It’s never just ‘one’ thing…

This week I’m reflecting a little on something that has become prominent in the work I do:

Creating experiences

Often as I experience life, create things, go through everyday existence, and do whatever it is that I love to do best, it’s easy to forget that my life is best lived as an experience.

Let me be more concrete: it’s always a few (or many) things – aka variables – making up or effecting what’s happening – or what I’m experiencing.

For instance, let’s talk business: from a retail perspective, I think it’s more valuable to me to see a technology product in a store, and get a sense for how it will integrate into my life. What other ‘things’ will I use with it? Will it fit in my living room? Will it make various things I do easier or better? Will it benefit my customers (oops, I mean visitors to my house)? Basically, what’s the value add?

A tool by itself is just a hammer, but taken with nails, and a few boards, and now you’re experiencing a small house for pets (or perhaps your new home away from home, if you have had some domestic drama).

I think there is definitely some benefit to showing me how to use Excel – after all, I DO need to know how to swing a hammer – but I am much more interested in the experience of seeing how it might work in a “real-world scenario,” or even used with other tools that integrate it more conveniently in my life (i.e. show me a way to sync my spreadsheet across all my technology devices…) now THAT is useful – and that’s an example of what I am calling  an “experience” here.  It’s also more memorable, and you can see the value in it much more – because it’s more tangible.

You have now experienced it.

It sticks in your experience and your memory, and becomes part of you.

Nothing’s really ever ‘about’ one thing.

My day is great because of the sunshine, but it’s also about my commute, the people I work with, my loving partner, and many other things. It’s helpful at times to focus on one thing at a time, especially if something is not working well. I’m just trying to say that in this instance, picking up the pieces of something that is “not working,” is only a fragmented approach. Whether it’s a positive or negative experience, the most productive thing you can do experience life, enjoy it, and when things aren’t working, pay attention to the things you try to change, because your experiences are so darn “wholistic” that changing an one piece of your puzzle may change the picture.

I’m paying more attention these days to what makes things work, how I experience the world, how complex those experiences are, and how I feel better, and am more productive when experiences flow together well. Sometimes I DO need to take things apart in a rather mechanistic fashion, and again – that can be very helpful. However, it still comes down to the messiness sometimes known as the human condition. If we lived life in pieces, we’d constantly be falling apart, because the glue never really would have a chance to dry. It all just changes too fast!

I’m not saying I’ve got it all figured out. All I’m saying is I’d like to think I’m aware of something much bigger at work here – and ultimately, I LOVE it! That said, I also accept it’s a bit of a struggle at times, and I am happy to take that humility pill, and just know I will never really have it ALL figured out. That’s life’s journey: experiences and me. Oh no… even THAT statement implies fragmentation… Ok, maybe we’ll take that up in another post.

Hope this is all making sense, but bottom lining it – life seems to happen best when it comes in “integrated sets of experience” – and I'm remembering... it’s never just one thing.

Removing the Clutter: Grand Design

When we draw or design on the page, we focus, we capture the essence—we balance elements, and simplify to communicate what we want to say.

When writing a song, even if there are multiple “layers” of instruments, we always keep the message in mind: in some kind of priority.

When providing an effective training solution, the words are chosen wisely, the audience is carefully considered, and we don’t try to pack too many thoughts or concepts into any particular section or module—we focus, because the learning needs to progress and build, and it too, has priorities or goals.

When living our lives… the low-level sounds we often take for granted can affect our experience, and create clutter. The focus is sometimes broken, and our experience fragmented—whether we are aware of it… or not. The disconnected thoughts we experience everyday—part of being human—are easy to take for granted. I know that I actually forget they are even there! 

But the forgetting doesn’t mean they still don’t affect us.

Regardless of context… life is like the golden ratio, or a beautiful spiral… everything is flowing—together, and perhaps there are no truly “random” thoughts.

Clutter is created by the human mind—perhaps it’s even unique to the human mind. 

I feel like it has been running me intermittently—most of my life. A balance needs to be struck: The enjoyment of being human, and the discipline of simplicity, and almost mathematical balance.

Even that “empty” negative space counts… 

The grand design is elegant.

The grand design is beautiful.

The grand design is well-woven and intertwined—but in such a seamless way that when it’s done well, you don’t know it’s operating. 

Grand design is seamless, and the experience is not even noticed—but it’s felt.

When the clutter no longer exists, whether on the page or in our minds, we return to the concept of focus—of true presence.   

I’ll say it again:

Even that “empty” negative space counts.

Go create some…

Sorry it’s been a few weeks, I’ve been busy. I think weddings may provide some great focus, once you get past the potential clutter.

c-ya!

m