Brainwashed

Seth Godin - Brainwashed

Acknowledging the Lizard:

Seth Godin expressed that our deep down fear of failure and being laughed at is rooted back to this damn prehistoric “lizard brain.” Referred to by Steven Pressfield as “the resistance,” it holds us back and attempts to slow your creative steam engine for fear of social crashing, and inevitable burning. Clearly no one wants to crash, or god forbid burn, so we listen to the lizard brain and slam on the breaks. Godin goes on to say that we need to acknowledge this lizard in order to ignore it, push past it, and do work; “ignoring the voice of criticism is critical in doing work.” – Seth Godin

Ship:

Godin explains that the market demands those who can ship their creations. Due to that lizard brain, shipping can be slightly tough for fear of failure, or fear of being held accountable for whatever you have shipped. Basically, acquire the ability to get things done, and make sure those things are what people want.

On my first read, I felt Ship gave the wrong idea about the creative process; pushing you to get things done instead of taking your time on whatever creation your mind has been grinding up. Especially in combination with Acknowledging the Lizard, I kept getting the feeling that Godin wanted us to basically say “fuck it,” forget that we might get laughed at, and just start spitting your ideas out like wild fire, without paying real attention to details. I read it again, but with this particular MDIA 230 course in mind. We are being pushed on a pretty busy schedule to get creative, and fast. Keeping other classes in mind, a job, and just simple day-to-day challenges, can be tolling for both body and mind; but that’s what people need if they want to rise above. We might not be producing our masterpieces in our weekly projects and blog assignments, but that’s ok. We need to develop the ability to keep a schedule and get things done. The trick is harness that creative beast that lives in your head, so you can call on it whenever you need. Keep your head in the clouds sometimes, but be able to buckle down and spit out some magical work when the time comes. I think these assignments are molding us to be able to smack the “lizard brain” in the face when the time comes to ship, and say to it’s face “my shit rocks.”