Design

Making Change Happen

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I am a strong believer that if you go the extra mile, try a bit harder, and imagine big possibilities that you are on the path to shifting thought and making change. I do not like to keep things at the status quo. I like to push the envelope just a bit. Not too much that people cannot handle it, but just enough that hopefully we move others a bit closer to a better situation. It takes quite a bit of work, dedication, perseverance, and often a lot of push back to those that do not want to change. Oh, yes, and a lot of accountability.

How often do we stay in a job that does not challenge us because it is just easier to stay, because we are afraid to change things? I have been in that very situation, and I can tell you first hand, leaving was the best thing for me. It might sound cliché, but that change and my willingness to say okay life this is where things are at, bring it on, has led me to many, many opportunities, and tons and tons of cool people along the way. Individuals who challenge me, inspire me, comfort me, and make me laugh. They are in my life because my life changed.

Have you ever avoided having a conversation because it is easier? Tough conversations are exhausting, they zap us of energy, and often times make us want to run the other way. But we get through them, and each one changes us. Change often is swirling in my thought because it is a big part of the work I do each day. Helping others adapt to change, preparing them for change, and sustaining the change. So when Seth Godin’s blog on change called: “Every presentation worth doing has just one purpose” was finally reached in my inbox (I am so very behind on emails, blog reading, and the general news happening in the world), I thought, oh Seth you are speaking to my thoughts. He says: “A presentation that doesn’t seek to make change is a waste of time and energy.” I thought wow, if we only thought about that ALL the time, maybe our day-to-day meetings would be more engaging and inspiring.

I am going to try to approach my work in that way. How can I move the bar closer to success for others, closer to understanding their role, closer to having change stick? I usually try to approach projects thinking: what would success look like? But what if now I spend a bit of time before each presentation, and assess what change I might want to happen? How would I approach the presentation differently? Can I present in a way that means I will be able to plan what I need to do to get individuals to shift their thought?

I think we all can.

A makeover for him, a change of thought for me

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Life is always full of surprises. At times there are moments that catch us off guard, and a shift happens in our thought. That happened to me after watching this video. A bit of background and some honest transparency. Portland has a high volume of homeless people. Over time it is very easy to be desensitized. After seeing individuals or families asking for money at many intersections you begin to stop seeing them, and honestly you begin to stop trusting that they really are homeless.

I remember living in a neighborhood in downtown Portland a few years ago. An elderly woman would always stand outside of Whole Foods and beg for money. She did not really look that homeless, more just old. She was persistent, and I began to wonder if she was really homeless. A long time later (after we moved to the burbs) I was talking with friends about that neighborhood, and this woman was discussed. A friend said they knew the older woman’s family, and she was not at all homeless. Does that explain the trust issue?

So when I saw this video transformation it brought tears to my eyes. It reminded me that regardless of trust, honesty, or our lot in life we are all still just people. We all still want to be loved, feel like we belong, and have a purpose. It has opened my thought to remember that regardless of what we have each been through, we all deserve to be treated with respect. We do not always know another’s story. While we do not always have to respond with money, we can respond with kindness, prayer, and maybe sometimes bring them food. I hope his transformation impacts you as much as it did me.

An interesting way to shop online

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A few weeks ago, I found a cool website that displays boutique products as though you are virtually in the shop itself. ShopStoree is the namesake, with the tagline: “Every shop has a story.” When you hover over specific products, you have the option to then purchase them online. It is a great way to merchandise products mixed with other items, rather than a conveyor belt option of items in silos unto themselves.

Each photo is of a different shop, and when you see the black dot, click on it and it will give you the name, price and link to the online shop of the boutique. You also can click on “About this Shop” to learn about the online or brick + mortar boutique. ShopStoree says: “We believe an amazing retail experience is not confined to a physical store.
 It transcends that. It is about the joy of discovery. And we believe that kind of discovery can be experienced in a digital world.” I have to agree with them. It takes online shopping to a whole new level. I can experience a boutique in Cleveland I have never been to, or explore one in Portland and see if I want to venture there in person.

It looks like they have an assortment of shop styles to explore. The only caveat is that you can look at a photo and find that there are many other things on that table that you want to purchase but does not have the black dot. Eye candy you cannot have! But, I guess if I saw an item in a photo that was not for sale on ShopStoree, I could always contact the specific store and ask them for more details on a that product.

