Friends, I am making an important change today in my writing career. As this blog has grown, it has become clear to me that there are two different sides of my writing that I need to split into distinct blogs: one for music business and one for personal/world philosophy.

As of today, I will be writing all of my philosophical thoughts (world 2.0, human-centric business, personal development, Seth Godin-esque ideas) – the topics that I write about mostly – on a new website and blog found here: www.bencoe.com. If you have been enjoying this aspect of my writing, please join me on my new site (sign up for the RSS email feed here. I will be developing this aspect of my career further through writing, speaking, and interviewing. I would enjoy your company for the journey.

The Artist Farm Ideas blog will return to its original content and intention of being a beacon for a grounded, music business perspective. If you are an artist, manager, or anyone involved in the music industry you will want to stay signed up on this blog for more business thoughts. The rest of the Farmers will be writing on this blog as well so that it will truly become a company blog.

Thank you all for reading and for being a part of the conversation thus far. I believe that this clarity will help both blogs grow a stronger and more focused message and thus deliver a better experience. I look forward to continuing the conversation with you!

~Ben

The human mind conspires to make you fearful; Fearful of so many things – death, poverty, being unloved or unwanted, being alone, not mattering, not knowing or being less intelligent than others.  These fears project outwardly in how we view strangers (will they try to kill us?), how we interact with loved ones (I fear I’m not loved so I yell and use harmful words), in how we interact at work (I fear looking like I don’t know the answer so I get aggressive or make something up) and so on.

A world of individuals misunderstanding every other individuals fears leads to a world rife with conflict.  If I fear all of these things and manifest the fears through action, and others have the same fears and actions then our fearful actions feed back on each other.  Our fears interact rather than our truest selves.

A new world will be born out of acknowledging our fears.  Contrary to current popular belief acknowledging fear makes us stronger and more confident (not weaker).  Better business, better government, better life will be built out of leaders who acknowledge their fears.  Like a scary vampire, fears can not live when you acknowledge and expose them to light.

Next time you feel fear creeping up acknowledge it.  Write it down and look at it.  It will seem silly.  Slowly you will find that you fear less.  Then you will find that you live more.

~~

Try:

Next time someone asks you a question that you don’t know the answer to, say “I don’t know.”  Then offer to look the answer up on the internet or find out and report back to them.

Ignorance is bliss if you’re in bliss while ignorant.  If you live a happy and content life while not being aware of the problems around you… then yes ignorance is bliss.

If you are living in ignorance but you are miserable – you dislike your job, your marriage, and how you spend your days – but you are unaware of yourself and the fact that you can change these things… then no ignorance is not bliss.

I can’t think of anyone I’ve met who is the first type.  So it may be a fallacy.  Which means that it’s probably best to work on finding your bliss through self-awareness.

Part of living your bliss is finding and maintaining your balanced or centered self.  The process of finding your balance means keeping the things that make you feel good in your life, and eliminating the things that don’t make you feel good.  It’s not ignorance to be aware of something and then to decide that you don’t want to have it be part of your life.  That’s decision making and it’s crucial to your bliss.

So you know what, forget that old saying.  The new one is “balance is bliss.”

During the work day, my mind is moving quickly, and my legs bounce up and down as I try to deal with the external energy flow around and through me.  There are lots of things going on – and it’s all exciting.  I have observed during these moments that my mind can not readily digest information that requires patience, calm, and deep thought (it requires extra effort on my part to do this).  This has lead me to the theory of Mental Operating Frequency or MOF for short.  I’m guessing that there is some official scientific explanation for this state but I’m making up my own based on experience.

Mental Operating Frequency exists on a scale – high to low.  Our MOF can be a factor in how we interpret static information.

During work hours I have a high MOF and thus have trouble listening and appreciating slow, somber music.  However, that same piece of music could blow me away at home in the evening, on the couch, with the lights off and candles lit, and a glass of wine in my hand (when my MOF is low).  In this case, the music doesn’t change – it is static.  But my MOF changes which in turn changes how I interpret the music.

MOF doesn’t just dictate what music sounds good at certain states, it also dictates our readiness for patience.  For example, reading a user manual requires all of my focus and patience.  The manual doesn’t change though.  My ability to interpret and act on that information changes based on my MOF.  If I have a low MOF at the moment it is much easier for me than if I’m at a high MOF.

