My Annual Review process is similar to Chris’ (and others) in many ways, but drastically different in others.  For instance, any goal setting I do is for, at the most, two years out — I don’t believe five year and ten years goals accomplish anything.  It follows the principals of kaizen, in which small steps make the difference.  To me, smaller is better.  (Another interesting theory is the idea of living with no goals.  I don’t subscribe to that, but it’s a building movement.)

So in December 2011 I got ready for my Annual Review.  I bought my new notebook.  I labeled it “2012″ on the cover, and on the inside cover added my regular “If you find this I assure you it is of no value to you but it means everything to me.  Email me at jasonkallsen@gmail.com and I’ll not only give you a reward but will take you out for a great dinner with good wine poured in your glass endlessly for the whole evening, followed by a limo ride back home.” I figure that’s a good insurance policy should I leave my notebook at Starbucks.

Then I opened to the first page, titled the page “Looking back on 2011″ and …  froze up.

My desire to write about the past year wasn’t there.  There was nothing, no reflex to cause me to think about the past and plan the future.  No spark.  No energy.  I didn’t want to do it.  So I put the notebook away thinking it just wasn’t the right day.  But over the next three weeks, every time I opened the notebook the same thing happened.  My job during the day is creative, and I was doing good work, so I knew I wasn’t in an unproductive funk.  What was happening?

Then the realization hit.

2011 was a year unlike any other for me, and it was far too complicated to graph out and put a microscope to.  I realized I only wanted to look forward.  Period.  No reflection.  No analysis.  No looking back.

So instead I thought of ‘directions’ for the new year. These aren’t resolutions, they are simply nudges toward who I want to be for the next 350 or so days.   And the moment I thought of these, I decided my Annual (non) Review was done.  I can always return to analysis next year.

***

MY DIRECTIONS FOR 2012

1) Take more time to walk and breathe fresh air and look up.

2) Take more time to play whatever games my son wants to play with me.

3) As much as I love great food at great restaurants, spend more time at home slowly learning to do it myself, with my wife and son nearby.

4) Embrace creative outlets for my mind more often. Write more. Photograph more. Maybe even learn to play a guitar or paint.

5) Work hard and with passion in my job that I love, knowing I’m surrounded by the right people.

6) Don’t do things that I know deep down I don’t want to do.

7) Smile and laugh. Lots.

8) Trust.

9) When faced with options for a vacation always chose the one that involves tents and campfires.

10) Listen more. Listen better.

Enough said.  Onward to a great 2012!

The power of Twitter lies in the consistency of presence … and presence does not need to be a constant stream of new content.  It can be re-tweets, small commentary, and links to cool pages.

Like brushing your teeth, it’s simply a habit to form.  And like brushing your teeth once you get in the habit, if you ignore it for too long you start to feel strange.

How often should one be on Twitter?  There is no right answer.  It has everything to do with who you are, what you are saying, and how much you want to put into it.  However, here are some guidelines that I suggest:

• Hop onto Twitter in micro-bursts.  Jump in for five to fifteen minutes at a time, see what’s going on, retweet good content, and post some thoughts.
• Use these micro-bursts to stay connected in your network but not control your networking.  In other words, make use of the passive nature of Twitter effectively (“window shopping with commentary”).  Personally, I aim for one to four “bursts” a day.
• Be cognizant of when people you want to communicate with tend to be on Twitter.  There are many studies done to this effect, but roughly if you are using Twitter for business the early morning through afternoon shows more activity; if you are using it socially late afternoon to the evening tends to see more action. Mainly, don’t think micro-bursting at 2am is a good idea unless you’re bar-hopping.
• Realize that Twitter is an amazing source of chatter from a chosen group — the people you chose to follow.  Make use of it.
• Never forget: Anybody who tweets anything does it because they want to be heard.  If you show them you’re listening, your connection just grew stronger.

