The book of April has spilled over to May. I have been a bit lazy and busy at the same time. I wonder I am lazy because I'm busy or busy because I'm lazy! I haven't figured that out yet.
The month of April started with a plan to finish a long overdue book - The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. It's an interesting and enticing concept - the long tail. Apparently you can find a long tail of almost everything; whether it's iTunes, Rhapsody or Google.
Although the book concentrates on the business side of this concept, I had a rather quirky insight when I read in one of the chapters that most of the writers (include self-publishers on Kindle, bloggers, personal websites etc) are there for the passion of writing.
I can imagine you shaking your head in dismay and probably shouting "show me the money!". I would personally prefer "where's my compensation?" from Jason Bateman's character in State of Play. Either way everyone of us have this thought - can I make money out of my passion?
Most of the times it's a dream and sometimes outright impossible! But that doesn't stop us from pursuing the passion, does it? I have been writing and maintaining this blog for over three years now. I have been reading books and articles on topics that range from useful to interesting to just-like-that.
I would like to do more of just-like-that; without any motives or hidden agendas. Perhaps, this is the message of Coca Cola's new ad "Then call me crazy". So pursuing the passions relentlessly is the key to not only developing that passion but sustaining the long tail of our life.
Here is my Long Tail. Like any other regular "Joe" I spend most of my time at working, sleeping, taking care of my vanity etc. (in my case I follow an eight hour shift for both sleeping & working) - these are my mundane tasks forming chunk of my life.
And I have my lightning tasks - these are things I like to do not out of necessity but out of pure joy and selfishness for myself. Reading, writing, cooking, "spacing-out" etc. these form the never ending long tail of my life. I wish I can keep extending this long tail.
So if the future of business is in selling less of more, the motive of life is doing more of less! The highest joy is in these "lesser" tasks and these tasks are like lightning that brilliantly light up my life. So here is my long tail:
Addendum: I happened to watch a TEDx talk from Anna Lappe on marketing of junk food (read high sugar, high fat and high salt content) to children. Out of respect to the cause she is pursuing I would like to say although I use an example from such a food company in this post but I don't endorse it in any way. To all parents - watch what your child eats because right now you control his or her future with the diet you'll provide.
Comments
Post a Comment