Why in a world where we carry a production company in our pocket and are empowered to share anything we create with the entire world do we still get hung up worrying about what people think of us?

Every day I watch as people are more concerned with what others think of them, than they are with doing what they want to do.

That reminds me of High School and I hated those days!

Sure, we all need to achieve a certain level of attention to be successful. That is important no matter what your career is. Yet, with all the power we each possess we still focus on this way to much.

All of the social networks are their own little cliques. Lines are drawn dividing people by the technology they use, where they live and industry they work in.

The thing about High School is that everyone was focused on themselves more than the collective good. That is fine when the jocks are roaming the halls, but not acceptable to me here in the real world.

You need to stand up for what you believe in. If you know what you want to do and people give you a hard time about it, ignore them and push forward.

We need to work together more. Support each other no matter what path someone chooses to take. If you don’t agree with it, than ignore it and move on.

YOU are in control of what you do every day when you wake up. Just like every other human walking the earth, we each have twenty four hours each day that is sliced and diced as we deem necessary. Make sure you use that time wisely and not focused on the little matters that don’t matter in the grand scheme.

WE need to cheer on those we love and remain silent towards those we don’t. If someone says, acts or conducts themselves in a way that we don’t like we have simple ways to never see them again.

This big blue marble we live on gets smaller every single day. The Internet connects us to anyone we choose to reach out to. This is a blessing we should embrace to make the marble as amazing as possible.

There are no hallways or lockers forcing us to interact with those that don’t support, encourage and inspire us.

Get out there and make the most of the day!

Friends have heard me joke more than once that if Google and Apple merged I’d then only have one master.

Yesterday as I watched the new Xbox One be unveiled, I began to think more about the allegiances I have to certain technology companies and how some of those are starting to shift. Microsoft certainly wants to own my living room and I think I’m ok with that.

Looking at the current companies who power my world they look like this.

Apple –  I love my iPhone, iPad and Macbook Air. I can’t see this changing anytime soon. While it may not be the cheapest place, I do still buy all my music and buy it through iTunes. The only place I’m even tempted is on the phone as the power of Google Now makes an Android phone more attractive than ever. I’ve owned an AppleTV as long as they have existed, but the moves by Microsoft could make me ditch it.

Google - My work is done in their world. Chrome is the browser I use. I write, email and manager my calendar in their tools. Drive is helpful, but it hasn’t fully pulled me away from Dropbox yet, but I wonder how long that will remain to be true?

Amazon – They own my library and the majority of my shopping. As a member of Amazon Prime, shipping is always fast, so unless I need something immediately I tend to order it through Amazon. As an avid reader I’m constantly buying books through them. Less and less of the printed variety and more of the eBook flavor.

Yahoo – As a photographer my photos have always found a home on Flickr. But, recent moves and comments have left me pondering if it is time to move. My portfolio lives on 500px already and there are a lot of reasons to migrate my library of photos over to Google even if there isn’t an easy way to do this on the scale I’d need. Plus, if I was a betting man I’m not sure how many more years this company exists without being bought by someone else.

Nike – A year ago I wouldn’t have guessed they would be included in this list. Yet, over the course of the last year my wife and I have committed to their platform for fitness. We use their apps, have their Kinect training and wear FuelBands every day. I look forward to them combining some of these in the future and taking Nike+ to a whole new level.

Adobe – I migrated from Aperture to Lightroom last year and have never looked back. Photoshop has been installed on almost every computer I’ve owned since it was created. I can’t see migrating away from either of these anytime soon.

Microsoft – While we have all three major gaming consoles in our house, our Xbox is where we play our games and watch our NetFlix movies. That is all Microsoft is to me right now, but by the end of the year will that evolve into something more? Only time will tell, but I’ve never been as excited about Microsoft as I was yesterday.

Thinking more about this I realize while I have cameras I love from multiple manufacturers, I’m not sure if I have any special allegiance to any one at the moment. I host my videos on multiple platforms. I create content with a variety of tools. Cars, clothes and appliances are all up for grabs as well. Lots of disruption and transformation going on out there, so who knows.

A year from now it’ll be fun to look back and see how much of this has changed (or merged).

Only time will tell.

I’ve been doing a bunch of speaking lately.

The time away from home is never easy, but it is a sacrifice I’m willing to make in order to provide for my family. Plus, if I’m being honest, I love being on stage.

What is most exciting to me is the new audiences and inspiring locations I’ve been asked to speak in lately.

This week I took the stage at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Walking into that building and thinking about all who have been in there before me brought a big smile to my face. I wish I had been able to explore it more and learn more about it. But, this time giving the lunch keynote speech and then running out was all I had time for.

The photo above was taken as I was giving the closing keynote speech at the National Conference on Family Literacy. To be listed on the same bill with author James Patterson was a nice feather to stick in my cap. Plus, the audience was very receptive and watching the wait staff bring out stacks of my books at the end was a rewarding visual I won’t soon forget.

As if that wasn’t enough, I can’t help but grin thinking back to showing my pride for the Boston Bruins on stage in Victoria, British Columbia as I picked on all the Leaf fans in the audience. Thankfully I didn’t have to take it all back when they pulled off the miracle comeback in game seven!

Any speaker will tell you that it is an interesting time when you are trying out new material.

Lately, I’ve been speaking a lot about how to live an amazing life pulled from the pages of Amazing Things Will Happen. I’ve certainly grown more confident in it and it has evolved since I first gave it in Ann Arbor and Detroit. It wouldn’t be half the speech it has become if Charlie Wollorg hadn’t given me some solid feedback during those first two times.

The nice thing is that word is getting out from happy event organizers to other event planners. I’ve just booked a new event later this year, a new International city and close to my first 2014 engagement.

My friend Brad Powell and I even submitted a panel to SXSW Eco which if you are so keen, we’d love you to give a vote for.

Writing, speaking and teaching all make me happy and at the moment all of those are keeping me very busy.

Any piece of technology that makes getting work done easier is one that I’ll love.

For years I’ve bought and been impressed with products from Plantronics. Since my iPhone is also my office phone, I’ve always had a Bluetooth headset so that I could talk and easily use my computer at the same time.

I’ve been using an older model for several years, so when Plantronics asked if I’d like to try out the new Voyager Legend I couldn’t say no.

It has all the standard features that you’d expect from any Bluetooth headset with some additional innovations I had not seen before.

You have to understand that as I type this, my phone and headset are laying on the desk in front of me. If a call comes in all I need to do is pick up the headset and it automatically answers. When the call is done, simply take it off and it hangs up the call.

If you are the type to leave your headset on (please don’t do this), you’ll love that it announces calls coming in. Keep your phone in your pocket as the Voyager Legend notifies you “incoming call from” followed by the name of the caller if they are in your address book.

Not only does it talk, but it also listens. You can speak commands for safer use of your phone while driving or on the go.

The calls have been clear and even if I was in a busy or loud area, I’ve heard no complaints from people on the other end.

While I don’t use it for long periods of time without recharging, I like that when I first turn it on it notifies you how much time is left on the battery. A full charge is over seven hours of talk time.

The only complaint I have is that it uses a proprietary charger. This means that when I’m traveling it is one more cord I have to remember to bring. My older model used a standard mini USB cable which I always have with me for multiple devices. I can’t understand why in today’s multi-device world someone would make a product that uses a special cord. I try to avoid buying anything like this because I like to carry as little as possible.

Plantronics is wrapping the device in a campaign focusing on the concept of ”Together”, where their products help keep personal and professional lives in sync. We all know how hard that can be sometimes and technology when used right is a big help.

The Voyager Legend sells for $99 and a full product overview is available.

Disclosure: Plantronics gave me the product in return for me sharing my thoughts about it. 

Never forget that we don’t need a map to find our way.

Yesterday, as I took my camera for a walk along the coast of Victoria, British Columbia I had no purpose beyond enjoying every minute of it.

Before I left I had looked at a map to get a general idea of where I was headed and where I might end up, but then I just went.

When was the last time you committed some time to yourself to wander and wonder?

Make the time. It will reinvigorate both your mind and body.

Yesterday, I had to go into the city to speak at MUSE 2013, so I hit the road early with the plan to walk over and visit the Boston Marathon Memorial.

Laura and I had been at the finish line two days before the Marathon, but I had yet to see the memorial and felt it was my duty to do so before it is gone (if it ever goes).

