m2h blogs

This weekend, I finished reading Mosaic: Pieces of my life so far by Amy Grant. If you have time, Mosaic is an inspirational read.

One take-away: Grant says she begins her day by going outside, whatever the weather, and says (out loud) “This is the day the Lord has made. Rejoice and be glad in it.” She says it multiple times with emphasis on different syllables as a way to wake up consciously and begin the day. I want to add to that: “What will I make of this day? This day is full of possibility.”

Morning is really my best time (that is, once I’m awake). I feel like each day is a new opportunity to start over. It has an energy to it and if I work it right, I can tap into it.

Last weekend, I read Monday Morning Choices. It’s a quick read. I read it over a couple sessions on the treadmill. The ideas were those that I’d encountered in other texts, but it’s nice to have them all in one place. It’s good information for someone who is beginning their career (or for someone who might have made some inappropriate ethical decisions (ala Enron)) and how important it is to have integrity and take personal responsibility. I might consider it for a graduation gift. It reminded me to check in every Monday morning to focus myself on the things that I’ve defined as important.

One of the other things that I’ve been doing to get my day started off right is to listen to the Morning Coach podcast. JB Glossinger does a live conference call during the week at 7:45 ET; however, I just don’t have the time to spare before I’m in the car, so I listen to the podcast. Usually the most recent episode is posted before I leave for work so I can just sync it and listen in the car; although, lately there has been a little delay (e.g. the one for today is not posted yet). I’m sure they’ll get the kinks worked out, so give it a try if you need a little something to start your day off right. I’m not really into the talks on the weekends, but I recommend the M-F talks by JB. Topics include Energy, Spirituality, and Abundance.

Other than a good strong cup of coffee or tea, how do you get your day off on the right track?

I’ve been working on a plan for what I want to accomplish with the forums this year. The mind map created by the International Online Community Management Association has really helped me think about all of the issues I need to consider. Actually, the map could work for a number of similar efforts when you’ve got a project or initiative you want to get off the ground. Check it out.

Here’s an image that shows the tag cloud for Allstate at del.icio.us. It’s interesting to me that “bills” is one of the top tags. As a del.icio.us user myself, I hadn’t thought about creating one tag for all of the bills I pay each month and then using that page to click to each of the sites as I pay bills, but that is quite the productivity hack. Hmm…do I care if someone knows what companies I pay each month?

What is the top hit for “bills” at del.icio.us?
Billshare - a free application for people who need to split bills and keep a record of it. If I had a roommate and needed to track expenses, it might be the perfect app.

The #2 hit — billQ also looks like a cool web-based app to keep track of your bills. I really like the reminder feature that users can set-up to send to their cell phone or email.

So I’m finally on Facebook. I feel like the last one to the party. What’s cool? What’s not? What do I need to know now? Where do I go for more info?

It’s finally public. Check out the project that I’ve been working on: Allstate Community Forums. I’m really excited about this project. It’s a chance to listen to what people have to say and build relationships as we go.

Ogilvy created the design and Lithium is hosting the site. I worked with some really talented people from both organizations to launch this site. I just have to mention the cool icons Ogilvy created. If you register, you’ll be able to check them out. However, all of Lithium’s work is behind the scenes to keep the boards up and functioning as they should.

For me personally, given my research interest in networks, this project is right up my alley. I hope to learn a lot more over the coming months about how people communicate on the boards. By the way, if you have any community moderation and management resources to recommend, please be sure to leave a comment below.

One other thing I want to mention is the Terms of Use. Usually these documents are not much fun to read and we all agree to variations of these any time we register with a new site. However, I do have to say that I’m particularly happy with the Allstate Authorized Users paragraph because it requires Allstate employees to disclose their connection to Allstate. While this point may not add much to the legal provisions of the document, I thought it important from a social media perspective, and I’m glad I was able to keep it in the final version. And, now that I’ve disclosed my connection, and even though I’m not an Allstate employee, I’ll need to add a disclaimer to my sidebar to the tune of: “The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent Allstate’s positions, strategies, or opinions.”

