The Problem with Providing Value (And an Approach to Idle Blogging)

The value lies in the eye of the beholder This morning, I enjoyed reading a post by Oscar Del Ben about the necessity of providing value in blogging. Think twice about what you want to write, think twice about how to write it, think twice about hitting the “Publish” button – and always have in mind the value you provide. Because people are receiving way too much information already, and you don’t want to mess with them. If you ask for their attention, better bring something noteworthy.

Although I generally agree with this recommendation, it also entails a problem: Value lies in the eye of the beholder. While I enjoy surfing around the comic section of Arthur Magazine from time to time, others may find it completely stupid. But then, I am not much into buying penis enlargement pills, while apparently a lot of other people are. So if you only focus on providing value to other people, you can easily become predictable and boring. I think that’s because everybody is trying to find out about this value thing – and often draws some inspiration from other blogs. While this can lead to the creation of great content, it also may result in producing meaningless repetitions of old stuff that was useful once, but is not anymore. Carlos Miceli referred to this when he advocated to avoid echo online. If your post is just a repetition of a repetition of a repetition, it’s meaningless. Provide a new angle or trash it. Or better still, don’t even start to write it.

This means: Learn to be silent. Silence is the way of the idle blogger, and silence may provide much more value than you think. It saves you work and it saves people time. It’s a win-win situation.
Of course you want people to come to your site, you want to engage in the discussion that’s going on. That’s fine. But be sure to provide new insights. Don’t get distracted by some bloggers that are repeating themselves over and over again. Don’t get dazzled by large numbers of subscribers. Start an information diet, blind the noise out, focus on signals.

And if you decide to really raise your voice, don’t just focus on providing value to others. Because you cannot always know what will be valuable to them. You’re not a market research department. You’re a blogger. And as a blogger, you have the right to be deliberately dilettante and do what sparks your interest. As long as you’re original and honest, and as long as you focus on the quality of your texts in a sense of craftsmanship, you can do whatever you want. (Well, you actually could also copy stuff, be dishonest, and write in an ugly style. But then you would be a spammer, not a blogger.) As Oscar puts it, don’t be afraid of change. Move into new directions and provide new points of view, even though they may appear ridiculous at first. I’m an idler that engages in activism. Is this a contradiction, is it derangement? Or is it a paradox you can live by? Who am I to tell? I just seek to write good posts. Give it a try. If it doesn’t bring you more readers, it will make you a better writer at least.

At the beginning of your blog, you just don’t have a clear readership. Many business bloggers recommend focussing on your target audience. I say: Forget your target audience. People are coming to you from everywhere and you don’t have much control over it: They may be friends looking what you’re up to. They may be employers checking you out before hiring you. They may be twitterers that have never heard of you before. They may be lonely Googlers that yet have to start to engage in a community. Be open to them. Be original. Be honest. Maybe they will connect and maybe they won’t, but in the end, you will never know if you don’t give it a try. You can never be sure what synapses get stimulated by your writings in the brains other people. Just avoid endless repetitions, provide quality over quantity, lay back, and look what happens. This might be a valuable approach to Idle Blogging at last.

The Power of your Idle Brain (And the Cream Bucket Dilemma)

Idle Hamster in the Cream BucketI’m an idler. I’m proud to say that, because in times of 21st century high-speed economy and accelerated lifestyle everybody seems to feel an urgent need to move hectically, trying to climb up on the career ladder. It gets even worse in times of recession, when we are willing to do anything to avoid a cutback in the paycheck, or even getting laid off and falling through our (perceived) security nets, hitting the ground with a boisterous and disgusting sounding *SPLASH*. (Or *KABLOOIE*? A non-native speaker’s dilemma, but a boisterous and disgusting sound, anyway!)

Hectic movement in times of economic hardship seems to have some tradition. In the thoroughly entertaining Steven Spielberg movie Catch me if you can, the father of main character Frank William Abagnale tells a story of two mice that fall into a bucket of cream and try to get out. While the first one quickly gives up and drowns in the liquid, the second mouse just moves so hectically that he churns the cream into butter and manages to crawl out. This, the movie suggests, is the adequate way of living our lifes.

Now, let’s imagine Idler Mouse™ in this pot of cream. I mean, he got in there for something, right? Yeah, he wanted to have some cream! So while the stupid mice from the story would either die or stress out, Idler Mouse would just relax, float on his back, call some friends and invite them to join the party – to have a bacchanal feast together and leave not one little drop of that delicious liquid in the bucket, ending up with a big and tasty beer cream belly.

The thing is, your options when swimming in a giant bucket of cream are rather limited. Real life, in contrast, provides us with a much larger set of opportunities. We are just not seeing them because we are so busy moving hectically, trying to churn the cream around us into butter to get away alive, even if it doesn’t lead us anywhere.

This is where idler lifestyle becomes helpful. Just stop the daily (or should I say: dairy?) grind for a moment, float on your back, and consider your situation.

Because, like Russell Kay, the inventor of the Lemmings video game always said: “When everybody is moving hectically into one direction, make sure they are not lemmings heading for a cliff before you follow them.” (Well… actually he didn’t say that, but I thought it would be cool to keep rodents in my metaphors. Also, this works pretty well as a selection process for your Twitter followers, so keep it in mind.)

