In the profession i've chosen and in life, I feel one thing that you can never sacrifice is your social time. Some call it networking; some call it casual drinks; I call it a necessity to ensure absolute sanity. I've been blessed to understand the value of casual drinks and had the luxury of affording to do so. Going out, looking good and feeling good keeps you sharp and what I like to call "in the game". But it also allows you to be an adult, prove to yourself you can have a casual drink (not loser wasted) and talk with a friend/coworker or even a total stranger.
Someone asked me today "how do you network?" It's a valid question about a topic that scares the beejesus out of people. Including me back in the day. I look at it like going to the high school dance. There's always that one girl you want to talk to, but can never muster up the courage to walk over and ask her to dance. You know she likes you; you know she's there hoping you dance with her, yet, there you stand, talking or standing awkwardly . If we never step outside our comfort zone, how will we grow as people?
My advice to this question was don't wait for someone to come talk to you...go find the one you want to talk with and start a conversation - simple right? How about this...It's like that girl/guy at the dance. Don't wait until KC & Jo-Jo "Crazy" comes on to wrap up the dance. Find that person(s) at the mid-point, just as "God must have spent a little more time on you" by NSYNC comes on. When their interest-level in the event at hand is still high and you have the chance to capture their full attention for the remainder of the night.
Our intuition, although hard to trust, is usually giving us that pit-of-your-stomach feeling for a reason...it's time to go after it. So go for it. Especially with something like networking. Everyone does it at certain points of their professional career (even the programmer's/developers who only can speak in binary code), so stop stressing over it and enjoy the idea of infecting someone with your passion.
What does all this mean? Take a chance on yourself. At the end of the day, you'll be a more confident professional and person. Soon someone will be looking at you as the one to approach and infect with their own story.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Here we go 2012...
It's January 1st, 2012. I haven't left the couch since returning from McDonald's this AM - sorry I'm not sorry about eating that garbage. I mentioned in my previous posts that my resolution is to start blogging more. However, I've been facing a conundrum.
I love advertising. I love blogging about advertising, specific ads and originally, my pursuit of a career in the ad business. But now that I have become an employee of the ad industry, I've become busy and lost my drive to blog. Maybe it's the long hours, stressful days, abundance of ping-pong or the fact that the cool stuff we do, I usually can't say anything about until it's already public knowledge. First world problems for sure.
However, I wanted to start the year off with a bang...and the first blog post of 2012.
For years (well since my dad died in '06) I've discovered a need to inspire. To inspire someone to do something for themselves or for others. I've used deep thoughts and big words - words that I could never spell and thoughts I could never duplicate. I never believed some of these posts could inspire anyone. But I've heard that a few of the readers have been somewhat inspired in some form...you're my star pupils.
Recently, a friend has become inspired to blog. I like to think I had something to do with it, but really all I did was encourage. I didn't do it to push them into blogging like the rest of the cool kids (me). I did it because their writing is meaningful and thoughtful. It deserves to be read by the world - even if the world is just a few bored friends...I love you all! But I did it nonetheless and it got me thinking about why I blog.
I blog because it's a way for me to get things down. Things that are in my head and my heart. Things that I can't put down in a journal because the mere thought of me owning a "journal" makes me a little less of a man. I have no intention of this being mainstream, or doing this for a living. I just want a place to put my thoughts into written word, without actually using that prehistoric pen & paper thing.
What this all means. On the first day of 2012, everyone looks for that game changer. That goal or piece of inspiration that is going to "resurrect" their year into the best yet. I say bullshit. I found my inspiration in March of '10 not the first day of '10. Just go out and do the things that make you happy and through that, you will inspire others. But obviously, let's keep it G-rated or at least PG-13...you know what I'm talking about...sicko's.
I love advertising. I love blogging about advertising, specific ads and originally, my pursuit of a career in the ad business. But now that I have become an employee of the ad industry, I've become busy and lost my drive to blog. Maybe it's the long hours, stressful days, abundance of ping-pong or the fact that the cool stuff we do, I usually can't say anything about until it's already public knowledge. First world problems for sure.
However, I wanted to start the year off with a bang...and the first blog post of 2012.
For years (well since my dad died in '06) I've discovered a need to inspire. To inspire someone to do something for themselves or for others. I've used deep thoughts and big words - words that I could never spell and thoughts I could never duplicate. I never believed some of these posts could inspire anyone. But I've heard that a few of the readers have been somewhat inspired in some form...you're my star pupils.
Recently, a friend has become inspired to blog. I like to think I had something to do with it, but really all I did was encourage. I didn't do it to push them into blogging like the rest of the cool kids (me). I did it because their writing is meaningful and thoughtful. It deserves to be read by the world - even if the world is just a few bored friends...I love you all! But I did it nonetheless and it got me thinking about why I blog.
I blog because it's a way for me to get things down. Things that are in my head and my heart. Things that I can't put down in a journal because the mere thought of me owning a "journal" makes me a little less of a man. I have no intention of this being mainstream, or doing this for a living. I just want a place to put my thoughts into written word, without actually using that prehistoric pen & paper thing.
What this all means. On the first day of 2012, everyone looks for that game changer. That goal or piece of inspiration that is going to "resurrect" their year into the best yet. I say bullshit. I found my inspiration in March of '10 not the first day of '10. Just go out and do the things that make you happy and through that, you will inspire others. But obviously, let's keep it G-rated or at least PG-13...you know what I'm talking about...sicko's.
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