When you have nothing, and want something – What do you do?
You take all the nothing that is lying around and you make something that makes something beautiful, then you make more of then and you bring joy to peoples lives
Give me 60 seconds of your life right now to see what these people have done.
Then Like and Share their facbook Landfillharmonic
Yesterday I spoke about how everybody appears happier, more cheerful and productive when the sun comes out and posed the question:
What would you do if you could, without fear or anxiety, let your inner sunshine out each and every day?
So today it was no surprise to me to hear the good old phrase “that Friday feeling” again we all know that one :
Thank God it’s Friday
Thank Crunchie it’s Friday
TFI Friday (as Chris Evans re-branded it more than a couple of years ago)
What is it that we are also excited about? What is it about Friday or realistically the weekend that we so look forward to?
Does everybody really hate their job that much that the weekend gives them such freedom, such empowerment , such an ability to be passionate, that’s all they long for all week? Constantly waiting for Friday to be freed to be the person they want to be.
Do you recognise this in yourself, or in your employees or your co-workers?
If you do take 5 minutes to explore that feeling, ask yourself the questions that I’ve listed above. What does that Friday feeling mean to you? Why do you long for it? And how much better would your life be if you have that much passion everything you did?
Learning to harness your Friday feeling and use it each and every day so that everything you do it with passion and commitment opens you up to so many more possibilities and opportunities. If you’re suddenly seen as the person in your office or the supplier with a passion and commitment that nobody else is showing you will shine through. Not only will you be recognised and rewarded but you yourself will be more content as you are seeing the joy in the things you’re doing.
I’m not saying this is easy, most people don’t even know it’s possible. Some people are able to do it on their own, others need support and help.
Now that you know it is possible, just think of the value that could be added to you or your business by simply asking for that help.
Enjoy your Friday Feeling and I hope you have the same one on Monday.
I got to my laptop this morning to find an inbox full of newsletters. Apparently the sunshine is out and therefore the world a better place today.
It is without doubt that most people ‘feel’ better and more optimistic when the weather starts to cheer up, but can you really hang your hat of success on this random chaos theory generated phenomenon?
Do you really wait for a sunny day to be successful, or to even consider that you could be?
In reality we all have a little ray of sunshine tucked away inside that nurtures our ego, cuddles our confidence and heightens our optimism it is always there, it always has been (and it always will be) we just keep it hidden away because we think it will burn out if we let it out on its own.
This is why when the sun comes out we let it shine through, we feel the sunshine will help keep it burning bright or even feed it a little.
So, my question to you….
What would you do if you could, without fear or anxiety, let your inner sunshine out each and every day?
Answers on a postcard, or the comments box below would be even better 🙂
This year has been tough for a lot of people (me included at times) – things happened, situations changed, unexpected events tripped you up, shook you around and dumped you back down.
With the year coming to an end we are about to get a deluge of facebook ‘my year of status updates’ images, and twitter ‘my best tweets’
BUT how will you choose to remember your achievements?
Remember the choice is yours.
Those of you around me will recognise some of the situations and I believe you will appreciate how I chose to remember them.
These are just a few of my memories and achievement from 2011, if I had planned to have achieved all of this in a single year I would consider the year a Success.
So there we are; a Successful 2011 for me.
How was yours?
No matter what you have been through this year, you have the choice how you remember it. Make the choice now, identify what things meant to you, why they were a struggle or hurt so much and recognise the achievement you have made within what others may see as ‘hard times’
By taking these achievements into 2012 you will be able to build on them, knowing that you can and do succeed, enabling you to take a slightly easier route next year to your next success.
Above all, be true to yourself, take responsibility for your own memories…
Putting a little bit of a spin on the ‘Damned Generation’ we keep hearing about, rather than condemning the youth of today by labeling them, putting them in a box, sealing the lid and writing ‘Forget this lot’ on the box, what can we actually do to get them (and therefore ourselves and the economy) out of the big pile of **** that we find ourselves in at the moment.
When I see the ‘Damned’ I consistently read it as ‘Dammed’ so rather than the ‘Lost Generation’ I am reading ‘The held back Generation’ ie we are letting them down and preventing them from being the success we need them to be. So what are we going to do about it?
I read this blog ‘Frankie Cocozza + Media = Damned Generation’ this morning by Jamie Dunn from ‘Made by Young People’ and found that there were lots of parallels in his comments around the image we portray with several others that have also commented on the use of positivity recently.
Clare Boyles of ‘Success Matters’, one of the most positive and focused people I am lucky enough to know, has recently written about positive attitude and the need for positive action around it. http://bit.ly/qFnPEN
Martina Blazkova from ‘MoveNowCoaching’ recently ran an excellent webinar, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDMWSSGHKvA&feature=youtu.be, about all doom and gloom in the news these days and how we can protect ourselves from it and promote the positivity that we see and experience.
And Melody Hossaini from ‘InspirEngage International’, who I have recently started to follow on Twitter after she started to follow me. Melody works with children and young people, helping them to develop as leaders, make positive change and be successful in enterprise. (After typing that last sentence I have realised I really should talk to Melody about Junior Chamber International!). What I see in Melody is energy and passion about something she believes in, we can all learn a lot from this kind of attitude.
To me it all combines into ‘Resource Recognition’, identifying Strengths, finding the things we are actually good at then making sure we know how to apply them, being passionate and focussed. We all constantly label ourselves and others with preconceived ideas that limit us and those around us. By first breaking this habit of self limitation we can all acknowledge our own true potential and therefore help to empower those around us.
This is a big step, one well worth taking, letting go of our own constraints and positively helping those around us to achieve what they want to achieve.
So my question to you; Are you a big enough person to cut the crap and positively help yourself and those around you?
