Behind the Words

“Everything we do is based upon some source of stimulation. This is something that has caused me to embrace Newton’s Third Law of Motion.” – J. Durant

I started my addiction for writing not all that long ago. Driven by a desire to share and provide clarity to various topics I started writing. But it was not without proving to myself that I had the commitment necessary to illustrate my efforts as being sustained over the course of time. It all started with a one year commitment to shared wisdom of both a personal and business nature. This later became a willingness to share observations and feelings that was exposed during the course of time. By expending energy and putting forth our soul’s we need to be willing to forgo expectations. Will viral videos and written works may receive resounding success there are literally thousands that go without fanfare or acclaim. It’s not that they are substandard and as I have observed many are deeply felt and there becomes little reason to ‘like’ or to express accolades, the occasional expression is more than enough to keep the human need alive.

Ready…. Set…. GO

I was never a big fan of writing even though I had a somewhat more engaged relationship with reading. It may have been from this that I felt compelled to share as a means of legacy development. Over the course of time writing has been a wonderful outlet that has allowed me to remain attune to, in touch with, on point sharp in logic and expressive in words. As Newton’s 3rd Law states, “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. My stimulus shifted from a means of direction to one in which topics that give rise to further contemplation by the readership. If for example we are talking about disruptive events, what would have been a prescriptive piece in times past has shifted to one in which we deal personal transformation for embracing unexpected interruptions. Often times this has lead to subsequent inquiries into ‘how’ to do this and even more on point assisting with the transitioning of behavior and processes. The motive was never for the written works to lead to something, it wasn’t calculative, but rather it planted a seed that could either be self-germinated or assisted. It became a choice of the readership and not as some clever marketing promotional approach.

Truth

Essential to writing is truth and this will ultimately lead to trust, or so we hope. It isn’t always this way, we see ample examples of works that describe a condition and insert a self-serving solution. Is this wrong? I for one understand what is and what is not truth and I also understand the necessity to illustrate our services in the context of a problem. So the answer to this question is NO. It is a factor, a condition and a responsibility to absorb what is being said and to understand the rationale behind the topical presentation. We should not feel cheated upon or that it’s a low level behavior, but rather it’s simply another form of promotion and it should be left at that. It is important to not overlook these pieces for several reasons. The most valuable reason is to increase our awareness and knowledge. Even though we may have little to no interest it provides us with context, approach and even ideas that may at some point in time serve to help us with a life matter (business or personal).

Truth is found in words. But as we have also heard, “words are cheap”, implying that they can be used to justify a point but there is a wide margin for interpretation as to what is actually being said. If we were to say that something is highly flexible it could also mean that is is loosely pragmatic. We therefore have to be cautious on our acceptance of opinion and the superlatives that are used in the course of the writing. There are other pitfalls that contaminate truth, the most often used is statistics and numerical illustrations. Having had a more than casual involvement with analytics you can always find a way to put a twist on situations to fit your agenda. You can,

• Limit the population size,
• Examine on a subsection,
• Utilize a skewed population,
• Illustrative use of deduced (not base) information,
• Cross correlate unrelated elements, and
• Make use of limited or expanded time frames.

It behooves us to be cautious and only place reliance when we have the opportunity to fully evaluate the quantified information. True always exists but we might have to dig through piles of crafted truth in order to reach a conclusion that has utility for us.

Raw and Organic

Content over form is what keeps me going. I have never been much of a conformist. When I look back to those early grade school days when they were expounding on all of the language mechanics that makes up English I was quite obstinate. It was my fundamental belief that language, written or oral, was designed purely for the purpose of communicating and nothing more. The formation of structure was for by design in order to aid in communicating through the education process. This is MY opinion and certainly was not always shared by those in the position of teaching. Today this philosophy drives my interest and desire to write… it’s freeing and impact full of content, and I through structural constructs to the wind in part. You can’t totally be free form or you would end up with scattered words. However, my style is raw and organic because it works for me intellectually and motivationally.