You can also check out the User Guidelines. I think Item #1 about not posting specific insurance advice is the one that I’ll need to watch the most as conversations take place. Because of how the insurance industry is regulated, that is a key provision of the document and something I’ll need to monitor.

More topics are planned for the year, but we really want to see what develops. Check it out if you have time, and I’ll be interested if you have any feedback for me.

m2h Project 365

I’ve been thinking a lot over the past week considering what I want to focus on this year. I started with Tom Rath’s text, Strengths Finder 2.0. I have to admit, at first I was frustrated by the book. I wanted to be able to easily identify my strengths so I could immediately move on to ways to build on them and ideas for action. Of the 34 themes, I was able to narrow the list of possibilities down to 19. Then I took the online test. My themes are Input, Learner, Intellection, Connectedness, and Achiever. When I re-read these sections, I could pick out elements from each that I feel speak to me. Of course, there are elements in each that I don’t think apply to me, but I want to focus on the positive. Here are the first sentences of each theme…

1. “You are inquisitive.”
2. “You love to learn.”
3. “You like to think.”
4. “Things happen for a reason.”
5. “Your Achiever theme helps explain your drive.”

These are definitely on target. However, I don’t think I’m quite the Achiever that I want to be. I do have drive, and I do get energized by getting things done, but I can laze around in my PJ’s and watch movies or read pointless fiction as well as the next person. Hee. I re-read the Achiever theme and part of it is that an element of discontent will always be with me because I always want to get things done.

In the text, Rath said people in my type are energized by:
1) thinking,
2) staying current with skillsets,
3) the process of learning and the journey from ignorance to competence, and
4) the thrill of achievement and getting things done.

It will be interesting to learn more about this under the Health category below.

My challenges are to focus my energies, set challenging goals, deadlines, and outcome standards.

Also, I know that I prefer new tasks and new challenges. Consequently, I have to really work at breaking things down into manageable chunks so that I can create more new tasks instead of one huge project that seems never-ending.

However, there is one theme that I’m really attracted to and it wasn’t on my list. Woo! (Win Others Over). Even before I read this book, I had been thinking about all of the little ways that I have turned away from others because of self-doubt…not talking to others when standing in line, turning away from the person using the microwave next to me, averting my eyes, feigning business, etc. I realized how sad I was because I was unconsciously shutting others out. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to engage, but that I was nervous about their opinion of me. I want this year to be a year where I turn that around. I want to talk to strangers, meet new people, make new friends, engage them all in conversation, smile more, laugh more, be inspired by the wonderful things that they do and tell them so. Bottom line: I want to build relationships with others. And, if a smart, sexy, funny guy is in that group, then so much the better.

Here are things I want to work on this year…

1. Creativity and Spirit

I’ve started buying beads and want to make some jewelry. The colors and textures are just so appealing. S. gave me a text (that she chose intuitively) about the healing properties of gemstones (link coming). It’s the perfect gift to help me learn more about different stones and develop this talent.

I want to take pictures every day this year (see my project 365). This supports my desire to notice and engage with my surroundings.

Keep a daily prayer habit.

Travel and especially take more road trips (when Spring gets here and I can get my motorcycle out of storage).

2. Continue Learning

I want to update my skillsets in CSS, Photoshop, Illustrator, iMovie and GarageBand. That means about two months on each. My goal is not to become a hot-shot expert in any of these, but just to have fun and up my skill level another notch in the process.

Research my Must See places. Could I create a side business of buying and selling beads? It could make each trip tax deductible?!

Look for ways to speak, travel, and inspire others.

Blog more. New (or re-prioritized keywords): Creativity, community/web 2.0, fun, health, humor, living with purpose, spirituality/prayer, and travel.

