Wow. Suddenly all anyone seems to be talking about in the social media world is influence. Tools like Klout, a system that uses some sort of complex calculation to say how influential you are on Twitter, are rising to popularity. Now, social media dashboard app HootSuite has jumped on the bandwagon too, posting Twitter users’ Klout score when you click on a profile. The @oldspice guy is even in there, posting personalized videos to “influential” Twitterers (and others too, admittedly, but c’mon…who do you think they were really targeting with those videos?). You’ve got to be kidding me. Sure. I looked at my Klout score. It’s 53. I have no idea what that means. I don’t really care, either. But I can assure you, there are people, right now, breezing around their HootSuite dashboard, clicking on everyone’s names, and filtering anyone with a score of 60 or higher into a special list called “influencers”. Then, once they have their precious list of Twitter Super Powers, they’ll begin to spend their days trying to figure out how to get those peoples’ attention. Because wow – if only I could get @kevinrose to retweet my article about the iPhone 4 antenna….then, I will have arrived! You’ve got to be kidding me some more. All the cool kids are doing it. You see, the problem is, people are confusing “influence” with “popularity”. Sure, if Kevin Rose retweets your link, you’ll probably get an awful lot of hits on your post. You wrote a great tech post, he’s a tech guy, and lots of people that follow Kevin trust him when he recommends something. Does that mean he’s influential? Sure it does. But that’s about where it stops. It’s wonderful that you got so many people hitting your blog. It’s great that you earned a few new followers. But once the initial spike happens, it will just settle out. Just because you got 500 reads on your post doesn’t mean you’re going to get 500 reads every day from here on in. Trust me, it simply doesn’t work like that. People who consistently have high traffic and a dedicated audience have built that over time – by providing consistently stellar content, but more importantly, by taking the time to be an active part of the community which they serve. They have nurtured their readership. They aren’t relying on the popular kids to get the word out. They are working really, really hard to show people the value in their content – all by themselves. Return on Eyeballs is more important than Return on Influence. Last year, I posted on this blog about a concept that I think is, unfortunately, going by the wayside. It’s called “Return on Eyeballs”. The idea is, it’s not about targeting your stuff to people who are influential. It’s about targeting your stuff to people who are interested. It’s not about how many people see what you’ve done – it’s about WHO sees it. In that post, I used an example of someone who makes custom baseball bats. Sure, they can get a bit of attention by promoting to so-called “influencers”, if their idea is clever and good, but again, that’s fleeting. They will have far more long-term success by focusing on building a dedicated community of interest than trying to get the attention of the popular set. With some hard work in the right areas, the right opportunity may serendipitously (or intentionally) come along. In my hypothetical example, I suggested that maybe baseball bat guy gets noticed by the equipment manager of a major league baseball team. They sign a contract and bat guy’s business booms. Does the equipment manager, in this case, have influence? Sure he does. He influenced his boss to contract the bat maker. But the equipment manager’s Klout score is only 16! He doesn’t have any influence! See how silly this is? How about we forget about all these ridiculous numbering schemes? How about we stop confusing influence with being one of the popular kids? How about we focus on building up our own communities, with our own people, and our own set of influencers who are actually influential, instead of just being the ones with the biggest following, or the loudest voice? Yes, it will take time. Yes, it will take work. But ultimately, everyone will be better off, don’t you think? (Oh, and as for Old Spice guy? I think the campaign is brilliant. But keep in mind, their strategy of targeting popular (or in their words, “influential”) Twitter people only works because they are a well known brand. I have a feeling Allysa Milano wouldn’t have given a rat’s butt if Mr. No Name made a video about her.)
