Successful Blog

Conversational dots

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Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

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The conversations within the dots…

Blogs started as personal logs. Today they are catalysts for engagement.

The Cluetrain Manifesto said it best…

When you think of the Internet… think of a table for two

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Ron was the catalyst for my thinking this week. His 7 tips to not be invisible was a strong reminder that whether in the virtual or real world, too often we forget to participate, preferring to be Lurkers are those people that read blog posts, message boards and other online community sites but do not participate. His call to action was

If you are investing time to read, why don’t you invest a few moments more to add to the discussion and create some visibility for yourself? It gets easier the more you do it and people appreciate the participation.

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Does it make a difference?

Sure it does. You’re invited to visit Citimama’s Project Life Change. I’m sure she felt wonderful to know her readers support her in her decision. Comments like You have me totally inspired! and I know how difficult that decision can be shows me this. She connected with her readers with her words, they reciprocated with their hearts.

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Mingle, or stay single

Amanda’s post about the lost art of mingling? equally applies in the virtual world as it does in the real world. Successful bloggers have a secret and it’s not Digg. They mingle… usually through blog comments. That is the biggest travesty about RSS feeds, the convenience it affords us means we consume content rapidly, never stopping at blogs and letting them know something we read moved or inspired us.

Without participation, there is no conversation

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If you want to change the world today…

Haydn asked that question on his blog wondering whether he should write a book. I selfishly implored him to blog instead so rather than wait a year or more for his wonderful insight, I could engage him in his thinking everyday perhaps taking him on different paths as he would me.

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Winning with dots

Every week, I’m thrilled to post here. Liz gave me a bigger soapbox and best way to describe what I do is a quote by Zig Ziglar I found thanks to the winning attitude.

The greatest good we can do for others is not just to share our riches with them, but to reveal theirs.

All of a sudden, I’m feeling kinda warm all over. Secretly, I think Liz figured this out long before I did.

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Simple Dots

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Life is simple, we make it complex.

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I took Joel’s advice to forget the sensational and look for the simple pleasures. We look at all the wonderful details of the good moments. We find the intensity in life’s simple moments, and simple pleasures.

This week I breathed pure air on a mountain 7,500 feet high, looked down a gorge 230 feet below, was dwarfed by trees 200 feet high and watched salmon jump upstream.

For me the simple became sensational.

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Simple things reminded me of what I read earlier today about what life is all about.We tend to forget about others in our pursuit for excellence, knowledge and improving self. Oh, I need to get this certification, I need to do it by this day, I need to …. I forgot that it was summer, I broke the promises, of going for a walk, riding the bike, many many times..

At this point, I decided to stop looking for dots this week, because they were right here next to me all the time and each needed a hug on our last day of vacation.

Must be the full moon this week, I read Liz’s post I’m dying to blog tonight… but I just don’t feel like it. In my case, I’m dying to blog tonight, but if I do, I risk missing my plane back to civilization in 4 hours and I need my sleep.

Sometimes life truly is that simple.

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Wonderful Dots

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I’m on vacation, or rather I’m recuperating from the frenetic run-up to the vacation. The word vacation made me think of footprints in the sand. Who made them and where. Blogs are like footprints, they are made everywhere. I wanted to take you on journey beyond my North American shores to show how dots from all over can reach us when it is so unexpected.

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It all started with Grigor. From afar as Croatia, he inspired me today. He only needed one sentence…

We must not require from our customers to be heroes.

So simply and so profound… a dose of wisdom for the day.

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Head over to the United Kingdom. How can you not read about DozeyMagz and her life with DopeyDaddy, Dustbunny and Mophead. It has the universality of being a mom with a heartwarming local twist from the land that beget Harry Potter. Her post on British weather made me smile…

There’s a big bright yellow thingie in the sky. The sky has changed from bland grey to a strange blue. It feels warm outside. I’m a bit scared.

A cup of tea with that dose of wisdom. I think I’ll read her blog with my daughter tonight.

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To finish our trilogy today, Bhaswati shares with us from India. Through her translation, she’s given us a gift, a beautiful piece of writing that now transcends language.

One doesn’t find the time to grasp that which remains unsaid within.

A lingering thought after the cup of tea is done.

For me, they are all some kind of wonderful…

How many posts on your blog does it take to move me?
just ONE

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Passionate Dots

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For this week’s dots, I chose the theme…

passion

In the true spirit of Liz’s blogpost today, these dots did the most noble thing, they surrendered to their passion. They became Visible, Valuable and Mighty.

When you arrive at one of these dots… it’s like jumping into the ocean from a cliff, you are totally and immediately immersed into their lives, their passion.

I chose these dots because to many readers they will appear to be unconnected, three seemingly unrelated blogs. I connected them not through their subjects but through their hearts.

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Ruth is a long-time member of TheGoodBlogs. I’ve admired her consistent posts on food for all seasons. Each post is lovingly crafted with gorgeous pictures that inspires me to run to the kitchen and forget all my incompetencies as a cook. A blogger’s feast with a personal twist.

She even has a worthy competitor to the venerable Klondike bar (hardcore SOBs will know, that Klondike bars on Open Mike Tuesdays at this blog are synonymous to beer at Cheers).