I wasn’t fully prepared for the wave of emotions. The mix of sadness tinged with anger and a heaping of local pride. While I knew it would be a solemn walk with my camera, it was one that had to be taken.

New Englanders are a tough lot. We don’t go down easy and we are there to help our neighbor whenever they need us. Reading the notes, seeing the signed shoes, running medals, police patches and every Boston area logo imaginable all together to help our city grieve is something you have to see to fully appreciate.

Please don’t forget that you can still donate to The One Fund with all the money going directly to the victims of this horrible event.

While it may be snowing in parts of the country, for most of us spring has sprung and many an hour will be spent cleaning up our yards, homes and offices.

This is also the time of year that I always spend time cleaning out my feeds, friends and follows.

Here is my personal approach to social media spring cleaning. Hope it helps you.

1. Get Rid of the Feeds You are Never Reading - We all have feeds in our readers that we hold on to and never read. The blogs are not going to disappear so if you want to read them again you can always find them. A few months back when I moved over to using Feedly I cleaned out over 100 feeds that I was not reading on a regular basis. It has made my reading much more enjoyable and less stressful.
2. Prune Your Twitter Lists – I rely on private Twitter lists to make it manageable for me. If you use them, take a few minutes to go through and make sure that only the people you truly want in them are there. This goes for Facebook Lists as well.
3. Tidy Up Your Profiles - With so many social media profiles out there, it is easy for them to get out of date. Be sure that the information on your main ones are up to date. With the professional changes in my life this past year I find myself with a lot of updating to do. This could also be the perfect time to refresh your avatar photo across the board. Never a bad idea to be consistant.
4. Trash Tons of Newsletters - It is required that every newsletter that arrives to your inbox contains a link to unsubscribe. Use it! Stop getting those that you always click delete on or think you might get to at some point. If you are not reading them now, you won’t be reading them in the future and if you change your mind it is easy enough to start getting them again.
5. Make Your Front Lawn Beautiful - For most of us, our blog is our front lawn on the Internet. Be sure to click around and make sure everything is still working. You never know when an embedded video, an image or a link might go bad. Any links to networks that don’t matter any more or graphic bling that is out of date? Get rid of it. Take the time to really make it look as good as possible.

Just like the work in your yard, this is grunt work that no one likes, but it has to be done.

Make it a bit more enjoyable by taking your laptop outside and doing it with a frosty beverage nearby and tunes cranking out of the stereo.

Happy spring!

For their first birthday, they asked some of their supporters to profile some of their active Shot@Life Champions and I have the pleasure of introducing you to Priya Desai. She is the young lady on the left hand side of the photo.

1. Tell me about yourself. What do you do on a daily basis?

My name is Priya Desai and I am 26 years old. I have my bachelor’s and my master’s degree in social work with an emphasis on administration and community practice. I have dabbled in everything from mental health, policy, non-profit, and campaigning experience wise. Up until very recently I was the advocacy director for the local Oklahoma City Chapter of the United Nations Association. This month I was nominated and elected to be the President of our local Oklahoma City Chapter of the United Nations Association. I also serve as a chairwoman of the political action committee for the local Oklahoma Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

I have always had an interest in global programs that meet a very important need for those around the world. My social work skills have given me the tools to become a passionate and effective advocate for such programs. Not to mention, the social worker’s code of ethics is a good source of information on how you should treat those who interact with you regardless of profession. I find them to be simple and general rules to live by to make a difference.

I currently work in higher education doing research and administrative work and a few nights a week I work at a place called HeartLine 2-1-1 where we provide community information and resource referrals for health and human services. We answer a variety of hotlines including the suicide prevention line. Having both of those jobs allows me to have the best of both worlds: adminstrative and non profit work.

As for daily activities, I am a news junkie. To become and engaged and make a difference, all it takes is keeping up with that is going on in the world.

2. How did Shot@Life first get on your radar?

I am a member of the United Nations Association and I went to their UNA-USA Annual Meeting. It was there that I got oriented with Shot@Life.

After becoming acquainted with the program, it seemed like there was a strong emotional connection to the mission of this program. I kept it in the back of my mind after the annual meeting. I did not know they had champions until right before I applied for their program. Our local Chapter President had sent an email about applications for Shot@Life and I instantly remembered the program from when I went to the annual meeting June of 2012. The Champions Summit was the perfect stepping stone to effectively convey my passion for global health initiatives, especially ones geared toward children. When I got the email about the application, it felt like it was a sign of some sort that I should give it a shot and see where it takes me.

3. What made you want to take the next step and become a Champion for them?

After I got reacquainted with the program before applying, it got me thinking. One thing that particularly impacted me the most was the idea of “the impact of one”, which essentially opens the door for involvement regardless of age, gender, social and professional backgrounds, and amount of effort you would like to put in. You can be a parent or childless. This is something that we can all get behind.

The power that one person can have in changing a child’s life, is as simple as serving a voice for those that cannot speak for themselves. That, and also knowing that childhood milestones that are cherished here, should be cherished everywhere. Another thing that got to me was that the idea of vaccines are a luxury here. We have mothers/fathers who are walking days to get to a clinic that has the vaccine that will save his/her child’s life, and even then it is not a guarantee the clinic will have any by the time they get there. As a nation based on ideals, we cannot turn our backs while children are needlessly dying from vaccine-preventable diseases.

I took a deep breath and gathered the requested information and spoke from my heart. As it turns out, there two other Oklahoma delegates that got selected to go. (They are in the picture I attached)

4. What would you say to that person out there reading this who is thinking “what good can little old me do?”

You don’t have to give money to help. Becoming an advocate and raising awareness about Shot@Life is easy! You can learn about the issue and raise awareness in your community by blogging, tweeting, instagramming, and facebooking, holding events, parties, forums, meetings, etc. The Shot@Life website lists all the different ways you can help. It could be as simple as writing a letter to your congressional representatives or downloading the Shot@Life Mobile App which lets donors donate money when you walk or run! Simply talking about it and educating others is how you can start!

5. What is next for you?

We (the Oklahoma Delegates) are working on ways to raise funds for Shot@Life. We started out by partnering with the local UN Association for their annual Spring Luncheon to talk about Shot@Life and how local people can have a global impact, simply by educating themselves, their friends and family, and the community at large. We raised nearly $200.00 during that luncheon. Our team is currently working on finding a corporate sponsor to take on our idea of selling Shot@Life water bottles with the profits going to Shot@Life. We are still in the beginning phase.

I continue to promote Shot@Life through social media outlets. We are exploring different ways to get into the community and create awareness about the issue and importance of global vaccines. My personal goal is to engage youth and students of all ages to become interested and involved about Shot@Life. Things are hectic right now with two jobs, but things should be slowing down relatively soon and I can focus my efforts on getting some speaking engagements into classrooms, meetings, and service organizations to raise awareness and create action on the part of the students and volunteers. I am a Shot@Life Cheerleader of sorts! Optimism is a key factor in setting the pace for global health victories, and I will keep talking about it until I lose my voice! I guess you can say that I will be obnoxious in the way that I will never sit down, shut up, and be obedient, especially when talking about Shot@Life!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

This is just one post that is part of the Shot@Life #BirthdayBash so be sure to click through and read some of the other great profiles.

A year ago today I stepped off a plane in Accra, Ghana to spend five days in a country I knew very little about, but that would change my life forever.

The ONE Campaign invited me to witness the country-wide rollout of two important vaccines that would change the lives of the children of the country.

You can read my travel journal or view my photos from the trip.

One thing, that no one has seen until now is the video I shot while on the trip.

A few weeks before we left I purchased a Canon EOS 5D Mark III (affiliate) with the assumption I’d shoot video in addition to photos while traveling. I returned with some beautiful footage, but for one reason and another, I never got to doing anything with it.

When I realized the one year anniversary was soon to arrive, I decided I needed to edit it together so that others could see and hear a slice of what I experienced.

Ever since leaving, I’ve longed to return to the African Continent and I hope I get a chance to soon.

Best enjoyed full screen by clicking the expand icon in the lower right hand corner of the video. Enjoy!

As I tucked Dylan into bed last night I could tell he wasn’t in the mood to go to sleep yet. After a week of vacation, I knew he needed it and would pass out immediately but he was stalling.

“So how was your week?”

I paused for a moment and responded, “Absolutely horrible buddy.”

