Escaping Mediocrity

It’s a term we hear all the the time.

“I resonate with that.”

“What he said really resonated with me.”

“She writes in a way that resonates with me.”

We all have a general idea of what the word means – something along the lines of “that really speaks to my heart”, right?

Today though I want to dig in a little deeper into where the word originated and tell you an amazing story about how I saw the word demonstrated live.

So first, a definition:

Resonate:

v.intr.

Good – but still not what I’m after. Let’s try Resonance.

res·o·nance (rz-nns)
n.
1. The quality or condition of being resonant: words that had resonance throughout his life.
2. Richness or significance, especially in evoking an association or strong emotion: “It is home and family that give resonance . . . to life” (George Gilder). “Israel, gateway to Mecca, is of course a land of religious resonance and geopolitical significance” (James Wolcott).
3. Physics The increase in amplitude of oscillation of an electric or mechanical system exposed to a periodic force whose frequency is equal or very close to the natural undamped frequency of the system.
4. Physics A subatomic particle lasting too short a time to be observed directly. The existence of such particles is usually inferred from a peak in the energy distribution of its decay products.
5. Acoustics Intensification and prolongation of sound, especially of a musical tone, produced by sympathetic vibration.
6. Linguistics Intensification of vocal tones during articulation, as by the air cavities of the mouth and nasal passages.
7. Medicine The sound produced by diagnostic percussion of the normal chest.
8. Chemistry The property of a compound having simultaneously the characteristics of two or more structural forms that differ only in the distribution of electrons. Such compounds are highly stable and cannot be properly represented by a single structural formula.

Now those are some VERY cool definitions!

I like this one: Richness or significance, especially in evoking an association or strong emotion: “It is home and family that give resonance . . . to life” (George Gilder).

And I am particularly interested in this one:

5. Acoustics Intensification and prolongation of sound, especially of a musical tone, produced by sympathetic vibration. Especially these words “sympathetic vibration”.

I believe that is the essence of resonance. When someone says, does or writes something that “resonates”, with us, I believe it creates a “sympathetic vibration” in our very core. The words vibrate and create a similar vibration within us which is why our response can often be so very visceral.

And here is the story of how I saw this illustrated.

I was at a conference and this topic of resonance came up. The speaker had a grand piano onstage and invited one of her friends onstage who is a professional singer. They lifted the top of the piano and put a microphone and small camera inside. The singer belted out and held a perfect “C” note. After about 90 seconds, the C string inside the piano began to vibrate and then hum the exact same “C” note. It was amazing.

Now, when something I hear or read or see strikes me deeply, I remember this image. My internal chords are vibrating and humming at the same level as that which moved me.

Isn’t that just beautiful?

As always, I am deeply interested in your thoughts and experiences around resonance and cannot WAIT to read what you share!

Popularity: 2% [?]

Today I am guest posting for MOMeo Magazine’s 30 Day Momentum Challenge.  You can read my 5 Emergency Steps for Getting Unstuck post and join the conversation here: http://ow.ly/1e12l

See you there!

Popularity: 4% [?]

So many new adventurers have joined the Escaping Mediocrity Tribe in the past six months, that I thought revisiting the blueprint I am using for my own escape plan might be helpful.

I originally wrote this post back in  – oh wow, just checked the date – MAY 2009 as “Hatching My Escape Plan”. You can read it here.

I am going to copy and paste it here and add some updates. Plus I see that I have neglected to write posts on each element of the blueprint, so I am going to step up that game so that we all have something to go by as we design our own plan to escape mediocrity in our businesses and our lives.

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Hatching My Escape Plan

So, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my Plan to Escape Mediocrity. I swear it feels like I am masterminding a breakout from Alcatraz. (Cue Mission Impossible music!)

WAIT – I’ll do that for you since I now know how!! http://tinysong.com/gZY3

Seriously, I think if I – and anyone else who wants to come along – will ever break free from mediocrity and into a life and business filled with authentic adventure, we need a plan, a map, a blueprint so we can tell if we are on the right track.

I want to share what I have come up with so far. These are in no particular order because no one is going to have the exact same escape mediocrity route. But I think we can at least use them to stake out where we need to begin digging the tunnels.

My plan now is to write a blog post for each one of these so we can elaborate and discuss them.

(As mentioned above, I have dropped the ball on this so I’m going to kick up it up so we can dig in hard on our plan to Escape Mediocrity.)

My rucksack is packed – have a compass, a shovel, and a canteen. Anyone else coming?!

