The Take Away

Corky - A Dogs View Of Motivation

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 13:18:00 -0500

I love dogs and have had some kind of big dog, usually lab size, in my life for as long as I can...

The Risk Of Happiness

Thu, 31 May 2012 10:19:00 -0500

Harvard Business Review seems to devote a fair amount of ink to the “happiness at work”...

Bring To Form

Wed, 30 May 2012 09:01:38 -0500

I’ve been accused of seeing everything through the narrow lens of performance. It’s a...

The Strength We Need

Tue, 29 May 2012 08:54:00 -0500

I was talking with a young woman on Saturday afternoon about the condition of her life. Her family...

The Boldest Move

Thu, 17 May 2012 09:04:00 -0500

In all of the years I spent wandering around the Minnesota Renaissance Festival with a dirty face...

Don't make me laugh!

Wed, 16 May 2012 09:13:00 -0500

Besides having been a walk about street performer, I’ve also spent a great deal of time...

Reading Out Loud

Tue, 15 May 2012 08:06:00 -0500

My third grade teacher, Ms. Hanson, was a miserable old bitty who ruled the small school I attended...

New chapter from the forthcoming book The Take Away: Plan Less...

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:43:29 -0500

New chapter from the forthcoming book

The Take Away: Plan Less to Succeed More

Getting Old Whilst Staying Young

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 11:47:26 -0500

It’s Friday and already my ADD brain is strategically deciphering the codes of possibility....

Last week, as part of my work on “The Take Away: Plan...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:12:00 -0500

Last week, as part of my work on “The Take Away: Plan Less-Succeed More” I decided to practice various applications which might be useful in helping to actualize the materials I’m creating. Writing is only one component of the work I do, the larger part having more to do with practices and applications, the kind of stuff that would used in training sessions and learning materials that will accompany this work.

I confess, under no threat of torture or ruin, that I’m skeptical of training programs and motivational mumbo-jumbo, my own included. I don’t believe in motivating on people or assuming my life, my ideas of insights are of any more of a value than, say yours. On the other hand, having lived and worked in a rather unusual professional, street performing, I believe I have learned a way to engage others that stands apart from the usual. Selling and service training is a market segment full of books, materials and training, most of which seem focused on inspiring jack up, planning, processes and other forms of linear thinking. I hope to provide a contrast to the form.

One of the key elements of my new work is a recognition of the tendency to gather, collect and collate stuff. I’ve watched so many performers with endless routines that they’ve rehearsed, but where there is little space for connection with the audience. The performer is so focused on the routine, on the collection of gags, the collated gimmicks and all the scripted fodder. These things are important, and necessary, except when they replace or invade the possibility of creative connection, either to the audience or to the material, or both. There is the same issue in the work world where there is a near endless flotsam of distractions that ultimately can lead to burnout. Without connection we deny ourselves the natural energy we need to keep going.

Wow..it took a lot of words to get you into my bathroom! What does my bathroom have to do with flotsam and street performer gags away? I decided to take each room of my house, one at a time, and be mindful about everything in it. In the case of my bathroom I decided to make it perfect, to arrange everything just so, and to be certain that all my things are in place. I cleared out the cabinets, rearranged where everything sat. As a result of this I’m connected to the space in a new way, and taking care of it requires more than just a spray cleaner and cloth, it requires me to fully aware of the space when I’m there.

We can all reevaluate the stuff we carry around with us, as well as the stuff that populates everything from our bathrooms to our boardrooms, to our calendars and collection devices. Do we NEED more? What can we take away that will leave more connection to others, to our work, to our material?

Like the performer that has deadening routines and is too focused on the tricks, allowing the stuff to become more important than connection is the primary cause of burnout. Connection matters, whether it is a space or a face, being truly present and unplugging the “routine” will give you the energy you need to create, to serve, sell and give em hell.

This is a nice profile of a street performing life. The rules...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:12:10 -0500

This is a nice profile of a street performing life. The rules and codes are similar to those in Belgium, London, Madrid and Paris.

Habits & Loops

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 08:16:00 -0500

I have a good friend of mine that is a professional street performer. Actually, I have several...

I’ve often wondered about the tacit contract friends make...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 10:04:26 -0500

I’ve often wondered about the tacit contract friends make with one another when they realize they’ve become friends. It’s not like marriage, where at some point the couple recognizes that the relationship has become a thing, a thing with legal and tax implications, and the loving couple chooses to make their vows public with a declaration of their love. In a traditional wedding the couple actually asks for a kind of endorsement from friends and family, and support from the community. But friends have no such public recognition, there is never any kind of public acknowledgement, it’s purely personal, often understated, and yet friendships are certainly more influential than most marriages.

In the Facebook age we now have a dynamic instrument to show the rest of the world how many friends we have, and how everyone is connected. Facebook is a kind electronic contract with friends, add them at any time, and then take them away any time. It’s a simple divorce, with no costs or associated embarrassments. How many of us have discovered we’d been stripped of our friendship credentials on FB without notice. It’s a lowly feeling being outcast, dismissed and discharged from the electronic commons, without so much as a comment.

Facebook has little to do with real friendship. The OED defines Friend as “One joined to another in mutual benevolence and intimacy.” I don’t believe that would apply to most of the people, many of them nearly strangers, that are counted as “friends” on my page.

