I was looking at my calendar the other day. It’s really full. I’m totally okay with it being that way. After all, it’s my own fault. Last year I decided to ramp up on a few things – more teaching, more speaking gigs. We went full throttle on producing another season of our TV series. We took on new client projects. I got back into performing music, and took a bigger interest in fitness. It’s no wonder there aren’t very many blank spots on my calendar. At first I was a bit overwhelmed by the look of my calendar. My anxiety level rose as I realized that, for the next month, I had something on my calendar pretty well every single day. Not all work – but there was going to be something commanding my time and attention at some point, every single day. I felt exhausted just looking at it. But then I noticed something. In between all of those calendar entries was space. Sometimes an inch of space. Sometimes two. Sometimes, if I was lucky, there were 3 or 4 inches. Inches of time. These inches of time were empty. That meant they were mine, to do with as I please. Watch a movie. Call my Mom. Cook. Eat a meal with my husband. Sleep. Veg out. Every day, I had things on my calendar that I had committed to do. But every day, I also had inches of time. We live in a society where time is often dictated for us. We’re supposed to work 8 hours a day, have 8 hours a day to spend doing leisure activities, and sleep 8 hours a night. On the weekends we get 16 hours a day for leisure and 8 hours a night for sleep. That model has never really worked for me. Usually it starts to fall apart at the sleep part. I try for 8 hours a night and succeed most nights. Sometimes I get 6. Other times I get 10 or 11, if my body decides it needs it. I don’t work 8 hours a day. Sometimes I work 4. Sometimes 17. Rarely 8. I enjoy the flexibility that my career choice affords me. I am not inclined to give it up. But along with that choice comes the knowledge that I will be putting in more hours at times than the prescribed 8 a day. And that sometimes I’ll get more sleep, and sometimes I’ll get less. And that sometimes I’ll have lots of time for family and friends, and other times I may not. But I will always have inches of time. Yesterday I had no inches. I jumped from one task to the next until I literally fell into bed at 10pm. Today, I have enough inches that I can sit here in this coffee shop and write some blog posts. I can sip my tea and look out the window. I can chat on the phone. Later, I have to work. But after that, I have another inch or two of time before I go to bed. We are all so busy, so swamped, that we forget, that even as much as we have to do in a day, month, year, that we will always have those inches of time in our schedule. How are you going to use your inches? [photo credit: Johnny Boy on Flickr]
Brain Space – Get More Done No Matter What
We’re all so busy, eh? This January has been unusually busy for me, too. A critical mass of new projects, teaching work, and post-production of our TV series is currently occurring that is not only zapping the last of my physical energy, but leaving little left mentally for me to be able to keep up with my writing. It’s sad that the first thing to go when life gets crazy is the thing I love the most. Note to self: Stop That. This past weekend, I managed to carve out a few hours to think about why, when things get crazy, we tend to stop doing the things that keep us sane. Oh sure, the past few weeks I’ve come up with all kinds of excuses not to write…too much work to do, too many commitments, not enough brain space to find my “zone”. It was that last one that got me. It’s true – I have been feeling like my brain is so full of the stuff I need to do to keep on top of the pile, that there’s no space left for my writing work. So much so, that I even missed a deadline. And I never miss deadlines. It was that realization that put me over the edge, and reminded me what I needed to do to get back on track. Stop Wasting Brain Space Our brain is an exceptionally valuable resource. Without it, we’d be, well, dead. But aside from the importance of the brain in controlling our physical selves, it is of course incredibly critical in controlling our mental selves too. That means, if you’re wasting your brain space on things that don’t matter – worry, stress, negative people, gossip, Jersey Shore – then you’re doomed to failure. At the beginning of the year, I made up my mind about two things. One, that I was going to get off the worry train that I’d been on for the past, oh, 40 years or so, and two, that I was going to eliminate the people and situations from my life that were causing me hurt and negativity. It’s been easier said than done, but every day I’m working on it. I’m working hard on the worry part, and there are good days and bad. If you haven’t read Dale Carnegie’s How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, I highly recommend it. It may have been written in the 