Kevin Tumlinson's Blog, page 9

stressicity

Last Wednesday I attended the first of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University classes. One down, eight weeks and a sizeable chunk of debt to go. And judging by the sheer volume of resistance I've already met from friends and family, not to mention my own stubborn tendency to want to keep doing things my way, I'm guessing I'm already on the right track.

That's how that works. Have you noticed? The thing that does you the most good takes the most sacrifice, the most sweat, the most stress. If something is going to build you up, first you have to be torn down.

For a large chunk of my life I've lived with the belief that my biggest enemy, the guy who stands in my way most often, the fella who tears me down most without bothering to pick up the pieces—yeah, that guy is me. I could say it was Satan or sin or the nature of evil that tears me down. But the truth is that Satan, sin, and evil have only the tools I give them to work with. I've busily handed over custom-made Kevin-manipulating tools, and then raged at Satan's efficiency in mucking up my life. And all the while asking, "Why, God, why?!?"

A sure sign that you're doing something good for yourself is to guage how uncomfortable you feel. There's actually a word for that, though one you may not have heard before.

You've heard of stress. It's that thing you suffer when bills are due, when the car breaks down, when you have a test you haven 't prepared for. Have you heard of eustress? 

Eustress literally means "good stress." This is stress that builds you up instead of tearing you down. It's the stress of putting money into a savings account every month, even if money is a little tight. It's the stress of taking your car in for regular maintenance even though you're strapped for cash and/or time. It's the stress of studying for a test ahead of time, doing the assignments, asking for help in advance when you don't understand something.

Think of exercise. Nothing is more stressful than that first time you lace up and hit the street to get some miles under you and some pounds off of you. Your  muscles tense up. You sweat. You breathe heavy. Your lungs burn and your stomach churns and you end up feeling like complete garbage. And then there's the aftermath! Strained muscles, weariness, headaches.

And the time! Holy hourglasses, exercise takes up so much time! Changing into workout clothes takes time. Stretching takes time. Stopping to drink water takes time. Doing a cool-down takes time. Just showing up, day after day, to do this thing that isn't always all that much fun, and almost always hurts, takes time.

But when you keep at it for a few weeks, suddenly that time doesn't seem so big a cost. Muscles loosen. Breathing becomes regular. Sweat becomes less unpleasant. Pounds start to burn away as muscle starts to grow. Energy starts to increase. And the time suddenly isn't such a high cost any more.

Eustress is that stress that's ultimately good for you. Working out gives you benefits that outweigh the suffering. So the suffering, the stress, is building you up instead of tearing you down. 

That's the key to understanding the resistance I'm dealing with, both externally and internally, when it comes to getting my finances under control. I lack a financial education, so I have to pursue one. I lack self discipline, so I have to develop it. I lack a wealth mindset, so I have to build one. I have to work for it. I have to use muscles I haven't yet used. And that hurts. And it takes time. And it causes stress and headaches and nausea and tight feelings in my chest and stomach. 

But if I keep at it, if I keep carrying on, then I will eventually get past those pains. I'll cut debt down to nothing. I'll have money in the bank to support me and Kara if something goes wrong. I'll use money as it was intended to be used, to grow and support and promote and prosper me, but also to glorify God. I'll have true wealth. Wealth that isn't defined or limited to a number on a bank account. True wealth is freedom. It's controlling my resources—time and money—instead of letting them control me. 

So I'll take some flack from friends and family. I'll be laughed at because I'm forced to do some things I blatantly said I'd never do, like sell something I like that costs me a fortune to keep. I'll  have to eat a little crow, soak up a little humility, and suffer through a little indignity. That's stressful. But it's good stress. Eustress. It builds me up instead of tearing me down. 

So for that, I'm grateful.

moneyfication

Tonight I start a 9-week course called Financial Peace University. It's a program developed by Dave Ramsey, and it teaches you how to reshape your financial life. Not exactly a topic that has been in my bailiwick over the past four decades, but one I desperately need as part of my education.

So why now?

The more I study and learn about God's will for my life, the more I start to realize I have fallen short in few areas. My health, though not "bad," could be much improved if I'd lose the 70 or so extra pounds I've packed on. My marriage could be more peaceful and joyful if I spent more time focusing on the needs of my wife than focusing on what I want out of our every conversation or situation. My spiritual life could be improved if I'd focus more on studying and continually dwelling in God's Word, rather than giving my mind over to TV and books and films that do little or nothing to glorify God. And my financial life could be vastly improved if I had even a modicum of education in that direction.

