It certainly has been an interesting year politically, economically, medically, and professionally for many. Living in Austin has proven to be a good vantage point to see and read about the big changes throughout the world in 2017.
I still haven’t figured out how to use this blog to add consistent value on the topics of business, parenthood, or music in the already noisy Internet of information. Not that all of my prior posts have added tremendous value, but many were inspired by events, people, and situations (muses of sorts) in my life at the time. The words used to flow fairly effortlessly and some would likely argue without too much needed editing. 😀
So as we say goodbye to 2017 and hello to all of our continued life stories in 2018, I thought I’d share below some shows and recent blog posts that you may find interesting.
Some good and mostly family friendly shows we’ve watched this year (most are on Netflix) that kept me easily distracted from writing and singing:
Stranger Things
The Flash
Super Girl
The Arrow
Agents of Shield
Legends of Tomorrow
Series of Unfortunate Events
Once Upon A Time
The Crown
Big Bang Theory
Modern Family
black-ish
Some good reads:
What Happened in 2017 – Fred Wilson discusses changes in the business of technology: Crypto, The Beginning of the End of White Male Dominance, and The Tech Backlash.
Wishing those of you, who for some reason still read my blog, as well as those who happen upon it during a random Internet search, a very HAPPY, PROSPEROUS, and HEALTHY 2018!
Wow, just wow! I didn’t march, but I had several friends who went to D.C. to march or marched in Austin, Texas last Saturday. I take it as a sign of the actual decent health of our country that there was not one violent outburst, of which I am aware, during these marches on January 21, 2017 in any US city .
Some were marching in protest of Trump winning, but I think many more were also marching to make a point about women’s rights, civil rights for all races, tolerance, understanding, LGBQT rights, support of immigrants in times of need, etc. Personally, I got very emotional watching the marches on TV and seeing the commentary from women who have long fought for women’s rights that could be so easily taken away from us even if not easily by law but by behavior and words that were clearly not tolerated prior to the election, now being potentially acceptable.
One of my friends wrote this great post on facebook that with her permission (she did not want credit outside of facebook), I am quoting verbatim here:
“I marched with my oldest daughter but assumptions are made immediately by everyone reading this about why I did it with her. The march to me was not about President Trump and we weren’t there to protest him being our president. Were there men and women there to protest him, yes of course. We did not hold signs that had words I wouldn’t repeat to my daughters, let alone show in public. We were not there to riot and cause mayhem.
We were there to send a message to our local elected officials that we are here and watching them.
We were there because I worry about Obamacare being appealed completely including the few provisions President Trump said he would leave including not allowing lifetime caps, allowing kids to remain on parents’ healthcare until 26 years of age and preexisting conditions portion that affect me and so many people I know.
We were there because I feel it is a woman’s right to decide her conscience of what she should do with her body. I do not feel anyone has the right to judge a woman for her choice. That is a decision she makes between her and her God.
We were there to support laws already in place for gay rights and continue to move forward. I am not gay but also see those that are as human beings just like me and do not believe I should have different rights then them.
We were there because I wanted my daughter to experience a peaceful protest, regardless if all of us were there for different reasons, and see how strong women can come together and send a message to the elected officials- we are here and ready to act.
I don’t know about other marches across the US and world, but in Austin it was peaceful, empowering and positive. No one was saying they wanted to blow up anything, used profanity, etc. It was a powerful and empowering message.
So before you judge and make negative comments about those that did march, why don’t you ask why or just remember we live in a country that has progressed because of movements.
I believe in peaceful and constructive discussions, not hate and degrading comments. So please, try not to judge one another and stop with the hateful comments! Instead, let’s learn from one another and move forward! I’m an optimist and believe it can happen. Peace and love to all!”
Tibetan monks creating an intricate mandala they will soon wipe away to illustrate impermanence. Later they will throw the colored sand into a nearby river and start the process over again.
Life seems to have a lot of rejection, failure, and unmet expectations in between occasions of blissful acceptance, success, peace, and happiness.
But it’s all part of the human experience and according to Pema Chodrin we need to Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better: Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown (Amazon link). I heard about the book from Seth Godin’s blog post Failing, again. It’s a quick, easy read with a nice analogy of how we build resilience, understanding, and acceptance over time as we get better at dealing with the big waves that life sends us that sometimes knock us down. We struggle to get back up only to experience the next big wave trying to knock us down again! I also recently read her book Practicing Peace in Times of War (Amazon link) and found it insightful.