1940’s, but all of it (and I mean, all of it) still holds true today. As for the negative stuff? I’ve had to make some hard decisions about certain situations and people. I’ve had to take steps to shut off the stream of negative energy that was emerging from those situations and people. It was hard at first, but it’s gotten easier, and I’m better off for not having these things in my life. Look around you. What or who is dragging you down? What isn’t jiving? What is causing negativity? Eliminate it. Ultimately, removing worry and negativity is going to do one really important thing. It’s going to create a space in your head. What was once reserved for fretting and fussing and venting about this person or that circumstance, is now going to be an empty space. And guess what you can do with that space? Fill it up with something useful. Stop the Clock My other big problem is, I’m a clock watcher. Of course, it serves me well. I’m on time 99.9% of the time. I always meet my deadlines (well, almost, apparently). But where clock watching doesn’t serve me well is when my time is my own. If I have a day where I have no meetings, no set schedule for work – just a list of goals and tasks to accomplish – I still watch the clock. I feel guilty if I’m still working on personal stuff after 9am (oh crap, it’s 9:38 already?). I feel bad if I’m still slogging away after 10pm. If I don’t get to my email in a timely manner (like, every 20 minutes) or miss a few phone calls, I can’t shake a sense of feeling irresponsible. Napping or taking an extended break during the day? Forget about it. It sounds crazy to write that. But I confess, it’s true. And I’m willing to bet that plenty of you watch the clock too. Stopping the clock might mean a physical shift – shutting down the clock on your computer screen, for instance, might be a good first step. Remembering to live in the moment might be a good second step. Instead of always thinking “ok, I’ve got 2 hours (or 40 minutes, or 3 minutes) till I have to ______”, stop the clock that is ticking away your days. What will happen? You’ll instantly have more time, because you won’t be focused on the next thing that’s going to happen. You’ll be focused on the thing that’s happening right now. Afraid you’ll miss an appointment if you shut off your clocks? Use alarms to remind yourself when you need to be somewhere. In the words of the infamous Ron Popeil, “set it and forget it”. If you have to be out the door to a meeting at 10am, or call a client at 3pm, set an alarm. Then you don’t have to even think about that task again until it’s time to do it. An interesting thing will happen when you stop watching the clock. That space used to be filled with all of the things you haven’t done yet. But now that you’ve stopped the clock, you have no reason to be thinking about those things. And a space will open up in your brain. Brain space – it’s possibly one of your most important resources. So get busy in there, clearing some space for what’s really important. How do you clear a space? [photo credit: jjjohn on Flickr]
Healing Houses, One TV Show at a Time
This is a re-post from Jester Creative’s web site (my company)…I thought some of you might be interested in what goes into putting together a reality TV show. Enjoy! If there are two things Jen really loves, it’s making television, and home renovation. A little more than four years ago, she and I were sitting around one evening sipping a glass of Valpolicella, when Jen told me that she was considering flipping a house. She’d caught the renovation bug a few years earlier, when she bought her first home in Ottawa, and had transformed it from gross to gorgeous. Now, she was ready to take things to the next level, and the best part? She was willing to put the whole thing on TV. Now, I don’t know how many of you have ever been on a reality TV show before, but it really is one of the most invasive things you can do. Not only are you subjected to having a camera in your face 10 hours a day, but you have to be willing to share the good, the bad and the ugly with the world. Lucky for us, Jen was up for it, and thus, The House Healers was born, with Jester Creative at the helm to produce the show. Four years and 26 episodes later, we’re about to launch our third season, and although there have been a lot of changes in Jen’s life – a new marriage, a couple of kids, and three houses healed – The House Healers are staying true to their roots, continuing to take the most run down, beaten up houses in the city and transform them into things of beauty. This time around, The House Healers are taking on suburbia. Jen and her new husband and co-healer, Brennan, have purchased a house in Kanata, on the suburbs of Ottawa. This house is not in quite as rough shape as some of the previous projects, but it is totally stuck in the 80s. It’s in serious need of at 21st century update, and The House Healers have big plans. In past seasons, the renovations were