Brainwashed

Go here to view Seth Godin's article "Brainwashed."

In this article, Mr. Godin talks about there being seven layers of reinventing yourself. These include:

• Connect
• Be Generous
• Make Art
• Acknowledge the Lizard
• Ship
• Fail
• Learn

One interesting point Mr. Godin makes is in regard to Acknowledge the Lizard. Godin defines the "lizard brain" as being "that prehistoric brainstem that all of us must contend with." It's the part of our brain that is self-conscious and and worries about being laughed at. It's the part of our brain that shuts down the art we are trying to create, which Steven Pressfield calls "the resistance." Being raised in a world where we are encouraged to listen to our elders and follow orders and instructions blindly, we are tempted to listen to this little voice in our heads that says, "No! Do what you're told!" It is afraid of messing up, and stunts our creativity. 

In order to counteract the resistance, we cannot ignore it. Instead, we have to acknowledge it. It's there. It's undeniable. It has been ingrained into us at a young age and it exists in everyone. By acknowledging its existence, we can then stand up to it. We can listen to it scream in our ear to sit  back down and melt back into the crowd, and then push through and create art anyway. As Godin summarizes, "we acknowledge the lizard so we can ignore it."

Another point Godin makes that I found really interesting was the "ability to fail." Failing, Godin says, is very important for eventual success. Back in the day failure was the absolute worst possible thing that could happen to an individual. Now, as he says in his article, "the only way for organizations to grow is to ship risky things, to create change, to make art, to change people. And yet, shipping risks failure. And so we demand you fail." 

In high school, I was part of an acting program called Groundlings that was run by the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. In the rehearsal room where we met every week, was a quote painted across one of the walls. It read: "No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." 

Failure builds solutions. I think it is very important in this day and age for us to realize that failure is not something to be afraid of. Instead, we should embrace it. Mistakes and failures help us build and grow and move forward, and maybe even discover something greater than what we were first trying to achieve. Art takes "supreme effort" in its creation, and in failing the first time, we can take our experiences and be pushed toward even greater success. If one cannot fail, one cannot succeed. 

I found reading this article to be very interesting and certainly connected both to this Blog and to my classes and career choice. Going into a creative field, one really needs to think outside the box in order to succeed and feel fulfilled. My ex's parents were very much from the generation of cookie-cutter, mindlessly-following workers and everything about them from their house  to their interests to their confusion at my career choice proved how brainwashed they were. They would never understand the need to fail, or the need to repress the voice that is trying to keep you from being laughed at. 

I think these seven layers Godin talks about and explores will definitely help me as I delve deeper into the media world. They help me when I approach creative assignments, and thinking back to past assignments they  help me see why certain things worked and certain things, well, failed.