What Motivates You?

A huge, huge problem I’ve been having over the course of the last 8 weeks at school is finding a reliable source of motivation – I’ve done less than stellar on my exams, slacked, and been an all around bum. Totally odd behavior for me (well, maybe some of my friends will disagree…). I had no motivation to speak of. I couldn’t find it. I lacked will to do things well. I lacked desire to write. I lost my muse. Days had become monotonous, waking at 9:35 and making it to my <sarcasm> favorite class by 10:00 (Quantitative Business Analysis… too much fun) </sarcasm>. It was a mix of a blah feeling and a general disinterest for bland and uninteresting required coursework for my major.

However, yesterday, things seemed to change. My outlook started lookin’ a little brighter again. Had a great workout, one of the best I’ve had in a long time. Put it all in perspective really. If I keep attacking all my tasks like I do the gym (4 days a week), I can accomplish anything. I can push through the apparent writers block, the lack of motivation, and the dislike for humanity in general I’ve had the last quarter. If this was a week ago, I’d be sleeping instead of producing content which I’ve been too lazy to touch since the summer. Reach your breaking point. Re-evaluate your motivation. Go.

What motivates you?

What’s Wrong with Simplicity?

A recent criticism I received of some of my graphic design work is that it’s too… simple. But, what I can’t wrap my head around is – why would you make anything more complicated than it needs to be? What’s wrong with simplicity and minimalism in not only design, but in other facets of life? I’ll always go by the old adage “keep it simple, stupid“.

If there’s too much going on in your life, simplify it. Simplify your tasks. Simplify your goals. If you get too complicated, you risk being caught in a web of complexity that will impede any progress you want to see on your goals. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t rise to the challenge and go above and beyond; the opposite, in fact. The human race has an odd tendency to view life in a far more complicated manner than it ever should be.

Keep it simple. Don’t listen to criticism for the sake of criticism. You’ll see success.

“Love, live life, proceed, progress.” – Lil Wayne (didn’t think you’d be seeing wisdom from him, did you?)

Show Some Love

To start off, I don’t mean romantic love – I mean showing love. If someone does something good, worthy of praise, the best option is to show them love and appreciation for what they do. However, this “love movement” is almost entirely lost in some groups – not with the purpose to offend, but because it’s simply overlooked. People tend to under-appreciate the workings of other people; it’s just human nature.

But, we can work to make things better, to show people appreciation, to show that what they do matters and dramatically and dynamically affects you as a person. It’s as simple as a RT on Twitter, comment on Facebook, or a short e-mail. People are fueled by praise and recognition, humble or not. People that are shown love will always produce better work, and I don’t think I need to provide droves of numbers and data to prove that.

RTs, tweets in general, and other public comments (I believe) will yield greater results in attitude and overall atmosphere. Not only will people feel a greater pride in the work you are showing love for, but others on the outside will have the opportunity to see that these people are worthy of their attention.

So, today, I challenge you: if you see someone doing great work, show them some love. Tweets, RTs, Facebook comments, e-mails, whatever; if they are doing a great job, make it known. Show some love.

Networking? 3 Things I’ve Learned

Do you network effectively? I know I’m not the best at it, and it’s something I’ve struggled with – but it’s something I’m working on. These are three quick bits I’ve picked up over the last couple months that have been invaluable to me in the quest for an ever-expanding network, to be that one-in-one-thousand that knows more people than any person rightfully should.

1) Don’t sit on the sidelines.
When you’re in a networking situation, don’t stick solely to those you know and feel most comfortable around. I know a lot of people tend to beat this extremely vague and general rule into the ground, but it’s incredibly important and vital that you follow it.

2) Continually open doors for everyone.
One would logically be lead to believe that those you’ve known for a long while would be the most likely to open doors for you. However, in reality this tends to work out in the opposite manner. Those we know the least tend to open the most doors for us. I think this seemingly broken and illogical system can be repaired if you continually find and open doors for old friends and acquaintances alike. Stay frosty and don’t be overcome by the status quo (and it’s so easy to get lazy in the summer).

3) “It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you.”
In any industry, it’s great that you know a lot of people – you can ask favors, yada yada. However, if people know you and recognize you, they are more likely to do business with you. For example, if you were a soccer coach and you had two choices of uniform suppliers for your team – Nike or Diadora – which would you choose? I’m goin’ with Nike. It’s all about brand recognition baby, whether the brand is personal or a company. If people know you and like what you offer, business will be simple.

