Archive for April, 2007
Two Hour Video Stories
Reverend Jon Swanson has shot his second video episode. His project goal: from concept to posted in two hours or less. Today’s episode is driving practice with his 16 year old daughter.
Jeff and Chris Show at 12Noon Today
If you click this link and can watch Flash streams on your computer, you can watch Jeff Pulver and me talk about Internet Video.
Talk With Us
You can use Skype and call: chrisbrogan , or you can chat in the text chat room at that link listed above. We’d love your participation.
And hey! Eric Rochow from Gardenfork.tv is in our studio audience already! How cool is that.
Wake Up
I’ve chosen today to be the day I wake up. (again.) Life has a tricky habit of leading you when you let it. The problem is upkeep and maintenance. Precious few of us are wired to seek to do the work to keep things preserved. I’m not much different.
Wake Up
The first step in doing something about your life is waking up and realizing what parts of life are living you, instead of the other way around. Accept and absorb the reality that is your life. Look at the things you’re doing well, and look at where you’ve left some threads undone.
Answer this question repeatedly about all aspects of your life: What needs doing?
Build in Small Boxes
There will be lots of things that need doing. It HAS to be that way. Nearly none of us keep everything put together all the time. Things slip. Is it fitness? Is it finances? Is it your commitment to time? Figure out what needs fixing, and then list it all out. But do it in small boxes.
By this, I mean that it’s harder to look at everything in a big fat list. If you’ve got 40 pounds to lose, four credit cards of debt to fix, twenty projects that need doing, it’s going to crush you as soon as you start listing it out. Instead, chunk it up. Make snack sizes. Do this in bite sized bits. And then check off boxes as you succeed. Close lots of little projects. Small victories before large victories.
Disable Excuses
Lots of what we do in the name of not performing maintenance on our lives is done in the name of excuses. I’m pretty fit; I can skip my workout today. Sure, you can skip an occasional workout, but when you suddenly realize you’ve not gone to the gym or run or whatever you do for exercise in months (years?), it’s time to re-examine your logic.
Close all those gaps. Kill excuses. Not enough time to eat well? BULL! That’s a habit you’ve formed. And you can get back to better habits.
Just look for the holes, and plug them one-by-one. Remember, it’s easier to adopt better habits than to escape bad habits. Work towards a new goal instead of telling yourself to stop something you don’t want to keep doing. Instead of losing weight, make your goal to wear size 34 jeans, or to run 5 miles in under an hour.
I could write for hours on goal-setting techniques. It’s up to you, if you want more on that. Just comment and I’ll continue that thread.
Learn to Say No
The one thing most of us do to screw up our lives is forget to say no. For many reasons, that all seem sound at the time, we take on lots of ideas and projects and creative ventures and chores that consume too much of our time for us to be useful.
Learn to say no gracefully. “Hey, that sounds like an amazing project, but my plate’s over-the-top. I know Matthew’s doing work like that, though. Shall I give him your email address?” Don’t be mean about it. Oh, and learn to say no to yourself. If you’re wondering where all your time goes, say no to several of the things you’re doing now that SEEM like a good idea.
Set Check-Ins
If you don’t check up on your goals and the things you know you need to better focus on, you won’t check your progress, so you won’t realize if you’re on track or utterly off course. Without some sense of what you want to accomplish (set specific goals that have some form of tangible outcome), how will you know you’ve moved the needle.
You’re the CEO
One trick to getting more done in life is to promote yourself to CEO of your life. Should the CEO be playing an hour of Nintendo Wii, watching 2 hours of TV, and Twittering for a half hour? I doubt it. Ask yourself as a CEO how to run Your Life, Incorporated to the best of its potential. Sure, give yourself playtime, but consider HOW MUCH play time you deserve.
Stay Awake
Keep your creativity engine flowing. You need to think about alternate roads to your successful path. Think about other ways to view your life’s problems and challenges. Think about how you’d reboot your life, if you were given the option. Is there really only one way to the finish line? I doubt it.
One example: I used to tell people I was a writer. And I rarely wrote. Now that I do what I do for a living, I write thousands and thousands of words a day. I tried something new. I re-thought my problem. And now, I’m making money writing.
And You? What do YOU think?
How else can you help me and your community here on chrisbrogan.com wake up? Share your thoughts and feelings on this with me, please?
