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Author Archive: Jesan Sorrells
Distracted Writing
So, we’ve decided that we’re going to write an e-book, because we’re going to use it to leverage interest in other products and services we are offering.
We’ve decided that our topic is relevant and our customers have told us that they need it and will eat it up.
Well, at this point, just like everything else, we should start writing. Now, this seems easy, but in a world of distractions and shortened attention spans, we here at HSCT have taken to writing our e-book in short bursts.
This has allowed us to effectively create content that we think will be interesting, relational and relevant to our audience, but also has allowed us the freedom to be…well…distracted occasionally.
We recommend that you do the same. Oh, and remember that, unlike a blog post, a Tweet or Facebook post, or commentary on LinkedIn or on a blog that you frequent, e-book content is still—for better or worse—long form content.
So,
- Concentrate
- Take small bites
- And be focused in those moments when you are writing.
Writing can be a scary proposition.
But not as scary as the long-term effects of choosing not to communicate effectively.
Here at HSCT, we can help you explore the how to communicate effectively safely and thoroughly.
Sign upfor the March 26th HSCT Seminar, Choices in Communication, held at The Studios of Bree Elyse Imaging for only $89.99!
We would love to see you there!
-Peace Be With You All-
Jesan Sorrells, MA
Principal Conflict Engagement Consultant
Human Services Consulting and Training (HSCT)
Email HSCT: hsconsultingandtraining@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Sorrells79
Hey, You Big APE!
As there is a process for making a movie, painting a picture or even developing a video game, there is a process for creating a book.
The format doesn’t matter these days: hardcover, paperback, e-book or other digital form, the book, the long form narrative, is still alive and well in the world.
And if you are going to choose a format, and you choose the digital format, you have to make the same kinds of decisions that you would have to make if you were writing a traditional manuscript:
- What is my topic?
- How long will my book be?
- What is my audience?
But the most important question to answer is: How will anyone read it?
With 25% of the book buying public buying long-form content in a digital form (along with long-form visual content being delivered to them via tablet and mobile devises) why wouldn’t an entrepreneur, author, or budding publisher go the route of an e-book?
But, there are issues with editing, formatting, what platform to publish on and a lot of other questions.
Fortunately, Guy Kawasaki, former brand advocate for Apple, current Motorola advisor, and social media monster, has put together an e-book for you about how to solve all of those little problems.
APE (get it by clicking here) is the guide to artisanal publishing. I encourage you to get it as we will be talking about e-book publishing, in light of HSCT’s own e-book, 35 Hits, coming out later this summer.
By the way, we got our digital copy free from just following @GuyKawasaki on Twitter and we recommend that you do the same.
Publishing is a scary choice.
But not as scary as the long-term effects of choosing not to communicate effectively.
Here at HSCT, we can help you explore the how to communicate effectively safely and thoroughly.
Sign upfor the March 26th HSCT Seminar, Choices in Communication, held at The Studios of Bree Elyse Imaging for only $89.99!
We would love to see you there!
-Peace Be With You All-
Jesan Sorrells, MA
Principal Conflict Engagement Consultant
Human Services Consulting and Training (HSCT)
Email HSCT: hsconsultingandtraining@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Sorrells79
You Will Be Made to Choose
You will be made to choose.
Imagine for a moment, if you will, the future that is likely rather than the future that is safe:
- A future where there is no more “traditional entry level work” because it’s all been automated, and instead everyone has their own start-up, peddling ideas, small innovations or themselves either online or off-line
- A future where there is increasingly dramatic stratification between those who collaborate and barter at the “low” end, those who have “safe” jobs in the trades and have acquired some money in the “middle,” and those who have been innovative and parlayed that into generational ownership of wealth at the “top”
(Think of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg’s future children, or the founder’s of Whatsapp.com)
- A future where everyone is computer/social/information communication savvy whether they have the desire to be or not
- A future where education becomes automated and human teachers return to teaching under the trees and and are unencumbered by an educational hierarchy
- A future where retail space collapses, shrinks, and disappears even as family housing units become smaller, cheaper and more integrated with onsite retail spaces
- A future where religion (and genuine belief) changes the lives of more and more people as they shrink from false civic promises and government based fantasies about security, wealth and stratification
You will be made to care about the future that is likely rather than the one that is safe.
And that can be such a scary choice because not having the words to talk about “why” you made the forward thinking choice can be hard.
