Joel Comm's Blog, page 15

The Mainstream Media and Social Media Mobs LIE to You!

There has never been a greater example of how the mainstream media blatantly LIES to us and how people in general believe what they are told (eg: SHEEP) than this story about a boy wearing a MAGA hat and the native American veteran who was allegedly bullied, mocked and harassed by him and his friends. […]

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Do More Good Stuff

You can measure success in all sorts of different ways. You can count the number of sales you make at a launch. You can count the number of awards on your office bookshelf. You can count the number of views, shares, or new subscribers a piece of content generates. All of those measures will tell […]

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Alibaba.com at Consumer Electronics Show 2019

Today’s global marketplace provides more opportunity for small businesses than ever before. The sheer number of products that can be designed and sources is absolutely staggering! No website is offering more choices than Alibaba.com. I have the opportunity to visit the Consumer Electronics Show 2019 in Las Vegas this year and see first-hand many of […]

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Gillette, Be Better

I’ll chime in on the Gillette campaign now. My opinion is as worthless as everyone’s else, so I may as well toss my two cents in. Please forgive me if I don’t articulate clearly. I’m going to do my best and I hope you see my intent. I’m sure I’m going to piss someone off. […]

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The Religion and Politics Monster

We have a problem. Okay, we have LOTS of problems. But I want to discuss one problem in particular. It’s political talk. And to a somewhat lesser degree, it’s religious talk. Ooooo… the two taboos. It’s about to get real. The problem is that religion and politics have created an environment that pits family member […]

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A Free CRM Lets Small Businesses Take On The Giants

There’s one lesson that every entrepreneur learns very fast. The market isn’t equal. If you’re a new company coming into the market with a smart, new idea, you’re going to struggle. It doesn’t matter how great your idea is or how great a business mind you possess, you’re going to finding yourself running up against […]

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Want to stand out? You need to be a TRAILBLAZER!

What do Seth Godin, John Stossel, Dan Kennedy, Sally Hogshead and Jay Abraham have in common? They are all Trailblazers! Each have beaten the odds to influence millions of people. Would you like to learn how to stay focused while pursuing your passion? Join Joel Comm on Joel.LIVE as he welcomes Tony Rubleski, author of […]

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A review of Eave—a Colorado-based home mortgage lender

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Eave. All opinions are entirely my own. I’m always on the lookout for the latest way to build wealth. You should be too. Whether it’s through social media, through online content, through cryptocurrencies or through whatever the world is going to throw out next, opportunity is never far away—if […]

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Don’t Take the Bait!

We’ve all encountered someone who has inappropriately attempted to goad us into reacting to them. It could be something said directly to your face, heard through a third party, texted via mobile or posted on social media. There are just so many ways to say inappropriate things in the digital age! I’ve had this happen to me twice within the last 48 hours, and I think how we manage these encounters can determine how emotionally healthy we are. In the first instance, I was texted some incredibly harsh and judgmental words, amounting to no less than an attack on my character. The second time was an unsolicited political comment on a completely innocuous Facebook post. How do you respond when someone attacks you, either publicly or privately? The general reaction to something that pushes our emotional buttons is to react emotionally. But I’ve discovered a better way which helps me maintain equilibrium and not get caught up in others’ drama. Whenever someone does criticize of me, depending on how much I value the source I will seek to discover if there is even a grain of truth in their words. I want to be honest with myself and seize upon growth opportunities when they come my way. Referring to the first instance, the text message was clearly an emotional reaction that had no legitimacy. It didn’t take me long to spot that the sender was reacting to not having their way in a situation, and so they lashed out. My buttons were being pushed. And when we react to our buttons being pushed we are actually surrendering the power we have to respond thoughtfully, rather than react emotionally. One of our human flaws is the need to “be right.” But being right doesn’t always lead to being happy. Sometimes we can be content with being right without having to prove it to others. In this case my options were to: 1) Defend myself against the false accusations and make my case for why this person was wrong. But what would that serve? If this person has already made up their mind that their truth is THE truth, I’m not likely to persuade them otherwise. It would just turn into an argument. And I don’t want to fight. 2) Fight back. See #1. I don’t want to fight. And I don’t want to hurt the other person by saying something that I would regret. 3) Say or do nothing. I choose #3. I didn’t need to defend myself and I didn’t want to fight. To me, it is far more empowering to let others think, feel, believe and/or perceive whatever they want about me or about the situation. As the saying goes, what you think of me is none of my business! When you choose to not react or even respond to false accusations, you are empowered to release the other person. And you demonstrate that you won’t be controlled by their reactions. After all, most often a verbal attack is designed to engage you into a battle that can’t be won. The other instance took place just a short time ago. After thinking about writing this piece based on the first encounter, having the second one happen really drove home my desire to express my thoughts. I made an incredibly non-confrontational Facebook post that was akin to a Seinfeld post… that is to say, it was about nothing. And yet an acquaintance (whom I haven’t seen or spoken with in years in person) took the opportunity to grandstand with a smarmy political statement. It immediately became obvious to me and I sat there looking at the comment, thinking “why?” This individual breached a boundary and I could have reacted a number of ways. 1) I could have engaged with this person and responded with my own thoughts about their conclusions. But is it really wise to engage with someone so predisposed to an opinion that they would post an in-your-face political comment on a post that had absolutely nothing to do with the topic? Of course not. It would be foolish. 2) I could have fought back and stooped to the same level of primal discourse, which is to say, attack. But why? This happens regularly on social media. People yell at each other, call each other idiots, curse at one another… and nothing good comes of it. Ever. 3) I could ignore the comment. Sometimes I’ll leave comments like this and allow others to engage with the commenter. But this is MY wall. And it takes a lot of nerve to come into my house and start pointing fingers. It also takes a lot of self-righteousness. I posted about the Righteous Indignitus virus epidemic recently, and it was staring me right in the face. 4) I could delete the comment. My wall. My rules. If you came into my home and spoke to me like that I’d ask you to leave. So I deleted the comment from my wall. And in this case I sent the commenter a short DM that said “Hope you are doing well, but I’m not taking the bait. ” You don’t have to take the bait, either. There is no rule that says you have to engage with people who attack you. Even if their method of sharing is crude, we are still responsible to look for any grain of truth in what they are saying. Again, don’t pass by an opportunity to learn and grow. But if after doing so you conclude that this person is just having an emotional reaction, recognize that it is their problem. You don’t have to play by their rules or dance to their music. In fact, by not doing so you are building a stronger character for yourself. Sometimes leaving people to sit in their own words, actions or behaviors without responding can give them time to think about what they did. And sometimes it can lead to an apology. Other times they will just double-down on […]

