Managing the Gray – Positive Advice That Everyone Can Use to Succeed

While touring through Canada for Content Rules I got asked by more than one person when you’d hear the next Managing the Gray so as soon as I had a free minute I sat down in my hotel room to record a quick one.

Inspired by spending the day shooting photos and a post from someone I respected, I felt it was time to talk about how we can learn from criticism and why we need it in our lives to be successful

Links to people, places and things mentioned on the show:

• Content Rules
• Kris Krüg – Social Media Documentarian
• Griffin iTalk App
• Joseph Thornley’s post on criticism
• My photos from Vancouver

Prepare for more from the road podcasts while I’m living on the road in the coming months.

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This morning I had a strange bit of serendipity happen between me and a couple of friends thousands of miles apart and I knew I had to discuss it on Managing the Gray.

As we get ready to flip the calendars to another year (and another decade) I think it is important that we not fear to ask our friends and connections to obtain our goals. Far to often we fear asking our closest friends for helps and we need to stop doing that if we are ever going to be successful.

Thank you to Tom Acousti and J.C. Hutchins for reminding me of that!

Links directly to items mentioned on the show:

• J.C. Hutchins’ post on Convergence
• Derek Sivers: Keep Your Goals to Yourself
• Content Rules
• New C.C. Chapman website

I hope everyone has happy and safe holiday season and see you in 2011!

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Fear is something that hits all of us from time to time and I thought it would make a great topic for Managing the Gray.

When I was asked to speak at Hook: The Presentation Conference I instantly got a little scared. As the week went on I realized lots of people are scared by lots of things. Heck, with Content Rules hitting shelves in a few weeks that has me scared as well. But, since I’m pushing past it I wanted to remind you that you can too.

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The rain may be falling and I may be coming off of a week long cold, but I’m still here recording a new episode of Managing the Gray.

Today we are focusing in on doubts and how to move forward past them. Sure, we all get down and question if we can do what we want to do. But, most of us also over analyze them and let the doubts stop us. I want you to really look at what the worse is that could happen and then move forward. We can’t let the doubts get in the way of success.

I’m speaking at the Inbound Marketing Summit this week and hope to see some of you there. Also, hoping you’ve ordered a copy of Content Rules already and if you haven’t please go out and buy a copy today. Thanks!

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A very special thanks to Francis Wooby and Adam Sell who each contributed an idea that lead to this episode of Managing the Gray.

As I type this, there are only 107 days left in 2010 and by the time you listen to it there might be less. So the question is, are you on track to reach all the goals you wanted to this year? If not, how do you decide which one(s) to focus on and go for. I’m betting most of you will follow your gut and pick the one(s) that you are most passionate about or believe you can achieve.

THAT is what we are talking about on today’s show and I hope I help motivate you in the right direction.

Also, I need your help to make one of my goals a success. I want to bring the Content Rules Book Tour to your city or town. I want to have international locations, small town visits and big city happenings all round this book. But, to do that I need your help. Think you can help? E-mail me so that we can discuss further because I’d love to take this to as many places as possible.

Thanks for listening and see you next time.

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Now that summer is done, I have the quiet house to jump back behind the microphone and record a new Managing the Gray for all of you.

I didn’t realize it was the 100th episode as I got ready to record today, but as you’ll hear it made my morning.

The focus of today’s show is around the concept that in order to be successful you must break your goals up into bite size chunks that you can check off much more quickly than the end goal. It works for me and it should work for you.

Links to things mentioned on the show today:

• Content Rules
• Digital Dads
• Digital Dads TV on The Pulse Network
• Me and my speaking
• Things
• FutureM

Thanks again for all the feedback and please e-mail me if you have a specific question

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I’ve had a post-it note on my desk for a couple of weeks now that said “Must discuss feeding the engine on Managing the Gray” that I scribbled down during a chat with Steve Coulson one day and I finally got a chance to sit down in a quiet house today and record this for you. Plus, I had some big announcements to share with you.

Links to things mentioned on the show today:

• I’m moving on
• Content Rules
• Campfire

Thanks again for all the feedback and please e-mail me if you have more. Looking forward to hearing what you’ve been doing to feed the engine and what your going to do in order to stop doing it so much!

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Another trend that I’ve been noticing lately is that many people are waiting for things to be perfect before pushing forward. This might be waiting for the perfectly designed website or fine tuning an article until it is perfect in the author’s opinion. You need to STOP IT!!!

Waiting to be perfect is getting in your way and that is what we talk about on today’s episode of Managing the Gray.

Links to things mentioned on the show today:

• Digital Dads
• Cast of Dads
• Marketing Over Coffee
• Christopher S. Penn
• Seth Godin on shipping
• Greg Verdino’s “Best” Post

So, now that you know it is ok not to wait for perfection what are you going to do? Don’t tell me about it until AFTER you’ve done it! Talking about doing stuff is not the same as doing it.

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Change is never an easy thing. Change is scary, unsettling and all around not fun to go through. But, life is full of change and each of us has to deal with it over and over and over again.

Today’s Managing the Gray focuses in on how while change is always going to happen, you have to be ready for it when it comes. No one else can help you or your company embrace change unless you are ready to change.

It beings with you and your team so start there and then we can talk about how to actually make the change happen.

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I get asked all the time how I find the time to do all the things I do and the answer is that I MAKE the time. You have to figure out what is the priority thing you want to get done. What can I do now that has to be done. Always be looking for ways to get more then one thing done at once. Finally never forget to make time for yourself. We too often forget that above all else.

So today on Managing the Gray I’ll remind you that it is up to YOU to make the time for what needs to get done and what you want to accomplish.

