02.26.10

Don’t Waste My TIME! by Trina Hess www.yourshiningexample.com

Posted in Humor~Research at 3:49 pm by Dr. Trina Hess

Facebook fans and friends: To read the entire story click here: http://yourshiningexample.com/wp-blog

I just read a fascinating interview in Ben Dean’s Coaching Toward Happiness newsletter (http://www.mentorcoach.com/founder.html). It made me think twice about how I think about TIME.
Dean interviewed Phil Zimbardo, Ph.D. co-author of The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life (http://www.thetimeparadox.com/).

Time colors our perspective of everything. And our lifestyle, circumstances, and background influence how we think about time.

Did your realize your audience has a certain feeling about TIME? Their feelings are affected by things that are largely out of their control. Mainly because they are not conscious of them.
These three are the biggest influencers of TIME perspectives:
*Education–makes us heavily future-oriented
*Geography–in climates w/o a change in seasons people are more present-oriented
*Poverty–forces people into present-oriented survival mode

For example, Zimbardo explained that he comes from a poor Sicilian background–where everybody lived in the past or the present. Survival mode. No one plans for the future. In fact, Zimbardo explains, in the Sicilian dialect there isn’t even a verb for the future tense! No way to say, “will be.”

You adjust your speaking to both genders. You are aware to not offend with racist remarks. You don’t step on local toes by insulting people’s cherished landmarks.

But are you still communicating effectively if you don’t see and respond to this vast array of perspectives?

*Technology further affects our perspective of TIME.
We save it, hoard it, fear it. We try to get ahead with time-saving technology, but we aren’t having any more peace of mind. We are expected to do more because we have these “time-saving” devices.

How does this speed-up affect what your audiences are willing to hear? Do they really want a long, winding story? Or will that make them secretly resent you for wasting their time and mind-energy?

This drives home the point that humor is the connector. Check out some of the humor research here at http://yourshiningexample.com/wp-blog Humor ties the TIMEs together so people can be on the same page. That’s because comedy is precise. It’s concise. People know that you will get to the point and not waste their time. They can get the benefit without getting left behind in the race.

Humor is vital. To your image as a business-servant, as a creative professional, and as a fellow human being.

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