I fish (3-day out of town trip planned next week), read a lot of books about things VERY unrelated to my work, have scheduled trips to work out with my personal trainer (today in fact), ride my recumbent bike all over the place (28 miles last Sunday), am studying an astronomy / interstellar bodies related science area, took my kids out to breakfast this morning to a place they'd never been, am taking a long (possibly forever) break from a forum i've visited daily for the last few years, and am exploring completely new areas in my work as well... fresh air bloat going on over here. got a zephyr in my shorts. :-)
Pat Grady
· 10 months ago
Lil more constructive this time...
Fresh Air exercise #1: At your desk, while working, I bet most of us listen to iTunes. Type the title (not the band's name) of one of your fav songs into the iTunes store, and snag some variations of tunes that your heart and ears already love, ones from other performers. I did this recently with the Jimi Hendrix tune "All Along The Watchtower" and unleashed some Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews, Indigo Girls, Neil Young, Roger "Hurricane" Wilson, P.O.S., Willie J Laws, Kim MacKenzie and even U2. The Bob Dylan performance of Watchtower smacks fresh air into it's own inadequate shame.
You wouldn't believe how many versions of "Unchained Melody" I have. Il Divo, a multi-national operatic vocal quartet does this version in Italian called Senza Catene (translated, without bonds) that will blow torrid fresh air right up your skirt.
Scott Jangro
· 10 months ago
I thought your first post was perfectly constructive.
MikeAllen
· 10 months ago
Great point, Scott. I, like many in the affiliate marketing industry, work from home and so breathe even more of my exhaust in that environment.
One reason why I try very hard to attend industry conferences and events is for the interaction of others. In addition to being lots of fun, they trigger significant new ideas for me. I also recommend conferences that are only tangentially related to one's field since they can broaden one's horizon and radically inject new ideas into the creative mix.
Fresh air helps us think outside the box! I like that.
Scott Jangro
· 10 months ago
Great points Mike. I love that this topic means different things to different people. I didn't even have this in mind, but you are right. I go to the same industry conferences that you go to, but I try to get to some non-affiliate stuff too.
Because I can't justify the time and cost, I usually look for local events, like social media stuff and "tweetups".
Joe Sousa
· 10 months ago
Good stuff Scott. It is so easy to get stuck in ruts and routines. There are always others out there with different perspectives, different methodologies, and different ways of thinking. If you just stick to following the same people around you will not see how big and broad the internet marketing world is.
Even though we might not agree with how somebody does something we can still learn from them. We can take some small parts of what they do and integrate it in our businesses. And we won't get new ideas and innovation by just sticking to our small circles of friends.
Jeff James
· 10 months ago
One of my favorite shows is "Fresh Air" with Terrie Gross on WHYY. She interviews an amazing range of people and while I don't always agree with their opinions, I think the show helps deliver me from the "rut of reading and listening to the same people every day" that you mention.
Scott Jangro
· 10 months ago
WHYY? Why did I think you were from Boston?
jeffjames
· 10 months ago
Right you are - I am from Boston - but I listen to the show online so I sometimes listen directly to WHYY instead of WBUR. I guess it's sort of like how one used to be able to tell where someone lived by their area code. Not so much anymore!
Geno Prussakov
· 10 months ago
Scott, I couldn't agree more. Fresh perspectives, ideas, thoughts, and solutions... These are definitely the things I need more of. Constantly.
owain
· 10 months ago
Hey scott. I am new to this blog so I thought I would post a comment to say hi. I find getting up early and going to the gym gives me a good blast of fresh air , really puts me in a positive mood for the rest of the day and clears my mind so I am ready to go to work on projects or whatever I am doing that day.
Scott Jangro
· 10 months ago
Hi Owain, welcome!
