Spirit in the Village

3 Tips for Using Twitter and Walking my Blog

So it's been almost a month since I signed up for Twitter and started the re-design and new focus on my blog geared around the Meditation Project, Song Writing and Social Media. Currently it's a work in progress so not all the pieces are in place yet.

Being a part-time blogger part of my strategy is to determine how to best organize my time and use of technologies like Twitter. If unmanaged Twitter can become an incredible distraction and time waster, but if properly utilized it can increase your blog readership and allow to you to make valuable connections. In the last month I have seen my readership increase by 5 times what it was at Christmas.

Here are some tips for organization both for Blogging and Twittering:

3 Tips for Blogging

For Blogging my main criteria are writing, writing well, linking, networking and commenting. Meditation is what I use to keep my blogging and personal life organized, hence the Meditation Project.

1. Writing without distraction is critical so I find it's important to block off time to write with phones, cell phones, email and Internet all off. I try to give at least 30 minutes a day. Sometimes I have more time.
2. Linking, Networking and Commenting - This is an area where I'm learning the ropes, making some connections and setting time into my day to read other blogs, make comments and allow for links to go back to my site. Usually I try to spend a couple of hours per week and set goals to comment on at least 10 sites.
3. Writing with thought versus quick writing - this blog post is flowing for me so I there's no draft it will take me about 15 minutes to complete. Other posts usually take longer and might take a few days to get the ideas down, edit and then post. It's good to have a mix of short blog posts versus some that require more thought.

3 Tips for using Twittering

This is new for me so I'm still sorting out some of the details. For those that don't know Twitter is the new trend in the Social Media and gives participants the opportunity to network and connect with people from a variety of businesses and backgrounds all over the world. The only catch is you have to limit what you say to 140 characters or less. This is good for me to keep it short but it does take a little time to master.

Here's what I've Learned about Twitter and Promoting my Personal Brand.

1. Manage & Schedule your Time - It's easy to get sucked in and spend hours Twittering. You can waste a lot of time and work does not get done. My days vary but I'll typically commit between 30 minutes to an hour a day.
2. Be Yourself but Don't be Crude or Rude - There is an etiquette on Twitter and most people play nice. The reason being is that if you don't play nice people can easily remove you or block you out. People can read what you're saying so I try to keep it fun, informative and personal.
3. Use Google Alerts, Blogs and Comments from others are a great way to create conversation. My goal is to keep my message on focus around the topics that interest me from the Meditation Project, finding Life-Work balance, Social Media and Song Writing. I've set up Google Alerts to help me find outside content which is usually pretty good. Stumble Upon is another way of finding good content.

There's an analogy that came from the Edelman article posted by Guy Kawasaki earlier this week. They were describing a methodology for building a social media presence and refered to crawling, walking, running and flying... Well I see my blog as a place where I'm walking right now, still building the foundation... Sometime down the road it will be nice to run and then fly...

2008 Year in Review - My Top 5 Lists

With the election of the first African-American President and the Global Economic Collapse this has been one of the most interesting years since 9-11 and even 1987 when the Berlin wall fell. Here is my Top 5 List for 2008:

My Top 5

1. The American Election

The election of Barack Obama was significant because it represents a new course for not only America but the world. Although there is still a long way to go with respect to racial or gender equality the world can finally breathe a sigh of relief and say all of us have an opportunity to achieve our dreams.

2. The Global Financial Meltdown

Unlike other economic slowdowns we have seen some of the most powerful Financial Institutions simply collapse and our traditional way of doing business seems at risk. Personally I’m optimistic about the future since many times it takes a real kick in the pants to get us off our complacency. For years we have dragged our feet by not creating fuel efficient cars, letting go of our dependency on oil and executives have just lined up at the money trough, looking at their own pocket books and sending jobs to China.

I’m hopeful that governments & corporations will become more responsible, more responsive to demands in the market place (especially car companies) and that executives will align bonuses with the success of a company.

Little baby steps will be required moving forward but I think it will be important for the voices within the global community to keep everybody honest.

3. The Shoe Throwing Incident

If you listen to the words of the shoe thrower, Muntadar al-Zaidi, the shoes thrown at George Bush where a farewell kiss from those who had been killed, orphaned or widowed in Iraq. This event symbolizes for me all the conflicts that are going on in the world from the Middle East to Somalia, to Zimbabwe, India, Pakistan to Russia & Georgia.

George Bush as a leader has never acknowledged or taken responsibility for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have died and millions impacted as a result of his decisions. Whether the conflict is right or wrong today most conflict shows a lack of leadership & moral responsibility.

Only when leaders become conscious of their actions, accountable to their people and use war as the last option will you see a reduction in conflict. I’m hopeful there will be less conflict in 2009.

4. The Beijing Olympics

The Olympics became China’s shining moment and were fantastic. Like other countries China is gradually being forced to look at their human rights records, their laws for workers as well as their own environmental challenges. However 2008 was the year where China officially came onto the world stage.