In the past if we wanted to cultivate our friendships, we had to do something like write a letter, make a phone call, have coffee or tea or take a walk with them, to put forth some manner of effort. Friendship, after all, requires something from us because it’s intimate, and we actually need be there at some point, to be a good friend. But now, text and FB’ing has replaced a great deal of our personal contact and communication, and none of it intimate. Sure, we may read a “newsfeed” from our friends, but there isn’t any context to the writing, it’s impersonal at best, no contact necessary and virtually no effort required.

I also find that I don’t miss some friends the way I used to because I track their updates, see their pictures,know who they are associating with and where they are traveling. When I do see them, there is less sense of anticipation for catching up because, it seems, because I already know what they’ve been doing. The obvious upside is that I do know what people have been doing and so there is less a chance I might miss the important events that are the measure of good life friends.

How many friends one has on their FB page is a kind of measure of popularity, or worth. If you have thousands, or tens of thousands, it’s impressive, and it’s something you could actually monetize. It gives you bragging rights! The poor people with lowly numbers, or no Facebook page at all, are seen as stuck in the dark ages, cave dwellers with no community. It’s all good if your marketing a product, but then, those people who are your “fans” and your “friends” really aren’t “friends” after all.
This morning my Facebook page says I have 769 “friends”. What a crock of shit. I have about 30, and of those only about 15 are close to me, and of those 15, about 7 know everything about my life. That seems to be a good number…at least for me, I can call all of them in a matter of minutes.

Elbert Hubbard once said “A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.”
Though I’ve been an imperfect friend at times, impatient, unavailable and distracted, my friends are more important than my career, more vital to my happiness than stuff I can buy, and are necessary for a life of quality. I don’t believe friendships are always easy, and sometimes friends do drift a part. But the reward of effort is that flesh and blood friendships beat Facebook counts anytime, day or night, and they’ll be there even when the power goes out, or you loose your connection. Flesh and blood friends are present, they are accounted for, and we can depend on them. After all, it’s better to have friends that matter and that will be here tomorrow and beyond, not just ones we can monetize.

Restless Summer

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 18:47:00 -0500

(I wrote this a few years ago, but I’d like to think of it as a nice preamble to the hot...

It was a perfect day, including a mild rain and modest temps,...

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 12:16:00 -0500

It was a perfect day, including a mild rain and modest temps, which ushered in a rainbow of extraordinary vitality, visible and clear as we exited the small clapboard church where we exchanged vows and rings. It wasn’t unlike the weather we had today, picturesque skies with passing showers alternating sunshine and threatening storms, rainbows still floating about.

Marian and I married 19 years ago today, it doesn’t seem that long ago, nor is there a sense that we’ve accomplished something because of our longevity. It’s just a day to acknowledge our good fortune for having stumbled across each others path those many years ago.

I was shooting pictures of her on the eve of this anniversary, and was taken by thought of how much has changed, how much we’ve grown through the tempering events that are our history. As light and shape passes through the glass lens of my camera what came into focus is how struck I still am by my partner and friend. It’s simple really, I see a smile that lightens, eyes that lure me closer, a shape that still seduces me and a kindness that always seems to undo whatever trouble I’m having. It isn’t a blessing, it is her.

I believe in her and I believe in our marriage. When we had our ceremony, with all our friends and family present, we stood at the alter of a church where a nice man in white robes blessed our marriage and our rings, in the name of god, in front of all of those we love. It was lovely. But now, we no longer believe in gods, an after life and we find no comfort in the selfish idea of blessings. And these changes have not given rise to any sort of paucity, but has instead intensified our union because we know and understand our days are numbered, nothing will come along to save us, and this thing we call love is beautiful because it is so temporary. I guess there is wisdom in no escape.

When we met she was barely 21 years of age, a young woman, a girl really. Now, as she dwells in her forties, she is unfolding into a remarkable woman full of ordinary and prone to extraordinary, growing in leaps and bounds, grappling with big questions, seeking new site lines into her future and blurring the lines further. She’s coming into her own and it is such a prize to witness the turns, to see the exhilaration of learning, the lessons taken from the falls and stumbles, and to stand for her when things are rough and she is unsure. And that is the best for me, I believe, to be that certain, for her, and to be so certain for myself.

I believe in marriage, this marriage. I just love to be here with her here and now. I. Love. Her.

Mark Jenkins street art is remarkably fun. Link to it here,...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:48:08 -0500

Mark Jenkins street art is remarkably fun. Link to it here, enjoy.

My voice work continues to grow and expand, and I’ve got a...

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 08:07:34 -0500

My voice work continues to grow and expand, and I’ve got a good base of clients who use me often enough. Here is the demo for my commercial work. Most the clips are from real spots and real clients.

Out To Pasture

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:31:59 -0500

I’ve been critical of my own tendency to put technology first. I’m as much of a knuckle...

I’ve been producing my own voice overs and some modest...

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:41:24 -0500

I’ve been producing my own voice overs and some modest production audio for the past couple of years. I had a hard drive crash on my MAC, and have been finding some audio files for projects. This is the spot for Trail of Terror, a night freight experience in Shakopee Not bad, but I really like the twisted laughter near the end of the spot. Fun!

Infinitely, better.

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 12:07:00 -0500

I read James Carse interesting little book, “Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as...