One.
Brenda sees the fly. Brenda wants the fly. Brenda can’t jump in high heels.
Two.
Let’s say you’ve thrown yourself into a thing. Maybe it’s a religion. Maybe it’s a product. Maybe it’s an email you send every weekday morning.
Do you truly believe in it?
Here’s one way you can tell. Do you use manipulation or deception to promote/sell/share your thing? If you the answer is yes, you don’t believe in it.
You can use this test on other people’s things too. It works on anything from a deceptive headline on an article that isn’t good enough up to scandals like Jerry and Becki Falwell’s shenanigans at Liberty University.1
An example: Part of me wants to say that hundreds of people get TREE every day. That’s kind of factual if you half-close your eyes and tilt your head just the right way and don’t look too long. The actual truth is TREE has 216 subscribers and around 65 people open each email.
I could juice my numbers to try and impress people into subscribing. But I know that one of the main reasons TREE has any value is that I write what I live. As soon as my writing separates from my real life, my integrity is gone and TREE becomes worthless. So I stick to the truth.
When you believe in your thing, you are free from the need to manipulate and lie.
One more thing. If you are part of an organisation that does business using deception or manipulation, get out. You might believe in what you’re doing, but the people in charge don’t.
Three.
One of George Michael’s most famous songs is ‘Faith’, so here’s Wham!
Grow slowly
Jeff
OMG, you guys! This podcast investigation requires a strong stomach.
Why I've left teaching in a post-secondary writing program... it ceased to be about the writing. I felt homesick sitting in faculty meetings. I walked down the hallway, and heard the word "branding" too often. I heard numbers instead of letters. I had a student who lived in books and words just disappear, with no word. It was time for me to go home and write. Too many high heels.
TREE feels to be infused with so much real-living and yes, faith. Thank you!
Hi Jeff, I don’t think there’s been one TREE that I haven’t liked, or that hasn’t resonated with me. I often just forget to open them… Then I got really behind on my emails, get totally overwhelmed and delete them all when I’m having a meltdown. Do you tweet them as well. When I’m overwhelmed with my emails, I can actually look at Twitter. If there was a tree link, I would probably click on it. Anyway, just want you to know that your work is appreciated. XX