This wasn’t quite the answer he was expecting and with a glaze of confusion on his eyes he asked, “Why? What did you do?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all and that is the problem,” I began.”I spent every hour of this past week either scared, angry, sad or worried. There wasn’t a moment to concentrate on anything else because my mind and emotions were committed elsewhere.”

Monday for me began on a bad note due to some personal stuff. I wasn’t in the greatest of moods to begin with when I saw the first mentions of an explosion via Twitter on my iPad.

With several friends running in the Marathon and many more along the route or in my beloved city, I instantly jumped to the television to find out more.

Over the course of the week there was the swing of emotions that many of us felt. The confusion and sadness evolved into anger and worry. Details began to roll out. Rumors and speculations ran rampart.

Everyone reacts differently in times of crisis. Mine was to hunker down and plan for the worst while hoping for the best.

This morning as I woke up and looked at the morning sun I felt like things were feeling a bit closer to normal than they had in the past week.

For the first time I could smile and not be afraid to let go of my children when I hugged them. It hit me how thankful I was that they were not in school last week because that would have added to my anxiety and fears.

New Englanders are a hearty lot. We can take a beating and get back up. We stand by our morals and have a strong ethical code that most of us live by. Whenever we get kicked down we don’t take long to dust ourselves off and get back in full force.

Last week may have been a rough week for me, but it was nothing compared to how rough it was for the families of all the wounded, killed and traumatized. Our first responders defined what it means to be a hero and we will never be able to thank them enough.

On the grand scale, my week was a grain of sand compared to the boulder of rough that many others were and continue to be dealing with. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone touched by the horrible events.

There is still much work to be done and questions to be answered.

For me, I can tell that my head is finally clear and I can get back to focusing on the tasks at hand.

Stay strong out there. Don’t let those who will try to make us live in a world of fear win. We need to move forward to help the healing process continue to happen.

If you have it in your power, please consider donating to The One Fund to help those most effected.

Instead of writing today, I decided to power up the microphone and hit record.

I’m doing my best to remain #BostonStrong and I encourage everyone to do the same today.

Make it a great one.

Filmed on Tuesday in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

I hope you enjoy.

School vacation week means that I rarely travel and I keep my calendar light so that if the family and I want to do something we can.

Clarence and I had planned on taking Tuesday to go out and shoot photos. We didn’t know what, where or why but we hadn’t taken a day like that in a long time so we locked it in.

Then the attack on the Boston Marathon happened. We pondered going into the city, but as we sat at the counter of a local diner eating our bacon and making plans, he mentioned getting as far away from the city as possible. I couldn’t agree more.

Whenever I need to recharge I head to nature. Time spent in the woods, on top of a mountain or in the water is always where I’m happiest.

When Clarence revealed he had never been to the White Mountains there was no other option for where we’d spend the day.

Hours in the car and miles of road. No radio. Lots of conversation. Laughs and giggles mixed with deep thought and tinges of anger.

We took our cameras for a walk in the woods. The Basin was our first stop because I knew it was a beautiful location and even with the snow on the ground it is an easy walk.

With no time constraints or places to be, we drove further up through Franconia Notch. A random exit brought us to Littleton, New Hampshire. The main street entertained us until we saw signs of modern commercialism and decided we had seen enough.

The river was flowing and a covered bridge provided shelter from the rain. As the sweet smells of the local bakery caught our noses, our stomachs reminded us that it had been many hours since breakfast.

“Do you want your pie warmed up? How about some whipped cream on it?” 

You know it is a happy moment when you hear those questions being asked from behind the counter and it was a mighty fine slice of pie.

The day was growing long and the weather wasn’t getting any better. We set a course for home and began our way back to reality.

Days like this are needed no matter what is going on in the world.

There is always work to be done, a task list screaming at you and responsibilities to take care of. But, as humans we get run down, the weight on our back gets heavier and burn out is common.

Taking a full day like this isn’t easy. It is hard to justify. Yet, it is crucial to maintaining sanity.

I needed this day to forget for a few hours. To escape momentarily from the reality of the world around me and suck in the fresh air of my home state. It helped more than I could have imagined and now it is back to reality and the healing that we are all going through.

How do we react at a time like this? When once again we are reminded that no day should be taken for granted and that bad things happen in every corner of the world.

The news is still breaking, details emerging, numbers rising.

I’m only writing because I can’t stand to watch another second of the news and the endless loops of the same videos. I can’t stand to hit refresh on my Twitter account. To see people already pointing fingers, making gross assumptions and don’t even get me going on the stream of autotweets and non human interactions.

Final confirmation that every runner I knew in the Marathon is safe. I can breath a bit better knowing that.

My emotions are a soup of disgust as I try to keep the sadness from boiling over into anger.

They just announced that a child is one of those taken from us. That makes my blood boil and the rage start to leak out.

We can never explain why someone would decide to act out in this way. How another human can lose their soul and decide to inflict pain and suffering on others.

This isn’t about race, religion or anything else. It is about humans gone bad. Rotting from the inside to the point where they decide they need to unleash mayhem.

I think back to 9-11 and my reactions. I was not as in control of me emotions as I am now.

My children were young enough that they had no idea what was going on. I hugged them and prayed they’d never have to face this. Today we sat on the couch as a family and watched it all happen before our eyes.

Thank you to all my friends who checked in to make sure we were safe. I never thought to update everyone that I was as I was more concerned about what was going on. I even broke rule one of being a child and didn’t contact my parents immediately to let them know I was ok.

These coming hours and days are going to be long and hard. No matter who or why this happened it won’t make it any better.

I looked out the window just now and saw the setting sun and had to share the moment. Just like I had to capture and share my thoughts as they come to mind because as a writer that is what I do.

I try to have faith that humanity will pull together. There were runners from around the globe. This isn’t just a Boston tragedy, but having it on my doorstep does give me pause.

A good friend who is about to have his first child asked me moments ago how I deal with this as a parent. The only think I could say is that you say I Love You every time you leave the side of those you love and you live every day like it might be the last.

Be safe. Be strong. Be smart.

Boston, I love you.

My past two days were spent at the offices and in the studios of Treehouse.

Yesterday, they announced a new round of $7 million in funding.

Sure, the timing was pure coincidence, but the teaching by Team Treehouse and their approach to business left me truly inspired.

The official mission of Treehouse is:

“to bring affordable Technology education to people everywhere, in order to help them achieve their dreams and change the world.”

It is a lofty mission, but one that if you know me at all, you’ll know I appreciate and support.

I was hired to teach some lessons focused on marketing and career advice based on my books. They will be available in the next couple of months and of course I’ll let you know when.

The entire E-learning space is rapidly expanding and evolving as quickly as the technology that powers it.

My timing for being in the office was even better because Founder and CEO Ryan Carson was in town and even though he had a busy schedule we carved out some time to chat.

I wanted to ask him about their unique teaching approach that leverages game mechanics and learning adventures. I also needed to know more their commitment to bringing their lessons to high schools in cities like Detroit to expose students to the career opportunities of development and design who might never be given the opportunity.

Everyone knows that I’m committed to making sure that companies embrace a level of social responsibility and give back to the world in a way that works for them.

When I asked Ryan point blank what he says to other business owners who challenge him on why he’d give away what they charge many for, he just smiled and said, “because it is the right thing to do and I know it is going to help so many!”

That isn’t some finely tuned talking point. It was from his heart and the more I talked to him and the members of the Treehouse team, the more I realized that everyone there wasn’t working so hard simply to get a paycheck. They were working hard and striving to make the company a success because they believed in the work that they are doing.

As more companies begin to redefine value and determine the best ways to improve their communities and use what they have to make the world a better place this will become the norm rather than the exception that it currently is.

Thank you to everyone I worked with. You all were top notch and passionate professionals with just the right mix of fun.

I’m excited to watch as Treehouse grows and thrives. I hope we get a chance to work together again.

Here is a link I found on their site that will give you 50% off your first month if you’d like to take their classes for a test drive.

Seventeen years ago, my best friend Dan Gorgone and I started Random Foo Pictures.

Today, I was in Orlando with him filming for his employer Treehouse.

We might not have used a slate back in the day, but it was fun to have the wandering cohorts back on a set together!

Spring has begun to arrive in New England and the dark cobwebs of winter will begin to be shook out of the gray matter with each breeze of fresh air I feel on my face.

