New Year's Resolution - Be A Turnstone

Last December I set some 2012 Goals. I don't like resolutions or promises, I like goals. I especially like goals in writing. I don't work from written goals nearly often enough (maybe that could be a 2013 goal), but when I do - it is amazing how well it works.

Last year, about this time, I set these goals:

1. Celebrate today - everything we do, each moment we live is too precious to be treated as a passing fancy. I will better live in the now.

2. Laugh harder - there are too many minutes between belly laughs so intense that they make me cry.

3. Pray deeper - it is time to embrace an ancient and powerful oracle once again.

 All in all, I met these goals more often than not in 2012. #2 was especially helpful and challenging. Life on life's terms can suck the joy right out of you, unless you tenaciously keep perspective. Part of my #2 was completing my book, Wishful Preaching: Things I Wish I'd Said From The Pulpit. Writing it and sharing it with others has kept me laughing.

I'm still working on my specific set of goals for this year, but I have one piece of it nailed down. I want to live like a bird in 2013 - a particular kind of bird, the Turnstone.

Turnstone at work

Living along the seashore, the Turnstone feeds on insect and animal life near the water line. Like the sea gull, sandpiper and countless other shore birds, it is dependent on the food it can find. Shore birds search the surf's edge and beach sand for the unsuspecting bug, crab or minnow   However, the Turnstone has developed a habit of doing more than hunting on the surface of things. The Turnstone, as it's name suggest, will use it's hardy beak and strong neck to flip over shells, rocks and seaweed to uncover a meal that other shore birds will miss entirely. I feel a life-lesson analogy coming on...

It seems that I need a bit of Turnstone in the days ahead. I don't want to just react to what appears in front of me, or crawls across my path in the months ahead. I want to look into the crevices of life, search for the nourishment that hides beneath the surface of each day, flip over apparent failures and see what can be uncovered. Too often we give up. Frequently we accept less. NO! I say. Let's enter this new year with the determination to uncover the richness of our particular lives and the strength to crack it open and feast on the victory!

Will you join me in a Turnstone New Year?

Christmas Gift Ideas #5 - Big Boss Baking

Big Boss Baking Company! They have the absolute BEST granola on the planet. Buy a bunch and use them as last minute gift giving options.

Local Triad NC couple Lavinia and Rodney have gone GOOD! They actually upgraded there garage to a commercial kitchen and so everything is literally "homemade!" I'm not sure what they put in their granola but it's so good that The Fresh Market has picked it up for their stores.

It's a great gift!

Socially Rude and The New Family Christmas Photo

Over at Netchicks Marketing blog, the new standard in family Christmas photos has been revealed!

I laughed and then I had one of those "things that make you go HUM moments." The blog post asks if smart phones are making us socially dumb. Good question. As I read, I realized that for many of us the word 'social' is being dramatically realigned to refer to...well...the stuff we do with our heads down into our smart phones.

Then I had a few more thoughts.

The presence of mobile devices has changed the way we interact. Is it "bad" or making us dumb? I read an interesting book last year The Shallows, by Nicolas Carr that suggests the problem is larger than mobile devices and dangerously close to causing a rewiring of our brains. Carr is a bit over zealous in his claims, but it's a good read and contains some great research.

As a public speaker, I would contend that the speaking environment has been dramatically changed by mobile devices and Social Media. Speakers once depending on word, vocal inflection and gestures to all work together in a precisely developed symphony of presentation that required rapt attention of the audience. We can no longer be assured that people are, at any given moment actually listening or watching us. What to do? We can strive to embrace the change and adapt to it - there are some interesting possibilities available - 

1. using other's Social clout to market your ideas and brand by inviting people to interact via Social Media

2. adopting a social vernacular to engage users. "This is tweet worthy"

3. providing short (less than 140 characters) points and quotes

4. letting people know when you need them to stop, look and listen

5. keep Social handles and hash tags visible throughout the presentation

Like it or not, Social Media and mobile devices are a means of communicating information, and what is a good presentation if not information that is educational, motivational and fun to share?

All of that said, we do need to balance our use of these devices and media and have a low tolerance for what we experience as rude behavior in social situations.

What do you consider rude smart phone behavior?

Couple of Photos

Gift Ideas #4 - Donate and Send a Card

Looking for a good way to thank a business client or a long-distance contact during Christmas?

Let Crisis Control Ministry save you time during this busy holiday season! Place a Holiday Honor Card order and we will give you a little more time to spend with family and friends.

For a minimum donation of $5 per card, Crisis Control Ministry will beautifully hand address, stamp with a holiday stamp and mail your cards for you, giving you more time to enjoy the holidays. If you prefer to address and sign the cards yourself, they can mail them to you.

GET YOUR HOLIDAY CARDS!

Blogger iPad app

Just testing the recent blogger iPad app. It provides a more complete interface allowing for greater ease in adding photos. The label feature is front and center.

Gift Ideas #3 - Dirt to Shirt!

I met Eric Henry of TS Designs the evening his company received the Green Business of the Year award from the Piedmont Environmental Alliance.

TS Designs has a unique "Dirt to Shirt" program that creates a 100% organic cotton t-shirt from the growing of the cotton to the finial printed t-shirt within a few hundred miles - all in North Carolina. Each shirt comes with a unique code that you can use to track and 'meet' the growers, weavers and printers involved in your shirt!




You can get your very own Dirt to Shirt Tee right off their website. What a great gift to spur conversation and local pride!

My life in 2012

My life in 2012


Make your own slideshow with music at Animoto.

Gift Ideas #2 - Boardroom Socks

I met these folks earlier this year and they changed my life. Any man knows that shopping for socks is an all out evil way to spend more than 5 minutes. What is more, I have never been able to find the socks that felt right, stayed up and look professional for more than a wash or two. No more!

Boardroom Socks sells men's dress socks sewn right here in the USA. I checked the website and then spoke with customer service and discovered I'd been wearing the wrong sock my ENTIRE life. I'm a short man with strong legs - you imagine from there. My socks never stay up. Enter the solution - an over the calf sock from these wonderful folks. OK  so maybe I'm overreacting, but I love these socks!

Buy a pair and give them as a gift. Dare you!