True Story — Truly!

In the past year how often did you hear people say they are “grateful” for something or another?

Dealing with Covid, politics, inflation, crazy weather, and whatever each of our personal obstacle has been, hasn’t made 2022 easy. But no one ever said life is supposed to be easy.

A wise person I know once told me, “Sure, what you do with your life is important. But what’s really important is what you learn while doing it.” That has stuck with me.

So what have I learned in my decades of constructing experiences? I used to live by the old bromides of “Pull yourself up by your own boot straps” and “Look out for No.1” and “God helps those who help themselves”. You probably have one of your own to add to the list.

I found that they work if you want to build a life of self-imposed isolation which I succeeded at beyond my wildest nightmares.

For the past 30 years I’ve been working at reversing that mindset and what has aided me the most is another old saying called the Golden Rule from the Book of Matthew in the Bible. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

In other words, who am I to cheat, deceive or injure someone else when I don’t want them to do those things to me?

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well it’s not. Practicing the Golden Rule means submerging ego, resentments, self-righteousness and that incredibly destructive act — getting even. If I let any of those fester within me, I’m sure to poison my thoughts and behavior.

Instead I try to practice a couple of things every day. Say, “Thank you” whenever a service is performed for me. Say, “Can I help” when someone is in need and then carry through.

Yes, I know this sounds too basic but it works and the results are good as “gold.”

This morning I went down to the beach to do start my day whenever I can in the summer and do some surf fishing. I call it “fishing” but it’s more like going through the motions. On occasion I’ll catch a fish. It’s really more of a peaceful way to start my day.

While I was surf fishing, a group of surfers were also practicing their own style of futility, trying to ride waves that weren’t very big and weren’t coming all the way in to the shore line. But they also looked like they were having fun in the early morning hours.

After an hour or so of casting out and reeling in, bathers started to arrive and go into the ocean. Rather than risk hooking a tourist, I packed up my rod and reel and headed off the beach to the parking lot.

Passing a group of surfers who were taking a break on the beach, I heard one of them ask another, “Why aren’t you on the water? Wait are you waiting for?”

What struck me was the use of the phrase “on the water.” Ships and boats float on the water. But people normally sink. I assume the surfboard is what allows the surfer to be “on” the water rather than under it.

So that means…

Surfers are “on” the water.

Swimmers are “in” the water.

Divers are “under” the water.

And the fish that keep eluding me? Guess they “own” the water.

True story.

Recently I asked the students in my multi-channel copywriting classes to describe the websites, blogs and social media pages they visited the most and why they were frequent visitors.

The areas visited most frequenty covered fashion, beauty, entertainment, food, travel and cosmetics. Considering the demographics of the classes this wasn’t a surprise. What did strike me was “why” they checked into these sites and posts on a regular basis.

Every student described that they went there for information they could use in their everyday lives. Whether it was for a movie or restaurant review, a special deal for a piece of apparel, or a much-needed laugh, all of the descriptions verified what I have always felt is needed for long-lasting success in the cluttered and cacophonous digital world.

That feature is being USEFUL. Anyone can attract a reader or viewer by being bold or audacious. But if you want that consumer to keep returning to your digital world you have to give the visitor something they can actually use and benefit from once they leave you.

Are you going to solve their problem? If you can’t solve their problem, can you relieve their problem-induced anxiety? Are you going to take the morose out of a mundane day? Are you going to hand over a piece of news or information that the visitor can use?

Too often we fall prey to the outrageous but after seeing what is supposed to shock or enrage us we are left feeling empty and unsatisfied.

If you have an online presence and you want to be visited on a reqular basis, do yourself and your visitors a favor — be useful. That doesn’t mean you have to be boring or pedantic. Sure, use humor or a light-hearted touch to get your point across. But be useful.

By being the go-to source you not only gain viewers or readers, you are also building a marketing relaitonship that will pay off for everyone involved in the long run.

Hope that was useful.

Recently I watched the classic movie, “My Fair Lady.” In case you aren’t familiar with it, the movie is based on the play “Pygmalion”, written by George Bernard Shaw, who based his play on the work of the Roman poet, Ovid.

The plot revolves around a professor of linguistics, Professor Higgins, and his efforts to transform a street flower seller named Eliza Doolittle into a paragon of sophistication who could easily fit into the highest levels of English society. There is more to the tale of course but this isn’t a movie review.

Since “My Fair Lady” is basically a musical, there is a song that would never get past today’s social critics but it made me laugh anyway. The song is titled, “Why can’t a woman be more like a man?” and it’s very funny, at least from this man’s point of view. Meant as sarcasm the song points out how blind men can be about themselves and our array of pompous faults.

Since the song is a comparative view, it made me think about the divided society we all have to live in and navigate through today. I began to wonder why can’t our politicans be more like real human beings instead of spouters of their party line regardless of what party they belong to?

If a politican’s job is to make “policy” shouldn’t they be developing and standing by ideas and approaches that benefit all citizens (humans) instead of catering to one segment or another?

When a pol says with an earnest look on his/her face, “I know how you feel” I immediately laugh. Do you really? Have we had the same life experiences?

No! You don’t know how I feel and please don’t claim that you do. If you want to make me feel better then develop policies that benefit everyone and not just one particular group. If a rising tide raises all boats. as the old saying goes, then a human-benefiting pol should do everything possible to make that tide rise higher than ever.

Does that mean everyone should have a yacht? Of course not. But everyone should at least have a boat, or at the bare minimum a life jacket, and not be left to drown.

Am I being an idealist or at the very least a wishful optimist? Is it money, power, ego, greed?

Why, why, why can’t a pol be more like a human?

I was going to treat myself to a new razor since it is a new year. (Yes, I’m easy to please.) I went to my local drugstore and saw a display for Dollar Shave Club. I had heard their advertising on the radio. Saw a TV ad or two. Noticed display ads as I browsed through the web. But I never actually bought one because there was no immediate need to be fulfilled. My old Gillette scraped my whiskers just fine thank you very much.

But the Dollar Shave Club caught my interest because of the name. Since razors are a commodity item, at least in my mind, I’m not ready to spend much on a functional tool. Just check out the price of razors and razor blades. Makes me want to grow a beard.

So the Dollar Shave Club concept appealed to me — until I checked out the sale price. It’s back to my old trusty Gillette razor. The Dollar Shave costs $7. What’s in a name? At the point of sale, a great deal.

Technology — True Story.