Tim Taylor on the 90's sitcom Home
Improvement really liked to give things more power. One of the main running
gags of that sitcom was that Tim Allen's character was always finding things
around the house to give more power. He always succeeded in providing the
power. Unfortunately, it also usually blew up in his face in rather comical
ways.
While I always enjoyed that show, it never really occurred to me to
write about it. I’m
not sure why I suddenly have the desire to now. But, recently, I’ve wanted to give a lot of things in my life more power.
Specifically, I’ve always wanted to give my words all the power they can
possibly have. But, I become frustrated when I try to power my words out there.
It seems like endless social media promotion is the only way to do that. Then
again, is it about powering your words out there? Shouldn't it be the power of
the words themselves that matters the most?
What does it mean to actually give something more power?
Giving something ‘more power’
isn’t
always about being “bigger” or “better.” It's about giving something a better function,
the most perfect function it can have, as a philosopher may put it. Sure, it's
possible to overpower things. Actually, it's done far too often with today’s media. There are
too many examples to list.
Popular culture is often shoved down
our throats day in and day out if we deal with any mass media at all. The last
thing I want to do is just try to force something out there. I want people to
organically consume it. But, of course, this isn’t good enough for a lot of people. Who wants to sit
there and wait to have their content enjoyed?
In my opinion, it’s better to have a handful of dedicated readers or
viewers than a whole mess of merely curious ones. Of course, I want as many
eyeballs as possible on my work. But, it’s
incredibly common to see people over-stuff and overpower their websites with
all sorts of affiliations and advertisements. Then, they overwhelm people with
more content than they can realistically consume in one day. It all depends on
the audience, of course.
Still, the last thing I want to do is
just get thousands of views, just because a post went viral on some social
media site. Then, I get nothing ever again. I’m more interested in providing lasting value.
"Evergreen” content is good, but I want to have something more than that.
Staying Power is Everything with
Content
The sort of power that I seek to infuse
into my content is staying power. In today’s
world, it seems that people are going by a strategy of live fast and die hard.
Tim Taylor sort of did this by just shoving as much power as you possibly could
into an ordinary device. Of course, that most often led to some hilarious
mishaps. Certain things have been set to particular power levels for good
reason, of course.
But, some people are going to tweak,
and that’s
not a bad thing, of course. Innovation is good. But, giving something “more
power” for the sake of making it have an immediate explosive impact is not
always the best idea. Eventually, this sort of strategy is going to burn out.
So, how does one gain staying power?
Just do what you do best, and do it the best way you can. In my case, I will
give my own writing staying power just by writing it. Then, I'll softly promote
it to my various social channels and link to it when I feel there’s a timely need for it. I don't see the benefit of
pushing things out hard and fast unless there’s a desperate need at that moment.
Many of us as writers put all our
strength and energy behind pushing content out and pulling hard to reel in
visitors. I’m
just going to write my piece and let those come that will. Come whatever may,
my words have the power that they have. You, my lovely readers, can decide for
yourselves what power they have for you.
In the end, the most important thing
is to share what you have in a way that benefits others. Actions taken to help
others go a long way. I want my words to help others think and grow. That's how
I will give them more lasting power.
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