Get Behind The Cover
Why Being Nosey Should Be Celebrated
When I coach talent one of the things I strongly suggest is trying new things on a regular basis. Frankly that is how this Substack “newsletter” came about. I have no intention of developing a newsletter, but I was curious to learn more about Substack and how it worked so I signed up and wrote some thoughts.
“The Law of One”, do something different at least once a week or month depending on your schedule. I don’t mean that you need to go and parachute out of a plane or try pottery wheel throwing, although I do recommend both. It can be something as simple as taking a different route home from work. Observing a different neighbourhood. Are there more retail vacancies? Is there rapid construction happening? Why are people lined up outside Gloryhole Donuts? What makes them so special? If you are generating content then you need to get out and try new things, observe new things and BE CURIOUS. Being curious is one of the most important, if not the most important traits for anyone creating content. I am often called “nosey” and I’m okay with it. I like to look around and see why people are paying so much for sugar and dough when they can get it much easier and cheaper at Tim’s.
These experiences are the things that make you a better communicator. It adds to the conversation you’re having with your audience. Some of the best talent that I know and have coached are the most curious people. They constantly try new things and speak with different people. One amazing example of being curious is something called The Human Library which is basically a place where people become books. It is intended to be a place for people to meet someone that they would normally not meet and converse with them, learn about them, understand them. It all started in Denmark by Ronni Abergel, who noticed that we basically hang out with people that look like us and sound like us, so he wanted to change that. Ronni developed an environment where once you “get behind the cover of the book” (he’s talking about a person) you realize that you have a lot more in common than maybe that one thing that is separating you.
Imagine how powerful that could be for you as someone delivering content. Imagine how much more interesting of a person you would be for your audience. I’d be willing to bet that if more of us got “behind the cover of the book” we would be a much better society as well. In Ronni’s words, “How are we to understand each other, if we do not have the opportunity to talk to each other?”
Check out a short video about The Human Library featuring Ronni Abergel.
You can watch Ronni Abergel’s Ted Talk here.
You can learn more about me here