Two Thumbs Up

Your opinion only matters if someone knows what it is.

I was shopping online today, trying to figure out which video to order for my nephew. There were three titles that sounded promising, but I wasn’t sure which one he’d like most. I did it what a lot of people do. I looked at the reviews other people had left.

One title had just a couple of reviews. It obviously hadn’t inspired many people to write about it. I crossed it off the list of options. The other two titles both had several reviews. I read the top and bottom few reviews for both titles. While I think he’d like either video, the descriptions and reviews of one of them seemed to just scream his name. I ordered it. I’m certain he’ll be happy with it when I give it to him.

This got me thinking about reviews on sites such as IMDB, Yelp, or Amazon – places where huge numbers of people leave reviews. I rarely write reviews for these sites. Why not? I certainly use the reviews other people leave. I often use reviews to help me make purchasing decisions. I appreciate it when people take the time to leave a thoughtful review. Shouldn’t I give back in the same way?

The answer was obvious. Of course I should. And so should anyone who uses reviews. Actually, anyone who’s read a book, watched a movie, been to a business, or used a product should write reviews. It’s a quick way to share knowledge, to share experience, to share expertise. It’s a quick way to give something to everyone.

What can you take five minutes to write a review about?

Re-View of the Day

Do you know what you did today? Look again.

I was hanging out with my nephew the other day. He's a teenager and, like most teenagers (like a lot of people, really), his mood can change faster than Lady Gaga changes outfits.

I was helping him with his math homework. This is often an exercise in patience and tact; he does not enjoy math. He'd stare at the problem. He'd write it down. He'd scrabble with the steps, scritching his pencil across the paper as he thought. And, eventually, he'd arrive at the answer. It was slow-going, but he was getting it.

And then we reached a problem that he couldn't figure out. He tried. I tried to help him through it. He tried again. I tried again. No luck. After struggling with it for a while, I told him to skip it, told him he could see if his teacher could explain it in class the next day. We continued with the rest of the assignment.

That night, as I was saying goodnight to him, the good mood vanished.

"This is stupid. I'm not tired. I shouldn't have to go to bed. This entire day has sucked!"

I sat on the floor next to his bed. (He's got a reverse-loft, so there's not enough room to sit on his bed without hitting my head.)

"Really? Nothing good has happened all day?"

He shook his head. I sighed. I started asking him about specific parts of his day. Things that had gone wrong, such as not figuring out the math problem. Things that had gone right -- figuring out all the other math problems. He managed to come up with a lot of things he'd done well during the day, and we talked about how to do more of those sorts of things more often. We also talked about how he might be able to avoid some of the problems he'd had throughout the day. Within five minutes, he'd calmed down. His day no longer seemed so bad. And the following day looked promising, too.

If you take five minutes to review your day, you can figure out what worked and how to repeat it, and figure out what didn't and how to avoid it.

Just Do It

"I'll get started after I've studied it a bit more. I'm almost ready; I just need more background knowledge."

I got to meet some inspiring people at the Seth Godinevent in Minneapolis last Thursday. The woman who said she'd get started "after I've studied" was not one of them. She was nice. She was friendly. And she thinks she'll make a million dollars off of the business idea she wants to study more. She won't.

It's not that her idea can't make a million dollars. Million dollar ideas happen every day -- often the things we least expect. No, the reason she won't make a million dollars is because she's not working on her idea.

I believe her when she says she needs more information before her idea is perfect. Perfection doesn't happen. And it most definitely doesn't happen if you don't get started. By studying instead of doing, she risks nothing. By risking nothing, she has no chance of failing. But she has no chance of succeeding, either.

There are things she can do while still studying. Ways she can start DOING. She can write up a business plan. She can look for investors. She can mock up a product. Once she mocks up a product she can start selling it -- even though it won't be perfect. I've never met a customer who would rather buy a perfect nonexistent product instead of an imperfect product that actually exists. (If you know of any, send them my way. I'll sell them plenty of perfect nothings.)

The point is to start. Education and research is important, but they can quickly become excuses to never go anywhere. If you have something you want to do - do it. It takes just five minutes to get started on something. So get started.

What "perfect problems" can you overcome by spending just five minutes actually working on them?

In Defense of . . .

"I'm okay with most people, but that (shudder), that's just . . . It's not right."

Twice in the past week I heard people say this, or something a lot like it. And that was just last week. It's a judgment statement that people make all the time. If the statement referred to something harmful:

I'm okay with most people, but rape/ pedophilia/ beastiality/ murder (shudder), that's just . . . It's not right.

Then I might not have a problem with it. I still wouldn't like the word choice -- condeming the person instead of the action -- but I'd be a lot more okay with it.

Last week, as usual, neither statement was about actions that cause harm to anyone. In fact, they weren't even about actions or lifestyles that would be easily noticable.

Last week, the things that brought about the squeamish comments were gender correction surgeries and furries.

And, as usual, the comments made by the squeamish illustrated how uninformed they were. To be fair, though, one of them asked me questions. The other just made assumptions. Sadly, making assumptions seems to be the more common of the two.

Although the conversations we ended up having in both instances lasted longer than five minutes, it took just five minutes for me to address and refute many of the common misconceptions, stereotypes, and prejudices regarding both gender dysphoria and furries.

Most prejudices stem from ignorance. And much of that ignorance can addressed, on a surface level, in just five minutes. People who hold prejudices will often start to rethink their points of view if someone they know challenges their assumptions. Five minutes may not overcome the prejudice, but it's a start.

What prejudices can you address in just five minutes?

Webs We Weave

Note: The last two Tuesdays I've been on vacation outside of the realm of internet access. Yes, such places still exist in the U.S. It was a good vacation; I got to spend time in the amazing world of Yellowstone with some of my family. As good as it was, it's great to be back, too.

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A woman I know is part owner of an antique store. She and her partners have decided it's time to get a website. Last Friday she asked me, almost in passing, if the webmaster is responsible for advertising the site, or if she should contact the Yellow Pages herself. For the next five minutes I filled her in on the very basis of having a website.

She took notes, and ended up with a lot of important, useful information.

I took stock, and realized I know a lot about business websites. I already knew I knew this information, but this drove it home.

Im not yet sure how or if I'll use this realization for anything more than the business I plan to start soon, but it's nice knowing I could. And it was nice knowing I could distill many of the important points into just five minutes.

The main points I covered:

• SEO (search engine optimization)
  
• fresh content
  
• images
  
• not using Hotmail (or another free, "generic" e-mail host) for business e-mail
  
• understanding upfront what the webmaster will do and charge.

Do you have knowledge of which you ca share the important points in just five minutes?