Creative Ways to Be Creative

Tools to expand your creativity

Photo by Michael Competielle

Recently I finished a creative writing project. The actual project was to record a new original sound effect per day for 1 month. I purchased a new 4K GoPro on a Gorillapod so my audio creations had a visual element to add to the sounds.

With a growing passion for expanding my Sound Design library and field recording while owning a media production company I felt the project would create a nice new library of fresh and original sounds.

And what happened….nothing. Why?

Lack of inspiration. Being I create original sound effects for film and video content the visuals requiring sounds already existed. Door squeaks, engine roars, environmental ambiences the sound bites I’d create were placed to visuals on a screen.

So how did I get motivated for the new project?

Writing Haiku….huh? Yes you heard me. Writing Haiku… 100 of them.

Well how did I create the inspiration for my Haiku? Cellphone pictures. Over 14,000 of them. Were those images that good? Nope most of the sucked but I only needed 100.

Early in the project the images I used were generally nature inspired. Very simple and safe for what were essentially traditional Haiku but then the situation changed. I quickly bored of standard nature photographs and instead photographed and wrote Haiku that were riskier and more creative. Suddenly my mind was seeing Haiku in just about everything. Architecture, Fireworks and slabs of meat.

The daily task of photographing topics for my creative writing opened the floodgates of my free expressive thinking. Safe and common concepts quickly bored me as I felt I needed to expand my expressiveness.

While photographing I’d have ideas for sound recording, film scripts and art projects. Writing to an image allowed me to look deeper into the photograph and detail what I thought or how I felt. My vocabulary expanded as I’d struggle to find synonyms with the appropriate syllables.

Always multitasking or realistically multi-projecting, my Haiku helped with my creativity in other projects as well. Hearing sounds in my Haiku and my photography my mind heard the sounds and I just moved forward to create more.

Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences,” ambient music pioneer Brian Eno wrote in his diary.

Brian Eno is a musician, record producer, visual artist and philosopher. With deep roots in electronic music with Roxy Music and David Bowie and as the the creator of Ambient Music, Brian often expanded his creative process by visualizing music.

With solo records titled Ambient 1: Music For Airports, Music for Films and Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks Brian writes textural music.

Enter the Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt Oblique Strategies cards.

Peter Schmidt was a pioneering multimedia artist and painter who created a box of 55 sentences printed on original unused artwork called “The Thoughts Behind the Thoughts”

Eno was friends with Schmidt and a few years later created his own handwritten inspirational cards named the “Oblique Strategies.”

Seeing similarities in the cards Eno and Schmidt decided to release a joint box set of cards also sold as the “Oblique Strategies”

The cards are used as a written constraint used with a creative process. Many are believed to be for writing music however the reality is they can be used for any creative endeavors.

Examples are as follows:

A Line Has Two Sides
Into the Impossible
Turn it Upside Down
Retrace Your Steps
Switch Instruments

Visualize your next project and grab an Oblique Strategies card as inspiration. Use it for photography, a song or new product design.

IDEO is a global design and consulting firm that specializes in the practice of Design Thinking in product design, branding, hospitality, furniture, toy and automotive industries.

Originally founded in the late 1970’s specializing in product design an early client was Steve Jobs of Apple needing assistance in the design of the first computer mouse.

Over the course of the past 40 years IDEO’s principals have been utilized in almost every industry. Firmly based on the Design Thinking process which IDEO believes should be also used for Human-Centered Design to solve the World’s issues and a concept they teach and give away for free.

Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.

— TIM BROWN, EXECUTIVE CHAIR OF IDEO

Enter IDEO’s Method Cards

IDEO’s Method Cards were developed for practicing and aspiring designers looking to expand on their designs and process.

Broken up into 4 categories:

Learn
Look
Ask
Try

These cards can help expand on creative thinking by using Design Thinking theory to expand on project or product problems and further development.

With written directions on each card such as “Look-Rapid Ethnography” or “Ask-Cognitive Maps” these cards help teams expand product developments.

Read…Read…Read….

Werner Herzog

In the Werner Herzog Masterclass he teaches filmmakers the importance of reading. He recommended a book The Peregrine which is a story of a falcon. By understanding the perspective of the falcon it changes your perspective on a situation or event and expands your thought process. Understanding and explaining from another perspective can bring new life to a story.

While Werner doesn’t recommend film school or even traditional filmmaking concepts, he does recommend the importance of learning to be an engaging storyteller. With a belief that the world is revealed to those who travel Herzog recommends you travel, meet different people and learn.

“I’d like to add that when I travel by foot, I don’t do it as a backpacker where you take all your household items with you — your tent, your sleeping bag, your cooking utensils,” Herzog wrote. “I travel without any luggage.”

