Brains on Fire

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  The Art of Being Alone

  Posted on March 31st, 2011 by amy and currently 8 commenting.

  

  Welcome to a world where the only places a person “checks in” are hotel lobbies and airports. A place where badges are earned by police detectives and boy scouts. The birds here are not angry, and they not only tweet, but chirp. When we have a conversation, we speak in as many characters as we like. When we like something, we say so by smiling. We still think poking is terribly rude.

  It began with a simple e-mail.

  “Dear friends,

  Hope this e-mail finds you well. This message is just to advise you that after some introspection, I have decided to begin a social media fast of undetermined length. I welcome you to call me at 614-555-5555 any time.”

  Cheers!”

  And just like that, a page was torn out of FaceBook, Flickr was flicked off and one little corner of the Twittersphere went black. The plug had been pulled on social media.

  Left with no choice, I did the unthinkable – I picked up the phone and dialed. Once I had adequately chastised his hasty departure from the social media social scene, I pressed my friend for the details of his self-imposed hiatus.

  The rationale was quite simple: He wanted to spend more time focusing on the real social connections in his life. He wanted to spend less time on Facebook and more time with faces and books.

  My inner social media lover immediately began seeking a loophole in his logic. As someone who avidly uses Skype, Facebook and Twitter to keep in touch with family and friends, I think there is an argument to be made that social media can strengthen real social connections in our lives if we’re committed to using to do so, but is it ultimately at the detriment of those relationships in real time? Does it matter how many adoring Facebook message you’ve left on a friend’s wall if you’re distracted by text messages and tweets when you finally get the chance to sit down to dinner together?

  Is social media becoming an insecurity blanket we carry with us everywhere we go?

  Curious, I set forth on a mission to read up on other people’s motivations for going off the grid. What I discovered is that they missed the late night backyard conversations. They missed the simple pleasure of chatting over a glass of wine or a cup of coffee with a friend. They missed taking time out to slow down on a Sunday and meet up for brunch. Story after story, what I heard is that by chattering with everyone online, people felt like they were connecting with no one offline, including themselves.

  Last weekend a woman pulled up beside me at stoplight. She immediately pulled out her iPhone and began typing. I don’t know if she was tweeting or texting or checking in at “stuck in traffic” on FourSquare, but it struck me as truly ridiculous. On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, was the thought of 60 seconds spent enjoying the solitude and quiet of her own good company really so daunting?

  I stumbled across an awesome video this week called “How to Be Alone,” an art many of us have forgotten – and some of us have never learned. It’s a testament to the value of being present in our lives – with others and with ourselves.

  90% of Word of Mouth happens offline, because life happens offline. Get to know the people you love offline. Get to know yourself offline. Practice pulling the plug on your online life now and then in order to plug into the people, memories, conversations and moments that are your one and only real life.

  My wish for you this weekend? A little alone time, a little offline time, more faces and books.

  Tags: alone, amy taylor, Brains on Fire, fast, Social media, unplug
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  Here we go (Again!)

  Posted on March 28th, 2011 by Robbin and currently 19 commenting.

  
  Those of us not on the road took this photo this morning just for you.Even though Dodds is in it, he took it!

  “Let your passion shine. Share who you are and what you stand for with the world. Your hopes, your dreams, your life. Then like magic, you’re going to start drawing kindred spirits toward you.”
  

  I believe that set of words with all my heart and soul. I try hard to feel and live those words.

  Every. Single. Day.

  About six months ago, our lives at Brains on Fire changed as a book we birthed hit the shelves and online retailers. We put our thoughts and passion out there for the whole word to see.

  It’s been exciting. Humbling. Scary. Weird. Fun.

  All that.

  I have to imagine it’s different being an author in this connected world of ours than is was, oh say, 8 years ago. Yea, change happens fast these days. As authors, you can and do connect with a lot of your readers.

  We have honestly found some amazing kindred spirits.

  Since the book has been released six months ago, we’ve also learned a lot.

  Some dreams have come true as some super smart folks have engaged in conversation with us after reading about our lessons learned. Frankly, that was one of our goals and dreams with the book:

  We wanted to ignite a conversation that sparked continued learning for us all.