Engagement, Authenticity, Influence: I’m Calling Shenanigans
Oh, how we love our buzzwords, eh? My head is spinning lately, and unfortunately it’s not with great stuff. It’s with frustration, distrust, and apathy. Those are heavy words, I know – but I’m feeling them. How I do love these social media. I really do. Connections I’ve made on Twitter, Facebook, through my blog and by attending valuable events like Podcamps and PAB have literally changed my life. I’m a better writer now. I’m a public speaker. I’m teaching others how to work and play and grow their businesses with digital communications. 3 years ago I’d have thought none of it was possible. And that’s why I’m so upset by what I’m seeing these days. The proliferation of snake oil salesmen, bad advice, and buzzwords that mean nothing is making me crazy. People are being swindled into paying thousands of dollars to attend conferences so they can be sold more fluffy eBooks and hardcovers. They are being forced to listen to the same presenters drone on about the same old stuff, as if it’s the wisdom of the ages. And people are getting suckered into it left, right and centre. Be Authentic! Engage with your Customers! Increase your Influence! Wait…wait. Think about those three words for a minute. Authenticity. Well, I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, my parents told me over and over again, “Just be yourself, and people will love you!”. If I lied to my parents and they found out – ZAP! No TV for a week. I was encouraged to be authentic, honest and truthful in my interactions. If I wasn’t, there were consequences. Therefore, I grew up being…well….Authentic. Engagement. Being a military family, we moved around a lot when I was a kid. We were always posted in the summer, so the first step upon moving into a new neighbourhood was that my brother and I would have to go out and meet the other kids. Mom would stealthily identify in advance which houses on our street had kids my age, then she’d give me a gentle shove out the door. “Go to number 45, I think I saw a girl your age over there.” “But Mom, I don’t want t…” “Just go knock on the door, dear. They won’t bite!” I’d suck up my courage and walk down the street and knock ever so quietly on the door. A parent would answer. “Is your daughter home?” “She’s in the back yard. Why don’t you go around?”. I’d wander cautiously into the back yard, walk up to the little girl, and say “Hi, my name is Susan. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I like your Barbies.”, just like my Mom taught me. Say your name, be polite, compliment the other person. Engage with them on their level. Hey – that sounds familiar. Yep – apparently I learned Engagement when I was 6 years old, too. Influence. On the playground, we always had to figure out what game we were going to play next. Hide and Seek? Tag? Red Rover? The bigger the group, the harder it was to decide. But, there were always those in the group that seemed to be able to sway our opinions. They’d give compelling reasons like, “Well, there’s 15 of us today, so Red Rover would be the most fun”. Sometimes we’d listen to them because they’d provide a more risky option – one that, if our parents found out, we’d probably get in trouble. These select few had influence over the group. Why? Well, sometimes they tended to be the older kids, so in our eyes they knew more. But age didn’t always define it. Sometimes the influential ones were just the ones that said stuff that made sense. If we did it their way, we’d for sure have more fun. We’d take a bigger risk. We’d try (and maybe even learn) something new. Soon, I learned how to come up with creative ideas that would influence the group. I’d voice my opinion, and sometimes, other kids would listen to me too. I may have not been the most popular kid back then, but I discovered I could influence when I wanted to. So I guess I learned Influence on the playground. So, if the concepts of Engagement, Authenticity and Influence were learned when we were kids, why are we hanging on the every word of the people who know little, and do nothing but tow the line? Someone telling me that in order to be successful in social media, I need to Engage, be Authentic, and increase my Influence is like someone treating me like I’m 6 years old. And that’s kind of insulting, don’t you think? Can you see why I’m frustrated? To be human, you need to understand these three concepts. It should go without saying that all of your interactions, online, offline, in person, in social media, writing a letter, going to the post office, visiting your Grandma, should be Authentic, Engaging and Influential. That’s humanity, not social media. Well, maybe this doesn’t make any sense, and I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. But before you do that, please watch this 4 minute video from my friend Andrea Ross. Because she is the embodiment of the things we SHOULD be paying attention to when it comes to being successful in this space. Thank you, Andrea, for your thoughts, your wisdom and your inspiration. You’re the real deal. [photo credit: albyper on Flickr]
My Love Affair with Canada
