Shortcuts
One thing I love about my MacBook is knowing and using a lot of the shortcuts available within the keyboard. The toolbar always has them readily listed so that you can learn them at any time. It is one thing to know they are there but it’s another to actually use them. Someone spent tumultuous hours programming them to make our life easier. They determined the precise code to allow us to copy/paste an entire paragraph, the right code to undo that accidental delete or to have the ability to pull up a folder without having to click eight different locations. They went there for us.
Keyboard shortcuts are good. Use them.
One school of thought is to not take shortcuts in life. That may be true in ninth grade when you have the option to cheat on your Geometry test. Only to fail miserably because you took a shortcut (I used a cheat sheet that was about 40% correct). But another school of thought and one I am not too ashamed to enroll in, is to learn from those who have been there before me. Like the guy who spent hours upon hours coding my computer so I can stop a program from running when it is slowing down my computer. There are those who have been before us in our respected fields. Those that can teach us the hard lessons they have learned and teach us the right paths to go down. Shortcuts, if I may.
My Dad tried to give me some shortcuts back in the day. I wish I would have listened. His shortcuts seemed like the hard way at the time, but I now I see them as they really are. Shortcuts from those who blazed the path.
Do you take advantage of the shortcuts on your computer? How about the moments you share with a maven? Do you heed their advice and take the appropriate shortcut to learning? (Tomorrow I’ll provide some helpful tips on taking advantage of those moments.)
Church Banners
Have you ever wondered what happens to the banners you have seen around your Church? Certainly, they don’t just disappear once they have served their purpose. Something has to be done with them.
Here are a couple of examples of Church Banners:
Instead of just throwing all those banners away, Elevation Church found a way to do some good with them through recycling. Yes, recycling old vinyl banners; but not the recycling you typically think of.
What I love about Elevation Church is they constantly search for innovative causes to support and I believe they have found that with Plywood People.
Plywood People is an innovative community addressing social needs. One project in particular is their Buy Bags, Help Widows Campaign.
A campaign doing good both environmentally and in the lives of single women.
Plywood People creates limited edition Messenger Bags, Satchels and Wallets that are made with 100% reclaimed vinyl billboard shell and reclaimed fabric lining (much like the Banners you don’t see anymore). Some of the goods also come from recycled billboard materials by Guatemalan urban artists. A percentage of the profits will enable the creation of new homes for Mayan widows.
These are Church Banners Doing Good.
Are you a church or organization looking to recycle old banners or signs?
How can you do good with the common materials that are lying around your organization?
Look for the ways to make the ordinary….extraordinary.
Open
I like a place that is open all day and all night. The 24/7 kind of place. I don’t like being kicked out of a store because it’s closing and I don’t like getting somewhere only to find their closed. There is something enticing about a place that stays open that makes me want to go there, often times just because it is open when no one else is.
I certainly do not like being told no. I don’t like being wrong or told that I was wrong. It is something I am strenuously working on. This #30blog project has been instrumental in overcoming this. It is something that I am learning though the process. When Donna tells me something I wrote might not be good enough or that I could do better, I get agitated. Thankfully, I have recognized it and not reacted. I think too many people react from this feeling. It’s like going to the store and being told you can’t come in because they are closed. Getting upset because I was wrong is being closed minded. Like a closed up shop not letting anyone in.
There is a lot of value to staying open. Having an open mind, open heart and even open eyes. There is a tremendous amount of knowledge to take in when you allow other’s to come into your closed shop and lead you in the right direction.
Here’s three areas I know I try to stay focused in being open to:
- Open to criticism and correction
- Open to being wrong
- Open to following leadership
Push
I lost track of time and forgot to write today’s #30blog. So I’m writing it now at 1:15 a.m., before I go to bed.