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I met Jesse, Gitr, at Sobcon07. He is passionate especially when it comes to the World of Warcraft. Did you know he describes himself as having a 5th degree blackbelt in Microsoft Word! With close to 700 blogposts, he’s far from done and if you’re a gaming nut, you’ll appreciate the dedication and quality of his posts. It’s also why the blog is great, it is about Gitr playing the game not just another game review site. It is life of Gitr in his virtual world. Gitr is the WOW factor.

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When you visit Director Tom, there is no doubt that Tom is filmmaker. Scratch the surface and you’ll find Tom is more than the about lights, cameras, action. Those are merely props. He wants to tell your story through his medium and expertise and make it inspiring, personal and emotional. Tom says, My deepest desire is to see these stories help the world become a better and kinder place. That is Tom’s real passion. He wants to make us say, Let’s See That Again!

I get the sense that as long as they breathe and have a keyboard nearby, these dots will not go gently into the night. They will rage forever…

because they are simply mirrors of the souls who feed them.

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Believing Dots

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Earlier this week, Liz was thinking about the sound of words. It got be me thinking too, how words are affect our hearts, moods and minds. Take for example.

Adversity The word is ominous, like an unscalable mountain.

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Stephen blogs about facing adversity with examples from his own life. Sometimes adversity is real, other times, it is a perceived position we choose to take in our minds. Stephen talks about our debilitating habit of comparing ourselves to others and how it makes us feel small. It did not feel good. That’s exactly what your ego wants you to feel. He chides himself for that temporary weakness by recognizing, that each and every one of us is exactly where we are supposed to be, right now at this very moment. (If you love his attitude to life, you’ll love his story on self-acceptance.)

Liz looks at it in a very similar way when she says, It’s the knowing that I’m going in the right direction that counts. . . . Who do I want to be? was where my focus belonged. Being true to myself suddenly became easy. Believing in ourselves is the beginning.

Sometimes an adversity is just a setback.

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Tony tells us the best weapon against setbacks is momentum. It’s about taking responsibility, picking youself up and saving yourself. Tony is smart (btw, he also draws terrific cartoons). Hmm, if we view any adversity as a temporary setback instead of a failure, we have hope. Hope is belief in the future.

Responsibility

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Being responsible for our own setbacks is something Terry wrote to himself when he was faced with an untenable situation. On that particular day I decided to take control of my life. . . . From that point, I can imagine Terry felt more like the master of his destiny than a victim of circumstance. It made him believe in himself and his says, I still believe.

Hope

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April coined a very interesting word, Opi. It means future you. It’s a wonderful concept, she says it’s writing about your future in the present tense. To me, it’s about focusing on everything you could be despite where you are today. It’s about setting your own ceiling.

Terry is a terrific singer. To all this week’s dots, I’ll leave you with these words that Terry sang at SOBCon, I hope you don’t mind that I put down in words. How wonderful life is while you’re in the world. . . . It’s for people like you that keep it turned on.

Terry, I believe too!

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Leading Dots

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Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

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I used to think looking good was something you only had to do during a business presentation. Beyond that, my work and talent would take care of my reputation. Many years ago, I read Tom Jeary’s Life is a series of presentations. He said Whether you are talking to a soccer coach or potential client, the way you present your thoughts and ideas to people have a profound effect on the shape of your life..

I felt like someone poured a bucket of ice-cold water over me. I learnt to value each individual who stood before me and take the time to be nice. I don’t always succeed and sometimes under duress or tiredness I walk away from a conversation wishing I did better. But it became part of my DNA. To be deliberate in the experience I wanted to leave with the person I was interacting with.

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The first dot that went blink, blink, blink in my head the whole week was Anna’s. Anna blogs about business leadership and has many terrific things to say. But the thing that made her dot blink for me was her tagline right at the top of her blog. People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. I’m willing to bet that if you met Anna, she would be one of the 10 people you would never forget even if your paths never crossed again.

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Dot #2. It reminded me what Liz said about being good and nice.
Being good at what you do is important, but a strong personal identity includes both good and easy to work with.
Sometimes when we’re good or hold positions of authority, we forget to be nice. It’s not only a business rule, it’s a life rule.

In fact, if I recall, it is the ONLY rule that Liz has on her blog.

Speaking of personal brand, what I found most interesting is that the people who were clearly leaders and had a profound effect on me had a common attribute.

They led by serving.

What a paradox! or is it? You’re the people I trust and the people I serve., Liz says in her post this week

I’ll never forget in all my years in business, the companies I wanted to work with were those who asked me the question at the end of the meeting (even though they were 10 times bigger than we were).

So how may I be of service to you?

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Let me take you to another favorite dot of mine, his name is Drew. Drew is an extremely smart person and very well-read in the blogosphere. He’s take on how to write an outstanding blog post?? It’s all about you. It is that humility and generosity that makes Drew compelling.

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This particular journey would not be complete without stopping to visit Steve. The title of his Greater than yourself mashup series already defines who he is as a blogger and thought leader. The one sentence in his blog that resonated the most with me?

I have to give of myself before I expand myself.

I was reminded of one of my kids’s favorite jokes. How do fit a an elephant into a matchbox? Take out the matches!

As Liz would say, make room for the conversation.

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude