In recovery, we are learning how to strive for love in our relationships, not superiority. Yes, we may need to make decisions about people’s behavior from time to time. If someone is hurting us, we need to stand up for ourselves. We have a responsibility to set boundaries and take care of ourselves. But we do not need to justify taking care of ourselves by condemning someone else. We can avoid the trap of focusing on others instead of ourselves. In recovery, we are learning that what we do needs to be right only for us. What others do is their business and needs to be right only for them. It’s tempting to rest in the superiority of being right and in analyzing other people’s motives and actions, but it’s more rewarding to look deeper. Today, I will remember that I don’t have to hide behind being right. I don’t have to justify what I want and need with saying something is “right” or “wrong.” I can let myself be who I am.
Beattie, Melody (2009-12-15). The Language of Letting Go (Hazelden Meditation Series) (p. 47). Hazelden. Kindle Edition.
The best book I read this week was “The Information Diet” by author Clay Johnson. Recently, he posted on an aspect of his book I find interesting…
With information, we seem to have taken the worst concepts of dieting and applied it to our habits. Somehow an information diet meant throwing away your blackberry, deleting your Facebook account, or taking a “social media fast”. This kind of stuff isn’t healthy dieting, it’s anorexia. Banting had it right — we need to learn the skill of selectivity and choice, not the skills of banishment and avoidance. Nobody’s getting obese eating too much raw broccoli.
Our information diets are required to be much more diverse than our food diets are — whereas a college student in June and an accountant in April may require very different information diets, the food that keeps them healthy is roughly the same. That’s why the Information Diet is about habit building, conscious consumption, and measurement and not about telling you specifically how much to consume or what specifically to consume.
The first important habit you need to build to have a healthy relationship with information is measurement. The important thing to do on an information diet is to measure what you’re consuming, and then to start making decisions based on that data — those decisions should usually be to consume more of the good stuff, and less of the bad stuff.
Secondly, there are the important skills you get — the ones I describe in further detail in the book. Cultivating your data literacy to be able to delve deep into source material. CodeYear is a great commitment to make in this regard — learning how to write code will give you the skills needed to sort and look through data.
Finally, it’s about making some decisions about what to consume. And honestly this is the toughest thing for me, as an author, to recommend. My grandmother, for instance, read the bible every day, and I’m convinced that while it was the only book she ever read, she read it more than 1,000 times. I’d never suggest to her that she stop reading the bible — that’d be wrong. Instead though, I might encourage her to dig deeper into the source material there, and go beyond the King James Version.
I was already thinking about the topic of ‘what to consume’ when Clay’s book came along. In my ebook ‘Personal News Aggregation for Fun and Profit’ [registration required] I talk about using email for ‘just in time’ information and Google Reader for ‘just in case’ information, but I had worked my way up to almost 900 sources that I was tracking. It occurred to me recently that just because I can add a site to Google Reader easily doesn’t always mean I should. In the same way that Rupert Murdoch makes some judgments before buying a media outlet to include in his News Corporation, I too must have a set of filters I use before deciding to include a feed in my ‘news corporation’ as a trusted source…
More and more, I’m thinking about the ‘strategic alignment’ of everything I do on the internet – from consumption to production – with the ‘consumer’ in mind. Call me Captain Obvious, but in order to avoid wasting time or risk unmet ‘consumer demand’ it occurs to me that everything I do – including the sources to which I subscribe in Google Reader – should be in line with my brand which in turn needs to be tightly aligned with solving ‘customer problems’ as my friend Nilofer Merchant says…
If you, like me, are thinking about the way you integrate information in your life, I highly recommend Clay’s book – it stimulated some great internal thinking about how and why I use my tools to support my business and personal objectives by consuming information ‘on purpose’. If you’d like to talk about how this impacts your life, comment below or use the connect tab above to start the discussion…
Here’s some important data on consumption, curation and creation from Brian Solis…
According to Forrester Research, overall adoption of social technologies has effectively reached saturation. 80% of people in the US engage with social media, which is equal to the number of people who text via SMS or equivalent to the ubiquity of those who own DVD players.
