Advocates and a growing number of organizations are onboard with the idea that any brand can become a continuous publisher of content that their prospects and customers will find relevant and valuable. But before you drink the Kool-aid, fire your agency and set out to meet the new requirement to add “publisher” to your title and responsibilities, let’s step back a moment and consider what success in this emerging discipline might actually take.
Have you read The Alchemist?
Those who have been made weary by the dreariness of everyday life will find this book a refreshing drink for the soul.
It has been a refreshing drink for my soul.
The novel follows the shepherd boy on his journey, as he seeks out his destiny - from his early years in the monastery to his decision to become a shepherd boy so he can travel the world.
Partake in his experiences in Andalusia, his sojourn across the desert to follow a dream that promises to lead him to find treasure at the Pyramids in Egypt, and meet the people he meets along the way. The King of Salem, the baker, thief, merchant, Englishman, a stranger in the desert who becomes the love of his life, and finally, the alchemist himself.
There are mishaps, there are successes. But through it all, he learns to listen to his heart, and his revelations are profound and life changing.
The novel reminds me to listen to my heart.
To see the “omens” - signs and signposts everywhere around us, pointing to the existence of something greater than ourselves, to recognise a hand at work bringing all things - good and evil - together for a purpose.
It reminds me that the best choices I’ve made in life have been formed from the strength of the conviction that have arisen out of listening to the stirring of what’s deep inside.
The novel also sounds a warning to just how easy it is for the heart to become dull and calloused, for one to lose sight of the passions and dreams that have once inspired and motivated, and to allow fear, scarcity and pragmatism creep in step by step and chart a very different course from what we originally intended for our lives.
But all things said, the beauty of books like The Alchemist is that it’s no good merely finding out what other people’s listening points are. Your heart will only be moved when you go along the journey and find out what your heart says to you.
What books have you read that have caused you to reach inside your heart and examine what’s there?
Maldives by day is a stunning place. It’s like every travel book or touristy website/brochure/paraphernalia describes it.
Like every other tourist that has visited the island Veli, I have been enthralled by the clear skies, sandy beaches and shimmering blue waters that stretch out into the horizon. I have revelled and indulged, basking in the glorious sunlight, my skin cooled by dips in the water and the gentle but steady sea breeze.
I have surprised myself, and rediscovered parts of me that I thought I had left behind a long time ago. My skin, now browned by the sun, brings me back to my days of childhood, when I used to tear through the neighbourhood on my bike, on my rollerskates (remember those?).
Then there was the playground which was built on a giant sandpit of sorts, and I would spend hours with my neighbour and childhood partner in crime, digging with our spades till we hit rock bottom, where the sand was muddy - the perfect consitency for crafting sandcastle upon sandcastle till we built a fortress that would make any prince (or princess) proud.
I was also determined then to defy every creative intention of the playground’s creator. I climbed up slides when you were supposed to slide down them, I clambered atop the tunnels you were meant to crawl through. I pulled off enough antics basically to be labelled a tomboy, and to earn the disapproval “tsk tsk-ing” of my mother.
And then I grew up, and “blossomed” to become a lady. I discovered academia and the joy of exercising my mind. I grew increasingly risk averse and introverted.
I forgot I once figured myself the outdoorsy type.
This trip at the Maldives has brought some of that child back. The yearning to be constantly outdoors and in the sun, in the waters. We learnt how to snorkel and I was hooked by the thrill of exploring the sea and the creatures it contains. We went kayaking and I realised I still retained a faint memory of my canoeing days in secondary school.
So what now?
I love the brown (albeit slightly sunburnt) body that now stares back at me in the mirror. - and I hope that, in the months it will take for it to fade away, it will be a reminder for me to start getting out there a little bit more.
We are at Anantara Veli, one of the numerous island resorts here in the Maldives. Our villa is perched above the crystal blue waters, like a pool, only the size of an ocean.
It’s been breathtaking to say the least, and awe inspiring. How did this cluster of 1190 islands evolve to become what it is today?
A little about the history of this region, and an interesting story of how the country has its roots in Islam.
Abul Barakath Yoosuf Al Barbary, an Islamic scholar, visited the Maldives during a time when people lived in fear of the sea-demon “Rannamaari”, who came out of the sea once a month threatening to destroy everything unless a virgin was sacrificed. The unfortunate young girls were chosen by lot, had to stay in a temple near the seashore and were found raped and dead in the morning. The daughter of the house the Islamic scholar was staying at had been selected to be the victim and he decided to save her. Disguised as a girl he spent the night in the temple reciting continuously from the Quran. In the morning when people went to find out the fate of the chosen girl they were amazed to find him alive and still reciting the Quran. When the King found out that the demon had been defeated through the power of the Quran, he embraced Islam and ordered all the subjects to follow him.
Here’s another interesting story:
The Portuguese had a keen interest in the Maldives due to the availability of cowry shells, and ambergris, an important ingredient in perfumes, and had been approached by the formerly expelled Sultan Hassan IX to help him regain the throne. Their three attempts were repelled by the brave and tough fighter Ali Rasgefaanu who went on to become Sultan. His reign however was shortlived - he died a martyr’s death a few short month later during another Portuguese attack.
The next 15 years was the darkest period in Maldivian history, when the Portuguese tried to impose Christianity upon the islanders. But the Portuguese were eventually overthrown.
My thoughts and observations.
