Every good road needs an end in sight. There’s a new set of variables here in the 00’s, and it’s not easy to make sense of it all. Nonetheless, I have learned from my life and by watching others that this cultural mayhem can be sorted and even harnessed to survive and thrive. O’Reilly coined the term Web2.0 and Web 3.0 become the latest buzzword on the blogosphere. I’m taking from his term and making it my own, extrapolating the concept of individuals controlling the web and showing how people can use the same concepts to make life great. This term is what I call Life 3.0.
Even though we are part of a generation that is overwhelmed with infinite sources of information that are confusing, we still can be great and find peace in what we do in the 00’s. We can minimize anxiety and become solid producers of work, and art. These concepts I will talk about in this post are universal, but I’ll be drawing primarily from my own livelihood, which is that of a public school teacher. I think you’ll find the truths useful, whatever yours is.
The concept of authority has changed radically in the last 10-20 years. With the maturity of the internet and the birth of web 2.0 foundations such as wikipedia.org, people are barraged with information. Some of it is good, much . . . well most is bad. With paradigms warring about us on all sides, we often feel these days that we HAVE to choose one side or the other. Instead of seeing these conflicting sources as warring, why not view both as tools to pick and choose from. This “artistry” of picking and choosing our sources is part of the Web2.0 concept. But even beyond computers, it is a cultural phenomena to have to decipher and organize tons of possible sources to learn and to move forward these days.
As a teacher, the district assigns me a text (in fact, to all teachers) and I am to view the text as the “Bible” of what I do. I have learned that since I started analyzing the demands of the California Standards Test that the text is not always helpful in teaching the standards to be tested. Therefore, if I follow the text word-for-word like a “Bible,” I run the risk of showing low in my test scores thereby causing negative accountability results as well and possible sanctions on my school and district. The “Survive and Thrive2.0″ teacher must learn to view the text as merely one tool of many available to her/him. The artistry of teaching needs to go hand in hand with the science. The artistry I am talking about here is assembling information from many sources, and knowing how to do it well.
Creating a presence on the web is another overwhelming task. Typing in keywords can often bring you more confusion than help. You may even find links to some tricks that wreck your site, or even worse, your computer. Becoming a serious blogger/webmaster is not for sissies. In a way I think I’m still deciding if I’m up for the challenge. Every day in some new way it is. Ah, who am I kidding, I love this blogging stuff!
Like teachers must assemble their arsenal through multiple sources and ALWAYS BE OPEN TO CHANGE AND ALTERATION, so serious bloggers seeking readership and web presence must develop ways of rating sites and sifting through the junk quickly so as to not waste the most valuable thing: time. This Web2.0 and what I have coined with my tongue firmly in my cheek: “Survive and Thrive2.0,” is what the future success stories will be made of.
Life, work and art is no longer about going to an authoritative source like: Webster’s, or Funk n Wagnall’s, or a University for that matter and learning to be successful. While those sources have some value (of course I endorse college for everyone, I got my undergrad and grad degrees by age 28) there are a myriad, well more than that . . . an infinite supply of information to help you grasp what you are doing and then learn to put together pieces and thrive.
Before I blog, I use a template to make sure I get the key parts into the final product. This is something that works for me, and I provide it free in my freebies section to anyone who wants to download it. But what works for me, may not work for the next person. That is VERY true as well in teaching. Every strategy requires a certain stamina and temperament and while some universal truths will always exist (ie; work at something long enough and you will succeed) the devil is still in the details of web, life, and survive and thrive2.0.
To close this post (which I think is really true and will become truer through the 00’s) I will give the reader this to summarize what I’ve been getting at all along: 1) Find the inspiration to do what you want to do. 2) Visual, analyze, and intellectualize your END GOAL (Make a mission statement even) and then 3) Spend a lot of time reseraching your life2.0 and SEARCH, PLAN AND SORT before you do your american dream thing. With life2.0, SEARCHING, PLANNING, and SORTING’s the thing. In the future, folks in the SurviveAndThrive2.0 camp will be enjoying life as it outta be while those stuck in the doldrouss past will be exactly that: stuck in time. The times we are passing through are marked with a paradox: you either learn to adapt, or you fall by the wayside wondering how it all passed you by. If you can become comfortable changing all the time, you will be much better off in your LIFE2.0. A new paradigm is waiting every year, every day, every hour. I want to ask you this one question: when it comes to Life2.0, are you able to adapt? I know for a fact I am. It’s a universal concept. Just like a designer on Jersey Shore and another on the Outer Banks can benefit from the same tools. Thriving on change is life 3.0.
2 Comments
life is all about change now. security is over. chaos and moving on and around is standard. adapting was always important but now it may be a weekly review. the world moves very fast. I am not sure if we enjoy this much movement and change. sometimes it makes it hard to take a step back and really see what is going on. sometimes we need to review what we are bombarded with to find our humanity.
I absolutely agree with you Marcia. Taking the time to center is the secret to being successful. Some truths remain simple and powerful: Do one thing and do it well, Be kind and you will receive kindness back, spend time with the ones you love and put that priority above all else and you will be fulfilled . . .
You get the point. My post is saying we can survive and thrive in Life2.0, we just need to KNOW WE ARE THERE. Ignorance is not bliss nowadays. Thanks for your comments.