Guiding Vision

Today John McCain showed his strength in the Republican Primary.  Obama and Clinton are still duking it out over the Democratic nomination.  With any luck by the time of the Texas Primary in March the nomination will still be up for grabs and my vote will “count.”

Non Profit organizations can’t wait to see who is nominated to start advocating for their cause.  Start now.  Start yesterday.  My Friday post on Step by Step Fundraising highlighted several strategies and examples of  Election Year Activism for Non Profits.

Today I am starting a three part series on simplicity. It is difficult to have focus and live out a vision for life when there are so many things competing for our attention.

I spend hours online and at the computer every day since it’s my job. But often websites, social networks, instant news feeds or other “latest thing” is just a distraction. It can be the equivalent of junk food. So today I’m considering my digital diet and looking at what is really nutritious — fueling my business and even my soul — and what could be empty calories.

1. Email newsletters - Over the past few years as I’ve moved from complete newbie to more experienced several of the newsletters have outlived their usefulness. So I’ve been unsubscribing to all but the most essential ezines. Then there’s the online retailers that send me email promotions. If I just bought one thing from them and am unlikely to be back there’s no reason to stay on the list.

2. RSS feeds - I started this one last week while watching the first night of American Idol. I went through my Bloglines list and reviewed the feeds. There were several that had become inactive since I’d sub’d originally. Otherwise I just evaluated the content - was it truly unique and valuable? Quite a few didn’t pass the test. Now it’s down to 79 feeds from a high of 142.

3. Organizing Bookmarks - I spent just a few minutes organizing the folders in my internet bookmarks. I deleted a few and moved some folders around.

4. Sync Bookmarks - Since I use my laptop about half the time it’s important that the bookmarks on both computers are the same. I installed the foxmarks plug-in for Firefox and it syncs the bookmarks on both my PC and laptop. Very cool.

5. Fast Graphics - Snag It software makes taking screenshots and making web graphics so fast! I also use it when I need to explain something via email - as a picture is worth a thousand words. Just make a quick screenshot and email it out. Now I also have Snag It installed on the laptop too.

6. Online Logins - The more logins the greater the possibility for confusion. Unfortunately I have several different screen names but am trying to stick to one name and email now. That way when I forget my login I might be more likely to guess correctly. LOL.

7. Email Application - This one I haven’t quite tackled yet. I have about a dozen email addresses and use Outlook on my PC to read all of them. On my laptop I just use webmail which can be a waste of time since I have to go to multiple sites. So I need to install a catch all application on the laptop also, but am considering Thunderbird since I hear it’s faster.

So those are a few of the ways that I’m simplifying my digital experience. If you have any other suggestions, leave a comment below.

Last night I re-read Seth Godin’s book, The Dip. I read it when it first came out last summer and really enjoyed it. The premise is that anything worth doing is going to have a “dip” or time when things get rough and you’ve got to stick it out. Just as important though is that you need to know when to quit. Yes quit! Quit things that are basically dead ends.

Of course Seth is a marketer, wait, the marketer, so he talks about how this concept applies in business. He also gives examples that apply to personal relationships, hobbies, and for-impact (charitable) groups. Related to this last area, Marc Pitman wrote an excellent 3 part series inspired by the book starting with Fundraising in the Dip.

What brought me to review the book again though is that I’ve been in one big dip for the past few months. Primarily in regard to my business, but it’s funny how our attitude about work spills over into other aspects of life.

It’s taken quite a bit of soul searching and some business deals to show success (or not pan out) to finally see that that an end is in sight. Actually to finally be able to see period. Ever been in the middle of a tough situation and feel like your blind to a solution?

Thankfully now I know which direction to take on some of these projects and which to get rid of. Of course I’m not quitting everything, just the right things. As Godin says,”Quitting the projects that don’t go anywhere is essential if you want to stick out the right ones.”