The Adnostic

I must be a hateful person. I hate romance novels. I hate call waiting. I hate companies who use base sexual references to sell a professional service. I hate bean paste. Apparently, I am filled with hate and I can add yet another item to the list. Successories.

I can't stand them. I got a calendar filled with them from a publisher and it immediately went into the circular file. If I walk into a manager's office and I see one on their desk or, even worse, prominently displayed on their wall, I have to fight the urge to roll my eyes while thinking, "If all it takes to motivate a company and improve performance are cheap words and stock photography, then why did I bother getting an MBA?"

Then Despair, Inc. came to my attention. They poked fun at popularity of Successories and what a dog-eat-dog place the business world can be.

Something I can laugh at? Yes. Something I would hang on my wall, let alone buy? Absolutely not.

Finally, the Age of Enlightenment for motivational poster art has arrived in the form of Right Brain Terrain's Alternative Motivational Posters.

The posters are beautiful pieces of art with an abstract, yet striking message. They are simple, authentic, well designed, and fail to make me gag. Making them something I would be glad to put on my wall. Even the copy in their About page is perfect:

AMP's are not intended to inspire someone to get off the couch and run a marathon. We believe they serve as subtle reminders of our imperfect nature or of our personal victories. They can be our cheerleaders on good days and our coaches on bad ones. They are positive decorations for our occasionally monotonous lives. They are wall coverings to hide the hole you punched when your best friend crashed your car.

Here's my best endorsement. I want one, and you should want one too. If you're a graphic artist reading this blog, they even have a contest to create their next poster based on song lyrics from Modest Mouse. Not a huge fan of MM, but the song works for the message RBT wants to convey.