I have counseled allot of people about their dreams. In almost every case they lack the ability to achieve their goals as a result of constraints. Maybe its a phobia of expression. It might be speaking publicly or in this case writing. Seldom do I find these people as simply being ill equipped mentally. In more cases than not the barrier is the perceived rules. The rules of public speaking or the rules of writing get in the way of setting the person free. My favorite tool that I suggest is drawing, whether it be a picture or a chart, table or a diagram it forces the mind to organize. Organization gives clarity to the idea waiting to be expressed. From this confidence can be built to pursuit the desired outlet for sharing. Once again the character of the person will dictate how the shackles can be removed to foster expression. The completed ‘Draft’ then becomes a subject of examination for cohesiveness, clarity, consistency and technical merit of the topic. Unfortunately, yes grammar and spelling may have to be scrutinized based on the intended audience. For example, a paper written for the academic community must be tight because to this group these elements prejudice content validity. The best rule to follow is to do the best job that you can but perfection comes at a cost that may not embrace benefit.

Innocence and Antagonistic

The topics of communication exists on a scale from pure to provocative. In rare cases it’s those antagonistic pieces that will get the most viral attention whereas innocent works struggle to create visibility. There is a certain level of intrigue caused by ‘doom and gloom’ conditions. People are drawn to the factor of surprise rather than more flat factual works and therefore the more innocent pieces must rely upon a more aggressive promotional mechanism. It can be as simple as a catchy begging title and a few carefully selected keywords that will create visibility on the radar screen. What has worked quite nicely is a aptly selected accompanying picture. On social media we see, and may have even been drawn, to pieces that had a clever title or a suggestive picture of possible interest.

Innocent pieces are compelled by personal interest but to avoid the possibility of a flat acceptance it is suggested to do a bit of market examination. Who it it intended for, will it reach them, do they use this medium as a means of gaining knowledge, will the recipient receive it via referral (thus the focus must be two fold)? Innocent works are often more enjoyable and less stressful for the writer but may also be a bit demoralizing if it doesn’t seem to draw attention. This is an opportunity for experimenting with outlets of exposure, some of which may be outside of social media and may follow more traditional outlet sources.

Antagonistic pieces can be just enjoyable assuming that you have intestinal fortitude for debate. They can also be the subject for target practice or is sound in reasoning (including truthfulness) can be held out as a source for viral distribution. We must always remember there are two sides to every coin and the antagonistic works will have fans and critics.

There is a land not so far far away that lies between to innocent and the antagonistic. The midpoint works challenge the norm but does not totally dispose of it. It’s intent is to elevate thinking (verse debate or complacent sharing) while opening up questions that may as yet not have answers. These works require careful attention to balance and the logic behind the proposal. It often will illustrate the path that has lead to this point and may even project into the future where it might take us. As an avid scanner (I read on topic but otherwise I scan for content) emerging topics often create a heavily weighted present state of affairs counter balanced by heavily justifiable value of the topic itself. The weight suggests a need to shift but often fails to be unbiased. Thus the story becomes one of passive aggressive justification rather than objective clarification. Truth must be questioned for midpoint works since it is not openly clear as it would be in both an innocent and antagonistic piece.

Go Forth

It is uncertain whether there is allot or a little knowledge that needs to be shared. Obviously there will be those that would say there is, but at the same time they are unable to qualify just how much and for what reason there is. The degree of sharing is based upon the questions and the issues we are confronted with in our lives, whether personal or professional. Some of these have already been answered and we simply have not taken the time or found the wisdom that is hidden from our view. Maybe the piece was to innocent or more mechanically hidden by poor labeling and ineffective outlet use. It is these situations that makes the question of whether to write or not a nearly impossible question to answer. However, from an intellectual and therapeutic basis writing can be the elixir of life. In years past people would maintain a diary, not just as a reminder of the history but as a means of self-expression. During engineering school we were commanded to maintain an engineering diary as a tool for retrospective value. Today our preoccupation with the day-on-day events makes these tools more of a burden than of value. Yet the reason why our daily pressures are so severe is because of the lack of perspective and our inability to vent our thoughts. It is with this that I suggest to put fingers to key (or pen to paper) and write. Initially simply for you and you alone and possibly later you will be compelled to venture forth and write for sharing.