Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Lessons in Self-Promotion: Toastmaters Monthly “How Is Your Social Media”

Lessons in Self-Promotion: From Toastmaters “How Is Your Social Media”

This April 2010, Toastmasters had an excellent article titled “How is Your Social Media Etiquette?” The article is essentially a 2 ½ page bulleted list of key points about using Facebook and LinkedIn effectively.


There were two important lessons that I took away here

Be Real - The social media is a bundle of tools to get to know other people better. Right, it’s not like we want to connect with robots. Weinberg writes “Social media mimics real relationships in many cases. Would you do the following in real face-to-face relationships”. Absolutely true. Now, I think there is better access to old friends, new friends, family, and all sorts of things on facebook. Just as in real life, there are varying degrees to the depth of these relationships. So I think it’s critical to keep private messages private, and public messages uplifting.
My sister and I were talking about this some time ago how people jump quicker into relationships, do not take the time to let them develop, when they are from online partnerships (think dating sites, message boards, online chats). The real danger here is someone never getting to know you, because you’ve thrown everything you can onto the wall, and want it to stick. What a mess.

Self Promotion –

What I want to expand on here is the idea of self-promotion. I completely believe in the importance of promoting your skills, values, and your causes. This is what is important to you. However, it is easy to distribute ideas (videos, blogs, notes) and forget if it’s appropriate to the audience. Sure you can tell everyone on your network about your romantic successes…but do you want that going out to your tech-savy grandma who uses the computer all day? You want to meet lots of people, why not. But don’t go inviting everyone and their ten cousins to your facebook if you’ve never met them, especially if you don’t disclose the reasons for the invitation. Great ideas can stand on their own. If you have an event you want people to come to – invite with grace. Personalized invitations, announce sometime before, be honest about the atmosphere and expectations. People want to help people..and they will help you too. Just do it in a way that is true.

Be real and self-promote, and do it with grace.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

The Dip - Part 2

Big Idea 3:

“Never quit something with great long-term potential just because you can’t deal with the stress of the moment”

Questin 1: Am I panicking?
Question 2: Who Am I Trying to Influence
Question 3: What sort of measurable progress am I making?

It’s really that simple, and that’s how Godin lays it out.

What did we learn:
Winners Quit – we quit all the time. We quit what is not essential to our goal. Your goal should be valued to you – whether it’s having a balanced life, making lots of money, finding peace in a spiritual path, or saving up money for an Ipad.
The Dip – When an activity becomes repetitive or hard, and it will, you are expericing the dip. The dip is a drop in motivation and excitement. It doesn’t last forever. If you ride it out, you’ll get to mastery.

Don’t Quit what you Want – Its your goal, its no one else’s. Don’t sacrifice it, unless you want to sacrifice it.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Seth Godin's "The Dip" - 3 Big Ideas

This is a review of the book
The Dip: Little Book When to Quit and when to Stick by Seth Godin

Seth Godin gives readers challenges. In his past works such as “The Purple Cow” he challenges readers to find different ways to market, different ways to stand out. No one forgets a purple cow, right?

In this fantastic mini book (just slightly larger than your hand), Godin gives us a new challenge. When do we stick with something and when do we quit.

Big Idea 1:

“Winners quit all the time. They just quit the right stuff at the right time
Many marketplaces and businesses profit from people not knowing when they should quit”

Let’s face it. If your going for a job a lot of people want you need to do something to stand out. You need to do what no one else is doing. Hannah Smith is a supreme court law clerk, 1 of 39. You know how many applied – 42,000.
Winners win big. But what you probably don’t know is that winners lazer –focus on what it is they want to accomplish. They demonstrate a defined commitment, and do not let petty things get in their way. Winners DO quit. They quit the things that don’t get them closer to their goal.

If your goal is to run a 5k marathon. You might need to STICK to exercising. You might need to STICK to eating nutrious foods. You might need to QUIT drinking. What sacrifices are you willing to make? If you want to win, your going to make sacrifices, and you will need to stick to it. Don’t forget - there is going to be a jackpot for you at the end of that rainbow.
Big Idea 2:
‘Almost everything in life is worth doing controlled by the Dip’

What is the Dip. Well the dip is that span, between when something stops being fun, and when we get what we want.

When we start something its fun. We start a new sport. Take only public speaking as a hobby. Go out with a new boyfriend. You could be take golf or acupuncture or piloting a plane.
Rapid learning takes place in first few weeks. At this point, its easy to stay engaged.

The Dip is long slog between starting and mastery. It works to set of artificial screens to keep people out, who aren’t in it for the long-haul. You can think of it as a downhill graph. Your motivation is the line, and it curves up the first couple of experiences. Then you get use to what your doing, and motivation declines. Here comes the dip.

Here’s a work example.

Most CEOs endure 25 years in dip before getting position.
For a quarter of a century he needed to suck it up, keep his head down, and do what he was told. He had to put up with meetings he didn’t want to go to. He had to waste time with employees who were not giving their all. He had to endure all office days.
But he got what he wanted. What is it you want, that is worth going through the dip.
Once the dip comes up, you’ve mastered the goal, the skill, the passion. You have arrived.

Strategic Quitting is not the same as failing
S.Q. is conscious decision, great way to avoid failure
Failure – dream is over, giving up, no other options, no time or resources

(Pt. 2 - next week)

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Why, y-enlightenment?

Y-enlightenment: Cultivating wisdom, Reviewing Relevant Literature, Professional Skills and Helping you become the professional you want to be.

Generation Y
Many of you are now graduating high school or graduating college, and making decisions about the tracks that will greatly impact your future. For many it’s a turbulent time. Trying to focus on the here and now of school, dating, parents, present goals, and let’s not forget jumping into the job market. Now is the time to begin self-development.

What this blog attempts to do is provide resources: relevant articles, research, book reviews, and all in an attempt to help this iGeneration develop relevant professional skills.

Twice a week expect relevant updates to help you develop in a number of areas: marketability, speaking skills, interviewing skills. Most of the content will come from succesful business books and websites.

There is so much collective guidance from professionals, teachers, family members, and our organizations that we can’t help but improve with the desire to change.

This is the early stage of the blog, but I want to say my goal is to have high participation, and invite readership comments and submitted articles.
I guarantee the seeds of becoming the woman or man you want to be will take root with your involvement.

Let's grow,

Greg Talbot