  When the advanced copies first came out we gave away twenty books. Now that the real deal is out and circulating we’ve decided to do it again. So, tell us…

  What would you do with twenty free books?

  How would you use those twenty books to start something meaningful?

  Okay. Go! Share your ideas with everyone in the comments below.

  We’ll announce the winner next Monday.

  Tags: 20 free Brains on Fire books, Brains on Fire, Igniting Powerful Sustainable Word of Mouth Movements, Tom Moradpour
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  Chat Pack Friday: The Best $100 You’ve Ever Spent

  Posted on March 25th, 2011 by Eric Dodds and currently 12 commenting.
  

  "100 dollars" from chillghetti of Flickr. Thank you kindly.

  “What is the best $100 you’ve ever spent?”

  It sounds like such an easy question, but I’ll tell you what: some people have a really hard time answering. Is it because we have a hard time assigning value? One person (1) we asked said it was tough to answer because they were “trying to think of something that has been consistently meaningful.”

  How about you? What’s the best $100 you’ve ever spent? Or better yet, why is it hard for some people to answer, but easy for others?

  ————

  (1) From Mr. Zach Suggs. You can find him here.

  Tags: $100, answer, chat pack friday, meaning, one hundred dollars, question, value
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  Expectations, Community and Awesomeness.

  Posted on March 24th, 2011 by Robbin and currently 3 commenting.

  About a week ago Cordell sent this video to the team. With a one word subject line:

  Wow.

  It’s been viewed by millions and maybe you’ve seen it. Even so, watch it again. There is so much to learn from this. It validates for me many, many of the lessons learned in our book, Brains on Fire.

  For one thing, the power of inspirational leadership to ignite community is so apparent here, isn’t it?

  For movement to happen within a community of people, someone’s gotta lead.

  This clip also shows the power of the collective shout.

  Can hear the crowd grow louder as this video progresses?

  But perhaps most relevant of all is this humble line in the comments:

  People always laugh when they are suddenly aware of their awesomeness.

  Say that twice because it so freaking true. I find the work we are doing in the world so uplifting it’s hard for me to to explain at times. By lifting your advocates up and supporting the shared passion conversations, organizations are helping the people who love them become aware of their awesomeness.

  Their collective awesomeness.

  We can change the world. This is not your mother’s marketing.

  Believe it. I do.
  
  OX, Robbin

  Tags: Bobby McFerrin, Brains on Fire, Inspirational leaders
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  Less Diagnosis, More Scalpel

  Posted on March 22nd, 2011 by Eric Dodds and currently 13 commenting.

  Wondering why no one listens to your good ideas? Start making them happen and you’ll have people’s undivided attention. –Jesse Gardner (1)

  Have you noticed a proliferation of diagnosticians in the last few years? Think about it – if the fans at the sports bar were coach, they wouldn’t have made that horrible substitution. If politicians could just understand the oh-so-simple solutions touted by blog commenters, our country’s problems would be righted in short order. And if that self-made social-media-blogger were in charge of social media for that Fortune 100 brand, they wouldn’t have made that big mistake, and fans would flock to the brand’s conversation by the thousands. Right?

  This is an age old problem – people have always had opinions and shared them in some form or another. As communication has become faster, shortened to soundbites, and shrouded by anonymity, though, it seems that people have taken to their soapboxes en masse to make their stance known and vie for their share of audience. They are creating a vast sea of digital diagnosis.

  How many diagnosticians does it take to fix a problem, though?

  In my experience, diagnosticians aren’t the ones who fix things. Surgeons fix the actual problems, diagnosticians define them. (Many surgeons do both.) The role of defining shouldn’t be downplayed – accurately understanding the problem is crucial to a safe and successful procedure. But if it stops at diagnosis and a skilled professional doesn’t wield a scalpel at some point, the problem isn’t really addressed.

  Many of the most talented and successful people I know don’t pay much attention to their soapboxes because they are simply too busy using good diagnosis to fix problems or implement solutions to be overly concerned with what people think of their perspective. At the end of the day, their beliefs will be clearly evident in the trail of solutions they create as they move forward.

  In 2011, my goal is less diagnosis and more scalpel. A lot more.

  —————-

  (1) See the original quotation from Joshua Blankenship’s blog here.