Irrelevant Until Proven Otherwise i.e. The Relevance of Candy

Wouldn’t a Starburst be fabulous right now?

So my obsession with relevance started in college. This was when I was a tutor, and was amazed at how a one hour session focused on relevance could turn a totally belligerent student who couldn’t comprehend the subject matter and is about to fail into a student who readily performs her assignments perfectly with barely any help from the tutor. That is when I realized that no matter how long it took, it was worth my time to ensure that every student I helped saw relevance in what they were doing…. Or I was wasting my time.

That is when it hit me… students aren’t lazy, it is just that EVERYTHING is irrelevant until proven otherwise. So why does the previous generation label us the entitlement generation and call us lazy? Weren’t things irrelevant in their day? Actually, not as much. The key difference is the information age. We have grown up with the assumption that you type everything on a computer, not a typewriter, and that anything you really need know can be learned in about a half hour as long as your internet speed is fast enough. I actually remember the day in my senior year of college that I discovered that there was a section in the library with books about programming. It had just never occurred to me that a library would have books about programming… I was amazed… both that the section was there, and that I had never even considered the possibility of it being there. Why? Because frankly, a library is cumbersome to use. You have to wrap your mind around the way it works… where as Google tries its hardest to make the data wrap around the way your mind works.

So we live in an age of cheap information. So cheap in fact, that it is nearly worthless. Because of this, those trying to get your money make sensational multimedia presentations that are designed to catch at least one of your senses and pull you in. Eye candy if you will…. And then professors wonder why abstract concepts in a text book can’t hold the attention of the student.

The digital version of candy is very much like the physical version. What makes candy so relevant?

Candy provides:

1. A sweet taste

2. A short term boost of energy

3. Variety

4. No commitment to anything long term (like making it through a whole bowl of food)

5. In most cases flexibility to continue doing whatever you were doing, without slowing down to actually sit down and eat it.

And it is amazing what kids will do for candy. Take a group of children and tell them to pick up their clothes off of the floor. The “Lazy” children will tell you they can’t, that they can’t see any of their clothes, that it is too hard, that you “must” help them and generally do anything they can to get out of doing the chore. But take these same “lazy” children who can’t find their clothes and put them on a field with Easter eggs full of candy, and with blinding speed the entire field will be striped clean in 5 minutes. Why? Because candy is relevant.

Have you noticed that all major holidays have moved to candy now? The idea is that parents and leaders can skip all the complicated preparation that children may or may not appreciate, and go with candy which is sure to be a hit.

And there you have a generation now trained in entitlement. We have been trained that we are entitled to a compressed extracted compound of the sweetest stuff, with no required commitment to go through anything difficult to get it. Why? Because that is easier for our parent’s and guaranteed to be relevant to us. The result? An obese culture, with health care costs spiraling out of control because we can’t comprehend that we can’t live on candy.

What does this mean for you in practical terms? That when you present, teach, or try to persuade, you either use candy (real or digital) to make yourself relevant to your audience, or you are irrelevant. The best speakers start their discussions with jokes. Why? Because it is thought candy, to make them relevant so that you will give them 3 more minutes before you pass judgment. Hopefully by that time, you are actually enjoying the feast enough to keep eating.

So the next time you are preparing to present, remember that you are irrelevant until proven otherwise. So be relevant fast… or at least bring candy.