While it’s new, its value is not to be minimized. Social media users already number in the hundreds of millions, providing the reach of traditional media but also the precision of one-to-one service and attention. Forrester notes that just a handful of “Mass Connectors” will create 256 billion influence impressions in the US this year.
As our social graphs propagate, the information that passes within it also multiplies. Individuals are not only socializing, they are sharing information and creating content. In doing so, updates serve as social objects, becoming catalysts for increased interaction and overall reach. As a result, participants and their social presences are amplified within existing social graphs and now also extend across a rising category of nicheworks or interest graphs – social graphs united around common interests and themes.
We are the architects of our own experiences and we are also the hubs of relevant content, resembling production foremen as we develop workflows and processes for consuming, curating, and creating content.
I have been using the first three words in the ‘e1evation workflow’ for almost two years. To these I add ‘connect and converse’ as you see below…
The ‘e1evation workflow’ is a ‘lather, rinse, repeat’ process for content marketing that can help you establish a dominant thought leadership position. If you’re intrigued by Brian’s work and are looking for a ‘practical, tactical way’ to become one of Forrester’s 23% in the creator space, comment or ‘connect’ to discuss how this applies to you and your organization…
WordPress. Where would I be without it? Most likely living a life of quiet obscurity in Algoma, WI. Thanks to WordPress, however, I have a global platform and people can find me in Google. Does it work? Well? You’re reading this, aren’t you?
My wife and I are celebrating 23 years of ‘Crazy Love’ today. This version of the song is oddly appropriate because on one level, we have as much in common as Ray Charles and Van Morrison. Still, we make beautiful music together…
Lyrics…
I can hear her heart beat for a thousand miles
And the heavens open every time she smiles
And when I come to her that’s where I belong
Yet I’m running to her like a river’s song
Chorus:
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She’s got a fine sense of humor when I’m feeling low down
And when I come to her when the sun goes down
Take away my trouble, take away my grief
Take away my heartache, in the night like a thief
Chorus:
Yes I need her in the daytime
Yes I need her in the night
Yes I want to throw my arms around her
Kiss her hug her kiss her hug her tight
And when I’m returning from so far away
She gives me some sweet lovin’ brighten up my day
Yes it makes me righteous, yes it makes me feel whole
Yes it makes me mellow down in to my soul
Go to the source and read the rest of the article – you’ll thank me for it later — but in the meantime, treat yourself to this video. Kute is both wise and entertaining — it’s impossible to remain unaffected by his energy…
“The thought and feeling of gratitude are among the most powerful tools of creation. Thinking about the things in your life that you are grateful for having not only makes you appreciate them more – it also sends out a message of “have” versus “lack” into the Universe. And since you attract what you are, you activate the mechanism that allows you to have that which you desire and are thankful for. Gratitude is most powerful when followed by action – when thought and deed are aligned – so showing your gratitude brings even more of this ‘have’ energy to you. Thinking, feeling, and acting thankful every day doesn’t take much – just awareness of what you’re already doing and connecting these to the thought and feeling of gratitude. Here are some examples:
I’m grateful for my fully functioning body, and I show it by walking in joy.
I’m grateful for my creativity, and I show it by coming up with new recipes in the kitchen.
I’m grateful for my family, and I show it by telling them that I love them whenever I can.
I’m grateful for this beautiful planet and I show it by recycling.
I’m thankful for my desire to help others, and I show it by sharing valuable information for a healthy lifestyle.
I’m thankful for my need to be who I am and say what I think, and I show it by “telling it like it is” and speaking/writing/standing for the bottom line.
I’m thankful for the sun, and I show it by closing my eyes and feeling the sun’s rays for a second every morning that I open my curtains to a clear day.
I’m thankful for knowing that I am connected to every single soul on this planet and beyond, and I show it by smiling at everyone I meet and treating them with the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have done unto you.
