Kaizen And The Desire Not To Produce Crap

There is a dilemma between the practice of Kaizen to produce blog entries and the desire to put out a quality product. To push through a mental block merely to make another blog entry does not improve the quality of the blog. However, to become blocked permanently does not improve the quality of the blog either. Part of the value of a blog is in the frequency and timeliness of the posts. Another part of the value is in the quality of the ideas and information conveyed. I will endeavor to remain mindful of this dynamic going forward.

Kaizen Post One

At this very moment I am sitting at my computer trying to force out a blog post and nothing is coming to mind. According to the Kaizen approach (as I understand it) the very act of writing this post is establishing new neuronal pathways which will allow me to circumvent the mental block in the future. The act of doing even on a very small and seemingly insignificant level works to break down resistance to acting. In that way it is effective.

Kaizen

I've recently read a short book entitled "One Small Step Can Change Your Life - The Kaizen Way" by Dr. Robert Maurer. In the first chapter Dr. Maurer talks about how the fear of change or making big decisions is hard wired into the brain's physiology. Furthermore, when fear takes over, the creative process shuts down. The amygdala is primarily responsible for this dynamic by generating the "fight or flight" response. When this response is generated the creative part of the brain is shut down as non essential. Unfortunately for some people (myself included) the amygdala is stimulated under circumstances which do not necessarily warrant a fight or flight response. This blog happens to be an example of this. I have recently experienced a block in terms of generating daily blog entries. However, at a certain point that intention became less of a hobby and more of an obligation. Something about that dynamic aparrently stimulated my amygdala and shut down my creative process. What would happen is, I would sit down to write an entry and nothing would come to mind or I would be very easily distracted by something else. Briefly, the Kaizen way of circumventing the amygdala's fight or flight response is to take steps so small that the amygdala does not notice them. An example of a small step vis a vi this blog might be to take five minutes out of the day to write or perhaps only write one sentence or even one word. This not only circumvents the fight or flight response (so says the theory) but it also lays the neuronal ground work for bigger steps down the line. I will now test this theory by making blog entries daily. They may be very short at first but I will make them none the less.

Earning Revenue Through Blog Writing

An interesting thing happened yesterday. This blog earned $.01 through advertising. I'm not sure what formula is used to determine how much I earn and when it is earned. It has something to do with the number of times the web page is viewed and how many times the advertisements are clicked. So far, the advertisements have not been clicked and until now I had not earned any revenue. Yesterday, however, I crossed some threshold. A penny is just a penny but there is a world of difference between nothing and one cent.

It is interesting that this happened on the very day I made a post about trying to attract more viewers to the blog. I am not sure that there is a direct causal connection between the two events. At any rate, the experiment continues and I will post significant updates when they occur. I imagine the title of this post might generate some traffic.

Reintegration Into the Ordinary World

As an exercise in functioning within the Ordinary World I will now embark on a mission to see if I can attract more viewers to the Lentmen blog. I am curious to see how this is accomplished and there is no better education (for most things) than to attempt to do them yourself. One idea I have is to write about topics related to common interest with the expectation that people using search terms related to them will be directed (indirectly?) to this blog.

According to www.ask.com the following is a list of the most popular search terms for the week ending April 10th:

1. MySpace
2. Facebook
3. What does my name mean
4. How much should I weigh
5. How to get pregnant
6. YouTube
7. Craigslist
8. Vin Diesel
9. Dictionary
10. Burnout Alley

Okay then. Let's first talk about Myspace and Facebook. Well, I tried to look into Myspace once but found it very complicated and soon after gave up on it. Later on I discovered Facebook which was much easier to use. I originally looked into Facebook intending to track down some people I had lost touch with many years ago. Surprisingly, I tracked down the intended people with ease. Coincidentally, I got back in touch with other people around the same time not through Facebook but there must have been some kind of likeminded nexus at work behind the scenes. Anyway, time passed and I gradually got sucked into Facebook far more than I was comfortable with. People keep sending me their updates which then in turn sends me into the following mental exercise. First, I marvel at how more interesting and fulfilling everyone else's life seems in comparison to mine. I then ask the question, "should I be posting my status?" To which the response, "who the hell cares about my status?" is typically offered. But then I think, "Oh come on! You're just being antisocial. All these other people post their statuses seemingly without the same hang up." But then I try to think of a status update and cannot come up with anything suitably witty. I then generally become disgusted with the whole process at that point. The upshot? If you are prone to this type of thinking stay away from Facebook. I wish someone had this talk with me a few months back. So that's Myspace and Facebook. Stay tuned for "What does my name mean?" Actually, I'm not sure how I will write about that one without revealing my name but I'm sure I will come up with something.

Please visit the blog often and be sure to click on the advertisements. So far I've had about 170 page impressions (meaning the webpage was viewed 170 times) but no one has clicked on an add. Following these instructions will make my experiment a success. Tell a friend.