By doing less, you might accomplish more.

benncrawford — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:55:22 +0000

I’m always drawn to understanding the full picture of things. I want truth even if my poor brain can’t at first handle the truth.

So to my pleasant surprise some new research from Stanford Universtity has shed some light on an a hunch I’ve had for a while.

When people say that women were better multi-taskers than men it always ticked me off. From my observation, I would agree that women would be required to multi task more often than men (a product of gender strain and a by-product of the feminist moment if you ask me), but they more often than not struggled with effectiveness. So they could juggle more balls it seemed, but juggling many things at once doesn’t mean your a great juggler; it means you have heaps of things to potentially juggle. My opinion has been “how is it possible to do 6 things at once to the standard that someone can do 1 or two things to?” I don’t think you can and it seems that this hunch might be right. Check out the research findings here. However, regardless of the truth about whether woman can actually multi-tasking better than men, it appears mutli-tasking is not the asset it has been made out to be – in fact it apears to be the opposite.

Side Note: Women have to take on much more than men in our society (more often than not). I think society requires women to multi-task by how we define what the ideal life is for a woman. I also think the mentality of ”Career, Motherhood, Relationship – I can have it all” has also had a huge bearing on the extend of what many women choose to juggle. Seems that this is not the path to greater wellbeing and happiness that many people thinks it is.

Making things happen

benncrawford — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:32:42 +0000

Its time for my monthly post (which is the greatest frequency I can muster right now it seems).

The thoughts I have been recently pondering have centred around accomplishment. I’m aware that many of us have secrete desires and dreams for our lives that we protect in the fear that if we reveal them someone, or even the breath of reality, might snuff them out.

The issue here is that, in the words of the Shawshank Redemption poster that hangs in my room, Fear will hold you prisoner. Fear stops us from moving forward not just on our big dreams but also on many of the smaller ambitions we have for our lives.

I’m one that looks to what lies ahead for inspiration, but I too feel the pressure that potential failure and the effort of change has on making things happen in your life. This pressure can make me focus on circumstance, timing, and provision of opportunity and curbs my belief in what I can actually influence.

This being said, I have come to realise that the source of the inspiration has a bigger role than anything else. If you don’t have something much bigger, and with more dimension, than yourself to inspire you, then the extent of the dreams are limited to only the size of your imagination.

So I put it to you, if you are wanting to make great things happen in your life, what is the source of inspiration for your dreams (is it big enough) and what truth do you need to tell yourself in order to push through the fear and the effort barrier?

Two things worth reading this week

benncrawford — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:36:28 +0000

I think that its not overstating it to say I have been mentored by Seth Godin for the last 7 or so years of my life though his books, the odd presentation and podcast, and his blog. I could argue that he has been one of the greatest influences on my thinking along with my father and Erwin McManus.

So it should come to no surprise then that I recommend two recent posts by Seth from his blog. These posts shed two insights, his entire writings (much of which is accessible on his blog for free) offer many more, maybe even hundreds more. Worth checking him out.

Please read and enjoy -

Beheading Horses – changing someone’s circumstances to change they way they act.
Winning on the uphills – Interesting business lesson learned on a bicycle: it’s very difficult to improve your performance on the downhills.

Also quote of the month:

If pain is weakness leaving the body, then knowledge is ignorance leaving the brain.
Unknown

1 Person:Infinite Change

benncrawford — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 10:58:45 +0000

Earlier in the year a friend took a leave of absence from work to go help an orphanage in Ethiopia. This got us thinking about what we could do to help relieve (or even end) aspects of poverty. We started to work on a few things but soon realised that while we wanted to do something, we had no clue as to where to begin. So, naturally, we started an initiative to discover how ordinary folks like us can help make an impact on poverty.

Our intiative takes a big step tomorrow night as it’s the beginning of our very own speaker series. We have invited 4 experts in the area of poverty to come address our group over the course of the next Vic Uni semester. Our hope is that this series will help us discover a practical next-step we could take. You can read more on our project here – http://onetoinfinity.wordpress.com/about-the-project/

The first speaker we have invited is Ben Thirkell-White from Vic Uni who is dicussing poverty and development in a bigger picture sense. Starts 8pm tomorrow night at Ramsey House – 8 Kelburn Parade, Wellington. (You can find out the rest of the speaker topics and speakers here).

