I list my three key words in Ready for 2010:
Trust means to trust my inner voice, to build trust and to be trustworthy.
Connect goes outwards (connect to more people in real life and virtually, be visible and valuable) as well as inwards (connect to my inner self).
Grow covers to grow my business and to grow as person. It includes to learn and share. I am a life long learner, sharing knowledge and ideas is fun.

Joanna Young has a different approach and picks A Word to Last the Year. Her single word is rhythm and I really like that choice. Some of what rhythm brings to Joanna’s mind are things I like to do too: Walk, Write, Go outside, Go gently, Go with the flow, Trust in the natural cycle of things, Move between different projects I’m working on.

Juliana Finch at write. play. repeat. posts her choice in If you could choose one word…, it’s nourish. I like that too, nourish goes well with my three words above and with what I want to achieve.

I’ve been thinking about how to deal with my words for 2010, shall I stick with my original three or shall I add rhytm and nourish which gives me a full hand? In the end I decided to go for five, to me they integrate very well with my first three words and help me stay on track.

Adding nourish and rhythm actually helped me decide about leaving Inside the Third Tribe. Staying would have helped me grow my blog faster but I risked loosing my rhythm.

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• Ready for 2010

Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think.

There’s more to motivation than just carrots and sticks.

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Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.
Eddie Cantor

I like these sentences that I picked from the About-page at The Power of Slow:

Life is in the details. Don’t let it whiz by.

Christine Hohlbaum who runs The Power of Slow is on Twitter as @powerofslow.

Some of my details in life right now: I listen to “The Essential Leonard Cohen” and enjoy some dark chocolate. Life’s good.

I got so interested in learning more that I ordered Christine’s book The Power of Slow: 101 Ways to Save Time in Our 24/7 World. Saving time is not possible but we can learn to use it wiser.

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• Ancora imparo

It’s an interesting concept, I love being by the sea and an office like that would be terrific.

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The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.
Paul Valery

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Chinese New Year 2010

Tiger years are brilliant for new and bold moves yet often bad for stock markets as they are marked by drama, upheaval and change. We should have an energetic, powerful year favoring risk and even impulsiveness. September may see a rally in the market though and overall the effect of a metal tiger is positive for business and a great year for networking.

Tiger years

You are a tiger if you were born in;
8 February 1902 – 28 January 1903: Water Tiger
26 January 1914 – 13 February 1915: Wood Tiger
13 February 1926 – 1 February 1927: Fire Tiger
31 January 1938 – 18 February 1939: Earth Tiger
17 February 1950 – 5 February 1951: Metal Tiger
5 February 1962 – 24 January 1963: Water Tiger
23 January 1974 – 10 February 1975: Wood Tiger
9 February 1986 – 28 January 1987: Fire Tiger
28 January 1998 – 15 February 1999: Earth Tiger
14 February 2010 – 2 February 2011: Metal Tiger

This is said about tiger people:

Hasty tigers like you are likely to be empathic, possess great sensitivity and a profound thinker. Respect is your due and yet you can be a little quick to anger and cannot abide bureaucracy, rules and queues. Sometimes indecisiveness can be a trait of yours when under stress. Suspicion can also be a trap that tigers fall into. Tigers are naturally brave, born to power and gain stature easily. Dragons, dogs and Horses are the friends of the tiger.

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I rarely join courses or forum on the internet because they mostly feel off target for me. The concept of The Third Tribe feels right though and many in the list of names above are people whose blogs I follow. I have signed up and joined The Third Tribe, it will be very interesting to see what comes out of this.

What’s the Third Tribe?
This definition comes from the introduction at The Third Tribe:

Over the last several years, online marketing has been split into two opposing teams. Two tribes, if you will.

One tribe is called the Internet Marketers. They use aggressive hype and obnoxious tactics to fool people into believing there really is a “get rich quick” magic bullet.

The other tribe is the Social Media Cool Kids. They reject hype and aggressive sales tactics in favor of relationships, community, and value . . . and yet seem to have taken a vow of poverty along the way.