The woods that hug our property are currently a tangle of brush and trees that soon will be covered in an assortment of leaves. No longer will you see the mess that they are today, but rather they will be transformed into a beautiful wall of all that is good in nature.

As goes the woods, so goes my mind, mood and mental. These days are always dark, confusing and a bit of a mess. The calendar flips and these torment filled hours arrive. It takes a few before I remember that it is commonplace, my normal and that it will pass. Yet, in the midst of this forest of the unknown it always scares me a bit as I try to find my way out.

Life is at an interesting crossroads for me.

I’m happy, healthy(ish) and surrounded by people that care about me.

Looking forward there is a forest of possibilities, but no clear path.

Watching TEDxChange earlier this week I learned the phrase “positive disruption” and that is exactly what I want to do in the world. There had never been a phrase that clicked perfectly in place to describe the kind of work I want to do for the rest of my life. Yesterday, I learned about, bought and started reading Conscious Capitalism and suddenly there was a book describing exactly how I want all businesses to start acting.

Everything does not happen for a reason, but all this is adding fuel to the fire in my belly to make the world a better place.

How I am going to do this is where I struggle at the moment.

My first priority is to provide for my family. This means I have to maintain forms of income and right now that is lacking. Everyone talks about working together, yet few follow up and even fewer pay for it.

Part of me thinks it would make sense to go and be an executive for a big brand that I love or take on an Executive Director role for a nonprofit that I’m passionate about. Both situations could make me extremely happy if the fit was right and my family would definitely be taken care of.

Recently someone asked me where I hoped to be in ten years. That is further out than I believe it is safe to plan with so much disruption going on in our world, but as I pondered it I shared that being a college professor while writing books and improving the world sounded good to me. Professor Chapman has a great ring to it and being a teacher will always be part of my DNA.

Scribbled in my notebook in front of me are the word “cause based storyteller.” It was scribbled sometime this week to describe where my heart really lies. The mission of what I want to do.

I have so many ideas for stories that could be told that would shine a light on great work being done around the world and down the street. Finding organizations and brands to sponsor the telling of those stories is the egg I’m trying to crack at the moment. Again, so many conversations of support and encouragement, but so few checks being written.

Author Robert Thurow writes about catching a disease of the soul. I can relate to this.

A friend recently reminded me that I couldn’t save the world if I was starving myself. I know this.

Some may scream, “not cool Robert Frost!” and I’ll giggle and keep pushing forward.

I know the path I’ve chosen isn’t clear, easy or open. I know that while I may be wandering at the moment, I’m far from being lost.

Just like every time I pick up a camera, I’m seeking to focus in on something great, so am I trying to focus in on what lies ahead. There is no auto-focus in life.

Keep pushing forward until you make a path. That is what I keep telling myself.

Last year I keynoted TBEX which is the largest gathering of travel writers in the world. I spoke about the advantages the travel and hospitality industry have when it comes to content marketing. You can watch the entire keynote online.

So, when DigitalCoCo TV asked if I’d come on their show to discuss the topic on their show I instantly said yes.

What it boils down to is that it doesn’t matter if you are a hotel, restaurant, resort or travel destination. You must begin creating content and embracing your customers content to tell your story to the world.

People have strong opinions and you have to be ready for that. Content Marketing is your best friend if you use it right.

Need help? Buy a copy of my book and after reading it if you need even more help let me know.

My grandfather was a lover of photography and passed that love on to me at an early age.

This past weekend while visiting my parents for Easter I began going through an old box of some of his cameras and returned home with them.

It was fun looking at them one by one and wondering what photos they had taken. Of course, I giggled a bit as I took and shared photos of them with my iPhone.

My grandfather would have loved to see how photography has evolved.

Obviously, he had a love of Kodak.

It makes me sad that such a great American brand no longer makes cameras. Feels wrong to me on all levels.

I have a bit of an obsession with notebooks.

While I love all the technology in my life, there will always be a place for writing down thoughts, doodles and plans in a paper notebook.

Yesterday, the spring collection from Field Notes arrived and they spotlight another love of mine: travel.

The America the Beautiful edition for spring are a throwback to the days on the road writing down the milage, expenses and memories along the way. My grandfather always kept a notebook in his glovebox to write down these bits of trivial information that years later we’d look through and enjoy.

Someone asked me why I like Field Notes so much. The truth of the matter is I love what they stand for.

They are American made notebooks produced in small batches and each has a story behind them. The care and personal love that goes into everything they produce connects with the small town blood flowing inside of me.

I also appreciate the way they market their products. As a marketing professional and storyteller people question me around how to produce content that is compelling for their audience.

Watch this video produced to celebrate the release of this limited edition notebook. It isn’t made for the masses. It is made for the type of person who will love and appreciate the brand.

There is a surplus of notebooks in my office. Not just Field Notes, but every type imaginable. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve got a bit of a notebook fetish and love special edition ones no matter who the manufacturer is.

I have respect for brands that focus on quality and what they believe in first and everything else second. Field Notes is one of those brands.

The recording is now available.

How does a weekend in Grapevine, Texas with almost one thousand success driven women sound to you?

To me, it sounded like a near perfect way to spend this past weekend so that is exactly what I did when I jumped on a plane for BlissDom 2013.

As a professional speaker I attend a lot of conferences, but there was something different about BlissDom.

Sure, there were sponsors with their booths and fun give aways. Packed sessions with crowds that tweeted out the nuggets of wisdom shared from the stage. Keynote presentations full of inspiration and excitement.

But, there was also an overarching sense of friendship and helpfulness everywhere I turned.

The event organizers made it clear with their actions and words how much they valued every single person who was taking part in the event. It didn’t matter if you were a speaker, top tier blogger or someone that was dragged by your friends to attend. Every person was openly welcomed and helped.

Many women focused conferences won’t invite men to speak and that has always bothered me.

Taking the stage at BlissDom to share my approach to living an amazing life was a professional high for me. This is the exact type of audience I wanted to get the philosophy of my book in front of and thank you to the event team for making it happen.

The conference inspired me enough that yesterday I recorded a podcast encouraging others to step out into the unknown a bit more.

The only negative for me was when I found out from women trying to buy the book that the bookstore at the event did not have copies of my books.

When I approached them I did find a couple copies of Content Rules, but nothing like the stacks of other speaker books and not a single copy of Amazing Things Will Happen. When I asked about this I was told they “couldn’t order any copies of that book.”

Thank you to my Editor at Wiley who sent me her personal stash and to 800ceoread for the Saturday overnight delivery of the books from a single text message. Some day book stores might realize that working with authors will help their bottom line. The only book seller I’ve found so far who appreciates this is 800ceoread. I look forward to finding others.

Also, thank you to the event organizers for having a stern talk with the bookstore so that they magically ordered some for the next day (and proceeded to almost sell out). This was too late for me though so I happily gave away and signed all of my copies.

BlissDom is a unique conference and I encourage everyone out there to think about attending next year. While it is focused 100% on women, every session I went to was focused on being more successful in what you do and I learned plenty! The quality of every aspect of this event was head and shoulders above many other conferences out there.

Thank you ladies for a great weekend. See you next year?

A friend recently looked me in the eyes and rather firmly reminded me, “You can’t save the world if you starve yourself.”

She knew everything I’ve been working on has been helping and inspiring others, but she also knew that it wasn’t bringing in much money and that I had to never lose sight of taking care of myself.

It may have been a single sentence over a drink in a Las Vegas casino, but it has stuck with me ever since.

Fast forward to to SXSW and Dave Grohl takes the stage to give the opening keynote for SXSW Music.

Nirvana is a vital part of my music DNA and the Foo Fighters blare out of my speakers on a regular basis. So of course I tuned in for the live stream of his talk.

What do these two things have to do with one another?

They both focused on the fact that you are in control of your life and you can never lose focus of what is important to you.

Dave’s talk was so inspiring that I recorded an episode of Managing the Gray to share my thoughts with you. Give it a listen.

Tomorrow I head out to speak at my first Blissdom. To say I’m excited would be an understatement. What I have planned to take part in there certainly involves some focusing on myself. Wish me luck.

As a writer, people ask me all the time for advice on writing books.

They want to know how I found a publisher (they came to me), how my books have been successful (they are good books) and how to market them (hustle, hustle, hustle).

Here is a conversation I have at almost every conference I now attend. The hope is that it’ll help you get going with that book you are itching to write.

“So C.C. I want to write a book. What advice can you give me?”