It's not an easy thing for me. Money is one of those things that tenses me up every time the subject is broached. Whenever I think about sitting down with Kara to figure out a budget or discuss our finances, I feel sick inside. When I think about doing our taxes I want someone to hog tie me and beat me with a bar of soap in a sock. Money ... I haven't had a very good attitude toward money for most of my life.

And yet, I have always tried very hard to figure out ways to get more money. I need money, you see. We all do. There's some weird sort of notion being taught in schools and in churches and in homes, that money is somehow evil, and that those who have it or want it are just greedy and evil. But the truth is, even if we disdain the green stuff, it's a vital and necessary part of our lives. We need it (or what it stands for ... the value it represents) in order to achieve the things God wants for us in life. Prosperity is part of the promise of God.

But it's not like it's just going to fall out of the sky.

I mean, it might. "Manna from heaven," that's a thing. But look at what had to happen before manna fell to the Earth every morning, to sustain those wandering in the desert. First of all, they were in a DESERT. For FORTY YEARS. They were on the run from a very angry king. They were stranded, far from home, in a land that was harsh and difficult. They roamed, homeless, for forty years, because of disobedience. God sent manna to sustain them because He knew that eventually they'd come around. It was part of his promise to them. (Read Numbers and Exodus in the Old Testament of the Bible to see this whole story play out)

The point is, manna didn't fall from heaven just because the whole lot of them wanted a bite to eat. They probably would have preferred a nice roasted fish, maybe a bit of tartar sauce. Steak would be good. But instead, God sent them what they needed, when they needed it, nothing more. The rest was up to them. Their choice about obedience is what defined their journey. 

So back to the financial education bit. 

If you're going to live a life of prosperity, however you may define it, having a financial education is essential. Required, really. If you're plan is to free yourself from 9-to-5, to improve your lifestyle and achieve the freedom you need in order to accomplish your goals and your dreams, you have to know how money really works. You have to know how to make money work for you, instead of you working for money. 

Wealth ... that's a loaded term. It has all sorts of connotations, good and bad. For me, true wealth is the ability to choose how, when, and where I do the work God has ignited in me. Wealth means I have the means to glorify God with what I do, and to increase the reach of what I produce. It means I'm free to experience the world the way God intended.

Hard times? They'll still come. Stress and worry will always be a part of the equation. Wealth isn't a force field—it doesn't block difficulty from getting in. What it does is give us a tool we can use. And as with all tools—from screwdrivers to laptops to diesel-powered tractors—knowing the right way to use them makes all the difference in their effectiveness.

So I'm on a journey to learn more, and grow, and improve, and build wealth. I want to understand money, and I want to apply what I know about innovation and strategy and marketing and life, and use money as a tool to glorify God and accomplish my dreams and goals. And I want to drag you along with me. 'Cuz I loves ya. So I'll let you know what I learn over the next nine weeks, and how you can apply it to YOUR journey, too.

 

communityness

I'm easy.

Down boy, I mean I'm easy to rile up or stress out or otherwise get button-pushy with. My close friends used to have a little gag they'd drag out whenever they wanted to get me going on something. They'd make some ridiculous statement, then I'd rush in all angry and annoyed and righteously indignant and go on a rant for several minutes. To REALLY get under my skin they'd pretend to tap some unseen buttons in the air before them and make beeping and whistling noises. Pushing my buttons.

It always worked. I'm easy, like I said. I have a hair trigger, especially when it comes to things that I think I'm an expert on. Really it comes down to a profound arrogance on my part. I think I'm better and smarter, and anything that counters my POV is wrong, wrong, WRONG!

It's one of my more disgusting personality traits, and one that has held me back for decades. And it's the one that I'm attacked on constantly. When sin starts trickling out of me, its source is usually my arrogance and narcissism. 

So counter to what I want to be. So counter to who I really am, deep down. I'm someone who wants to love people, to help them, to protect them, to encourage and inspire them. That's my role in life, I think. I am the man who looks for ways to build people up. If I spend all my time building myself up instead, what good am I? Who am I helping when I'm only helping myself? Who am I encouraging when I am only boosting my own ego? Who am I, if alll I am focused on is what I think I know, and how much I think I'm better than you?