Blueprint for a Kick-Butt Escape Mediocrity Plan

1. Accept Responsibility, or Not. (wrote blog posts about this here and here.)
2. Define and Defend Your Integrity. (Though I have touched on this here & there, I want to write a dedicated post.)
3. Check Your Assumptions. (I talked about this here, but again – it deserves its own post.)
4. Consider Your Choices. Score – wrote this post It’s All About Choices
5. Pay Attention. Have this post already planned – yeah me!
6. Get Into Gratitude. another score – wrote about that here.
7. Secure Your Spiritual Core. Yeah….need to write this one.
8. Play to Your Strengths. and this one.
9. Seek Wise Counsel. and this one.
10. Protect Your Priorities. Ok – I wrote about creating what matters here, but I want to dig in on how to protect what matters in a future post.

***Emergency Plan for when you get totally lost: Go find someone who needs help and help them.***

Original Art uploaded on May 23, 2008
by phill.d

So, there you go. My blueprint for Escaping Mediocrity. It certainly isn’t the be all to end all, but I still think it is a great place to start.

So, as always, I am intensely curious about what you think. Do these elements of a plan of escape resonate with you? As you develop your own blueprint to escape mediocrity – however you define that – what elements would you add?

Can’t WAIT to start this conversation!!!

Popularity: 9% [?]

Ok – so I was torn today between doing a fully uplifting inspirational post and a down and dirty practical post. After much feedback from the tribe, here is what I decided:

I know you are all ready, willing and incredibly capable of doing GREAT things in this world. And part of how I see my job here is to both inspire you to go out and do them AND give you the tools you need to do that.

See, it’s one thing to know you have something big to say. It’s quite another to  a) decide you are going to say it and b) be equipped with the right tools to say it. Without the tools, we can get mired down in our own heads THINKING about it, knowing we should take action but not having a handle on the fundamental blocks we need to start building.

So to give you grapple hooks to start “doing the doings” of creating something amazing, I am going to share the tools I use. I will base the list largely on The GameChangers Roundtable so that I have examples to point to.

And, in full FTC disclosure, most of these links are affiliate links.

My list of tools:

Blog theme:
Hands down recommendation: Headway. It is the theme I used to create the GameChangers blog and if I had known about it when I created this blog, I would have used it. Quick, simple, nimble and you don’t have to know how to code to make your site look dazzling.

List management:
Aweber. This is the gold-standard of collecting and communicating with your list. If you look at the form at the top of this blog – that is an aweber form. If you’ve signed up for your Keys, they were delivered through aweber. It is a bit more expensive than some of the others out there, but if you start with the gold standard, you won’t have to go through the rigmarole of switching to it later.

Call Recording and Distribution:
AudioAcrobat. Again – this is the tool most everyone uses. You can record just yourself or a conference call that you can then use as your tantalizing giveaway on your site. Those of you who invested in the mp3 recordings of The Roundtable, received links that were built in AudioAcrobat. Oh – they offer a free 30 day trial.

Group Conference Call service:
I use two different services, depending on what I am doing:
FREE option: No Cost Conference. I’ve found them to be incredibly reliable and I like their web panel. Plus, they are free!

Paid option (and the service I used for The Roundtable calls): Instant Teleseminar. This is the Rolls Royce (IMHO) of conference call services. You can have participants call in using a phone line or participate via webcast, enable chat, load up powerpoint slides to share – it’s pretty cool. (WARNING: the sales page is way too sales-y for my taste – just so ya know!)

Taking Money:
Until you are doing a significant number of online transactions, I HIGHLY recommend using PayPal. It’s simple and they’ve added great features since I first started doing this stuff. 1 shopping cart is great for taking money (thought they pretty much suck at list communication) – but it is VERY expensive. Save your money and use PayPal till you outgrow it.

BONUS RESOURCES:

If you want to really kill it out there in the social media world, hang on John Haydon’s every word. I learn so much from him. Go to his website and sign up for his list. NOW.

Learn high-level, high band-width business models and business strategies from my mentor Andrea J. Lee. She just added a “virtual attendance” component to her Wealthy Thought Leader event in March that takes away all excuses (and burns the ships!) on not attending. I can’t attend live because it it the young turk’s Spring Break so I will be attending my very self using this option. Go here to read all about it.

So there you go. The list of fundamental online tools and resources I use and recommend. I realize that many of you will have most of these in place. I’m hoping that I’ve offered up one or two that you may not be using.

And here is my “inspirational” challenge to you:

What tool(s) will you add to your tool box right away and HOW will you employ them in the next seven days?

And of course – if you have questions about any of them ask away!!

Photo Attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/booleansplit/ / CC BY 2.0

Popularity: 16% [?]

