You probably have purposes. As in more than one purpose.
I love the idea of “knowing our purpose” in this life, but my hunch is it’s not accurate. While all of us want to have our big moment that people will write books about one day and we’ll hear Whitney Houston singing “One Moment in Time” in the background, I think it actually sells the excitement of life a little short.
Ironically, I think Christians (like me) have taken this idea even further. Yes, I love the idea that God put me on this planet to do something. Wanna know what I like more? The idea that he put me on this planet to do lots of things.
For those of us who read blogs, write blogs, comment on blogs, and blog blogs, it’s easy to take some simple things for granted. Like succinctly answering the question of “what is a blog.”
I found myself in this very situation recently. I’m proud to say I helped a group of extremely smart people at my office launch the company’s first blog, HealthyScience.net. The idea was simple: we have a lot of people here who really, REALLY know their stuff when it comes to glyconutrients and nutrition in general. So let’s share the love and get the great content out there.If you know anything about getting content about nutrition as a network marketing company through all the legal and compliance obstacles, you know this is no easy feat. We’ve certainly got some improvements still to make, but I’m extremely proud of the team’s quick success.
Interestingly, I was shocked at how many people (OK, executives) didn’t really have a handle on what a blog was when I originally brought it up. I mean, the idea of blogs being a new thing is SOOOO 2006. But sure enough, I found myself getting blank stares at the really good stuff in my presentations (tossing out mandatory blog presentation statements like “content is king,” “build authority,” etc. – you know the gist) because just the pronunciation of “blog” was getting too many snickers and rolled eyes.
It hit me that all of this stuff we’re doing in the echo chamber is still not as obvious to a lot of the folks we’re selling the ideas to these days.
Numbers with dollar signs are our favorite measuring sticks. There’s no denying that making money is hands down the most prominent measurable seen today. But I’m convinced many people measure profits and sales not solely because that’s all they care about, but because it’s the easiest way for them to measure success. With so many people concerned with it and keeping an eye on it, it becomes a great scoreboard.
But what if money isn’t the most important thing you should be measuring? Hang with me: I’m not about to get all sappy and anti-capitalism on you. I’m actually offering a simple paradigm shift that should possibly preface the involvement of the accounting department.
What if your business isn’t ready to make money yet?
Something pretty cool happened this past Tuesday night. Steve Woodruff and Lisa Petrilli launched #LeadershipChat on Twitter. I must admit, between putting a little boy to bed and watching the Rangers win their first-ever playoff series, I was only able to get in on about the last 10 minutes. But it was quite an impressionable period of time.
As you glance through the transcript and read some of the recaps (this one at Wright Creativity is excellent), you may have a similar reaction as I did: how many stinkin’ definitions and/or traits of leadership can we come up with? Those offered included …
I had the distinct pleasure last week to have lunch with Dave Curlee. After he shot down my original suggestion for lunch, we settled on Spring Creek Barbecue. I’m no stranger to Spring Creek, so you can imagine my surprise when I received my sweet tea in a big yellow cup.
If you’re not from Texas, this may make no sense. But any respectable brisket-eating, Texas-living species knows that the big yellow cup belongs to Dickey’s Barbecue. And it has forever. They even have a Big Yellow Cup Club. It’s a freakin’ icon.
Now, let me make this clear: I’ve always preferred Spring Creek’s barbecue to Dickey’s. But I have to question Spring Creek’s decision to do the exact same thing that they’re competitor does. And to do it worse than they do.
I recently finished Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life. (aff. link) I was already a pseudo-fan of Miller’s, but this book pushed me over the edge. The video below gives the details, but here are the main reasons you need to read this book:
Donald Miller is one of the most talented writers of our time. It is actually a joy just to partake in the act of reading what he writes. His voice and his points are both stellar.
I had about 15 a-ha moments while reading this thing. That’s high. And who doesn’t want a-ha moments?
I’ll be re-reading this book about every two years, just to remind me of stuff I’m sure I’ll find ways to forget.
Here’s Donald’s website. And below is my summary of the book.
Mark Zuckerberg’s taking a lot of heat here lately. The movie The Social Network is primarily responsible for fanning this flame, whether it’s intended or not. I got to see the flick last night along with many other fellow Social Media Club of Dallas pals and I gotta tell ya …
I think Mark Zuckerberg’s getting a bad rap.
Let me just say that the story of Facebook is fascinating, and I thought everything about the movie was great (including the music by Trent Reznor – nice quirkishly appropriate touch).
If you use Wordpress, my guess is you use one of their stats plugins. I bet it’s WP.com Stats, which is their standard stats package. Sure, Google Analytics gives you a lot more, but there’s just something convenient about having a basic stats dashboard glaring at you once you login to your Wordpress admin.
So if you’ve use both Wordpress Stats and Google Analytics for any length of time at all, one thing stands out: they rarely sync up.
I’ve often looked past this discrepancy and just gone with whichever number was higher (normally Wordpress). But tonight, I decided to dig in a little more and find out what the real reasons were. Here’s what I found:
You’ve heard me rave about Optimization Summit before. It’s undoubtedly the best conference I’ve been to on web marketing. Put on by MultiFamily Pro, the organizers somehow find a way to bring together some of the biggest names in social media and marketing today for a two-day collection of two-hour workshops that leave your brain waving a white flag and your idea cup overflowing.
After foaming at the mouth over my first OptSum experience in March 2010, I was extremely eager to get September’s Round 2 under my belt. Not only did I know I was about to experience Dallas’ best kept marketing secret, but I was also privileged enough to present at this installment (check out my How I Stopped Hating Twitter presentation now).
I’ll spare you the gratuitous summaries and dig right into the details. The only hat tip I’ll throw out there is to Christopher S. Penn. I didn’t catch his workshop this time around (only because I caught him last time – here are his slides), but I must say the highlight of the event for me was just hanging with him at the TweetUp on Wednesday night, and then unexpectedly having him sit in on my Twitter presentation and filling in the many gaps. Having listened to his podcast religiously for at least the last 18 months, it was a surreal honor to get to pick his brain in person. Thanks, Chris.
Without further adieu, here are the highlights of the workshops I did attend