Nothin'. Nobody. Not worth the time of day.

The whole point of life is to live in community with others. We're built for community. We're social animals, dependent on each for strength, support, validation. God built a pretty good machine, when He built each of us. But he built an infinitely pliable and powerful machine in community.

That's why I'm struggling, daily, with bringing myself around to a new way of thinking. I want to change that part of me that thinks "me first" all the time, and start nurturing the part that asks, "How can I help? How can I serve? How can I love?"

People will sometimes take advantage of your good nature, if they know that your goal is to help and to serve. That's OK. It can't last. It seems weird, and somehow contradictory, but in my experience the people who take advantage of you most will often just wander away. They don't trust that what they're getting is the real deal. They start to think that somehow you're pulling one over on them. Nobody is THAT helpful, right? 

The truth is, we see in people what we see in ourselves. We relate to people by looking for those traits we share with them. That's how relationships start. "You like Doctor Who? I like Doctor Who!" And a friendship is born.

So people who cheat or steal from others will most often see everything as an attempt to cheat or steal from them. And if you are offering them a hand, with nothing asked for in exchange, then it's probably because you're running a grift. You can't be trusted. So they cut you off.

Same can be said of the arrogant. My biggest complaint about people? "They're selfish. They only think of themselves. They just want me to pay attention to their every word." And in my most honest moments, I can look at myself and see that I am the person I'm describing. Selfish. Self-centered. Self-motivated. 

Changing that means embracing a couple of tough ideas. We're made for community, but we're also made for service. 

Loving others the way you love yourself—in Romans 13:8-12 the Bible tells us that love is the fulfillment of the law. Basically, if you are concentrating on loving your neighbors, you aren't concentrating stealing what they have, committing adultery, murdering someone, or any of the other laws you could be breaking. Love them like you'd love yourself, and you don't have to worry about "right and wrong/legal and illegal." You're fulfilling the law and the greatest commandment from God.

Cool, huh? 

Loving others like I love myself—that's a lot of lovin', for sure. If I spent my time focusing on encouraging and building up others the way I try to build up my own ego, I'd have more friends, I'd have more opportunities, I'd build a bigger, stronger community that could back me up in my time of need. A community of like minds, always thinking about each other, always sure that others are up to somethin', alright. Up to somethin' good. 

the DNA of your every day

Choices are the DNA of our every day. 

Every minute represents one. We make them sometimes without thinking, and then we sometimes fall into a routine of just dealing with the results instead of thinking of what the next choice should be. And before you know it, you're standing in a doctor's office with 60 extra pounds of bad choices bulging over the waistline of your jeans. Or you're staring at a bank slip with a negative balance of several years of financial choices. Or you're pulling off your wedding band as you sign the final paperwork on a relationship-ending choice you never thought you'd make.

If we want to shape the direction of our lives, every choice has to be a conscious choice. The trouble is, that's not just hard ... it's impossible. 

We aren't built to make good choices automatically. It's not in us. Instead, we're programmed to make all the wrong choices. We want the cookie we shouldn't eat. We want to watch the movie we shouldn't watch. We want to take the thing that doesn't belong to us, or be with the person we shouldn't be with, or think the thoughts we shouldn't think. 

We're hard wired for making bad choices, and then improvising around the results.

But that doesn't mean we can't change. It just means we need a higher source of power than what we carry with us by default.

My source is God. For some people, that sounds nuts. They'd rather turn to almost anything else. Government, family, community, friends. Or maybe something more destructive, like drugs and booze. Which, on the whole, I think we can agree aren't going to help you make better choices.

The point is, if you're going to make real, positive change in your life, you can't rely on your own batteries. You have your routines and your tricks and your methods, and they've gotten you exactly here. Want real change? Choose better. Turn yourself off and turn on something that can give you the strength you need.

For me, that's God. What is it for you? Whatever it is, make sure you're stepping back every now and then, examining your trajectory and your choices, and determine if your source of power is getting you where you want and need to go. If not, it just means it's time to choose again.

33 ways to stay creative

[image error]On a personal note, I do #3 all the time. Most of my career has been an exercise in free writing.

strengthification

Fingernails are dirt magnets.