So…lately lots of people have asked me how I get all the stuff done that has to get done in my business and still have time to wrangle the Young Turk and have a life.

I thought I would share with you how I set up my week. I am not a big organizational freak and this is the only “system”, if you will, that gave me enough structure and enough flexibility to tame the wildness that is my life.

If you find it useful – yay! If not, that’s okay too.

Monday: Admin Day. This is the day I meet with my team, pay bills, all things paperwork related. this is also the day I look over the coming week, month, 90 Days to think about and plan for upcoming business opportunities.

I do NOT talk to clients or write blog posts on this day. ( I used to write posts on Mondays but I realized it got in the way of completing admin tasks so I don’t do that anymore.)

If you’ve read Michael Gerber’s “The E-Myth Revisited”, this is the day I work ON my business.

Tuesday: Focus Day. These are the days that I concentrate on my high-payoff business activities.  For me, focus days are for coaching clients, leading classes, speaking and writing.  My guiding principal for choosing these activities are they must be ONLY the things that my unique talents and abilities can do.  Period.

Wednesday: Focus Day

Thursday: Focus Day

Friday: I alternate this between Admin and Focus depending on what needs the most attention at the time.

Again – these definitions aren’t rigid. But I have found that if I start blurring the lines between how I define my days, they all start to become one big blur. By focusing my energy, I actually give myself the gift of momentum and can get a good bit accomplished in a short amount of time.

Am I able to to stick to all of this 100% of time? Absolutely not! But I figure if I can stick to it about 70% of the time, I’m doing pretty well.

I’d love to hear how you organize your time so that it serves you.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Seriously. I really am.

So when I am asked about the energy and courage I must have to summon to  be transparent and work the way I do, I kind of laugh.

See, I’ve been in the space where “image is everything”. I bought that program, that ebook and that conference. And I believed that I had to project a certain image of success if I wanted to BE successful. I thought I had to be manipulative and use questionable tactics to make my business look big and important.

And though it felt totally awful, I thought those gurus knew more than I did so I sucked it up and tried to be like them.

Except it didn’t work. And more important, it made me sad, scared and exhausted. The energy required to keep up that facade nearly did me in.

So I reached the place where I had to answer this question for myself: “If being successful means living a lie, do you want that kind of success?”

(Sounds like an easy question to answer I know, but remember, there is a whole group of gurus who make that kind of success sound incredibly enticing – and make a TON of $$$$ while they do it.)

After much struggle and soul-searching, I realized that I was paying a very dear emotional, psychological and physical price for that promise of success. And I decided that even if it meant admitting total failure, I was no longer willing to do it.

So I stopped.

I stopped putting energy into remembering who it was I was “supposed” to look like. I stopped putting energy into projecting the trappings (intentional word choice) of success. I stopped putting energy into business tactics that just felt wrong. I stopped putting energy into creating an image of someone I am not. I stopped putting energy into trying to find that elusive “magic key”.

I dropped it all on the ground and let it crash into a million pieces.

Devastating and terrifying at first. I had put so much time into creating that version of myself. And if I wasn’t going to be THAT person, who was I going to be?

And then the answer hit me over the head. I would be ME. Me with all the imperfections and craziness and insecurities and fears and silliness that makes me me. And if my BFFs were the only ones who thought I was amazing, so be it.

And I’ve never looked back.

My energy, my focus and my love for what I do is at stratospheric heights. The people I connect with everyday are the most awesome I have EVER met. And my engagement with life couldn’t be richer.

This life – right now – though far from perfect -  is exhilarating.

So now I am lazy.  I will NEVER expend energy trying to force myself into some kind of cookie cutter mold. I will NEVER try to be someone or something I am not. I will NEVER drain off my precious energy to devise and maintain a mask that covers up who I really am – warts and all. It is just too exhausting.

And besides. I’d rather use all that time and energy hanging out with you.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Cuz I miss you.

I have to admit it. When I woke up this morning ( and yesterday morning and the morning before that), the first thing I did (out of habit) was reach for my laptop to set up today’s post for the series. See, for just a few minutes, I forgot the series ended yesterday.

And I miss it – and YOU!! But over the next few days I will respond to all the fantastic comments you’ve left on Day 30. The things you’ve accomplished are nothing short of astounding. I am so proud of you.

I also wanted to let you know that I heard you when you emailed and DM’d me about turning the series into something a little easier to manage than trying to print out the blog posts or scroll through them on the blog.

So…..we are going to take all the posts and put them together in an easy to read, easy to print pdf e-book. To keep it a reasonable length, we have chosen to leave out the comments, but there will be hotlinks in the e-book that will take you straight to them.