big, challenging, long projects. If you look at our past projects, the Elmgrove house took 11 months. Park Place took 10. Well, this is still going to be a challenging reno – The House Healers’ most spectacular renovation to date, in fact. The catch? This renovation has to be move-in ready in just SIX WEEKS. We couldn’t do it without the team. Jen and I produce and write the show, and Jen is the host as well, but we’ve got plenty of other people working behind the scenes to make The House Healers a reality. Brennan Cartier is Jen’s husband and House Healer #2, and he also helps us out as Associate Producer. Dustin Langlois is our amazing camera guy, director and editor. Not only is he running around getting everything captured on video, he’s busting his butt to get a technically sound and visually pleasing product on the air each week. Tom Martineau and Jordan Arscott helped us develop our awesome web site and we continue to add new features all the time. Check out past episodes, blooper reels, our blog, and our Go Green page, which contains lots of tips and news on living and building green. And of course, last but not least, we have our amazing sponsors, without whom none of this would be possible. Special thanks goes out to this fantastic group, you can see a full list of our sponsors on the House Healers Web site. Please check them out! Renovating a whole house AND producing a TV show about it is one of the most challenging, exhilarating, exhausting and rewarding things we’ve ever done at Jester Creative.We hope you enjoy the series and please, drop us a line and let us know what you think! Currently, The House Healers is being distributed locally in Ottawa by Rogers TV, but we’re actively seeking distributors, both in Canada and internationally. If you’re interested in discussing distribution of the show via television or the Web, please get in touch! The show airs on Sundays at 7pm, on RogersTV Cable 22 in Ottawa. For now, here’s a sneak preview of what you can expect to see this season!
I’m a Podcaster Now
One area that I’ve never really gotten involved with when it comes to social media has been podcasting. Oh sure, I’ve been a consumer of podcasts for years. There are so many great ones out there – Six Pixels of Separation, Marketing Over Coffee, Night of the Living Podcast – perhaps I was so consumed with listening to what others had to say that it really never occurred to me that I’d have something to say myself! In the past month, I’ve become involved in two new podcasts, and I’m really excited about both! The Contrarians Bob LeDrew, Joe Boughner and I have been friends for a few years. We all met each other on Twitter, and our online friendships have transcended well into the offline world. Bob and Joe are both communications guys, but I don’t hold that against them (much). Well, the three of us got to chatting, and we realized that we had a few things to say about the state of the social web. We realized that we wanted to provide a contrary point of view on social media, that existed outside of the navel gazing bubble in which this online world often spends the majority of its time. Enter The Contrarians: 3 bloggers you’ve never heard of sharing opinions you didn’t ask for. Now, the first thing you should know about me, and Bob, and Joe, is that we don’t take ourselves all that seriously. Sure, we like to have interesting discussions around topics we care about, and if we can do it over a beer at the Elmdale Tavern (which is precisely what we do), then all the better. I hope you’ll check us out anyway. We’re just having fun, and if we can impart some good information, opinion and humour while we’re doing it, it just might be something worth listening to. I Can Haz Podcast The Web works in mysterious ways. My husband Greg and I have been friends with the crew from Night of the Living Podcast for a few years. The friendship evolved out of Greg’s love for their podcast, and we’ve since been down to Ohio and Indiana a few times to visit and attend Horrorhound Weekend (and are planning another trip down there this Spring!). They are a right lovely bunch and I’m thrilled that we are all friends. Through Greg’s familiarity with NOTLP and some of their podcasting friends, he heard about Stefan Halley. Stefan has been podcasting for many years, and Greg has often listened to some of his previous work. Well, it so happens that Greg was also listening to Stefan’s latest project, I Can Haz Podcast, a show that helps people understand social media and online marketing, when he discovered that Stefan was looking for a new co-host. Greg sent me a note and suggested I should maybe apply for the position. Well, I did, and after a few days of chatting with Stefan, who lives in Sweden, I’m happy to announce that I’m going to be joining him as the co-host of the show! We are recording our first episode this coming Saturday, and I’ll let you know as soon as it goes online. So guess what…I’m a podcaster now!
