Do me a favor and close your eyes for 10 seconds and then continue reading. Do it now if you haven’t already. Now you are probably wondering why. As a matter of fact you were probably wondering why I made you close your eyes while you had your eyes closed. Am I right? Now we’ve all heard the saying “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” but what if I told you we can actually characterize people without ever seeing them to begin with. Crazy right? Now do me another favor, close your eyes again, this time for just 5 seconds and then continue. Do it now if you haven’t already. For those of you who closed your eyes, you probably wondered why I made you do this twice now. Let’s begin.
I made you close your eyes the first time to see if you were an active participant or a passive participant. What’s the difference? Well for starters the active participant is often unafraid of saying the wrong thing because the idea of getting it right outweighs the idea of getting it wrong. The active participant is probably a risk taker who figured you didn’t have anything to lose. Meanwhile the passive participant is either afraid of saying the wrong thing because the costs outweigh the benefits or no one was watching them so they figured who cares. There are 2 types of passive participants, procrastinators and observationalists. You are either lazy/in a rush because you just didn’t feel like it or you are indecisive because you are accustomed to learning from the mistakes of others. If you closed your eyes the first time you are an active participant, you see the glass ½ full. If you didn't close your eyes the first time you were a passive participant. I characterized the entire class just by telling you to close your eyes. I didn’t have to see you or know what specific person would be reading this. The human mind is powerful and deceptive, and because of this I can make you question yourself. Seeing a person and characterizing them isn’t good, but characterizing a person without seeing them… still not recommended haha. But wait, if I already characterized you the first time I had you close your eyes then why’d I make you close them the second time? If you closed your eyes the second time let me say this… I’m sorry.
And now you’re probably questioning why I’m sorry. Well that’s because the 2nd time was just for fun. I successfully wasted 5 seconds of your life that you will never get back, and maybe longer than that because some of you probably lost your spot and had to skim through all over again. I'm just kidding haha, the 2nd time I asked you to close your eyes was so I can distinguish the observationalists from the procrastinators. If you didn’t participate at all you are the procrastinator, you see the glass ½ empty. If you didn’t close your eyes the 1st time but you closed your eyes the 2nd time it's because you read how the other people were characterized for listening and you were curious as to how you would be characterized. You are the observationalist, who uses experience to make their decisions, you see the glass ½… well that’s open for interpretation now isn’t it.
If I told you to close your eyes again how many of you would do so? The risk taker is likely to close them again because why not, the procrastinator is highly unlikely to close them, but the observationalist is once again presented with a 50/50 chance. They have to decide if the request to close their eyes is a waste of time or another test for the lesson. Are you the active or
the passive participant? Better yet are you the risk taker, the procrastinator or the observationalist? Are you in between any of those? You can say in your comments which one you are because maybe you participated or maybe you didn’t. Only you know if you did or not right? Or can I figure out who did or didn’t?... Now I’m really in your head.
Umm kinda mad at you for messing with my head like that. You really made me question myself. The actions I took reading that and the way you characterized me due to those action exactly described my personality. I am a little mad about it but good job!!
ReplyDeleteBen!!! This was actually really fun to read. I am in fact the risk taker according to your studies and I can't say you're wrong. However, I am very indecisive so maybe I'm in between LOL. I really like how you made this interactive for the reader and showed that even a simple task can separate people into groups and show a piece of who they are. Great job :)))
ReplyDeleteWow I love this haha, it totally reminded me of the Now You See Me movie with the magicians, observationalists. I closed my eyes neither time so I would fall under the procrastinator category although I would argue that quarantine has impressed hints of procrastination on all of us....
ReplyDeleteHaha this was a really good piece of writing and you actually made me question myself completely. Your writing was super entertaining and I never got bored while reading it. Really good job Ben!!
ReplyDeleteWooaahh this was cool and trippy at the same time. I closed my eyes both times and literally thought "Why am I closing my eyes" uhhhh not how you just described me without even seeing me HAHAHA. I am kinda of in between risk taker yet passive but also observational because I have to see if this is something that is beneficial by seeing if other people will do it as well. Lmaoo I'm all over the place but I really liked this alot Benjamin :) .
ReplyDeleteThis made my night LOL! I'm going to be really honest I didn't close my eyes either time but when I read the characterizations it made me laugh about how spot on they were. Thank you for making this so fun to read. Great job!!
ReplyDeleteBEN! This was amazing man! I felt as if I was attending a TED Talk. You are truly good at engaging with the reader and I enjoyed reading what it meant if we closed our eyes and didn't. I am a risk taker according to your studies, which is true! Plus, way to be in my head, it was like you were a hypnotist! Great job!
ReplyDeleteBEN! This was amazing man! I felt as if I was attending a TED Talk. You are truly good at engaging with the reader and I enjoyed reading what it meant if we closed our eyes and didn't. I am a risk taker according to your studies, which is true! Plus, way to be in my head, it was like you were a hypnotist! Great job!
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting way to connect with your reader. The fact that you can get in someones head by making them read your theories about what their actions mean is such a great way to get someone to question themselves.
ReplyDeleteahahahaha this was very fun to read! i am definitely a passive participant for sure, i'm too lazy to do most thing.
ReplyDeleteLove the way you used your words felt like i was in the story
ReplyDeleteHaha, this was so fun to read! It's really refreshing to see a post with a sense of humor, I was entertained the entire time. Thank you for writing this. Well done! Oh, and I'm a procrastinator.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, I believe I am the active participant and risk taker who thought "why not?" and would close their eyes again because I believe it would be another test. I loved how you used your entry to create this psychological mind game. Very creative and detailed!
ReplyDeleteBen!! I loved it dude. One of my favorite parts was the interaction you created between the reader and your piece. Also, your little study says I am a risk taker, which I will have to agree with :) you did amazing Ben!
ReplyDeleteWow this was such a unique piece! I have never quite read something like this and I absolutely enjoyed it. The way you were directly addressing us as readers and had us involved was very creative. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThis was so creative Ben. I love how it was interactive and from the little activity I was a procrastinator which is something I learned the hard way throughout quarantine aha! Again, great work! It was so much fun.
ReplyDeleteBEN!!! I remember you showing me this a while back and me getting visibly upset because of you messing with my mind... That being said, it was a very fun read!
ReplyDeleteRyan Mallon
wow ben, I absolutely loved reading this man. This was such a great read, love the way you used your words and the way you presented everything!! thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI was considered an active participant, but really after reading this I've realized I am a little bit of both lol. This was crazy and I never expected this at all this was amazing nice job sir. -Arnold Porter Jr February 2/11/2021 1:39 p.m
ReplyDeleteBENNY LOL. I guess I'm the procrastinator... In my defense, I only didn't close my eyes because I knew I'd fall asleep considering how exhausted I am at the moment. I still really enjoyed your study. Very thought provoking haha Good job:)
ReplyDeleteBENNNN GOOD JOB I LOVED IT! I was so involved and engaged it was a roller coaster ahhaha
ReplyDeleteThe whole time I was reading I was both angry and intrigued haha. If what your telling me is true, I guess that means im an observationalist, which does sound correct.
ReplyDelete