BootCamp Pittsburgh a Raging Success
Well, the Pittsburgh crew pulled off another unqualified success. BootCamp Pittsburgh was a rollicking success, with hundreds of attendees, and lots of conversation and education. It was tons of fun and I got to spend time with the PodCampers I’d met last fall, and also meet some new folks, like Matthew Ebel, who was dynamic and fun and entertaining.
It was a wonderful trip, and I’m happy to be part of the energy of Pittsburgh’s rising social media scene. The tools that people picked up at BootCamp PGH (which was a 101 session for all the new media community tools) will hopefully bring forth even more interesting stories and shows. I’ll be watching.
See all my photos here.
Next Jeff Pulver-Chris Brogan Show Monday 12PM ET
Jeff and I are at it again. We’ll be broadcasting live in Monday at 12 noon Eastern time, 9AM Pacific, 5PM GMT (is that right?). We’re working on the show right now, but it will talk about the video space, about some of the innovators and movers we’ve seen recently, and we’ll be taking your calls on an improved setup.
Stay tuned for more details, including the URL. It’ll be at Ustream.tv, but we’ll post the direct link.
Front Load Your Writing
Want to become a more effective communicator? Put your most important point right up front. Make it the first thing people read when they read your writing. This works for blog posts, emails, business writing, and in lots of other places, as well. In fact, probably the only place it might not work well is in a mystery story. “The butler did it” probably isn’t a good way to start a mystery.
People are time-crushed
They don’t have time to follow your mysterious secret as it unravels. Believe me, I’ve read plenty a blog post and an email where the details or important parts are buried at the bottom. But I’m sure that I’ve also missed several posts and emails.
Coworkers used to tease me that I didn’t read the bottom of any email longer than 3 paragraphs. They were right.
It lets you build on the point
As you write down the page, start with the most important stuff and then use whatever more space you need to support what you just wrote. That’s the point. We’re all in the same mindset from the fact you led off with the good stuff, and now we’re seeing the meat of your idea come onto the bones of your point.
Finish strong
If you drive us all the way home, then finish with a point or idea that leaves us thinking. And always keep in mind what you’re hoping the writing will accomplish. Are you informing? Convincing? Requesting? Try to leave your piece with a call to action that reflects this. “Call to action” in this case just means what you hope your piece’s reader does next.
This returns value almost immediately, once you learn it and practice it well.
Your writing tips?
How will you build on this?
Small Boxes 27- Train Ride
From yesterday’s train ride from Boston to NYC. I enjoy the train as an occasional alternative to flying. I think the music makes this. There are minimal edits to this bit, but lots of cuts. I take snips of film and put them to music. It’s how I work. : ) The music is by Charlie Crowe, and I think Christopher S. Penn likes Charlie.
I Wanna Write With a Cowboy
Julien Smith and I have an opportunity to write a Manifesto for the ChangeThis project. To do so, we need votes enough that people think our manifesto is worth reading. The topic is trust economies, and it focuses on what Julien and I have been flogging for months, together and separately.
Please please please consider coming and voting for it: Here’s the Link!. I’d love to write with Julien.
The Jeff and Chris Show
Yesterday, Jeff Pulver and I made use of the PulverTV studios, an actual, functional studio that Jeff built last year, and that we’ve used a few times for smaller projects. Yesterday was ANYTHING but small. In fact, it really felt monumental.
But as I try to write about it, I realize that Jeff said a lot of what I felt, and he said it really well. So what I’d rather do, is send you to his great post, and maybe we can collect the thoughts and opinions on it in one spot. Because I really want to reflect more on this.
It was really cool!
The Jeff Pulver and Chris Brogan Live TV Show
Next up on Ustream.tv: the Jeff Pulver / Chris Brogan Show! We’re going to do something a little different and do a combination discussion and call-in show. When? Today! Wednesday, April 18th, from 3PM EST (1PM PST, 8PM GMT). How do you see it? Click This
We’ll talk about video stuff, tech stuff, twitter, social media, and whatever else comes up.
Call In: Dial 631-612-8945 (yes, my cell phone), and we’ll talk with you during the show. Obviously, if you go to voicemail, just drop the call and watch until we’re free and open.
The Goal: We’re hoping to see if we can make an on-the-fly show that feels more like a conversation than hanging out. You can help it not suck.
Want to play? Watch and chat here.