My lessons in expanding my creativity have been helpful and life changing. Try some of these techniques to expand your creativity and creative process. And most of all have some fun.

https://medium.com/swlh/creative-ways-to-be-creative-984f73a324a4?source=friends_link&sk=7f681b2db9dcefce71ef70442787eeac

Great Things Come to Those Who Innovate

The Rules Are…Don’t Follow Any

We all have witnessed brilliant business ideas pop up into a void of an existing market,that successfully takes off and changes the status quo forever. A gap so wide and vacant you’ll question yourself on why you didn’t come up with the idea yourself. Like watching the instant replay of an amazing touchdown run and seeing that gap, as now visualizing how the running back saw an opportunity and made his move.

Did Blockbuster not see the coming of DVD services like Redbox and Netflix? They most certainly did however they stood there and watched as a small innovative concept…took over.

Blockbuster’s CEO once passed up a chance to buy Netflix for only $50 million

Not smart business. What did Blockbuster do wrong…they didn’t Look, Listen and Learn. Without looking at the then current DVD rental market and heading off the Netflix and Redbox growth, listening to their then current customer base and learning from the data, Blockbuster nailed it’s own coffin shut.

What about Borders books? With over 500 retail based brick and mortar superstores worldwide Borders had a decent market share. In the early 1990’s Borders had an edge on the industry by having a sophisticated inventory system that could predict and optimize consumer purchases. However with growing competition from Barnes and Noble brick and mortar, and online giant Amazon, Borders mounting debt and large wagering on merchandising of CD’s and DVD’s forced them into bankruptcy. Borders didn’t adapt to the moving trends of online sales, while they invested heavily into a market segment that was going digital.

Borders certainly didn’t Look, Listen or Learn to their customers or the industries innovations.

Ironically a few weeks ago I visited an Amazon Books store in Manhattan. The store felt familiar to me with bright lighting and blond colored shelving adorned with 4 Star and above Top Seller books.

We designed our stores around our customers- what they’re buying and what they’re loving. We’ve used customer ratings, reviews and sales data from the hundreds of millions of products online to curate our store with features like “Most-Wished-For” and “Frequently Bought Together.” These features, along with customer reviews, make it fun and easy for customers to discover great products, reviews, make it fun and easy for customers to discover great products.

Sounds to me like Amazon is doing just as I suggest…. Look, Listen, Learn.

Working as Brand Designer for a startup experiential event and products company I’ve been tasked with the core projects of defining our brand, corporate culture, product design/ packaging and defining our target audience. Simple tasks complicated if you head into the quagmire of business development books and websites usually aimed at copying others.

Most of the content outdated or written on a generally broad topic without analysis of the only thing that really matters… the customer.

Recent business advice was to discuss anticipated costs, balance sheets and capital. Typical Wharton School of Business tactics to maximize sales and growth of what?

Of what I asked? We are still defining the targeted market that’ll fit into our brand, vision and values of what this company should be.

Looking at the assembled team of highly qualified team members of our startup, I felt it was imperative to understand why they signed on. Looking and listening to each individuals values on what environment they saw themselves coming to each day. Listening to how they hoped to interact with our future customers and who they visualized those customers to be.

We have a long way to go to build the brand, however by looking at the current state of our alleged competition, listening to our proposed clients and learning from the experience we’re developing what’s soon to be an innovative, lifestyle changing business.

With limited efforts placed on balance sheets and venture capital and all effort placed on defining our mission and culture, we are sure to change the lives of customers…. We shall Look, Listen and Learn
Michael Competielle

https://medium.com/@mcompetielle/great-things-come-to-those-who-innovate-3e387f4e2801?source=friends_link&sk=99f61beebc29cd62992e540b2af85870

Creative Writing and Finding Your Voice

Without a doubt I’m a storyteller. Everywhere I travel I’ll find a purposeful narrative from my experiences. With the quality of the gift to gab as well as an artful eye, my stories can be witty and engaging yet often long winded and tiresome.

With a narrative history storytelling style I’ll always start with a pre-story illustrating the stage of the story to give the listener perspective. I alway analyze the listeners reaction and modify the story as needed to maintain engagement. Facial expressions and body language along with the listeners interjectionS are clues their connecting to the story.

Some people nod their heads up and down like a bobble head while I can see in their eyes…. I’ve lost them.

Creative writing is a bit different as I’m uncertain to whom I’m writing and what the faceless reaction is. Talking into a soundless abyss if I’m not writing for myself I’ll wind up lost. Lately I’ve been using the percentage of articles read or reader engagement as my metrics to determine my small audiences comprehension and connection.

Attempting to engage a mass audience and formulating my story to suit the masses leaves me angry and incomplete.

