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Why You Aren’t “You Living the Dream”

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What is between you and your dreams? Probably one of the toughest questions to ask yourself is, “why am I not living the dream?” Do you foresee yourself starting a business or living a harmonious life in a dream city, what is stopping you? Is it lack of money? Are you waiting for next big break? I have heard every excuse in the book from people who complain about life and out of every 100 complaints, about only 1 of them was valid enough for me to not argue with them.

Nike says it, all successful entrepreneurs live it, and you are avoiding it. Stop hiding from the future and “just do it.” Stop waiting for the moment for everything to be perfect, drop your books and set up an action plan to live your dream. It may take a bit of luck along the way, but hey, the journey is what makes the goal in mind worthwhile. If things came easily, we wouldn’t appreciate anything.

Ask any entrepreneur if they waited for the opportunity to start a business or if they created the opportunity. I bet 99% of them created an opportunity from something they loved. Getting on the bike is the hardest part. Dick Costolo, founder of Feed Buner says, “the key is to just get on the bike, and the key to getting on the bike… is to stop thinking about ‘there are a bunch of reasons I might fall off’ and just hop on and peddle the thing.”

Fear of Sacrifice
We all have to give up something to get to where we want. My entrepreneurial endeavors have taken a major toll on my personal life. Instead of working 8-5 and being able to spend time with friends, I work 8am-1am on my startup. Are you afraid of working hard? I don’t believe in failures, I do believe there are people who aren’t motivated because they haven’t found their calling in life. Putting everything into something we love is worth it… if we truly love it.

Fear of Failure
Are you scared of your dream project failing? If you don’t get behind the wheel you will never give yourself a chance to fail. Michael Jordan was once quoted saying, “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” Putting yourself out there is the sauce to the stew.

Waiting For Everything to be Perfect?
The worst excuses I’ve ever heard are “the time isn’t right.” I hate to break it to you all, but the time will never be 100% perfect. There will not be a solar eclipse moment in time where the planets align, and set your business rolling. To get a successful dream accomplished, takes grind out work in inopportune times.

Keep the dream alive. Whether you are a 40 year-old mother wanting to blog or a an 18 year old college kid with hopes for Mars, the barriers to achieving our dreams are often high, but learning how to overcome barriers, truly changes the world. Our time is precious, so you shouldn’t wait. Draft up an action plan today highlighting what you are doing to live the dream.

Image Credit: Armenian Now

Matt Krautstrunk is a writer and social entrepreneur, touching on topics ranging from social media marketing to postage meters for Resource Nation; and online resource providing purchasing advice for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Shining Dots

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Connecting dots with The Idea Dude’s Friend

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My friend Vernon Lun, the Idea Dude, made this weekly column fill with light. Not only was he

“Touched by the stories I read, inspired by the words of giants, I wanted the world to know these stories, these words. And most of all, these people. Ordinary people, like you and me but so special because they gave us gifts through their blogs every day. The gifts? their voices, their thoughts, their hearts.”

but he touched our thoughts and hearts as well with what he wrote.

That’s some act to follow.

Do any of us know our value?

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I met Vern talking about SOBCon07. and as I come to know the man, The Idea Dude, I stand in awe of his humility. Vern says, We never think of what it is about ourselves that make us remarkable, Does he know he is talking about himself?

I hear his heart shine in his words.

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I turn around and in my mind’s eye I see Rodney Rumford late at Open Comment Night with a new idea he bringing to life. The pictures tell Rodney’s story. I wonder does he know that’s it’s his joy that makes him so attractive?

Life twinkles in his eyes.

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And driving in a red Ferrari are Glenda and Mike, while Chris, and Tim, and Joe throw Klondike bars and wait patiently for a chance to hit the dance floor.

How do they make sun shine when they want to?

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And Char, and Marti, and Becky, and Susan, and Connie, and AnnOhio doing cartwheels. They add the rainbow colors in the way they tease.

No need for a Second Life when the first one glitters so.

So, it’s as you said, Vern, “It is really just the end of the beginning.”

You started something brightly shining, and shining dots are a wonder!
The dots will be here with your initials on every one . . .

May the dots be with all of us!

Liz Strauss, Friend of the Idea Dude

The Cool Kids’ Guide to Blogging 2008

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Connections and Relationships on the Living Web

The Living Web

Everyone can see what the A-List bloggers are doing. People report daily on their every move. Knowing that is almost self-preservation in the way knowing what the teachers in high school are up to. But what’s going on under the surface? What’s new and cool where they live?

A signal comes through the noise.

It’s no longer a question of relationships versus information. Connections and relations are the living web. Today’s question is one of managing quality versus quantity of relationships and contacts. Just under the surface of what we see, we’re talking to each other in ways that didn’t exist when 2007 saw the first sunrise.

New apps let us meet to

We’re even ranking those ways for how they’re being used.

Jeff Jarvis is proposing a Social Airline. I like the idea.

Skype is being used by the mainstream. Utterz has gotten folks to “audiofy” short thoughts for friends to enjoy. We can’t go from one New Year’s Eve Party to another without a Twitter. Messages under the twitter time line are becoming business deals.