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New Facebook Virus is Spreading Rapidly!

WARNING! A virus has hit Facebook and it is spreading at an alarming rate! It’s called the “Righteous Indignitus” virus. Symptoms include: – Reacting emotionally to news stories (some fake, some true, some half-true), rather than responding thoughtfully. – Reposting of stories that fit a cognitive bias followed by likes and comments which seem to support the virus-carrier’s beliefs (with a seeming lack of awareness or reckless lack of concern over the silence from those who might not think precisely the same way). The virus actually feeds on these likes and comments. – A public invitation to “unfriend”, “unfollow” and “block” them if you dare to have thoughts, feelings and/or opinions which vary from that which fits the narrative they believe to be true, or if you would provide any information that would assist in making a more complete evaluation of any given situation. The virus carrier actually believes having you as a contact will infect THEM with some sort of bad juju or mojo. In their minds, you are contaminated and should be quarantined. – A smug self-satisfaction that the cutting off relationships with human beings who might think different is somehow a victory. WARNING: Do not fall prey to Righteous Indignitus. If you don’t like this post, than you are free to unfriend, unfollow and/or block me… AAAGH! The virus is attempting to get me, too!!! On the other hand. DON’T unfriend, unfollow or block me. Unless you want to. I really don’t care. Here’s why… If you don’t see me as an autonomous human being with rights to my own thoughts, feelings and beliefs… If you don’t have the awareness to recognize that none of us know it all… and that we can ALL be deceived and/or wrong about some of the things we believe… If you can’t handle opinions contrary to your own and have the courage to consider that you may be wrong… You may be infected with Righteous Indignitus. And if you do choose to not relate to me, it’s not my problem… It’s yours. You weren’t a friend to begin with. You were, in the words of Gotye, “somebody that I used to know.” As for me, I occasionally unfollow someone because I don’t care to read their posts. This allows me to maintain a relationship that matters to me without subjecting myself to posts which I find unhelpful and unhealthy. The only time I unfriend or block someone is if they are vile to ME, personally. You can attack what I believe. Attacking ideas is NOT the same as attacking a person. You don’t get a second chance if you attack me personally. I choose to value people for who they are, whether or not I agree with them. Even if I think what they believe is wrong. We CAN agree to disagree, in both small things and big things. To finish out this already-too-long post, it was brought to my attention that a person I have known for years… one who I have had a good relationship with… someone who has repeatedly told me that I am “one of the good guys”, had a problem with a friend of mine. And because I am a friend of that person, person A unfriended me. I didn’t do anything other than be a friend to someone he didn’t like. Righteous Indignitus. It’s toxic. Here’s are some thoughts which might be useful to all of us: 1) Don’t assume you have it all figured out. I most certainly don’t. Neither do you. I can’t count how many times I thought one way about something and my opinions have changed based on receiving more information. I’ll bet you have experienced the same thing. 2) Recognize that we all have cognitive bias, but we can strive to overcome it by referring to #1. When you read or see a news story that causes you to react emotionally, ask yourself if there might be MORE to the story that you are not being told. Ask yourself if the writer or publisher is toying with your emotions specifically to use you as a pawn for their agenda. (Unless you like to be blown about by the wind of those who are seeking easy prey.) Ask yourself if your cognitive bias is showing. 3) Chill out. Learn to “respond”, not “react”. Reacting is driven by your feelings (which may or may not be based in reality). Responding is thoughtful engagement with the topic and NOT being driven by your emotions. Responding is healthy. More often than not, reacting is unhealthy. Put on your big boy and big girl pants. If you think you or someone you know might be infected with Righteous Indignitus, please disperse proper medication. Red pills of truth are usually the best.

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