Content Curation World

A few days back Joel Zaslofsky called me out on Twitter a call for inspired ideas on how to curate your entire life and I promptly responded offering my email and my availability to share a few suggestions of what he could include in his upcoming presentation at the Minnebar Sessions taking place last Saturday.

The day after Joel wrote me via email: "...I was looking for your wisdom on best practices, pitfalls, or anything else you'd comment on if speaking to someone about extending curating to your entire life.

Basically, curation is a mindset for me - a way of being - and I'm on a mission to show people the power behind it.

I know you don't just curate the things you see online, but how do you apply the curator's philosophy to other aspects of your life?"

And here is what I replied:

a) Operate exclusively on the basis of quality - no compromises on what you pass on.

b) Curate things as if your reputation and value will be determined by what you share and how you share it.

c) Search and investigate well below and beyond the surface, because nothing is really the way it initially looks.

d) It's not in the technology. No need to have or buy any special tool, though having instruments that help you find, search, collect, organize and showcase your curated gems can definitely help.

e) Curate the environment around you, your room, your studio, your desk, your desktop, your garage and your shelves as if it was a shrine. If you are not doing it, you have already given up the god-like powers you may have to shape reality around you.

f) Curate with a purpose, not to simply share, communicate and express yourself. Go after something you want to help yourself and others with. Go after something specific you love and believe into.

g) Pay double attention to details as both life and curation are all about attention to details. If you are in a hurry, need to post before 12, or have to do x number of things asap to avoid being late, you better give up now on the idea you are "curating" anything at all.

P.S.: I don't how happy Joel was with my suggestions above, but he certainly shared an interesting presentation with his audience, as you can tell by looking at his slideshare deck here: http://www.slideshare.net/JoelZaslofsky/2013-0406-minne-bar-presentation-on-experience-curating

- too bad we can't hear what he said.

by Robin Good

(Thanks to Julie van de Zande for helping Joel discover me)

(Image credit: Womans with bags in shopping mall - Shutterstock)