Brain Dump 1.3

Two sentences per paragraph with quotes and context.
Even the method for writing media releases and ‘news’ articles is based on a formula for our mass consumption.
If this was for that I would have inserted a quote from the man I heard it from, and if this was for eMarketing it would have been a hotlink (but not if there was another one within 100 words!)
We are simple machines that work best when given simple formulae to work with and we get better if we work in the same environment, exposed to similar people or stimuli so that we can fine tune our ability to notice anomalies in the information.
Malcolm Gladwell calls it “thin slicing” I believe, Robert Cialdini goes into detail about its use to then influence our behaviour once some of the ‘thin slices’ have been singled out as anomalies for our predation.
Where am I going with this brain dump you might ask and the answer is I’m not entirely sure. It think what I’m doing is slowly convincing myself that it is ok to use the cognitive behavioural recognition skills and manipulation skills to sell my “product”.
My problem is the perfect world issue. My vision quite honestly is of a world that is educated and confident in their health practices and one that doesn’t need my services so I can just grow food, play and maybe talk to people to make a living…
The problem with this is that it makes asking for money difficult when your long term goal is for government and/or business/insurance best practices to just have wellness and prevention as a first practice and cultural norm, like OHIP or Dental coverage.
Up until that happens though, I know now I need to create a substantial value proposition, package it well and use the various techniques and tricks of the trade to convince people to choose to get and stay well.
Does it mean writing articles… I hope so because I enjoy writing! Does it mean conducting interviews… sounds cool. Does is mean presenting to upper management and educating them on the actual dollar value in return on their investment in health, I hope so because then I get to public speak, educate, empower and motivate.
Employers Edge did a great job yesterday at my annual kinesiology conference towards describing what even the smallest changes look like… $50 dollars a month ROI just to knock absenteeism down 1 day from the average of 7.4, reduce health benefit spending by 5% and reduce 1 employee turnover case per year… multiply that number by the number of your employees and you have an ROI for just these metrics and real wellness does so much more… where can you get an ROI of 300 to potentially 800%?
I am going to continue to invest in my health and am excited to live and grow as an individual and as part of the health care culture that is evolving.
My 15 minutes have expired and although this turned into an industry diatribe, I can still feel the direction I was going. We still look at things from inside the box- the standard metrics- but to see and experience real value and growth we need to expand our comfort zones and really challenge ourselves to search for more.