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Wonderful Dots

August 26, 2007 by Liz

Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

I’m on vacation, or rather I’m recuperating from the frenetic run-up to the vacation. The word vacation made me think of footprints in the sand. Who made them and where. Blogs are like footprints, they are made everywhere. I wanted to take you on journey beyond my North American shores to show how dots from all over can reach us when it is so unexpected.

It all started with Grigor. From afar as Croatia, he inspired me today. He only needed one sentence…

We must not require from our customers to be heroes.

So simply and so profound… a dose of wisdom for the day.

Head over to the United Kingdom. How can you not read about DozeyMagz and her life with DopeyDaddy, Dustbunny and Mophead. It has the universality of being a mom with a heartwarming local twist from the land that beget Harry Potter. Her post on British weather made me smile…

There’s a big bright yellow thingie in the sky. The sky has changed from bland grey to a strange blue. It feels warm outside. I’m a bit scared.

A cup of tea with that dose of wisdom. I think I’ll read her blog with my daughter tonight.

To finish our trilogy today, Bhaswati shares with us from India. Through her translation, she’s given us a gift, a beautiful piece of writing that now transcends language.

One doesn’t find the time to grasp that which remains unsaid within.

A lingering thought after the cup of tea is done.

For me, they are all some kind of wonderful…

How many posts on your blog does it take to move me?
just ONE

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Click here to see more dots we connected

Passionate Dots

August 19, 2007 by Liz

Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

For this week’s dots, I chose the theme…

passion

In the true spirit of Liz’s blogpost today, these dots did the most noble thing, they surrendered to their passion. They became Visible, Valuable and Mighty.

When you arrive at one of these dots… it’s like jumping into the ocean from a cliff, you are totally and immediately immersed into their lives, their passion.

I chose these dots because to many readers they will appear to be unconnected, three seemingly unrelated blogs. I connected them not through their subjects but through their hearts.

Ruth is a long-time member of TheGoodBlogs. I’ve admired her consistent posts on food for all seasons. Each post is lovingly crafted with gorgeous pictures that inspires me to run to the kitchen and forget all my incompetencies as a cook. A blogger’s feast with a personal twist.

She even has a worthy competitor to the venerable Klondike bar (hardcore SOBs will know, that Klondike bars on Open Mike Tuesdays at this blog are synonymous to beer at Cheers).

I met Jesse, Gitr, at Sobcon07. He is passionate especially when it comes to the World of Warcraft. Did you know he describes himself as having a 5th degree blackbelt in Microsoft Word! With close to 700 blogposts, he’s far from done and if you’re a gaming nut, you’ll appreciate the dedication and quality of his posts. It’s also why the blog is great, it is about Gitr playing the game not just another game review site. It is life of Gitr in his virtual world. Gitr is the WOW factor.

When you visit Director Tom, there is no doubt that Tom is filmmaker. Scratch the surface and you’ll find Tom is more than the about lights, cameras, action. Those are merely props. He wants to tell your story through his medium and expertise and make it inspiring, personal and emotional. Tom says, My deepest desire is to see these stories help the world become a better and kinder place. That is Tom’s real passion. He wants to make us say, Let’s See That Again!

I get the sense that as long as they breathe and have a keyboard nearby, these dots will not go gently into the night. They will rage forever…

because they are simply mirrors of the souls who feed them.

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Click here to see more dots we connected

Believing Dots

August 12, 2007 by Liz

Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

Earlier this week, Liz was thinking about the sound of words. It got be me thinking too, how words are affect our hearts, moods and minds. Take for example.

Adversity The word is ominous, like an unscalable mountain.

Stephen blogs about facing adversity with examples from his own life. Sometimes adversity is real, other times, it is a perceived position we choose to take in our minds. Stephen talks about our debilitating habit of comparing ourselves to others and how it makes us feel small. It did not feel good. That’s exactly what your ego wants you to feel. He chides himself for that temporary weakness by recognizing, that each and every one of us is exactly where we are supposed to be, right now at this very moment. (If you love his attitude to life, you’ll love his story on self-acceptance.)