I have a confession to make. I have a huge, giant crush on Canada. She’s totally my type, in every way. Oh sure, I’m probably a bit biased, but I come by it honestly. I am Canadian, after all. I am extraordinarily lucky that Canada has allowed me to take up space on her for my whole life. She’s really made me feel welcome. And today, being Canada Day, I figured it was high time I tell her how I really feel and why I love her so. She’s beautiful. I have been blessed to have seen this country from coast to coast to coast. I’ve lived among the totems of Haida Gwaii and in the Land of the Midnight Sun. I’ve been just about as far West as you can go and been to the most Eastern point too. I’ve visited every major city, and just about every province and territory. I’ve driven through the Rocky Mountains, and star gazed in the Big Sky of the Prairies. In each place, I’ve met the most incredible people. I can tell you, from first hand experience, that this is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. I mean, she’s really got it all – trees, mountains, lakes, oceans, cities, towns, and amazing people…my heart beats faster just thinking about it. She’s generous. I’ve got it pretty good because of Canada. She takes care of my health, provides me with an education, and gives me choices – I can pick what I do for a living, in which city or town I reside, what kind of house I live in, and what sort of food I eat. Because I live in this great country, I am given the freedom of choice in how I live my life. Like my friend Scarborough Dude says in his latest podcast, we’re not the norm. So, I need to be grateful to Canada a little more often, for what she provides for me. She’s free. Some people are mad at Canada right now, because some citizens were allegedly mistreated last weekend during the G20 in Toronto. Now, I don’t get into politics very often around here, and I’m not going to get too deep into it now. I agree that if even one person’s human rights are proven to be violated, that’s one person too many. We are lucky to live in a country where our rights are respected. But here’s the thing. Even those we love can make mistakes, and Canada is no exception. If it’s proven that peoples’ rights were violated during the G20, then I have faith in my country that justice will be served. I love Canada, so even though she might screw up sometimes, I have to have faith. That’s what love is about. Canada IS a free country. Freedom DOES prevail, as long as we stand up for what we believe. We have it really, really good here. You want to know who doesn’t have it good? Google “humanitarian crisis”. I think then, you’ll find it in your heart to forgive Canada a little more easily for her missteps. Be thankful for the freedoms you have. They are the freedoms that our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents fought for, because they loved Canada, with all their hearts. Speak up if you feel you’ve been wronged, because you can. But be grateful that you have the power to do that. Because that’s what living in a free country is about. Today, I plan to celebrate Canada’s beauty, generosity and freedom with my friends. We’ll wear our red and white, raise a glass, and toast all of the wonderful things that make Canada great. And if you’re still not convinced how completely awesome Canada is, check out this video. You’ll see…. Happy Canada Day. Bonne Fête du Canada. Celebrate what makes us love her so.
Why Stretching is Important
One of my three words for the year is “Stretch”. (The other two are “Less”, and “Collaborate”, but that’s a post for another time.) Stretching is always a good thing. Animals have it right. They stretch continuously – especially when they get up from a nap, or when they are looking for affection. They stretch because it feels good. Have you ever been sitting at your desk for a few hours, totally engrossed in what you’re doing, then suddenly you try to move? Yep – we’ve all been there. You’re stiff, sore, maybe your foot is asleep. The only solution is to streeetttccchh. Ahh, that’s better. Stretching oxygenates our bodies, releases tension, and if we do enough of it, it makes us more flexible. I’ve made a commitment this year to stretch more – and that doesn’t mean just by doing more yoga, starting to run (which is a real stretch for me!), or getting away from my desk more often. It’s also about stretching beyond the current lines I’ve drawn around my experiences. When was the last time you…did some type of work that you haven’t done in ages? Back in the day, I had my hands dug deeply into web site coding. In the mid-late 1990’s, when the web was just getting going, I was HTML and JavaScripting my way through Notepad and Dreamweaver, building sites by the dozen. I learned it all myself – from books and the Web and through the help and support of many brilliant teachers and mentors. Time went on, and I moved into managing web projects, instead of coding them. I had teams of developers now, who knew far more than me about this stuff (and enjoyed it a lot more too). I focused on what I was good at – working with clients and creating content. I left the techie stuff to the techies. I was grateful that I had learned a thing or two about how web sites worked from a technical perspective – it made me much easier to work with, because I knew what was possible and had a sense of how my wild and crazy ideas could affect the scope of a development project. As the years went by, the technologies evolved, and, because I was focused on other areas, the new technologies of the web went beyond my capabilities. I was okay with that, though, because I still understood the basics, even if I wasn’t fluent in the new languages of the Web. But, there’s always a part of me that wishes I’d kept up with it. Skills revisited. Last night, I was working on small web site that required a bit of simple JavaScript in order to work the way I wanted. It had been YEARS since I’d done any kind of scripting like that. Of course, with my skills being so out of date, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to come up with the code I needed myself. I did what any self respecting