“How much do you already have written?”

“None.”

“Ok, do you at least have an idea?”

“Not exactly. I see everyone else writing books and I figure it would be a good thing for me. You know to help me speak more and get more business. Plus, I’ve always wanted to write a book.”

“Publishing a book is an amazing thing, but writing one is not as sexy as everyone makes it out to be. It takes a lot of work and lonely time at the computer.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that.”

“I’ll tell you what I tell everyone else. If you want to write a book, start by writing a book proposal.”

“Why would I do that? I might just self publish.”

“Because, by writing out the book proposal it’ll let you know if you have a big enough idea for a book. Writing a blog post or magazine article about an idea is much easier than seventy thousand plus words for a book.”

“That is a lot of words. I better think about this some more.”

Every publisher has a different template that they might give you to write a book proposal for them, but they all contain the same basic information.

The key elements of a good book proposal are:

1. Title and subtitle 
2. A brief overview of the book in a single paragraph
3. Detailed explanation of the book with a possible table of contents. The more details you can provide, the better, because it will show that you have more than just an idea.
4. A marketing plan for how you will market and sell your book.
5. Several books that would be viewed as competition to yours.

Once you have all of this done you’ll know if you have a real book idea or not.

Trust me when I say this is harder than you would imagine, but if you can’t make it through doing this, you’ll never make it through writing your first book.

To get you started, my publisher Wiley said I could share their book proposal template.

Now go get writing!

Saturday afternoon I saw a statement online from a friend mentioning that since they worked for themselves they didn’t get weekends.

Statements like that make me sad because no matter what kind of work you do, taking the time to rest and enjoy life is critical.

Same thing happens when I see social media addicted individuals go on vacation and stress over how connected or not they are going to be.

Technology shouldn’t dictate how you live your life.

While I firmly believe in working hard, I do it so that when I’m not working I can enjoy my time with family or friends.

If all you ever do is work you will burn out.

Take the day. Take the weekend. Enjoy them fully.

There will always be more time work. There won’t always be time for life.

People ask me all the time why the focus about global health, extreme poverty and other issues.

Now, thanks to Bono taking the stage at TED2013 I can show them this video as an answer. It is hard to argue with someone when they combine so much passion with data to back it up.

The shift is happening if we like it or not.

The web is becoming wearable. Consumption of content is evolving. Vevo is the new MTV and we willingly click on links to watch advertisements on YouTube.

Yesterday, as we recorded the latest episode of Media Hacks, we were discussing all of these things. Later on Facetime, Clarence Smith Jr. and I brainstormed around a site refresh, RSS and the way the web use to be. Then the announcement came that Google Reader was being killed off.

The wave we’ve been on is starting to roll over and a new one is forming.

I spent the last 30 minutes rolling through videos on 5by that the site suggested to me. Will it learn what I like and give me even more relavent videos the more I use it? This is what Zite does since I read it every morning instead of a newspaper while listening to CNN on the television.

Will we give up some of our data in exchange for better curation of everything we interact with? You bet!

Will marketers pounce on this data like drooling hyenas? Of course!

The evolution of technology in our lives is speeding up. What was only in the imagination of science fiction writers is now becoming reality.

Companies are just beginning to understand the possibilities of the social web and that is great news, but the smart ones are starting to look beyond that to what is coming.

The shift is upon us and my mind can’t stop pondering all the possibilities.

I get a rush from the ride and right now it is a ton of fun.

Fresh back from a long weekend in Austin, TX I know that my inbox and voice mail will be filled with the question of “Was SXSW worth it for you?”

The answer is yes.

It is worth the money, time and energy I spent to be part of it and I plan on buying a ticket for next year as soon as they go on sale.

People who focus on “the next great thing” or “the breakout app of SXSW” are missing the point of the conference and have bought into the hype. They’ll most likely leave disappointed and I’m sure we’ll see plenty of complaining posts in the coming hours.

In my mind, SXSW has always been about exposing people from all mediums to different ideas. Bringing together people passionate about all things online, music and film means you are guaranteed to have an eclectic mass of people in one place.

It is also the single best place for business networking for someone who makes a living the way I do. If you work in the online space and create content of any sort, SXSW is a must attend conference.

I went to SXSW this year with the following goals:

1. Promote Amazing Things Will Happen
2. Talk to as many people as possible about The Cleon Foundation to get their feedback and to inform them what the plans were.
3. Find new partners to hire me for content creation and other projects
4. Spend quality time with Friends
5. Meet new people and learn new things

Looking at my notes and thinking back, I hit all of them as best I could. Thankfully there were only a few friends I missed seeing, but that is always the case.

A special thank you to the team at Vocus who sponsored and organized a perfect brunch to celebrate my book. Being able to spend time with so many of my friends and fans in the middle of all the chaos was an oasis of happiness for me.

Hallway magic continued to happen around every turn. The variety of people I met is truly amazing and some will become new friends and others new clients. There was a perfect mix of business and quality time.

Sessions were packed and everyone I talked to had ones that they couldn’t wait to see.

I know I missed many that I had planned to attend and look forward to the recordings being posted so that I can hear what I missed.

Being part of the team who helps judge panel submissions, I can say that I was impressed by the variety and the final selection of panels. I hope they continue to add to the diversity in the coming years.

There was a noticeably different vibe this year that I can’t place my finger on yet.

At times it felt smaller, yet there were people everywhere. There didn’t seem to be as many huge brand take overs and yet everywhere you looked there were companies of all sizes pimping their wares.

You get out of conferences what you put into them. My time in Austin was busier than I had planned for, but I don’t regret how I spent any of the time there.

I won’t know if the conference fully pays off for me or not until contracts are signed and work is completed, but I do know I received a ton of value from my fews day there.

Thank you to the Hugh and the entire SXSW team. I can’t imagine how they pull off something on this scale, but they do it every single year.

Every creative has felt the tug from her.

That scratch inside your brain that won’t let go. It calls out to be let loose and play.

You tell her to go away. Come back when you need her to help you push through the words and images, but not now. Now isn’t the right time.

Since the dawn of time we’ve tried to push her back. To only wish for her to arrive when summoned.

The Muse doesn’t work that way.

Why do we even try to argue? My best guess is that it has something to do with our Lizard Brain battling her for control of our actions.

An age old war that will be fought until the end of time? Most likely.

This week The Muse screamed in my ear. She set the table and told me to eat and no matter how many times I told her that my plate was full, she pushed harder.

In the end I realized it was silly to argue. I know better.

I gave in and let her ideas pour through and come out.

It wasn’t what I expected. It wasn’t what I would have ever thought.

But, I enjoyed it.

I liked this new vein of creativity she had tapped that I hadn’t tasted in many years.

Fiction? Sure, I can do that.

I get hired to create a variety of content, but for me the best part is all the exciting people I get to meet along the way.

Recently, my assignment from Watch.tv was to chat with Lydia Winters, or as she is known to her legion of fans MinecraftChick, about her role as Mojang’s Director of Fun.

If you are not familiar with Mojang, they are the creators of the hugely popular game Minecraft. I know both of my kids love to build inside of it and so do tens of thousands of kids around the globe.

Lydia doesn’t just have the coolest title on the planet, but she also knows a thing or two about getting started with online video and she shared it during our interview.

Thank you Lydia for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with me.

The first week of a new month.

Simply another series of days on the calendar of our lives.

How are you going to use them to your advantage? What will you do to fill the hours of the day so that as you lay your head down at the end you feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction?

We lay our heads down at night not knowing if we will raise them in the morning. While most of us don’t give this truth a second thought as we tuck ourselves in and fade off into the sweetness of sleep, it is a reality that we all face.

“Any day you are not sick is a good day,” a shaman from the Crow Nation once told me.

His simple approach to life as he neared the end of his own was a reminder we should all keep close at hand whenever a bad day seems to be afoot.

Too many people complain about the day of the week, share their contempt towards others who have what they want or never do enough to make their own lives what they wish it could be.

Can you imagine the good that would occur if a slice of the energy people used in a negative fashion was flipped towards more positive uses?

No matter how bad you might have it, there is someone worse off than you are. Some have a child that is sick. Some don’t have enough clothes or food to get through the day. Some didn’t wake up to see this day.

Make the most of the time you are given. Don’t waste a moment of it.

Find your path and keep walking down it. Every path has forks, detours, bumps and obstacles you’ll have to decide about. After all, a path isn’t a highway.