4. Health

I’ve started reading The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right Size by Julia Cameron. I am committed. This year I will make better choices about the food I eat and schedule more frequent workouts, and make daily walks a part of my life. I have a number in mind that’s my goal, but I’m really all about making better choices each and every day. I’ve started keeping a food journal (Moleskine) so that I can identify problem issues and work through them. I’ve reached the chapter in the book where Cameron recommends getting a food buddy who you can check in with and talk about successes and challenges. Anybody interested in starting a group blog, discussion group, conference call (or something) to encourage each other?

Also in this category — I need to pay attention to my body’s need for sleep. Forget watching TV re-runs or movies I’ve seen before. I enjoy watching movies, but I need to learn to say no to the repeats and just go to bed if I’m too tired to do anything else. I think I’d be much more productive the next morning.

Discover what energizes me, what drains me and do more of the former and less of the latter.

5. Good reads

There are so many books and blogs on my “to read” list. I need to make some sensible decisions about what I read, scan or eliminate so that I can accomplish the other things on my list.

In the stack now:
The Art of Project Management, Scott Berkun
The Pursuit of WOW, Tom Peters
Agnes and the Hitman, Jennifer Crusie
Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far by Amy Grant
The Art of Power, Thich Nhat Hanh
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Ok, that’s it…the master list. Now I need to identify what makes it on the list for January, and create some tasks and deadlines.

I created a 2008 calendar that I’m sending out to friends and family who have e-mail, and I thought I’d post it here too in case you’d like to have a copy.

Each month has a picture of a place that is on my “Must See” list. There is also space at the side or bottom of each calendar page to jot notes or important dates. It’s too bad there are not more months in the year, because I ran out of months before I reached the end of my list. I didn’t even include any domestic locations. Oh well, that will be more for next year.

I realized by creating this calendar, it helps me…

1. visualize all year and work towards visiting these places one day.
2. keep in touch with friends and family
3. use a little bit of creativity.

However, you get to use a little creativity too. There is some printing and assembly required. Choose the paper, rubber bands, and chopstick color of your choice! Also, please let me know your favorite places or if we have favorites in common (hey, maybe we could think about a group trip and do an international blogger meet-up).

I chose all of the pictures from Flickr, and they each have a Creative Commons license (feel free to share, but check the individual license for each picture before you modify or use commercially). See the photo credits on the first page for links.

I hope you all have a wonderful 2008!

I’m loving my work these days. I love that I can:
–be super productive and help move projects forward
–work with others and troubleshoot/resolve issues
–take initiative and be trusted to manage details
–work on visible projects
–work on social media and community building projects (more on this in the coming weeks)

At the same time, I have to confess that I’ve been a little nervous because the job that I have is a contract position. This is the first time in a long while that I’ve worked as a contractor. To be honest, some things I wish were different:
–there’s no guarantee that it will go permanent
–no paid holiday or vacation time
–no paid medical benefits

Although, because of these issues, there is also more opportunity for me to believe in the abundance of the Universe–the right and perfect job, home, colleagues, money, etc. always shows up at the right time. One of the other things that I’ve thought about doing is starting my own business, so perhaps working as a contractor is preparation for that kind of work some day. Who knows? I just have to believe.

I have to say, it just feels better to give up the fear-based thinking such as that above. And, why not, reach for the thoughts that feel better?!!

I was listening to Wayne Dyer’s The Power of Intention today in the car. He talked about Rule #6: Don’t take yourself so damn seriously!! He urged listeners to remember Rule #6 whenever they felt stressful thoughts coming on. (and, despite it’s number “6″, there are no other rules!) It’s easy to forget that stress is usually self-created.

I’m learning — Life and work don’t have to be stressful and drain my energy. I can choose differently and reach for the thoughts and opportunities that feel better (in every moment). Then, always choose again when that small voice inside urges me to do so.

It’s all good.

As the holidays approach, I hope everyone out there is doing well and reaching for the thoughts that feel better.

Sorry for the long time without writing. I’m still alive. My job is great. Life is good.

More to come (soon, I promise!)