The point is, recognize when MOF may be the reason for your inability to access something and schedule or shift your activities accordingly if you can’t quickly change your state.  If you are in a high MOF state, take on your projects that require this energy level.  Don’t try to read the user manual that will require all of your focus and patience.  Instead, make the sales call.  Practice the opposite as well.  If you are in a low MOF state, write that deep blog post or the slow song.  Think of how that applies to all of your daily activities to maximize your MOF!

World 2.0 has a silent mantra running through it’s veins: “Build people up, don’t break them down.”  Beneath the blogs that you follow, the business management books that you read, and the message of the grass roots movements you will find that they all collectively share this mantra.

Building people up starts in our own minds (building ourselves up), then extends to our family and workplace.  From there it extends to how we as collectives interact outside of our human scale relationships – in big corporations, with investors, and international relations.

Breaking people down is the informal and unspoken rule of old style business.  Financial growth at all costs was the mantra even if it means usurping and depleting energy from external sources.   Verbal abuse to those below you?  Sure.  Physical abuse of overwork and poor conditions?  Yes.  People in this case are merely sources of energy to use and abuse to reach some financial goal.  I know this still exists but the goal is to end it.

In World 2.0, with our focus on building human-centric businesses we no longer see humans this way.  People are no longer pieces of meat to be abused.  A person is untapped potential waiting to be built up.  When empowered and invited into the conversation, people come alive with potential.  When you build people up you encourage them to do the same with others (and be warned: the opposite is true as well).  Building people up doesn’t only feel good, it makes economic and social sense.

Look around  - your family, your office, your community, your country.  Are you interacting with people who are in the business of building people up versus breaking them down?  Building people up starts with you.  And likewise, the cycle of breaking people down stops with you.

Get on the wagon… share your stories… be part of the conversation and make some change.

——-

Me?  I co-own a small music management company.  We build people up by engaging in non-violent communication, asking our employees questions about how we can run our company better, and asking them how they want to grow personally.  It’s a small, small dimple on the world’s problems.  But it’s a start.

“It’s a new day, it’s a new dawn, it’s a new life for me…”

-lyrics from “Feeling Good”

A week ago, my wife gave birth to our first child – a baby boy (home birth, no drugs – but that’s another blog post).  Obviously with such a new and powerful experience, I have been curious to see what inspiration would arise that could relate to everyone’s life.  As always, with something so profound, there were several ideas that came to my mind.  Of all the ideas, one stands out the most.

Though a newborn sleeps for approximately 90% of the day, there is the 10% where it is awake and alert.  I had always heard that newborns don’t do much the first several months.  At this point, having tuned my personal operating frequency way down, I can say that this is incorrect – newborns are incredibly active but only if you tune into their frequency.

The most beautiful moments I have experienced in this life have been in silence, outdoors, watching the natural world carry on.  I look into my son’s eyes, on the rare moments that he is awake, and see him having this same experience- deeply observing the world without judgment.

Imagine a world where you have no vocabulary, you have no understanding of the context for the objects that surround you, and you have no physical coordination.  In short, you are merely and yet fantastically alive with perception.  That is it.  This is what I see in my child’s eyes.  It is a window to the timeless world – the world that exists for all of us beneath our ego-driven, noisy, consciousness.  It is a subtle world, difficult to find and hard to access, but filled with the bright light of wonder.  It is a place we should all strive to visit.

Every morning that you wake up and send yourself out the door, you are marching toward a certain death.  This is truth.  For most of us we don’t know how long this march is going to be but we all share the same period at the end of the final sentence of life.  Facing the fact sucks.  It’s scary, no matter how old you are.  But it is fact, so rather than avoiding it in your mind, embrace it.  You’ve got a limited time here… so what are you going to do while you are here?  What would you do today if it were your last?  How would you interact with friends, family, and strangers if today were your last?  What would you say to the world if this day were your last?  What would you do today to make you feel most alive?  How would you appreciate the day differently?

With these answers, you now have a picture of how your life should be every day.  The things that you are holding back from doing, the ones that seem scary or risky, they only feel that way the first time.  Just do them once and it gets easier.  Build your life from this place and please do not delay.  The world is asking for you.

As modern civilization has developed over the past several hundred years, there has been an increasing disconnection with nature.  The unspoken goal was to overcome the forces of nature that made life uncomfortable or short lived.

In modern societies, man thwarted the deadly efforts of malaria, mumps, measles, rubella, and pneumonia (among others) through science and medicine.  We created a factory farming system, fertilizers, and processed foods to cheaply feed the growing population.  Our homes and offices use air conditioning or recylced air, water is pumped in from mysterious sources, sewage and garbage are taken out to a different mysterious location.  Though all of these actions – eating, healing, breathing, excreting – are a deep part of the human experience, we have become disconnected from the natural cycle of which these are a part.

