We all do it...
We've made up our minds about a person, a situation, an event, a thing based solely on outward appearances...
And we miss so much of the richness life has to offer us by this short-sightedness...
For example...
I did a bit of self-promotion on Facebook today, putting up links to my two websites -
If you click on the links, you'll notice that I've used Comic Sans for the font on both...
I got an immediate response from a Facebook connection. In addition to a private message, she posted the following in public:
SZ: If someone you know just put up a new website promoting their business services....and it's done in Comic Sans, what do you tell them? (My heart stopped when I saw it.)
EAS: I would suggest - gently - that perhaps that particular font isn't the most professional-looking. I love that font, it's my favorite for personal correspondence. But definitely a no-no if one wishes to have their business taken seriously.
ETB: LOL! Politely suggest to them that it's not really a professional font. What else can you do?
SZ: Brilliant, DD! Loved that link. I had to tell her the truth because I like her and I know no one will ever hire her based on her website. I glanced at it for ONE SECOND, gasped and clicked off as if I'd seen the most offensive thing in the world. That was my honest reaction. I did tell her Comic Sans' only appropriate use is for a birthday party invitation for a kid under 5. EAS, why, oh why, do you "love that font?" Doesn't it scream "immature" to you?
EAS: Hehe... you say "immature", I say "free-spirited". Hence my only using it for personal stuff. ;) The link was awesome, too. Yet another example of inappropriate font usage. ;)
MY RESPONSE:
Sahila ChangeBringer: I want to thank you SZ for your feedback, and you're not the first person who has had that reaction, and been good enough (really, I appreciate the honesty and courage) to let me know what they think.
I use the font DELIBERATELY... One of the ideas I work with, with my mainstream and 'other' clients, is that our beliefs shape our reality... and those beliefs are often based on ideas that might once have had value but are for the most part obsolete... and judging someone as "professional" or "immature" by the font they use is one of these cases...
I sometimes facilitate workshops (where none of the participants have met me before), turning up in the scruffiest, oldest clothes I can find...
I don't try to establish my credibility... I don't really introduce myself, we don't do the round of 'feel good' warm-up stuff, we just get straight into the hard stuff...
I do it to move people out of their comfort zone, to take them off balance and to get them to recognise their own limited perceptions and how they respond when things are presented in ways other than the 'norm' or 'the professional'....
And at the end, I explain what I was doing and why I was doing it... and I ask them to notice their response... It's very eye-opening...
How much do we each clutter and filter our perceptions about life and people based on how it/they 'appear' to us? Do I only have credibility if I present myself in a certain way?
How do you judge a beggar on the street? Do you judge him as a 'loser' by his clothes, or can you see past that outward appearance and be open, listen to the wisdom of his experience/life journey?
I use the font DELIBERATELY... One of the ideas I work with, with my mainstream and 'other' clients, is that our beliefs shape our reality... and those beliefs are often based on ideas that might once have had value but are for the most part obsolete... and judging someone as "professional" or "immature" by the font they use is one of these cases...
I sometimes facilitate workshops (where none of the participants have met me before), turning up in the scruffiest, oldest clothes I can find...
I don't try to establish my credibility... I don't really introduce myself, we don't do the round of 'feel good' warm-up stuff, we just get straight into the hard stuff...
I do it to move people out of their comfort zone, to take them off balance and to get them to recognise their own limited perceptions and how they respond when things are presented in ways other than the 'norm' or 'the professional'....
And at the end, I explain what I was doing and why I was doing it... and I ask them to notice their response... It's very eye-opening...
How much do we each clutter and filter our perceptions about life and people based on how it/they 'appear' to us? Do I only have credibility if I present myself in a certain way?
How do you judge a beggar on the street? Do you judge him as a 'loser' by his clothes, or can you see past that outward appearance and be open, listen to the wisdom of his experience/life journey?
I've seen the most 'professional' looking people do the most unkind things, and not be good at their jobs...
I've seen the poorest, most 'unattractive' people give and give of their love, possessions, practicality, common sense and hard physical labour until you would think there was nothing left to give, and then they'd give some more...
I've read the most wonderful words in tattered, humbly bound and plainly typeset books...
... and the most vapid claptrap in lavish, high quality production tomes...
You can't tell a book by its cover...
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