Personally I believe you are, otherwise you would never have started reading this.
Rest assured you will be in good company, there are plenty of us already walking the walk (see above) we just need more people to take action and in doing so help themselves and others.
This combined action will make the difference to young people, it will make a difference to you, it will give us all a more secure future that we can be proud of and enjoy together.
Are you ready to Open the floodgates, by Un-damming a generation?
You can achieve everything you want, you just need to know what you want to achieve.
Achieving your dreams is centred around knowing dreams. If you know where you are going, you can work out the best route to take, if you just “don’t know” you can only guess where you will end up.
Making your own connections
I first met Jamie Dunn (@JDEntrepenuer) via a random search on twitter on 20th Aug 2010. Having taken a look at his website I knew he was someone that would be going places and would make great achievements. So I offered him my support. (First Tweet – @JDEntrepreneur If i can help in any way, please let me know. ) We have been in regular contact since with Jamie being a keynote speaking at JCI Inspiration Day in Reading and providing each other with regular support and advice. Being able to give assistance to your connections when they need it inevitably leads to them providing assistance when you need it.
How did I know Jamie would be going places?
Well at the age of just 18 (at the time) he had clear goals. He had set himself targets and published them for all to see. He had committed to them personally, as well as publicly and was taking positive actions to achieve them.
Basically he was prepared to challenge himself and relished the opportunity to succeed.
So where is Jamie going?:
Ultimately, to the top, Jamie is going to be one of the influential people in business and social enterprise that you hear consistently about over the next 10-20 years.
In the short-term he is going travelling to spread the word and inspire young people in 19 countries. At the end of April Jamie Tweeted that he had a new idea. I have learnt that this is always a good good time to give him a call, so we had a chat. He had decided to visit 19 countries, in 19 days on a budget of £1000 with the goal being to proved that you can do anything, you just need to find a way to do it.
This fits in nicely with his position as BXL Youth Ambassador where he is responsible for actively inspiring young people to make their own choices and achieve their potential. Therefore this project is a great chance for him to stamp out the some of the yeah, but I can’t, its too hard, its it will cost too much, I wont get any support, statements that you often hear when an idea comes to life.
So is Jamie doing this alone? Yes and No.
Yes – He will be travelling alone
No – His first reaction to the idea, was who can help me achieve this? Who do I know that can give me ideas, help with the concept, work on logistics, give me ideas on what to do while I am there. He has even asked for a suggested list of books to read while travelling!
As I have mentioned, I have talked to Jamie about the project, I have reminded him to take advantages of his links with JCI, by talking to Solveig Malvik (JCI UK Marketing Director and 2011 Deputy National President). We are working with Jamie to get him contacts in some of the countries to enable him to share his message and the lessons learned from BXL to an International audience.
Jamie sets off on 19th June and you can follow his progress on the planning and on the actual trip on his website (http://www.jamie-dunn.com/uncategorized/19-countries-19-days)
He has set himself a clear goal and is well on his way to achieving it.
Therefore: What is your dream, Personal, Professional, or Business?
Once you have decided what it is, get on with it, talk to people, find a way to make it happen. If you would like some help feel free to contact me.
Involve others where possible, hopefully from within your organisation, or seek outside assistance to discuss and create ideas.
As the Social Media coordinator within your organisation you are may feel you do not have all the knowledge, experience or content or time to do it all. That is where others come in.
The best people to write engaging content about your companies activities are the people doing it. Get the sales people to write blogs and discuss new technologies, ask the engineers on the road to write about preventative measure that could help avoid some of the smaller problems.
These same people can then actively engage in the discussion they create drawing people to your content. This all shows that your organisation has a variety of people with expert knowledge rather than just someone with a twitter or facebook account.
References and Inspiration in 7 Habits of Highly Social Media – Intro
Take a step back.
Look to see what people actually get from your service.
The old adage of sell the sizzle not the sausage has never been more true. Listen for what the end user will find interesting rather then the bit you want to talk about. Yes the yield to cost ratio of a blah blah blah may get you excited but having enough money in 2-3 years to pay for a child’s university education is what someone is more likely to be searching for when they find you. (If you do it right)
Once you understand what people are willing to listen to you can then ensure you talk about what interests them. Including all the correct keyword hooks that tehy want to hear.
As soon as someone is interested they will actually listen to what you have to offer, and how it will help them at that point your message will actually be heard.
References and Inspiration in 7 Habits of Highly Social Media – Intro
Win/Win is social media is just the same as in business,
– Lose / Win – you give all your knowledge away and people do it themselves.
– Win / Lose – you use the hard sell, links to product pages over the place, you may get some orders (you win) but there is no real benefit to the general listener
– Win / Win, you post useful info to inform and encourages people to engage with your subject (they win) , you become a recognised expert (you win) as people begin to use your snippets (they win) ultimately they recognise they can not do it all themselves and as you are their go to expert they ask you for your services (you win) you both grow an ongoing business relationship (win/win)
Note the order this happens in, They Win first, you give, they gain. Then you start to win too.
References and Inspiration in 7 Habits of Highly Social Media – Intro
You need to cover all your bases, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube to name but a few, the advantage you now have is that you are using a single source, your website blog, so you already have the content that you can point all of these towards (thus reducing your overall workload).
Now, analyse your response, look where you get the most activity and give that some focus, however activity is often confused with results, take a second look. 10,000 followers on twitter, but only 100 clicks, maybe one purchase. 1000 people in your LinkedIn group, with 50 clicks and three purchases. Look to where your results come from and give it some real backing. You maybe surprised as to where you get your results.
There are plenty of tools for this,
Google analytics – Web analytics
Bitly – url shortener with analytics
Plus many more.
References and Inspiration in 7 Habits of Highly Social Media – Intro