Here at HSCT, we can help you explore the “why,” safely and thoroughly.
Sign upfor the March 26th HSCT Seminar, Choices in Communication, held at The Studios of Bree Elyse Imaging for only $89.99!
We would love to see you there!
-Peace Be With You All-
Jesan Sorrells, MA
Principal Conflict Engagement Consultant
Human Services Consulting and Training (HSCT)
Email HSCT: hsconsultingandtraining@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Sorrells79
The 33%
There’s a rule we just heard about here at HSCT.
It kind of goes like this:
Out of all the content ever created by human beings (art, music, plays, TV and radio shows, stand-up comedy, etc., etc., etc.)
- 33% has always been crap,
- 33% has always been middlebrow
- and 33% has always been high quality.
This concept can also be applied to the heart-work of having a crucial conversation, once people and parties in conflict realize that most breakthroughs are really break “withs.”
If parties start with
- maintaining the emotional connection and tonality of the conversation,
- and are committed to preserving “face” and autonomy to make decisions (bad or good)
- and if both parties remain open to change,
then success is assured.
However, if 33% of the conversations that you are having are not that crucial, and 33% of the conversations you are having are somewhat important and 33% of the conversations that you have are actually crucial, then the real hard work is figuring out which 33% you are in at any given moment.
Right?
[Thanks to M. Burt for introducing us to this concept.]
If 33% of conversations are crucial, how do you make that determination?
Here at HSCT, we can help you explore how to do that safely and thoroughly.
Sign upfor the March 26th HSCT Seminar, Choices in Communication, held at The Studios of Bree Elyse Imaging for only $89.99!
Click on the link http://bitly.com/18LX7HC to register!
We would love to see you there!
-Peace Be With You All-
Jesan Sorrells, MA
Principal Conflict Engagement Consultant
Human Services Consulting and Training (HSCT)
Email HSCT: hsconsultingandtraining@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Sorrells79
[Opinion] I Am the One Who Knocks on Bad Water
We here at HSCT are fans of the AMC show Breaking Bad.
We are currently binging on the last few episodes of the series on Netflix… a service of which we are also big fans.
One of the narrative elements of the show that coursed consistently through its five seasons was water:
- Water in pools
- Water used to clean up after a meth making accident
- Water used to replace a chemical stolen from a train
And on and on.
In a crucial conversation, the pool of meaning is filled with “stuff”—emotions, ideas, thoughts, reactions and responses—that determine how the conversation will proceed.
Of course, if that crucial conversation is occurring around something that matters, then the pool of meaning can be filled with some brackish water.
On Breaking Bad, pools (and water) are used for cleansing and clarity. Or, sometimes, like in The Graduate, as a place to “just, sort of, float along peacefully.”
In a crucial conversation though, the pool can be filled with “shared” meaning—where each participant is being a careful steward to the reactions, emotions and responses of the other party.
Or it can be filled with “personal” meaning—where each participant jealousy guards their own reactions, emotions and responses and uses them as weapons against the other party.
We here at HSCT don’t condone violence, and Breaking Bad serves as an awesome commentary on the state of the contemporary American psyche, but wouldn’t it have gone better for Walter if he had operated on the principles of abundance and shared his pool of meaning sooner?
[Thanks to Breaking Bad & Philosophy for pointing out some of these things to me.]
We would love to see you there!
-Peace Be With You All-
Jesan Sorrells, MA
Principal Conflict Engagement Consultant
Human Services Consulting and Training (HSCT)
Email HSCT: jsorrells@hsconsultingandtraining.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HSConsultingandTraining
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Sorrells79
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesansorrells/
HSCT’s website: http://www.hsconsultingandtraining.com/
….delaying gratification….
Delaying gratification is not something that our culture—or us as American individuals—are particularly good at right now at the dawn of the 21st century.
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| This Image is NOT Mine |
The famed Marshmallow Test is a good example of this; as is the biological fact that our pleasure centers light up in response to social media engagement; as is the fact that 50% of all marriages end in divorce.
But the rub really comes when those who can delay gratification—and suffer through the hard times without a cell phone, social media exposure or connections, or money—outlast, outlive and out play those who can’t.
The dark side of delayed gratification—and there is a dark side—is intolerance of others, impatience, judgment, poor emotional intelligence, disassociation and a lack empathy.