The reason I’m still awake? Passion, excitement and anticipation of what is to come. A lot of momentum is currently being generated in my world. A lot of really fantastic opportunities are happening. With momentum comes excitement and with excitement comes willingness. The push effect. When there is no momentum, there is stress and with stress we get burnout and misery. The pull effect. I have experienced both ends of the spectrum. I’ll take momentum any day. After all, it is easier to push an object than it is to pull.
What I am saying, is that I am still awake and working at 1:15 a.m. because I want to be, because I am enjoying it, because things are happening. And when things are about to happen you push. You push with eager expectation.
Are you working with momentum or misery? What are you currently pushing?
7 Site Saturday
A list of seven sites that I’m glad I landed on this week. Check them out, maybe you will benefit from them as well.
http://mashable.com/2009/01/21/best-twitter-brands/
http://www.qideas.org/blog/the-creativity-crisis.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/user/PomplamooseMusic
What sites of value did you find this week?
Follow Friday
Follow Friday is a term used in the Twittersphere. Sometime’s represented as #FF or #FollowFriday. The # represents a hashtag, which is a method to search hashtag’d words. Follow Friday is a way to share Twitter love, to give your recommendations on who you believe your other followers should follow. It is Social Networking or Connecting the Dots. I take the Chris Brogan approach with my follow friday’s. I like to not only recommend other people to follow, but to explain you why I think you should be following them. So you can make your own decision on whether or not to follow. I’m going to try to take it a step farther and provide the follow friday love here on the blog. For those that really care about follow friday and broadcast who I believe is follow-worthy.
#FollowFriday
@nikisnotes – recently met Niki at a Social Fresh event. She’s full of energy and a great heart to do greater things. Already learned some great social media tips from her. I love her passion to make charity (philanthropy) sexy.
@richtucker – Another guy i’ve met through Social Fresh (these events are worth going to for the networking alone!). The brief time i’ve talked with Rich he has been nothing but encouraging, inspiring and willing to help. Always shares good information, links and commentary!
@VincentAmmirato – Read his new blog, you’ll understand why you need to follow him. He is a genuine human with a sincerity to add value to peoples lives.
@brianbaute – Another friend striving to spread a great message through the social media world. He and I had the amazing opportunity to sit in a brainstorm session with a local non-profit; his willingness to be involved and help is inspiring. Reach out to him and talk, he’ll talk back and that’s important.
@b_rewster – I started following Stephen about two weeks ago and talked to him on the phone yesterday. He is passion, inspiration and creativity. I can already tell I am going to enjoy his blog and tweets. I contacted him to pick his brain but he struck first with the questions. Love his heart.
So there you have it, a list of 5 people I respect in the world of Twitter. It’s your call to go follow them, it’s my hope that you would.
Who is your #FollowFriday…either on Twitter or in real life?
Playing House
Confession. I used to play house. Stop judging me. We would really go all out. Wake up like we were starting our day. Get ready for work. Have a pretend breakfast. Go to work. Come home from work. Kiss. Go to bed. Smoke. Well, pretend to smoke. Another confession, I would steal moms cigarettes. We would act as if our little brothers were our kids. Weird, I know.
The point being is that often I find myself playing life now. Doing what I’ve seen others do. Trying to be someone I’m not. As if it’s a pretend world that I can leave at any time. I tend to create those false realities and find security in them. But it’s not what I am created for. there’s so much more. There’s a life to pursue….a life to better. A dream to live. A wife to love.
Do you find yourself creating false realities? What are you doing to keep yourself from living in that realm?
Progression
What is Progression?
My Facebook bio says I am dedicated to it.
But what is it?
My friend D’art and I had this conversation recently.
It’s so much more than being in the midst of culture it’s about setting the pace of it.
There are too many churches and organization’s that try to be relevant for the time. Why worry about being relevant in a period of time? In any organization you have the ability to create culture. To form what is happening within your community, progression is not about re-creating another culture.
Progression is about creating your own culture.
It’s up to you.
