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End Game Analysis: Relationship Principles

This article, and the articles that follow analyze my thoughts on what I am calling my “end game.” You can read more about this concept here.

In the article entitled “Mind the Gap,” I wrote about the importance of having both self and situational awareness when it comes to managing relationships. Since it is difficult to provide explicit guidance across all personalities and situations, a better alternative is to rely upon a set of relationship principles.

The absence of principles is akin to traveling without a map. This approach may be suitable for local exploration, but arguably irresponsible when traveling in unfamiliar territory (at least if you wish to reach a specific destination). Principles allow one to navigate successfully independently of the situation.

Let’s build an initial set by posing the following questions:

Do I feel comfortable with this person?

Is the relationship balanced?

Is the relationship moving forward?

These translate into the following three criterion: comfort, balance, and strength, and are neutral enough where they can be easily applied in both professional and personal contexts. They also follow a natural order (i.e., relationships which make one uncomfortable should probably not move forward by default).

Lastly, since change is ever present, these questions need to be continuously asked. Each assessment should inform whether the relationship is on track or requires recalibration, containment, or termination.

And so it begins (again).

One of the core tenets in my life involves the belief that one can continuously improve, adapt and excel.  The concept of brain “plasticity” along with the belief that evolution is based not upon intellect or strength, but adaptability, provides motivation to keep moving forward.

One of the ways to achieve this is through writing.

I find writing invaluable because the very process of doing so provides me with the means to focus my energies in areas I feel are important.  I have found the absence of this channel stalls this thought process and I’m left with feelings of reduced intellectual and creative “progress.”  In basic terms, I’m “spinning.”

Furthermore, the very process of documenting ideas embeds them into my memory.  Not surprisingly, this becomes self-fulfilling; random thoughts serve as a foundation for ideas and concepts that embody increasing complexity and structure.  It’s these very concepts that open up doors in entirely new areas of development.

While this isn’t too terribly surprising to me, what is surprising is just how challenging it is to start writing again.

The End of Territories (I).

With September just around the corner, I’ve decided to end the first chapter of Territories and focus my energies on its successor – “Territories 2.”

As alluded to in my last post, this new site will focus on both technology and design, and perhaps less on interpersonal / emotional aspects of my life (at least in comparison to Incubator and Territories I).

I’m excited about this next online chapter and look forward to the challenges ahead.

 

… and what’s going to happen next.

What just happened …

Delicious Library.

I finally decided to take inventory of all of my books using the latest version of Delicious Library.  it’s a great program and adding books is easily done through text entry or via a digital camera (which is used to scan the ISBN barcode).

Using this program allows me to obtain an immediate glance at my entire library without having to scan the physical shelves in my home.  You can also export your entire library to various social media book sites including GoodReads.

What Next?

Now three weeks into this new journey, I’m starting to reclaim a sense of self on all levels – physical, mental, emotional and intellectual – and I am enjoying learning to be myself once again.

True to form, I’ve gone through and purged belongings that I no longer need and increased “security” around those that I still need / want.  My primary objective at this point is to refine the Immersion foundation defined earlier this year and use that as the basis for decision-making and activities in the months to come.

In the meantime, here are a few ideas that I have been thinking about:

Portfolio Consolidation: I am considering shutting down both Pixeldust and Ink microsites and consolidating the portfolios, which could very well result in the elimination of many older pieces whose quality lags behind more recent work.  While I think the current site design is sound, I also believe there is too much redundancy.  Strategy: Keep things simple, relevant and focus all attention on my best work.

Self-Promotion: I think the efforts that have gone into my core portfolio and the various microsites have resulted in a solid foundation to build from.  I’m pleased with the results, but I’m at a point where I’m less interested in promotion for promotion’s sake (career opportunities, etc.) and more interested in further expanding the portfolio.  Strategy: Get back to basics.

