We’re all probably a little “wisdom weary”, thanks to the endless stream of clever quotes on pretty backgrounds that flow down our social media streams. Yes, choosing the right quote to drive home or amplify a point is an old and often effective tool. But in the information-overloaded, mobile-enabled world we live in, spending time locating and posting clever quotes every day can have a few fairly obvious negative impacts. One is simple and quite practical: what else might you do with the same time? Probably something more results-oriented, we’d guess. The other two are a little more theoretical or philosophical, but equally important.
One subtle negative effect is that constantly churning through a lot of clever references to how to be better, smarter, faster, etc., can lead one to the slightly deluded perception that just because one is thinking and talking about something all the time, one is BEING those things. A definite sense of validation comes from sharing an historic figure’s inspiring words, and getting a lot of Facebook Likes or re-Tweets. But Tweeting the words of Ghandi is a far cry from actually living them.
So here’s a Kickass Idea for you: be quotable! Standing on the shoulders of others is a great way to get a start toward being an excellent person, but as comedian Steven Wright said: “There’s a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.” Oops. See? I just fell prey to it again!
You are probably pretty remarkable in your very own way, and if you’re being remarkable, you’ll say remarkable things. So go for it. Try to go a week or more without quoting someone else, and listen to your OWN words for once.
You might just say something quotable.