How To Make a Movie (or any other creative project) on the Internet
I’ve written before about using the Internet to produce a film project. My friend Andrew Lavigne is a filmmaker in Vancouver who has done a great job of leveraging social media and the Web to produce his documentary film, “With Glowing Hearts.” Andy’s film has its first screening February 12th in Vancouver. You probably don’t know Jocelyn Towne. I didn’t know her either until about 2 weeks ago, when I came across a tweet about her. You see, Jocelyn is making her first movie, called I am I. And like all independent filmmakers, Jocelyn’s first step is to get some financing. Enter Kickstarter. For those who are not familiar, Kickstarter is an online fundraising tool for creative projects. It’s all-or-nothing funding, meaning if the project doesn’t raise its entire goal, it raises no money at all. That might seem like a down side, but it’s not. As Kickstarter states in their FAQ, if you set a funding goal of $5,000 and you only raise $2,000, then nobody pays. That way, you don’t launch a project with partial funding, and have the expectation from your backers that you’re going to build a $5K project with $2K. Makes sense. Anyhow, the good news for Jocelyn was that she already had a funder, who was willing to give her $100,000 to produce her film – IF she was able to raise $100,000 on Kickstarter by January 6th. Now, before you go getting all “must be nice”, I should probably say that yes, as an indy filmmaker just starting out, she’s fairly well connected. Her husband is actor Simon Helberg, who plays Howard Wolowitz on the hit TV series The Big Bang Theory. Helberg is acting in the film, along with another popular actor, Jason Ritter. So, the skeptics out there might begin to say things like, “Well, it must be so easy for her then…she lives in Hollywood, AND she’s got fame and money on her side.” Not so fast. Any way you shake it, $100,000 is a lot of money to raise in a short amount of time for any indy creative project. Jocelyn might have a few leverage points the rest of us don’t have, but when push comes to shove she’s in the same boat as everyone else trying to get a creative project off the ground. And you know what? You’ve got leverage points too, so let’s forget the celebrities and just focus on that. My point is, you can have all the celebrity in the world involved – but there’s not a soul in Hollywood or Vancouver or anywhere else that will give you a dime for your project if nobody is interested in seeing it. Ultimately, in order for anyone to fund anything, you have to get them interested. You have to get them to care. That’s why am I so enamoured with this project – because once you get inside it, you can’t help but care. I’m watching closely as it comes together, and I’m learning a lot. Find your big voices. During the Kickstarter campaign, Jocelyn and her gang worked their butts off to get people to care about it. Did they leverage people on the project with large, committed followings on Twitter? Sure they did. But like I said, we all have our own leverage points. Maybe you have a friend or family member who has a large voice in their particular community. I know people here in Ottawa who have large voices in the music scene, for example. Other friends of mine know people in the political scene who can get people to pay attention. You don’t have to know a celebrity to get attention on social networks. Find the people who know and trust you who just might be able to speak into the community you’re trying to attract. Oh, and by the way, having a big voice doesn’t necessarily mean having a huge following. It just means having a following that’s paying attention. Make it super personal. OK, so I checked out Jocelyn’s project. I read the synopsis. I watched her behind the scenes video, and after hearing her talk about how much she wanted to make the film, I was intrigued. I made my way to the Kickstarter donation page, and then I saw it. A big, long list of donation amounts, and a whole pile of things that people will get depending on how much they give. Denominations range from $1 to $10,000 and payoffs include everything from a mention on the film’s web site to Jocelyn and cast members attending a screening in the donor’s home town. We all know that incentive is key, and this crew have it mastered. I decided on the $20 denomination (it might have been $50 or $100 but, you know, holiday bills and all!), and when I saw that for that amount I’d get a DVD of the completed film, I was pleased. But here’s where it gets interesting. I pledged my 20 bucks through Kickstarter and put it out of my mind. I figured, come January 6th, if the film is financed, that would be great, and sometime in the next couple of years I can expect to get a DVD in the mail. Sweet. Then about 20 minutes later, I received an email (via Kickstarter) from Jocelyn herself, personally thanking me for my donation, and for my retweets on Twitter. It wasn’t a form letter, it was a personal note, from the creator of the film to me, and only me. It was genuine and sincere. Now, I could see the $1,000, $10,000 or even the $100 backers getting a personal note. But gosh golly almighty, I only gave $20! There are about 900 backers on the film altogether, and I’m happy to report that Jocelyn DID raise the $100,000. Amidst the excitement of the campaign, it appears that Jocelyn also took the time to personally reply and thank each and every person for their donation. That is admirable.