I hope stories like this will teach and forever remind us that religion, spirituality, beliefs, or whatever you wish to call it, will never flourish by enforcement or imposition. In the former story, one man was willing to lay down his life to show the way - his faith, courage and personal conviction convinced others; while in the latter, selfish motives mixed up with religion - provided for an embarrassing and unconvincing model of leadership.
So where are things at now?
Fast forward in time a little, on December 16, 1887, the Sultan of the Maldives signed a contract with the British turning the Maldives into a British protectorate. The British government promised the Maldives military protection and non-interference in local administration in exchange for an annual tribute.
The Maldives finally gained independence on July 26, 1965 (on a totally side note, that’s the same year as Singapore!) - and three years later declared a republic with Prime Minister Ibrahim Nasir as the first president (the airport is named after him).
So here you go, a little piece of Maldivian history. There’s more depth to this place than its good looks.
(And don’t forget to thank me because all this information I’ve provided you helps you win at trivia night.)
Valuable lessons fledgling entrepreneurs must learn. http://www.smartcompany.com.au/enterprise-leadership/20110502-why-you-must-pay-yourself-first.html
#night #shadows (Taken with Instagram)
#places (Taken with Instagram)
@mellowdramatic #places (Taken with Instagram)
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Art on a plate (Taken with Instagram)
#places (Taken with instagram)
Many women approach their thirties with dread. So often I come across youthful twenty-somethings who, like weathered souls, lament how “old” they are, as if age was a tyrannical dictator hell-bent on taking the best of our years from us.
Turning thirty has been one of the best things that has happened to me.
At thirty, I’m comfortable under my own skin, I’m more choosy about my friends, and I’m conscientious about making the most of my life.
I’ve stopped procrastinating, quit my job, and started pursuing my dream. The journey of faith has been tough but exhilarating, and I’ve never been more alive. Through times of hardship and disappointments, many friendships have been tested, and the ones that have remained I thank God for everyday.
I’m happily married, and I’ve come to realise that whether I’m fat or thin, plain or beautiful, it figures little in love. I wish I knew that when I was in my teens and early twenties, and it would have changed the way I carried myself, who and how I dated, and my understanding of what it meant to be “treated right”.
Age isn’t something to be feared. It ought to be embraced as an active and ongoing symbol of our growth and maturity, a reflection of the kind of person we have and are becoming.
Perhaps the only time we should fear age is when we’ve stopped subscribing to a lifetime of learning.
On how newspapers got to where they are:
We look back at the 40 golden years of newspaper profitability as if things had been structured that way forever. But these four decades were triggered by an earlier media disruption: television. The rise of television advertising caused a contraction in the newspaper business, where major metropolitan markets went from supporting 4-5 newspapers to 1-2 papers. The limited number of remaining companies allowed monopolitistic pricing. This wealth was created by disruption, and what disruption gives, it taketh away.
Gingras says that the previous dominance that newspapers enjoyed was due primarily to geography, and to some degree demographic targeting. Now, thanks to the Web, he says we are seeing “a disaggregation of content flows as well as advertising.” Like media theorist Clay Shirky, the Google executive argues that one of the big problems for newspapers is that they always depended on “cross-subsidization” of topics — so the classified ads and the lifestyle section paid for the foreign reporting. Now, he says “we have blogs focusing on these niches alone, with a much keener sense of commercialization.”
On whether journalism is better or worse:
The pace of technological change will not abate, and to think of our current time as a transition between two eras, rather than a continuum of change, is a mistake. There has been tremendous disruption in journalism, but there are upsides: everyone has a printing press, there are no gatekeepers [or at least new gatekeepers], and journalism can and will be better than in the past.
On the iPad as the savior of journalism:
[The iPad is] a fatal distraction for media companies. Too many publishers looked at the tablet as the road home to their magazine format, subscription model, and expensive full-page ads. The format of a single device does not change the fundamental ecosystem underneath it, and this shiny tablet has taken media companies’ eyes off of the ball.
Jason Pontin, publisher of MIT’s Technology Review, made a similar point in a recent post in which he described how unsatisfying the magazine’s apps were, and how he is giving up the “walled garden” approach and moving towards a Web-native model.
On how newspapers are like the old Web portals:
Gingras doesn’t believe the vertical model of a newspaper makes sense going forward. He compares the metropolitan newspapers’ all-things to all-people product to content portals for specific communities. This strategy doesn’t make sense given the possibilities. Yahoo!’s initial success was as a portal. But portals have disappeared online as consumers have learned to navigate the web on their own and found the niche sites they love.
On whether paywalls are the answer:
Some publishers say, “They bought it before, they’ll buy it again,” or “We need to get people back into the habit of paying for news.” But consumers never did pay the true costs. The Wall Street Journal pulls their paywall off because it publishes information that is perceived to have high value and is written for business audiences, whose subscriptions are paid for by their employers. News companies must disambiguate their content and business models and devolve from the generalist approach, which is hemmoraging both readers and revenue.
Patrick Stafford, smartcompany.com.au
Media companies have responded negatively to the Federal Government’s Convergence Review report, which left out internet giants including Facebook and Google but included major news organisations when describing a new…
Digital circulation up 63% for U.S. newspapers
Staci D. Kramer, paidcontent.orgThe semi-annual numbers are out from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, marking the first time we have year-over-year comparables since the ABC changed its digital reporting guidelines. This used to be a fairly easy affair — you looked…
Digital circulation up 63 per cent for US newspapers.