Lately my personal challenge is to write an article per day. The idea of writing a coherent engaging article based on any semblance of reality besides my own interpretation requires quite a bit of thought and research. Telling stories for me is actually really easy and so for the most part I’ll write first person narratives.

To motivate myself and get my creative juices flowing I’ll flip thru the 15k photos I have on my cell to determine my daily topic. Finding an inspiring image starts my imagination and internal voice to flow. The sentences formulate quickly into paragraphs as the storyline unfolds.

Thinking like a screenwriter for a film I’ll use the image as a springboard to enter into creative nirvana. With a limited writing skillset I begin the text with basic information such as where I am and why. Proper grammar is less important than getting my point across clearly.

Sitting here naked, vulnerable and alone with my thoughts I start to write without fear nor remorse as I honestly attempt to articulate the situations I’m experiencing and hoping it can be felt as I write.

Armed with only an iPad or my laptop, I write how inspired I am by this thing called life.

Originally I was attempting to wake up early in the morning and begin to write. Issue I was having was I’d awaken refreshed, cheerful and ready to embrace my day. My writing was nothing more than bubblegum words stuck together exposing my early morning meditative state of unrealistic world happiness. Sentences of boring text lacking the abrasive grit of my actual voice I decided to write later in the day after I’d encountered the irregularities and stress encountered throughout my day. Struggling to make it thru without tainting the meat in my head I call my brain.

As reality sinks in often quickly, the days phone calls and emails can change my emotions, it’s then I find I can articulate my most honest emotional thoughts.

Deep concentrated breathing helps me snap back into my own conscious state of calm. Brushing off the uncontrollable frustrations I turn to creative writing to release me tensions.

Rules are made to be broken or at least modified and as it’s generally my modus operandi to bend the rules daily I decided my creative writing should follow a series of rules. Most of which I’ll probably break.

Honesty. Don’t say it or write if it’s not honest
Write for myself and tell stories I’d enjoy to share
Use original photography and my “inside voice”
Publish or post daily

Medium has been a great format for publishing my literary works. With a wide range of topics and a high amount followers in many of the publications I decided to post everything on the site.

The double edged sword was when my second article was published and I began to receive an increase in followers and likes. My email feed began to fill with articles on becoming a better writer, where to buy stock images and social media marketing.

In order and to maintain my status as a writer in a publication I recognized I needed to increase the quality of my articles by using catchy titles with trigger words and stock photography.

I’m unwilling to compromise my artistic style and so I write using the honest wisdom of my inner voice.
Michael Competielle

https://medium.com/@mcompetielle/creative-writing-and-finding-your-voice-f009fcddd08b?source=friends_link&sk=4149cfa865b4bc2ab42053cf5deb896b

Retail Shopping Isn’t Dead…it’s Experiential

On a warm July day, my wife and I decided to take a relaxing trip into New York City and explore some new inspirational spatial designs. Our goal was to buzz around to find retail stores that specialized in making an engaging and innovative shopping experience.

We jumped onto a semi-express New Jersey Transit train destined for NYC Penn Station, a train and subway transportation hub in New York’s famous Chelsea district. Having done a small amount of itinerary planning we felt it best to first head over to the Hudson Yards, the largest private real estate development in the U.S.

Developed as a 28 acre mixed use developmemt with estimated construction costs in the billions, the project compromises of public green space, residential towers, a hotel, office spaces and a mall.

Walking across 32nd Street to the West Side it was difficult to miss the development with its shining glass skyscrapers and the Thomas Heatherwick designed stunning copper clad interactive sculpture Vessel. With over 2,500 steps on 154 interconnecting flights of stairs interwoven into a hive like structure, Vessel is a great way to get exercise while gaining stunning viewing of the City.

Heading into the Shops at the Hudson Yards, a 720,000 sq foot multi-floor mall with Neiman Marcus as the anchor, we were quickly immersed in visual stimulation.

Lighted interactive kiosks were placed throughout the mall as directories to shops, restaurants and transportation. We walked past huge video display walls with stunning visual motion graphics.

Throughout the mall were interactive art display walls of metallic fabrics and rooms for coloring to inspire creativity and user engagement. Cleverly named “Off the Walls” and created by the Culture Corps., the installations are designed in tribute to the areas past, present and future.

Wandering from shop to shop the user interactive kiosks and experiences were everywhere. From the cool techie retail-as-service store B8TA offering well designed displays of speciality products by small unknown manufactures and also offering “Built by B8TA” products.

Heading across town we headed to 5th Avenue and uptown to the Adidas Flagship stadium inspired store. Built as the largest Adidas store worldwide, the design concept hopes to develop brand identity to another generation of customer. With a stadium styled tunnel entrance, locker room style dressing rooms, and multiple floors of apparel, accessories and sneakers there is plenty immersion. Large video walls on multiple floors, stylizing kiosks, stadium seating for game viewing, tracks and field areas to try and experience the sneaker offerings.

