Marks I Just Read This Blog

Brent Green-Baby Boomers Changing Thru Aging

2010-01-02T06:53:00.001-08:00

A dynamic generation of men and women is aging—and changing through aging—and changing aging.

Indeed, the times they are a-changin’.

Brent Green, blogs at Boomers.typepad.com.

http://babyboomertalkonline.com/2010/brent-green-baby-boomers-changing-thru-aging/

Charlie Page-A Time to Be Thankful

2010-01-01T11:20:00.001-08:00

If you are having difficulty finding your blessings, try starting with these simple questions.

* Do you live free today?
* Does someone love you today?
* Have you heard children’s laughter?
* Are you part of a family?

The more you think, the more you will realize that you are blessed indeed. When we harbor the illusion that we can change the future, and allow our thoughts to stay there, we forget the joys of today.

http://babyboomertalkonline.com/2010/charlie-page-a-time-to-be-thankful/

Seth Godin-No Competition For Good News About Great Ideas?

2010-01-01T06:39:00.001-08:00

Seth Godin always has his finger on the pulse of the conversations we have with ourselves.

Since we are starting a new year and a new decade, here are a few of his provocative thoughts to ponder.

“Here’s a question that you should clip out and tape to your bathroom mirror. It might save you some angst 15 years from now. The question is, What did you do back when interest rates were at their lowest in 50 years, crime was close to zero, great employees were looking for good jobs, computers made product development and marketing easier than ever, and there was almost no competition for good news about great ideas?

Many people will have to answer that question by saying, “I spent my time waiting, whining, worrying, and wishing.” Because that’s what seems to be going around these days. Fortunately, though, not everyone will have to confess to having made such a bad choice.
While your company has been waiting for the economy to rebound, Reebok has launched Travel Trainers, a very cool-looking lightweight sneaker for travelers. They are selling out in Japan — from vending machines in airports!

While Detroit’s car companies have been whining about gas prices and bad publicity for SUVs (SUVs are among their most profitable products), Honda has been busy building cars that look like SUVs but get twice the gas mileage. The Honda Pilot was so popular, it had a waiting list.

While Africa’s economic plight gets a fair amount of worry, a little startup called Kickstart is actually doing something about it. The new income that its products generate accounts for 0.5% of the entire GDP of Kenya. How? It manufactures a $75 device that looks a lot like a StairMaster. But it’s not for exercise. Instead, Kickstart sells the machine to subsistence farmers, who use its stair-stepping feature to irrigate their land. People who buy it can move from subsistence farming to selling the additional produce that their land yields — and triple their annual income in the first year of using the product.

While you’ve been wishing for the inspiration to start something great, thousands of entrepreneurs have used the prevailing sense of uncertainty to start truly remarkable companies. Lucrative Web businesses, successful tool catalogs, fast-growing PR firms — all have started on a shoestring, and all have been profitable ahead of schedule. The Web is dead, right? Well, try telling that to Meetup.com, a new Web site that helps organize meetings anywhere and on any topic. It has 200,000 registered users — and counting.
Maybe you already have a clipping on your mirror that asks you what you did during the 1990s. What’s your biggest regret about that decade? Do you wish that you had started, joined, invested in, or built something? Are you left wishing that you’d at least had the courage to try? In hindsight, the 1990s were the good old days. Yet so many people missed out. Why? Because it’s always possible to find a reason to stay put, to skip an opportunity, or to decline an offer. And yet, in retrospect, it’s hard to remember why we said no and easy to wish that we had said yes.

The thing is, we still live in a world that’s filled with opportunity. In fact, we have more than an opportunity — we have an obligation. An obligation to spend our time doing great things. To find ideas that matter and to share them. To push ourselves and the people around us to demonstrate gratitude, insight, and inspiration. To take risks and to make the world better by being amazing.

Are these crazy times? You bet they are. But so were the days when we were doing duck-and-cover air-raid drills in school, or going through the scares of Three Mile Island and Love Canal. There will always be crazy times.

So stop thinking about how crazy the times are, and start thinking about what the crazy times demand. There has never been a worse time for business as usual. Business as usual is sure to fail, sure to disappoint, sure to numb our dreams. That’s why there has never been a better time for the new. Your competitors are too afraid to spend money on new productivity tools. Your bankers have no idea where they can safely invest. Your potential employees are desperately looking for something exciting, something they feel passionate about, something they can genuinely engage in and engage with.

You get to make a choice. You can remake that choice every day, in fact. It’s never too late to choose optimism, to choose action, to choose excellence. The best thing is that it only takes a moment — just one second — to decide.

Before you finish this paragraph, you have the power to change everything that’s to come. And you can do that by asking yourself (and your colleagues) the one question that every organization and every individual needs to ask today: Why not be great?”

http://babyboomertalkonline.com/2010/seth-godin-no-competition-for-good-news-about-great-ideas/

Seth Godin-7 Years From Now

2009-12-31T10:29:00.001-08:00

With the new year (2010) upon us tomorrow Friday January 1, 2010, this post from Seth Godin will give you something to ponder. Also, be sure to click on the link to the “I wrote this post” on his blog.