This is pretty powerful stuff (especially when presented in Seth’s straight-to-the-point style).  When you are spending your time and energy only on projects that other people can check off a list, are you truly living for yourself?  The answer is not black and white, in my opinion, because fulfilling work can be done on somebody else’s clock (and checkbook!), but what matters is the attitude you have going into it.  In other words, the bigger picture.

The best way to organize the big picture is a personal manifesto.  A series of non-negotiable tenants that are held in the highest regard in your personal life.  Without knowing it, most of us have a personal manifesto, but putting pen to paper (or fingertips to keys) is an excellent exercise.

A manifesto can take the role of a very public statement.  Chris Guillebeau kicked off Art of Non-Conformity with his Brief Guide to World Domination, which has served him as blueprint for his website, life, and business model.  This has been a great ‘foundation’ piece that new readers can get to know him with, he can go back to for ‘focus’, and people like me can send others to for inspiration.  Powerful stuff.

In a small business model a manifesto can work magic that a ‘mission statement’ cannot.  (Am I the only one who hates the term ‘mission statement’ with a passion?  Often when I hear that term, or read the statements themselves, I get a strange feeling that somebody is trying to pull one over on me — like a politician who’s teeth are just a little too white and who likes to talk about himself a bit too much.  I find manifestos to be pointed and directed, a checklist of positions rather than a glorious flowering field of vision.  It’s much more realistic.)  My favorite is from wine importer Terry Theise, who started his importing business twenty years ago with impossibly difficult wines to sell: obscure tiny German producers.  He begins his catalog with a clear manifesto:

Beauty is more important than impact.

Harmony is more important than intensity.

The whole of any wine must always be more than the sum of its parts.

Distinctiveness is more important than conventional prettiness.

Soul is more important than anything, and soul is expressed as a trinity of
family, soil and artisanality.

Lots of wines, many of them good wines, let you taste the noise. But only the
best let you taste the silence.

Now THAT is a manifesto, for it brings up ideas that intrigue and compel and force decisions.  It’s a manifesto that brings people into your tribe as well as keeping those that won’t understand you far awy.  A well composed manifesto will serve as a form of vetting for those that wish to follow you or do business with you.

Personal and micro business manifestos are important.  You should start to work on them NOW, for they don’t just drop from the sky … the best manifestos are written and re-written while being polished and honed over many days, weeks, or months.  But the most important thing is when you are done with your manifesto, publish it.  Put it out there.  Turn it into a deliverable that you use to define your world.  And read it often.

For the visually oriented, check out a simple Google image search on “Manifesto” for great inspiration.

But once the holiday is over, we return to our normal selves.  Or do we?

It’s amazing how many different personality traits we often exhibit depending on who we are interacting with.  For some, every day is Halloween (especially in subtle ways).

Do you find yourself saying things or acting a certain way only when your boss is nearby?

Do you straighten up and become more focused only in the presence of particular people?

Have you decided that certain individuals are either more powerful/creative/funny/engaging than you, so you shut down when you’re near them?

What would happen, if starting tomorrow, you took off all the costumes (both mental and physical).  Who would you be?  Yourself?

I completely disagree.

The reason is clear: ownership.  If you have an email list, you own that list (and you better be using an email service like Mailchimp or Aweber to be sending your messages!).  An email list can be curated, controlled, built up over time, but can’t be taken away from you forcefully unless you use it for spamming. Your Facebook Friends or Twitter followers?  Look in the fine print of the Facebook and Twitter rules of service and you’ll discover something I doubt you’ve thought about: you don’t own anything.  You don’t own your lists, your friends, your tweets, your posts, your maps, your identity.  Even your photos are in a grey zone … in order to publish them to the web you first have to release some control.

To Twitter and Facebook you are, honestly, simply ones and zeros.  And if Twitter or Facebook crash and burn in a blaze of glory?  Bye bye to your communication with customers.

Am I telling you to not use them?  Of course not.  But here is the goal, and always focus on it: in the end, the top level of trusted communication is an individual willingly signing up for direct email communication from you.  So make it special.  The burden is on you, but the burden will make you better.

