The rise or fall happens day by day, not all at once,
and normal interventions rarely make a difference.
Instead,
it’s the apparently irrational overinvestment in the moment
that can change the dynamic going forward.
Seth Godin is talking about the downward spiral of small towns–lose some services, lose some people, lose some tax base, lose more services, lose more people, lose more tax base–and the upward spiral of brand popularity where the number of hipsters using and flaunting a given brand builds on–what’s this?–oh yeah, the number of hipsters using and flaunting a given brand.
But wait, there’s more. He’s talking about life, isn’t he?
Parents make an apparently irrational overinvestment in their kid’s language development in the moment, speaking to them well before they can understand, much less respond. And yet just like that, more or less, the kids are amazing.
Athletes make an apparently irrational overinvestment in their bodies and their skills in the moment, working out and training endlessly for what must feel like tiny and meaningless incremental improvements. And yet just like that, more or less, they (and their teams) are amazing.
Service staff make an apparently irrational overinvestment in their customers in the moment, working to learn, remember, and use their names, or even just to show recognition. And yet just like that, more or less, the store or restaurant/bar or drop-in centre is amazing. Norm!
Spouses/partners make an apparently irrational overinvestment in each other in the moment, paying attention, laughing at jokes for the hundredth time (OK, maybe just not throwing something), paying attention, buying flowers, paying attention, making a favourite meal, paying attention. And just like that, more or less, the relationship is amazing.
When I don’t see a difference for my day’s work–or my week’s effort–I don’t feel so motivated to keep doing the work. So it’s good to remember: Normal interventions rarely make a [visible, obvious, clear, in-the-moment] difference.
When I feel overwhelmed by the scale of society’s problems, by the complexity of my community’s challenges, I don’t feel so motivated to try to be the difference I want to see in the world. So it’s good to remember: It’s the apparently irrational overinvestment in the moment that can change the dynamic going forward.
Here’s to apparently irrational overinvestment in the moment. Long may it live. Long may we get to amazing.
In other words…we have choices. Either invest ourselves in life or not.
Tom
Tom – Yeah, that seems like a fair summation. 🙂
Thanks, Isabel. A couple of weeks ago, I got back to the phone app wireframe I drafted before the pandemic upended our lives. Four years of experience have gone into the two-week rewrite. And a paradigm shift. Something so simple I am abashed at not having thought of it sooner. I do not need to ask permission from people who set themselves as authorities and arbiters of knowledge to turn to a headphone owner and say, “Hey, do you know what that thing you use is doing for or to you? You know a thing or two about your eyes so you can buy shades or magnifiers without consulting an expert. Let me tell you a thing or two about your ears. Find out what your baseline of hearing is. Then, try this.” Suddenly? All at once? No. Sixteen years after my own breakthrough and constant, seemingly “irrational overinvestment” in writing, helping, trials, errors, failures, and seeming disasters, I can see a clear path forward.
Laurna – 🙂 So glad that your own overinvestment (irrational or otherwise) is bearing fruit for you now.
Beautifully hopeful Isabel. Thanks for that. Also a great reminder to me to look for the good in people and not to despair.
Lorna – 🙂 Many thanks.
Apart from the use of “amazing” (which IMO is a bankrupt word, overused to death),
I take your point.
Increments. When I made a wall quilt, say 45″ square, composed of hundreds of seams, getting only a few wrong along the way made such a difference by the overall measurement. Attention to detail, and enjoying the process was always, for John and I, the joy of doing anything. To get a final product somebody else wanted to buy was a bonus. We needed to make money to continue making things, not the other way around.
And the money happened. Rewarding!
Glenn Gould, when asked how he approached learning a complicated score, said, “I don’t look at the battlefield.”
Barbara – Stupendous? Wondrous? Breathtaking? Awesome? Sensational? Remarkable? I take *your* point and I love a good thesaurus (although there seems to be no other word for thesaurus). Thanks for the Glenn Gould quote!