I am a Seth Godin fan. I never miss a blog post and have read most of his books. Currently I am reading The Icarus Deception. Seth doesn’t write for normal people. His stuff is for the outliers, the weird ones…..like me!
I also peruse the blog, Life Hacker, on a regular basis. Sometimes you can pick up some useful advice there, such as how to avoid crushing your thumb with a hammer by using, of all things, bobby pins (who would’ve thought?). However, most of what Life Hacker teaches us is about how to be more efficient, save time, be more productive and profitable…..very industrial age kind of thinking using very modern tools. Godin’s advice flies in the face of all of that. I believe it may contain the seeds to the most ultimate life hack of all.
When was the last time you felt like an artist? I remember my mom used to actually frame and hang my first and second grade art in the house. I was an artist. But as the years flew by something happened. The artist in me suffocated via the need to conform to what the world expected of me. To be a cog in the machinery (admittedly, a somewhat rebellious cog).
The artist in me suffocated via the need to conform to what the world expected of me.
But deep inside that longing toward artistry has lingered. And it still does to this day. That’s where Godin comes in loud and clear. Godin says that the industrialized age is dying. I believe he is right. It served us well in times of war and the aftermath, when the nation needed to be driven by a common goal. But now, not so much. So, where does that leave us?
Godin says, and I do believe, it leaves us, or leads us, with/to art. Godin is not necessarily talking art in the Picasso sense, but in the sense of doing those things that make us more human and connect and appeal to us as humans. Because the truth is (and always was) we are not cogs. We are unique. We are different. We are art that is given the capacity to replicate what it is that we are. Godin’s inspiring premise is that we all have the capacity to do something that connects (art) and now the ability to actually connect (to ship) has never been easier (and it keeps getting better).
We are art that has been given the capacity to replicate what it is that we are.
It’s hard to wipe away all those years of conformity and become an artist again. It feels confusing, scary and makes one feel vulnerable. But in doing so we might find the true secret to lasting contentment and fulfillment.
That would seem to be a life hack worth implementing.