It’s not quite ready yet, but you know I’m no good at keeping secrets. Plus, I want to give all of you a chance to pre-order it – and of course offer you a special price. You can reserve your e-book for just $12 by clicking here.

We will have them ready to go next week. I hope the pdf version is useful to some of you. Of course the posts themselves will always be available for free at the blog.

Keep being your amazing selves!!

Popularity: 28% [?]

This is Day 30 of 30 Days to Changing Your Game. Yesterday Chris Garrett moved us into starting a whole new game – SO perfect!!

And today….today you get ME!

So first….today’s theme song is: Don’t You Forget About Me by Simple Minds: http://tinysong.com/75LD

And here we are. Thirty days later.

Wow what a thirty days it has been.

As a quick refresher, take a look back at Day 1. Some of you were here, some of you weren’t – and that is ok. But I want you to scroll through the comments to get an idea of where this all began.

To me it seems like a lifetime ago. So much has changed for me I can hardly put it all into words.  As I shared in the email I sent to everyone, in the past 30 days I have:

-Launched the GameChangers Roundtable with 12 of my amazing friends and colleagues. When I look at the list of speakers I think “I cannot BELIEVE these incredible people are my friends!”

-Built the BEST crackerjack team of experts to help me run my businesses. Their expertise is unsurpassed.

And since I sent that email, over the weekend actually, someone with a MAJOR live event asked me to put together a two hour playlist for her. Why? Because she loved the tunes that I posted here everyday.

I am still pretty stunned by it all.

And it’s not that I am so great or special or anything. It is because I burned my ships and made the decision. Scary – no -  terrifying and I had no idea all this was going to happen. But it has so here I am.

But you know what the true highlight of the past 30 days has been for me?

Watching all of you.

I have intentionally stayed in the background of the conversations you were having because I never want the tribe to be dependent on me. And boy did you all rise to the challenge.

Such magical shifts, conversations and relationships have unfolded here – such a joy to watch.

You are positively astonishing.

So what I would like you to share is this: what is the one highlight of the 30 Days that stands out for you? It might be a favorite post, an ah-ha, a friendship, a comment, a business/life opportunity – or even one of the songs (you get brownie point for saying one of the songs – just so you know!).

So re-visit the person you were thirty days ago and share a little about who you are now.

As always, I simply can’t WAIT to hear what you have to say.

oh – P.S. Don’t forget to RSVP for your FREE seat at the GameChangers Roundtable. You will get to hear some amazing people share the nitty gritty on exactly why and how they changed their games. Starts Thursday! http://bit.ly/gamechangers

Popularity: 36% [?]

This is Day 29 of 30 Days to Changing Your Game. Yesterday Calvin Lee showed us that being a “big deal” is really about “the little things”. Chris Garrett’s post today is PERFECT as we begin wrapping up 30 Days. Now that we’ve worked so hard on changing our game, it’s time to start a new one. Go get’em tigers!!

Change Your Game by Starting a New One

by Chris Garrett (@chrisgarrett)

Most of us are playing someone else’s game, and that means you will be forever playing catchup.

When you play someone else’s game you have to play by their rules, and those rules can change at any time. The house always wins.

• Your parents gave you one game (“work hard, be obedient, respect your elders – even when that is wrong”)
• School gave you another game (“sit down, shut up, do as you are told, stop being creative, repeat after me”)
• Friends tell you to play their game (“if you are different we will pick on you until you conform”)
• Bosses and colleagues have their entirely different games (“we don’t care about your ideas, morals, or values, do as you are told or else”)

No matter how well you do at playing these games, you will never be satisfied, fulfilled or reach your full potential that way.

The only way to win is to make your own game, play by your own rules, and forget about the nay-sayers and amateur umpires who say that is “cheating”.

My career started at age 15. Rather than do the “right” thing and continue my education, I dropped out of school. School for me was a daily nightmare, so even if financially I could have considered continuing, I didn’t have the motivation anyway. My game was not conventional, I have had to put up with a lot of stick over my lack of qualifications, but I survived and learned a lot more than university could have taught me.

Then back in 2005 I decided to quit my cushy, easy job in a tough financial climate. I had taken all I could take in the advertising/marketing agency world and decided to strike out on my own. Most people thought this was the “wrong” move, especially as most agencies were either not profitable, were laying off staff, or were closing down. Why give up a “good” job working for blue chip clients to go solo, working for startups and small companies?

Fact is, I was working in an environment I didn’t like, working on projects where I wasn’t learning anything, mostly doing work I didn’t want to do. It hasn’t exactly been a perfectly smooth ride but I would never eagerly go back to that life again.