5. The Rising Awareness of Social Media, Stem Cell Research & the Environment

I’ve put the 3 of these together, partly because I didn’t want to make a top 10 list but secondly I feel these 3 areas are still fairly new but primed for growth in the next few years. Barack Obama’s fundraising and campaigning success in the American election showed the real power of social media. Some of the innovations in stem cell research (without embryos) where very promising. As we move into 2009 the environment just keeps knocking on our door.

Top 5 Personal Events for 2008

1. Personal & Spiritual Growth

This has been an important year for me to develop greater clarity with respect my purpose and discovering the real creative side to who I am.

2. Social Media & Networking – Facebook, Twitter, Soundclick

The whole realm of social media has been a learning process for me and most of this year has been about reading, learning and connecting… I’ve learned so much this year.

3. Music – Songwriting, Recording & Networking

Although I’m definitely an amateur musician I find great satisfaction in creating music. Recently I recorded my first song “Love is Free” and posted on SoundClick. On the acoustic rock chart it went to #66 out of about 17,000 songs which is pretty cool. There are two more songs in the works, “Who Ever Thought” & “Broken Ego” that I hope to release early in 2009. The whole process is exciting.

4. Writing & Blog Development

My blog has been a great forum for me to share ideas and interact with others. I enjoy the writing part although the main issue for me has been time. With the advent of Twitter (and mini blogging) I’m looking forward to continuing on writing with some new ideas for 2009.

5. New Baby on the Way

My wife’s son and his girlfriend are expecting a baby in January, so effectively I’m going to be a Grandfather. :) Now besides being too young and too good looking I’m looking forward to the baby arriving…

Here are some other Top 5 lists:

Top 5 Books:
1. A New Earth – Eckhart Tolle plus 10 week class with Oprah
2. Money & the Law of Attraction – Jerry & Ester Hicks
3. The Audacity of Hope – Barack Obama
4. Influencers: The Power to Change Anything – Patterson, Grenny, Maxfield, McMillan, Switzler
5. The New Rules of Marketing & PR – David Meerman Scott

Top 5 Albums:
1. Neil Young – Live at Massey Hall.
2. Johnny Cash – Live at Folsom Prison – (new to me)
3. Bob Dylan Tell Tale Signs – The Bootleg Series – Volume 8
4. Sheryl Crow – Detours
5. Travelling Wilburys – Volume 1 & 3

Top 5 Web Blogs:
1. Webinknow
2. Problogger
3. How to Change the World
4. Intent Blog
5. The News I Read Today – Beatles Blog (my wife calls me a Beatles groupie)

Top 5 News Sources:
1. BBC News
2. CBC News
3. CNN
4. Huffington Post
5. PopURLs

Top 5 TV Shows:
1. The Hour
2. Larry King Live
3. Gene Simmons Family Jewels
4. Oprah
5. Biography

I’d love to hear your thoughts on events that impacted you in 2008. Coming in January there will be some great new changes to this site. Stay tuned…

Wishing you a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous 2009…

New Design & Updated Site for 2009

There will be a new design as well as some exciting new ideas & content for my blog in 2009. This past year has been a year of considerable growth for me in so many areas of my life from writing & blogging, to music & songwriting, to understanding some of the new technologies of the Web 2.0 world like Facebook & Twitter, to an inner search for meaning and finding my life's purpose, to many new friends, and finally insights on my career & what I want to move toward.

The holiday season (although busy with friends & family) is a time for me to reflect on where I've been in 2008 and where I want to go. I'm excited about 2009 and I'm looking forward to interacting with people on an entirely new level on this website.

Over the next few weeks I look forward to sharing some of these changes some of which will include:

• New Web Design


• My New E-Book & Project for 2009


• New Songs & Music


• Informative Video Content


• Easier ways to connect with me

I'll keep you posted.

The Evolution of a Writer – Finding my Voice

In October it will be 2 years since I started writing this blog.  It began as a way for me to start putting thoughts out there about a variety of topics.  Blogging has been a good vehicle for me to learn planning, writing, re-writing, re-writing again, re-writing one more time, editing and then publishing.  The biggest challenge of course is finding the time with a full time job and other responsibilities but that’s okay, making time is part of the learning. 

What most people don’t know is that I write 3 to 4 times per week.  My writing includes 20 minutes to half hour time slots where I dump ideas out there that usually results in the form of journaling.  Other times I'll take a topic and simply write something and letting the flow of writing take its course.  Those topics can be pretty interesting and sometimes scary and at times I alarm myself at what’s coming through.  Lately I’ve chosen not to publish most of this simply because I’m not ready.  I’m in the process of finding my voice.   

Let’s be honest I still don’t know what finding my voice means but I’m not too worried.  I’m seeing lots of interesting ideas evolve and more importantly I’m finding that I’m able to bring more balance into my life with my career and other responsibilities.  I’ll keep you posted.  I’m always interested in hearing from other writers about their experiences.  The best way to contact me is to use the comments section.