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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