The door is rusted shut.

You know this, intuitively.
You’re aware that people have far too many choices to deal with.
Too much information to process, most of which is conflicting.
And, they simply don’t trust information from business people.
But you persist.
You knock, knock, knock.
With uninspiring messages and meaningless behavior.
And no one answers.
It’s been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over.
And expecting different results.
It’s also insane, especially in a rapidly changing world, to do the same things over and over.
While expecting the same results (or even comparable ones).
Don’t be insane.
Change!
But don’t change for the sake of change.
Don’t try to create opportunity by being novel.
Discover opportunity.
Uncover people’s desires.
Then create value with bold, novel ideas.
You can tweet and follow and blog and upload videos and dance in the streets until your fingertips bleed and your shoes fall apart.
And you’ll never truly engage people.
Not until you’ve created something original and compelling.
Something that turns you on and draws them in.
Something that you’ve mastered and they desire.
Something you and your audience care deeply about.
Perhaps that something is content.
Heaven knows the world needs more great writing, music, photography, and filmmaking.
Music lifts our souls.
We’re transformed by a compelling photograph and inspired by a rousing speech.
Movies and theatre help mold our sentiments.
Humor keeps us sane.
Whatever it happens to be, go for the gut.
Make it bold.
Be inventive.
Charm people.
Take a stand and make it significant.
So yes, have a great, long weekend.
Then come back to your work with passion.
As the great photographer Cecil Beaton urged:
“Be daring, be different, be impractical.
Be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision.
Against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.”