As you can see, you can practice gratefulness with the smallest thing or the most profound ideas. I challenge you to, right now, think of something or someone for which you are thankful, and show it. Share it with us here too, because nothing spreads the joy and power of gratitude like sharing it with others. What are you grateful for?” Source: Silvie+Maryl | Upgrading Minds, Transforming Lives
JUST FOR TODAY
I will try to live through this day only
and not tackle my whole life problem at once.
I can do something for twelve hours that would appall me
if I felt that I had to keep it up for a lifetime.
JUST FOR TODAY
I will be happy.
This assumes to be true what Abraham Lincoln said,
that, “most folks are as happy as
they make up their minds to be”.
JUST FOR TODAY
I will adjust myself to what is,
and not try to adjust everything to my own desires.
I will take my “luck” as it comes and fit myself to it.
JUST FOR TODAY
I will try to strengthen my mind.
I will study. I will not be a mental loafer.
I will read something that requires
mental effort and concentration.
JUST FOR TODAY
I will exercise my soul in three ways.
I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out.
If anybody knows of it, it will not count.
I will do at least two things
I do not want to do – just for exercise.
I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt;
they may be hurt, but today I will not show it.
JUST FOR TODAY
I will be agreeable,
will look as well as I can,
dress becomingly, talk low,
act courteously, criticise not one bit,
not find fault with anything
and not try to improve or regulate
anybody except myself.
JUST FOR TODAY
I will have a programme –
I may not be able to follow it exactly,
but I will have it.
I will save myself from two pests:
hurry and indecision.
JUST FOR TODAY
I will have a quiet half hour
all to myself and relax.
During this half hour, sometime,
I will try to get a better perspective of my life.
JUST FOR TODAY
I will be unafraid,
especially I will not be afraid
to enjoy what is beautiful,
and to believe that as I give to the world,
so the world gives to me.
Well you can tell ev’ryone I’m a down disgrace
Drag my name all over the place.
I don’t care anymore. You can tell ev’rybody ’bout the state I’m in You won’t catch me crying ‘cos I just can’t win. I don’t care anymore I don’t care anymore
I don’t care what you say
I don’t play the same games you play.
‘Cos I’ve been talking to the people that you call your friends
And it seems to me there’s a means to and end.
They don’t care anymore.
And as for me I can sit here and bide my time
I got nothing to lose if I speak my mind.
I don’t care anymore I don’t care no more
I don’t care what you say
We never played by the same rules anyway.
I won’t be there anymore
Get out of my way
Let me by
I got better things to do with my time
I don’t care anymore I don’t care anymore
I don’t care anymore I don’t care anymore
Well, I don’t care now what you say
‘Cos ev’ry day I’m feeling fine with myself
And I don’t care now what you say
Hey I’ll do alright by myself
‘Cos I know.
‘Cos I remember all the times I tried so hard And you laughed in my face ‘cos you held all the cards. I don’t care anymore. And I really ain’t bothered what you think of me ‘Cos all I want of you is just a let me be. I don’t care anymore D’you hear? I don’t care no more
I don’t care what you say
I never did believe you much anyway.
I won’t be there no more
So get out of my way.
Let me by
I got better things to do with my time
I don’t care anymore
D’you hear? I don’t care anymore
I don’t care no more
You listening? I don’t care no more
No more!
I’ve been following industry oracle Guy Kawasaki for over 25 years and I agree with him almost all of the time. He was right about the Mac, he’s right about Posterous and he’s right about Alltop. He’s right about so many things. When he speaks, I take notes. This time, however, I take issue…
He posted a recent article on the topic of Facebook pages recently and this is one of the rare times I need to take issue…
“Q: I’m a small business entrepreneur, and I’ll be introducing a consumer product soon. Should I create a website for my company or a Facebook fan page?
A: I faced a similar question a few weeks ago for my book, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. I had three options: create a site for the book, add a section for the book to my existing website, or create a Facebook fan page.
