The week’s posts on a single page (most recent at the top):
Everyday People
An early version of this blog was called ForShianaAndMischa.com, which was up and running in 2015.
To improve it, I sought the opinions of people throughout the world, rather than friends, family and colleagues who happened to be in the room with me at the time.
It was quicker and easier than you might think. I used usersthink.com, and here are some alternatives should you need them.
Chime
In his book Start With Why, Simon Sinek suggests that individuals and organisations who are clear about why they do what they do, as well as what and how they do it, are the ones who lead and enjoy success: Apple and Martin Luther King Jr to name two. MLK had a dream and Apple established itself because Jobs, Wozniak et al wanted to challenge the status quo.
The book starts with a comparison of the two main ways to influence human behaviour – manipulation and inspiration – and Sinek argues that inspiration is the more powerful and sustainable, suggesting that, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”
This ties in with a theory I learned a few years ago when developing my copywriting skills:
People buy with emotion and justify with logic.
It’s why copywriters are urged to “sell the sizzle, not the steak”, or taught not to sell a mattress, but a good night’s sleep.
The oldest part of our brain – the limbic system – is five times more powerful than our more ‘human’ brain, and means that we think like animals before we think like humans.
Hence why choosing to inspire rather manipulate, selling the sizzle not the steak, and starting with why are all valid suggestions.
Another Brick in the Wall
Why inted?
Because the internet is where tech, business and media collide like never before.
We have institutions that teach all three subjects separately but we should be teaching children how those subjects combine with creativity.
Why?
To be another brick in the wall?
No. The walls are crumbling and there’s a falling demand for bricks. In other words, kids need new knowledge, to be educated for the new era and empowered for a shifting economy.
Think For Yourself
Deciding to become a driving instructor when I wanted to be a freelance writer and editor wasn’t one of my better moves.
It was a decision based on fear and protecting the dream of my real goal. If I didn’t strive to achieve it, I couldn’t fail.
So I ended up going the long way round to becoming a professional writer and editor but got there in the end.
We need to teach kids the importance of decisions and how to make them since beyond the age of about 12 decisions are a key reason we’re in the situation we’re in.
Too Blind To See It
Banner ads: those highly visible images slapped across the top of a webpage on behalf of an advertiser desperate for our attention and hosted by a publisher desperate for cash – or at least is willing to comprise attention on their own content and show the world what they care about via someone else’s product.
Trouble is, everyone sees them but no one looks at them. No one ever has. One of the first things we got used to doing when skimming over a webpage to decide ‘what’s in it for me’ was ignoring the banner ad across the top.
It’s a shame then that local newspaper websites, in particular, often plaster them all over three sides of their websites, making them slower to load.
So that’s at least two reasons to leave those sites.
Lesson in My Life
I flew to Minsk recently via Amsterdam.
As I stood waiting to get my case, a mate who I was travelling with asked me if I’d ever lost my luggage on a flight. I hadn’t – touch wood.
And then the carousel stopped. With no more cases on it. Mine was probably still in Amsterdam.
Two nights and three days without the things I needed and relying on friends was a good reminder that things don’t always go to plan, you can make arrangements to lessen the pain for such times (like putting spare underwear and a toothbrush in your hand luggage) and from time to time we have to rely on the goodwill of those around us.
Speed King
Ever seen Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) listed in Google and wondered what it means?
It’s Google-backed technology that enables any website publisher to produce pages that load very quickly on mobile phones.
More than a quarter of visitors will leave a website that doesn’t load in six seconds, according to this page, which is why this technology can load webpages in less than one second and uses 10 times less data than regular web pages.
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