by Marty Coleman | Jun 6, 2012 | Blog World NY, New York City, Travel Napkins |
My first travel napkin of my trip to speak at Blog World in NYC.
I did the usual thing when you are alone at a social media conference and tweeted to the Blog World crowd asking who wanted to get a bite to eat before the opening party. Rzaz, Sus, and Apdo responded and off we went to find good Thai food.
We were all strangers so we told our ‘Why are you at Blog World?’ stories. When I told about me as the Napkin Dad Apdo picked up a restaurant napkin and exclaimed, so you could just draw on this one if you want, right? I took up the challenge and came up with this of Apdo in the city listening to a little bird.
After dinner we saw this.
Then we mosied over to the opening party where I introduced my new friends to some of the people I met at Blog World LA in November. They made some great connections and I met someone from Bulgaria.
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 4, 2012 | Blog World NY, New York City |
I am on my way to Blog World NYC to speak on Wednesday. My topic is ‘Overcoming Content Procrastination Start to Finish’. I am using the analogy of running races to illustrate ways to be productive and effective in content creation. I thought I would show one of the drawings I am going to have in my presentation.
Confidence
I am feeling confident about my presentation. Luckily I am also NOT feeling confident. What that means is I am being realistic. I know I could fall flat on my face and to lessen that risk I am doing everything I can to prepare properly. Could I still fall flat on my face? Sure. Just as in a race I can train and prepare properly and still have a lousy race. But preparing makes your confidence, though not 100%, higher and more assured than if you are just flying by the seat of your pants.
Some who could see my process of preparation might say I fly by the seat of my pants. But for me and my personality, I think I do pretty good to prepare. Let’s hope so!
Drawing by Marty Coleman, who is about to hit the Big Apple!
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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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