The attention span of a goldfish is nine seconds. That beats the average human, who only has an attention span of 8 seconds.
And it is shrinking.
In 2000 the average human attention span was twelve seconds. That means that it has decreased by 25% in less than 25 years.
Scary!
BC (before children) I worked in several different fabric stores. In fact, for a while, I thought I wanted to own my own one day. One thing I loved doing was buttons. I’d have to inventory them and sort them. While I was working with them, I could see the outfit that I wanted to create using the different buttons. A button is one of the smallest parts of a project, but it can be the starting point of something amazing. But it can also be a huge challenge. I’d start with this tiny part and visualize the fabric I needed and the other notions. Inevitably, I wouldn’t make what I imagined. The other supplies weren’t there, and I didn’t have the resources to create them.
I think Michelangelo was on to something. He saw the “angel in the marble.”
I’ve been reading a good book…
I know, I know. I start a lot of my emails like this. But there are so many good books out there! I know you are busy, so this is my way of giving you a preview to see if this is a book you may want to read. If not, I’ll give you some of the juicy parts!
The title of the book caught my eye – Moonwalking with Einstein. Anything with Einstein grabs me. He is the poster child for anything related to genius, and I’m all about realizing genius.
You know that feeling when you understand that you HAVE to do something but you really don’t want to? You put it off. You don’t want to face the changes it will create. You like the old way.
There comes a time when change has to happen.
Have you heard of Ken Robinson? His TED talk, “Do Schools Kill Creativity,” has been viewed 72 MILLION times. If you haven’t watched it yet, I highly recommend it.
Right now I’m rereading his book “Finding Your Element.” I’ve listened to it several times and even read the actual book once. This time I’m taking the time to annotate, do the suggested activities, and take notes.
It is that good of a book.
I was having a discussion yesterday with my 14-year-old son. He felt that whenever you do something good you do it for selfish reasons. His premise was that our brain is wired to give us a dopamine hit when we do things like that so we do more good things because we get this feel-good chemical. While I don’t quite agree with him on this it was a really good discussion and made me think. I love it when that happens!
He is right. On a biological level, we do get these feel-good chemicals and positive brain stimulation when we do something nice for others. But if that is true, why don’t we do more of it? There is so much more to the story.
I’ve been listening to a fascinating book on Audible (have I mentioned how much I like Audible lately?) Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It is hitting on something I’ve been concerned about ever since I decided to share my Genius Paradigm ideas.
When I first started talking about the Genius Paradigm, I didn’t want to sound like Mr. Rogers just telling everyone that they are “special.” Not that they aren’t special – I love Fred Rogers! But he was called out as one of the reasons for the entitlement problem that we have today, and I don’t want anyone to think I support entitlement. I feel the people who blamed Mr. Rogers didn’t get what he was saying. He didn’t mean that you didn’t have to work for things or that everyone should get a trophy.
What kind of story are you stuck in? The kind you want to read about? A real page-turner (in a good way)? Or is it a little bit boring and predictable? Is the protagonist (you) living up to their full potential? Or are they living someone else’s life by getting caught up in video games and TV shows?
It takes some work and planning to realize your genius and write the story you want to live. A genius paradigm is easy to talk about but not always easy to implement.
It’s worth it, though.
I love quotes. You probably figured that out by now if you follow me on social media. I’m continually sharing what other people have said. Quotes inspire me.
Recently there has been a quote that keeps following me around. It keeps coming to me and pushing me. I put it on a sticky note on my computer, but I feel like I need to do more and share it with you. Here it is: