Growing up in my family, earning attention wasn’t a recreational pursuit. It was a matter of survival. Like any youngest child, I had to compete with older siblings for attention. By toddlerhood I’d honed numerous strategies, from the strategically-executed tantrum to the art of asking “Why? Why? Why?”
But then, when I turned seven, I was forced to raise my game. That year, my brother was accepted into Harvard, and my sister was the #1 swimmer in the world in her event… and went on to win three gold medals in the Olympics. The height of my achievement up to that point? Gold stars for fingerpainting.
It was then that I learned my first lesson in fascination: A competitive environment demands a more captivating message. Perhaps it won’t come as a surprise that I went into marketing. Now, 33 years later, I create messages for companies that must earn attention in highly competitive environments.
In a distracted and overwhelmed world, everything— including you, your communication, and your relationships— competes for connection. Without fascination we can’t sell products off shelves, persuade shareholders to invest, teach students to read, or convince our own kids to stay off drugs.
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Sally,
Love this post! Can’t subscribe to your RSS feed, though. The link seems to be broken.
Tweeting this post for @miamiadschool!
CAV
I’ve found tipping a flower pot full of black mud onto a white carpet is a great attention getter, too.
Great observation. Without facination, we could never sell products …and, we’d be lousy shoppers/consumers as well.
At the risk of putting my head into the lion’s hog’s mouth I’ll give fascination points for getting my attention but then I’m going to need additional attributes to come in and close — track record, consistence of quality, value, etc.
I was the third of three so I know something about competing for attention in an environment where I was the shortest, least experienced, least educated and least articulate. Getting attention was one summit, keeping it required additional effort.
Let me ask this — what must follow fascination to seal the deal?