How To Be a Better Commenter
I couldn’t write a post about writing better blog content without also writing a post about comments. One of the things I love most about blogging is the comments. As we all know, it’s often in the comments where the real juicy stuff happens. For people who may not blog themselves, it’s a way for them to express their perspective on a topic, contribute to a discussion, and even meet new people. I gained a new client once because of a discussion I had with someone in the comments section of a blog post. Online conversations are a funny thing. Because they are primarily in text, there’s a low threshold of tolerance for noise. So when I see a blog post where the comments say mostly “Great post!” or “You rock!” I tune out really quickly. I want to see the meat. I want to hear varying perspectives. I don’t want to hear a bunch of applause. I think sometimes, it can be difficult to know how or why to add to a conversation. Here are some things I’ve learned about being a better commenter. Hold your applause. Have you ever read a really terrific blog post, and then scrolled to the comments, only to see a list of 97 people saying “Great post!”? It’s always baffled me why people feel compelled to do this. Sure, we all want to appreciate the author of the post. But, is it really necessary to add to the cacophony of woo-hoo, yay for you, if you’re not going to add anything else? There are alternatives. For instance, you could add a few lines with some thoughts on the matter. Instead of just shouting a resounding “I agree!”, how about sharing a brief story of your own that drives home the point? Or better yet, add a different point of view altogether? You don’t have to disagree, but you could make an additional point, or even ask a question. The next time you’re ready to give the big thumbs up to a post, consider how you might add to the conversation instead. And if you want to praise the blogger, consider posting a retweet on Twitter, or linking to the post on Facebook, or your own blog. Link love means more to a blogger than 97 “great post” comments. Keep it brief. Nothing makes me tune out of a comment conversation faster than when someone drops in a 600 word comment. Hey, I think it’s great that it’s not a “great post” comment, but this falls into the opposite end of the spectrum. I’ve started many a comment that, after typing a couple hundred words, I realize I’ve got a lot to say on the topic. At that point, I simply hit the copy/paste function and post it to my own blog instead. If a blog post gives you a spark, and you’ve got something to say, consider creating your own post, and linking back to the original post. I do want to hear what you have to say. I just don’t want you to drown out all the other commenters. Be nice. One of the best things about blogs is the opportunity it provides for people to share differing points of view. I love when people disagree with me on my blog. I encourage it. But there’s a way to disagree respectfully, and a way to do it meanly. Don’t be mean. If the blogger doesn’t use foul language in their posts, then don’t use foul language in your comment. Don’t call people names. Don’t be disrespectful. Disagree, even passionately, but ultimately, be nice. And don’t take it personally and get defensive if people don’t share your point of view. There’s plenty of room out here for everyone to have an opinion and a voice. What about you? What kinds of comments do you like best? How do you think the art of blogging can be improved through comments? Have at it…in the comments, of course. Oh, and before you leave that comment that sarcastically says, “Great post”? Ha ha ha. 🙂 photo credit: Ben Haldenby on Flickr
What Ever Happened to Writing from the Heart?