What’s true and what’s not

benncrawford — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:33:05 +0000

Reading a newspaper today is like talking to general store/dairy owner in the 1950′s – topical content for sure but not very accurate. There have been three events over the pass wee while in which newspapers and other traditional media have played a big part.

Swine Flu – it’s a flu much like any other flu except a little more unpleasant and a lot more contagious. Influenza unfortunately kills people every year. I would imagine that in order to remove unnecessary fear about the danger of Swine Flu, media should present comparative stats for flu fatalities over the past decade then compare this to the Swine Flu. That would be helpful, but perhaps it might end the fodder to fill the papers?
The “assault” on French Rugby Player Mathieu Bastareaud in Wellington last week. Surprise surprise, he was lying. When I read the article that broke the “news” of Bastareaud’s attack it smelled like 5 day old raw fish left at the back of the delivery truck. It didn’t add up to me and I only read the article. For the person reporting the news that should have wanted to hurl by how much it stunk. Where is the investigative reporting, people? Maybe we need re-runs of the New Adventures of Superman to remind journalist what exposing the truth is all about J.
The recession is real – truth at last. Yet, I’m still to see a really concise and helpful campaign of reporting on this from a news agency in NZ. My bet is it’s a little scary because it pretty darn complex.

But so long as people prefer (are willing to put up with) topical and exciting over insight and truth from our traditional news media, I guess that’s what we’ll continue to get.

Lost Season 5 Ends. Mystery lives on

benncrawford — Sun, 17 May 2009 10:49:27 +0000

Alright, I confess. I’m addicted to Lost. Its just so good. Every time a season ends, I’m actually kind of sad.

Maybe you have seen Lost and think what is the big deal. I understand, I was once that person. In fact I didn’t pick up the show until its 3rd season. It’s unconventional, non-linear story telling captivated my attention; its mystery hooked me. I went back and re-watch everything (a couple of times) after I had seen the 3rd season.

I think the reason Lost didn’t appeal to me initially was because I was into 24 in a big way. While back in those days, 24 was a real edge-of-your-seat suspense thriller. It was a linear story told in a serial format. I wasn’t prepared for what Lost was to provide its audience – what now has evolved into a tribe.

Its not to late to join in on Lost. 8 months until the next season starts. That’s plenty of time to chance up. Maybe this TED video on mystery from the creator J.J Abrams might convert you:

Free Coffee Tasting Night @ Coffee Supreme (6/5)

benncrawford — Mon, 04 May 2009 06:26:49 +0000

Coffee Tasting Evening

Coffee Supreme is having another free tasting (or cupping as the pro’s call it) evening on Wednesday 6th May. Like last time, Fraser, is running the evening where you’ll have the chance to try a range of coffees and be guided through understanding the complexities aroma, body, acidity, and finish.

If you’re into coffee in either a big or small way, this is well worth your time. I should mention thought that you must be willing to taste coffee black – one poor person did not realise cupping coffee is a milk free affair at our last event.

Public Cupping – Wednesday May 6th, 6:30pm
Coffee Supreme HQ
35 Hopper St, Te Aro, Wellington.

I’ll be there and if you’re interested, flick me an email or leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.

The Launch

benncrawford — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:44:20 +0000

A friend of mine is in the beginning stages of creating her fashion empire. It’s a lot of up front hard work with the payoff being years away. Talking with her, it’s not long before you can see that despite the battle against market conditions, the long slog ahead, and the pressure of expectations (her own and from spectators), that she is determined to push through.

No guarantees, no delusions of success, but a confidence that this is what she was built to do. She has to find a way.

If you are wanting to push your life out of the status quo but are yet to pull the trigger, then these are for you:
The Dip – Seth Godin
A brief guide to world domination – Chris Guillebeau
Awaken New Zealand (Our next workshop will be posted online in the coming weeks)

I’ll be updating you on my friends progress in the months ahead. Good luck with your own pursuits. If want to chew the fat over this topic (or any other I write about), flick me an email – I’d love to hear from you.