Make the most of today.

Travel and exploring the world is in my DNA. That sense of wanderlust is always buzzing just below the surface and when it begins percolating I crave adventure.

Yesterday, it kicked into high gear and for now I’ll have to settle for the magical circus that will be SXSW next weekend.

This morning I decided to go through some of my travel memories by looking at my hotel notepads.

You heard me right! Hotel notepad are my souvenir of choice when I travel.

From the cheapest of roadside motels, to the tallest of five star hotels they almost always have a small notepad in the room.

Most people probably never even give them a second look, but I love to snag them to bring home with me. I’ll use them to jot down notes during my travels and to make to do lists at home.

Plus, one quick look at them and they transport you back to memories of being there. Looking at them this morning I remembered finding soup in Las Vegas when I was sick, watching the sun rise over the Mediterranean walking along the beach in Spain and spending quality time with a friend at a dive bar in Kentucky.

These simple stacks of paper with a logo and address on them serve as a time machine. Instantly transporting me back through all of my adventures.

While the sentiment makes sense, you’d never make a new friend if you listened to it all the time.

Several weeks ago after I came off the stage from giving my Icarus Talk a young woman walked up to me.

“I loved what you had to say and I’m in the smile business so I had to meet you.”

We hugged and I exchanged cards with the promise to follow-up with each other. After a game of email tag we set a time to get together for coffee.

A coffee date with no agenda, plan or goal is too rare of an occurrence these days.

Kelly is a strong, confident and driven young woman. She has already lived more than some people will in their entire life. Her passion for making the world a better place reconfirmed in my soul that I’m on the right path.

I couldn’t help but smile as I sat down and she insisted on buying the coffee and I noticed she had my book open on her Kindle. I had brought a signed copy for her as a thank you for the kind words after my talk. I had no idea how big of a smile that would give her.

Yesterday we were strangers. We knew very little about each other and yet that hour together turned around a day that wasn’t so good for me.

She is in the smile business because she made me happier than I was when I walked in.

Don’t forget that while our gadgets allow us to make meaningful connections, the real magic happens when we can see each other. I love video conferencing as much as the next guy, but it’ll never trump being able to sit down and feel someone’s energy in person.

Plus, we still can’t give virtual hugs. Not ones that can compete with the real thing.

Today as you go about your day, give a smile to a nearby stranger. You never know the amount of positive energy a simple smile may bring someone.

It is that time of year once again when tens of thousands of geeks, musicians, filmmakers, organizations and brands descend on Austin, Texas for the annual SXSW conference.

To call it simply a conference doesn’t even begin to describe the experience of spending any amount of time in Austin between March 8th and 17th.

I wouldn’t miss it for the world and while my stay is shorter than in years past, I wanted to let you know where to find me and share a few tips for getting the most out of your time there.

In the past you’ve read how I rarely go to any of the parties. They are big, loud and insane. The lines will be long and you should be prepared to wait quite some time for the bigger ones. Every year you’ll hear people complaining about the lines. Accept them or don’t attend.

The shear volume of attendees is overwhelming and it is easy to get lost in the waves of people. You need to plan ahead to make the most of your time in Austin.

The schedule this year contains so many great sessions that you’ve got to make sure to put the ones you don’t want to miss on your calendar and then plan around them.

Don’t forget that the second you arrive in town you should pick up your badge. I always check into my hotel and then promptly head over to the convention center to get my badge. The process of picking up your badge is easily the worst part about SXSW and if you wait you could find yourself in line for hours just waiting to get your badge. Go early!

Finally, don’t forget your comfortable shoes because you’ll be doing plenty of walking and you need to leave earlier than you could ever imagine to get to where you want to go in time. Sessions fill up and they do close the doors so don’t miss out.

If you need some more advice , this video I made three years ago still holds true.

So, where will you find me during my days in Austin?

I try to keep an open schedule for the most part, but there are a few events that I know I won’t be missing. If you definitely want to see me try making it to one of these:

• Amazing Things Will Happen Brunch sponsored by Vocus
• Amazing Things Will Happen book reading followed by signing at the SXSW Bookstore
• Wiley Author Party
• AllHat V

As you can see, I don’t commit to much because I know how crazy it is and prefer to go with the flow. Plus, I’ve got some client meetings and other private gatherings that will keep me busy.

I’d love to meet as many people as possible and as always I’m looking to connect with brands and organizations who might want to hire me. The best way to reach me is via text. My number is 508-241-1062, but don’t call as I rarely answer.

Austin is a great city and I hope that while you are in town you take the time to see some of it. At a minimum make your way down South Congress to all the food trailers because the city has announced they are doing away with them after the conference. It is sad news and who knows, maybe we can help change their minds.

You are going to meet amazing people. Hallway magic will happen. One moment you’ll be headed to a session and the next you’ll find yourself on a photo walk or at a rooftop concert. Embrace that you can’t do everything and you’ll have a much better experience.

Part of what makes SXSW special to me is the chaos of it all. Last year the weather didn’t want to play along, so keep your fingers crossed it does this year.

See you at SXSW!

I’ve worked remotely for over six years. During that time I’ve been part of launching two successful companies, worked on numerous projects for clients of all sizes and have found lots of  success.

Obviously I’m completely biased because the concept of workshifting is one that I firmly believe in and I write about quite often. As long as I have an Internet connection I can work from anywhere in the world. The technology continues to improve and make this even easier.

That is why when Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer decided that working from home was no longer an option for their employees it gave me pause.

Even though I love working from anywhere, I do know that there are times when being together physically is important. Getting the creative juices flowing and brainstorming a new idea/campaign is harder when not in the same room. It is possible, but it is harder in my experience. But, when you want to make it work, you make it work.

Her statement that, “Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home” doesn’t make sense to me.  If it isn’t working inside of Yahoo perhaps there are other problems that are causing it, but where someone physically works probably isn’t the root issue.

Not everyone can be productive working outside of an office. It takes a special level of discipline and dedication to succeed at it.

That is why every company should have guidelines for remote workers and all managers need to make sure that their workers are delivering (in or out of the office). But, don’t ever think that just because someone is in a cube and you can see them, that they are automatically getting the job done. It is just as easy to screw off, get distracted and do anything but work inside of an office as it is out.

What gets me the most though is that so many companies are already scared of embracing the shift to workshifting and this will be a big set back. When a company as large and high-tech as Yahoo says their employees can’t do it, it is going to make it harder for the worker to push for this in their own company.

Every parent out there knows how hard it is to balance maintaining a career and a family. As a new parent herself I had hoped Ms. Mayer would lead by example and not cut off her workforce like this.

Last year I wrote The Working Parent’s Guide to Working From Home for Citrix to help companies and employees figure out how to find the balance. Now thanks to the Yahoo effect, parents everywhere are going to have to go back to square one in many cases.

Companies need to realize that working from home is good for them. It allows employees to work at odd hours, when they are sick or numerous other reasons. It cuts down on commuting, office requirements and costs. If your employees can’t get the job done then you’ve got a human resources problem, not a workshifting problem.

I don’t know what is going on inside of Yahoo and they’ve got obvious issues that need to be fixed. I just wish they hadn’t made this decision because it seems completely short sighted to me in today’s hyper-connected world.

What do you think?

This post has been brewing in my head for over a year.

After reading Mitch Joel’s great post Buy Your Way To The Top, I knew it was time to finally sit down and write it.

Music fans will instantly understand the difference between a hit song and a classic track.

The hits get all the glory as they rocket up the charts. The flavor of the day gets the magazine covers, headlines and media attention. You never know if they are a one-hit wonder or are an actual artist.

A classic will hit the charts and some even become hits, but they rarely get the attention they deserve. But, the moment one comes on the radio or shuffles into your ears from your iPod you smile and crank it up.

When Ann and I sat down to write Content Rules (affiliate link), I vividly remember us having conversations about how we were going to market the book. Early on we decided we didn’t want to do the standard push that is done and we didn’t even send out a single review copy ahead of the release.

We had dream sales numbers in our heads and even talked about the “wouldn’t it be amazing if we hit number.”

Since the book hit shelves in 2010, we’ve crushed every number we ever talked about. Every week since the book has come out it has sold a chunk of copies. Now, two and a half years later it continues to sell every week and the sales are just starting to happen in other languages.

I can’t tell you how amazing it feels to see it sell every single week and to continue to sell higher than we ever dreamed possible.

