Suzan Bond

The Field of Dreams Fallacy

suzanbond — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:30:21 +0000

Just a wee rant about a lil something in startup land that I like to call The Field of Dreams Fallacy. Yes, I am making a funny face. I'm still learning how to use video editing software. So can we just agree to ignore the still at the beginning of the video and pay attention to the content?

Alright?

Alright.

Here we go.

Love = Fire?

suzanbond — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:07:58 +0000

A few months back I signed up for something called Twylah. It presents your story through a collection of tweets in an organized magazine format. I forgot all about it until I got message from them today. Looks like they need to do a better job marketing the business and making the service sticky. But…that's a different post.

Back to love. Twylah organizes your tweets by frequent topics. Coincidentally, on cupid's day this was a part of my recap.

What is Twylah trying to say about my love life?

All these guys are carrying a torch for me?

I'm on fire?

I've torched my love life to hell?

What caption would you give for this story?

P.S. The best caption wins a free copy of my intuition ebook.

Time Travel

suzanbond — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:34:19 +0000

Time travel and their accompanying time machines have always fascinated me. Most of my favorite films and books play with the notion of time (The Matrix, The Time Traveler's Wife, Pulp Fiction, Timeline, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency to name a few).

A desire to relive happy moments, make a different choice (uber short bangs as a college freshman) or make a different decision to see how my life would turn out are the impetus.

I've created my own sort of time machine with my A Simple Question practice. Looking back to what was going on a year ago affords the opportunity to measure which direction my life is going. Knowing this arms me with the information I need to engineer a turnaround or continue what I'm doing.

Now there's Timehop, a service that reminds you what was going on a year ago. It gives me a quick, easy way to connect with my year-ago self.

A year ago I was nursing a relationship hangover, taking a memoir writing class, trying to decide where I wanted to live and looking for my next gig. Can you say transition? I actually love times like this when things are so raw and…so free. A year later I oddly find myself in another transition–by choice. Once again I have consented to lose sight of the shore to discover new land (credit to Andre Gide).

I am a woman without a permanent address or long-term gig at the moment. Being betwixt and between can be challenging, requiring a zen state of mind. Time traveling back 365 days was a great reminder that I've been here before and that things always work out in beautiful if unexpected ways.

You Can’t Trade a Sister for a Prada Purse

suzanbond — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:00:04 +0000

There's something about a sister. You love 'em. You can't turn 'em into a brother.

Or, a really nice Prada purse. I'm sure my sister, a major fashionista, would appreciate a really nice pair of Louboutin's rather than having to deal with me sometimes. You can't blame her. I mean, unlike me, shoes don't ask to stay in your extra bedroom, drool all over your expensive clothes and use you as a personal concierge right?

My sister and I have always been a study in contrasts where our differences were more numerous than our similarities. Other than a lovely pair of parents and two older brothers that is. After spending more than a decade in Chicago, I decided to move to Boulder nearly 3 years ago. This month I decided to go back to visit after a 2 year absence. This time the differences in who we are and how we live our lives became even more pronounced.

My sister generally lives a life of stability and order. She married, became a mother of two beautiful girls, is an immigration lawyer for a major corporation and remained a very pragmatic woman with a great deal of focus and will power. She has impeccable taste and always looks amazing.

Her sister is not any of those things. Single and childless, I have a strong wanderlust and once lived in 6 different places in a year and a half. I help tech startups and growing businesses create strong marketing programs and haven't held a "real" job in a number of years. While pragmatism runs in the family, the stronger part of me leans more towards creativity, independence and fluidity. My style tends to be much more casual, my clothes don't always *quite* match and I'm prone to wearing skulls on my clothing and jewelry.

As you can imagine, the lenses with which we view the world come in very different shades. Let me demonstrate…

Upon seeing this photo of my dog my sister asked:
"Is your dog wearing a necklace?"
Um, that's a dog collar.

I'm still chuckling over that one.

Of course a few hours later I was the one who uttered:
"I think she hurt her paw."
About my 6 year old niece.