Think about it: your email list is full of people that have given you permission to send them stuff.  Twitter is not … twitter is full of people that have chosen to keep an eye on you. If you put out good info and links and become a resource they will look actively for your tweets.  Facebook is full of people that have expressed they “Like you.”  That’s nice.  They like you.  It’s a good step.  But do you truly have their attention?  A Facebook wall post is often scanned and scrolled past.  If they click on it, that’s great.  But always offer more if they take one more step: join the email list.

What to offer to email subscribers? Exclusive content, special ‘insider’ info, even something simple like a free beautiful photo or a poem or an idea once a month is enough to bring most people to sign up.

They simply have to know they are getting a bit more than the run of the mill ‘follower’.  It’s as simple as that.

Gathering at our friend Joe’s house (on a perfect evening, spending most of the time on the back patio) we proceeded to taste nearly two dozen wines that rank as some of the best of the best, period.  I know far fancier and “name brand” wine tastings happen all the time, but this particular one was a great mix of old and new, well known and unknown, and the occasional “cult” wine that is rarely seen much less tasted.  (A sidebar on the evening can be found at my friend Bill’s site decant-this.com.)

I was overwhelmed with the greatness of the wines, which led to an interesting thought: when presented with that much greatness, one after another, do they dilute the integrity and power of each-other?

It’s a question I often ask myself at conferences, think-tank gatherings (WDS2010 would be a good example) or great music festivals (SxSW).  How can something or someone powerful, detailed, wonderful, and nearly perfect show best amongst powerful, detailed, wonderful, and nearly perfect peers?

It’s a fascinating question with no easy answers.  Do you look for similarities or differences?  When you go to a music festival are you comparing the acts or letting each exist on its own?  Is there a standard by which things like art/wine/literature should be judged?  What do you think?

***

PS:  For those interested in wine, here is the partial list of what we enjoyed:

1. 2008 Aubert Carneros Chardonnay (Hyde Vineyard)
2. 2008 Nicolas Joly “Les Clos Sacres” Savennieres
3. n/v Henriot “Souverain” Champagne
4. 2006 Dr. Loosen Bernkasteler Lay Riesling Kabinett
5. 2003 Domdechant Werener Hochheim Domdechaney, Rheingau
6. 2007 Jakob Schneider Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Spatlese
7. 2005 Aston Estates Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast (I loved this wine)
8. 2006 Selvapiana “Bucerchiale” Chianti Rufina Riserva
9. 2005 Carlisle Zinfandel “Gold Mine Ranch” Dry Creek Valley (unfortunately, slightly corked)
10. 2006 Carlisle Zinfandel “Gold Mine Ranch” Dry Creek Valley
11. 2003 Domaine la Barroche Chateauneuf du Pape
12. 2006 Pax Syrah Alder Springs Vineyard, Mendocino
13. 2006 Pax Syrah Mellessen Vineyard, Green Valley, Russian River Valley (interesting having two AVA’s on the label)
14. 2004 Mauro Terreus, Spain
15. 2003 Clos Mogador, Priorat, Spain
16. 2006 Turley Zinfandel Hayne Vineyard, Napa Valley
17. 2005 Pax Alder Springs Cuvee, Alder Springs Vineyard, Mendocino
18. 2002 Gibson Shiraz, Barossa Valley, Australia
19. 1980 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley
20. 1980 St. Clement Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
21. 1990 Heitz Trailside Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (my wine of the night)
22. 2003 Ridge Monte Bello
23. 1995 Ridge Monte Bello
24. 2004 Pine Ridge Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon
25. …. and after I left they popped some Chateau D’Yquem.  I’ll never the first to leave again!

I first met Laura Roeder at the World Domination Summit 2011 last June.  I happened into her presentation on how to “Not do everything yourself” and I’ve been a fan ever since.  Not only is her style and message clear as a summer day, but what struck me was just how distilled the information presented was.