Liz looks at it in a very similar way when she says, Itâ€™s the knowing that Iâ€™m going in the right direction that counts. . . . Who do I want to be? was where my focus belonged. Being true to myself suddenly became easy. Believing in ourselves is the beginning.

Sometimes an adversity is just a setback.

Tony tells us the best weapon against setbacks is momentum. It’s about taking responsibility, picking youself up and saving yourself. Tony is smart (btw, he also draws terrific cartoons). Hmm, if we view any adversity as a temporary setback instead of a failure, we have hope. Hope is belief in the future.

Responsibility

Being responsible for our own setbacks is something Terry wrote to himself when he was faced with an untenable situation. On that particular day I decided to take control of my life. . . . From that point, I can imagine Terry felt more like the master of his destiny than a victim of circumstance. It made him believe in himself and his says, I still believe.

Hope

April coined a very interesting word, Opi. It means future you. It’s a wonderful concept, she says it’s writing about your future in the present tense. To me, it’s about focusing on everything you could be despite where you are today. It’s about setting your own ceiling.

Terry is a terrific singer. To all this week’s dots, I’ll leave you with these words that Terry sang at SOBCon, I hope you don’t mind that I put down in words. How wonderful life is while you’re in the world. . . . It’s for people like you that keep it turned on.

Terry, I believe too!

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Connecting dots at TheGoodBlogs

Leading Dots

August 5, 2007 by Liz

Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

I used to think looking good was something you only had to do during a business presentation. Beyond that, my work and talent would take care of my reputation. Many years ago, I read Tom Jeary’s Life is a series of presentations. He said Whether you are talking to a soccer coach or potential client, the way you present your thoughts and ideas to people have a profound effect on the shape of your life..

I felt like someone poured a bucket of ice-cold water over me. I learnt to value each individual who stood before me and take the time to be nice. I don’t always succeed and sometimes under duress or tiredness I walk away from a conversation wishing I did better. But it became part of my DNA. To be deliberate in the experience I wanted to leave with the person I was interacting with.

The first dot that went blink, blink, blink in my head the whole week was Anna’s. Anna blogs about business leadership and has many terrific things to say. But the thing that made her dot blink for me was her tagline right at the top of her blog. People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. I’m willing to bet that if you met Anna, she would be one of the 10 people you would never forget even if your paths never crossed again.

Dot #2. It reminded me what Liz said about being good and nice.
Being good at what you do is important, but a strong personal identity includes both good and easy to work with.
Sometimes when we’re good or hold positions of authority, we forget to be nice. It’s not only a business rule, it’s a life rule.

In fact, if I recall, it is the ONLY rule that Liz has on her blog.

Speaking of personal brand, what I found most interesting is that the people who were clearly leaders and had a profound effect on me had a common attribute.

They led by serving.

What a paradox! or is it? You’re the people I trust and the people I serve., Liz says in her post this week

I’ll never forget in all my years in business, the companies I wanted to work with were those who asked me the question at the end of the meeting (even though they were 10 times bigger than we were).

So how may I be of service to you?

Let me take you to another favorite dot of mine, his name is Drew. Drew is an extremely smart person and very well-read in the blogosphere. He’s take on how to write an outstanding blog post?? It’s all about you. It is that humility and generosity that makes Drew compelling.

This particular journey would not be complete without stopping to visit Steve. The title of his Greater than yourself mashup series already defines who he is as a blogger and thought leader. The one sentence in his blog that resonated the most with me?

I have to give of myself before I expand myself.

I was reminded of one of my kids’s favorite jokes. How do fit a an elephant into a matchbox? Take out the matches!

As Liz would say, make room for the conversation.