Research: I am at a point now where the types of books that I am reading are leaning away from self-improvement and towards other subjects: design, technical subjects and fiction.  It’s a direction that I’m becoming more comfortable with.  Strategy: Refocus research efforts on creative and technical topics, and focus more energies on fictional works.

Bionic 2.0: As mentioned earlier, one of the plateaus I’ve reached is the physical.  Now three years into a strength-building plan, I think I can move into new territories.  Strategy: Focus greater energy on core physiology and refine exercise plan.

 

Strategy: Site Expansion.

I have been thinking of making a few modifications to my current Internet infrastructure to allow the platform to grow in the years to come.  Before going into detail, I think it’s important to share my perspective on the site as a whole:

What’s Working:

  1. Good foundational online presence.
  2. Excellent initial placement in search engine rankings.
  3. Microsite concept allows for easy expansion.
  4. Hosting infrastructure is top-notch.
  5. Majority of time is spent on content generation.

What’s Not:

  1. Not every microsite has SEO functionality.
  2. Presence of older content is not reflective of current skill-level.
  3. Some duplication of content across sites.
  4. No clear long-term strategy.
  5. Some technical gaps exist.

While there will always be opportunities to explore, I would like to focus my time on a select few.  The best way to prioritize is to first revisit my objectives for my online presence:

  • Growth Enabler – I want to continue this online journey as it has strengthened my ability to focus and explore new ideas.  To be more specific, I want the content to enable the continued creation of both online and offline projects.
  • Relevance – I want visitors (employers, collaborators, friends) to have access to information, ideas and content that is most relevant and is most reflective of my capabilities at that time – and not be distracted by older information. At the same time, I would like to keep older sites active as they collectively are a part of who I am.
  • Presentation Ability – I want to go a step further in improving my communication abilities by presenting new concepts in HD.
  • Ease of Use – I want to make it easy for visitors to learn about me and my capabilities.
  • Pervasiveness – I want to maintain and broaden my standing in search engines through additional content generation and an effective SEO strategy.

Ultimately, this online presence is to support my personal and professional goals in a way that is self-fulfilling; one idea leads to another, essentially cross-pollinating between sites and into new online and offline endeavors.

Going a step further, I hope I can help others see things in a different way and encourage them to push themselves into new territories.  In a best case scenario, the site can connect me with other individuals with similar goals and interests for potential collaboration.

In short, I want the site to be an extension of myself.

Given this context, what needs to be done now?  Actually, quite a bit!  Here’s the list:

  1. Make final modifications to existing sites that will remain and formally close out sites that are no longer needed.
  2. Upgrade to the latest version of BasicMaths to allow for video embedding.
  3. Upgrade to the latest version of WordPress for existing sites.
  4. Figure out the best backup strategy for existing WordPress sites.
  5. Revisit SEO strategy for existing and new sites.
  6. Redesign Pixeldust microsite to focus exclusively on digital photography.
  7. Document current infrastructure.
  8. Design new homepage that allows for greater content flexibility.
  9. Create sitemap to illustrate microsite connectivity and potential redundancy.
  10. Launch SoundCloud presence.
  11. Figure out how to share brainstorming notes in a way that shows clear traceability to real content (designs, illustrations, posts, etc.).
  12. Formulate a long-term strategy.
  13. Develop a workflow for HD content generation and presentation.

Fortunately, a fair number of these tasks have already begun.

New Beginning.

Territories is my new blog from which most all other creative endeavors will originate.  Territories will be a continuation of the journey described in Incubator, but the subject matter will focus less on healing / introspection and more on pure exploration – both from a concept and design perspective, as well as physical locations across the United States and around the world.

Below are some of the themes that you’ll see over the next year:

THEMES: electronic music . industrial design . graphic design . product management . emotional intelligence . advanced concept design . going beyond . HD . instructional . personal . travel . environments . deep-thinking . socialization . advancement . education . next generation . ideation . radical thinking . evolution . inspiration . post digital