The Top 5 Stressful Situations (1. Death of a loved one, 2. Divorce, 3. Moving, 4. Major Illness, and 5. Job Loss) can leave us feeling like a failure and/or rejected. I’ve experienced 4 of those 5 events personally and two of them at the same time. [major stress emoji] Based on my experience, it takes a great support network, a positive attitude, and not being afraid to ask for help (even if you ask for it in an imperfect way) to navigate these life changes and come out the other end with most of your mental faculties still in tact. 😀 You learn pretty quickly who your friends really are during those tough times. And if you take the time to learn from those experiences, you build resiliency to weather the next big wave and are able to help others get back up too!
Here are some great articles I’ve read recently that can help all of us put feelings of rejection, failure, and lack of confidence into perspective.
In Defense of Being Average – Mark Manson. He is such a funny and talented writer! It is okay to be average, because most of us are.
The Confidence Gap – The Atlantic. This article discusses the unique challenges even the most talented and accomplished women face on the topic of confidence.
On Marrying the Wrong Person – The Book of Life. Will the way we pick our spouses evolve yet again? I hope so. This article discusses how we should pick our mate. The method they suggest makes more sense than how we humans have typically done so in the last thousands of years.
I wonder why we don’t celebrate Boxing Day (aka St. Stephen’s Day) here in the US? It seems like a mighty fine holiday to me! The weeks leading up to the holidays seemed extra busy this year, so I had to take “holiday card” off the list of things to do this year.
In lieu of a festive blog post, here are some interesting reads:
Time’s Up for ‘Timeout’ – The Atlantic A progressive group of neurology researchers wants to redefine “discipline.” Decisions about parenting affect not only children’s minds, but those of adults as well.
Change is constant. We are always transitioning from one thing to another and/or from one stage of life to another. I find that when those transition times happen for me, they tend to be good times to sort through and organize stuff I rarely make time to organize. My home office is just a little more organized as of yesterday. I’ve shoved things out of view into closets, file cabinets, and drawers which makes me feel better and helps create space to process the transition.
I’ve also been cleaning out my email inbox, and I found some articles I’ve been meaning to post about:
Thirty years of projects – Seth Godin. He writes about his numerous projects and career transitions. It was strangely comforting to see all the different things he’s attempted over the years and their different outcomes.
The Creativity Myth – Kevin Ashton. Mozart did not create his music by magic or overnight. Creativity takes time.
Nobody Knows What the Hell They Are Doing – Oliver Burkeman. “The genuinely untalented, meanwhile, probably have no idea that they’re no good—because they’re too untalented to realize it.” And “If you’re worried you don’t measure up, that could well be a sign that you do.”
“If you’re interested in building a business to make money, forget it. You won’t. If you’re interested in building a business to make a contribution to society, then let’s talk.” – Arthur Rock
Below are some really great, entertaining, and thought provoking posts & articles. Please check them out and let me know what you think.
Good at math (Seth Godin) – This post arrived in my in box after my 9 year old daughter told me she wasn’t good at math. I told her she was too young to make that decision. I told her that only after she has taken Calculus that she could she tell me she didn’t like math or it wasn’t her best subject. She then asked me what Calculus was and she, her brother and I laughed out loud at that silliness. 🙂
Get Lucky (Fred Wilson) – Fred appears to be one of the luckiest people I know. A famous VC and blogger, great family, good health, etc. He links to an article Richard Wiseman wrote on lucky and unlucky people. He said the money quote was “My research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.”