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Connecting dots at TheGoodBlogs

Moving Dots

July 29, 2007 by Liz

Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

They say that the Internet has made the world a smaller place, you can reach any location with a click of the mouse. Blogs have made the world a more meaningful place, you can reach a heart with a click of the mouse.

This week’s collection of dots have 3 things in common.

Each dot has a heart.
Each dot has a story.
Each dot is on a journey.

These dots are moving dots.

This week starts with Karaoke Diva. Her blog entry Remember a year in the life is a YouTube video about her family’s challenge with infertility. As she puts it, they have been trying for 15 months for Kid 2.0. She made a soundtrack of a life, and I saw other lives touched by it. This is beautiful! . . . I will never listen to the song thinking about anything else again. It drew me to the many people whose thoughts and hearts have moved me when they speak of their journey at TheGoodBlogs

As I look down the list one that stands out is Child Lost. I find something Pat was moved to write in response to words she inspired. She reflects on her life as a mom to an addict son. Yet she talks about gratitude. I have a purpose in my life whereas there are so many others who have no purpose and their days are filled with loneliness. I also hear hope. Her story begins again every day.

Then there’s Karen, a deaf mom. She shares her world where many family members suffer from hearing loss. Beyond being a resource for those who are deaf or hard of hearing, Karen blogs from the heart. Heartfelt words in response — But I try, my friend’s [sic] try, our baby sitter tries, and that is the best we can do. — show the welcoming place she has made. Karen was at SOBCon. I remember her smile.

Shannon shares with us her daughter’s world. Gabi has Down’s syndrome. Her blog is a way to share Gabi’s progress with her family and friends. But it is more, it’s love and courage. This is one part of Gabi’s journey. Sometimes a response, I’m so proud of you for doing this remarkable Blog, is from someone already connected to the story we tell.

I chose these dots because they represent the spirit of blogging. Stories told from the heart, inviting us to join their personal journeys. I’m struck both by the honesty and the dignity with which the stories are told. From their hearts, they inspire and move others to respond.

I’m thankful they move us.

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Connecting dots at TheGoodBlogs

One Blinking Dot

July 22, 2007 by Liz

Connecting Dots with The Idea Dude

I started this week’s column with one blinking dot… actually it was my cursor. It was waiting impatiently for me to connect this week’s dots. The blinking dot could have also been my heart, thumping in anticipation of what is to come.

Sara, over at Frugal Village would understand this, she inspired the analogy. I read her wonderful post about filling the blank page because the only reward she really wanted was to know that her voice, her one single thought could reach a total stranger. She said, I want to reach through the page and continually say I believe in you, youâ€™re not alone, and everything will be OK.

It reminded me of JJ, who describes herself as having an addiction to blogging. She shared her joy this week. She found her voice after searching many years. The people at this party are the coolest ever! she exclaims. She comments wherever she stops because it feels good when people do that on her blog and she wanted to help others know they are not alone.

Two dots, two voices, two hearts.

Speaking of hearts . . .

Speaking of hearts, there is none larger that the one that belongs to my friend, Mike Sansone. The bear hug he gave me at SOBcon07 still lingers. Mike has been ill recently. The first thing he did on his blog was to create the biggest heart I have ever seen made up of all the logos of bloggers who wished him well throughout his adventure. To describe Mike best is to tell you what he wrote to accompany his post. . . Got better sooner, thanks to you.

What better place to speak of hearts, right here on Liz’s blog because she taught us all to never forget to connect our hearts to our heads.

And what did all this mean to me? I’m humbled… even after leading many companies and teams in my career, this master has become the apprentice.

I am thankful. And why not? Karin would tell you from her own experience, teaching and learning is the two way traffic of life. Joanna reminds us, we don’t need grammar books to write. All you need to do is identify the things you consistently do that might make you look dumb — then take responsibility for working out how to change them.

May the dots be with you!
Vern, The Idea Dude

Connecting dots at TheGoodBlogs

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