It doesn't seem to matter how often I clean them or trim them, minutes later I could do it all over again. I keep diggin' the dirt out, and it keeps fillin' back up. That mental image? That's yours for free ... I'm not even going to charge you for that.

So the way analogies work, this is the point where I compare cleaning your fingernails to your daily life, your efforts to improve yourself, your relationships, etc. You ready for that? I know you are! Because you are a person who admires honesty, character, and the earnest pursuit of change for the better. I've always liked that about you.

It's true. Just like our fingernails, our lives are constantly in jeopardy of filling back up with the junk and garbage and dirt we just spent a large amount of time and resources removing. We struggle for months to quit smoking, and on one stressful day we pick up a pack and start again. We stick to our diet for weeks before that plate of cupcakes appears and we find ourselves covered in icing. We commit to spending an hour every day doing a Bible study, praying and meditating on God's Word, but THIS morning there's a lot of chatter on Facebook or "I'm THIS close to finishing this book!" and we set aside the thing that we know, deep down, will benefit us more, help us grow into the better person we mean to be.

We're all a bunch of failures.

Hey, it's a harsh truth, but it's still a truth. We, in and of ourselves, are powerless to resist the things that bring us down. We need to rely on something bigger than ourselves to give us strength. Community leaders may lean on the spirit of the community. Political leaders may rely on the unity of their staff. Alcoholics Anonymous refers to it as "a higher power." Christians turn to God.

I almost typed "it doesn't matter what you choose," but I don't believe that's true. I believe that the ultimate strength comes from God. But I do recognize that there are other sources of strength. They may not be unlimited sources of power, and eventually they (like your willpower) will run up short. But they're a bigger reserve of strength and power than relying on yourself. They're necessary. They're VITAL.

We who want to better ourselves, we spend a lot of time digging the dirt out of our fingernails. We have tools and tricks that keep us as perfectly manicured as we can manage. We're always on the hunt for new ways to improve what we're doing. And that? That's all good. That's perfect, actually. Exactly as it should be.

But don't forget the more important resource: Look for the power that is greater than yourself. I recommend God, because I've always been a "go straight for the top" kinda guy. But whatever source you choose, whatever works best for you at this moment in time, just make sure it has as much respect for you as you have for it.

It does you no good to rely on your community if your community doesn't know who you are.

You can't rely on your political staff if they all have separate, personal, self-directed agendas, working at cross purposes to each other and to you.

You can't rely on your co-workers or your teammates for strength if they all think of you as being a self-centered problem, always talking about and thinking about your own issues and never being a part of the group.

We humans don't have enough personal strength or willpower to hold out for long. We need refuge from storms, and beds to rest our weary heads. Look for those in your life. Nurture them. Rely on them, more than on yourself, and you'll always have more strength than you can use.

And one last thing, because I truly think this is the most important strength you can access ... regardless of your beliefs or your past experiences or the opinions of your friends and family, this Wordslinger highly recommends turning yourself over to God. Surrendering to Christ, accepting His strength, that's the surest way to become unbeatable, indestructible, undeniably strong.

If that makes sense to you, but you don't know how to do it, or you could use a little guidance, you can contact me and I'll help. We'll talk, and I'll tell you all I know about it. And maybe you can share some things with me that will teach me a thing or to as well! We'll be a strength for each other in pursuing the greatest success of all time. I could definitely use a strength like that. How about you?

christian lifestyle design (or "how I spent my 40-year vacation")

I first came across the term "lifestyle design" in The 4-Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferriss. This book changed  my perspective on work and career, especially when it comes to "retirement." It helped me figure out a better way to handle outsourcing and contract work (both as a contractor and as a contractee), and it has served as a catalog of resources that I can draw on when I need it. I've read this book dozens of times now, and I learn something new every time.

(Just a side note: I highly recommend listening to the audiobook version as well as keeping a print and/or ebook version around for reference. Scott Brick does an outstanding job of narrating this book, and I've found that LISTENING to a book like this has more impact than reading it from the page)

The short definition of lifestyle design might look like this: Instead of locking yourself into a "typical" 40+ hour workweek for 40 to 50 years, working toward a cash-strapped "retirement," you should use every resource at your disposal to create a more "unconventional" lifestyle and career, and take lots of "mini retirements" along the way. 

