Happiness CLVIII
Finding inspiration for the successes of the future in the failures of the past.
Social Media: Where Do We Go From Here?
So you’ve got your blog. You’re on Twitter. Accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Xing, Plaxo and countless others are kept up to date and keep you networked with your peers. The question keeps coming back… what’s next? What does all this time interacting and connecting with people accomplish?
After all the hours involved in networking and connecting with people you start to wonder what the payoff will be. Twitter seems like a time sink, Facebook is flat-out a bad college prank, and blogging is more demanding that you thought it would be. Is the payback just a little link love, or a couple hundred Twitter followers? Maybe it’s feeling good about answering a couple dozen questions on LinkedIn Answers. It still hasn’t changed you yet has it?
Are you sure?
If you’ve stuck with it for awhile I bet you’ve found it easier to connect and reach out with people at work. Maybe writing project plans or documentation is a bit better than it was before. How about a few technical skills – if you’ve done any customizations on your blog I know you’ve been working on HTML at the very least.
Ok, these are just a few small things that you may or may not have noticed along the way. What’s the bigger payoff? I dunno – but it’s that unknown something that’s attracted you into the mix. There is potential on multiple fronts, from connecting with people, learning about things, growing as a person, even simply having a hobby. Social media doesn’t mean any one thing, and doesn’t have to be business related.
Since there is no one definition of social media to any one group or person, it never stops growing; morphing into something new with every additional person and service. Heck “social media” is not even a good name for it, it really just kind of stuck because we use new “social” tools that use different types of “media”.
It’s an exciting ride. One I encourage you to explore, even if you think it’s a bunch of hooey. There are many smart people out there that would love to share ideas with anyone who would listen. And that is what it really comes down to. Social media is people and ideas, the tools are incidental and change with the whimsy of the crowd.
Where are you going from here? What’s your next move?
Photo credit: *davierae*
Happiness CLIII
Trying new things – like live vlogging the Social Media Breakfast – Twin Cities 2 this morning at 8AM(CT)!
Awakening from Corporate Mindset
I want to see you succeed!
It’s that simple. I want to see people rise to their full potential and reap the rewards of their efforts. Why more people don’t work towards their goals rather than their employer’s is confusing to me. So in this post I’m going to share a few thoughts that I hope will inspire you to leverage the most important resource in your arsenal: You!
Security
It’s comforting to have a secure job, one that you can count on being there a month or a year from now. However, without careful planning, you can easily get trapped in the mindset of climbing the corporate ladder. I should take a moment and admit that it’s not entirely a bad thing if it fits your career plans and life goals. I also believe that in many situations it reduces your chances for personal success.
The Matrix
Often, I like to compare the corporate environment to “The Matrix”. Companies do provide a framework for people to not only produce for the company, but to move forward as well. Good companies know a bit about this and work to change that perception. They create an environment that is safe to share ideas. They build teams. They help people grow in their careers. They reward hard work. They also make it easy for a person align their personal goals with the company’s. For the most part that’s good, but it also tricks the employee into believing that they key to the success of the team/company. That is what makes it hard to work towards your agenda.
Awakening
At some point though, many people come to an awakening. They realize that there is nothing more to learn at a given organization. People find that their “secure” position at “the company” has become too easy and has actually become detrimental to their success. They figure out that they’ve been working towards the company’s agenda without much regard for their own. Even if your ultimate goal is some “Chief” level corner office – you still need to have an agenda of your own and work towards it aggressively.
What’s Next
Start thinking of where you want to go in the future. Find your specialty and start working on how to capitalize on it. Odds are that you’ll identify something that you are passionate about. Look around in your current job, watching others to find out what skills you still may need to acquire before going out on your own. Make sure to have a support network of friends and associates that you can offer suggestions and answer questions. Prepare to have money put aside to live off of while getting going. Don’t burn any bridges – that former employer may be a prospective client at another time.
You
Where are you in your career? Have you made a move, planning to do it sometime in the future, or content in where you are? What can you share with others to help them succeed? What is your next move?
Photo credit: true2source
Is today the day?
That’s the question I Friday morning, mainly because I’m just curious what people thought. Originally I had planned to post this later that day, but… life intervened. Anyway, a number of people shared their thoughts and I thought I’d put them together in a short post. So the question was…
What makes today special for you? Is today the day?
I want to say thank you to all my Twitter friends that sent responses, and I really appreciate you letting me share your Friday! I hope that everyone get’s a bit of insight and inspiration from what we share in these Q&A sessions on Twitter – they’re fun!
@MAC_Arms Pay taxes when you make your money, pay taxes when you spend your money, pay taxes when you successfully invest your money, pay taxes when you save enough taxed money to afford a house, pay taxes to live in your house, pay taxes when you sell the house that you paid taxes on to
Yup, taxes are criminal and we need serious reforms. I've always said that if you want to see a tax revolt, make withholdings illegal and have Americans write a tax check every payday. They'll revolt for sure. You don't miss what you never had.
I think it’s safe to say that @GovEvers should stop blocking audits in Wisconsin and open the books…
“Only AMERICAN citizens should vote.”
Sen. @berniemoreno says voter ID and proof of citizenship are simply common sense.
“We’re talking about a very low threshold — identify who you are and prove you’re a U.S. citizen when you register to vote. I think we’re getting closer to
Wrong. Democrats are solely responsible for hours-long airport lines.
They voted to defund TSA three times and won’t even entertain a conversation about reopening it. Why?
They’re using it as leverage to stop enforcing immigration laws.