hack would do, and went to Google to try and figure out how to do it. I was able to get about 80% of the way there, which impressed me. I did have to call in reinforcements to help me nail it down (thanks, Michele!), but once she pointed me in the right direction, I was off to the races. What’s a skill that you have that you haven’t used in a long, long time? Are you a manager now? How many years has it been since you’ve been “in the trenches”? What would happen if you dove back in, even just for a while? Once we get into the position where we are managing others, it’s easy to forget what it was like to be doing their job. I work with web designers, developers, videographers and video editors all the time. I manage the teams, guide them, give direction. I feel as if I do it fairly well – at least that’s what I hear from my teams. I think part of my secret, is that I still make a point to play around with simple code, pick up a camera, and edit projects once in a while. I don’t think I’d be as good a manager as I am if I didn’t exercise my old skills once in a while. Now, our web developers and designers are far more skilled at what they do than I am. I’m a pretty good editor, a pretty good videographer – but I put ultimate trust in my guys, who do it day in and day out. They are better at it than I am – that’s why I pay them. But if I don’t sit in the trenches once in a while and crack open Final Cut or Photoshop, then I’m doing myself and them a disservice. Putting together that small, simple piece of functionality in that web site last night reminded me of a few things. First, it takes time to make sure it’s right – time that I’m sometimes guilty of not allowing my developers. Second, it’s okay to ask others for help when you need it – one’s pride often gets in the way of getting the job done. Third, coding takes infinite amounts of patience (patience that I don’t have). Stretch beyond your walls. Stretching is about going beyond those habits we get into. It’s about reaching outside your comfort zone once in a while. It’s about revisiting some old skills, so you can not only appreciate where you’ve come from but so you can appreciate the people who continue to do those things day in and day out. Take some time to get in the trenches, so you can truly understand what your team is dealing with – what are their challenges? How are you making their challenges more difficult? How can you make it easier for them to do their jobs? It will make you a better boss, I guarantee. How
40 years, 40lbs week 6 check-in
In case you’re just tuning in – I’m turning 40 in November, and I’ve set a goal to lose 40 pounds, for once and for all. You can read the back-story here. I’m using Weight Watchers, but I’m in no way affiliated with them or taking money from them to do this (in fact, I’m giving THEM money!). The WW program works great for me, but it’s just one method of healthy weight loss. There are plenty out there and I encourage you to work with the plan that suits you best. Oops! I just realized I didn’t check in this week. And I have some great news! I’ve hit my 5% goal – 11.6 pounds lost in total. I’ve also hit a personal milestone in terms of how much I actually weigh right now (no I’m not sharing that 😉 ). I managed to somehow lose 1.7lbs last week, in spite of lower level of exercise (I want to keep running but need to get new shoes – my current shoes are worn out and not treating my almost 40 year old knees too well). I also had a big weekend of eating out, while I attended the PAB2010 conference. Eating out has always been a big challenge for me, but I took a really balanced approach this weekend. If I had a big lunch, I’d eat a salad for dinner (hold the creamy dressing, of course). Beer and wine was in moderation (though drinking to excess isn’t really my bag anyway). I also drank tons of water. I have to admit I haven’t been tracking my food as closely, but I’ve promised myself I’ll get back on track with that next week – this is the time when I tend to fall flat – after having a bit of success it’s too easy to over-indulge. I’ve still got 29 lbs to lose – I have to celebrate my success and stay focused on my goal. But for now, I think I’ll celebrate..by going for a nice long walk. 🙂
My Shell Theory of Public Speaking
I’m a shy person. People don’t believe me when I say that – but it’s 100% true. Shyness is the tendency to withdraw out of fear. The key word there is “tendency”. Outgoingness is about avoiding that tendency. Outgoing as I may be, my tendency towards shy behaviour is still there. Shyness is part of my psyche – and something I have to contend with every single day of my life. I have a theory about shyness – my “Shell Theory” – that with the right approach, anyone is able to break out of their shell. For me, the last great frontier of overcoming my shyness has been public speaking. The fear of public speaking is often cited as the number one fear among adults in the U.S. – ahead of death. There was a time in my life when the thought of picking up the phone to order a pizza was enough to send me into a panic attack. Standing on a stage, speaking in front of people? Forget about it. When a situation would arise where I’d have to speak in front of people, I’d be so nervous that I’d mess up and fumble badly and I wouldn’t get my point across at all. Today, I adore public speaking. In fact, I’m doing more and more of it all the time. So how did I break out of my shell? Well, it wasn’t easy, but if public speaking is something you wish you could do more confidently, here’s a little advice. Knowledge is power. In 1992 when I bought my first car, I decided I wanted a