You Are.
It’s not ‘the competition’ who is your strongest competition, it’s you. It’s your decision to settle. It’s your decision to give up. It’s your decision to blame circumstances or others or the weather. Win the battle with your mediocre, excusing self and you’ll win, simple as that.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who is preaching to himself.
It’s no secret that today is day #3 of Social Media Secrets week!
If you are writing, photographing, drawing, singing, acting, or just ranting, there is one truth underneath it all. You want an audience. Pretending that you are ONLY doing it for yourself is your way of protecting yourself from the failure of gaining an audience. Perhaps you are or were the high school writer or poet who said, ‘Oh, I don’t create for other people, only for myself.’ That’s a lie.
How do I know it’s a lie? Because if it were true we would NEVER hear you admit you are poet or writer in the first place. The very fact that you are telling the world you are creating it is proof you want an audience. You might want a small audience; maybe mom, dad, and your little sister, but you still want an audience. But if you put it out for the world to see or read, then it is an audience you seek.
Admit this truth and get it out of the way. Admit you have an ego, you want attention, you want validation, you want recognition. Work toward it and don’t be ashamed of it. But here is the caveat; MAKE SURE what you are creating is WORTHY of attention. If you are just being a copy cat, a plagiarizer, a derivative hack, then you don’t deserve an audience. The person you are stealing from deserves the audience, not you.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who really truly did see a coyote standing still in the middle of the street last night while listening to a woman named Grasshopper talk on the radio and watching a giant beautiful thunderhead build in the setting sun sky.
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I spoke at Blog World NY last week. I spoke on ‘Content Procrastination’ but my takeaways from the conference were mostly about Social Media. I am coming up with some ‘secrets’ I learned there. They are secrets because I am making them up now, as I go. They are not from any particular presentation or interaction.
I often find myself wanting traditional media to pay attention to me. I like reporters, anchors, journalists, videographers, photographers and I like when they want to tell my stories. But it is important form me to remember I am also the media. I am the social media. So are you. The traditional media look to us in social media to help them just as we want them to help us.
The reason it is important to realize this is power. Because traditional media has been around, is established and has clout in terms of information distribution and status, we think it is equal to ‘making it’. We get attention from traditional media and we have arrived. In some ways that is true. But when you think of it, social media is the media that goes viral, not traditional.
In other words, don’t be fooled into thinking you need traditional media to validate who you are. It helps, but there are all sorts of ways to get your company, ideas, books, merchandise, self, vision out there in the world.
Use them all, alert the Social Media!
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who drinks social media with cream and sugar.
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I got back from Blog World New York 2012 a few days ago. I have been busy catching up on work, clients, fixing things, Dr. appts, etc. Now I am ready to think about what it was like; what I taught, what I learned, who I met, what I experienced. I thought I would combine that with a couple napkin drawings on some of the social media secrets I have come to understand over the past few years of working in this field.
For all the talk about ‘social media’ there is a tendency for social media types to spend more time talking to people not present than those that are right in front of them. It can lead to great online connections that never go anywhere because you don’t actually find a way to personally interact with the person.
Now, that makes complete sense when you never have the opportunity to meet face to face. But when you go to a conference or gathering that includes people you have met and interacted with online, it’s important to actually be social and introduce yourself to them. Even if you have met them before, it’s a good idea to reintroduce yourself. Build the relationship in person, even if it is just a brief conversation in the hall between sessions. In some ways it’s awkward because it similar to introducing yourself to a celebrity. You don’t know if they will know who you are, if they will remember you, if they will be annoyed by you interrupting their day. But the truth is they are probably thinking about you the same way.
For example, I knew Jason Falls would be at Blog World NY. I was able to go to his book launch (No Bullshit Social Media) at Blog World LA. I didn’t meet him then but over the past 6 months I have interacted with him on his blog, Twitter, Facebook and probably some other Social Media sites as well. I wasn’t sure if he would know who I was but when I saw him relaxing at a table with some other conference goers I went over and introduced myself. He remembered me from some of the online interactions and we had a brief conversation. It felt good to meet him.
After the conference he posted a message about how one of the things he loves most about going to conferences is the chance to meet his online friends in person. He actually singled me out as an example of that. That was cool, it made me feel like someone I respect in the field had been paying attention to my interactions and was equally happy to finally meet in person.
When you are in the social media world, in whatever capacity, you have to implement the ‘social’ no matter the media. Media is just a method of communicating. Radio, internet, TV, megaphone – it’s all media. But before all that, you have the first and most essential of media, your voice and your handshake. Use it often if you really want to complete your social media involvement.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who really should read Jason’s book.
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My iPhone was burning down the batteries very quickly over the past week during my trip to New York. Something was up with it and it finally went kaput, really kaput, while waiting for my flight home from New York City. As a result I spent a lot of time observing and drawing, both on napkins and in my sketchbook. Here are some of the interesting people I drew and got to know.
On the way home from my week in New York City I sat next to a woman who reminded me a bit of Susan Sarandon. Her eyes were similar but it was really her voice, having the same tone and inflection, that made me feel like I was listening to the actress.
Karen had gone to the city for the first time to have a girl’s weekend with some friends. She is a world traveler yet had never been to NYC. She loved the city, could live there easily she said (I feel the same way after my stay). But after a weekend of eating, drinking, sightseeing and walking she was ready to get home to San Diego. She missed her cat. She was a very interesting person to sit next to.
