The Power of Emotion

Why add a smile or frown face to an automatic vehicle speed sensor on the edge of town?  The flashing numbers indicating that one was speeding were not working and are easily ignored.  But adding emotion to the experience suddenly changes the equation.  Now one quickly senses that they their actions are creating an emotional response (even if it is from a machine).  


How do you add emotion into your cause?  How does it empower your efforts?

Special

I took this photo this morning in an open-air market.  There were many vendors selling vast arrays of fruit.  One man was selling just cherries from a wooden box and he had limited quantities.  He had a line of ten people waiting to purchase from him.  The vendors next to the man’s stand stocked plenty of cherries along with apples, bananas, and strawberries.  The old man specialized and apparently he was well known for his cherries.  


Consider giving yourself permission to specialize.  It may make you standout to those who are seeking just what you have to deliver.  Do not be surprised when the line forms.

Your Vote
Votes Welcomed

I received an email to help pick the next magazine cover for a periodical to which I subscribe.  I immediately deleted the email.  The tribe is too big and my input is just a voice in a hurricane of sound.  I appreciate that the magazine thought of me but they did it for their benefit not mine.  Had I been selected to be part of a panel fo five people to select a cover then the invitation would been individualized and meaningful.  It would have been an invitation and not just spammed by a distribution list.


When you make a call to action of the tribe, is it personalized?  Does it carry meaning?  Would you respond yourself to the same request?  Is it unique?  Does it feel like a best friend picked the opportunity just for you?  Who does it benefit?

When You Decide
Yes You Can?

Long distance athletes often face a unique psychological battle with uncertainty.  One starts a marathon, Ironman triathlon, 50-kilometer ski race, or even a six-hour bike ride and a little doubt exists about completing the event.  Will I be able to hold the pace?  Are there too may hills?  What if the weather turn atrocious?  Can I endure?


Then one encounters a moment when certainty reaches a tipping point.  Short of an unseen disaster, the athlete knows they can make it a few more minutes, kilometers, strides.  The mental boost this gives the athlete is tremendous.  It is not always a turn of speed but the relaxation from the mental stress of the unknown starts to fade.  


Interestingly, this moment of cross-over is often very much in our control.  What if we decided the certainty of finishing was going to take place 5 kilometers sooner?  What if we were so bold that we never doubted the result from the start?  How would it change your perspective if you moved uncertainty forward in an event?

Your in Charge

Good times


Assign tasks and people will work for you. Assign responsibility and people will work for themselves.                                                                                       Simon Sinek


Every great experience develops as such because of a granting of responsibility.  As a camper on a backpack trip in my teens my group was given the responsibility of selecting the campsite and deciding layout of our tents, outdoor cooking area, campfire, and selecting a tree from which to hang our food to avoid the curiosity of bears.  Decisions made by our trip leaders on previous nights were suddenly our decisions.  The consequences of choosing poorly were quickly evident when an overnight thunderstorm left some of the tents exposed to water collecting in a low lying area and our campfire billowed smoke into the group because we had not considered the canopy of evergreens above.  As campers we gained wisdom in a way that would have not resonated had we just done what we were told.  Responsibility made our experience remarkable and memorable.  What has it done for you?