I recently did a big purge from my Google Reader. I usually do this once every few months. Not only do I remove subscriptions blogs that no longer seem to be active, I also use the purge as a chance to get rid of blogs that just aren’t producing great content anymore. There are only so many “Top 5 Tips” I can take. Only so many “Blogging/TV/Newspapers/Social Media is Dead” linkbait posts can cross my stream before I hit the snooze button. But sadly, every time I go through a big RSS purge, there are a lot of blogs I’m eliminating for just those reasons. More and more, content creators are so caught up in driving traffic, increasing their views, and improving their (gasp) influence, that I think many have lost sight of why they really even started blogging in the first place. I suppose I could be considered late to the game when it comes to blogging (in comparison to some of the true “old timers” of the online journaling era). I had a false start on this blog in 2006, but then really got into it in early 2007. Like everyone else, I’ve had my share of dry spells. I’ve had times when I’ve gone weeks without a post. I’ve focused on various topics at length, social media, education, video, and so on, and become better known in those spaces; but I’ve never lost sight of one thing – why I do this in the first place. Sure, I know that blogging often on certain topics can improve my search engine ranking. I know that getting links on others’ blogs helps that too. I respect the fact that what I have done here has opened up new doors and new opportunities for me and my business. These things are all wonderful side effects of blogging. But they are most certainly not my raison d’être. I have other reasons for being here. First and foremost, it’s because I love to write. I love to spend time in the part of my brain that creates and shapes ideas. I use this space as an outlet for my thoughts, a way to get them straight. And yes, sometimes it’s even therapeutic. The fact that not only can I share what I think, know, and feel here is terrific, but what’s really cool is that people actually read it. And leave comments. I write because I enjoy it, and I keep writing because other people seem to enjoy it too. It’s win-win. I believe that the people who are most successful with their blogs are the people that create them out of a love for something – a hobby, a profession, or some aspect of their personal life. Some do it for the sheer joy of writing and creation, and that’s great too. But if you enter the world of blogging just so that you can be read, be popular, or be #1 on Google, you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. Businesses are feeling pressure to start blogging, and I believe that in many cases, blogging can be extremely beneficial to businesses of all sizes and industries. But just because you’re writing with a business focus does not mean you can’t still write from the heart. It doesn’t mean you can’t post things just for the sheer joy of it, to work through ideas, or even as self-therapy. You could write a blog about the joys of doing theoretical physics, and if you’re writing passionately and honestly, if you can make me CARE about theoretical physics, then I’ll be way more inclined to subscribe to it than a blog about video production that simply posts boring top 5 lists of fancy video effects I can use in my next YouTube video. Forget about SEO. Forget about backlinks and getting readers and building influence. Make those things come second. Write down a list of the things that get you fired up about your hobby, or your work, or your life. Think about those things, and let those crazy good, excited feelings well up inside you. Then, and only then, start writing. Want to create great content? Then consistently write from the heart. It might be what makes the difference between whether your blog succeeds or not. It will sure as heck make me stay subscribed.
Afraid of Video? Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Be.
Video is big. Really big. YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine on the planet. 24 hours of video is uploaded there every minute. Americans alone are watching, on average, about 95 videos each per month. Not only that, but more and more companies are integrating video with their online presence. Just have a browse through the web sites of Fortune 500 companies, and see how many of them have video on their sites. It comes down to this. If you want to make the most of your online presence in the coming year, then you’d better be thinking about how you’re going to use video. But there’s a big problem. Of all the media creation strategies out there today, video is the one that holds the most people back. The thing is, most of the stuff that people believe about video isn’t true. So, let’s explore some common myths and misconceptions about online video, and some ways you can get started easily. 1) It’s too expensive. Hey, I’m a TV producer. You don’t have to tell me how expensive video production can be. Professional crews, thousands of dollars in equipment, days and hours spent on set, feeding and watering (TV people eat a lot!). It all adds up. The most common question I get from people is, “how much does it cost to make a video?”. That’s like asking me “How much does a car cost?”. It completely, 100% depends on what you want to do. The good news is, we aren’t all trying to make feature length documentaries and high budget commercials. Many of us are just trying to post our take on things. And that doesn’t have to cost much at all. There is a time and a place to spend good money on a professional quality production. I’m in the business, and I’m not going to lie about that. However, these days, producing video does NOT have to cost you a fortune, depending on what you want to do. Lots and lots of people put decent video content online using nothing more than a $99 FlipCam and free editing software. I’m all for it. Come up with an idea, sit down, and just start recording. I would, however, recommend getting a few pointers before you start. There are thousands of tutorials on basic video production online. Check out these pointers from my friend Jim – he’s a professional camera guy, and definitely knows what he’s talking about. 2) It takes too much time/it’s too technical. Nothing could be further from the truth. People think that video is some long, drawn out process of shooting and editing because they hear feature film directors talking about how it took them 3 years to make their last movie. Yes, in certain cases, it can take a long time to make a video. But your average web video? It will take longer for YouTube to process it than it takes you to record it, I guarantee. Here’s what you need to get started – a web cam and microphone (most laptops and netbooks have those built in these days), an internet connection, and a YouTube account. Log in to YouTube. Click on “Upload”. Click “Record Video From Webcam”. Start talking. Stop recording when you’re done. Click OK. You can publish a video in under 5 minutes, and you need only to know how to click a button in a web browser. How long did it take for you to publish your last blog post? How long did it take for you to set up your WordPress Blog? I rest my case. So, no more complaining about video being too technical or time consuming, ok? 3) I can’t stand looking at/hearing myself on video. I have one thing to say about this. Get over yourself. I know, it sounds harsh, but you know what? I hate hearing and seeing myself on video too. I can’t stand the way my voice sounds and I say “um” too much (I’m working on that). I think I look chubby, and my hair is too poofy. But, I do it anyway. Because I know that as much as I’m critical of how I look and sound, it’s not nearly as bad as I think it is. It’s a fact that the first few time you see and hear yourself on video you will cringe. You won’t want to look. You certainly won’t want to hit “Publish”. But do it anyway, because the more you see and hear yourself, the more used to it you’ll get. I promise. And, you’ll never get any better or any more comfortable with it if you don’t keep trying. So stop worrying about how you look or sound. Just be yourself. When you’re looking into that camera, pretend you’re talking to just one other person. The more you practice, the more natural you’ll become. Video is how we’re going to see each other, and ourselves in the future. So get over yourself, and get used to it! Make 2011 the year you decided to take on video. I promise, it’s not that painful. And you just might find a voice you didn’t even know you had!
