Monthly Archives: January 2010

There is a significant online buzz about social media, tribes, syndication, and all that jazz. I’m learning about it all. There is significant power in leveraging the power of social media for whatever business you promote, whatever passion you wax poetic about, what story you wish the world to read. And if you have any doubt about what social media can do for you, consider this.

Haiti.

If case you live under a rock, there was an earthquake there a week or so ago. A really bad one. Really bad.

And while the news has done an excellent job of keeping us informed on the day to day, moment to moment experience of the Haitian people, it is the social media forum that has had a serious impact on the situation making it ridiculously easy to contribute to relief efforts.

Facebook statuses abound with numbers to call, and websites to visit to donate to the  cause.

Tweets and retweets galore tell us how to text in donations using our cell phones.

And families outside of Haiti have heard about their families members through all these means.

Canada and the United States each held benefit concerts Friday night and they raised millions online, on the phone, and through texts. Facebook and twitter were right there making sure the world knew about it.

There is serious power in social media. For good.

Are you maximizing your positive impact?

Alrighty. Last week I said I’d take action to live actively, presently, and “on”. Why do I make these proclamations???

Sigh…I did make that proclamation, that promise. Not only to myself, but… gulp… to all of you. Eeek! So here we go.

I’m part of this really cool networking group whose intention is to teach the group about social media. This group is supporting our efforts in developing blogs, facebook connections, using twitter, making videos, and a whole bunch of other stuff. And I gotta tell you, I’m super duper overwhelmed!! But I’m in it and I’m doing it.

One of the things I’m learning about is blogging (as you can see…), and I didn’t really know how to blog and was sort of stumbling around in the dark. I also didn’t really understand the point. But there I was.

Last week I learned that there is a difference between wordpress.COM and wordpress.ORG and it’s that distinction that makes ALL the difference. Huh???

Ok, fine. I’m all about action, right? Even if it is in the dark…

So off I went to get a new blog.  Which initially looked really really hard.

But the network tribe can to my rescue and you are now experiencing my brand new wordpress.org blog. It’s got a loooong way to go but I’m pleased that I figured it out. And let me assure all of you that if I can do this, you can surely do this!!

Whew.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time reflecting on the last year as I’m sure we all have. And then a friend reminded me that it was the end of a decade.

Oh. Right.

I had spent the last day of 1999 with this friend and we had a good time. Flushing toilets at midnight to ensure the world hadn’t ended. Drinking champagne. Making promises for the future.

Ten years have passed since then. An entire decade. A serious chunk of time in any life. And what did I do with it?

It was an incredible chunk. I finished my master’s degree. I met the man who would be my husband. I bought my first house. I got my first professional job. I got my second professional job. I got married. We went on a honeymoon. We had a baby. We bought a different house. We had a second baby. I got a third job. I started a consulting business. I joined a network marketing company. We traveled. We renovated. We camped. We gardened. I checked off a dozen or so things off the bucket list. I grew in mind and spirit.

Not a bad summary of 10 years. And yet I feel as though the last ten years happened to me. I wasn’t fully in the driver’s seat of that chunk of my life. And to look back on that and contemplate all the missed opportunities, all the chances gone by, the shots not taken, the experiences unrecognized, the time squandered, it gives me pause.

I thought I was living full out. I thought I was really in the present. I thought I was getting somewhere.

And I now know I wasn’t. Not entirely.

Sure there were moments. Nothing like a friend’s baby dying of cancer to shock you into appreciating what you have right in front of you. But then there were many times that I just didn’t. Didn’t go out with a friend, didn’t return that phone call, didn’t read that book, didn’t notice the child, the husband, the family member, the friend, the neighbour. Didn’t pay attention.

So I declare here and now for all to see and follow. That 2010 begins the year and decade of ACTION.

I intend to make the next 10 years happen rather than have them happen to me. I will take every opportunity handed to me.  I will take control of the reins of my life. I will be present. I will be in the driver’s seat of my life.

What do you want the next 10 years to look like?