Attempt something great – most people don’t and being like most people is overrated.
April 2009

The Curious Case of New And Old

benncrawford — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:51:05 +0000

If you are like me, you like things to change. As absolute statements are seldom true, I will admit that not all change is good, but most change (even the seemingly negative) has a positive aspect. Simply put:

change promotes growths.

This said, I have been reflecting on two acts of change I’m involved in causing. One is the creation of an improved online shop for my employer, and the other is a growth strategy for my church community.

Both situations are about evolving the communication of the organisations’ raison d’etre. The belief motivating the changes is that making them will create new and essentially better ways for people to connect with each organisation.

There is a down side to these changes, and this is what I have been reflecting on. The existing stories around each organisation must change to make way for new ones. This will make some of the current fans of each organisation feel disconnected. Some people will feel that the change was for the worse and it was better how it was. There is a chance that some of these people feel so strongly about it that eventually they will disinfect to an alternative.

Here is a recent example of a change in an organisation’s story:
Oprah promoted Twitter on her TV show a week ago. She also joined up herself. Overnight she gained over 300,000 followers (as a regular person on Twitter, I have 14 followers). Oprah now has over 500,000 people following her. Many of these followers joined Twitter because of Oprah’s endorsement. Oprah talking about Twitter signifies that the Twitter community is now mainstream. Some people on Twitter prior to Oprah feel that Oprah has eroded the value of the Twitter community. The thing to note is that Twitter hasn’t changed it service since Oprah; rather Oprah has changed the reach of Twitter in mainstream society. The change in how many people know about the service has also lead to a change in the perception of the service. The new people on Twitter have found a fast and free way to communicate, while at the same time, some of the existing Twitter users feel like its now raining on their parade.

This is the trouble with change and the dilemma we must confront as catalysts for change. Some people will think the changes we create will makes things great, others think they make things worse, and for all those who become connected to our business/cause/club because of the changes, the changed state will be the only modus operandi they know.

So what approach can we take for change? Well from what I have learned, we need to make the commitment to change and implement it swiftly and with confidence. We need to aim for the outcome that the change sticks. I think its important to listen for what people have to say about the changes we make, but I think that it will be a slow and painful death if we seek to reach a consensus on change. Sometimes consensus is a good thing, but in the case of Oprah on Twitter, seeking consensus from Twitter followers on whether Oprah can join the community would violate that the service is to be open to everyone*. Furthermore, denying Oprah would also deny all the people who listen to Oprah and who don’t know about Twitter. This would restrict growth in a demographic of people that Twitter could greatly benefit from.

Carrying the burden for change is unpleasant much of the time. There is always tension and the desired outcome isn’t guaranteed – us humans are way to “dynamic” (read irrational) for that. But without change/evolution/innovation we don’t grow. Without growth, life stagnates and dies.

Change must and needs to happen.

If you’re making changes, I encourage you to stick at – if you believe in them it will be worth it. If you’re not creating change, consider helping someone who is and have a hand in guiding it – you might just like the feeling.

*the are some caveats to this of course ☺

The benefits of the ‘what else’

benncrawford — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:50:53 +0000

I have a cold.

I also have a chronic nerve injury.

But I’m still content.

I think that when things don’t go our way, when events impact us negatively, the true state of the quality of our lives is revealed.

Often the pleasant things in life can be a window-dressing that hides a deep and dark dis-quite within. Take away our job stability, take away our heath, take away key relationships, and many of us will be grabbing in the dark to find something solid.

Maybe you’re saying, “but if you take away those things, what else is there?”

Its a good question. One that I think I have found an answer for. It can’t be used to prove my assertion; I think the ebbs and flows of human drama provide the evidence. Well proof enough for me move beyond the ‘what else’ starting point.

Maybe you have an answer already.
Does your answer give you a sense of fulfillment even in the down days?
If so, great for you. If not, maybe you should try looking in a new direction.

In homage to the X-files: The truth is out there.