diligently. I didn’t know her, but I heard enough to know that when she was healthy she was in charge of every minute detail of her family’s life. Everything the kids did, everything her husband did, was controlled, or was attempted to be controlled, by her. It was a bit of a burden on the family for her to be like that but it was what it was.
I remember members coming into Sunday school and talking about how she was suffering, not just physically, but mentally as well because as she became immobile she was reduced to only being able to watch, frozen in her body, unable to control things the way she used to. It was very hard on her to watch the control slip out of her fingers.
Control interrupted
They told of her last push of control as she neared death. That was to plan her own funeral. She still had control of her eyes and they all knew when she was not happy with how they interpreted her plans. She gave them an intense look that said ‘I want it THIS way, not THAT way.’ They planned it exactly as she wanted, down to the nth degree.
When she died there was some relief among her friends and family because the struggle had been so hard and so long and her suffering had been so great. The funeral went off without a hitch, though they did change a few things. You can bet they were looking over their shoulders expecting her to come back and give them the stare.
Dispensing with Being Indispensable
We all have moments in which we think, the world just will NOT go on as it should unless I take control. I am needed and without me it just will not happen. Whenever you feel that way, stop and take the water test. The truth is, the world will fill in. It’s not that you will be forgotten, it’s that those around you will adapt to you not being there. It will be hard, it will be painful and it might leave wounds and scars, but there will be adaption and they will make their way in a full world.
Our job as parents, friends, spouses, business partners, isn’t to become indispensable, because that really can’t happen. Our job is to enable, motivate and inspire those around us to be able to deal successfully with life whether we are there or not. That is an indispensable lesson.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Anonymous
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by Marty Coleman | May 4, 2012 | Nurses - 2012 |
I couldn’t think of a better thing to do to save my life but draw #3 of Nurses Week at the NDD!
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Daily Darwin Awards
I think being a certain type of nurse would be hard, mostly because you have to take care of people whose wounds and illnesses are often self-inflicted. Basically you have to watch the Darwin Awards in action every day. Funny to talk about but probably not funny to witness all the time since even the dumbest person still deserves care and you are the person who gets to give it.
If you are a nurse, what is the dumbest self-inflicted thing you have ever seen a patient do and then have to seek medical help?
Drawing by Marty Coleman, whose nickname when he was very young was ‘stitch’.
Quote by Anonymous
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by Marty Coleman | May 3, 2012 | Nurses - 2012 |
No, you aren’t dreaming. It IS day tw0 of Nurses Week at the NDD!
Nursing Would Be a Dream Job If... a Nursing School Graduation Card by The Napkin Dad
What is going on in the battle between nurses and doctors? Is it about ego? expertise? competence? fairness? resentment?
I think nurses do a pretty darn job of hiding any animosity they feel towards Drs. I haven’t seen that resentment in action in the hospital or Dr’s office even though I have heard nurses talk outside of work about certain doctors in less than flattering terms. I think that says something good about nurses.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who has never liked the look of scrubs and thinks they should be replaced with something much more stylish.
Quote by Gerhard Kocher, 1939- not dead yet, Swiss health economist and journalist
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by Marty Coleman | May 2, 2012 | Nurses - 2012 |
National Nurses Week is coming up in May. Because of that I am nursing a desire to do a series on nurses.
I REMEMBER THE NURSES
I was in the hospital for 7 weeks way back when due to a boat explosion and subsequent burns. I remember the old Irish nurse that made Alfie (the Puerto Rican gang member who was in the ICU burn unit with me because he had botched an arson fire) and myself recite the Lord’s Prayer every night. I remember the nurses that listened to how I wanted my dressings put on, and those who didn’t give a hoot.
Honestly I don’t ever remember seeing a doctor (even though I know I did). I couldn’t tell you anything about them and their way, good or bad. Not to diss the doctors, they did the skin grafts and they checked up on me. They would have been there if I had taken a bad turn for the worse. But the truth is the nurses were the ones who were there for everything and it’s to them I give the credit for saving me again and again day in, day out.
Do you have a great nurse story? Let us know.
Drawing by Marty Coleman, whose favorite nurse was named ‘Cookie’.
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