Saturday 25 June 2011

The one minute mindspace

You have 10 seconds to gain my interest and another 50 seconds to hold it, before I judge you.

That is the attention span of today's consumer a one-minute mindspace to gain attention, and deliver a message, before judgment

The consumer is King, Judge, Jury and God of the brand, and she is no longer limited to just the newspaper and TV, the laptop & mobile opened up whole new frontiers, and the tablet promises to do the same again.

Today, time has sped up to speeds unimaginable just a decade ago, in physical sciences, we have moved from measuring one million times a second (Megahertz)to one billion times a second (Gigahertz) - the pace of change is so rapid that all of us need to keep accelerating just to stay in place.

The idealogy of  "Grow or Die" has become a dictum for modern life. The billion dollar question remains sustainability. With fossil fuels still powering the majority of the world's economy and no viable alternative in site (Say NO to Nuclear Energy), humanity awaits the third energy revolution (Steam>Electricity>???)

But what is the point of this rush? Where are we heading? What is the goal? the aim? the result of this frenetic pace?

We generated more data in 2009 than in the previous 5,000 years combined (Source). But how much of that data is transferable into information and further into knowledge?

Today, time is at a premium and information is at a discount, companies spend millions to gain that one minute of mindspace, trawl through exabytes of information to find a single kernel of truth, we have moved from the Age of Information into the Age of Information Overload.

The impact of these changes is the heightened Attraction of  Simplicity, best illustrated by the Google.com Home Page and the "Slab of Glass" form factor that now dominate the mobile and tablet space.

The adage " Less is More" has truly come of Age, in the Age of Information Overload


See what i mean?

Saturday 18 June 2011

Patience & Procrastination - Take a breath - They're different

As one waits for some sort of result that is out of one's control, like the repair of a broadband cable fault, or a server outage, there is a growing sense that the waiting is procrastination,  this is what the impatient person feels.

If this feeling of frustration is directed at one's self it manifests as depression and at another person, it results in aggression .

This feeling of frustration is the root of many of the problems, we face in our day to day activities.


Patience is defined as an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay.
While Procrastination is causing a delay


The Impatient person feels that the act of waiting is actually the cause of waiting. This fallacy is not rational  but an emotional one. 


This stems from the person's false sense of control, the factors that cause the delay are in my control, I should do something, how can i just wait???? I MUST do Something.


If we would only have the three P's of PatiencePerseverance & Passion, all our problems would melt away.


Here are Some of the most profound lyrics every written and recorded by a band known as The Eagles.


"Learn To Be Still"

It's just another day in paradise
As you stumble to your bed
You'd give anything to silence
Those voices ringing in your head
You thought you could find happiness
Just over that green hill
You thought you would be satisfied
But you never will-
Learn to be still

We are like sheep without a shepherd
We don't know how to be alone
So we wander 'round this desert
And wind up following the wrong gods home
But the flock cries out for another
And they keep answering that bell
And one more starry-eyed messiah
Meets a violent farewell-
Learn to be still
Learn to be still

Now the flowers in your garden
They don't smell so sweet
Maybe you've forgotten
The heaven lying at your feet

[Solo]

There are so many contradictions
In all these messages we send
(We keep asking)
How do I get out of here
Where do I fit in?
Though the world is torn and shaken
Even if your heart is breakin'
It's waiting for you to awaken
And someday you will-
Learn to be still
Learn to be still

You just keep on runnin'
Keep on runnin' 



And Here's the Song - 





If we would only have the three P's of PatiencePerseverance & Passion, all our problems would melt away...