How Fandom And Hobbies Return A Sense of Control

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Ever feel like you can’t do anything?  Ever feel disempowered?  I pretty much already know the answer: yes.

Psychologically, a feeling of no control, of helplessness is incredibly damaging.  Anyone that’s taken Psych 101 knows about how it can lead to depression, mental illness, and general dysfunction.  That’s of course on top of what we experience or have seen.

Career-wise (and though it may be insensitive to switch over to careers, that is what this blog is about), a sense of having no control is also destructive.  Beyond the psychological issues people face, there’s the fact that lacking the sense that we can take charge of our lives affects our livelihood.  When we feel out of control, our ambition is checked, opportunities missed, and quite frankly we may come off as helpless or stagnant in the career world.

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We’ll Be Hearing About Zynga Long After It’s Relevant – So Keep It Relevant

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Well, Zynga’s COO is stripped of game duties.  We can imagine those people who can cash out their stock aren’t happy.  We’ve all heard about the possible insider trading scandal.

So my rough take on Zynga is A) No don’t take any job offers there, and B) They’re in for some tough times and a probable buyout, massive downscale, or both.  But there’s more.

So anyway, as I expect a tough time at the big Z, here’s something I think we need to be prepared for: the impact on the gaming part of the geekonomy.  In this case, I want to focus on the cultural impacts.

Zynga is a company that people have alternately praised and hated over the last few years.  I think in the end everyone knew it was too good to be true, but the real question was what we could learn, make, and take from them.  There’s an odd sense of inevitability in their fall, as if so many of us were waiting.

However now that it’s happening, I’m pretty sure we’re going to hear about this for the next few years until we’re sick of it.  Zynga is on it’s way to become a bad example, and soon only a bad example as history grinds on.  Remember how people talk about dot-bomb companies?  Yeah, that’ll be Zynga.

Our media is used to cartoon villains and heroes in the tech sphere, so I’m sure we’ll get plenty of that.

The problem with this is then we miss the lessons.  For those of us working in tech, or gaming, and in media, it’s important we don’t forget.

The insider training, the questionable monetization, the dependence on Facebook, we need to extract lessons from Zynga.  This was big, this was important, this was formative, even if you now have a fear of any game with the word “-ville” in the title.  So before Zynga becomes a cardboard villain, make the effort to learn the lessons of their fall.

Because in a few more years, they’ll just be a shadow of their former failure.  Think how many good lessons of the dot-bomb are lost because it’s a buzzword . . .

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/

 

Promoting Professional Geekery #49 – Be A Role Model

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(For more Promoting Professional Geekery, see this Roundup of past columns.)

It’s time to share your progeeky successes with people.  You need to tell people how you made it

Why would you do this, beyond sharing your own awesomeness?  That’s simple:

  1. You’ll be a role model, which I’ve noted is very important.  When people see someone and know they’re successful, they find it easier to emulate them.
  2. You’ll be inspirational.  People need to see being a professional geek can work.
  3. You’ll be educational.  If you can give detailed descriptions of what you did right and how you did it, people can learn.
  4. You’ll be a reminder that success is possible.  Believe me, people need that.

What format? So what’s the best way to do it?  That kind of depends on what’s best for you.  Among these columns I’ve suggested the value of blogs, books, guides, etc.  The best thing I’ve found is to:

  1. Pick a format that makes it work.  What method works best to share your success stories?
  2. Pick a format that works for you.  After all some methods just aren’t for you.
  3. Pick a format that reaches people.  This is one reason I like blogs is they’re around for a long time if you pay your server bills.

How should I do it?  This is actually simple – make sure you share your success story in ways that people can actually follow in your footsteps and apply your lessons.  This means:

  1. List how you did it, what you did, what you did wrong, and what you did right.  Let them see your path so they can duplicate it.
  2. Always, always include cause-and-effect when possible so people see how (and what) results should follow.
  3. Include resources you used so people no what to use.
  4. Include “Takeaways” and “To dos” to inspire people to action.

What about my ego?  If you’re worried you look like an egomaniac, then make sure your work keeps the audience in mind first.  Ask how you help them, what you can do for them, how this can pay off for them. It puts them in he foreground, your ego in the background, and you can stop worrying.

I’m sure you’ve got plenty of successes to share.  Get to it!

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/