Brogan has Upgraded our Attention and PulverTV is showing us how live BlogTV works.

Have you seen an episode of seesmic or of SeeSmix yet? The cool kids are using twitter to talk about getting naked marimbas to appear in an episode.

Even all-text blog networks are changing in scope and presentation. The a team blog is featuring many of our friends. Even so some folks are still inventing ways to hide behind the words.

The more things change . . . My mom used to say, “One day we’ll all laugh about this.”

Social. social. social. Media. Media. Media. Connections. . . .

We’re moving from Web 2.0 “me,” to Web 3.0 “we.” Are you about relationships yet?

Where do you see it all going?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Related
The Cool Kids Guide to Blogging 2007.

Dot . Dot . Dot .

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Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

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2007 has been the Year of the Blog for me. My passion to promote blogs and bloggers was the catalyst for the TheGoodBlogs. My mission was really very simple. Touched by the stories I read, inspired by the words of giants, I wanted the world to know these stories, these words. And most of all, these people. Ordinary people, like you and me but so special because they gave us gifts through their blogs every day. The gifts? their voices, their thoughts, their hearts.

Then I met Liz. Who can refuse the most simplest of invitations. Can we talk? From that conversation, I was drawn into a much larger community, SOBCON, the conference that taught us that blogging is about bloggers, relationships and conversations. Hope to see you there this year!.

Undoubtedly the highlight for me would be receiving the keys to this blog. It wasn’t about sharing a soapbox, it was about sharing a warm cozy living room where the best conversations could be found. Right here, every Sunday, we connected dots. Each dot, a blogger, connected with others through words of wisdom, joy, sadness and every other emotion possible. I felt like a treasure hunter, delighting in every gem I found, eager to share each one with you.

Alas this will be the last connecting dots post for a while. Is this the end? Hopefully not, but it is a pause as I need to step back to figure out where the next part of this journey should take.

Successful-blog remains one of my favorite blogs just as Liz will always be one favorite bloggers. This blog like its host has become a constant in my blogging life. So you’ll see me in the comments and open-mic night. Why? because this is where my friends hang out, where the conversation is always great, where the laughter is infectious, where the hearts are bigger and the brains are smarter… and where I know I belong.

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Dots resolving to change

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Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

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December for me is a great time to take stock of what I managed to achieve during this year and then look at all the things that perhaps fell through the cracks or activities I could have managed better. New Year Resolutions for me aren’t radical changes but adjustments that I remind myself to make over time.

Resolving to succeed

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Ben’s right about most of the resolutions we make each year. They never seem to last, fading as fast as the winter sun. Most resolutions are about ourselves and how we think we should be or could be better. I think we often look at ourselves and find the things we dislike the most. Then by uttering a few magic words wrapped in a bow called a New Year resolution, we hope they will go away. Of course they don’t.

Resolving to choose wisely

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Choosing resolutions that have some hope of making a making difference to us must have all of the following ingredients.

  • It must matter to us. It can’t be something copied from someone because it sounded good and altruistic.
  • It must be measurable. Anything that isn’t measurable in a tangible or meaningful has no hope of succeeding like starting a journey without knowing where it will end.
  • We must enjoy doing it. Motivation is generally fueled by the emotion that something we do makes us feel so good, we want to keep doing it.
  • The changes we make should impact those around us. Because our momentum is increased by their feedback and their well-being.

Resolving to change positively

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What is a resolution really but a commitment to change oneself and all around us in a positive way. Liz has the best advice about how to make positive changes stick. She’s right of course when she says, When you make a positive change that sticks, other positive things will happen too.

Resolving to be kinder to ourselves

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Angela reminds us to be kinder to ourselves. What a wonderful idea. We do tend to beat ourselves up for not doing something or not doing enough of other things. At the end of the day, we are all human with frailties and failings. But we are also endowed with character that helps we look forward to just being a little better than the day before.

Being kinder to ourselves makes us kinder to others too!
This is my wish for all of us.

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

A Song of Dots

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Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

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A blog is a chain
Isabella inspired this week’s ponderings. She graciously translated a song and this verse opened its wings with a roar.

my song is a chain
without beginning, without an end,
and every link contains
the song of everyone else.

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A blog is an opportunity for dialogue. The blog post is merely the catalyst, the light in the window that invites us in. So is the blog not like Isabella’s song, a chain without beginning or end and every link contains the song of everyone else? A conversation with no end, with many threads leading in and leading out.

A blog is a mirror
Here’s another translation, this time, lovingly done by Bhaswati.

I saw my reflection
In your eyes.
You revealed yourself to me
By emerging from within me.

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Often we reflect upon each other’s writings and sometimes our thinking is born in the posts of others? It is a blessing, to have access a million thoughts in the hopes that one will inspire. Then while searching for one, we find ten. A cry of hope emerges and with it the epiphany that we are not alone.

As my good friend Liz says on this very blog. Sometimes I think that everything I know has been set to music somewhere.

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude