On Your Mark Get Set and Go...

From one creative person to many others.... it seems that part of the fun developing something creative is sharing it with others. Even artists - people who often work in solitude - ideally want their work to be noticed and appreciated by the public. This week's blog is going to explore some basic ideas about how YOU can spread a creative idea. The week will be based on the genius book of Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point ( a book I read 10 years ago and continue to reference at least once a week). But before we do...

Maintenance Monday Announcements:

• Helena... are you and Stanley out there? Inquiring minds want to know that he landed safely in Canada and if you are busily involved in some fun adventure. Once done, let me know and we'll get him moving along to the next destination. P.S. Others wanted to know if Stanley was "of-age" and therefore able to join you drinking, voting, driving, or seeing R rated movies. I say, "Yes." Have discretion, but have fun.
  


• I love it when I know a new reader joins us. A couple of weeks ago there was a post from Laura (actually, I think it said Laura and Geoff). If you're still out there, welcome and we'd love to hear more from you (ie. when is your b-day, so we can post your Colorstrology Profile?).
  


• Since last Friday was free birthday profiles, we didn't solicit a challenge for this week. We need one, so if you're out there and could use the collective creativity of our readers, post your challenge (anniversary present idea, promotional campaign for work, household problem, etc...). If not, we can always default to laundry... just kidding.
  


• Can we develop a highlowaha protocol? If you want to post a comment to a post that was made more than one day ago, then post it on the most recent day. For instance if I still wanted to post my birthday for a Colorstrology Profile, then I would post my request in today's comments. Often I happenstance on a comment that was posted days, even a week, earlier only to miss the window of opportunity for replying. Cristine, for example posted a great box tip under Friday's comments, but she didn't do it until sometime on Sunday. Check it out. If there is a more accepted way to do this in the "blogging world" let me know. I am a novice.
  


• Here's the good news... Highlowaha.com is yielding readers from 18 countries; 35 states; and 176 cities. The top five states are Kentucky, Texas, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. The not-so-good-news is Matthew's birthday - thus APRIL 16 - is TEN short days away. We have a goal to reach 5000 readers by that day and then I can share the reason for my blog's name.

Why this topic, this week? Because with only 10 days left and still 2,961 necessary readers, I'm going down with a fight. I know we can reach 5000 readers and if we can do it, then you can make your own idea "tip" too. It's a creative social experiment challenging us to see exactly how creative we are...not in developing ideas, but in SPREADING ideas!!!! To get us warmed up for the week, we are going to undergo the...

THE SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION CHALLENGE

Cheryl... today's creative concept ought really to peak your curiosity, as you mentioned the concept twice in Wednesday's comments. Yes, today I am going to introduce a challenge for our readership. We are going to test the premise of 6 Degrees of Separation!

You may or may not know, that this concept was based on an actual experiment. A series of envelopes were given to over 100 people in a mid-western town. The idea was for each of those people to get their envelope to one particular person who lived in Boston, Massachusetts. Ultimately what was discovered was that a disproportionate number of the 100+ original envelopes passed through only a very small number of people's hands. Point: We are connected, but in the end... it is a small number of people responsible for those connections.

So, let's see if this holds true of our Highlowaha.com readers! I will present you with a random name - a person I have never met, that lives in a city and state I have never visited. The Challenge is to see if we can reach that person (in six people or less ) and then have her (I'm picking a her, because I think a she might be more likely to participate) post a comment on our site. Confused? Here's a simple review...

And the name is... drumroll, please.....

JULIE A. COLE from LINCOLN, NEBRASKA. The only other piece of information I'll provide is that I found her name somewhere on the Girl Scouts web site.

1. Look at name, city, and state of person I have selected.
2. Determine who you know that can get you one step closer to JULIE A. COLE. You might be tempted to simply pick up a phone book and call her on your own, but this would be cheating. This is only a game, so need to compromise your integrity. 
3. If you don't know anyone directly, ask others you know about their network.
4. Contact your lead and ask him/her who he/she knows that can help you get one step closer to JULIE A. COLE.
5. Repeat until JULIE A. COLE has been reached.
6. Ask JULIE A. COLE to post on our blog 
7. If it's going to happen, chances are it will be in the next couple of weeks. I'll use April 21 as the date to officially put the challenge to rest
8. If you have a lead, post an update in the comment section, so we know progress is being made.
9. If you have questions, post them and I - or someone else - will provide an answer.

Embrace this experiment as a test of what we are truly capable of. Think of it... if this modest group of loyal readers can make this harmless activity fly, what else can we do as a group?!?!

On your mark, get set go...