The REALLY short definition might be: Use your brain, be creative and innovative, do what you love, and work becomes a joy instead of something you endure.

I love that whole concept. It's rooted in learning and growing, experimenting and playing by a different set of rules. I've used a lot of the techniques I've learned about marketing and strategy to make my career more unconventional than most. Even now, as I work full time as the Marketing Creative Director for a software company, my career is on a different track than just a few years ago, and it's far from conventional. 

But there's been a slight deviation from the 4-Hour plan. 

I really didn't see my lifestyle change much until I made a couple of key choices. It's hard to say which of these came first, because they're both so intertwined. I know which is the more important of the two, and which is the stronger guiding principle in my life now, but I can't remember exactly when I made the commitment to either. So I'll just list them from least important to most important.

Positive attitude

 How cliché is that? Very. And for 35+ years I felt it was too obvious, too pat, too eye-rollingly bleh to give it any real consideration. I agreed with the idea, and all the adages. "Your attitude determines your altitude," and the like. I agreed 100%. I just wasn't putting it into practice.

Actually, I did TRY to put it into practice. I just wasn't very good at it. And that's because I was missing the point.

Having a positive attitude isn't the full story. The real power behind this little "secret" is all about your choices (this sound famliar?) Being positive in a general, Pollyanna sort of way gets you nowhere. Eventually the smile you have plastered on your face will fade. The internal dialog of "just feel joy!" will peter out. Nothing about this empty, hollow decision to "think positive" has any power at all. 

Real positive attitude comes from making a conscious choice to put the needs of others above your own. It's called "love." And when you exercise it, the thing gets muscles like you wouldn't believe. If you're only focused on yourself, your own needs and goals and desires, you can only stay positive for so long. Eventually greed and selfishness and self-centeredness become the rules of your life. Eventually you get your true, deepest wish, which is to be alone with yourself, with no one bothering you.

Making the effort to put someone else in front of you, to do whatever you can to help someone else achieve what they want or need out of life, puts you in a different head space. It's the most positive head space you'll ever manage to reach. Your heart is in it. Your very soul is in it. 

I love to quote Zig Ziglar on one specific topic, and anyone who knows me will know what's coming next:

"You can get everything you want in life if you will just help enough other people get what they want."

How can you not be positive, when you're thinking like that?

God as the center of your life

This was the biggest change, the most important change of all. And it has made all the difference in my life and my career.

I was always a Christian. I just wasn't very good at it. I spent a large chunk of my life searching for something that would give me inspiration and a sense of purpose, but the only place I was willing to look was inside myself. 

Turns out, that's a pretty limited field to search.

I don't have what it takes to be successful or brilliant or a perfect Christian. Only Christ has that kind of strength. So this whole time, as I've focused on "improving" myself by focusing ON myself, I've really robbed myself of any power to change. 

But recently I made the decision, finally, to turn my life over to Christ. I emptied myself out and chose to study the Word, to engross myself with God, to fill myself ... well, actually, to ask God to fill me ... with the Holy Spirit. I asked Christ to increase my faith. I decided to stop relying on the Power of Kevin and start relying on the true and real Power of God.

Having God as the center of my life, making the choice to glorify Him with EVERYTHING I do, say, think, feel ... that has made all the difference. Three or four years ago ... three or four MONTHS ago ... I might have agreed with this with my mouth, but I didn't agree with my heart or my soul. I believed, if you asked me. I didn't believe, if you studied me. "You'll know them by their fruits." That's the trick. You can't judge a book by it's cover, but you CAN judge it by the impact it's having on the world.

I was an ineffective, loudmouthed, self-centered jerk. I paid lip service to all the good and positive things that I'd always HEARD could make your life (and the world) better, but I wasn't living what I was knowing. God changed that.

I had my crisis of faith. A couple of them, actually. It happens. It shouldn't have to, but it does. And now I know, I KNOW, that the way for me to be happy, to have joy, to achieve more in my life ... it's all in who I'm focused on. 

Focus on me = struggling, sinking, drowning

Focus on God = Standing, Walking, Performing Miracles

Christian Lifestyle Design

I've started putting things together, thinking things through, and I'm coming around to a new idea. I think that lifestyle design is a good plan. It's good to want to accomplish things. It's good to want to have a lifestyle that makes you feel fullfilled, that brings you joy. It's good to want wealth, even. Its good to want to do as much as you can.

