I’m just back from a fascinating trip to New Zealand ahead of MCing the South Australian Visitor Information Service Conference later this month, and one offhanded comment by a Kiwi tourist operator has stuck with me.
As we were driving up into a remote, mountainside forest at night to see glow worms, our guide, Stephen from Real Rotorua, commented on the dual language on many of the road signs.
He said there have been waves of different approaches to signage, from all English to all Māori to a combination, but, if I remember correctly, there is a little backlash from non-Māori residents, who complain the indigenous words are too difficult to remember or pronouce.
Stephen recalled a Māori tourist operator reminding such people that if you can learn Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious you can easily handle a few Māori terms.
What Do We Focus On?
Learning anything new takes energy and our brains have evolved to avoid “wasting” energy wherever possible.
This is because the brain’s primary goal is to keep us alive so it wants to conserve calories to be ready to respond to threats, find food, etc.
There is no doubt that Māori terms do look baffling to Western eyes and sound “unexpected” to Western ears BUT at a bare minimum, four or five letter words to denote standard things from school buses to place names is surely not that hard?
Yes, it takes a bit of brain engagement to start with, but surely so does learning the new football rules each season, adapting to new road rules, or learning to enjoy a new TV series with different characters and new situations.
It comes down to this: do you have the will to try?
Leaving aside questions of respect and culture, being conscious that we are being selective in what we do or don’t apply our attention to is a major step in mastering what it means to be a fully-live, fully-conscious being.
And in small business, where we need to be self-motivated and maintain curiosity and commitment, this little scenario is a great litmus test for how active and adaptable our minds are!
Our next episode of Talking About Marketing will explore this more deeply, when we look at the four characters that each of our brains have – keep your ears open for Season 8 Episode 6. It really could change your life and the little tricks it offers for Whole Brain Living, will help you adapt to change (in life or business) more readily, just like a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down!