My Three Words for 2011
I’ve been taking a page from Chris Brogan’s book for the past few years, coming up with three words that are my guiding principles for the year. I don’t make resolutions. I make changes. In other words, I don’t resolve to do things. I just make up my mind, then I do them. It’s just how I am programmed. I find that making resolutions isn’t malleable enough for me. If I say “My New Year’s resolution is to lose 40 pounds”, that’s too big a chunk. It’s too easy to talk myself out of climbing that hill. It’s too big. On the other hand, if I say “I’m going to change my behavior by eating less and exercising more”, it positions things in a more achievable light. It’s process oriented instead of results oriented, and thereby easier to work with for me. This is where the three words fit nicely. If I am working on change, as opposed to battling some huge goal, then the three words are there to remind me why I’m making the changes. They are there for the days when I don’t feel up to it, when I a resisting the change. They get me back on track. Last year, my three words were Stretch, Collaborate, and Less. They worked well for me. I stretched beyond my comfort zone and started doing more public speaking. I even turned pro, which is a huge stretch for me (and one I’ve realized I love and want to do more of). I got involved in some great collaborative projects, such as Thoughtwrestling and Workshifting, and they have been really fulfilling experiences. And, perhaps the biggest one for me was Less. It was definitely the hardest. I’m learning how to do more with less. Less clutter (mentally and physically). Less money spent (so I can have more to spend on what’s really important and necessary to my family’s quality of life). More delegation, so less time wasted. But enough about last year. My three words for 2011 are Intersections, Freedom, and Curiosity. Intersections The thing that has fascinated me most about the social web is how people, situations, and opportunities intersect. Serendipity is alive and well in the online world, and I find that often, I don’t take advantage of it enough. But I’m not just going to find the intersections that exist. I’m going to build intersections where people, situations and opportunities can cross. I’m going to find ways to bring people to a meeting point, so new things can be created. Freedom My whole life, I’ve been a horrible worry wart. If there’s any one thing that has held me back, it’s been worry. In the past, it’s caused illness, stress, and the breakdowns of relationships. Right now, I am reading Dale Carnegie’s book “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living”. It’s been years since I’ve read a self-help book that has opened my eyes so much. It’s not that the book has any great new revelation in it. It was written in 1944, after all. But it’s helping me to realize that the easiest way to overcome worry is to completely free yourself from it. And that each and every one of us has the choice to either spend our lives worrying about things, or to be free from those things that keep us up at night. So for me, Freedom is about freeing myself from worry and all of the negative things worry causes. Curiosity I’m a curious person by nature, so one would think this is an easy principle to master. But I find that often, I am so wrapped up in my own life that I forget to be curious. I’m talking about that childlike curiosity about things. The wonder and awe and amazement about simple aspects of life. I am going to spend more time being curious about other people, mostly. I’m going to ask more questions. I’m going to be more interested in what others are saying, instead of always relating things back to myself. I’m going to work at spending more time understanding others’ motivations and desires, so I can do a better job at finding the intersections. That’s it. My new path is laid out before me. I’m excited about all the possibility that 2011 holds. What about you?
