Blog Assignment 4A

1: Acknowledge the Lizard. Seth Godin defines “the lizard brain” as the “prehistoric brainstem that all of us must contend with. It’s the part of our brain that worries about safety and dishes out anger.” As I understand it: “the lizard brain” is that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach before you go up to give a speech in front of a classroom filled with two hundred people, the fear that what you’re doing, saying, creating will be met with ridicule or judgment. This is the part of the brain that encourages normalcy, obedience, and conformity. Godin insists that only once we acknowledge the initial reaction of the “lizard brain” can we ignore it and get past that.

2: Ship. This step is about not only doing the work, but also producing it, and making sure people can see it. It does no good to write an essay if you don’t try to get it out there for people to read, criticize, and connect with. This is also related to getting things done and out the door. It’s about completing the work and making sure others can get to it.

This blog is extremely useful for exercising both of these “levers.” Creating original content is a good way to begin to get past the fear of ridicule provided by “the lizard brain.” Also, it is a way of holding us accountable for putting our original content out into the world where people, our peers even, will be able to view and evaluate what we’ve created. These blogs are a very good and realistic way to prepare for the task of creating in our jobs.