The black and white division of online marketing into two tribes is not real. There’s a big (and growing) middle tribe, one that avoids spammy IM approaches while having no problem asking for the sale and making money. This is the Third Tribe.

What do I think about Inside Third Tribe?
The Third Tribe is an interesting and great concept:

The Third Tribe is a private community where like-minded people help each other out. It’s based on a combination of education and interaction that takes everyone’s Internet marketing skills to a higher level.

The education part so far contains The Quick Start Guide to Making Money Online with Johnny Truant and interviews on Building a Business around a Blog with Chris Brogan, Darren Rowse and Brian Clark. The forums are active and people willingly share their experience. In short, it’s great value for money if you’re set on improving your Internet marketing skills.

Third Tribe Marketing has started an affiliate program that’s only open to members. That’s professional, only members know the value of what they are promoting.

If it’s that great, why do I leave?
One of my goals for 2010 was to take my blogging and Internet marketing skills up a notch (or more), to make it more professional. Those who follow my blogs might have noticed that it did not turn out well, posts have been random and I don’t blog on a regular basis.

I have realized that the aim of becoming more professional as blogger turned writing into a must, at the level of dusting my apartment, instead of something I want to do and love to do. My solution is to remove pressure, scratching the goal as blogger and to focus on bringing the fun back to my writing. I leave Third Tribe Marketing because it does not suit me now, where I am with my blogging and where I want to go in the near future.

This post was updated March 7, 2010.

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if you’re a freelancer and you’re doing what everyone else in your market is doing, why on earth is someone going to hire you? Why will you be able to charge more? Where will your freedom come from?

The need to stand out and be different makes a lot of sense and it’s something I am working on for my own business as coach and mentor.

I have ordered the Linchpin book, it sounds very interesting, but it’s not delivered yet. A linchpin is defined like this:

linchpin = a pin inserted through holes at the end of an axle, so as to secure a wheel; a central cohesive source of stability and security; a person or thing that is critical to a system or organisation

Is it really a good thing to become indispensable? If employed, will your boss let you move on or try to keep you?

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Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.
Soren Kierkegaard

I injured a foot before Christmas and have not been able to take my daily walks since then. Miss them and I do look forward to getting back in the habit again.

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Then I came across A Question of Impact by Jonathan Fields. It raises these important questions:

What impact do you want to have? And, on whom?

Making an impact,as in making a difference, is something that motivates me. Seeing things change or ideas spread is motivating for me.

Jonathan Fields writes that:

I’m not yet convinced there is a single, quantifiable group of people I want or need to choose between. But, I’m also not convinced I can have the depth of impact I want when I’m playing too many games at once.

I think there is a risk of spreading oneself too thin (trying to cover too many) and because of that reducing the impact one makes. But I also see another risk, making your focus too narrow and missing out on chances to make an impact. At present I am balancing somewhere in between, I see the horizon of opportunity as 360 degrees and will see what turns up.

A Bigger Game?
In A Bigger Game Jonathan Fields also brings up the topic of making an impact:

It made me want to play a bigger game. Not a bigger money game…a bigger impact game. A bigger footprint game. A bigger life game.

I’m not that into ‘bigger’, I’m more into sustainable games, making impacts that last. My thought is that small scale works too, good changes create ripple effects. Talking about sustainable, I like The Seven Generations Perspective since it makes us consider long term conseqeunces and effects.

Three Key Words.
In Ready for 2010 I mention my three key words (Trust, Connect, Grow). These key words work well in connection with me making an impact. I have to be trusted in order to be able to make an impact. I need to connect with people in order to be able to make an impact. I need to grow (including learn and share) in order to be able to make an impact.

What’s My Own Answers?
My overarching vision is to help make this world a better place. That’s done on different levels, on a one-to-one level through my work as coach and mentor. On a global level it’s done through supporting organizations such as The Hunger Project and WWF. For the more ‘medium’ level I intend to write more. I would also like to make more presentations, both writing and speeches are ways to influence more people.

And You?
What’s YOUR answers to these questions?

What impact do you want to have? And, on whom?

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