Content Rules in my mind is a classic. It was written to be timeless and not ride a sudden wave of popularity, but rather to be enjoyed over and over again. A book that people and businesses could continue to use and learn from years after purchasing.

Sure, as an author I dream about one of my books hitting the New York Times Best Sellers list. It is a goal that most authors dream about and very few ever achieve. The current game allows anyone to buy their way there, but I’m comfortable with only getting there if a book I write is good enough to sell that many copies.

But, until then I’m comfortable writing more classics. No one will ever be able to call me a one hit wonder.

Rock on!

The quiet moments on the road are my favorite ones.

Sure, the rush that comes from giving a keynote always fills the soul with positive energy and feels great. But, after all the airports, hotel rooms and late nights, it is the quiet moments of travel  that I cherish.

Recently while staying at The Meritage Resort & Spa in Napa, California I noticed that there were walking paths through their vineyard. I had several free hours and the beautiful sun so how could I not take my camera for a walk and enjoy the crisp air?

Too many travelers choose to spend their time locked away in their hotel room or on a stool at the bar. While both of these occur plenty enough, I try to always get out and see what is around me.

The paths were simple and beautiful. Reminisant of the cow paths of New England. No clear cut and paved roads here. Just a rambling path up a few stairs and around the corners between the grapes.

The sun was setting and it made taking photographs a challenge, but a welcomed one.

Throwing shadows in all directions breathed new life into what may have been some boring run of the mill photos. The sun adding a new level of interest to each blade of grass and tree I passed.

Clicking the shutter, I decided to wait until later to see what I captured. I chose to sit, think and idle well for a bit to really take in the beauty surrounding me.

Travel presents you with infinite possibilities. From a plate being placed in front of you that you’ve never seen before to a glass filled with the sweetest of new tastes.

Just outside your hotel door is a world waiting to be discovered, captured and shared with others. Not everyone will see the things you see or share in the same experiences. Each of us brings a unique eye to every situation and how we choose to tell it is up to us.

My path is to travel, see and share as much of the world as possible. Even something as simple as an hour walk around a wine vineyard leaves a big impression on me.

The quiet moments of travel may not be the best, but they are always appreciated.

Fazali Ellahi is a district Polio Officer with the UN World Health Organization. He is working in the Ziarhai (Maiwand) district of Kandahar Province.

Zhiarai would be considered by many to be a dangerous district with a heavy presence of Taliban fighters. The region remains a major battle ground for the NATO forces and Afghan military. The area is heavily riddled with landmines and working in the area is extremely dangerous for anyone.

For the last five years the Taliban did not allow Polio vaccinations to take place in Southern Zhiarai which resulted in an estimated 12,000 children inaccessible to vaccination.

Because of this, the area reported large Polio out breaks, with five confirmed Polio cases in 2011 and six in 2012.

Several rounds of negotiations were held with the local Taliban commanders, who finally agreed to allow vaccinations to happen in the area. However, considering the risks involved, no one was willing to step up and lead the process. For obvious reasons the local communities were scared and not fully prepared to give out the vaccinations. You can’t blame people for being hesitant.

Fazli Ellahi, was assigned to work with the communities to make a vaccination program work.

This brave man, took up the responsibility and worked closely with the local communities to motivate local volunteers who would go house to house and vaccinate young children. Instantly giving them a shot at life that they might never have without the needed vaccines.

Two rounds of slow, low profile Polio vaccination campaigns were held in the area from October to December.  In order to ensure low visibility, specially designed small thermos flasks that could easily fit in someone’s pocket were created to carry the vaccines. This was done to minimize the attention that vaccination givers would receive.

I’m happy to share that no new Polio cases have been reported from the area after October 2012 due to the successful vaccination campaign.

Please take a moment to think about all of the people like Fazli around the globe who are doing their part to make an impact.

Photo Credits: WHO Afghanistan

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The impact of vaccines on the lives of children around the world is incredible. Now, you can help sustain the impact by sending an email to your member of congress. Welcome your members to the 113^th Congress and ask them to make sure that global health and vaccines are a priority in the new Congress. Take action and make an impact!

This story comes from the World Health Organization- Afghanistan and is part of Shot@Life’s ’28 Days of Impact’ Campaign. A follow up to Blogust to raise awareness for global vaccines and the work being done by Shot@Life and their partners to help give children around the world a shot at a healthy life. Each day in February, you can read another impactful story on global childhood vaccines. Tomorrow, don’t miss FreeAnissa’s post! Go to www.shotatlife.org/impact to learn more.  

Seattle is a big city and I’m here to give the morning keynote at WOMMFest later this morning.

On a whim I reached out to Chase Jarvis to see if there was any way we could meet while I’m in town. He is a busy man, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.

If you are not familiar with Chase, he is an extremely creative photographer and visual storyteller. His show Chase Jarvis Live is some of the most inspirational and best produced content on the Internet and for years I’ve followed and respected his work. When he replied to my message with his phone number I was shocked and excited.

Last night we got together at a hole in the wall Thai restaurant for some fresh rolls and conversation.

We talked about what we are both working on, where we want our careers to go, the problems of the world and a lot about creativity.

There was no agenda, gossip or ramble about tools and techniques. Our phones were put away and it was about the moment rather than anything else that might be going on.

The online world is an amazing and inspiring place, but it can never compete with face-to-face time with people your respect, love or want to get to know better. Taking the time to step away from the screen to make real connections with people is more important than ever.

As I travel the world, I try to meet as many people as possible. While I’ve had plenty of meals alone at a hotel restaurant, I try to make it a point to reach out to people in the area to make new friends.

Don’t get stuck behind your devices. Get out there and say hello more often. Grab a beer. Sit down for a coffee. Whatever you do, spend time with your fellow man.

Thanks for the time Chase and happy shooting!

Why is everyone scared of being themselves? What fills people with the feeling that they need to be just like everyone else?

I tell crowds of people all the time that “normal is boring” and I mean it. Being vanilla and conforming to how you think you should be acting is no way to live your life.

Last weekend in a room full of media, one writer mentioned how they wish they could write a post a certain way but that “their audience wouldn’t react well to it.”

Why have we allowed the Internet to dictate what we create?

Can you imagine Hemingway, Adams or Prince creating their art based on what they thought the audience wanted rather than what they felt in their hearts?

You do not have to chase the same things that all the other bloggers do. You are your own person and you should never forget that. No matter what the art is you are creating, please create it because you get satisfaction out of it first.

I know that my blog and my career would be more successful if I wrote for the masses. Every day I see a friend speaking at a conference that I’d love to speak at and I know that on top of them being a great speaker that a lot of it has to do with them writing for the masses. There is nothing wrong with that and those people will always do well.

The path I’ve chosen is a different one. It sure isn’t the easiest one as I’m finding out this week. Yet, I’m traveling it because it is the one that in my heart and soul I know I belong on.

People give me strange looks and ask me how I’m going to make a living doing it.

The honest truth is that I don’t know yet. I’m scared. Deep-seated fright at this moment of the months and years ahead.

Again, this is who I am. You need to be who you are.

The path choice is up to you.

Our world is full of conflict, suffering and problems that need our attention.

One that still gets me every time I think about it, is the problem of not enough clean, safe drinking water in the world.

That is why when I heard about the 40 Days of Water campaign it got my attention. Blood:Water Mission, the organization behind this challenge, is a grassroots organization that empowers communities to work together against the HIV/AIDS and water crises in Africa.

While I won’t be participating myself, I did want to shine a light on this campaign and the work they are doing.

The challenge starts tomorrow and on the surface it is a simple one.

Participants agree to only drink water for forty days and take the money they would have spent on other drinks and donate it to the campaign. No venti lattes, glasses of wine or big gulps of soda. Just water for forty days.

Think about that for a minute.

For any of us it would be a huge challenge to do this and yet every morning women and children grab their water jugs and walk miles just to get a single drink of clean water. We have it easy.

Consider registering for the challenge, download the beautiful 40 Days Journal and help improve the world around you. If you can’t take part in the challenge, consider sharing it with others as I have so that as many people as possible will become aware of it.

A well lived life is one full of good people, good times and great memories. These past few days certainly added all three to my life.

Yet, as I sit here in my office looking out at white of New England in every direction, my mind is still processing all that I learned this past weekend as I became one of the first UN Foundation Social Good Fellows and the greater world all around me beyond the snow outside my windows.