You’ve heard the old adage “When one door closes another opens”. I’ll add “that door doesn’t just happen, you have to push for it to open.”
If you want to see progression in your life, your marriage, your job or even your organization, you must be dedicated to it
What do you consider progression? Where do you believe progression needs to happen?
Hope is Here
Invitation Short 1 from Elevation Church on Vimeo.
Invitation Short 2 from Elevation Church on Vimeo.
The links above are from a couple of videos I did with Elevation Church. Jared and Steven are the geniuses that did the scripting and filming. I was just there as a face to a greater message. A message that stirs my heart like none other. The message of Hope. And Hope being here. Now.
This particular shoot called for people that have just been worn by life, who have been broken, neglected and abused. The kind of people we typically pass by or avoid eye contact with when they are walking our way. Quite possibly the ones that need our attention the most. Since Donna and I have lived in the city, I’ve made it a point to talk to more people that are homeless and in greater need than myself. A lot of times they just want to talk and know that someone takes an interest in their life. Other times they just want money.
“Do you know what it feels like? To run and never arrive? To have nothing, but lose it over and over again? We were born into it. We’re all citizens of this place. Either you are or you have been. You probably think I’m talking about someone else. I’m talking to you.”
It’s not just the homeless who need hope. Who needs something greater than what is being found on a daily basis. We all do. Essentially, we are all searching for something. Searching for that feeling of happiness, that feeling of being accepted, wanted and known. It’s the feeling of hope.
I would like to invite any and all of you to come be a part of Elevation this weekend as Steven Furtick will talk more about Hope. More about coming to the realization that life is something so much greater than we ever envisioned. There is Love so much greater than we have ever experienced.
Who’s coming?
Everybody Loves Gary
A lot of people love Gary Vaynerchuk. If you are not familiar with him, you should be. He’s shaking things up. He’s the author of Crush It, the founder of Wine Library and a speaker who will cuss at your conference. He is quite a compelling individual. A virtual motivator. You really need to get familiar with his work; his books, podcast and Ustream. Ustream is where I catch him a lot of times. He’ll randomly do livestream’s where he answers questions, takes phone calls, does pushups or whatever he can do to help us as we are chasing a dream.
Afer watching him today, I feel like a learned a few things, not only about him but the key to really succeeding at what you have set out to accomplish. Here’s a few observations of why I believe he is so compelling, that really should transcend through every organization. If you want to be successful, live in these spaces:
Passionate
Watch a video of the guy. You’ll know within two minutes how passionate he is. It is rare to see someone truly passionate about something they believe in. Passionate to the point that he’ll drop the occasional F-bomb in a conference, he really does get worked up over what he does.
Honest
If you have ever heard this guy talk, you know he’s not giving you any bull crap or fluff. Only straight answers of what he thinks. He speaks from experience and success.
Knowledgable
He knows what he’s talking about. Whether it is about social media or wine or the Jets. He’s invested the time learning social media, wine and communications. Most importantly, he has invested in himself. I imagine he reads a lot and networks with all the right people.
Hustles
He took a wine business from 5 million dollars a year to doing 60 million. Listen to him talk about making it in life, the first thing he always talks about is hustling. His book is entitled Crush It. Simply and purely about Crushing It in whatever you do. Working in your strengths with all you have, to make all you can. He is speaking from his success.
Generous
He shares because he genuinely cares, because he gives a crap. His words, not mine. He’s willing to share because he has a heart to help and give back. It’s rare to see people who want others to genuinely succeed and make their life better. I sense that he is out to do that for others.
Authentic
I heard him say “I love you guys” on numerous occasions. A little bit of love and a little bit of help go a long way. He has a tremendous amount of followers, people always follow, listen to and trust the truly authentic.
I truly believe that if we live in these spaces in our life, business and community we will all experience a certain level of success. We will empower the lives of others around us and, after all, shouldn’t that be the goal of every community and business?
What else would you add to this list? What is a another good “space” to live in?