Designed with Adidas Checkland Kindleysides and Gensler the store was sustainably designed to mimic old high school gymnasiums with exposed concrete, raw wood bleachers and large stadium lighting. A 360vR experience tells the story of the making of a new sneaker.

Jumping onto a subway headed to Nike Soho we entered the 5 story Broadway and Spring Street store. Large video screens again with Nike commercials were playing amongst racks and shelves of Nike sneakers and apparel. Lit glass display cases showcased specialized models and options.

Escalators took us floor to floor of soccer fields, treadmills and basketball courts to demo products within a real world environment.

Further down Broadway we entered into the huge multi-floored Dolby Sohointeractive store. Currently setup to promote The Lion King film in theaters at the time we decided to explore further. The front room filled with 3 of 4 walls of video screens playing a vibrant waterfall scene.

Walking room to room we experienced more Lion King videos in 360 degrees with Dolby Immersive Atmos Sound.

The 2019 CGI animated film has rich visuals with stunning blacks and high dynamic range.

With lifelike hair, water and animals movement the film is easy to get lost in. The object based Dolby Atmos sound firmly placed the viewer into jungle.

Heading to the lower floor was a DJ in Atmos as well as a screening room. Reviewing films in the screening room allowed for the testing of standard color rendering vs Dolby Cinema color.

Kiosks we’re placed on walls to display the Dolby Atmos headphones sold at a discounted rate on that day.

Leaving New York at sunset we were able to see the brightly lit City. Having for years worked in NYC this relaxed visit was a different experience. Fully immersed in the various stores spatial designs and experiential designs we left the City with a renewed faith in retail and its future experiential existence.

https://medium.com/@mcompetielle/retail-shopping-isnt-dead-it-s-experiential-2cf87587a277?source=friends_link&sk=fd7aa73c47009f4dad57c8efc1eeb992

The Building of a Cult Brand and Following

The terms cult following or cult classic are used frequently to describe innovators of products, brands or companies that have developed a faithful, dedicated and passionate fanbase. These cult innovators unique brand identity builds a loyal fanbase that exhibits brand loyalty by purchasing the companies current and future products while discounting competitors moves in the market.

Companies such as Apple are a prime example of an innovative tech company with a cult following producing luxury tech products and services. With multiple annual announcements on product developments and releases, early adopters lineup outside stores awaiting the opportunity to be one first to showcase the lastest offerings often by creating product unboxing videos, published articles in tech forums and blogs.

Competitors will race to reverse engineer the products in an attempt to develop similar products often purchased by the early majority and late majority.

With the innovators making up 2.5% of the market, early adaptors 13.5%, early majority at 34%, late majority at 34% and the laggards taking up the remaining 16% it’s essential for cult brands products to live the entire lifecycle.

So Why Join the Cult?

The products just work
Product support and updates even after product EOL
High Resale Value
Market Dominance

Cults followings are created by users of great products. Who’s best in action cams? GoPro and why? They work, they work well, they are supported, maintain a resale value and dominate the market.

Need proof ask the likes of Casey Neistat.

Casey is an innovator and a brand influencer. Does that mean you send Casey a product and you’ll receive instant sales? Well yes if your products work. If they don’t…. Not a wise idea.

Enter Lululemon

Cult following? You bet your yoga toned ass. Not a question Lululemon has placed a severe dent into the world of Technical Athletic Clothing. And just to be clear since 2017 in Men’s clothing as well. Marketing to brand influencers like yoga instructors and gym trainers, Lululemon has a cult following that fills a healthy share of the.. wellness/ health/ fitness clothing market. And for men there are active offerings including the Warpstreme active dress pants.

With a high concentration on a quality product and/or service, not discounting products, ensuring the entire product chain from design, marketing, sales and service is of uniform importance brands can obtain cult followings.

Deeply discounted goods, deceptive sales tactics and poor customer service or experiences are the demise of a brand and subsequently the possibility of achieving cult status.

https://medium.com/@mcompetielle/the-building-of-a-cult-brand-and-following-7673818dadee?source=friends_link&sk=dae7b70f395bdc6bc341179e50dafd7e

Freelance as a Maker and Enter the Gig Economy

Why your best talent should be becoming an opportunist

Online retailer shops such as Etsy and Fiver are cool ways to make a buck using your talents and skills. Post your products or talents online and wait for the requests to roll in. Chances are you’ll be working or selling to people you’ve never met, quite possibly nor will you ever. Sort of like a One Hit Wonder (many of my favorite songs and artists fit this bill) often you’ll work for a client once and possibly never again. I feel it’s because you may not have made a personal connect.