I’m not a big football or groundhog watcher, but this year the days have collided. I don’t plan to watch any groundhogs, but I do plan to see part of the Super Bowl. Because my son loves sports, we will be going to a friend’s place to the watch the game so he can be with others who like to watch football. Ah, the things us mothers do for our kids that we don’t have the patience to do for other sports fanatics in our lives. 🙂
I’m hoping with the recent WordPress update, there won’t be spam links in my email feed, but it’s a crap shoot. I haven’t been able to figure out the reason after asking several people and doing some research. I think it’s beyond my technical expertise to figure out a fix in the near term. I’ve managed to post about once per month mostly because I haven’t permanently fixed the spam issue and secondly because I’m still working on interesting topics to post about. Here are some good reads:
This year Thanksgiving and Hanukkah collided. In the US, apparently the retailers decided to start the crazy sales activity just that much earlier and open up Thanksgiving eve. I guess the news folks will tell us if it was worth it. I didn’t venture out or even online to purchase anything on “Black Friday,” Thursday, or whatever. I know people who did. I did venture out today (Sunday) to Target to return some things and get some basics, but there was only the normal crowd there.
At any rate, I’m thankful that I can choose to shop or not shop. I’m thankful for many, many things…mostly that I’m here right now in this intersection of space & time with many wonderful people around me. Plus, I’m easily able to type this post and share these articles with you:
The Fall Of The Alphas – A VC, Fred Wilson (I just now bought the Kindle version of the book)
10 Life Lessons You Should Unlearn – Huffington Post (“Problems are bad. It’s important to stay happy. I’m irreparably damaged by my past. Working hard leads to success. Success is the opposite of failure. It matters what people think of me. We should think rationally about our decisions. The pretty girls get all the good stuff. If all my wishes came true right now, life would be perfect. Loss is terrible.”)
Congratulations to Eric Tung, a former undergrad student of mine from my adjunct lecturing days at The University of Texas at Austin, for winning the Jackson 5ive video! It’s strange to know that my former students already have kids of their own, and he has far surpassed his Intro to Entrepreneurship teacher in the world of social media!
There is much going on and my entrepreneurial life juggle has (again) taken precedence over blogging, so I leave you with these interesting reads:
Until I figure out a strategy for this blog, which may continue to be known for it’s non sequitur personality like it’s owner, here are a few interesting reads and observations:
Where does trust come from? – Seth Godin. “Hint: it never comes from the good times and from the easy projects. We trust people because they showed up when it wasn’t convenient…”
I wonder if there is such a thing as brown/tan-gray/silver color blindness. If so, I think I have it.
I’m so proud of my son for asking people to donate to mycharity:water, bringing clean drinking water to those without, instead of giving him birthday gifts. He exceeded his original goal by $160 so far for a total of $360! He never once complained or mentioned that he didn’t get any presents and was happy he could serve so many people & families.
Close friends and even co-workers can often know you and accept you better than your own family, who may only be able to see you in the box that you desperately and continuously tried to break out of most of your life but you let them keep putting you back in there until you couldn’t anymore.
I don’t’ have time to read many blogs these days, but I read about 98% of what Seth Godin writes on his blog. I keep meaning to buy and read more of his books, but time escapes me with the many things I’m juggling right now. I’m so glad he blogs!
I subscribed to his Domino Project emails. Watch this video. If you have kids. If you have a daughter. If you are a human being who has put yourself in the face of challenge and danger. If you want to know you are not alone, you must watch this video on Ted Talk. Sarah Kay is a “spoken word poet.” She starts with a compelling poem. She then goes on to discuss her loves of poetry and theater. She is young. She is beautiful and well spoken. Given her talent now, I wonder how she will sound after she actually has kids…or a daughter. Video is embedded below:
I’m seriously considering a very long blogging break while I figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Or shall I say what I want this blog to be as it grows up. The posts have been kind of random lately…a bit out of focus like I feel these days.
I was having lunch with one of my advisers today who always pumps me up. He’s almost 70 years old and calls himself a recycled dad because he has grand kids older than his youngest kids. I like him a lot because he’s used to working with strong, smart, professional women. In the company he founded some 30 years ago when it wasn’t cool to hire women in senior positions, he had the most on his team. He always jokes that he knows that women are the ones who get things done. I think he grew up with 4 sisters. He told me no matter what happens that I should be confident in 3 things about myself. I told him I’ll put those 3 things on a note on the mirror or at least repeat them to myself. It’s nice to have people believe in you! He also said something like don’t worry about how things didn’t work out, just change your perspective and move forward.
