What are the most innovative, wild things you’ve ever wanted to do? What was your greatest dream as a child? – Eric Francis
To me, New Year’s resolutions are dumb. Why wait for one day to start making changes or goals? To me, it’s the same thing as saying, “I’ll start my diet Monday.” Or, screw-up a diet and instead of restarting the next day, wait an entire week so you can start on a Monday. Total silliness.
However, I think a refresh of my silly wishlist is overdue:
- FIT at 100%. For real this time. I came really close, but no cigar. Stupid economy.
- Go check the grass on the East Coast. It’s greener
- Restart Ironman training. Acid Reflux and gallstones be damned. Pain is a worthless excuse.
- Find those elusive butterflies.
- Get Loyalty Marketing to drink the Kool-Aid. I successfully have Finance, Legal and IT drinking the cherry flavored one in gallons. But, Loyalty Marketing? They’re still just sipping.
Do I have others? Of course! Am I going to share? Only when I sleep talk
I’d say, here’s to great sex at the stroke of midnight… but that would go against my rule of “No Sex on a Holiday” So instead, here’s to one more ride around the sun!
One of my favorite quotes is:
There’s no Right and Wrong, only Fun and Boring.
With that in mind, you can only imagine some of the lessons I learned this year:
- That whip cream bikini in Varsity Blue’s looks sexy as hell. Reality? Without shaving cream (what was actually used), it’s hard to reproduce. Unless, you’re laying completely still or don’t move. I try this one at least once a year, usually after watching Varsity Blues. It’s high in the laugh factor but low in the sexiness factor.
- Bondage toys should not be practiced on yourself while alone.
- I actually like cuddling. Yeah, I know, I just threw up in my mouth too
- Drinking with the President of your company? Be careful.
- Ask me to hop on a plane the day before? I’m there. Ask me to hop on a plane three weeks in advance? Never gonna do it. The Lesson? I spend a crapload on airline tickets.
I really enjoy Seth Godin’s blog. I don’t read it daily, but pop in often. The posts I catch are always short, to the point and thought provoking. One of my favorites is The Marketer’s Attitude. While broad, it’s the perfect job description. It’s what all hiring managers should focus on instead of years, degrees and “big” brands you’ve worked for.
My highlights don’t do the article justice, but below are a few points:
- - “You… rarely ask for detail or permission. Test, measure, repeat and go work just fine for you.”No one likes babysitting or hand holding. Those who have the guts, motivation and brains to figure out how to get to the goal on their own will kick any MBA’s butt hands down.
- - “You’re intellectually restless. You care enough about new ideas to read plenty of…”The rest of this talked about reading blogs and posting your thoughts. Blogs and contributing aren’t for everyone. That’s okay. Just be curious enough to read, research or search out new ideas.
- - “Show me that you’ve taken on and completed audacious projects, and run them as the lead, not as a hanger on.” I want someone who has a voice, the gumption to stand up for their thoughts and the ability to be a leader.
- “You have charisma in that you easily engage with strangers and actually enjoy selling ideas to others.” I don’t care what you do, the end goal will always be to sell something. Being able to engage with others positively is imperative both internally and externally.
- - “You understand that the system is intertwined, that your actions have side effects.” While I love someone who can “go”, you also need someone who will take into account all the different moving parts and work with each one in order to launch x successfully.
Never frown… you never know who’s falling in love with your smile
Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, you can’t help but smile at the below. May your holiday season be spent with friends, family and loved ones. And if it’s not, may it be spent doing something you love.
This and this were great posts about some fun and not so fun people to follow on twitter. Alas, I was a bit disappointed to see not as much conflict as I was hoping for So… below are a few of mine. I tried not to duplicate in less I felt very strongly. However, keep in mind this post/quote…
Twitter is inherently democratic. The voices you hear are the voices you want to hear… Every single decision to follow or not follow someone is purely subjective...
Silly People to Follow:
- @Pistachio. OMG. Maybe how she branded herself as an “expert” should be a case study in itself. If only I could make some of the “things” I market seem soooo cool.
- @tferris. Getting better, but I was hoping for more from the author of the ever popular book, Four Hour Work Week.
- @iJustine. Can someone explain why she has so many followers?
- @googlenews. Stick the RSS feed on your iGoogle, but don’t follow. They’ll take up two pages worth of tweets at a time. Someone needs to introduce this bot to TweetLater.
- @avinashkaushik. I LOVE his blog. I really want to love his tweets too.
- BONUS: @JessicaKnows. I started following because I had heard such great things. I guess this tweet stream is just not my cup of tea.
Favorites:
- @therules. Probably one of my favorite non-people. So much so that I have mobile alerts turned on for them. They send one a day very early in the morning. That SMS is one of my favorites to wake up to.
- @ashleyvaness. Insanely insightful, funny and shares a good link every so often.
- @dearjanesample. She rarely tweets, but I still love ‘em. She’s the inspiration for starting this blog.
- @adamkmiec. Kinda felt obligated. Just kidding Adam typically shares links that I haven’t seen elsewhere. As Steve Rubel references, he’s one of the few who has new or breaking content and doesn’t perpetuate the Lazysphere.
- @benleis. This one’s for bonus points. And to make @mleis jealous
- BONUS: I had a lot of trouble deciding who would be my bonus favorite, but I finally settled on @Gloson. He’s 10 (or so we’re led to believe). If he can provide value, can’t anyone?
Good for a Chuckle:
- @HolyGod. Can you really go wrong with tweets like, “Arm-wrestling Satan. 20 souls at stake”?
- @Satan. Doesn’t update much, but it sure is fun blaming @satan for things.
- @el_gato. This is @zappos’s cat. I think it was also one of the first “animals” to start tweeting.
- @TheOnion. Would a funny list really be complete without The Onion?
- @thebachelorguy. All the links go to his blog, but they’re still funny and things I don’t see elsewhere.
- BONUS: @ispenis. When you need a really stupid laugh.
Brands (the good, bad and ugly):
- @fairmonthotels and @MarriottIntl are my two favorite hotels. Marriott does a fantastic job in engagement marketing. I think @fairmonthotels is going to be equally as good.
- @barackobama. I feel so used.
- @viralblog. Twitter handle says it all.
- @vegasdouchebag. For the love of god, please tell me why Vegas.com continues to perpetuate this ad campaign. It really doesn’t excite me to go to Vegas.
- @CirqueLasVegas. Like all their social media efforts, they walk the perfect line between marketing, customer service and providing value.
Before the year is over, I figured I’d jump on the bandwagon and create a few Top 10 lists myself. Without further adieu, ten cool things that happened in 2008 (in date order):
- I got a new job
- I started this blog
- For the first time, I had sex on a holiday. It was well worth it
- I discovered Twitter
- I had my all-time favorite life defining moment
- I made some new, amazing friends
- I restarted training for an Ironman
- I moved to a new condo
- I successfully launched a new show
- I got a new car
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