I’m not saying Freelancer or Upwork can’t get you repeat business. I’m possibly suggesting it’s doubtful you can easily build a client rapport.

Imagine if we had to go to a job interview daily.

Anxious as we try to put out the best version of ourselves as we are questioned on our talents and abilities. We often know more than the interviewer does about our skill set.

In a time where large corporations are gobbling up startups and market disrupters at an alarming pace the opportunities to enter a workforce of gainful employment, get paid what your worth and achieve long term goals is diminishing.

Mounting college loan debt that is unsecured by an uncertain job market renders the foreseeable future as depressing.

With a compulsory educational system lacking in foresight of our future job market our trajectory is bleak. Removing basic life skills, vocational and hands on electives from most schools, students and young adults are struggling with many of the simplest knowledge or experiences.

Thinking back to my childhood I recall learning mechanical drafting and detailing, how to program a CNC router, culinary class, sewing, photography and film development, wood shop, small engine repair and basic electronics. And this was while I was in high school.

Working around the house on weekends with my dad, summers as an apprentice in the families cabinet shop and working with friends as we souped up our cars, we got dirty and learned to do shit.

Sitting on a bench at a horse farm in New Jersey watching my high school sweetheart practice relentlessly in preparation for the Metal Maclay competition I was approached by the head trainer asking me if I wanted to work on the farm caring for the horses. Having absolutely no knowledge, I agreed and learned quickly how to clean stalls, haying and watering, pick the horses feet, brush them and dress them in tack and blankets.

My experience there taught me the most important life skill ever….Talk to People, Take on Opportunities.

I talked to everyone…. and whom did I meet? A Wall Street broker. And what did she do for me? Introduced me to her computer programmer husband. And what door did that open? Sound engineering, MIDI programming, computer integration, all about Jazz, diversity in communities…. Etc etc. and I was 18.

Naim grew up in Harlem in the 1970’s. Poverty stricken in a declining City he knew he needed to get away. Working as a human billboard for a barber, he was approached by someone asking if he wanted to learn about computers. He was curious and signed up for a programming course and learned computer code.

By the time I met Naim he was living in a large suburban house in Central NJ working as a freelancing consultant for AT&T clocking in a hourly billable rate of over $200 per hour.

Inside the home was a separate wing with Naim’s recording studio which consisted of a live practice/ tracking room and a control room with the mixing console, 16 track reel to reel deck, racks of outboard gear and computers.

Meeting Naim for the first time we instantly connected, he threw me a set of keys, a security code for the studios alarm and a detailed list of instructions on the power up sequence of the studio and it’s gear. I was to start the following evening at 5pm powering up the studio, ushering in the guest musicians and tuning Naim’s guitars.

We would run late into the evening jamming on Soft Jazz tunes Naim played thru his guitars that housed specialized Midi pickups which ran thru a programmed foot switch back to racks of Roland samplers.

High tech for the early 90’s and outer space for an 18 year old kid.

One evening Naim left me a note not to power up the studio and that we were prepping for the following evenings gig in a Jazz club near Newark Airport. He stated it was an African American bar but I’d be alright because “Your with the band”.

I was actually more concerned with my age which the boys in the band sort of chuckled at. I realized later no one really cared.

The next evening I loaded the band truck with racks of gear and Naim and I headed to the club. It was an industrial part of town and the club was hard to recognize from the street.

We loaded in all the gear and I setup the rig as the rest of the band arrived. Big hugs from the guys and a pat on the back from Naim subdued my anxiety.

Crowds of people began to flow into the club, the lights dimmed and Naim and crew climbed onstage. I hung behind the mixing decks assuring a proper mix and prepping for any technical issues.

I began to fall into a trancelike state listening to the band in this dark smoke crowded room.

A gentleman asked me where was my hat as I looked back at him puzzled. He pulled off his cap, threw in a $20 and proceeded to pass it around the club. Minutes later he handed me a pile of cash and said “this is for the band”.

Later that evening as I was packing up gear I mentioned the pile of money that was for the band to Naim. He divvied up the cash and divided it evenly and handed me an equal share. I was puzzled and said “Naim that’s for the band” in which he responded “you are the band my Brother”.

To this day the story brings a tear to my eyes about my opportunity and subsequent acceptance.

Years later I still think back to that experience and how I’ve always taken every gig that came my way.

Throughout my years I’ve built stores, high end residences, galleries and hotels. I’ve detailed shop drawings for Millwork shops and steel fabricators. I’ve installed just about every material imaginable and I’m never afraid to jump in and help. I’ve finished concrete on huge pours by operating the bull float and hydrostatic trowel machines.

