How I Chose 18 Thought Leaders to Follow (and Their Links)

Filed Under Idea Bank, Outside the Box, Successful Blog | 27 Comments

Business, Blogs, Living

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Yesterday, I talked about

How to Play Follow the Leader to Kick Start Your Brain

Today I thought I might take that further and tell how to choose who to follow.

How I Chose 18 Thought Leaders to Follow

Great leaders don’t have the answers. They have the questions. They seek the answers. They look at who came before them. They talk, but listen more. They write, but not as much as they read. Great leaders are a curious lot.

They encourage us to do our own thinking. Here’s the criteria used to choose 18 Thought Leaders and links to their blogs and blog posts to demonstrate what I’m saying.

Follow the folks who like ideas and learning.

Follow the folks who are curious and curious about you.

Follow the folks who are positive.

Follow the folks who are jazzed about what they do.

Follow the folks who know where they are going.

Follow the folks who’ve made it and are still there.

Need I say more?

The number of leaders on our doorstep is unimaginable. We could be inspired every minute.

Think of the leaders you recommend. What qualities do you use to choose who you follow?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

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1000+ Already Brainstormed Tweaks and Ideas

Filed Under Great Finds, Idea Bank, Successful Blog | 18 Comments

Yea!! Look at This List!

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If you’re looking for ways to tweak your blog, your brand, or your business for better performance, this list will save you the time of compiling ideas. Consider this a major checklist. Take what you like and ignore the rest.

BONUS: I couldn’t resist including this one, though it’s not related to most blogs.

The Top 100 Things I’d Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord


–ME :Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

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What is He Talking About? Chris Cree on Ideas

Filed Under One Way to CC It, Successful Blog | 18 Comments

“Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats.” –Howard Aiken

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The other day Liz posted about having dreams and how challenging it can sometimes be turning those dreams into reality.

About that same time Chris Brogan tossed out a phrase over at Twitter that caught my attention.

Lots of visionaries and not enough princes of execution

So which is it?

Do we need more dreamers or more doers?

Honestly I think we need more of both.

Too many of us are sitting on the couch, eating Klondike Bars, and watching American Idol. We’d rather complain about how unfair Simon is than allow ourselves to think about possibilities and potentialities.

And God forbid we ever get off our butts and actually start making something happen!

Now don’t get me wrong. Most of you know I’m a huge fan of Klondike Bars. (Mmmmm…)

Dreaming Can Be Scary Stuff

But the point is this. For far too many of us the idea of dreaming about what could be in the future is too frightening. We let the what ifs overwhelm us without even giving our dream a chance to take root, much less produce any fruit.

What if I fail and am disappointed?

Or worse yet, what if I succeed beyond my capabilities, can’t manage it and then in the end fail in a spectacularly public way?

Would you just take a moment and listen to the junky thoughts you let run through your mind?! If you heard someone else say that sort of stuff out loud you’d be all over them like a baseball manager on a umpire’s bad call.

Then There’s the Doing

In our instant gratification, microwave, atm, cell phone society far too many off us have developed an amazingly unhealthy aversion to a little effort.

We’ll drive around the Wal-Mart parking lot for 10 minutes trying to find a parking place up front instead of just parking out a little and walking a few extra steps. Even though deep down we know we’d get in the store faster if we did.

One of the biggest reasons so many of us are unwilling or unable to dream any more is because we think we’ve tried it and it didn’t work out. So we’ve given up.

But the reality is all we did was wish. And that’s not the same thing as dreaming.

A wish is something we think we’d like to have or see but don’t really think will ever happen. To many of us do that and think we are dreaming.

Dreaming is seeing something that isn’t there yet as though it was real already. When we seriously get to dreaming, there will come a moment when action is required to turn that dream into reality. With a wish we never have to worry about that step because we won’t get to it.

Turning our dreams into reality will require us to put down the Klondikes, turn off Idol, and do something.

Change is the Rub

Here’s the thing about that quote up there at the top. Watching our dreams become reality will require change.

And change? Fohr-ghet-ta-bow-tiht!

If your dream, your big idea, is truly different that what has gone before you won’t have to worry about anyone stealing it. The overwhelming majority of folks out there are so unwilling to change, even when they know the change will be a huge benefit to them.

Don’t believe me? Try to convince a smoker to quit.

Your dream, if it is truly unique to you, is relatively safe. Use appropriate caution and protect yourself wisely. But don’t worry too much.

Most folks aren’t going to be willing to make the changes necessary to steal your dream.

But that’s just the Way I C it.

–Chris Cree, SuccessCREEations.

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Great Find: Very Short Story Contest

Filed Under Great Finds, Successful Blog, Writing | 9 Comments

Can You Say It in Six Words?

Robert Hruzek at Middle Zone Musings is having a contest that opens Monday.

Great Find: Very Short Story Contest at Middle Zone Musings
Permalink: http://middlezonemusings.blogspot.com
Audience/Topic: Folks up for a quick fun contest.

Content: Robert is taking his lead from a Wired article, Very Short Stories. He suggests you read the article for examples of how to write a story in just six words. Here are the rules as he states them:

  1. Read (if you like) the stories in this Wired article to get a feel for how it’s done.
  2. Write a six-word story (a kinda obvious step, I know). In fact, write a group herd bunch - the more the merrier. (There are really only two rules to this contest: a) use exactly six words, and b) because this is for general consumption, I would appreciate it if you would please keep them G-rated!)
  3. For those of you with blogs, post your entry on your blog, and link back to this post here at Middle Zone Musings. Then send me an email to let me know.
  4. For those of you without blogs (and why haven’t you started one yet?), you can enter your submissions via the comments on this post. No need to email me in this case.
  5. In return, I will link back to your post (or mention you by name, if you don’t have a blog) several times during the week, and once more in the archive post.

Good Luck and enjoy the contest!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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A Holiday Gift: The 31-Day Calendar of Blog Post Ideas for January

Filed Under Idea Bank, SOB Business, Successful Blog, Writing | 35 Comments

A Blogging Calendar to Start the Year

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It might seem early for a holiday gift, but folks get busy and go traveling. I didn’t want this list to get lost or overlooked. So,I hope you don’t mind that I give you this gift a little early. . . .

In honor of the holidays and as a thank you to all of you, I’ve made a calendar of 31 Blog Post Ideas to Write About in January.

They say there’s no such thing as an original idea. I tend to agree with that on principle, but I also know that the execution is personal.

At the end of some days, we can’t tell where some ideas started or where they end. We have the same ideas at the same time independently. Our thoughts interweave, connect, and influence each other’s thoughts. Our ideas turn into remarkable and thrilling concepts and realities. Humans, who think up ideas, are incredible at doing that.

You’ve had some of these ideas. I’ve had some. Some have been around, it seems, forever. I’ve tried to twist some when I could. Some come with links to example posts — from my posts, from yours and from others.

I hope you find a few post ideas you can use to make your life easier to have more time to live, to wonder, and to explore.

The 31-Day Calendar of Blog Post Ideas for January

Here goes . . .
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