standard transmission, because I’d been told standards are more fun to drive. And since I find driving kind of boring, I thought anything I could do to spice things up would be useful. The problem was, once I got behind the wheel, I couldn’t drive the stupid car to save my life! I stalled, ground, and jerked my way around town, all the while worrying that I was doing some serious damage. My problem was, I didn’t understand HOW the clutch, gas, and stick shift worked together. I was more or less guessing at the best way to drive the car, and obviously, my guess wasn’t right. So, I called up a friend who happened to be a bit of a mechanical nerd, and asked him to sit down with me and explain, on paper, how a transmission actually worked. He did, and lo and behold, the next time I got behind the wheel, it was smooth sailing. I took the same approach to public speaking. I knew I had some issues, so I decided to learn how to do it better. I started watching exceptional professional speakers, like Christopher Penn, Mitch Joel, and Seth Godin. I voraciously consumed TEDTalks. I wasn’t listening to the content, I was watching what they do. I was looking at flow, how they worked with visuals, mannerisms, and intonation. Some talks I watched over and over. I started to inject some of what I learned about HOW to speak into my own talks. And it started to work. Learn by observation. Find people you admire, and study what they do. Don’t copy them exactly, but do take away the things that work. You’ll soon find that you’re able to emulate the masters fairly well. But do make sure that you’re always being yourself, and putting your own spin on things. Get over yourself. I believe that the number one reason people are afraid to speak in public is because they care really deeply about what others think of them. They are scared to do or say something that will make them look silly. Fear of humiliation is a powerful thing, and unfortunately, most people are too afraid to do anything about it. The only reason I am able to get up on a stage and talk these days is because I decided to stop caring so much about what other people think. Most of the things we worry about, like that people are going to make fun of us, never, EVER happen. And if it’s not likely to happen, there’s absolutely no point in worrying about it. So, tell yourself what I tell myself when I start to get nervous about a public appearance. Suck it up, cupcake – this is what you want to do. Just go do it and, as my Dad would say, quit yer bellyachin’. You’ll find that once you stop the voices in your head from telling you all the reasons you CAN’T do it, all the reasons you CAN do it will be crystal clear. Let go. I was fortunate to speak at the Podcasters Across Borders conference this past weekend in Ottawa. If you are a content creator, you owe it to yourself to attend in 2011 – it’s an amazing experience. I thoroughly enjoyed my time on stage, but I will confess to being just a tad more nervous than usual. I find it’s harder to present in a room full of people I know than a room full of strangers. Also, I was up second last, so I’d already had a full weekend of amazing talks to compare myself to. But, instead of letting the pressure get to me, I decided to use it. I let go of the nerves and used the residual adrenaline that my anxiety had created to add more energy to my talk. Feedback suggests that my strategy worked. After I was done, I was spent. It was a bit comical, actually – I was more clumsy than usual, and couldn’t put a sentence together to save my life, which makes it plenty of fun when all anyone wants to do at that point is make conversation. However, I was able to find 20 minutes or so to decompress, and let go of the experience. I didn’t criticize myself for my word fumbles, or worry about the fact that I missed
Zen and the Art of Being Patient in Business
Everyone’s talking about execution these days. Seth’s talking about it over here. Ok, well it’s mostly Seth, but well, we should all be listening to him anyway. Execution is critical to success in business, and it’s the very thing that many people fall short on. Lots of people get wrapped up in the thrill of the chase, but once they’ve landed the gig, actually executing on what’s been promised proves to be a challenge. Projects fail all the time because of failure to execute. Personal goals fail all the time for the same reason. Failure to execute. Often, the failure happens long before the point of execution. We meet a prospect. We have a great chat, about all the possibilities. Both parties walk away feeling inspired and excited. Perhaps you even get to the point of putting together a proposal that outlines how execution can happen, but by the time you deliver it to your prospect, excitement has waned, other priorities have taken hold, and execution might seem impossible. In this case, it’s easy to blame the other party. After all, you worked till 2am to deliver that gorgeous proposal, how dare they not call you back right away! They were so excited about what you had to offer last week – why aren’t they making you a priority now? Eventually, the prospect fades, but your resentment doesn’t. So you continue to go through the process – prospect, proposal, crickets. Prospect, proposal, crickets. So, what’s wrong with your prospects? Well, absolutely nothing. What’s wrong is your approach. You see, the problem is we’re hungry. Our focus is on the prize (the paycheque, and/or the glory). So, we just want to skip a bunch of steps. We want our prospect to just say yes and sign on the dotted line, and we’ll figure out the rest later. It’s like calling someone your