I will get to working out loud, but first some context setting.

I went to Australia recently. Nothing particularly strange occurred, and Australia has a 90% overlap with my own life in Canada (and the one I had in UK).

In Australia. A place with 90%? Overlap to my lifestyle. Enjoying the context disconnect. Reminder that NOTHING is what it at first seems.
— Jonathan Anthony (@ThisMuchWeKnow) November 10, 2014

But it is different, of course, not least that they are currently readying for summer, and Christmas is consequently a beach and beer party. I had a slightly out of body experience in Perth seeing holly wreaths hung up around the shopping streets, with snow drop motifs adorning doors.

33 degrees in Sydney today. Meanwhile, back home… pic.twitter.com/zB6TErN7Eh

— Jonathan Anthony (@ThisMuchWeKnow) November 14, 2014

What is the context for an Australian when they see these NW global climatic archetypes representing such a celebration? I know Christmas is often little more than some long forgotten (pagan!) celebrations wrapped tightly in a marketing dream to create a consumerist horde, but what context is understood for Season’s Greetings?

In Sydney I witnessed a fake snow globe of epic proportions through which people could walk for a few seconds of “Christmas wonder”, while outside it was 30 degrees in the shade.

Context.

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Reading about the adolescent brain and its strange development, a beautiful glimpse into what goes at a time of rampant self-obsession

This is my entry for the 20th July, 1969.
‘I went to arts center in yellow cords and blouse. Ian was there but he didn’t speak to me. Got rhyme put in my handbag by someone who’s apparently got a crush on me. It’s Nicholas I think. Ugh.
Man landed on moon.’

Context.

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Richard Martin has a great post about generalists in which he has some examples where he describes person A or person B and asks which would you choose.

He then says:

There are two points to make here. The first is that context is everything.

I will stop him there. The first point is all I need.

Harold Jarche, meanwhile, believes

“…everyone can engage in critical thinking. All workers should continuously question the contexts in which they are working.”

The first step is to understand that there is context. We stand on shifting sands. Too many people I meet either do not believe that or are unwilling to embrace that starting point.

If you can get over that hillock, then there are the questions!

Context.

Back to working out loud, and it is a simple point. By moving out into the community and placing yourself in a place of observation and vulnerability, you know what runs up behind you and smashes you over the head with an iron bar / a mist of potpourri?

Context.

Context is good for you. Work Out Loud.

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