Are you a flawed human? No really… Are you a flawed human?

Well, you are a human?

“Yes?”

Well, then maybe you’re a flawed human. I’m just saying for discussion purposes, it’s possible.

I’m not saying you’re not good and decent, I’m just suggesting that you’re flawed just like the lot of us.

I don’t mean it as an insult.

After all, our flaws make us adorable. At least that’s what I’ve been told.

Just like me and the seven-billion other flawed humans riding on Spaceship Earth.

So, it’s not much of a leap to say that’s one thing we all immediately have in common in any meetup, interaction, healthy debate, love-fest or conflict.

That, and the universally shared belief that we’re all above average drivers.

Typically, getting along with someone is built around getting to know each other and seeking out common ground. We haven’t been doing that as much in recent years and that’s where the rub begins.

We already have a good starting point if we could only admit that to ourselves… that you and I are both flawed humans, but still pretty damn good drivers.

Now we have something we can work with.

Adopting this mindset as a default position has the power to set you up for much healthier and more positive interactions.

One of the foundations of LifeUntucked is the position that we are living in an amazing time. True as I believe that is, not everything is working as intended or as expected.

That reality puts a lot of responsibility on our shoulders to be aware of how we respond and how we act when so much is at our fingertips.

Responsibility how?

Okay, to list a few, the responsibility to…

• be skeptical
• think critically
• self-educate
• build robust filters
• be humble
• be gracious
• be wrong (on occasion)
• check the math
• check the source
• not have an opinion
• not know something
• self-correct
• seek to understand
• let go
• move forward

Here’s the thing… Most of us would agree that we know and understand that advertising and marketing messages do not place our interests first in line. Would I be right about that?

That’s no surprise or big secret. They’ve been around for some time. Those messages are pretty slick. And don’t kid yourself. They. Are. Powerful.

With the right words and the right pictures, humans will respond in very predictable ways.

Most of us know and accept that all those commercial ads have one purpose… to get us to hand over our hard-earned money. We’ve had decades to come to terms with that. So, we’ve learned keep our guard up against conventional marketing and advertising.

But that self-developed guard hasn’t been all that effective in keeping our cash in our pockets, has she?

We still buy stuff. Depending on the source, we buy 300,000 to 400,000 individual items of stuff to outfit the average American home. (Yes, this is pretty much an American thing).

Of course, we needed at least 250,000 of them.

What I believe we haven’t come to know and accept is that the noise isn’t limited to thirty-second spots and magazine glossies anymore.

In a hyper-connected world, the messages are more pervasive and more stealth than ever.

Our little guard didn’t stop us from being good consumers and buying a couple hundred thousand things we didn’t really need.

Why then, do we insist that nothing but what we know is true gets buy our clever self-protecting biases and filters?

Well, because… We’re flawed. We’re gullible. And we’re predictable.

But we can sure drive with the best of them.

Beware. Be aware. And be untucked.

 

Let’s have a conversation and kick this around. What do you think?

 

 

 

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