A friend worried out loud to me the other day, “I spent the last seven months doing this [job] and I have nothing to show for it. If I had known I would have spent seven months and gotten nothing, you can bet I would have done something a lot more fun.”

Ten years ago I wrote this post about the decade that ends today.
The oughts (the “uh-ohs”?) were a tough decade on a macro level. Front page news events will give the textbooks plenty to write about in the years to come.

But on a micro level, on a personal level, this was a decade filled with opportunity. The internet transformed our lives forever. Opportunities were created (and many were taken advantage of). And, like every decade, just about everyone missed it. Just about everyone hunkered down and did their job or did what they were told or did what they thought they were supposed to, and just about everyone got very little as a result.

Maybe ten years is too long a period of time to plan for. So how about seven?

Seven years from now, what will you have to show for what you’re doing right now?

If your answer is, “not much,” perhaps you should consider a new plan, one that might generate a different answer, or, at the very least, be a more fun way to waste seven years.

Thanks Seth for all the great posts in 2009. Looking forward to your new book. Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

The question is will you sieze the opportunity?!

Boomer 54 Mark

http://babyboomertalkonline.com/2009/seth-godin-7-years-from-now/

Blog title...

2009-12-31T07:03:00.001-08:00

Be nice to people on the way up because you might see them again on the way down.

Guy Kawasaki“ from the Seth Godin free ebook “What Matters Now“.

Guy Kawasaki’s is the author of 9 books including The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything

http://babyboomertalkonline.com/2009/guy-kawasaki-remember-your-friends/

John Maxwell-The Pessimist, Optimist, and Leader

2009-12-30T18:42:00.001-08:00

“The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.”

http://babyboomertalkonline.com/2009/john-maxwell-the-pessimist-optimistand-the-le/

Tom Peters-The 19 Es of Excellence from What Matters Most

2009-12-29T07:33:00.001-08:00

Seth Godin asked 70 writers the question “What Matters Most?” and he put a compendium together with these one page essays. And he put it in a free ebook.

I have chosen my favorite author pages and will sharing them with you. You can download the entire FREE ebook here.

Here is an excerpt from Tom Peters’ contribution located on page 20 of the book.

Excuberance …Vibrate—cause earthquakes

Execution…Do it! Now! Get it done!
Barriers are baloney! Excuses are for wimps! Accountability is gospel! Adhere to the Bill Parcells doctrine “Blame no one! Expect nothing! Do something!

Eudaimonia…Pursue the highest of human moral purpose–the core of Aristotle’s philosophy. Be of service.

If not EXCELLENCE, then what?

Tom Peters blogs at TomPeters.com. His new book The Little Big Things: 163 Ways To Pursue Excellence will be available March of 2010.

2009-12-24T09:07:00.001-08:00

5 smart things you can still do in 2009 by Copyblogger http://ping.fm/A4OXa

2009-12-24T09:04:00.001-08:00

Video Christmas eve surprise for a military family http://ping.fm/v6BcO

2009-12-21T18:34:00.001-08:00

Most people have the will to win by Bobby Knight, however...http://ping.fm/tMzgQ

2009-12-19T11:52:00.001-08:00

There are limitations to the the mind... http://ping.fm/SuIKz

2009-12-18T09:17:00.001-08:00

Generosity and the digital age by Seth Godin http://ping.fm/3v6V1

2009-12-17T09:30:00.001-08:00

Just posted 6 things not to do in conflict... http://ping.fm/fhMsx

2009-12-17T08:49:00.001-08:00

Don’t let the regrets of yesterday destroy... ://babyboomertalkonline.com/2009/regrets/

2009-12-15T17:21:00.001-08:00

Believe in yourself by Charlie Chaplin...http://ping.fm/AVj2C

2009-12-14T11:11:00.001-08:00

50 Ideas for using Twitter for using twitter for business. Chris Brogan http://ping.fm/6Kdyx

2009-12-14T10:10:00.001-08:00

How old would you be...If you did not know how old you were? Satchel Paige http://ping.fm/zaKst

2009-12-14T09:49:00.001-08:00

4 Quotes to Live by! http://ping.fm/PmE1b

2009-12-13T07:17:00.001-08:00

Top 100 Web Sites, Thanks Seth Godin. http://ping.fm/dm3TN

2009-12-11T09:20:00.001-08:00

The main thing is not how long you'r on the planet, but the quality you have while youre here. Clint Eastwood http://ping.fm/ssM3G

2009-12-10T14:29:00.001-08:00

Don't fight forces. Use them. Buckminister Fuller http://ping.fm/7wb4P

2009-12-09T10:16:00.001-08:00

4 Positive facts about the real estate market. But more pain coming?http://ping.fm/JXqBM

2009-12-08T10:22:00.001-08:00

Success comes to those who are success conscious. Failure comes to those.... Napoleon Hill http://ping.fm/IIQNg

2009-12-07T18:19:00.001-08:00

Someone is sitting the shade because someone planted a tree a long time ago. Warren Buffett http://ping.fm/hcfvp

2009-12-07T10:40:00.001-08:00

Whoops! incorrect link for making money with sponsored Tweets http://ping.fm/sPsds