I think I’ve mentioned that I’m interested in the bioscience/health care field, and I’m figuring out how I can use my current job to find opportunities to learn more about those industries. I’m also enjoying my time singing and learning more about singing. I wonder if I can combine some sort of music with biotech and create an interesting business…
So while I make some decisions, I’ll leave you with a post by Seth Godin and some song lyrics by Bob Dylan that my friend Robb Lanum has been sending out the last several weeks on our email club. I know Robb via his cousin Jay, who is married to Sandy (link to her photo site). Oh the things that get written on that email club…I hope never see the light of day. At least I’m never planning to run for political office! I never listened to Bob Dylan growing up and don’t really know much about him but Robb has been randomly sending out these lyrics and they have been strangely poignant.
I hope you all will still be here when I get back.
It doesn’t have to be a wise decision or a perfect one. Just make one.
In fact, make several. Make more decisions could be your three word mantra.
No decision is a decision as well, the decision not to decide. Not deciding is usually the wrong decision. If you are the go-to person, the one who can decide, you’ll make more of a difference. It doesn’t matter so much that you’re right, it matters that you decided.
Of course it’s risky and painful. That’s why it’s a rare and valuable skill.
Summer Days – Bob Dylan 2001
Summer days, summer nights are gone
Summer days and the summer nights are gone
I know a place where there’s still somethin’ going on
I got a house on a hill, I got hogs all out in the mud
I got a house on a hill, I got hogs out lying in the mud
Got a long haired woman, she got royal Indian blood
Everybody get ready – lift up your glasses and sing
Everybody get ready to lift up your glasses and sing
Well, I’m standin’ on the table, I’m proposing a toast to the King
Well I’m drivin’ in the flats in a Cadillac car
The girls all say, “You’re a worn out star”
My pockets are loaded and I’m spending every dime
How can you say you love someone else when you notice me all the time?
Well, the fog’s so thick you can’t spy the land
The fog is so thick that you can’t even spy the land
What good are you anyway, if you can’t stand up to some old businessman?
Wedding bells ringin’, the choir is beginning to sing
Yes, the wedding bells are ringing and the choir is beginning to sing
What looks good in the day, at night is another thing
She’s looking into my eyes, she’s holding my hand
She’s looking into my eyes, she’s holding my hand
She says, “You can’t repeat the past.” I say, “You can’t? What do you mean you can’t? Of course you can.”
Where do you come from? Where do you go?
Sorry that is nothin’ you would need to know
Well, my back has been to the wall for so long, it seems like it’s stuck
Why don’t you break my heart one more time just for good luck
I got eight carburetors, boys I’m using ’em all
Well, I got eight carburetors and boys, I’m using ’em all
I’m short on gas, my motor’s starting to stall
My dogs are barking, there must be someone around
My dogs are barking, there must be someone around
I got my hammer ringin’, pretty baby, but the nails ain’t goin’ down
You got something to say, speak or hold your peace
Well, you got something to say, speak now or hold your peace
If it’s information you want you can go get it from the police
Politician got on his jogging shoes
He must be running for office, got no time to lose
He been suckin’ the blood out of the genius of generosity
You been rolling your eyes – you been teasing me
Standing by God’s river, my soul is beginnin’ to shake
Standing by God’s river, my soul is beginnin’ to shake
I’m countin’ on you love, to give me a break
Well, I’m leaving in the morning as soon as the dark clouds lift
Yes, I’m leaving in the morning just as soon as the dark clouds lift
Gonna break the roof in – set fire to the place as a parting gift
Summer days, summer nights are gone
Summer days, summer nights are gone
I know a place where there’s still somethin’ going on
Spirit on the Water – Bob Dylan 2006
Spirit on the water
Darkness on the face of the deep
I keep thinking about you babe
And I can’t hardly sleep
I’m traveling by land
Traveling through the dawn of day
You’re always on my mind
I can’t stay away
I’d forgotten about you
Then you turned up again
I always knew
We were meant to be more than friends
When you are near
It’s just as plain as it can be
I’m wild about you, gal
You ought to be a fool about me
Can’t explain
The sources of this hidden pain
You burned your way into my heart
And you got the key to my brain
I’ve been trampling through mud
Praying to the powers above
I’m sweating blood
You got a face that begs for love
Life without you
Doesn’t mean a thing to me
If I can’t have you,
I’ll throw my love into the deep blue sea
Sometimes I wonder
Why you can’t treat me right
You do good all day
Then you do wrong all night
When you’re with me
I’m a thousand times happier than I could ever say
What does it matter
What price I pay?
