It’s summer. It’s nice out. When all you want to is relax, how can you stay motivated?

For me, I draw two circles: Here and There.

Although I don’t put anything under Here, I do write big goals under There.

In between, I list building blocks that will get me from Here to There.

After all, there is only one letter between the two words. Thinking about how to get there is sort of like plugging two destinations into Google Maps and then choosing the route you want to go.

The good thing about Google is you get turn by turn directions and even an estimate on how long it will take to get there. What if you could do the same thing?

Here’s a post I found on Fast Company this morning that talks about 3 Motivational Mind Tricks To Power Progress.

It’s pretty simple, really. All you have to do is imagine.

Thanks to writer Janet Choi, Chief Creative Officer of iDoneThis, for these three mind tricks.

Motivation Mind Trick No. 1: Seeing progress boosts your performance

Motivation Mind Trick No. 2: Even the illusion of progress spurs motivation

Motivation Mind Trick No. 3: A lack of progress isn’t the end of the line

Tiny steps can lead to big leaps. See yourself or your work as bigger and better than it is at the moment. Imagine the shadow you cast being bigger, bolder and more significant.

What can you do today that will help you power progress?

Image: Barbara Rozgonyi, self shadow

How will organizations measure social media success in 2013? One answer is engagement.

“This year, realize that your greatest assets are both humility and aspiration. Your ability to see things differently will in fact drive you to do things differently. By applying a new philosophy and methodology to your digital approach will naturally make your business and your overall strategy…meaningful and social. This is after all, about experiences now more than ever.” Brian Solis

A new study based on a survey of 181 social marketers and digital strategists who represent agencies and brands sheds insights into how to market in 2013 and beyond. Produced by Brian Solis and the Pivot Conference team, the 2012-2013 “State of Social Marketing” report looks at how dramatically social media is transforming.

The State of Social Marketing Study Highlights

In 2011, 77% of brands believed they understood their social customers, yet only 35% did the work to better understand them.

In 2012, the number of businesses that had a clear picture of their social customers dropped to 62%.

In 2011 and 2012 businesses largely ignored their customer’s digital needs and actions with 53% and 54% respectively not attempting to explore the differences between what they think they want and what they really want.

Yet, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

For example, while engagement will measure success, most organizations still have not asked their customers this question: What is the greatest benefit you expect to receive from social media engagement with our organization?

How about you – do you know how your customers define social media benefits and expectations?

How may of these top 10 relate to your social customer community expectations?

The Top 10 Assumptions of Social Consumer Expectations

1. Exclusive content
2. Insight to make decisions (Moments of Truth)
3. Customer service
4. Be part of a community
5. Deals/Promotions
6. Learn about new products
7. Ability to provide feedback for improvement (Influence Loop)
8. Inclusive experience in social absent of websites
9. Loyalty/Rewards for engagement
10. Social commerce

To me, it’s interesting to see content #1 and commerce #10. How about you?

For more details and stats, here’s the 2013 Research Report: State of Social Media Marketing 2012-2013 

As a MacBook Pro and iPhone 5 owner, I’m always interested in what’s up next from Apple.

Today’s keynote from Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), June 10-14 in San Francisco, announced the latest in iOS and OS X design and development. As expected, Apple introduced iOS7. Watch the iOS7 video.

Want to compare developer announcements? Read the May 16 recap of the Google I/O Developer’s Conference.

Here’s a look at highlights from the WWDC opening keynote conference.

Apple WWDC Keynote Highlights

Many outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, live blogged WWDC coverage. Here are a few highlights from Jessica E. Lessin, WSJ’s Apple reporter.

Apple stores have 1 million visitors per day

App Store stats: 50 billion apps downloaded. 900,000 apps in the store; 375,000 iPad apps. (Android says it has 975,000).

Mavericks Mac Software

New Mavericks Mac software has better battery life. Faster to shake from standby. Mavericks is 1.5x faster waking up from standby from the previous release, for example.

A neat calendar and maps integration — you can look up travel times between two locations on your calendar — and adds travel time to your calendar so you don’t schedule anything. (Nice competition to Google Now, which tells you when you should leave for an appointment)

To sum up on Mavericks: It is about integration across devices. Notifications, books, maps available across devices. Preview available today. General public can get it “this fall.”

Read the OS X Mavericks with more than 200 new features press release.

Major New iOS7 Features

Venture Beat covered Apple’s mobile operating system of the future’s key features. Here are a few.

• Control Center
Quick access to major controls like volume, Bluetooth, etc.
• Multitasking
Now for all apps, with intelligent background updating when needed
• Safari
A new full-screen look, smart search that unifies Google search and your history search.
• Control Center
• AirDrop: the ”easiest way to share with the people who are right around you.”
• Photos
A new photo app with new filters. Also, new auto-organized photos by date, place, and people, and new shared photo streams.
• Siri
New look, new voice (a male voice), and much more intelligence to control your device. Integration of Twitter, Wikipedia, and web search results from Bing (not Google!).
• iOS in the car
Your iOS interface on your car’s navigation screen with partnership with over ten manufacturers.

iTunes Radio Launches

According to CNET, iTunes Radio, Apple’s long awaited music streaming service takes on everyone from Pandora to Google.

