This has been a tough week in the world.

Here at home, the attack at the Boston Marathon has really shook me up.

This morning a friend pushed me to remind everyone that we have to move on, push forward and do amazing things. THAT is why I recorded this. Not the typical show, but I hope it is appreciated. It was great therapy for me and I hope it helps you.

Here is the A Minute of Peace video I mentioned.

Stay strong Boston!

Being comfortable feels good.

We all love to cuddle up with what makes us comfortable and lose ourselves in it.

Today, I’m telling you that you’ve got to get outside of what is comfortable and familiar and expose yourself to new things.

I was inspired to record this after speaking at BlissDom this past weekend. A women’s conference and a great one at that!

Trying out my new recording set up on my iPad with BossJock Studio and my new Samson Meteor Microphone. (affiliate links)

I also mention Feedly and Zite so be sure to check them out.

Last week, Dave Grohl gave the opening keynote for SXSW Music and as a fan and a music lover I couldn’t wait to watch.

He told a lot of stories, but he also shared a couple of quotes that stuck with me long after he finished speaking and they inspired today’s podcast.

The quote that directly inspired the title of this podcast was:

“I am the musician and I come first.” - Dave Grohl

Change the word musician for whatever it is that you want to do and I think his statement should become a mantra for most people.

Links to items mentioned on the show.

• The Friday Five Podcast
• Dave Grohl’s Keynote
• Watch Sound City
• Listen to Sound City
• Read Amazing Things Will Happen

Thanks for listening!

My parenting philosophy is pretty straight forward. Be an honest person and treat other people as you want to be treated.

That is how I live my life and how I want my children too.

But, I also believe that you should stand behind whatever you say.

In today’s world where anyone can hide behind their keyboard and screen, it feels to me that the Internet is making too many people soft.

If they get challenged in the littlest ways they back down, run away or try to pretend that it never happened.

THAT is what is discussed on this episode of Managing the Gray. A bit of a rant, laced with encouragement to not be soft and to stand up for what you believe in.

Last week, a travel writer was kicked off a United Airlines flight for taking a photo of his seat. Beyond the dumb decision this was by the flight crew, it got me thinking about how there are still so many people who haven’t realized we live in an always on society.

Each of us is now a publisher. We have the power to create any media we want and publish it to the world in our pockets at all times and we all need to be more aware of this.

Combine this story with renewed buzz around Google Glass and the evolving face of journalism with sites like Bold Edition, Quartz and Narratively gaining traction and no one can not pay attention to this shift.

Listen to the podcast to hear my thoughts on this world we now live in, that far too many brands and organizations have not yet embraced.

I was in Detroit kicking off the book tour for Amazing Things Will Happen and found myself inspired to share some thoughts on the city.

This is a city that I’m quickly falling in love with the energy and vibe of.

While it may be kicked and down at the moment, there are so many people determined to pick it back up and make it better than ever. Plus, there is a strong sense of social good and helping the community on top of making a profit that you don’t hear about often enough other places.

The audio quality on this is going to be not as good as usual. I’m testing out a new iPhone app called bossjock studio which allows me to record full podcasts while on the road. Next time I’ll plug in an external microphone to make it sound even better.

Politics are the last thing that usually inspire me to record a podcast, but today that is exactly what made me fire up the microphone and hit record.

But, this isn’t a rant fueled political episode. Instead I wanted to encourage people to find the issues that they are passionate about and fight for them. It is our duty to be educated on what is going on around us and be vocal about anything we believe in.

I mentioned my recent post about the foreign aid and how it wasn’t until I learned more about it that I became vocal about it.

It is equally important also, to respect other’s beliefs and opinions and not pick a fight every time you see someone who doesn’t line up exactly like you do.

The show ends with my encouragement for you to check out all the great audio being published over at KoPoint.

Friendships are some of the most important things in the world to me.

This past week I had a few friends over to the house and it reminded me how important it is to have friends that will be honest, constructive and challenging all at the same time.

After reading the latest from AJ Leon, I was inspired to record this.

If you have never heard the friends vs. Friends podcast from 2007 I referenced, give it a listen.

Thank you to all my friends out there. You make my world a better place.

I love to travel.

I love writing, taking photographs and shooting videos when I travel so that I can share my experiences with the world.

Today on Managing the Gray, I want to talk about how important I believe that travel is to making you a well rounded person.

I don’t think you have to travel the world or go broke seeing far off destinations, but the more people, religions, foods and towns you experience, the better of a person you will become.

Links to topics on today’s show.

• The beautiful travel map my wife gave me for Christmas
• My travel to Ghana, Nottingham and Girona
• Still much of Massachusettes to see
• My Life List
• Nomadic Matt
• How to Travel the World on $50 a Day: Travel Cheaper, Longer, Smarter (affiliate link)
• NMX
• The Neon Boneyard of Las Vegas

And here is the video I mentioned called Do More from Casey Neistat.

