In a world that is painfully predictable, I challenge you to engage “in the unexpected” at some point today. Do you remember back to the Super Bowl, the hustle and bustle of all those new commercial. By in large, I felt this year’s commercials were a bit underwhelming with one MAJOR exception…
Do you remember the Sprint commercial with the Screaming Goat and the Yelling Donkey at the end? I literally fell out of my chair laughing when I first saw this commercial. This was a brilliant display of creativity which encouraged the unexpected. Sprint was 2 ordinary farm animals and gave them personalities all their own. The both was that Sprint could offer lower contract pricing that both ATT and Verizon, but the way in which they communicated this point was priceless.
The Sprint “screaming goat”
This Super Bowl commercial (which is not played regularly) serves as the inspiration for my point today. Have you examined the ways in which you could add shock value to the lives of those around you? Have you thought about how you might do something unexpected, so that your routine would be rocked for eternity? The old Bonnie Rait song “Let’s Give Them Something That Talk About” also surfaced as I thought through this post. We live in a world that reacts, that criticizes but is terrified to innovate for fear of failure or looking foolish. Someone has to create whatever it is that others talk about, why not you? Someone has to step out of the flow at some point…why not now? Or let’s put it this way, “if not you (or me) then who?” “if not now, then when?”
Shock value is all about the element of surprise. How can you avoid predictability? Make it your goal to do one thing different each day and try to do within eyeshot of other people. Life is too short to blend in, fit in, to be another nameless face in a large crowd. You be that person that everyone else wishes they could be. Act now, act fast, act often. Don’t take yourself too seriously and watch as the world around you in rocked by your spontaneity! Most importantly…HAVE FUN!