They brag about your sugar
Brag about it all over town
Put some sugar in my bowl
I feel like laying down
I’m pale as a ghost
Holding a blossom on a stem
You ever seen a ghost? No
But you have heard of them
I see you there
I’m blinded by the colors I see
I take good care
Of what belongs to me
I hear your name
Ringing up and down the line
I’m saying it plain
These ties are strong enough to bind
Your sweet voice
Calls out from some old familiar shrine
I got no choice
Can’t believe these things would ever fade from your mind
I could live forever
With you perfectly
You don’t ever
Have to make a fuss over me
From East to West
Ever since the world began
I’m only in it for the best
I want to be with you any way I can
I been in a brawl
Now I’m feeling the wall
I’m going away baby
I won’t be back ‘til fall
High on the hill
You can carry all my thoughts with you
You’ve numbed my will
This love could tear me in two
I wanna be with you in paradise
And it seems so unfair
I can’t go to paradise no more
I killed a man back there
You think I’m over the hill
You think I’m past my prime
Let me see what you got
We can have a whoppin’ good time
Brian Clark at Copyblogger did a post recently called How to Tell the Truth that was just spot on. I LOVED it because it is so true. It’s a short post and I was trying to think about how to summarize it, but I just can’t because it’s so perfect. So I hope Brian doesn’t get upset with me for quoting it verbatim here:
“Everyone wants the truth, right?
Ask your spouse or your boss or your employees or your customers… they’ll tell you all they want is the truth.
But that’s a lie.
We hate the truth. Our reaction to real truth is hostility and fear.
Do we really want to hear the truth about why we’re fat, or why we’re broke, or why our kids are under-achieving? Tough stuff to process for most.
And yet telling the simple raw truth is one of the most effective attention and persuasion tactics available. Especially these days, with people sick to death of being lied to and betrayed.
But if people reject what you say, truth or not, you’re back where you started.
Guys like Buddha and Jesus had this problem.
The solution remains the same.
Tell a story.”
I sent the post to my friend, Robb Lanum (a screen writer), and he liked it too and added “Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.”
My big problem is that I have a tendency to tell the truth good or bad, and I don’t always have a great story behind it. It usually turns out great if the truth is good (e.g., our product is awesome and will save your life, you look great, you did a fabulous job) but if the truth is not so good (e.g., our product is good but you need to have xyz to make it work, I screwed up, you screwed up) it’s hard to recover. Sometimes I wish I could keep my mouth shut but fear, Southern Baptist guilt, and feeling like I should do and say the right thing (because I would want to hear the truth) usually overcome me. A strong conscience sucks to deal with sometimes, but I selfishly hope my kids inherit it without having to feel the hell, fire, and brimstone in their minds!
This is probably one of the reasons why I’ll never be a great classical marketer. As Seth Godin recently wrote in a post called Is Marketing Evil?, the best marketers know how to create a great story about their companies and products and then they know how to get it out to the universe (usually with a reasonable budget!). He ends the post with:
“Just because you can market something doesn’t mean you should. You’ve got the power, so you’re responsible, regardless of what your boss tells you to do.
The good news is that I’m not in charge of what’s evil and what’s not. You, your customers and their neighbors are. The even better news is that ethical, public marketing will eventually defeat the kind that depends on the shadows. Just ask Bernie Madoff.”
So ‘eventually‘ with any luck my tendency to tell the truth will keep me out of jail. Now I just have to learn how to spin a fairytale captivating story! Here’s a video clip of “A Few Good Men” starring Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson that shows how most people can’t handle the truth…most notably the one (Jack) telling the truth:
Pre-Judging Other People – Never A Good Idea – I read this post by Thom Singer back on January 17 and it’s been sitting in my in box because I knew I wanted to link to it. He tells a story about how he was in a vegan restaurant reading Thomas Friedman’s book Flat, Hot, and Crowded and ran into a woman who had heard him speak about networking at the Austin Chamber of Commerce. She had made assumptions about him based on his talk, and he was unaware of the faux pax he was committing wearing a leather jacket at the vegan restaurant. A great and entertaining read…especially if you know Thom.
