We're all natural born liars. It's absolutely what we "want."

I'm quite convinced that the efforts we subconsciously put into fooling ourselves account for a great number of our conscious decisions.

One of my favorite iterations of this plays an active role in those activities that we begin with full gusto and all good intentions, only to find ourselves later struggling to follow through with a project that once seemed so inspiring (read: almost every single idea we have).

We've become so very proficient at telling ourselves that there's something else more exciting, more inspirational, more capable of being what we really want.

So of course the real question to figure out is: "is 'want' really the best way to describe the things that make us truly happy?"

location, location, and location

I'm told that there are three things that matter when it comes to pulling off something that'll inspire conversation.

(although, "timing" would certainly make a good fourth)

pranks, inspiring stories, and the creative brief

Something that I've seen on a lot of briefs is "what do we want them to think?". I generally have a problem with this; in some sense it's based on the sound idea that communication should change people's minds, but in another it's too much of that idea that we're the dictators and they're the audience waiting on baited breath.

I've been taken by Improv Everywhere's new book Causing a Scene. They generously describe a handful of missions executed over that last 8 years or so, but the inspiring part is the methodology and purpose. Improv Everywhere organizes pranks, but never to harm or belittle anyone - only to leave people with a story to take away.

So I'll no longer be asking "what do we want them to think?"

I'll be asking "what story do we want them to tell?"

(and if you'd like, Leon of the Planning Lab has put together a nice little review of interestingly organized briefs here)

10 Innovative brand projects/experiments/"marketing"

10 Innovative Online Marketing Examples

View more presentations from Gaumina.

This is cream of the crop stuff. Truly engaging and honestly interactive; the kind of projects you wish you had been able to participate in. Take the 10 minutes going through the ones you haven't seen yet - they're good.

Did you get to participate in any of these? Do you have a favorite?

projects, ideas, and sharing

One happy result of becoming an entry-level webdev-er is that I have all these stellar ideas of things that can be done, all of these tools that can be built, all of these interesting ways to get people to interact with each other on the web.

Of course, this doesn't just apply to webdev, it applies to all things in life. Naturally, the problem with great ideas is that they're so easy to come by, while executing them takes actual time.

So one of the things I got to wondering is about all the ways that people handle all the brilliant ideas that come into our heads but don't have the time/expertise/resources to execute. One thing I know is as common as it is generally unhelpful is to create some kind "projects" folder. Mentally, on paper, in a folder on your laptop, whatever. Actually, I have one on my iphone (thx Zenbe lists).

I asked on twitter and got some interesting and amusing responses. Check them out here.

I ask because I was wondering: is there a website for this? A great one would allow people to store these ideas and a lot more. There would be a public repository, where if I submitted an idea that I didn't have the expertise for, someone who did could find it and work with me to build it. Or I could just give my idea away for anyone who wants to expand and build upon it. People would be able to comment on it. Say it's great, say it's flawed.

If nothing else, I'd have the satisfaction of at least writing my idea down so that the world knows I had it.

We worry about people stealing the next great idea we have, or not being the first to execute it. I think a lot of time that's a very paralyzing feeling. But here we'd approach our ideas as things that we can be recognized for, because they'd at least be out there, in the sense that @brokengentleman was talking about.

I feel like this website exists out there somewhere, but perhaps not?

If "no" is the case, it's going on my Zenbe list of projects to build. ha.