I’ve worked on farms, designed custom interiors, build custom millwork in a cabinet shop I owned. I’ve build monster trucks and SCCA racing cars. Worked in an aftermarket Porsche shop and I’ve made donuts, pastries and bread. I’ve delivered wedding cakes and newspapers. I’ve worked on and made corporate videos, short films, web series and feature films.

I’ve hedged economic downturns building decks in freezing temperates in January and February. I’ve shoveled snow, repaired vintage synthesizers, built recording studios, restored massive factory buildings, build polished concrete countertops. Fabricated and installed stainless steel kitchen cabinets.

I’ve done structured wiring, stage wiring and live sound gigs. Soon I’ll publish my first book and start filming my own feature length documentary. I’ve worked in biker bars as a bouncer and loaded tractor trailers with electronics.

Most of these gigs have lead me to more. Most of these gigs have built my confidence that I can do just about anything. I’m always looking for new opportunities to expand my horizons, make a few bucks and meet some new people.

Freelancers often feel trapped in there own world often working in solitude. It could be that person next to you on line in Starbucks or on a park bench in Central Park.

Talk to people and take on new rolls and experiences. Help load in at a trade show or become a brand ambassador for a startup brand. Learn to become a barista or frame pictures.

Freelancing as a maker helps build your network of clients, expands your available talents and excites your creativity.

Trending in incubator spaces, co-working and maker spaces allows freelancers and makers abilities to obtain access to office space, filming locations, shop space with tools and equipment and retail space.

https://medium.com/@mcompetielle/freelance-as-a-maker-and-enter-the-gig-economy-af3f0c7836cd?source=friends_link&sk=5434fd55c819bd8b8e1eacafbb20eabf

Develop Your Brand to Sell Itself For Life

Recently I found myself in need of a new computer. Actually it wasn’t for me but my wife who recently acquired her real estate license and is a dual career sales agent with Weichert.

Mobility was important, access to listings while on the road, databases, contact forms were some of the primary computer requirements. Graphics and CPU were of some importance as some listing include virtual tours.

We decided on a base model 15” MacBook Pro which costs around $2,399. Walking into the Apple store we were greeted by a friendly sale associate that asked if we needed any assistance. We told him our interests in the MacBook which he responded with a basic question of who the computer was for. Responding that it was indeed for my wife he questioned what were her plans for the computer. We responded with our primary list of thoughts and amazingly the sales associate told us “you can get buy with an iPad and save a ton of money”.

Huh? Yes of course we could however a lack of keyboard, ports to install additional displays or thumb drives made it a no go. We then discussed the MacBook Air coming in at around $1k, we again explained we appreciated the MacBook Pro’s additional GPU, processing power and display size.

He seemed satisfied that we were certain of what we wanted and he began to ring us up. We chatted a bit a he explained he only wanted us to be happy with our purchase acknowledging it was a large purchase. I reassured him that this our 5th MacBook Pro purchase in the last 4 years he seemed to be convinced we knew what we were doing.

I started to think of the reasons why the computer had sold itself to us and reasons were as follows:

Ease of use, interfacing we peripherals is a breeze
Apples post track record on updates, service and product life expectancy
General lack of Windows based system issues such as viruses,drivers and costly OS upgrades

Our Apple purchases have been G3, G4, eMac, G5, iMac, MacBook Pro’s, AirPort Extreme, iPods, iPads, AppleTv’s, software such as Logic Pro, Shake, Aperture and most importantly Apple Stock.

For over 15 years I’ve been running on Mac’s starting with a used G3.

With a strong connection at the time to the creative sector Mac was a no brainer as I was into audio recording. Hooking up Midi peripherals and integrating into my then current Cubase was simple. At that point I was sold and with every new purchase, I’m sold again.

Mac computers are definitely not a “buy it for life product” but they are a buy it for life company.

Looking around our home I see similar Brands we follow. Both of my children have large Nike collections, I buy Avid, Sennheiser, RME, JBL, Merrell, Kuhl, Orvis and my wife loves Coach and Vitamix.

Working as a Brand Designer for a startup events business, I’m studying the brands and products we buy and attempt to analyze each product, experience and attraction.

Understanding some products sell themselves based on the “cool factor” I’m studying user experience, product design and repeat business.

This article was written on my MacBook Pro, wearing my Orvis shirt in my Kuhl Silencer pants while barefoot.

https://medium.com/@mcompetielle/develop-your-brand-to-sell-itself-for-life-7c8080144879?source=friends_link&sk=a463ec7f813ac38fd50d8e3fa01ce8ec

Near Distant Goals and How to Achieve Them

Envisioning an Ideal Future

A little over a year ago I was lucky enough to take a mindfulness course created by Google called SIYLI. Developed by a team of experts to integrate mindfulness, emotional intelligence and neuroscience the course has been used within Google as well as globally by governments, corporations and non-profits.