After five minutes of thoughtful deliberation, I decided to add a bare-bones section to my website (which I haven’t gotten around to do yet—which should tell you something) and create a Facebook fan page but not to create a website for the book. Here’s why I did not choose a website:” Source: Ask the Wise Guy: Facebook Fan Page or Website? : The World :: American Express OPEN Forum
Guy goes on to elucidate 4 reasons why he did not choose a website and 8 reasons why he chose a Facebook page along with 3 potential ‘gotchas’ — go to the source and read the entire article if you’d like…
Here’s where Guy and I part thinking. In business, the answer is rarely either/or. Frequently it’s both/and. Guy’s advice is great for someone launching a product or a book, but it’s not really great long term advice for an entrepreneur launching a company. As a short term strategy I recommend that entrepreneurs buy a domain, set up Google Apps and create a Facebook page. Google Apps will give them the ability to send corporate email from their domain and their domain name can be temporarily directed toward their Facebook page until they build a blogsite. This will give them a total ‘appearance package’ that will allow them to look professional immediately while they contemplate their website and further social media strategy and tactics…
On this issue I side with author Lisa Barone who recently posted…
“Brace yourself: Facebook is trying to take over the world. Or, if not the world, at least the entire Internet. With Facebook partnering up with popular sites like Yelp, many SMB owners may feel as if their load got lighter. I mean, why waste time worrying about your building your blog or your own site when you can grow your Facebook presence instead? If Facebook’s opening up the doors so that people can take you with them, you don’t have to worry about anything else anymore, right?
Wrong!
It doesn’t matter how hot Facebook or any of the other social media sites are looking right now. You still need to be focused on using your blog to create your own authority and brand.” Source: 10 Reasons Not To Ignore Your Blog For Facebook
Reason #1 she cites? “You don’t own Facebook”…
The problem with Facebook from my perspective is that you’re not only a renter, you’re a free renter and you can expect all the rights and privileges thereof. In other words, you have no rights on Facebook — not even privacy. You use it at your own risk. Facebook can — and has — made major changes to their technology without notice or recourse. Using a Facebook page is a great place for an entrepreneur to start but not to stay. I agree with Chris Brogan, Darren Rowse and other internet visionaries who propose an internet ‘homebase and outpost‘ strategy that puts a blog at the center of your online presence. The key is that you have to own that presence and be ‘master of your domain’ name and internet brand…
In the future, these homebases may become less important as more people understand the wisdom of David Sauter and his team at Envano. Their ‘autobahn’ model describes a future where a website becomes less important as a company embraces appropriate social media tools to build their internet presence, but the lack of an ‘easy button’ or unified social media dashboard makes this more of a future vision than a present reality…
Guy, I love you, your thought leadership and your content, but just this once I think your Q&A might have done the reader a disservice. Readers? Questions? Feedback? Please comment, call or use the contact form to connect so we can talk about how this applies to your business…
The good Lord has put some amazing people in my path. For a guy ‘straight outta Wisconsin’, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to collaborate with some pretty high octane people. One of them is Nilofer Merchant. Now Nilofer herself is not in need of a ‘total beauty makeover’ but her web presence was another issue altogether…
Nilofer and I met and worked together at Apple during the ‘Think Different‘ campaign — she at the ‘mothership’ in Cupertino and me at the field office in Chicago. We both left Apple and went on to other things; she to GoLive, Rubicon Consulting, writing a couple of books and me to eventually start e1evation, llc. Thanks to social networking, our paths crossed again recently. I commented to her that I was surprised to see a global thought leader like her using Posterous for her blog. She remembered that comment and a couple of weeks ago asked if I would guide her through the process of moving to WordPress…
The old Posterous site; click to enlarge...
For her theme, we chose the highly modifiable Canvas from Woo Themes and designing the site was ‘easy peasy lemon squeezy’ due to their flexible and powerful approach to WordPress theme design. We still have a few things to clean up, but Nilofer, being the hard charging kick ass girl she is, couldn’t wait to ‘go live’. You can view her site online at http://nilofermerchant.com but don’t follow her unless you want your world rocked!