Here is what I mean by that: many social media gurus today apply what I call the “handful of darts” method — they throw an enormous amount of information at the audience and hope that something hits the bullseye.  Laura does the opposite.  She throws one dart at a time and very carefully makes damn sure it hits the target.  But what is really cool about Laura is that she’s carrying a mini-arsenal of hyper-accurate darts at all times, based on her success in unlocking Twitter, Facebook, and other forms of communication.

Recently, I sat through one of her webinars on the power of LinkedIn.  As somebody who just heard another social guru say “I don’t find much future or power in the LinkedIn platform” I went into it with skepticism.  I left changed, with three pages of notes and a sore wrist.

But the best thing about Laura, and a model to study and follow, is her information funnel.  Sign up for her mailing list and you’ll notice some pretty amazing things happening:

• Clear information presented in concise packets, rather than rambling emails that simply say “click here for more”.  Her autoresponder emails that trickle in after signing up are some of the best I’ve ever read.
• A call to action with every communication.  There is no way to read one of her emails without being compelled (or at least asked) to do something.  This is the downfall for many email campaigns.  You have to ask something of the people receiving the info — otherwise it’s just spam.
• Her personal writing style is fun.  Laura doesn’t heavily edit for slang or syntax and she stays far away from ‘business speak’.  A refreshing style.  The first word on her homepage is “Wanna…”
• and finally one of my favorite parts of her business model: complete transparency.  In interviews she talks about how many clients she has, how many sales dollars are generated, percentages of growth, and best of all how she does it.  In various webinars she has been clear and candid about the programs and tools she uses and how she runs her business.  She is clear believer that the pie is always growing, rather than having to protect your slice.  I like that.

At her presentation at WDS, she talked about Sir Richard Branson and some advice she got from him: “Always try to work yourself out of a job.”  In other words, try to figure out systems that will allow the work you started with to transfer to others over time.  The next great challenge is where the fun is.  The other great quote from her WDS presentation was crystal clear: “Be a mentor, not a boss.”  Great advice for everybody.

Links to read about and follow Laura Roeder:
Her main page: lauraroeder.com

A great blog post attached to a webinar with Derek Halpern of Social Triggers on “Small tweaks to bump up your opt in rate.”

A profile on shebrand.com where she reveals her love of Trader Joe’s Mac and Cheese (I fully agree)

Laura Roeder’s Twitter account @lkr – she was an early adopter and snagged a super rare three character name!

“The Dash” (her newsletter) on Facebook

Or we go on a tour of open artists’ studios, and we walk into a creative den with canvases stacked against the walls and the artist greeting people and playing music off vinyl records.  They are doing only what they love to do.  We want to grab that energy.  (Artists take note — this is the primary reason why the public loves open studio tours.  They are living vicariously.)

Or we have dreams of being a writer, of waking early in the morning and making coffee, walking into our writing den (complete with a cool old desk, a funky art deco lamp, and stacks of paper) and composing the next great American masterpiece.  Reading “The Letters of E.B. White” I can’t help but imagine him sitting in his writing shack in Maine, quietly laughing to himself while hammering away at the typewriter.

We love artists, and we are jealous of them for two reasons: they live their life doing what they want to do without permission or apology, and their career creates legacy projects naturally.

Living without permission or apology for your actions is possible; we can all live fuller lives than we probably do.  Even if you are chained to a desk (for now) find an outlet that allows you to creatively do whatever the hell you want to do.  A painting class, doing more personal writing, visiting museums more often, taking the camera around town on a daily mission to make one great photo, etc.

The idea of a ‘legacy project’ is something Chris Guillebeau has written about, and it’s something that most of us at some lizard brain level crave.  We want to not only look back at past work but compare it to current work.  We want to know we are leaving something good behind after we are gone.  When you hear a live performance from a great musical artist that is getting up in years, this is what we are connecting with.  (Last month I got to experience the ultimate example of this, seeing Paul McCartney live at Wrigley Field with my wife and son.  Listen to him sing the songs written nearly fifty years ago was pretty much the ultimate legacy experience.)  Starting your own legacy project is easy now that we have blogging technology at our fingertips.  This also accounts for the rise of Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, and other platforms … we like to look back at what we have done.  The power of a ‘life archive’ is monumental.

