Trick I learned from Matt Groening
and how to make it come alive
I saw this stack
And with the digital age, my limited time, and the flood of saves and bookmarks on my account, I would like to add one to this wonderful filter that I learned from Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons (the longest-running sitcom, either animated or not)
Groening's rule:
If you won't say it out loud to another person, delete it
Stop and say things out loud in your social media stream. Instead of listening to a podcast, make what you read and think about come alive.
If you aren’t willing to breathe it, then it’s probably not worth your time.
Try it, and you’ll see how hard it is.
When you start to talk, you’ll want to start talking to other people, and then all of a sudden, you get a network going.
So where did I learn this? From a documentary on Groening’s favorite comic anti-hero and inspiration for Homer’s bald hair.
Reid Fleming World’s Toughest Milkman
Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of him; no one has, and that’s the reason for the documentary to get the word out.
If you had happened to see the strip and flip through it, you most likely would have passed. It didn’t come alive, at least to me.
But when I saw the documentary and heard the backstory and the famous celebrities say the words on the page out loud, it clicked.
They made it come alive, unique to each of them.
The irony is, I can’t find Matt Groening getting into character, and yet I swear that I did. But he is the reason I watched the documentary, so he gets the credit for pulling me in.
After watching this clip, look at who was attached to be in a movie of this character?
With each one of these actors, you can 100% hear their voice in your head. Very unique.
It’s time I argue that we stop allowing other voices in our heads and start creating our own.
When you read out boring text, you will quickly know if it truly is. And what is supposed to be amazing doesn’t sound that good in reality.
It’s like reading a book to your son, but now to ourselves.
Our generation has grown dumber, so getting us out of our mess will require some one-on-one time with yourself and a good book to kick-start your imagination.
Instead of running a 10k, try reading one.
Eric