Interested? Check them out!

Passionate about um…vacuums?

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I remember our Kirby vacuum from my childhood. That thing looked like it could make it through a war, yet I think I remember my dad fixing it more often than not. It had this thick large rubber band on the bottom that would often break, get off its track, or get caught with all our hair. I remember when the bag got fairly full and you turned it on, all this dust would explode out. Fun times.

A few weeks ago, we bought a new vacuum. I know not the top of the list of items to purchase, and you may be wondering why I am even writing a blog on purchasing a vacuum. You see the vacuum is just a vehicle to the real morale of the story. A little back detail first.

We had a crappy vacuum from Bed, Bath and Beyond. It was fine, but now we are living in the house that we hope to be in for a very long time. This house has both carpet and hardwood floors meaning that one or the other was not getting as clean as it could be from our current cheap vacuum. We decided that since we plan to be in this house for a long time, and are not moving every few years as we had been, that it was time to purchase a “grown up” vacuum.

Now to a few weeks ago. Inner east side Portland, on a Saturday afternoon. We decided to go to a local store that just sells vacuums. I say to Chris as we get out the car: “Let’s make this fast, this is the last place I want to be right now.” We go inside to a fairly large store with so many different types of vacuums that your head would spin. I am bored already. Stay patient Tami, if we find a good one the hardwood floor would no longer befriend your constant shedding hair.

We get the salesman that is about our age. We also learned that he grew up in vacuum stores. He father was a vacuum salesman. He is passionate about it. Who knew that in 2013 someone could be passionate about such things? He steers us clear from the Dyson, which shocked me a bit because those have the higher price tag. He tells us the ball on the Dyson has hard plastic which will be fine on carpet, but will scratch our hardwood floors. He steers us from upright vacuums (which is what I was wanting) to the canister vacuums. Chris asks him what are the perks for purchasing directly from you? The salesman says to support a local business. Chris said, well yes, definitely but any others? No. After demonstrations, dialogue, and explanation of which vacuum would be the best for us we thanked him and said we were going to think about it.

Chris went back the next day to pick up our vacuum. He researched online reviews and pricing. We could have purchased it online, but based on the service, care, and knowledge we received, we wanted to support our local business. No more hair all over the hardwoods. We are happy vacuum owners, and I am grateful that there are still businesses that care about customer service, their products, and truly finding what is right for their consumers.

#cleanfloors

Looks can be deceiving

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I know you probably know all you want to know about Photoshop, women, and the ads that show them as perfect. I am most likely not telling you anything new. But, here is the thing. Even though you know, even though it is not right, it is still happening. Whatever happened to transparency? What would it be like if a company photographed a model and shared the before and after shot? What if? Would that potentially open the eyes of young girls, hell, mid-life women who are telling themselves they are not worthy? If every time they saw an ad for their favorite actress, or model and if only they knew how many takes, how much work happened in Photoshop to make that perfect photo? Would that maybe help them think differently about their skin, their nose, their fat? 

Body issues tend to always be at the back of most girls and women’s minds. How can they not? We are surrounded by the media, onlookers of the testosterone mindset always looking us over for their approval. Hell, it is also known that women look other women over. Maybe it is just to compare notes of where they stand against another, maybe it is to get ideas for what they might want to wear, or maybe we are just as curious as the male species.

In any case, the woman’s body is over scrutinized beyond belief. What scares me most is how far from reality ads are today showing the woman’s body. Sure, there have been companies (Dove for example) that have shown real women without Photoshop, but that is the exception. The norm shows women without a single flaw. Now I am not excluding men here, but come on. The media will show George Clooney with a wrinkle long before it will on a woman. Just think of the newscasters today, you often see an old man, but you rarely see an old woman.

So when I saw this video of the before and after of a model, I wanted to yell: Stop it! Let us all be. Let us buy the soap we want because it works, or smells good, or makes us feel sexy, not because some model makes us think we will only be happy in life, and have what they have because we have been erroneously convinced that this product will change our life. It will not. I promise you. Tell your sisters, daughters, mother, friends to watch for these bullshit depictions of women in the media. To not get sucked in. We are all who we are regardless of our wrinkles, ripples, fat, and blemishes. Do not make anyone or anything tell you differently.