Colin Wright's Blog, page 33
June 29, 2014
Universality
There’s something about offering another person a cup of coffee that has a universality to it.
No matter what cultural background you come from (in my experience thus far, at least), the gesture of offering a caffeinated beverage transcends gulfs of any size.
I’ve seen violent, physical arguments brought to a halt due to the introduction of tiny ceramic cups of coffee. I’ve seen incommunicative chasms bridged when one person offers another a mug. It’s a gesture that says, “I don’t care who you...
June 22, 2014
Significance
There are many significant dates in a person’s life.
A birthday, for example, is considered to be quite significant. Another year lived! Huzzah!
A year — 365 days — is a unit of measurement derived from the amount of time it takes the Earth to travel around the sun. Which is cool, but bears no actual relevance to a person’s life. There’s no set number of experiences a person has in such a time period. As milestones go, a birthday’s only significance is that most of us stop and take stock after...
June 17, 2014
Artistry and Craftsmanship
Artistry is the ability to conceive of something that doesn’t exist yet. It’s a creative flourish that elevates what might otherwise be ordinary, making it new. Interesting. Compelling in some way.
Craftsmanship is a focus on how something is built, be it something physical, digital, or conceptual. It’s the construction of an idea or a chair. An applied solution that solves a problem, and solves it well.
Artistry tends to grow in a non-standard, sputtering, unpredictable fashion. One’s ability...
June 9, 2014
Relevance
These days, many people know where Iceland is. At least in a general sense. Even more know something about the country — about the glaciers, puffins, funny sweaters.
A few decades ago, this wasn’t the case. The chances of a person knowing anything about Iceland were slim, because Iceland was outside their radar. It wasn’t, as far as they knew, relevant to their life.
Folks know about Iceland, now, because millions of dollars have been spent explaining why it’s important to potential visitors. W...
June 7, 2014
Can’t Live Without
If you had to make a list of things you couldn’t live without, what would be on it?
What people, possessions, ideas, foods, are so important that, without them, you would not, could not, wouldn’t even want to go on?
I aspire to keep my list empty. Not because I’m a hateful person, or vacant of joy. But rather because I prefer to internalize my happiness. I don’t want it to be dependent on anything outside of me; outside of my control.
Consider that you can have a life rich with amazing friends a...
May 26, 2014
Respect is Earned
There’s a phrase here in the US — contempt of cop — that is often cited to arrest or otherwise harass law-abiding citizens. The idea here is that police officers are deserving of respect, and therefore disrespecting them is a punishable offense.
But are they deserving of respect? What, exactly, have they done to deserve it?
I’ve met plenty of cops who have my respect. These are people who take their job seriously, and are friendly and kind and protective of the citizens in their jurisdiction. I...
May 23, 2014
Instincts
When I need something from my bag, I instinctually know where to find it.
I know this because I’ve packed and unpacked and reached into that bag hundreds of times. When I first got the bag, this was not the case. When I first got the back, my bag-instincts weren’t yet developed.
That’s the thing with instincts: they’re weak unless we train them. After packing and unpacking and reaching into the thing over and over again, my bag-instincts grew stronger. The part of my brain that just ‘knows’ whe...
May 16, 2014
Wonderment
The world can be a dreadful place: Dark, savage, opportunistic, and full of villains.
It can seem like all the good people are relegated to the pages of history books, and any vestiges of a positive definition for the word ‘humanity’ are archived with them.
It may seem that way sometimes, especially in the midst of a caffeine-crash, mood swing, or ‘Breaking News’ marathon, but there’s plenty to be excited about out there. The world, and the people in it, are full of potential. Immense, inspirin...
May 12, 2014
Because I Want To
Increasingly, I find myself going against the grain of conventional wisdom when it comes to business tactics, marketing, and the like.
It’s not that I think these things don’t work — I know from experience that they often do — it’s more that I simply don’t care to do them. Changing my blog headlines for more clicks, optimizing my book covers for better ‘conversion’ metrics, or starting entire businesses just to make money are efforts that don’t do it for me anymore. They don’t give me the sati...
May 9, 2014
Bubbles of Ambiance
There are situations in which I cannot go headphone-free
Riding on long-distance buses, for example, can be torturous without a solid playlist. Staring out the window as the world goes by, music serves as connection to the rest of the world, and allows me to be the DJ of my senses. I can blend the experience of big band music with the experience of a long, dusty road, and end up with something novel. The ‘there’ — a different time or place or vibe — melded with the ‘here.’
There are situations...
