Things That Jump Out of the Water

I recently spent a week at the beach and have a question for you. Why do you suppose humans are so mesmerized by marine mammals and fish that jump out of the water?

Last week from my vantage point on our balcony overlooking the beach, I had a global view of several fish-jumping events (yeah...I know most of them are mammals, but people don't usually say, "Look at the mammals jumping out of the water!"). Anyhow...the marine creatures jumping out of the water were mildly interesting to me; however, my brain is primarily tuned-in to notice human behavior. That's what gets my attention. The fact that these leaping aquatic creatures seemed to stop all other human activity on the beach was more interesting to me. As the creatures began their jumping show, I looked to the left as far as I could see...and looked to the right as far as I could see...and everyone seemed to be totally focused on the aquatic show. Most people were not content just to watch it on their own; they wanted to make sure everyone else saw the show. There was a lot of pointing and yelling, "Look...look...look out there!"

What's that all about?

I don't know the answer yet...but I've got some ideas. I would be especially interested in finding out the answer if I were in sales, marketing, or any other line of business that wanted to attract and hold the attention of otherwise occupied people. Wait a minute! That's all businesses, isn't it? Including mine! I'll bet even my good friend Phil Mitchell in Atchison, Kansas would be interested in this issue. He's got an incredibly creative brain and he's trying to figure out ways to attract people to hardware stores with his brainpower. I'll bet ol' Matt Cornell up in Massachusetts would be pretty interested in this question. He likes to think about stuff like this and he's trying to attract people to his business. When I think about it, I'll bet a lot of people would like to know the answer to this question. I suspect all of you reading this could figure out some way to use this knowledge.

I'd better go now and see if I can figure this out. When I do, I'll write about it in a book and see if I can attract a lot of readers. Wouldn't it be interesting in the future if you were walking down the beach and saw people reading my book on why people pay attention to fish jumping out of the water? I wonder what would happen if they were reading my book about why people pay so much attention to fish jumping out of the water and fish actually started jumping out of the water. Oh...the dilemma they would face!

I've got to get to work on this issue. It's got my attention now!    

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Chris Crouch, president of DME Training and Consulting, has spent years researching and studying both the mental and physical aspects of being productive.

Comments

[Matthew Cornell]

Great question. OK, I'll bite.

"Things jumping out of the water attract attention." Why is that?

o novel - "Why the *hell* is that happening?" Godin calls this "remarkable," that is, moves someone to say something. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/01/how_to_be_remar.html

o food - "Quick! There's food literally jumping out of the water at us. Easy pickins!"

o pack - "Others are noticing this, so maybe *I* should be too."

o boredom - "Mommy I'm hot and my sandwich as sand in it." "We're out of beer."

o visual reversal - "Why are all those fish falling from the wet, wet sky?" (standing on head)

o danger - "Some of those marine animals have very sharp teeth!"

o mating - "If I show I'm paying attention to the world, and changes in it, I'll impress my potential mate with how well I can keep her safe. Then the fun begins!"

Of course if animals regularly jumped out, it would be blase until it *stopped* happening. Then you'd see everyone on the shore staring mesmerized at the calm, empty water...

[Bernadette Michaels]

My thoughts
There was only fish to focus on (No multi tasking)

Water is mesmerizing in itself

People were being entertained (no one was asking them to do ....)