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Before I got on the plane I spent 5 hours waiting at LaGuardia Airport (long story). I sat for 2 of those hours across from this woman, Jasmine. She slept in this position for a long time.
After a while we realized there should be more people around and found out the gates had changed. We traipsed over to the new gate together. Turns out she was also in NYC for a weekend of fun. She said she had a lot of it. She showed me some photos of her time in NYC, a lot of pictures of her and her friend mugging for the camera, a concert and more self-portraits. She wore bright red lipstick in some and bright pink lipstick in others. She was now very tired and very hungover and was also glad to be headed home. She was a very interesting person to wait with.
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Before Jasmine showed up I was entertained by a mother and daughter sitting across and down from me waiting for a different flight. They had a teeny weenie little dog with bulging eyes who continually peeked out from under the mother’s arm.
The daughter had bright hot pink shorts, brilliant yellow socks and a big knee brace. She played on her iPhone for well over an hour without moving. The mother had on a lacy, Stevie Nicks type of black dress on. The dog blended in under the crook of her arm until it would open it’s eyes REALLY wide and look around. Then it would fall asleep again and disappear into the folds of her dress. They were very interesting people to observe.
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Drawings by Marty Coleman, who loves to draw when he travels.
We are going to the Belmont Stakes. We were going to watch Triple Crown history, or so we thought.
The potential Triple Crown winner, ‘I’ll Have Another’ was scratched from the race today. Expectations and anticipation are dashed. What is that really about but us humans constructing a world in our mind that hasn’t happened yet. Horses don’t do that. I am glad I am a human, not a horse. But I sometimes like having a horse’s enjoyment of the here and now.
Are you able to deal with expectations well? How?
My first travel napkin of my trip to speak at Blog World in NYC.
I did the usual thing when you are alone at a social media conference and tweeted to the Blog World crowd asking who wanted to get a bite to eat before the opening party. Rzaz, Sus, and Apdo responded and off we went to find good Thai food.
We were all strangers so we told our ‘Why are you at Blog World?’ stories. When I told about me as the Napkin Dad Apdo picked up a restaurant napkin and exclaimed, so you could just draw on this one if you want, right? I took up the challenge and came up with this of Apdo in the city listening to a little bird.
After dinner we saw this.
Then we mosied over to the opening party where I introduced my new friends to some of the people I met at Blog World LA in November. They made some great connections and I met someone from Bulgaria.
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I am on my way to Blog World NYC to speak on Wednesday. My topic is ‘Overcoming Content Procrastination Start to Finish’. I am using the analogy of running races to illustrate ways to be productive and effective in content creation. I thought I would show one of the drawings I am going to have in my presentation.
I am feeling confident about my presentation. Luckily I am also NOT feeling confident. What that means is I am being realistic. I know I could fall flat on my face and to lessen that risk I am doing everything I can to prepare properly. Could I still fall flat on my face? Sure. Just as in a race I can train and prepare properly and still have a lousy race. But preparing makes your confidence, though not 100%, higher and more assured than if you are just flying by the seat of your pants.
Some who could see my process of preparation might say I fly by the seat of my pants. But for me and my personality, I think I do pretty good to prepare. Let’s hope so!
Drawing by Marty Coleman, who is about to hit the Big Apple!
See, I told you procrastination was a good thing…Wait, I MEANT to tell you but I didn’t get around to it, sorry.
It’s true, for all the angst and wringing of hands over procrastination it’s really important to discern when you are being a ‘procrastinating’ person and when you are being a ‘hundred mile an hour control freak type A Energizer bunny who is going to have a heart attack if you don’t slow down a bit’ person.
How do you know the difference? When you are the latter type you get injured. You get burnt out, you hurt yourself and others, you hate your life, you don’t see the big picture, you don’t see the small picture. You barely see anything at all. If you are the former type, a true procrastinator, then you see the world passing by and you are too afraid, too lazy, too paralyzed, to oblivious to your true self to take a step.
Be honest and look at yourself, you do know which one you are. Your world will not collapse if you admit it to yourself or others. All the others already know the truth anyway, you really just have to admit it to yourself.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who is Type P.
Quote by Ellen DeGeneres, who has to quit stalking me.
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I know today will whoosh right by, but stop and smell the procrastination, won’t you?
As I have gotten older I increasingly am aware of how many things can go wrong at the last minute of a project or upcoming event. As a result I really do try to get organized and prepared with plenty of time. And even WITH that mindset I am always seeming to be down to the wire in my preparations.
I am expecting it to be the same with my presentation on procrastination and content creation at Blog World next week (Wed. June 6th). This is drawing #5 of the procrastination part, but it will include a lot more I still need to get together. I hope I don’t have too many interruptions but if I do I at least feel I have a strong foundation prepared. We shall see!
Here is what I am thinking about today to include in my presentation. The act of being deliberate in your content creation, working away at it as best you can, is showing respect to those you will give your content out to. It’s no different than arriving late for something and knowing in advance you were going to be late and leaving late anyway. That, to me, shows disrespect for those awaiting your arrival. Not preparing your work properly is the same thing, right?
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who doesn’t like the sound of the whoosh
Quote by Douglas Adams, who wonders how much whoosh a woodchuck whooshes if a woodchuck would chuck whooshes.
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