(obtained via cis.cornell.edu)

Does anyone have anything to add?

Talk TO me or WITH me?

This is a short post I thought about while exchanging e-mails earlier today.

Does it slightly (and I mean that in the most minimalist sense possible) bother anyone else that some people insist on saying “I’ll talk TO you later” as opposed to “I’ll talk WITH you later” when concerning a collaborative effort? I definitely admit it’s something I’ve done in the past (maybe even today!) and something I’m looking into fixing.

I know it’s not necessarily something people do to purposefully offend (and I can’t say it truly offends me). My question is, is this just a subconscious extension of the “me, me, me” complex that is prevalent in many people, across all industries and professions? This thought kind of goes along with the widely used idiom “I’ll let you go”, as if talking one-on-one is some kind of conversationally-imposed imprisonment; however, that’s just a side-note.

ANYWAYS, back to the point:

Don’t talk TO me. Talk WITH me. Listen. Collaborate.

Just a thought.

(obtained via adjustafresh.com)

Social Media + Traditional Marketing = Misguidance

It’s a simple equation. You try to apply traditional marketing techniques to social media, you get a misguided and ineffective attempt at increasing your brand reach, visibility, and ROI (return on investment). This is investment isn’t necessarily money – it’s something far more important: time. The current of new media is gonna keep on flowin’, and if you don’t learn to swim with the current, you’re going to be swept away.

You can’t think of social media (Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.) in the same manner as traditional business/marketing/advertising/etc. If you try to apply these to your personal/professional accounts on Twitter, for example, you’re going to end up looking like this guy, scratching your head thinking, “This ‘social media’ I’ve been hearin’ about seems pretty useless.”

(obtained from icis.com)

How can we prevent ourselves from looking like this (not just from a wardrobe perspective, that’s another story)? Contribute content, and not just any filler crap content – meaningful content. Talk about things that pertain to the audience you are trying to reach. Get your audience interested. Engage your audience.

If you can’t get your audience interested, you can’t even begin to engage them. If you can’t accomplish that, then why even participate in social media practices? It will all be in vain, a misguided attempt. Social media is not like ‘traditional marketing’ and media where you simply put a up sign, billboard, or run a TV ad and hope for the best. It’s quickly becoming a two way street – a marketing highway, if you will. This is a chance to improve yourself personally and professionally, to obtain feedback and then react to that feedback in real time.

Don’t do it because you feel you have to just to stay up to date – get involved with communities and contribute. Go to friends blogs – post feedback, get your name out there. If people retweet your posts or mention you on Twitter, show that love back. People appreciate all things genuine. Finally, the more readily available your “brand” is (from posting blogs, commenting on blogs, tweeting, etc), the greater your return on investment from a time standpoint will be. You can’t simply make a blog and say, “Hey, we have a blog, we have a Twitter – here it is.”

Why should I read it? Give me a reason to visit it once and cause me to be a repeat offender.

One Way v. the Highway

In years past, advertising and marketing has been extremely vertical in the sense that companies sent out messages, like TV commercials and ads in the paper, but there was no real way to give feedback. This communication was almost strictly a one way street.

(obtained via freefotos.com)

However, with the advent of social media (which may not be a category much longer as it assimilates into “new media”, as said by Brian Solis), the exchange of information has rapidly shifted from this one way street to a highway. If companies try to stick to their old ways with this massive influx of new users and ways to communicate, their once “effective” (and I use that term loosely) one way street will not be able to handle the traffic of the highway. Thus, the previous users of that one way street will seek faster and more efficient modes of communication – this is where the highway shows it’s true value.

So, what companies are one way streets and causing stagnation of sales and marketing processes? What companies are becoming highways and causing change and innovation?

Do you want your company to be left behind and see no traffic at all, or be bustling with activity? True change starts from the outside-in and bottom-up.

(obtained via michaelcorey.ntirety.com)

“I don’t have time for that.”

The quote in the title is one of the biggest things that irks me about people these days.

“I don’t have time for that.”

You know what I say?

Leaders may not “have time” but have the drive to make time. Followers may not “have time” and lack the drive to make time. Do you want to become a leader and an asset or a follower and dispensable?

Think about that.

(obtained via justseeds.org)