Other things mentioned on the show (books are affiliate links):

• Recent book review post
• A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
• Linchpin
• The Artist’s Way
• Do More Great Work
• Taking a day off

Consider signing up for my newsletter to stay up to date on m y latest projects. If you want to drink from a bigger fire hose then connect on Facebook or Twitter for the up to the minute happenings.

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The more I talk with people, the more I’m seeing some common stories coming up and one that is VERY common lately is that many people are not feeling fulfilled in their current situation and are searching for more, so I wanted to dedicate today’s Managing the Gray to that topic so people would realize they are not alone in this..

Other things mentioned on the show:

• 140 Conference NYC
• Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken
• Rework by Jason Fried (affiliate link)
• Campfire

There is so much going on in the world and I really want to help you out as much as possible. Feel free to e-mail me and we’ll see what we can do together to make things better. We can also connect on Facebook or Twitter until our paths cross next.

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I spent this past weekend with friends and some of the discussion turned to goals. Combine that with a listener question about how they could become a goal setting person and I thought this would be a perfect topic for today’s Managing the Gray .

Other things mentioned on the show:

• Chris Brogan talking goals
• Kickstarter
• Social Media Breakfast NH – April 16th
• 140 Conference NYC – April 20 & 21
• CMT Adventure Country
  

I hope you know by now, that I truly do want to help you achieve amazing things. If you ever want to chat or need a nudge please e-mail me. Does your business need a jolt of smart and strategic creativity? If so be sure to get in touch with us at Campfire because we’d love to do it for you.

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I keep watching as everyone I know keeps trying to do everything all on their own and I’m watching as people I love are starting to get burned out. So, today on Managing the Gray I wanted to focus on how we all need help to succeed. I discussed how I’m using Waveboard to connect with friends, the power of advisers and mastermind groups.

Other things mentioned on the show:

• Seth Godin’s: Maybe You Need New Friends
• Amber Naslund
• Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
• 140 Conference NYC
• The Audience Conference

I want to see you succeed and if there is ever a way that I can help you please let me know.

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It was late and rainy Monday night at SXSW and after getting a pile of work done I wanted to record a new Managing the Gray so I pulled out my iPhone and recorded this episode. Be warned that I sound wiped out for sure in this, but I hope the message comes through for all of you.

In the end, lots of people will always try to make their priorities be yours, but only YOU can determine what your priorities are. Never forget that and don’t be afraid to let other people know when appropriate.

The artist I mention during the show is Jeremy Steding if you want to find out more.

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Managing the Gray continues to be an outlet for me to constructively share what is on my mind and the recent wave of conversation online around charging for content and value is obviously on my mind because I sat down to discuss something else and started talking about this instead.

I talked about a bunch of different posts, topics and sites. Here they are so you can check them out.

• Third Tribe Marketing
• Chris Brogan’s post that started it all. His follow up is great as well.
• The Whuffie Factor
• J.C. Hutchin’s post
• My SXSW Profile
• Dan Patterson
• Jack Rice

Make sure you don’t miss an episode by subscribing in iTunes and I’d love for you to leave a review for the show. Thanks!

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February is here. The first month of 2010 is behind us, so it felt like the perfect time to check in with you on how your goals are going so far this year. Managing the Gray is here to help give you the kick when you need it in the right direction.

I referenced the Conan O’Brien farewell speech and if you haven’t seen it you can watch it here. Also, I mention my good buddy and super talented musician Matthew Ebel as well.

Also, I’d love you to learn more about Wediko since I’m passionate about getting the word out there about all the great things they do for children and families.

Welcome to all the new listeners. It is great to have you here. We hope you have subscribed in iTunes oand once you’ve listened to a few shows, we’d love for you to leave a review for the show. Thanks!

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A new year and a new decade is upon us and my plan is for Managing the Gray to help you not only get through the year, but prosper in it.

I’m not big on lists, but a listener asked what trends or predications I had for the new year. Rather then spouting off possibilities I’d rather focus on reality and when you listen to the show you can hear what I had to say.

After you listen to the show be sure to check out the new Lego Click site. It isn’t every day that an idea like that gets into my head so fast. I’m really curious to see how it goes for them and I guess I’m now part of it. The other sites I mentioned in reference to smaller networks were blippy and Blackbox Republic.

Also, my new podcast Cast of Dads is up to episode 5 and you can now subscribe in iTunes.

I mentioned on the show that I’m hoping to grow the audience this year so if you have a moment please subscribe in iTunes or leave a review for the show. Thanks!

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The holidays got in the way of getting this out as soon as I wanted to, but I’m excited to share with you an interview with my good friend and author Ron Ploof to discuss his new book Read This First: The Executive’s Guide to New Media-from Blogs to Social Networks.

Ron granted me the first interview about his book and any chance to catch up and chat with him is a good thing for me. I’m honored to call him a friend and am psyched for people to get out there and read this book because I think it is better then most of the ones I’ve seen and read about social media.

Listen to the episode to find out how you can win a copy to give to your boss or another executive that you think needs to understand this stuff better.

As always if you enjoyed what you heard, please subscribe in iTunes or leave a review for the show.

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I recently was asked to take part in the Rule 53 podcast. Rule 53 is a cross-generational podcast that  focuses on leadership, business, technology, and professional development.  Each episode features one twentysomething student or recent graduate and his or her experienced counterpart.  The goal is to help define “Rule 53″, a curriculum for tomorrow’s leaders ad change agents.

I am sharing this directly with the Managing the Gray feed because I was so excited about the concept of the show and how the interview turned out. Plus, how could I not when all three of us on the phone are Bentley University Falcons?

Listen, enjoy and if you like what you hear be sure to check out all the other great stuff going on at DartBoston.

As always if you enjoyed what you heard, please subscribe in iTunes or leave a review for the show.

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