In a small lecture room environment seated in office chairs positioned into a semicircle my coworkers and I began the coursework. After a brief explanation of the core principals of SIYLI we were told to obtain a comfortable seated position and began deep breathing exercises while focusing intently on the breath.

Meditation

Slowly breathing in I felt a rush of oxygen fueled breath into my lungs with a tingling euphoric feeling. Holding my breath slightly I focused on my breath as I slowly exhaled. Again I slowly took in another controlled deep breath settling on full concentration as I felt the rush. Again exhaling with full focus and control I began to feel calmness and control.

While maintaining my controlled breathing exercises my mind clear and centered. Uncertain if I was falling asleep or entering into a transformative state, my stress and racing mind slowly subsided.

A metallic ring of a small brass bell broke our concentration as we were asked to regain focus with the instructor and explain our response to the meditation exercise. It seemed unanimous across the class that this exercise heightened levels of focus and clarity.

Journaling

We then began a method of meditation called journaling. Opening to a blank sheet of paper in a notebook we were guided to begin journaling our thoughts in a 5 minute timed exercise. Our writing was to be based on how we felt at that moment in a mindful honest written form. It was promised that these writing wouldn’t be read by anyone. Our instructor range the bell and we laid down our pens.

He asked us to reread what we wrote and asked how we felt after the 5 minutes writing. It was an enlightening experience as I learned how I was feeling personally after an extremely stressful year.

Ideal Future

Our next exercise was an honesty writing exercise where you wrote about our ideal future. It was another timed writing practice in which we had 5 minutes. I saw my Dream Future unfolding in written form materializing before my eyes. Immersed in my narrative the bing of the bell stopped my writing.

Completely amazed at what I had written down I was very proud. Imagine that future. The instructor broke us up into groups and told us we needed to tell people about our Ideal Future.

Telling people about your plans so they can materialize

Exchanging our ideal future ideas was relieving. As we discussed our future plans it became a bit more real.

Our instructor explained as you discuss with people about your future ideals situations start to become reality. The response of people with help and resource creates opportunities to let aspects of your Ideal Future become reality.

Everyday I’m working towards my future ideal, writing daily articles, brainstorming ideas for a new startup venture, editing feature films and some web series. New options are constantly moving me closer to my ideals.

https://medium.com/@mcompetielle/near-distant-goals-and-how-to-achieve-them-138c70440230?source=friends_link&sk=b537b7f42302cfdd9ba198f3f530cbb7

Forest Therapy And My Quest For A Quiet Place

The Japanese practice of Forest Therapy is called Shinrin-Yoku which means “taking in the forests atmosphere.” Quite simply the process is to just head into the forest and that’s about it. Well that’s sort of a generalization of the actual philosophy where you can shed stress and anxiety by spending time with nature by trekking through the woods, engrossing yourself in the silent ecosystem.

Forest Therapy or Forest Bathing is used to embrace nature and to enhance wellness and happiness. Heading into a forest and focusing on being present in the silence while engaging in deep breathing, recognizing smells and sounds can be healthy and therapeutic.

A few years ago as I was researching field recording I stumbled onto a sound course offered through Princeton University called Space and Place. I messaged the Professor to see if I could audit the course although the semester was winding down and his Princeton Arts Fellow nearing an end he was kind enough to share with me the syllabus.

I quickly purchased every book mentioned in the syllabus and proceeded to read every referenced website and article. One particularly interesting piece was on Chris Watson of the 80’s Industrial/Post Punk band Cabaret Voltaire who had since entered into wildlife field recording. Upon reading an articleon his techniques, I realized he and I had similarities in equipment I decided to try some forest field recordings.

As I began to repurpose my film audio-recording equipment and expand my collection of specialty field recording gear with some new purchases I headed off into the woods. Wearing my Kuhl Silencer pants, Merrell hiking boots, Tilley and sound recording gear I headed into the forest. Uncertain of what my expectations actually were and primarily hoping for a clean, noise free forest ambience recording I found a quiet remote location and grabbed a seat on a rock under a dense canopy of trees.

Putting on my headphones and hitting record I silently listened to the sounds of the forest. With a cool summer breeze calmly making the forests vegetation dance like a ballerina and strained to listen for the sound of the forests wildlife. What I heard while focusing was the distant sound of the outside world. Planes, lawnmowers and the distant highway spoiled my recordings.

Calmly I continued to record hoping the noise pollution would stop. The distant persistent noise droned on however as an hour had passed however I was feeling focused, calm and relaxed. The experience, alone in the forest was meditative as I was focused on my environment fully mindful and present.

My recording was essentially trash, ruined by the environmental noise pollution of the suburban forest. I Googled “field recording quiet places” in a feeble attempt to find a quiet place to record nearby my Princeton area home.