In both of these moves I have taken what other people would have you believe is “accepting mediocrity”, but I knew the move was “escaping mediocrity”! Bigger is not always better, and you do not have to agree with how others score their lives.

Choose what will make you fulfilled, even if society sees you as “playing small”. Your game doesn’t need to be Olympic scale. One of my friends, Sue, writes about lighthouses .  My friend Yoav decided his game was going to be the create the world’s best PDF to Excel software tool . They are fulfilled and successful at what they CHOOSE to do.

Decide now what your game is and go for it!

1. Ignore the critics who just want to keep the status quo
2. Doing things that scare you is a GOOD thing, it shows you are testing your comfort zones
3. Never be afraid of looking foolish, it stops you doing things that could be a lot of fun
4. If you are not growing, evolving, changing and experiencing then you are dying.
5. Take regular actions towards your goals and keep going!

Chris Garrettis a professional blogger, Internet Marketing Consultant, new media industry commentator, writer, coach, speaker, trainer and web geek. He was also a founding member of Performancing. You might know him from his past writing for such sites as ASPToday, ASPAlliance, Threadwatch, or more recently, ProBlogger, The Blog Herald, FreelanceSwitch, Cogniview, and CopyBlogger.

Chris also writes for several company blogs on a freelance basis.

You can hire Chris to help grow your company by connecting with  your customers through the internet, just use the contact form to discuss.

In 1994 Chris first became addicted to the Internet. Since then he has helped thousands of individuals, non-profits, small businesses and blue chips make the most of the web. In 2005 Chris founded a company to help businesses achieve more with Online Media called OMIQ.

Chris consults, trains and speaks about internet marketing, blogging and new media at events such as the Successful Outstanding Bloggers conference in Chicago, Affiliate Expo, WordCamp, the Netherlands Social Media Congres and the Institute of Fundraising.

Popularity: 53% [?]

This is Day 28 of 30 Days to Changing Your Game. Yesterday Michael Bungay Stanier got us doing A LOT more of what we love to do – yay! Today my dear friend Calvin Lee (probably the nicest guy on the internet) talks about how he became such a big deal on twitter and the little things you can use to raise your social media game to. Pay attention to Cal. Guy Kawaski sure does (I’m not kidding).

It’s The Little Things

By Calvin Lee (@mayhemstudios)

You’ve heard the old saying “Nice Guys Finish Last” It’s only true, if you believe it. I believed it most of my life. I was never full of confidence or believed in myself. Maybe being raised in a Asian family, where parents don’t express their love plays a big role of who you are and what you become. You can’t let that excuse hold you back. YOU decide what you want for your life and how you want to live it.

Believe it or not but Twitter was my Game Changer. Who would have thought I would go from an unknown in Twitterville to a success within three months, and ended up with 41K plus followers, year and a half later.

Twitter has really helped me break out of my shell; I’ve become a social butterfly and a better person. I discovered, I really enjoy helping and meeting people online and in IRL; conferences, Tweetups and meetups. Twitter also has great opportunities for networking and building existing relationships that started online, then into the real world.

I get asked often how I got so many followers, so fast. It’s not about how many followers you have but the connections you make and the value that you add. Like the line from the movie, “The Field of Dreams. “If You Build It, They Will Come.” If you add value, people will be drawn to you.

There is no secret to being a success on Twitter; it’s the little things that count. The same principles can be applied to your daily life as well.

A few things I did that changed my game and it can for you too.

1. Value – Sharing your knowledge, expertise and helping others with it, adds value. You will be the trusted person that everyone will go to.

2. Be Nice – Being nice is very easy to do and don’t expect anything in return. It doesn’t take much to show kindness, that kindness will be returned in full when you least expect it.

3. Community – Contributing and being part of a community; helps build relationships and trust. It will also give you the sense of belonging, like family. When in need, you can call on your community for support.

4. Share Your Life – Take a chance; Open up and share something about your life. People are more willing to do business with someone they know something about, builds trust.

Calvin Lee | Mayhem Studios

Calvin Lee is the principal & creative director of Mayhem Studios,  a small award-winning design studio located in Los Angeles; focused on developing identity and brand recognition for the business sector across the nation.

The Studio uses strategic and creative design with effective messages targeted to the client’s specific audiences to produce identity and branded collateral pieces; annual reports, brochures, logo design, advertising and interactive web sites.

Calvin also serves as a member of the Platt College Advisory Board for the Visual Communications Department, NO!SPEC Committee and on the Creative Latitude Management Team. When not working on projects, Calvin is busy writing articles for his blog.

If you don’t want to miss out on the 30 Days to Changing Your Game, please sign up here.

Popularity: 100% [?]