After more than a year of negotiations with the music labels and publishers, Apple Monday unveiled its much-talked about free, streaming radio service — called iTunes Radio — at WWDC in San Francisco. The service is ad-supported, although it will be ad-free to people who use iTunes Match. It will come built into iOS 7, the iPhone, iPod Touch, Apple TV and iTunes on Macs and PCs. It comes with 100 stations built by the music team at Apple, and users can follow music that’s trending on Twitter.

 What announcement stands out most for you?

As measured by Topsy, there are now more Vine shares than Instagram shares on Twitter. Vines are six second stop motion [if you like] videos. Download the Vine app for iPhone or Android.

WebProNews breaks down the numbers on how vine shares top instagram shares on twitter:
On Friday, 2.5 million links to vine.co were shared on Twitter, compared to approximately 2.2 million links to instagram.com. Over the past few days, Vine shares have remained more frequent than Instagram shares.

We’d love to see your Vines – inviting you to share links in the comments section.

At Topsy, you can view a list of top Instagram and Vine shares like this one: Dick Van Dyke dancing with penguins from Mary Poppins with a Soulja Boy soundtrack vine.

[Personal Note: Dick is also a Danville High School alum. Here's a post I wrote about going back to visit DHS in Danville.]

For what’s happening with brands and vines, check out vines of the Week from Marketingland.com like Target’s Summer Up vine.

Planning a summer getaway? Check out how Jack Dorsey vined his trip up the Bay Bridge.

How do you use Vine in your marketing – or your personal – sharing?

When I first clicked into the Google I/O Developers Conference keynote, I didn’t expect to be glued to my computer screen for three hours. A day later, I’m still checking in to follow along.

As Time said, “Google I/O 2013 Is All About Cleaning Up the Mess and Filling In the Gaps.”

If your’re looking for an all-in-one guide, you’ll want to review this handy list of everything announced at the Google I/O 2013 keynote. To make it more relevant , here are five ways the news impacts marketing and PR people.

What Google I/O Developers Conference Means to Marketing and PR aka People Like Us

1. Get into Google Plus as a Serious Social Channel 

Google Plus got 41 updates, including a new feature dubbed “Related hashtags” that analyzes the content of a post and then suggests hashtags.

Get used to it – Google Plus is here to stay.

If you’re not there yet, check in at least a few times a week. You can see what’s trending and what’s hot in your circles and communities.

Step outside of your comfort zone and hangout with clients or even your team. Interacting on video is a lot more fun than sitting in a conference room – and now you can hangout via a mobile app.

2. Picture It This Way

More than ever before, images are becoming all powerful.

Yes, yes, yes we all LOVE words, copy and design.

But. . . it’s the snapshot that grabs the attention.

And. . . Google’s Auto Awesome editor makes your pictures sexier, warmer and even wigglier.

The editor’s built in so even if you’re not a huge Google Plus fan, you might love turning images into animated .gifs.

Pro photographers will not be impressed. If you use Instagram, you might like their filters more – and that’s okay. But do check out Auto Awesome.

3. Search is Getting More Conversational – on Your Desktop

If you have an iPhone, you know Siri.

Since Siri seems to only knows about Yelp, we advise our clients to set up a page so she can find them.

We’re thinking that Google’s conversation search will use a bigger engine, but it’s still good to know what your customers ask for when they’re looking for you. You can bring their language back in as keywords.

Here’s how to test out Google Chrome conversation search with “hotwording” on your desktop.

4. Consider Going Bi-platform

If you’re all Apple all the time – you know who you are and I am one of you – you’re missing out on Google’s integration across mobile, tablet and PC.

Because everyone I collaborate with runs on Apple, I rely on my son, a soon to graduate high school senior and Android fan, to be my Google Play guide.

While his take is more from a gaming and social perspective, not a business functionality side, it’s interesting to see how apps and devices differ.

Since he never reads my blog, I think it’s okay to disclose that he’s probably getting a Chromebook for high school graduation. And, Mom may be getting one, too.

5. Think of Yourself as a Developer

I must admit I felt a little out of place when I first started watching this conference.

But, when I started thinking about myself as someone who develops things, I began to appreciate the concept and the approach.

And that’s when I sent an email to WDCB letting them know I’d like to talk about my take.

For more about what I had to say about the Google I/O keynote, here’s my interview with Gary Zidek of WDCB Public Radio at College of DuPage.

What are you developing that the world needs to know about?

Looking for some inspiration? Here’s where web design and customer experience interface going >> Check out the Google I/O Developers Site.