“SILENCE IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF SOMETHING,

BUT THE PRESENCE OF EVERYTHING.”

-Gordon Hempton, Founder

One Square Inch of Silence

My research lead me to the Audio Ecologist Gordon Hempton know for his nature recordings on 6 different continents while on an endless quest searching for One Square Inch of Silence.

In 2005 Gordon Hempton while recording in the Hoh Rainforest in Washington’s Olympic National Park, one of the quietest places in the world, he placed a rock on a log claiming it to be One Square Inch of Silence. Hempton defines silence as lacking in human created noise pollution.

For years Hempton has monitored his One Square Inch of Silence often having to inform noise polluters of there noise pollution and writing the offenders letters along with recordings hoping to obtain their support in creating less pollution.

Gordon’s One Square Inch website deeper explains the environmental concerns and educates in an attempt to raise awareness and maintain the silence.

While I have yet to visit Hoh Rainforest or find any location free of noise pollution, my forest therapy continues.

With today being the first day of fall the colorful foliage is about to change. I visualize the sounds of leaves falling and the crunching sound as I walk to a suitable recording spot. Hoping to immerse myself mindfully in the forests serenity.The Startup

https://medium.com/swlh/forest-therapy-and-my-quest-for-a-quiet-place-1c4804eb05f2?source=friends_link&sk=1fe5da5775f23a27e6674dd7bbfb8384

Your Cow’s Shit is Polluting Our Oceans

On the average, a dairy cow produces 82 pounds of manure per day per 1000 pounds liveweight
Source: Illinois Livestock Trail

Dairy cattle each weigh on the average 1,500 pounds while fluctuating between 1,000–2,000 pounds. According to Compassion in World Farming, the dairy cattle population is 264 million dairy cows worldwide. That equals approximately 32,472,000,000 pounds of smelly dairy cow shit. That’s 32 billion pounds of fecal matter daily which the farming industry loves to call cow manure. Only issue is this over abundance of cow dung has many of the World’s Nations recognizing that this excess is actually a toxic waste. Yummy.

We are only talking the Dairy Cattle Industry for all of you Milk Does a Body Good believers. We are only talking about Dairy cows here as the world’s entire cattle population is 1.468 billion head of cattle. Beef cattle create a bit less at around 65lbs of cow patties per 1,000 pounds of cow daily. Feel free to do the math yourself however and recognize that’s a lot of zeros. And a lot of steamy shit.

So what to do with all the shit?

Let’s re-feed it to the animals. An actual nasty process is to feed animals the dried up cow shit. Sounds delicious doesn’t it.

While much of the shit is resold as manure to be spread in fields as fertilizers, much of a farms shit piles windup in our waterways from manure runoff from these farms.

With cow patties having high nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium levels this excess of nutrients from the manure runoff enters our waterways which create Dead Zones commonly called Hypoxia which is basically a reduction in the waters oxygen levels. The oxygen depleted waters kill off most life including fish and can increase algae levels.

The United States largest Hypoxic Zone is in the Gulf of Mexico and is the second largest hypoxic zone in the world. With nutrient rich cow shit entering into the Mississippi River that dumps into the Gulf, the hypoxic zone has grown in size depleting oxygen levels.

As the Dairy and Cattle industries continue to expand cutting down rainforests and other natural habitats, this has created an unsustainable imbalance. Many species of animals, bugs and flora are being wiped out for factory farming and specifically the Dairy Industry.

Beef cattle is already well documented on its inefficiency based on the incredible amounts of feed and water required to produce just one pound of beef, however there are large segments of the World’s population that feel that “dairy cows” are a healthy source of protein and nutrients while being sustainable. None of which in reality is true.

The factory farming “Dairy Cow” is a systemwide Envirnomental issue killing off large quantities of the world’s animal species. While the USDA has been fueling the Big White Lie for generations now.

With a large percentage of our population being Lactose intolerant, we have begun marketing Lactose free milks and cheeses that are still made from….Lactose.

If your Lactose intolerant here’s a novel idea….stop consuming Cow’s Breastmilk dumbass. With the increase in plant based milks on the rise try to substitute with somewhat more sustainable and absolutely more emotionally intelligent plant based milks.

In my best Bubba Gump voice….”we got Oat Milk, Hemp Milk, Soy Milk, Almond Milk, Cashew Milk, Macadamia Milk, Coconut Milk, Flaxseed Milk, Barley Milk”….. and the list goes on.

But for fucks sake stop drinking cows breastmilk and stop wrecking my favorite beaches.

https://medium.com/@mcompetielle/your-cows-shit-is-polluting-our-oceans-2a1e4821d6db?source=friends_link&sk=61c99cbd92fea416ad041178aca76c3e