A Story of More than That
I’ve bought five homes. From the time the real estate agent was engaged until the offer was made not one took longer than a week. Two offers were completed in a single day. The real estate agent in Austin told me that in 25 years we were his only clients who actually purchased the house we said we were looking to buy.
I chose my university the same way.
I married my husband 42 days after we met — 24 years and 11 months ago.
My point is I know how to make a decision. I have a good sense of who I am. . . .
Yet I’ve been thinking about redesigning my blog for almost a year. Obviously it wasn’t a case of finding a new template. It’s a story of more than that.
Unwieldy Blog Unwieldy Me
Sometime around last October I realized that my blog had grown unwieldy. People can’t see the content or how it reflects me. The writing blog, the business blog, the branding blog all sit buried beneath pages. That same October, I realized that my personal presentation was in the same unwieldy state of outward presentation.
I took time to map out how to solve the blog problems. I took even longer to work out the same things about me. That done, I started looking for how to get the work done and get my life in order.
I Was in the Game . . . Not Really
Every day, I kept bumping into things that reinforced what I’d learned or suspected. Some incidents were small. Some events were larger.
At SOBCon08, I came face to face with a fact.
I was in the game, but I wasn’t playing with all that was in me.
I looked around and saw I wasn’t the only one that was holding back.
And the question stood in front of me.
Why play the game, if we aren’t playing for keeps?
And it stayed with me.
They have their act together better than I do.
Oh God, another “bad hair day” video.
Why should anyone believe the shoemaker makes fabulous shoes if his own shoes are ratty? The shoemaker ought to be wearing the best shoes in town.
It’s a rationalization, a total disconnect to think otherwise.
Why do we let ourselves off the hook on that?
No famous shoemaker ever wore ratty shoes.
If we’re not the best examples of our own talents, if we’re not walking our values, might as well hang up our uniforms — why would anyone waste good time and money on someone who’s heart isn’t in the game?
This isn’t just about shoes. It’s about people seeing what we can do.
Can people see you?
I’m Getting in the Game for Keeps . . . How About You?
People have relationships with people they can “see” — real people — people they trust. Social networking, social media, social anything is about connecting people with people. It’s relating, showing up, revealing something about the who we are inside.
We trust people whose inside values are visible on the outside.
That means giving a sign that we see them too and understand their values.
Time to quit talking about blogging in our jammies. It doesn’t make sense to people who don’t know our culture.
I’m getting in the game for keeps.
I’m showing up for the people in my life and my business. Gonna let them and you see me learn as well as let ’em see what I already know.
I used to think “Don’t tell ’em, show ’em,” was just a writer’s line.
It’s more. It’s a way of living.
Talk is cheap.
Showing up, showing who we are is relational gold.
If you value people in your life — business, social, friendship, family . . .
It’s okay to let people see you trying.
Trying happens right before succeeding.
How much
can they hear
if what they see
isn’t all that we could show them?
What would be easier if we got the offline world to take the blogosphere seriously?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