girlfriend when you haven’t even had a first date yet. Patience is not my bag. I’ve never been an exceptionally patient person. When I get something in my head, it’s all I can think about. I dream about it, imagine it happening, becoming a reality in front of me. I feel the joy it will bring. I’m showered in good feelings. And then I just want it to happen, like, NOW. More than anything, having my own business has proven one thing to me. Good things DO come to those who wait. The longer a prospect takes to make a decision, the more comfortable I feel that they have done their homework, comparison shopped, dotted their I’s and crossed their T’s, and secured their funding. It’s an absolute fact that it always takes longer for someone to say “yes” then it does for them to say “no”. And that’s a good thing. I’d much rather my clients make an informed decision that they feel good about than to dive in with both feet and realize they’ve made a mistake halfway through. So, be patient. Be really, REALLY patient. Out-patience your competition, and be the one who is still around when the prospect finally comes back and is ready to move forward. But being patient doesn’t necessarily mean you have to sit back and wait forever. Follow up is still important. Dropping a line to say hi, I’m still here, is more than acceptable. Inviting your prospect to lunch, or coffee, is perfectly fine. Keep the relationship moving, let the prospect know you’re still there, is a very good thing. Often, it’s just the small tap they need to get the ball rolling again. Time it well though – use your instincts to guide you to the right next step. Bank accounts are not patient. You’re right. Bank accounts are notorious for not being patient. So are those insistent people you have to pay your bills to. They don’t really get the whole “Well, I’m just being patient until my prospect makes a decision” thing. So, that just adds to our pressure, our hunger to get a decision out of people. So what to do in the meantime? Well, keep pursuing new prospects, for sure. But find something else to do, to ease the financial pressure. Pick up a freelance gig. Heck, get a part time job, or keep your full time one. Don’t put yourself in a position that you’re starving. I work several days a month for a project management consulting firm. It’s a side gig, where I can make my own hours and work from home. I’m given assignments, deliverables, and deadlines, and as long as I meet them everyone is happy and I get a cheque every couple of weeks. I keep this job going because it provides me with a buffer zone, and makes me less anxious about signing that next deal. Plus, I really like the people I work with over there. Plus plus, it’s provided me with some new opportunities for my own business. But ultimately, my sales cycle is not dependent on me making the bills for the month – so I have some room for patience, negotiation, and a bit more time to build that comfort level and relationship with my prospects. Growing a business is a process. It may seem to you like other peoples’ businesses are overnight successes, because we only get to know about them once they’ve landed the huge client or made a million bucks. Nothing could be further from the truth. The formative years of your business are right now – where you’re building your portfolio, creating long term relationships and expanding your referral network. The rest is just patience.
40 years, 40 lbs – Week 5 Check-In
I just realized I didn’t post last week! It may have been because I was a bit sad that I actually had gained a pound in Week 4. I’ve since learned that is completely normal – when we change our lifestyle (consume fewer calories, be more active) our metabolism does all kinds of wacky things. Sometimes at the beginning things might be a bit out of whack. What the gain DID force me to do was make some further alterations to my plan. I have significantly increased my activity level, as I’ve started running (for the first time in 20 years or so). I’m of course taking it slow, and actually I found this great iPhone app called “Get Running”, where this lovely Australian lady guides me through various intervals of running and walking. She’s very encouraging and so far, I’ve completed 4 run and am now running 1.5 minutes with 2 minutes of walking in between, a total of 6 times. It’s challenging but I can already feel a difference. I’m also doing more yoga and walking in the off-running days. I’m trying to get out and do some sort of activity every day. Well, this one change has made a world of difference! Not only do I feel 100 times better, I’m sleeping better and have way more energy throughout the day. I’m also finding I’m not hungry as often – in fact at meal times I’m rarely starving anymore, which means I don’t need to eat as much to be satisfied. If anyone can tell me what the correlation is between exercise and appetite I’d be happy to hear it, because that part was unexpected. Now, for the results. I weighed in this morning and I’m thrilled to report that I lost 2.2 lbs last week, meaning I’ve reached my first 10lb milestone! And you know what that means – only 30 more pounds to go! I’m 1/4 of the way there! One silly side-effect of all this weight loss – my clothes are starting to become rather baggy. I have some clothes in a smaller size, but at the moment I’m officially “between sizes”. So, you’re just going to have to put up with me being Ms. Baggy Pants for a few weeks, ok? It’s a good problem to have! I also think I’m going to have to start saving my pennies for that new Size 8 wardrobe I’ll be forced to buy in a few months….. : ) How did you do this week?
How Reading a Newspaper Changed My Life
I had lunch yesterday with a friend I hadn’t seen in 13 years. It’s amazing how, with some people, you can just pick up where you left off. I am glad we’ve reconnected and look forward to getting to know her again. We talked and shared what we’d been up to the past several years. She told me about her new business, and the musical pursuits she’d been working on. I told her about getting married, starting a business, and my own musical pursuits. As I was weaving in and out of various storylines, I suddenly had an amazing realization – that one simple action I’d taken 11 years ago literally changed the course of my life. I’ll explain. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’d come through some struggles in the mid 1990’s with my health. Flash forward to about 1998, and my life had changed dramatically. I’d now graduated from my 2nd run at college, and was working in the high tech industry as a content developer and teacher. I lived in my own apartment now and was exceptionally happy with both my work and my new circle of friends. With my life back on track, I started to seek out new creative pursuits. I knew I wanted to get back into singing, but wasn’t sure how. Quickly enough, life got busy again and I put that dream on the back burner. Then one day, I was casually perusing our local arts and entertainment newspaper, and I came across a tiny little ad in the classified section. “Womens’ Choir auditions – phone xxx-xxxx to sign up”. Having never done a singing audition in my life, I quickly pushed the thought aside, thinking they were probably looking for more experienced singers. However, over the next few days, the thought of that ad kept nagging at me for some reason. With nothing to lose, I finally sucked it up and picked up the phone. My audition was set for the following Thursday. Skip forward, I was fortunate to get into the choir, a womens’ choir about 40 strong called “Vox Femina”. I proceeded to spend the next 4 years forging some amazing friendships with some terrific women, performing all over the place, including down in the U.S. One day, I was approached by one of my choir mates. She was thinking of forming an a capella quartet and they were looking for someone to fill the baritone part. I was flattered to be asked and decided it was a great new challenge for me. I joined that group, called Solera, and we proceeded to have another amazing 4 years, performing all over town and even singing the national anthem at a few baseball games too. The four of us became close friends, and we had a blast. The quartet disbanded when one of the gals moved away to Toronto and another moved to Newfoundland. A few months later, I was set to head down to Toronto for a weekend visit with my friend, and I came across another ad, this time online, for an event called ‘Podcamp Toronto‘. I asked my friend if she’d like to join me to check it out that weekend, and since it was free, we had nothing to lose. I walked into that event, was warmly greeted by many amazing people, and had my eyes opened wide to a whole new world. What I learned about new media that weekend and what I’ve been able to learn since has literally changed the direction of my business and the way that opportunities have flowed to it. I owe much of my success to the people in that room that weekend. So you see, if it wasn’t for having a reason to go to Toronto that particular weekend (to see my friend), I wouldn’t have gone to Podcamp and probably wouldn’t have been inspired to start blogging or engaging on social platforms. If it wasn’t for the quartet, I’d have never become good friends with the person I was visiting that weekend. If it wasn’t for the choir, I’d have never been in the quartet. If it wasn’t for me happening upon that tiny newspaper ad that day, I’d have never known about the choir. That tiny ad changed my life. But most importantly – my intention (wanting to get more into music) and my action (picking up the phone, practicing hard for my audition) brought the rest of it into reality. Kinda neat how that works, eh? Express your intention. Ask for what you want. Take action. And pay close, close attention to the little, seemingly insignificant events in your life, because often, they are the ones that have the biggest impact. Do you have a story about one event that changed the course of your life? Please share in the comments! [photo credit: GiantsFanatic on Flickr]
40 years, 40lbs – Week 3 Check-In
Just a quick update this week – things are going exceptionally well. I’m down another 1.8 pounds, 7.4 pounds overall. Getting excited about hitting my 10lb goal. I had lots of activity points last week, from doing more walking and swimming, and my goal for this week is to keep that trend going. I even was able to treat myself a bit – I had some yummy chocolate frozen yogurt and a couple of nice cold pints of beer too. That’s what I love about Weight Watchers – I never feel like I’m denying myself or starving myself. It’s all about balance. Will check in again next week. How’s your weight loss plan going?