While many people perceive idling as a loss of time, they forget the positive effects of it. One of the most elegant idlers of our times, Tom Hodgkinson, has been popularizing the whole concept for quite some time now. Still, there are not too many idlers found on the web – probably because they prefer to just have a cup of tea or take a walk or get drunk with friends than to write largish blog posts (like I do).

For me, a central element of idling is spending a lot of time in a state of absolute relaxation and/or analog entertainment, like laying in a hammock or sitting on the colonial wall of Cartagena, looking at the sea. Although I am doing this for no reason or secret plan at all, I noticed it helps the brain to develop new ideas and build up connections between existing ones.

When I was writing my diploma thesis, this strategy worked out great for me. After some stressful time in Germany resulting in various illnesses, I decided to take a new approach. Instead of suffering through the whole study process in a grey and cold winter, sitting in badly lit and crowded libraries, I resolved to get this thing written in the Caribbean.
I took a flight to Cartagena and got accustomed to spend the cooler morning hours working on complicated texts, having an early lunch afterwards, taking a longish nap, and then spending the rest of the afternoon and evening hours sitting on the beach and enjoying myself.

The results were extraordinary. While I often felt I did not know where I was heading, the whole thesis was written in four or five large writing session of about ten pages each – the rest was polishing and getting the formal stuff straight. I was able to hand it in about six hours before deadline – a new record for me (admittedly only attained thanks to the motivation of having my best friends waiting for me in a beautiful patio with two bottles of Zacapa Centenario). In terms of impartial feedback, I got the highest qualification and a happy professor.

Now, does this work for everybody?
I’m not sure, but there is some evidence for it. Not only did I experience equally positive results while idling during the preparation of exams and presentations, I could also get confirmations of similar strategies in the work of some of my mentors. Also, brain research seems to support my thesis, showing that many mental problems get solved by our subconsciousness during daydreaming and times of idleness. According to an article in the Boston Globe, it has been “demonstrated that daydreaming is a fundamental feature of the human mind – so fundamental, in fact, that it’s often referred to as our “default” mode of thought. Many scientists argue that daydreaming is a crucial tool for creativity, a thought process that allows the brain to make new associations and connections. Instead of focusing on our immediate surroundings […] the daydreaming mind is free to engage in abstract thought and imaginative ramblings.”

So while the stupid mice will either panic or work their asses off for nothing, Idler Mouse knows exactly when to relax, when to connect with his friends, and when to take action. If idleness in itself does not appeal you for whatever strange reason, you should at least try to pause your hectic movements from time to time for the sake of productivity. Action will follow in its due moment, and the results will be pleasantly surprising because your idle brain does its job without you even noticing it.

Did you ever have a positive experience with the power of your idle brain? Why not share it in the always intelligent & friendly anarchistic comments?

Illustration CC-BY-SA friendlyanarchist.com. Based on great images CC-BY-SA Yukari* & CC-BY Smabs Sputzer.

The Magic of Getting Started

Start your engine…

Start your engine…

Today was a bad day. It started with getting woken up by some crazy guys throwing firecrackers into my patio because of some party here in my barrio in Cartagena. At 5 o´clock. In the morning. I had gotten about four hours of not too restful sleep because of thinking on my projects this night. I need eight hours to work, and at least six to survive. Things didn´t look too well.

Outside, it was raining. I decided to go to the beach to take a swim, hoping that my body would start to work. Hell, I never felt so much cold in my years in the Caribbean as this morning while standing on the shore, getting ready to jump into the warmer water. I swam a bit, got out, back onto the bus, straight home – to work.

But once I got here, I noticed the missing hours of sleep – and also the coming of a cold. My nose was running. My head ache. Not too much, just this tiny little knife point on your forehead that is communicating very clearly that things can get worse within the blink of an eye. *Drip* – Damn air-condition on the bus. I got some Kleenex tissues. Well, actually I got toilet paper. Whatever.

I decided to just start reading some stuff online, checking out Paid to Exist and The Black Sheep Project, answering some mails, etc.
When I wanted to take a nap around midday, visitors came into the house I live and instantly took away all the tranquility that I needed. No nap. But in exchange, more nose running. *Drip*

The hours of the day flew by and I did not get done absolutely NOTHING. In the end, I found myself chatting with Jeb, until he said: “i’ve got some work to do redesigning/relaunching my site (gotta walk the walk)…”

Hmm… If Jeb is doing stuff now, I might… do some stuff, too.
I still wasn´t too sure about it, so I got a glass of Pony Malta (a popular malt beer here in Colombia), sit on my couch, and reflected: “Well, you COULD just go to bed and hope for a better start tomorrow. But then, writing doesn´t hurt. It´s just words and letters. No bosses to convince of your greatness, no girls to impress… just a black screen with a green cursor, displaying the bullshit you hack into your keyboard.”

So I opened my digital diary. And started to write what happened on this day and why it sucked.
*Drip* – Yeah, that was ONE reason.