It's better, so much better, to want all these things to bring glory to God. 

True lifestyle design, effective and empowering, will only come from glorifying God with everything you do. So that's what I'm going to focus on. I'm going to use all of the things I've learned, through all of my years of study into marketing and strategy and innovation, and I'm going to apply all of those to the principles that God has laid out for me in His word. 

And I want you to join me. I want to help you get what you want out of life, what you NEED out of life. That's the mission God has put in front of me, and this blog and my books and all the things I do an create, they're all tools for that mission.

So let's get started.

 

choosification

It's not always easy to keep your mouth shut. Or to keep yourself in check, say, when you're in heavy traffic or waiting behind "the Coupon Lady" at the grocery store. And when a bunch of that kind of stuff stacks up ... well, it ain't easy bein' easy.

What IS easy is complaining about it, even if you're just complaining to yourself. I do this a lot. I'm behind the only slow driver in three lanes of traffic, with cars zipping by on either side, too fast for me to scootch over and pass. The whole time I'm grumbling, "Great. Perfect. Typical!" And a few more choice, non-family-friendly terms.

I start getting that clenched feeling in my chest, the tightening in my neck and shoulders, the sizzle of my blood pressure going up. That tension only serves to make me more agressive, less reasonable, more of a buttocks chapeau. 

It's easy in those moments to react the wrong way, and it's even easier to look back at it and think, "It wasn't my fault ... Circumstances dictated ... it all just happened so fast ... I didn't have a choice!"

That's what's easy. What's hard is admitting to yourself (admit it!), "I could have handled that better. I made a bad choice." It's all about the choices.

Yesterday I was peeved at traffic, and I was peeved at being tired and hungry, and I was peeved at having to run an errand for my wife when all I wanted was to get home, and I was peeved at having to fight traffic AGAIN, after waiting fifteen minutes for my "fast" food to be made, and I was peeved that I was eating fast food after finally getting myself to hit the trails for some exercise after a long, fat hiatus—all so I could get home in time for me to watch a few minutes of TV before I had to turn in for the evening. I managed to keep from taking things out on anyone directly, but the stuff going on in my head? The things I said aloud, in the privacy of my car, where only I ... OK, and God ... could hear me?

Oops. 

Those last two listeners are more important in this scenario than I gave credit at the time. God hears all, sees all, knows all ... he's better than the Great and Powerful OZ when it comes to that. And let's not discount the other listener in the car, who hears and feels and sees all of it too, and makes all the choices based on how he's communicating with himself. He's the one choosing to react to everything the way he does, so the way he chooses to communicate with himself is important. 

I didn't have to react the way I did, because I had a choice. Things happen fast? So does choosing. Actually, choosing happens faster, because you can choose ahead of time. "When I'm in traffic and it's slow and I'm getting angry, I'll take a deep breath, thank God for this quiet time, and chat with Him or listen to music or listen to a book or think about the book I'm writing."

See? I choosed. And I did it faster than I could possibly react to what's happening in front of me at any given moment, because I chose before I even got out of bed that morning. Of course, the thing to keep in mind is that these choices happen EVERY DAY. You have to make the choice, every day, about how you react to the things that you know will trigger you bein' the you that you don't like bein'.

It's all about the choices.

I choose wrong all the time. And that stinks. And then I feel guilty for those choices. I pray for forgiveness, and then I have to choose again. Choose to accept God's grace and forgiveness and grow from the experience, making better choices later, or choose to keep feeling that guilt and shame, so that the only message I ever communicate to myself is, "You aren't good enough. You failed. You always fail." 

It's all about the choices. 

Keeping my mouth shut is a chronic problem, as is keeping my attitude in check. But God honors us when we choose to do just that, despite the temptation to do otherwise. Trusting God, believing and having faith, that's a choice, too. You'll know when you've chosen well, if what you do brings you joy instead of dread, if it glorifies and honors God instead of tearing someone down (including yourself). 

Choose. But choose wisely.*

 

*I totally stole that from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." 

 

life is marketing (but marketing ain't life)

Dealing with each other isn't easy.

No matter how much we think we know about other people, the fact that they ARE people means we're already coming underprepared for this mission. People are, by their nature, difficult if not impossible to understand.