Who You Are And What You Do – I read this one right after reading Thom’s post I mentioned above and thought how appropriate given that on this post Seth Godin discusses how people form a judgment of you online. If you do certain things, people make judgments based on what they see you do. The key takeaway for me was “If you’re not happy with the perception you generate, change the words you type and the messages you send.”
Love (and Annoying) – Another great one by Seth Godin. I just love the way he writes and how he ties easily understandable concepts to the marketing of products. He starts off his post with “The goal is to create a product that people love. If people love it, they’ll forgive a lot. They’ll talk about it. They’ll promote it. They’ll come back. They’ll be less price sensitive. They’ll bring their friends. They’ll work with you to make it better. If you can’t do that, though, perhaps you can make your service or product less annoying.” Great advice not only for marketing products but also in life!
The Global Hug Tour – I found out about this on twitter. It’s an endeavor by 2 people in a small prop plane, flying around the world, delivering 100,000 hugs and $1,000,000 to important causes. I remember reading somewhere on their site or elsewhere that people need (or should get) at least 7 hugs per day. Now that’s a lot of hugs if you don’t have little kids because I’m sure I beat the little kid hug daily quota often! My kids are just so hug-able. 🙂
For just $10 you too can be a Hug Amassador! This feat is being run by Gail Goodwin and her husband and press will be following them to make sure the money actually goes towards hugs and not a second house! This endeavor particularly resonated with me because I once heard a story about the orphans in Romania who were never touched. The babies were left alone to cry and ocassionally given food but never held and cuddled. The story showed those children when they were older and how difficult it was for them to adapt to society, how they couldn’t relate to others, and how desparately lonely they looked. I can’t imagine someone not wanting to hold and touch a little baby. Us humans are such social creatures that sharing a hug can go a long way. Many of us in the online world know that we can even give virtual hugs by putting someone’s name in brackets so here’s a hug to {{my blog readers}}.
Raising money is a hard thing to do and often harder when you are raising money for a non-profit. The payback isn’t measured in dollars, in quantifiable ROI (return on investment), or in perks and huge salaries. It’s measured in change. It’s measured in the effect your cause has made on your community…on the world. I have yet to read such an inspiring article/post on the matter of raising funds in a non-profit as the one written by Sasha Dichter, who works at the Acumen Fund, on Seth Godin’s blog called In Defense of Raising Money: a Manifesto for NonProfit CEOs. Whether you are in a non-profit or a company trying to be profitable, it is a MUST read! You can feel his passion in his post.
Here are a few excerpts, but please go read his entire post…it is truly inspiring.
“How good is your idea? How important is your cause? Important enough that you’ve given up another life to lead this life. You’ve given up another job, another steady paycheck, another bigger paycheck to do this all day long, every day, for years if not for decades, to make a change in the world and to right a wrong.”
“Breast cancer has an unbelievable level of awareness in the United States, definitely ahead of all other cancers. Yet breast cancer is actually the 5th leading cause of cancer death in the United States, behind lung, stomach, liver and colon cancer.(2) So why does it get the most attention and the most funding?”
“So why are you so scared to ask people for money? …
How about this instead: “You are incredibly good at making money. I’m incredibly good at making change. The change I want to make in the world, unfortunately, does not itself generate much money. But man oh man does it make change. It’s a hugely important change. And what I know about making this change is as good and as important as what you know about making money. So let’s divide and conquer – you keep on making money, I’ll keep on making change. And if you can lend some of your smarts to the change I’m trying to make, well that’s even better. But most of the time, we both keep on doing what we’re best at, and if we keep on working together the world will be a better place.”
If only we could all feel as passionate about our lives and ideas with this same level of intensity every day, but most of us can’t (maybe even Sasha doesn’t feel this way every day) so we read posts like these and get inspired by someone else’s passion. What a true gift of charity when people share their wisdom and passion…expecting nothing in return…except for maybe a little change.
ly has been an interesting year politically, economically, medically, and professionally for many. Living in Austin has proven to be a good vantage point to see and read about the big changes throughout the world in 2017.
(Amazon link). I heard about the book from Seth Godin’s blog post 
(Amazon link) and found it insightful.
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