The positives are success, self-discipline, impulse control, goal accomplishment, drive, grit, emotional and intellectual clarity and the development of a healthy ego.
Which outcomes would you like to choose?
Well, let’s see how we do on the Marshmallow Test…
-Peace Be With You All-
Jesan Sorrells, MA
Principal Conflict Engagement Consultant
Human Services Consulting and Training (HSCT)
Email HSCT: hsconsultingandtraining@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Sorrells79
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jesansorrells/
HSCT’s website: http://hsconsultingandtrain.wix.com/hsct
Caught Under a Mote
No matter what the conflict, if we aren’t acting from our best selves, we are in danger of both falling into the ditch, and the ditch is filled with stuff we talked about on Monday(Luke 6:39).
Keep in mind, that the only difference between a ditch and a grave in a conflict is the depth of the hole.
If two people are involved in a conflict (or a fight) and one is better at being analytical and the other is better at being empathetic, that doesn’t make one approach to resolution better than the other.
In fact, it makes both approaches equally valid, based on the nature of the conflict, the nature of the difficulty that preceded it and the nature of the parties involved.
And no amount of protesting about “winners” and “losers” is going to change that, no matter how much we institutionalize that type of thinking.
However, a caution: Empathic feeling and analytical thinking are both valid ways to being solving a conflict, but leading with the “My Approach Is Better and Should Win” leads to beams and planks being confused with motes and specks. (Luke 6:41-42)
Take two hours TONIGHT to learn how to avoid the ditch.
Meet our conflict engagement consultant, Jesan Sorrells.
Map your leadership style TONIGHT!
SIGN-UP for the February 19th HSCT Seminar, Developing the Leader Within, held at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County for only $89.99!
We would love to see you there!
-Peace Be With You All-
Jesan Sorrells, MA
Principal Conflict Engagement Consultant
Human Services Consulting and Training (HSCT)
Email HSCT: hsconsultingandtraining@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Sorrells79
[Opinion] Trapped on the LIE
Imagine if when people were in conflict, they were transformed by changing their minds and approaches to conflicts, rather than conforming to “the way things have always worked?” (Romans 12:2). Applying principles expounded by the Gallup Organization, people can be transformed, but many prefer to conform to patterns and behaviors that stem from three areas:
- Lies that they tell themselves about the nature and type of conflicts in which they are involved,
- Attitudes that have been “wired” into them through past experiences, traumas, stresses and difficulties,
- Insecurities that they have that bind them to their traditional attitudes and thought processes
Now, we shouldn’t be deceived (and I’m not the first one to point this out) but whatever we create in a conflict from whatever basis we create it, we are going to get back in return (Galatians 6:7).
So, shouldn’t we be acting from our best selves, based on our strengths and what we’re really good at, to respond to conflicts in our lives, rather than reacting based upon lies, insecurities and falsehoods?
[Thanks to Pastors Dawn & Joe Coudriet for pointing these ones out to me]
-Peace Be With You All-
Jesan Sorrells, MA
Principal Conflict Engagement Consultant
Human Services Consulting and Training (HSCT)
Email HSCT: jsorrells@hsconsultingandtraining.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HSConsultingandTraining
Twitter:https://www.twitter.com/Sorrells79
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesansorrells/
The Craft of You, Inc.!
Everyone’s best work should be expressed to the world, whether it be the work of a street sweeper or the work of an entrepreneur.
The results of labor are representative of hundreds of man hours of other people laboring as well.
We can approach that fact like Daniel Plainviewor Fred C. Dobbs, but the fact is, that dying empty should be the ultimate goal of everyone in a collaborative economy.
We understand that conflicts can arise when the issues is more about getting food on the table than getting spiritual fulfillment, but the long odds, the long game, should be played by focusing on the process, rather than the results.
And with millenials eschewing the corporate world for entrepreneurship, more and more of us (80 million at last count) are going to be demanding a society where dying emptied of your most creative work is the norm rather than the exception.
Want to be a better street sweeper? Want to develop into a better person?
Then, sign up for the February 19thHSCT Seminar, Developing the Leader Within, held at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County for only $89.99! A LIMITED NUMBER OF SPACES ARE STILL AVAILABLE!
We would love to see you there!
-Peace Be With You All-
Jesan Sorrells, MA
Principal Conflict Engagement Consultant
Human Services Consulting and Training (HSCT)
Email HSCT: hsconsultingandtraining@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Sorrells79