Chicago hospital
· 10 months ago
I've found this to be true in the blogs I read. Eventually, I feel like I have absorbed as much as I can from one and must move on to another. After a while however, it is refreshing to go visit the old and see if they have changed.
peacocking wear
· 10 months ago
being inside an office long enough can really drive someone crazy. sometimes i imagine something happening outrageous like in superhero and action movies where you're sitting by the window in the office and suddenly there's a giant reptile eating the opposite building or superman suddenly flies by to save a girl from falling off the roof of another building. boredom can really get the imagination going.
my idea of "fresh air" are different blogs of different people, but it gets so addicting! this is what usually happens to me. i click on a link on my sidebar and read my friend's blog. if there are really interesting posts, i comment on them. and when i see and interesting comment from poster, i follow that poster's blog, and the cycle repeats, until i don't know how i got to the nth blog anymore.
Scott Jangro
· 10 months ago
That is some imagination.
So how did you get to this blog?
peacocking wear
· 10 months ago
exact example of what i said a few days back. =D
Ernie Small
· 10 months ago
interesting post, scott. yes, "breathing your own exhaust" can be dangerous, perhaps even figuratively fatal. however, it can also get you kinda high sometimes, and i think that some of us could actually benefit from getting a little high on our own "crazy" ideas and burying our heads in the sand a little bit more every once in a while in order to shut out all those endless status quo influences that attempt to make us think moreso like everyone else all the time. but, i suppose all this depends heavily on what you are attempting to accomplish in life......
iPhone
· 10 months ago
How about getting into photography? It can certainly get you out and about, get you fit - and you may even be able to use the results in your blog.
Soham
· 10 months ago
Getting rid of stale air and breathing fresh air not more than once a couple of days is important.... or we may lose our ways in the dense jungles of blogosphere.
Pat Grady
· 10 months ago
working today, but going fishing for most of the rest of this week. ahhh, fresh air, here i come. :-)
All Comments
Fresh Air exercise #1: At your desk, while working, I bet most of us listen to iTunes. Type the title (not the band's name) of one of your fav songs into the iTunes store, and snag some variations of tunes that your heart and ears already love, ones from other performers. I did this recently with the Jimi Hendrix tune "All Along The Watchtower" and unleashed some Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews, Indigo Girls, Neil Young, Roger "Hurricane" Wilson, P.O.S., Willie J Laws, Kim MacKenzie and even U2. The Bob Dylan performance of Watchtower smacks fresh air into it's own inadequate shame.
You wouldn't believe how many versions of "Unchained Melody" I have. Il Divo, a multi-national operatic vocal quartet does this version in Italian called Senza Catene (translated, without bonds) that will blow torrid fresh air right up your skirt.
One reason why I try very hard to attend industry conferences and events is for the interaction of others. In addition to being lots of fun, they trigger significant new ideas for me. I also recommend conferences that are only tangentially related to one's field since they can broaden one's horizon and radically inject new ideas into the creative mix.
Fresh air helps us think outside the box! I like that.
Because I can't justify the time and cost, I usually look for local events, like social media stuff and "tweetups".
Even though we might not agree with how somebody does something we can still learn from them. We can take some small parts of what they do and integrate it in our businesses. And we won't get new ideas and innovation by just sticking to our small circles of friends.
my idea of "fresh air" are different blogs of different people, but it gets so addicting! this is what usually happens to me. i click on a link on my sidebar and read my friend's blog. if there are really interesting posts, i comment on them. and when i see and interesting comment from poster, i follow that poster's blog, and the cycle repeats, until i don't know how i got to the nth blog anymore.
So how did you get to this blog?
yes, "breathing your own exhaust" can be dangerous, perhaps even figuratively fatal.
however, it can also get you kinda high sometimes, and i think that some of us could actually benefit from getting a little high on our own "crazy" ideas and burying our heads in the sand a little bit more every once in a while in order to shut out all those endless status quo influences that attempt to make us think moreso like everyone else all the time.
but, i suppose all this depends heavily on what you are attempting to accomplish in life......