Chatter
I regularly receive and read Seth Godin’s blog. It is one of the few marketing and business blogs which I consider a must read. Unlike my very wordy blogs his are usually very succinct and contain very helpful reminders. Today his blog, uses the example of Jerry Garcia who “performed thousands of times, and he was the only one who heard every performance.” He goes on to say “The same is true for the work you’ve created, the writing you’ve done, the noise in your head-you’re the only person who has heard every bit of it….Tell us what we need to know. Not because you need to hear yourself repeat it, but because you believe we need to hear it.”
If I am honest with myself sometimes what I write I know I need to hear but I may incorrectly assume you, the reader, need to hear it. I have a lot of chatter in my head much of which I would do well to ignore. Others certainly do not need to hear this chatter. Sometimes I repeat what I have previously said just because I think the reader or some readers have not heard me. Perhaps they have heard just fine and simply disagree with me.
This challenge from Seth Godin is one I need to hear. Mr. Godin followed his own advice when writing his brief blog today.
I am reminded of the group readings at NA meetings, the first of which is “Who is an Addict”. It says:
“We are not interested in what or how much you used or who your connections were, what you have done in the past, how much or how little you have, but only in what you want to do about your problem and how we can help.”
It seems to me that the core of the advice from Seth Godin is to focus on problem solving. This morning I had an appointment card which said I had an appointment with the dentist. When I did not get a call to confirm the appointment I called the office staff. For some reason the appointment had not gotten saved in their computer or there had been some other error. I appreciated the apology of the hygienist and assured her that all that was important was that we schedule another appointment. I had made a similar mistake recently in my office schedule. Both of us will, of course, attempt to prevent such future errors. We rescheduled. End of story.
In another situation I “heard myself” starting to complain and, thus, fail to follow my own advice. I quickly shut my mouth but not before a negative tone slipped into my voice. No one needed to hear a tone which was not focused on problem solving .
For today my intention is to do my best to distinguish between sharing chatter run amok – via voice, paper or the computer - and what I think others need or would find useful to hear.
Written January 23, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
I regularly receive and read Seth Godin’s blog. It is one of the few marketing and business blogs which I consider a must read. Unlike my very wordy blogs his are usually very succinct and contain very helpful reminders. Today his blog, uses the example of Jerry Garcia who “performed thousands of times, and he was the only one who heard every performance.” He goes on to say “The same is true for the work you’ve created, the writing you’ve done, the noise in your head-you’re the only person who has heard every bit of it….Tell us what we need to know. Not because you need to hear yourself repeat it, but because you believe we need to hear it.”
If I am honest with myself sometimes what I write I know I need to hear but I may incorrectly assume you, the reader, need to hear it. I have a lot of chatter in my head much of which I would do well to ignore. Others certainly do not need to hear this chatter. Sometimes I repeat what I have previously said just because I think the reader or some readers have not heard me. Perhaps they have heard just fine and simply disagree with me.
This challenge from Seth Godin is one I need to hear. Mr. Godin followed his own advice when writing his brief blog today.
I am reminded of the group readings at NA meetings, the first of which is “Who is an Addict”. It says:
“We are not interested in what or how much you used or who your connections were, what you have done in the past, how much or how little you have, but only in what you want to do about your problem and how we can help.”
It seems to me that the core of the advice from Seth Godin is to focus on problem solving. This morning I had an appointment card which said I had an appointment with the dentist. When I did not get a call to confirm the appointment I called the office staff. For some reason the appointment had not gotten saved in their computer or there had been some other error. I appreciated the apology of the hygienist and assured her that all that was important was that we schedule another appointment. I had made a similar mistake recently in my office schedule. Both of us will, of course, attempt to prevent such future errors. We rescheduled. End of story.
In another situation I “heard myself” starting to complain and, thus, fail to follow my own advice. I quickly shut my mouth but not before a negative tone slipped into my voice. No one needed to hear a tone which was not focused on problem solving .
For today my intention is to do my best to distinguish between sharing chatter run amok – via voice, paper or the computer - and what I think others need or would find useful to hear.
Written January 23, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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