Wake up kids. We’ve got the dreamers disease

May 9, 2008 | By Chris Garrett | Filed Under Features, Guides and Tutorials

Sometimes our thoughts crystallize not through direct learning but through looking, comparing and contrasting. Such a moment happened for me after returning from Chicago and checking through Twitter and my emails. I saw a division between the openness, positivity, helpfulness, encouragement, passion of social media, with one or two individuals who, frankly, don’t want to get it.

I was jabbed with a tweet yesterday “all this ‘feelings’ stuff and those that gravitate to it are for those that cannot compete”. Oh dear, how sad. How many ways can one sentence be wrong? Now, of course, this particular tweet account is all about getting a rise out of people, so best not to give too much attention to it. Let’s instead look at the top of human achievement, according to Maslow:

Maslow's hierarchy of needs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Read through what Maslow said we as humans need and, you know, I think feelings do matter. It’s very much not just about competing for dollars. I do ok financially, I pay my bills, have nice vacations, buy boys toys, but if that’s all it was about I would still be in my corporate commuting day job.

Self-esteem, confidence, respect, morality, creativity. Sounds right to me.

As Terry Starbucker (via the New Radicals) says:

“Wake up kids. We’ve got the dreamers disease”

That’s what I like about blogs and bloggers. We achieve without climbing over each other, we cooperate, we assist, we share. The old guard can keep their cut throat business, I’m sticking to my touchy feely social media stuff because I like it :)

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About the author: Chris is a professional blogger and internet marketing consultant. As well as Chris' blog tips at The Blog Herald you can read more of his blogging tips, internet marketing advice and copywriting articles over at chrisg.com and make sure you sign up for the Authority Blogger newsletter.

Comments

2 Responses to “Wake up kids. We’ve got the dreamers disease”

Terry Starbucker on May 9th, 2008 7:24 am

Amen Chris. Amen. This is one disease I don’t plan to cure for a long, long time. Well done, and thanks.

Terry
Jamie Grove - How Not To Write on May 9th, 2008 8:58 pm

This post reminds me of Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind.

“The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind — creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. These people — artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers — will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.”

Sign me up for more that “feelings stuff”!!!

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