***

Here is the rub: all of us can live this “artists’ life” right now.  No matter what you do, start to take steps into a world of independent thinking and possibility.  Find creative outlets within your job.  Aim to find work and projects that allow you independence and creativity, even if it doesn’t pay as much.  And if you are stuck in a job in which there is no possibility of this, then start to make plans for how to change your life.

There are many starving artists out there, but I rarely meet one that would trade their lives with other people.  John T. Unger said it best: “A subsistence job wouldn’t make things better, it would just keep me alive and pissed off.”

I’ve become, in the last couple of years, a great waster of time.  But I didn’t see the extent of it until Ryan’s quip hit me in the gut.

For example, in the last two weeks I’ve had a tsunami of ideas on a new business (yet another one) that would package up for individuals and small businesses a social media ‘toolbox’ and help them discover the world of Social in the right way.  A solid idea, done by many.  So what’s the first thing I did?  Instead of working hard on how my program would be different, I wasted about four hours brainstorming names for the business, checking and re-checking URL availability, twitter names, competitor’s names, and more.  When I found one that fit, I wasted another four hours dreaming up logos and business card designs and more.  Then I wasted another day trashing my previous day’s work, and starting over and re-doing the whole process.

You know I could have been doing instead?  I could have been building a deliverable that would actually do what I wanted it to do, in addition to getting my name and ideas into the world instead of living on my self-created island.

Wasting time is a slippery slope, and one of the biggest takeaways from Chris Guillebeau’s World Domination Summit in June was listening to Jonathan Fields preview the ideas in his forthcoming book, Uncertainty.  He said things that scared me, pissed me off, and intrigued me all at the same time (that’s a grand trifecta of emotions, and when you feel something like that, take notice!).  Mainly, when you feel the push back, or you see the quick escape route, or hear the threat, or the dark forces, or whatever you want to call it, it’s your internal fear trying to keep you safe, even when being safe will mean the same old status quo for the rest of your life.  He used the analogy of hearing the roar coming from a dark cave — our lizard brains, our old caveman ancestor, learned to avoid the cave to stay alive.  Instead we need to learn to go into the cave.  Scary shit, but it works.

My personal form of ‘avoiding the cave’ is endless thinking and busy work around new ideas, rather than rolling up my sleeves, pouring a cup of coffee, and getting to work on something tangible.  So starting now things have to change for me, and that is my goal for the next six weeks.  To be specific:

• Define what jasonkallsen.com is and is not.  Actually, scratch that.  That’s busy work.  It will define itself!
• Produce a comprehensive ‘toolbox’ that will help individuals and small businesses understand Social Media
• Use myself as the test market for this toolbox, along with a half dozen volunteers that I’ll find (let me know if you’re interested)
• Present some local programs, for free, to people that want to learn these tools (in other words, get me out of the house)
• Start commenting more often on the sites that I follow and love, hopefully bringing some of that mojo back to this page

If you have wasted time in the past, avoiding the hard work of making the tangible item, then welcome to my club.  I’m curious — who else is willing to admit and share a story?

This is endemic in the corporate world, where the idea that filling a nine hour day with work is defined as doing good work.  It would be so nice if more employers worked on project completion and re-use metrics rather than hours worked.  Only basing ‘productivity’ on hours worked enforces the idea of wasting time.

So here’s a potential new way to look at all work and projects you do: can you get nine lives out of it?  Call it the nine lives theory.

Can you take the effort and creativity and energy you put into a deliverable, and reuse that work nine times with minimal or no re-tooling?

The beautiful thing is this: going into the project,  you don’t need to know what those nine uses are going to be.  The key is to keep the life expectancy of the work in mind during the creation of it.  This will help ensure that your efforts and energy are not disposable but rather scalable.