I recently wrote about the importance of living a well rounded life and as soon as I hit publish I knew I had to share some more thoughts on it with you my dedicated podcast listeners.

2012 is drawing to a close and we each can help ourselves by experiencing new things. What are you going to try and experience in the new year?

Managing the Gray is a proud member of KoPoint.

I realized that I had never talked about my new book Amazing Things Will Happen on the podcast so I figured it was about time I shared with you all what it was about.

I’d greatly appreciate if you ordered a copy and it makes a great gift.

You can find it at your local bookstore (if they don’t have it ask for it) or it can be bought any any of these online retailers:

• Barnes & Noble (also on on Nook)
• Amazon (also on Kindle)
• 800 CEO Read (best price for bulk orders)
• Google Play
• Kobo
• Apple iBooks
• Books a Million
• Chapters Indigo
• IndieBound
• Tattered Cover
• Powell’s Books

Managing the Gray is a proud member of KoPoint

I’ve recently announced the formation of The Cleon Foundation because I want to do everything I can to help make the world a better place and that is the focus of today’s podcast.

Far too many people find success and keep it for themselves. I firmly believe that is our duty to give back more than most are.

Topics from the show:

• Shot@Life
• Blogust
• Find a charity for you
• New England Pediatric Services
• ONE Campaign
• Kiva

Managing the Gray is proud member of KoPoint.

Today we are excited to announce that Managing the Gray has officially join Kopoint.

Dan Patterson started KoPoint to be the media network that we always hoped for and I’m excited to see a lot of fellow old school podcasters becoming involved as well.

Big things are coming, but I couldn’t wait to get this new episode out. Enjoy!

Topics Discussed:

• The Lorax
• How to become a writer
• Gladwell’s 10,000 Hours
• Amazing Things Will Happen

Thanks for listening and make it a great day. If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe in iTunes to get future episodes automatically.

At the moment I’m giving a lot of thought to taking on a big new challenge in my life.

I’ve been noodling over it for a few days and I know it is a good one because it fills me with fear and excitement. Those are the ones that you have to think about before diving into and that is what I wanted to talk about today.

I also chatted a bit about how a single tweet set me off this morning. While I sometimes want to slap businesses who are doing things completely wrong, I usually prefer to be polite and try to help them do better and I hope you’ll think twice next time and do this as well.

Couple of links mentioned on the show:

• Content Rules now out in Paperback!
• Steve Garfield on Passion Hit TV
• Aliza Sherman
• Charlie Wollborg

Thanks for listening and make it a great day. If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe in iTunes to get future episodes automatically.

No matter what holiday you celebrate, I hope it is a festive and fun one for you and your families. See you in 2012!

Links to items mentioned on the show

• Content Rules
• Passion Hit TV
• Speaking in Rotterdam
• My photos from The Netherlands
• .TV Advocates
• #HolidayQuest

That means you’ve only got a few weeks to get everything completed that you wanted to this year and it is time you start planning for what to kick ass on in 2012.

I laid out several approaches that I believe you need to adopt in order to do this on the episode. Below are links to items I mentioned on the show.

• Passion Hit TV
• Chris Penn talks trial runs for your resolutions
• “Do the Work“ – Tom Webster
• Chris Brogan writing about December retreats
• My 3 Words from 2011 and 2010

If you enjoy Managing the Gray, be sure to tell others about it and consider subscribing in iTunes.

The holidays mixed with not reaching all the goals we set forth at the beginning of year make this a pretty common thing and I wanted to put this out there in the hopes that it will help you reach out for help if you need it or give it to those around you who could use a hand.

Links to things mentioned on the show.

• My 2011 Three Words post
• Speaking in Rotterdam
• BlogWorld & New Media Expo 2011

At the end of the day if you want to be successful you need to make sure that you remember a combination of common sense, manners and basic business skills. For some reason people seem to think that as the online tools to connect with people become easier, that they can forget these things. I’m here to tell you otherwise.

Links to people, places and things mentioned on the show:

• Content Rules
• OTA Sessions
• My post on Inspiration

Thanks for listening and sharing.

Inspired by spending the day shooting photos and a post from someone I respected, I felt it was time to talk about how we can learn from criticism and why we need it in our lives to be successful

Links to people, places and things mentioned on the show:

• Content Rules
• Kris Krüg – Social Media Documentarian
• Griffin iTalk App
• Joseph Thornley’s post on criticism
• My photos from Vancouver

Prepare for more from the road podcasts while I’m living on the road in the coming months.

As we get ready to flip the calendars to another year (and another decade) I think it is important that we not fear to ask our friends and connections to obtain our goals. Far to often we fear asking our closest friends for helps and we need to stop doing that if we are ever going to be successful.

Thank you to Tom Acousti and J.C. Hutchins for reminding me of that!

Links directly to items mentioned on the show:

• J.C. Hutchins’ post on Convergence
• Derek Sivers: Keep Your Goals to Yourself
• Content Rules
• New C.C. Chapman website

I hope everyone has happy and safe holiday season and see you in 2011!