And… I noticed, I was actually DOING something.
Nothing great. Just a diary entry. But I WAS writing. Trent Hamm (from The Simple Dollar), one of my all-time writing idols, stated in a great post on creative work that he writes about pretty much anything, just to train his expression skills and to stay in shape. And here I was, writing. Training my expression skills. Walking the walk, as Jeb said.

I could as well write for an audience. For YOU. Because there was a lesson behind that, a lesson that was getting clearer and clearer to me after spending a looooong time thinking and reading about (un)productivity and stuff.

The lesson is: Just start. Stop performing trash activities, whatever they may be, and DO THE THING THAT MATTERS. Nothing big. Nothing too fancy. Just a small step. Maybe an outline, a scribble. This will do. But GET GOING.

This is THE MAGIC OF GETTING STARTED. Because once you start, you get into flow. Whatever your “thing” is, be it writing or painting or cooking or gardening or designing shoes or analyzing the political economy of Kyrgyzstan – just start. Now. The magic will happen automatically, because once you´re on it, once you´re DOING your thing, it will be developing better than you expected. If you´re writer, it might even turn out being a forum or a blog post, written on a bad day that was already lost. The magic of getting started. *Drip* – NOW.

(First posted on the P2E Unschool Forums. Photo CC-BY-SA by marksweb)

On Figuring Out Who You Are (and What Would Plato Do?)

Today, I spent an entertaining and enlightening 37 minutes and 22 seconds listening to a talk by Merlin Mann, titled “Makebelieve Help, Old Butchers, and Figuring Out Who You Are (For Now)“.
In it, Mann dwells lenghty on the well-known paradox, that whilst procrastinate-ish time spent on your Gameboy or surfing the web will probably be necessary for your creative work, you should not carry it to excess – because if you do, nothing important will get done, ever. He identifies a big problem for many people in just stopping to do spend their time on stuff like that and especially on productivity and self-help sites on the web that apparently want to help them. The reason for this is that this is not the way these sites work. They want you to spend time on their place, read their texts, click their affiliate links, spread their word, buy their products and, most importantly, they want you to return.

What would Plato do?

What would Plato do?

The main reason for the reader behaving like expected, Mann says, is NOT KNOWING WHO YOU ARE.
In consequence, you don´t know WHAT TO PAY YOUR ATTENTION TO, and WHAT YOUR OPTIONS ARE.

This seemed really helpful to me, so I wanted to share it with you. Because the moment you knew who you are, you could probably distinguish pretty well between time spent researching and inspiring yourself for your creative work, and the deep and darkened trap of never-ending procrastination. You would know the difference between some well-written Productivity Entertainment and the self-pronounced Gurus that just want to keep you in the trap, sucking your blood, i.e. your money and your time, while leaving you alive so you can be a permanent victim to them. And you would not just know about these things and your options – you would also take the consequences and shut the noise off and get back to your personal projects the moment you consider it necessary.

Even though Mann will probably get into a series of fist fights with some of the undisclosed gurus, I think he really made a point with this talk. Seeing it helped me to remember an old trick of mine to getting back to focus on whatever I was working on, by simply asking me: “What would Plato do?”

Now, I never really got the definite answer on that one, but it oscillated around the following: Well, he would probably make out with some student of his, maybe even young Aristotle. But as I´m not gay and don´t even have students, this won´t be possible. So next he probably would take a walk around his academy philosophizing, or he would write on a text or read a really difficult book or something, but most definitely he would not see another Futurama episode or go to the supermarktet for a new pack of coffee. I mean, sure, even Plato sometimes would spend a minute or two on Twitter, but he would never ever follow thousands of people and get lost in the stream of words they produce.

When Plato went to Sicily he wouldn´t just do it to eat arancini and lie on the beach – he would do stuff and meet interesting people! (Maybe he would even get himself sold as a slave – anyway, he was liberated soon after and had a cool story to tell at home!)

Now, this is not about moving into a direction of selling myself to the highest bidder or writing lenghty fake dialogues mourning the loss of good old Socrates. The thing is, you can put many persons in the place of “Plato” – in fact, I only got up to really writing this piece for you after reading a great (German language) interview with Tilda Swinton this afternoon, where she explains that she is just doing the stuff she always wanted to and that she would have done it anyway, without paying too much attention to the high praise (and the Oscar) she got for her films. So I asked myself: What would Tilda do?
And even if Tilda does not write blog posts (or, does she?), Tilda does her thing – because she knows who she is! Just like Merlin Mann. Just like Plato. And just like all these other greek philosophers whose writings were good enough to be saved in every war and every library fire during more than 2000 years of violent European history, so they were conserved until our days!

Maybe this blog post will be lost after a server crash the day after tomorrow. No hard feelings there. But maybe it will be read at least by some of you before this happens, and you join me in the Secret Club of People Who Know Who They Are – even if it is only for today, for this moment. People who, therefore, know what to direct their attention to and what options they have. So, welcome to the Club! My name is Fabian Kruse, and I´m a friendly anarchistic writer, artist, and activist, and I thank you very much for your attention.

(Originally posted on the Black Sheep Project – Photo CC-BY ConsciousVision – Illustration: FA)