"Be real..."

"People can sense fake..." - MattyV

During the Q&A section of the speech contest yesterday, one of my responses was the above quote. And it's true. I am constantly telling my fellow Toastmasters that when you write a speech, it has to be personal. Whether a technical speech on the workflows of a gigagadget to sharing your faith testimony - it has to be genuine or you'll lose the listener.

I find better connections with others when I am just plain real. I strive for that in my blogs, my podcasts, & my webshows. Some of the topics are upbeat, some are just plain depressing - but that's what engages the listener/viewer/reader. I try to make a personal connection with my audience, sharing an experience or emotion or situation that they may have had in their own life. I find when I do that, the more engaged the person gets & the more benefit we both receive from it.

For example I have a friend that reads my blogs on a daily basis and when one connects with him he shares it with all of his friends. I love that. I love the fact that what I went through or blogged about made a connection with another human being, enough so that he felt like sharing it with others in the hopes of making more connections. I'd love to see how far my reposted blogs have gotten, to see how many lives they have touched.

What brought up the thought for today? A couple of things, actually. The first was the movie, "Rambo". I loved "First Blood" so much that I actually took the book out of the local library & read it. Let me say that there is MUCH MUCH more to the book than the movie and not the other way around. I didn't care for any of the sequels, they turned John Rambo into an action hero and glorified his dealings in violence. The first movie portrayed him as a lone soldier, rejected by society to the breaking point.

I must say that although there was a lot of violence & blood in this sequel, the storyline & ending were superb (I actually cried a few tears at the end). But I noticed something, much of the blood & body parts were CGI (Computer Generated Images). The bullet holes & blood spatters didn't flow or match totally up with the way the bodies fell or seemed too clean. Seems like CG is being used more & more, leaving traditional special effects artists behind. Now I know that movies are supposed to be fake, but in order to engage the viewer there has to be some semblance of realism. Some movies thrive on their blantant use of fakery, while others need the realism to really tell their story. The CG in "Rambo" detracted a lot from the story & emotion they tried to evoke.

The other came from my "mentor", Dan Miller who relayed a story from the author Thomas J. Stanley ("The Millionaire Mind", "The Millionaire Next Door") from his new book, "Stop Acting Rich". Tom, through his research, found that the typical millionaire drives older vehicles, lives in modest homes, wears modest clothing, & don't go out to eat as often as people would believe. The ones with the flashy cars, expensive homes, & toss money around at restaurants are the ones who are in debt up to their eyeballs or are trying to act a part & gain attention. "Being fake" in other words.

We're most comfortable when we're being ourselves. Trouble is, society may not approve of our "true selves" hence the need to put up socially-acceptable facades.

I'd rather "be real" with one person than "be fake" amongst a crowd of other "fakers"...


MattyV
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com