Monster Moon Communications

Tonight’s Monster Moon has me thinking about something I read recently in Douglas Rushkoff’s new book, Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now.  He’s an author that writes about the edges of social, technology and business trends and I have to admit… sometimes his words don’t make sense until a bit later when you look around at what’s happening and say to yourself “Damnit - Rushkoff was right!”

In this latest offering, there’s a section that talks about how people are “sync’ed up” based on the work of Mark R. Filippi — a consultant who works with Wall Street types and professional athletes to improve performance based on naturally-occurring patterns.

I’ve been curious about moon cycles since I was a kid in the late 80s and did a science fair project that showed how birth rates and crime activity increased during the full moons.  Now that I’m working with digital / social / mobile communications, I find myself once again interested in how the lunar cycles and seasonal changes affect how people respond to messages that are delivered to them..   So my question for today, is…

Can more effective digital communications be created by better understanding moon phases and how it affects your customers and employees? 

This may seem pretty far out there to traditional business people, but you must admit that our world is rapidly changing and I believe we must look to nature to understand how to rebuild many of the systems that are collapsing.

Here’s how Filippi outlines the Four Lunar Phases:

PHYLO Week 

  • Starts the day after the new moon and ends on the day of the 1st quarter
  • This is a week to generate more INTERPERSONAL coherence.
  • The behavioral rhythmn is LO focus and HI energy.
  • The rising mood is vulnerability.  It’s time for self-healing.
  • Outlook may be more pessimistic than usual.
  • Look for a theme of weakness in your dreams

ONTO Week

  • Starts the day after the 1st Quarter and ends on the day of the Full Moon
  • This is a week to generate more INTRAPERSONAL coherence.
  • The behavioral rhythm is HI focus and HI energy.
  • The rising mood is creativity.  It’s a time for innovation.
  • Outlook may be more imaginative than usual.
  • Look for a theme of discovery in your dreams.

ECO Week

  • Starts the day after the Full Moon and ends the day of the Last Quarter.
  • This is a week to generate more EXTRAPERSONAL (connection to nature) coherence.
  • The behavioral rhythm is LO focus and LO energy.
  • The rising mood is empathy.  It’s a time for foresight.
  • Your outlook may be more optimistic than usual.
  • Look for a theme of competency in your dreams.

EXO Week 

  • Starts the day after the Last Quarter and ends on the day of the New Moon
  • This is a week to generate more IMPERSONAL (connection to structure) coherence
  • The behavioral rhythm is HI focus and LO energy
  • The rising mood is suspicion, its a time for deep analysis.
  • Your outlook may be more formal than usual
  • Look for a theme of aggression in your dreams

Our senses are connected to organ systems that have “developed over the past several hundred thousand years”.  This gets into consciousness and understanding people at a much deeper level.

Think twice before believing everything you hear

Well it turns out that the definition of insanity is NOT “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” and Albert Einstein never said that.  I found this article where the author goes onto rant about other commonly misunderstood facts.

Well, it just doesn’t matter how many school books claim otherwise, Columbus did not discover America. It doesn’t matter what the plaque at Cooperstown tells us, Abner Doubleday did not invent baseball.

And while we’re at it:

  • shaved hair does not grow back thicker; 
  • you cannot copyright something by mailing it to yourself; 
  • a cannonball did not crack the Liberty Bell; 
  • menthol cigarettes do not contain fiberglass; 
  • coffee does not come from beans; 
  • Mama Cass did not choke on a sandwich (or anything else, for that matter);
  •  undercover cops do not have to admit it when asked; S.O.S does not mean “Save Our Ship”; 
  • Mars is not red; 
  • ostriches do not hide their heads in the sand; 
  • THIS is an acronym (not THS); 
  • Twinkies do not have a shelf life of 30 years (or even 30 days); 
  • America did not become independent on July 4, 1776; 
  • Christ was not born on Dec. 25; 
  • mano-a-mano does not mean “man to man”; 
  • Mr. Green Jeans was not Frank Zappa’s father; 
  • Ozzy Osbourne did not bite off the head of a bat during a concert;
  • and, for cryin’ out loud, people—you cannot catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar! Sure, you attract more flies, but catching them is another thing entirely. (Tip: If you want fewer flies, put away the honey.)

Douglas Adams Quote on Technology

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Google had a fun homepage image today in honor of Douglas Adams - Author of “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”.  So of course I did a Google search and found a quote I thought was pretty clever.

“There’s a set of rules that anything that was in the world when you were born is normal and natural. Anything invented between when you were 15 and 35 is new and revolutionary and exciting, and you’ll probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you’re 35 is against the natural order of things.”


We Outsource our Memory to Google

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For a while, I’ve realized that learning is changing and our memory is being augmented by the ability to just “Google” something.  (sorry Bing)

As a curious person, I’m constantly thinking of stuff but don’t always have the information needed to complete the thought. (like “How do you get to Madagascar? What’s the best way to roast vegetables? Who makes the best BBQ in Memphis?”)

So I pull out my smart phone or open up a browser on my computer and type in my question.  I don’t even have to spell it correctly. The Google knows what I’m trying to say.

We are living in an amazing time of human history and now that our information is networked, our collective intelligence will continue to accelerate. The internet is amazing and Google seems to hold the key —with its elaborate system that predicts and guides our decisions.  

I can’t believe how slow progress was when we had to go to the library, look through the card catalog to find a dusty book that would explain a fraction of the information you needed. Dewey’s decimal was a good system for its time.

“we’re moving our individual brains into the cloud “

http://bigthink.com/endless-innovation/your-brain-is-being-augmented-you-just-dont-realize-it

Zig Ziglar top 10 quotes on Leadership

These quotes form Zig Ziglar have the power to completely change the direction of your life.

  • 10) “Remember that failure is an event, not a person.”
  • 9) “You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.”
  • 8 ) “People often say motivation doesn’t last. Neither does bathing—that’s why we recommend it daily.”
  • 7) “There has never been a statue erected to honor a critic.”6) “People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.”5) “Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.”
  • 4) “If you go looking for a friend, you’re going to find they’re scarce. If you go out to be a friend, you’ll find them everywhere.”
  • 3) “A goal properly set is halfway reached.”
  • 2) “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.”
  • 1) “If you can dream it, you can achieve it.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/11/28/zig-ziglar-10-quotes-that-can-change-your-life/

“The 21st century requires a new kind of learner — not someone who can simply churn out answers by rote, as has been done in the past, but a student who can think expansively and solve problems resourcefully.”

Isaac Asimov