The new site; click to enlarge
Are you a great thinker that wants to engage in ‘thought leadership’ marketing? Do what Nilofer did. Ask me to guide you through the process. Comment, call or ‘connect’ so we can get started…
Long before I was a website developer, I was in sales and sales management. The other day, I had a convo with a fellow sales puke and we were discussing the top 3 sales movies of all time. They were, in our opinions, Glengarry Glen Ross, Boiler Room and, of course, Tommy Boy! Here’s the best sales team meeting of all time imho [warning: NSFW!]…
Blake, Alec Baldwin’s sales manager character says ABC means ‘always be closing’, but if you’re a blogger I say ABC means ‘always be curating’!
In my weltanschauung [worldview for those of you behind on your German], blogging, on one level, is little more than the public e-mailing and bookmarking. After all, what is a blog post but a “to whom it may concern” memo to the world? Because most people save bookmarks and send e-mails and links to one another they already have the basic instincts they need for thought leadership marketing. They are however using tools that are sub optimal for the task at hand. Even the person who has 1 million people in their address book cannot match the reach of a tool that can reach out to 2 billion people on the Internet.
What then are the right tools? I believe they are the 10+ tools in the elevation workflow…
Google Chrome
Gmail
Google Reader and Feedly
Shareaholic
Posterous
WordPress
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
MailChimp
YouTube
Dlvr.it
I firmly believe that anyone who wants to be a thought leader can use this combination of tools to establish their public point of view. Many people are using some or all of these tools but have not aligned them in an optimal fashion.
I want to take a moment to talk about Shareaholic. When teaching social media I tell my classes if you only add one extension to Google Chrome [or Firefox], make it Shareaholic. Why? Because Shareaholic is the one tool that allows you to always be curating. With the Shareaholic extension installed I am always ready to share content to the appropriate channel in my vast Internet publishing empire. Shareaholic, I have said earlier, is the Swiss Army knife of sharing. Allow me to demonstrate…
Curation not only adds authority to your public brand, but it will also rock your SEO. Shareaholic is the secret to my success, because with it, to paraphrase Night Ranger, I’m curating and blogging 25 hours a day…
I believe that the elevation workflow is a kick ass solution for thought leadership marketing. Comment, call or ‘connect’ so we can talk about how this applies to your organization — I’m always available for Personal Digital Coaching on the ‘e1evation workflow’…
Some thoughts on beginning blogging from a writer at FlowingData…
I answered a few questions for Amstat News not too long ago, and the questions were centered around why I, as a stat grad student, take the time to write for FlowingData and why others should give blogging a try. The questions were more from a career standpoint, but it really all comes down to this. It’s fun.I have fun picking apart designs and playing with data. It’s fun reading comments. It’s fun looking at others’ work. It’s fun learning how to make stuff. It’s fun getting emails from people who were totally scared of numbers, but are now taking stat courses.
People often ask me how much time I spend writing posts, but it’s like asking someone how much he watches TV or plays video games. How many hours have you spent roaming an art gallery?
I’ll let you in on a little secret though. Maintaining a blog doesn’t take as much time as you think. You just need to manage your time wisely. Don’t waste minutes checking stats, tweaking design, etc. Get rid of the extraneous, and you’re just writing in a journal. Doogie Howser wrote every day and he was a doctor and he had a social life. So it must be possible.
Hold on. I think I have a point here.
I guess—if you’re thinking about starting a blog, go for it. I highly encourage it. FlowingData has definitely been a good thing for me. There’s a book on the way, and I’ve been lucky to connect with people and groups I probably never would have been able to otherwise. But don’t just do it because you think it’ll advance your career. Do it because you actually like what you’re doing, and other stuff will follow. It’ll be much more fun that way.
Sorry for the longish curation excerpt, but this was a great post by ‘askflowingdata’ at the FlowingData blog that I just had to share! Comment, call or ‘connect’ so we can talk about how this applies to your organization. btw, here’s a bit of ‘Doogie Howser’ eye candy for those unfamiliar with the reference…
Sweta of GlobalThoughtz has an interesting blog post on the topic of corporate blogs…
“How do you follow your favorite company? How do you come to know about their latest launch or what’s cooking in their labs? My answer to this would be their ‘Corporate Blogs’. Not only does it give me a constant update about the company I like but also makes me feel connected to them. It gives me the feeling that they are listening to me.