Taking Our Time Back
Midway through the holidays has always been a funny time for me. The hustle and bustle of Christmas is past, and the promise of a new year is filling heads and hearts everywhere. Some people are back at work, others are in the midst of spending time with family and friends. It’s a jumble of time spent, time off, and time to spare. I’ve been doing a lot of reading the past several days – thought provoking blog posts about time. What to do with it, how to make time more rewarding and why we all choose to spend it differently. I’ve also been reading a lot of things in my social streams about how people feel guilty for not spending enough time at home, at work, or with family and friends. I see others feeling guilty for spending too much time at home, at work, or with family and friends. People really do try hard to justify why they are working or not working through the holidays, and I don’t get it. The things I’ve seen range from the Martyr: “I really should be going to that family dinner, but I simply have too much important work to do”, to the Self-Righteous: “Look how hard I’m working, while you lazy people sit there with your egg nog”, to the Guilt-Ridden, “I really should be finishing that report for my boss, but my daughter wants to bake cookies.” Remember back in the old days, when people used to take vacations from work? I mean, before email, and smart phones, and always-on connection. Some of you may be too young to remember, but I remember working in offices where there was no voicemail or email. If someone called me while I was taking time off, the receptionist would write the message on a little pink slip of paper and stuff it in my pigeon hole. When I returned to the office, I picked up my messages. A novel concept, eh? All that has changed today, and with it, I think our attitude towards time has changed too. Schedule This! Time used to be carved up in logical chunks. We worked between 9am and 5pm. We ate lunch at noon. We went home and had supper with our family at 6pm. We watched television or participated in community activities from 7pm to 10pm. We went to bed. On the weekends, we went out with friends, visited family, and otherwise “relaxed”. When we weren’t at work, we stopped working. Nowadays, technology and connectivity have changed our model of time dramatically. Time is much more fluid now than it once was. The rules of time are becoming more lax. We’re always one click away from reading that next email or picking up that phone call. The restriction of time – the “I don’t answer calls after 5pm or on weekends” mentality has taken a back seat to the need to be available and willing whenever someone reaches out. Those who remain in the old practice of a regimented schedule are seen as being inflexible, and that inflexibility doesn’t jive with our 24/7 existence. It’s a conundrum. At the same time as you want to strike a balance, you’re forced out of that perceived balance because your messages aren’t on a pink slip of paper, waiting for you the next morning. Your messages being dumped right into your pocket. A Generation in Time Time as we know it is different now, and I think many of us (especially us Gen X’ers and Boomers) are having a really hard time fitting into this new paradigm. If we aren’t making the “most effective” use of every second, we’re afraid we’ll be perceived as lazy, so we make a point of telling the world how busy we are. If our clients see us goofing off on Twitter while they wait for a return phone call, we’re sunk, so we put a ton of extra energy into “appearing” busy to the rest of the world (instead of just returning the darn phone call). At the same time, we’re chastising each other for not taking enough time for ourselves, boasting about how we took an “Internet Day Off!”, and telling anyone who’ll listen how we have our priorities so much more in order than everyone else. 30 years ago, we were in control of time. We had a schedule. We stuck to it. Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost control of our time. And the behaviour I’m seeing? I think it’s a result of people fighting to gain that control back. So what if we just stopped fighting? Lose Control to Gain Control We need to take back our time, but we can’t just go back to having a regimented schedule like before. It doesn’t work in the new world. There are too many variables now – too many ways in which our time is being pulled by our new way of working and communicating in the world. No, we don’t need more structure. We need less. And that’s a hard pill for many of us to swallow, because lack of structure is often equated to lack of focus. So, instead of trying to continue to fit into some kind of time mold, let’s relax the self-imposed rules. Try this for a while: When you need to work, work. When you need to rest, rest. When you get hungry, eat. You’ll find that as you get rid of the guilt and the feelings of inadequacy that are caused by trying to fit the old time paradigm, an interesting thing will begin to happen. Your time will become yours again. Time will once again be within your control. You won’t be doing things because you should be doing them. You’ll be doing them because you’ve got the energy, and the motivation, and the time. Take your time back. It may be the most important thing you can do to find your balance.