After years of witnessing, worrying, and talking about people suffering from homelessness, Guenther Creative started a partnership with Real Change, the paper that gives homeless vendors away to earn income and confidence. Why did it take us so long? We decided to dig in and find out.
Turns out, talking about what you want to do gets in the way of doing it. The culprit is the pleasure center in our own brains. Telling other people what you’re going to do can produce the same kind of satisfaction and positive sense of yourself that would earn actually doing it. It’s a common belief that telling other people our goals will make us more accountable. That’s true if you have an understanding with specific people to hold you to your claims. Otherwise, you’re free to get all that feel good chemistry and not lift a finger.
This helps explain a Seattle mystery to me: so many people express that they want to be part of the solution. Like me. Yet right under our noses is this band of heroes succeeding at their mission called Real Change. working very humbly and very hard to attract just basic support. If you did a TV show about success, based on this research, you might call it STFU. It would have many episodes of material from every side of every spectrum.
“Walk the talk” is one of the key values that got us rolling in 2004. We limit our work to partnerships that make a measurable difference. We work side-by-side our clients as fellow believers and doers. We serve people who serve the common good in addition to their own bottom lines.
If you want to make something happen, you're tired of talking about it, and you want award-winning partners with a 30-year track record of moving the needle, check out our work and give us a call. There are few things we love more than sitting down one on one with people to explore their dreams and how we can help them get there.
Kurt
Caption: William Ellington, Real Change vendor. From a series of ads Guenther Creative is producing for Real Change. Research: “When Intentions Go Public”, Peter Gollwitzer et al, Psychological Science. “Keep Your Goals to Yourself”, Derek Sivers, Ted Talk “Why the Modern World is Bad for Your Brain”, Daniel Levitin, The Guardian. “The Neuroscience of Pleasure and Addiction”, Christopher Bergland, Psychology Today