Today as a consumer, I have several products to choose from for each of my need and certainly my choice is driven by my affinity to a particular brand. Just like Internet presence had become crucial a few years back, corporate blogs are absolute necessity now. After all we live in the world of Social Media.
Its not just web companies that need to engage their consumers with their blogs. Few of the most loved companies in the world also house must read blogs. One of the best example of corporate blog is Official Google Blog, not only does it provide an insight into the company but also provides useful information to its readers. Corporate blogs such as McDonald’s Corporate Social Responsibility by McDonald’s, Check Out by Walmart and Fast Lane by GM have made these most loved companies even closer to their consumers. The Social networking sites Facebook and Twitter constantly update their users with their blogs The Facebook Blog and Twitter Blog.” Source: Why a company must have a blog.
Here’s the real payback, however, and the real reason why these corporations do it: HubSpot says that companies that blog get 55% more visitors, have 97% more inbound links, and 434% more indexed pages [which are valuable from a search perspective]. Better yet, customers who are engaged by a corporate blog and social media spend 30% more than their disconnected counterparts, according to MarketingSavant Dana VanDen Heuvel…
I guess you don’t really HAVE to have a blog, but at a time when many companies are fighting for their economic survival, I think it’s good to know there’s a good, fast and cheap tool that delivers these kinds of results. Question? Feedback? Leave a comment or use the contact page…
I picked this cover because it’s slow and intentional and the lyrics are included…
Here are the lyrics…
Baby, do you understand me now
Sometimes I feel a little mad
But don’t you know that no one alive
Can always be an angel
When things go wrong I seem to be bad
But I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood
Baby, sometimes I’m so carefree
With a joy that’s hard to hide
And sometimes it seems that all I have do is worry
Then you’re bound to see my other side
But I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood
If I seem edgy I want you to know
That I never mean to take it out on you
Life has it’s problems and I get my share
And that’s one thing I never meant to do
Because I love you
Oh, Oh baby don’t you know I’m human
Have thoughts like any other one
Sometimes I find myself long regretting
Some foolish thing some little simple thing I’ve done
But I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood
Yes, I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood
Yes, I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood
Here are a few others you might enjoy more…
The original…
The popular…
The best?
And finally…
It sucks to be misunderstood, especially when you’re a ‘soul whose intentions are good’. People are unmanageable, however, and only a higher power can return you to sanity…
I do! It’s one of the most important skills or disciplines I’ve developed over the past 3 years. Lifehacker recently surveyed their readership to find the best mindmapping tools…
“Mind mapping is a great way to add structure to brainstorming sessions and visualize your ideas. Check out the applications your fellow readers use to do their best brainstorming.” Source: Hive Five: Five Best Mind Mapping Applications
Go to the source and read about the 5 favorites. Personally, I use Freemind, Mindmeister and Xmind in that order. What are your favorites? Comments please…
Update 10/21/09: Since I wrote this post back in March of 2009, I have become disenchanted with Xmind due to their difficult to manage licensing scheme. I have become enthralled, however with MindManager Pro. Whenever I have something I need to figure out for myself or want to explain to someone else [like a screencast] chances are I’ll mindmap it first to help me make sure I cover all the bases. I also use Mindmeister quite a bit primarily because of their cloud computing approach to mindmapping. I can publish a mindmap on the internet and embed it in a post like this:
They also have an iPhone app that flawlessly syncs with the online version. These days, chances are I’ll start my map in MindManager Pro and make it public in Mindmeister when it’s ready to go. Only problem is that MindManager is very $$$. You can duplicate the same workflow with Freemind [which is free] and Mindmeister. Questions? Feedback? Leave a comment or use the contact page to reach me — if you contact me, I’ll send you an invitation to try out Mindmeister!
The best book I read this week was “The Information Diet” by author Clay Johnson. Recently, he posted on an aspect of his book I find interesting…
Bright, shiny objects! 
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