For all of the strides we have made in creating modern civilization, there is a growing sense that we may have left something important behind in our quest to subvert nature.  What we’ve lost and what many people are waking up to is the simple awareness that we are deeply connected to the natural world that holds us.  Humans need interaction with nature and our welfare is directly connected to environmental welfare (see Jared Diamond’s books).

On the pushing edge of culture (the idea pushers) you see an increasing interest in reconnecting with nature.  For those living in an urban zone, the interest in reconnecting with nature can be seen in the growth of farmer’s markets and the local food movement (getting to know your farmer).  It can be seen in the growth of exercise and outdoor sports over the past several decades; People spending too much time inside opt to grab a slice of outdoor adventure everyday with a bike ride or run.  Growing numbers of people are concerned about the pollution and refuse they release into the world.  As a response people recycle, compost, and purchase carbon credits.

The ultimate solution to this nest of problems is finding a way to live completely sustainably on earth.  Exactly how this happens, no one knows yet.  But as you know, I believe big problems are best solved from the ground up.  The most fundamental solution is held within you – it is to recognize and feel how the connection with nature is a deep part of your human nature.

You can manifest this realization by taking a walk each day to get fresh air, not driving to work to reduce your fuel consumption, planting a garden or even just a potted flower to feel the earth on your hands, buying local produce directly from a farmer, swimming in a river instead of a pool.

There are countless ways to reconnect with nature and to feel how important this is to your human nature.  Do one small action every day to honor this part of your humanity, then share your ideas with the world (by posting them here or on your own blog).

One of the greatest challenges we have in achieving our goals is getting distracted by what’s around us.  There are uncountable ways to get distracted in our own minds and with the fast paced world surrounding us (emails, phone calls, self-doubt, fear and so on).  Here’s a simple formula for fixing this problem:

1. Break each goal into smaller pieces.  What can be done today, right now?  It is easiest to view each step in the goal as an iteration that can be quantified, completed, and analyzed.  Focus on attaining your goal through achieving small steps in the march toward an end point.  Another metaphor is to see yourself walking through a forest – see the passing of each single tree as a significant accomplishment in your journey.
2. Use laser sharp focus on achieving the one small thing you set about to accomplish for that moment and then allow all other activites around you for that moment to fall into your peripheral vision.  This means you notice them but don’t act on them.  If you did act on what you see in your peripherals then you’ve shifted your focus from your initial intention.  If you feel yourself shifting your focus from your singular goal for that moment take a deep breathe, let the anticipation of the peripheral activity go with the exhale.  Then refocus on the goal.
3. At the end of each day, write down your accomplishments for the day.  We tend to be hard on ourselves, not giving ourselves credit for the small things we accomplished.  This is a good way of affirming what you are doing and feeling progress despite the long march ahead.

I use all of these tactics throughout my day.  Though I don’t have hard figures to back this up (for example, I can’t tell you that I’m 25% more efficient than I was before based on some measurement) I can tell you that my stress level has reduced significantly.  Of these three, the last one – giving myself credit for my accomplishments however minor – has made the most impact.  It makes me feel good about what I did and encourages me to do more the next day.  It’s important to love yourself… even in business.

You make small changes in your life – to get more balanced or centered, to overcome your fears, to love and give more freely.  You make small changes in your work – to become happier, more involved, and more fulfilled.  You make small changes in your community to strengthen it and bring you closer to it.

These changes come in small doses.  These seem small, after all these are just changes in your life and you are small compared to the whole world.  But then again, you are a part of the world and if you’ve changed then the world has changed in some small way.  There is a ripple effect, however subtle and silent it may seem.

As the changer, pay attention to what works and why, what doesn’t work and why.  Then share your results.  Share the results with those around you in your actions and words.  And just as importantly, share it with the world through the internet – a blog, a social network, a focused community message board, facebook, or your website.  Contribute positive solutions and realizations back into the conversation.

Given our current ability to share information around the world instantaneously, it has never been more clear that big changes start small.  Other people in the conversation can and will integrate and develop your findings and publish their results.  Through this the process of change will continue.  Though we are disassociated geographically, collectively we can build off of each others successes through shared and archived information.

The new world we are building is designed around 1) making small changes in small places 2) honoring those changes as significant however small they seem 3) and sharing the results through a big network (the internet).  The whole world can now benefit from experiments of small change that happen in your small corner of the world.

“Change Small, Share Big!”  It’s a beautiful thing.  Spread the word.