Spending three days in Washington, DC getting briefed from a mixture of organizations (MAMA, Hope Phones, Project Diaspora) and government entities (State Department, UN Refugee Agency, USAID) has my brain stretched and challenged.

There are so many stories to be told, people to help and improvements to be made.

We have to figure out how to give every child a Shot@Life and spark innovation for clean cookstoves.

The special sneak preview of The Revolutionary Optimists reminded me of the determination of children and watching what occured through Villages in Action inspired me to find a way for more local events of this sort to occur.

There are so many places in this world that I have yet to see. So many stories that no one is hearing, but if I find them I can share them with the world. Too many kids not being given the opportunity to achieve their dreams.

I was already dedicated to making the world a better place, but after this weekend I’m more committed than ever.

Shawn Lee took beautiful photos at the MotorCity Casino event and put together this great highlight video.

This morning I stood outside the central parking garage at Boston Logan Airport.

The chill of six am New England was biting and several of us waited for the elevator ding on the 7th floor. Our crowd grew as it appeared the elevator wasn’t fully awake either.

The doors opened and we began piling in. I paused and motioned for the two women to go first. The other men around me had decided they didn’t need to let them go first. I was raised better than that.

Now, I’ve never laid my jacket on a mud puddle, but in today’s world where you care more about the screen in front of you than the stimulation of the world around you, can’t we all strive a little harder to help those around us.

When my quirky waitress brought me breakfast, I looked her in the eye when I thanked her. As I handed my boarding pass to a gruff TSA agent I said “Good morning.” After laughing at the gate lice and entering my plane I gave our flight attendant a big smile and asked, “How is your morning going?”

Our fellow humans deserve respect, attention and manners. When did so many of you forget this?

Parents, instill this in your children through your own actions and never let them forget. Whenever I see a child not say please and thank you it makes me cringe. Every time my father would say to me, “what do you say?” It would drive me nuts as a child, but I’m a better man for it.

Lead by example. Make your parents proud. Never forget The Golden Rule.

Thank you.

There are moments in your life that you’ll remember forever.

Some will be the simplest and smallest of happenings. Others will be epic life changing events.

On November 24, 2012 I stood just out of sight at TEDxLacemarket in Nottingham, England and prepared to deliver my first ever TEDxTalk. I had the perfect blender of nerves, adrenaline and words flying around inside me as it became time to take the stage.

I’ve given hundred of speeches in front of crowds of all sizes over the years. I get great satisfaction out of motivating and inspiring all audiences.

For weeks I had been stressed about this talk because I knew that while the physical audience in the room would be small, the potential audience around the world was on a scale that is hard to imagine.

It would also mark the first time I shared the core ideas from the pages of Amazing Things Will Happen and I was unsure how people would take them.

Watching this back for the first time, I’m proud of how I did. It didn’t go exactly as how I planned and practiced, but I’m fulfilled to have this experience under my belt.

Living an amazing life is something each of us is entitled to and capable of. It is rarely the easy path or the most obvious, but it is always the most rewarding.

That is what I wanted to get across in my talk. How did I do?

Photo Credit: Caron Lyon

I love to experience life to the fullest and share those experiences with the world around me. It is part of my DNA as an explorer and storyteller.

The tools of social media empower me to do this in ways I couldn’t have imagined just a few short years ago.

It wasn’t easy for me to decide to stop using Instagram after how they acted last year. I enjoyed using the platform to share my travels and I loved the interaction with people around the globe. But, with a simple post of a photo, I stopped using it.

People asked why I didn’t make a bigger deal about it? The simple truth is that I’m not the type of human that needs to tell the world that they are quitting something. Those people drive me crazy because all they are doing is waving a big sign that screams “look at me.”

It was my decision, I made it and moved on.

Then yesterday morning a simple text from my daughter made me rethink my decision.

I’m on the road again doing a lot of traveling. There hadn’t been any time away from the family since I stopped using Instagram and that message got me thinking about how my family stays connected to me on the road through my photos.

Laying in the dark of my hotel room with my body clock still being on East Coast time I wondered if perhaps I should change my mind.

Other photographers I respect are still using the service. I’ve been sharing my photos online since the graphical Internet was invented and nothing but good has come of it. While my trust in the Instagram team is null and void due to their actions, I still value the service and what it allows me to do.

I debated writing this post, but I had so many people ask me about what changed my mind that I felt I need to. Hard to explain something like this in only 140 characters.

Any tool that allows my family to feel more connected to me while I’m traveling is one that I want to continue using.

There was a crispness to the cool air, as the sun set over wine country.

The walking paths through the vineyards at The Meritage Resort and Spa were a welcome distraction after spending most of the day in an airplane seat.

Wandering through the rows of grapes and thinking about everything that brought me to this point gave me plenty to ponder as the sun set and beautiful shadows began to form around every corner.

It is strange to be here alone. The last time I was here, Laura and I had a great vacation.

Napa and the entire wine country is a beautiful mix of everything I love in life, but this trip I’m here to give a keynote and then immediately travel on to another conference. There isn’t any time to really take in the beauty all around me.

Today, I’ll take it easy and spend some quiet time at the resort pondering all the work that lays ahead.

Pondering always goes better with a glass of pinot noir doesn’t it?

I love to travel, but I hate to be away from my family.

Being on stage in front of an audience rocks my world, but I love cuddling on the couch with my wife just as much.

We’ve all heard about the two sides to every coin and that is where I find myself this morning as I get ready to hit the road again for a series of speaking engagements and book tour stops.

We call them “the travel blues” and they like to show up the day before I leave on a trip.

The excitement for where I’m going hasn’t kicked in yet and the only thing I can think about is how much extra work Laura will have taking care of everything at home and that gets me down. The fact that she supports me in doing this is just another one of the millions of reasons I love her and I am the luckiest man in the world.

Over the next few weeks I’ll find myself in Napa, Houston, Detroit, Washington D.C., Seattle, Austin, Dallas and L.A.

At every stop I’ll see old friends, make new ones and tell everyone I meet about the work I want to do and how they can help me do it.

But, I also know it means security lines, delayed flights and living out luggage.

I’ll look back and smile at the memories made and the opportunities that this travel makes happen, but right now I’m looking at my GORUCK on the floor and dreading having to pack it.

I love to travel, but my favorite destination is home.

I keep a pretty long watch later list on Vimeo and YouTube.

It is filled with a variety of long form videos that I want to watch only when there is time to fully focus on them and not be distracted. They can be watched kicked back on my couch or late at night at my desk.

Last night, I finally got to watch a Portland CreativeMornings talk from Aaron James Draplin and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

Set aside an hour and watch this.

Don’t listen to it in the background or be tweeting while you watch it. Take the brain cycles to focus on what he is saying and take it all to heart.

If none of his fifty rules hit home for you, I’m not sure you are human.

When you are laying on a table in a tattoo parlor for a couple of hours you have plenty of time to let your mind wander.

It isn’t quite the definition of idling well since the funky tunes are pumping through the sound system and the constant rattle of the needle going into your arm, but you still get to think about things.

Yesterday, as I got my latest tattoo I was thinking about J.R.R. Tolkien and how he would react to see people like me getting his words permanently put on their skin.

This gave me giggles as I imagined him smoking his pipe at the latest gathering of the Inklings and sharing his shock and amazement. Especially since tattoos were no where near as common as they are today.

As an author myself, I imagined the reaction I would have if any of my words ever touched someone so much that they got a tattoo inspired by them. The conclusion was that I can’t imagine ever writing something that would be that awesome. But, who knows?

So, why get these words and image on my arm for all eternity?

Originally, I had thought about getting the tree and path from the cover of Amazing Things Will Happen on my arm. The metaphor means a lot to me beyond the book and it felt like a great thing to celebrate on my body.

Then on New Years Eve as I laid on the couch sick, I was watching hours of LA Ink and of course I began noodling about the tattoo. Suddenly I realized there was more to the tree and that this quote that I’ve long lived by would be perfect with it.

I love to travel. I rarely take the obvious path in my life and career. When outdoors I often joke about the difference between not knowing where you are and being lost.

No one should ever get a tattoo that doesn’t have special meaning to them. This one means the world to me.

Thank you Tolkien for the inspiration all those years ago. Thank you Dan Bythewood for taking my idea and turning it into this beautiful piece of art.