I'm sure my sister thought it was a very good idea that I didn't have children.

Families are funny. Sisters even more so. As the holidays rapidly come to a bittersweet end I'm sure you can relate. You might be wondering if an alien stork brought that sibling or cousin to the doorstep instead of a version that seemed more like you. But having someone who shares your blood but a very different perspective is a good thing. Difference is what makes the world a rich beautiful place and what makes it turn on it axis.

And? While trying to walk in my sister's size too big Louboutins may not be easy at least I get some really nice hand-me-downs that I'd never be able to afford. And, she gave me the two most beautiful nieces I could ever have hoped for.

Yep. I'm a lucky girl.

You’re Not Alone. Everybody Goes Through That.

suzanbond — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:02:58 +0000

Creative? Have ideas but don't always know how to execute them in the way you see them in your head?

Ira Glass has a few words for you.

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

How to Cozy up to Failure

suzanbond — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:04:28 +0000

Failure is tough for most of us. In the corporate world it's might easier to stave off the failure beast by shears numbers but it's endemic to startup life. So if you want to be in that world you're gonna have to learn how to get cozy with it. Don Dodge of Google recently spoke about this topic at the TechStars founders' conference in Las Vegas. Here are a few of my favorites gems.

Don Dodge:

"Success is a terrible teacher. It masks underlying problems."

"Failure is making a mistake twice and not learning from it."

"Failure is one of the steps you have to take to get to success."

Cozying Up to Failure

For me the most surprising piece of wisdom is that success isn't a great teacher but that failure is. And, it's truly the only way to success. So, embrace the fact that you're going to fail and curl up with this informative talk from This Week in TechStars. If you're like me it will help you beat back the failure shame monster so you can go forward and create.

Throw Away the F&%*#ing Map

suzanbond — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:00:16 +0000

"To be lost is to be fully present, and to be fully present is to be capable of being in uncertainty."
Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost

I used to have a thing about getting lost. Hated it. Braced against it with piles and piles of maps. Until I went to Morocco. Besides being my first time on the African continent the other reason I went was for the souks–amazing little shops filled with local wares. The souks were located in the old walled-in city of Marrakech known as the Medina. Twisting streets lined with exotic goods, the souks are one place where a map is absolutely useless. If you are going to explore the delicious mayhem of the souks you must:

1. Abandon the map

2. Being willing get lost

You'll also need to have lots of dirhams (the local currency) to give to small children who demand money to give you directions. In those twisty, narrow streets, I learned to love the feeling of not knowing quite where I was going but knowing that I'd land just where I needed to be. Even if it wasn't where I intended. Once I consented to being "lost" I learned how to explore and feel more comfortable with uncertainty. And sometimes you're closer than you think.

Being Lost is a State of Mind

My dog likes to run away. It's not that she's a bad dog. She's just curious and gets bored easily so if an escape route is presented to her–she's gonna take it. I've received so many calls from people telling me they had a "little black dog" that it's become her nickname. Of course the little black dog doesn't know she's lost. She's just exploring.

Maybe you're not lost. Maybe you're just exploring.

A Simple Question

suzanbond — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:30:47 +0000

It's that time of year. Yep. New Year's Resolution time.

If you're anything like me let me tell you what's going to happen. Feeling fat and loathsome after a long holiday of eating, being sedentary, spending too much and not doing much you…

Step 1: Make a whole bunch of resolutions that are largely unachievable.

Step 2: Break all of them within a month.

Step 3: Feel like crap about yourself so go back to eating, being sedentary, spending too much and not doing much.

Step 4: Feel guilty. Berate yourself.

Step 5: Go back to Step 1. And repeat.

Don't do this. Now, let me offer you something that really works. Something I also do randomly all year-round is to ask myself a very simple question.

Is my life better or worse than a year ago?

It started as a random wandering of my brain many years ago and has evolved into a practice. This barometer check allows me to quickly break things down in a very black and white way so that I can assess and take action. It's like my very own Timehop but with action.

