Brainwashed

Here is a link to Seth Godin's "Brainwashed":

http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/66.01.Brainwashed

Godin speaks of several different layers to reinvent yourself as a creative person.  One of these methods is called "acknowledging the lizard."  The lizard in question is what Godin refers to as the fragile, easily embarrassed and doubtful part of your brain.  He asks that we simply acknowledge its awareness, but push it to the side in order to succeed with our work.  Another layer is the opposite of success; failure.  We need to be familiar with failure because it is nearly unavoidable and can be overcome easily if met with pride and acceptance.  Shipping is another layer that tells us to just create and display our work without care of failure, because we are doing work rather than stalling.

These three particular techniques of creativity that Seth Godin talks about in his manifesto all can relate to the blogging activities that I have been assigned for this class.  For one thing, the lizard part of my brainstem referred to in "Brainwashed" is always present when I sit down and type out a new post for an exercise.  The primary reason for that is because my blog is by no means personal; it is on public display and can be linked to from my teacher assistant's own blog which all of my fellow lab classmates are connected to as well.  All eyes can be on this blog at this very moment, and I may not even know it.  Therefore, when I begin to write a new post, that lizard is conscious of what others may think when and if they decide to read my blog's posts.  Thoughts run through that easily embarrassed brain area regarding whether the classmates will think my ideas and analyzations are laughable or not.  Classmates do not even have to be looking upon this, this is open to the public, so run-of-the-mill internet bloggers and perusers could potentially be reading and gawking.  At least, this is how the lizard feels.

I get past that fear with much ease however, because as Godin suggests, I acknowledge that lizard, and immediately press onward.  Mainly for the reason that I need to complete the assignments to earn a grade for the class, but also because acknowledging and ignoring the lizard has become an essential element to producing work that is available to the public eye.

Seth makes a good point about the stage of failure, too.  Related to a situation such as these blogging assignments; let's say that I had published a new post that was worked on very well, but received a bad grade for missing the point.  My best option at that time is to learn from my mistakes and rebound.  Failure is natural and unavoidable, so the best thing to do is accept it with dignity and determination for the next project.

Shipping is something I do with these posts because the syllabus actually suggests that I avoid churning them out at the last second.  Instead, I try to get these assignments done faster than others may take to get around to it.  A benefit of this is that a lot of times, I have completed these before the weekend.  That way, I do not have to worry about them.  As a creative person, posting these at a steadier pace allows me to think and type with a clearer mind.