In Marketing, the whole idea is to know how people think, and then construct a message that taps into that, so you can reach a targeted group of people and convince them to do something that you want them to do. You learn a lot of terms when you work in marketing as an industry—demographic, metric, response rate, and a whole bunch more that may or may not be decipherable to the average Joe. We folk of the Marketing cloth are trained to look at raw data, make a story of it, draw conclusions from it, change our approach and try to boost the numbers on the next go. Did our message get through? Did we convince people to do what we wanted? What action DID our audience take, and was it expected?

I have this "life is marketing" philosophy, and it's more or less in development all the time. I believe that we spend every day of our lives trying to interpret the data that's flowing our way, and tailoring our response in order to achieve our goals. That's the definition of Marketing, and it's the definition of our relationships with other people. We all try really hard, every minute of the day, to get the results we're after, to say things just right, to persuade others to see things our way. 

God is the most successful Marketer of all time. He's had a campaign running for 2,000 years that has successfully persuaded the viewpoints and perspectives of BILLIONS. His brand is maybe the single most recognized brand in history. Show someone a cross some time and ask what comes to mind. The emotion behind their response my vary, but they know what it means. Take that, Nike swoosh.

The trouble comes when we forget what the message is, and concetrate on the marketing itself. We have words for this, such as "dogma" or "fanatacism" or even "fundamentalism." Sometimes the impact of the marketing is positive and sometimes it's negative, but in both cases it isn't the point. God doesn't want us focused on the Marketing, He wants us focused on the Message. 

Nike has effective marketing, but if all their audience ever does is rave about the latest ad campaign, and no one ever buys a pair of shoes, then Nike's marketing team has failed. 

Coke is a universally known brand, but if no one has the Coke (just the smile), then eventually old Coca-Cola stuff becomes nothing more than collector's items, reminding us of a bygone era in which some old soda company used to be in business, but no longer supplies us with sugary soda goodness. 

Wearing a cross necklace or sticking a Jesus fish on your bumper tells a story about what message is influencing you, but if you aren't living that message then you're just as good as an empty Coke bottle on a shelf. Maybe interesting to look at, maybe a few nice curves, maybe an interesting logo, but still empty. 

When I say "life is marketing," I'm really talking about relationships, and how we deal with each other. But the real point of life is the message, not the marketing. How you livin'? What fruit is your life producing? If all you have is some nice flash, a catchy logo, a recognizable brand, you might want to rethink your strategy. Life may be marketing, but marketing isn't life.  

shutter the front door

Wood, the way God intended it. In slats nailed to bricks. Today I hung some shutters. 

That, in itself, might not be even mildly impressive to some folks, and I'm not going to hold that against them. But does it garner me any more cool points if I say that I made the shutters myself? I mean, I didn't hew the wood or anything. Didn't make the stain from crushed berries, or smelt iron to forge nails. But I did pull a whole bunch of miscellaneous wood, stain, and nails together into something that more than passively resembles wood shutters. For that, I deserve a Coke.

There was something kind of satisfying about this. I'm not saying I had some profound experience, but I did have a few zen moments. I like this "build things with my hands" stuff. I do it, from time time, and I always enjoy it. I should do it more.

I spend an awful lot of time in front of a computer, and it serves me well. I make a pretty good living, tapping away at keys all day. My income is derived from the word goo that I scrape from the inside of my brain, and that is a career that suits me just fine. But then there are times when I build something, and the sense of "creating" is there, equally as strong, but the flavor is different. 

I think it's good to switch things up every now and then. Frankly, the whole time I was cutting, hammering, painting, and nail-gunning, I had half a dozen stories, songs, taglines, headlines, articles, and other ideas sifting through my brain. The reflex to create turns on that switch in my head, so even though the tools and the output are different, the energy is the same. 

Weird, huh?

Anyway, it's 10p.m. and I'm writing. Which means this is probably, in large part, incoherent babble. I'm a morning person. I don't do nighttime writing. But I wanted to try to keep my streak up, contribute something real for today, and maybe make someone think. That's a good post, if it happens. I like posts like that.

And frankly, I just want to show off my handiwork. I'm proud of those painted slats of wood attached to brick. They're like a coffee-colored, cedar headline, hanging out there for all the world to see. Cool.