Strands of Genius is curated lovingly by Rosie & Faris, usually on Mondays & Thursdays, but occasionally you'll find it in your inbox other days too. They're unpredictable like that. They hope you read it, enjoy it, tweet it, share it -- and tell your mom ;)
LOOKING AHEAD
April 1-6: Los Angeles, CA
April 11-12: Slovenia
April 16: Istanbul, Turkey
May 20: Porto Alegre, Brazil
May 30: Mumbai, India
June 5-10: Sofia, Bulgaria
June 13: Bucharest, Romania
June 25-27: LearnFest, Lake District, UK
THE WORD
THESE BRIEF BITS OF INBOX INSPIRATION BROUGHT TO YOU BY
Mexico City speakeasys, amazing food, friends Rafa&Ingrid, Peter Sims being in town, a hotel with a gym, getting back into a proper [for us] work routine, the delightful Popular Art Museum, Rosie's ever improving Spanish [brags Faris] and a taco omakase. CDMX is a really cool city.
WHAT WE'RE THINKING ABOUT | THINGS YOU WANT TO HAVE DONE
There are things you want to do: read a book by the pool, eat tacos, drive around in a golf cart --- and there are things you want to have done: written a book, not eaten that second cookie, saved money, etc. It often seems that the things we want to have done are the things that are harder to do, at least in the moment.
There's a difference in achievement and the act of doing. Achievement celebrates that end goal, the completion, while the everyday doing focuses on the (sometimes baby) steps that are needed to get there. Sometimes you have to trick your brain, pairing the mundane tasks with the pleasurable (I'll read by the pool for an hour AFTER I've written a chapter of the book), but sometimes you can trick your brain into the achievement mindset -- even for the mundane.
I'm (Rosie) on a mission to drink more water this year, and have been using an app called HabitBull to track my water intake. It's not so much the app holding me accountable (though that's another tactic that often helps) as it is the fact that tapping the day to show I've met my goal gives me that achievement buzz. I've gone from drinking around 12-20 oz of water a day (shameful, I know) to drinking 64oz most days.
It's important to think about what motivates you, both short term and long term -- and from there, work *with* what you know about yourself instead of against it.
Quote of the Week
"YOUR FACE IS SO GREAT" —Mandy Stobo
Free Bad Portraits by Mandy Stobo
#Art #Awesome #Gift
Back in the optimistic interweb days, we spoke a lot about the emerging gift economy. Much of that was ultimately commercialized of course, but it's a delight when you find some small pockets still exist. There is something so joyous about Mandy Stobo's bad portraits. "YOUR FACE IS SO GREAT. Send me a portrait picture of you or someone you want to be in a painting and I will paint it. I will then post here, on FB and twitter so the world can see." Faris' new twitter avatar is an example. ::MANDY STOBO::
The Qualia of Attention
#Attention #Strategy #Comms
We're doing some work with Magnetic Media in the UK and the first piece is a new paper called The Qualia of Attention, which builds from the media pyramid and makes the case for incorporating psychological and social wellbeing into strategic communication decisions. ::CAMPAIGN:: published an extract and the full pdf is available from ::MAGNETIC MEDIA::
Is Advertising Just Corporate Puffery?
#Advertising #Lies #Brandsarebehavior
Wells Fargo is one of the most scandal ridden banks in the world and that is really saying something. This week, their lawyers argued "that its executives’ statements about “trying to be more transparent” and “restore trust” are no different than the kind of exaggerated advertising claims that corporations make all the time. People quite literally shouldn’t put any stock in them." Is that how people think about advertising or how we want them to think about it? Puffery is just another word for "Truthful Hyperbole" the current US President is so fond of. ::HUFFINGTON POST::
If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know. We always love getting to meet like-minded folks, so please let us know if you see we’ll be in a city near you :)
HIT REPLY & LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW WE CAN WORK TOGETHER.
STILL WANT MORE?
In March of 2013, Rosie & Faris left NYC. They've been #OutOfOffice for 5 years & counting. Want more on the nomad lifestyle? Check out Technomadix.co
Want to collaborate with Rosie and Faris? They are a husband and wife team that consult, speak, write, teach, strategize, facilitate & generally play well with others. You should definitely get in touch.