I did it reflexively today. My mind wandered back to what I was doing a year ago today. At that time I was in an unhappy relationship. I didn't know what I wanted to do next. Trust in myself. Pretty close to negligible. This year? I'm happily single, I'm doing work I love and I trust myself to make decisions that put myself first. Also? I trust that everything I need will come to me.

Like my assessment today the answer is generally yes. On the rare occasion I can't honestly answer in the affirmative it means it's time for a reinvention, refocus or double down.

So…Is your life better or worse than a year ago?

5 Favorite Posts From 2011

suzanbond — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:00:26 +0000

Here are a few of my favorite posts from 2011 which just happened to fall under two of my favorite topics.

Decision Making

Good Decision? Bad Decision?

The Best Five Decisions I've Made

Entrepreneurs & Startups

There is no Pink Tech Ghetto (September)

Startup Weekend Boulder: The Wisdom Edition

8 Weeks Away From Having to Get a Job

And a fun one that seemed to generate lots of conversation…

The Best First Week Ever

3 Ways to Get Out of the Answerless Desert

suzanbond — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 06:42:41 +0000

I had FOUR (count 'em) Thanksgivings yesterday. Well, I was invited to Four. I actually only made it to two. Now I know that's only 50% but still–it's probably more than you made it to–am I right? [Smiles smugly]

My second Thanksgiving was with my friends Sarah Welch, Ef Rodriguez, Jeremy Tanner and their lovely other halfs. The reason I never made it to the last two was this little game called Mad Gab. There are all sorts of rules that I'm pretty sure I don't remember so let me just tell you the essence of the game. The goal is decipher a bunch of words into a real phrase. Here's an example:
Puzzle: Plea Center Europe As Ward

Answer: Please Enter Your Password

There's a coach who assists while the rest of the team guesses. The coach's job is to help you get closer to the solution without actually seeing what the rest of the team was seeing. We quickly discovered that reading the phrase over and over again while looking at it got in the way. Even though the guessers knew it wasn't right their brains struggled to see something different. As the coach it was interesting to hear people practically saying the phrase without knowing how close they were to getting it right. As usual, I see parallels to life. What can I say–I'm an observer of life and once a coach always a coach.

As the person looking for the right answer it's sometimes hard to see that you're thisclose. It's easy to feel as if you're lost in an answerless desert. All you can see is what's right in front of you. In the beginning and even in the middle of all that guessing the answer can appear to you as clear as mud covered glass block. And, make you feel like you have swim across the Indian Ocean to get to the answer. Um, that's not fun.

Getting Out of the Indian Ocean

Back to my Mad Gab experience. We won the first game by luck. And lost the second by not paying attention to the rules and won the third by developing a strategy. Our winning strategy was essentially a good old tag team effort. When one person said the phrase while the others listened (without looking at the card) they were more easily able to get it. They were close enough but not too close.

3 Ways to Find The Answers To Your Biggest Questions
When we're too close to the answer here are a few strategies to get around solution block to solve your problem.

1. Take a walk on the beach. Walk away from it for a while. This may give you perspective so that answer becomes more readily apparent.

2. Assume that you're closer to the answer than you think. Rather than believing that you're a mile away from a solution assume that it's mere centimeters away. Then just make tweaks to the solution rather than overhauling it completely.

3. Find a neutral person to talk to. Spill the puzzle as you see it while they listen. Their job is to tell you what they're hearing. Not what they want you to do but what they actually hear you saying. Often times they can hear what you're saying and articulate it back to you so you can actually hear it.

No more feeling like you have to swim across a large body of water for answers. Time to wring out that bathing suit.

Just for fun let's end this lil post with some of the best quotes from last night:

– Which way to Heaven? [My guess. It wasn't right but I swear one day this phrase will be a part of urban dictionary.]

– Say it with an accent. [This actually helped the team guess the right answer (Panama Canal) very quickly.]

– Although it wasn't a quote one of my favorite puzzles had Chewbacca in it. The answer was The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Combining Star Wars with a Victor Hugo novel? Genius.