How do we communicate in a social saturated world?

How do we communicate in a social saturated world? This is a question that has been waking me up in the middle of the night. From new social networks that pop up every day to the ability to syndicate everything you can think of, we are in a world that over simulates ADHD individual (like myself) to the point of not knowing which way to run to next. In my last post, over a month ago, I talked about what it means to be popular. My whole notion is to find out what is truly driving social media today and how we can not only embrace it but keep up with it.

In hopes of finding an answer to that questions I have jumped into the deep end of social media (at least I would like to think that I have) for the past 45 days, but I realize everyday that I wake up and once again I have barely scratched the surface. Right now I’m blogging, twittering, facebooking, networking on LinkedIn, and reading syndicated content from New York Times on the Gaza Strip and while doing so I’m realizing that I am completely disconnected from reality here in my own home with my own family. With that said, can you fully embrace the Web 2.0, as we call it, and not be swept away, consumed to the point of not living real life away from the computer. After 45 days I can’t imagine not having the ability to connect through my MacBook or iPhone throughout the day!

I would like to say the answer to this is yes, but it takes hard core dedication and someone with a good sense of time management. So if you are wondering, my New Years resolution is becoming an individual that is dedicated, hard core, to improving my time management. Here are three things that I am going to follow to see if I can adequately keep up with the Web 2.0 world and I will let you know how it goes:

1. Don’t Spread yourself to thin – I have dedicated myself to connecting on, no more than, five sites. This means being involved in conversations, posting blogs, and networking.

2. Don’t waste your time – I have set three time periods throughout my day for no more than 30 minutes to jump into my five sites. This will stop me from “checking in” throughout the day to see if anyone has responded to my words of wisdom. I realize that those comments will be there when I get to them.

3. Unplug – If I don’t learn how to unplug at some point throughout the day then I will either become jaded to the Web 2.0 world and resent it for the time it takes or will miss out on the natural joys of life right here in front of me.

In closing this post, I know that I have not answered the question that I posed at the beginning but I honestly don’t feel that I have found a legitimate answer as of yet. I do look forward to any comments that might arise from this and I do hope that I make the time to post more than once a month! I’m aiming for once a week so wish me luck!

-Coffey

What does it mean to be popular?

From the time most of us can remember, there has been this concept that is inherent in all of us.  That concept is the want and need for popularity. I don’t care who you are or what your walk of life is, there is something that drives you to be popular in one way or the other. If you take a second to look at the world around us, you can see it everywhere and it’s disguised in so many ways. Social Networking, marketing, sales, networking groups, chambers of commerce. All of these things highlight our desire to be known, our success is supported at times by our popularity.

As I’m sitting in Yellow Wood Cafe in in the East bay (one of the best coffee houses I have been to), I am thinking to myself… what do I want to be popular in? Or who do I want to be popular with? Well here is me putting all my cards on the table.  I want to be popular… I want to be known for helping others succeed as well as bringing companies together. I want to market myself by marketing everyone else! This thought has ignited a passion in me that has been dormant for years! This blog will be my journal, my story on achieving popularity by focusing first on others popularity. Once again, nothing new under the sun, but I can’t wait to see who is effected and how this might be able to encourage those that have been so jaded by the selfish populous that surrounds our daily lives.

How can I help you become popular?

What are you doing with your life?

In order to truly live, you must know what you are doing with your life. Lately I’ve been thinking about the lives that we live and realizing that most do not plan their lives. Of course we try, but when it comes down to it we have better plans for our businesses than we do for our lives. There is a popular argument that if you look too much to the future, you will lose sight of the here and now. I understand that thought but I propose this idea, do we even know where we would like to go in the future? Is your life consumed with work and just making ends meet? If that is the case for you, why? Free your self and take a moment to think about the passions that have been placed inside of you. Are you using the gifts that you have been given? My belief is that our lives are directed and will bring us all to a point where we will realize that there is more to life than today.

Think about that…. there is more to life than today. Now I’m not saying that you should not enjoy the here and now but I am warning you to not allow the here and now to pass you by without even noticing.

In 7 days I will be celebrating the 4th birthday of my new life with my beautiful wife. One thing that has been going through my mind is the fact that days, weeks, and months can go by so mindlessly. You get caught up in the day to day and let those special days disappear without warning. You lose your imagination, your dreams, and your love for joy. I have allowed this silent killer seep into my life a couple times and it’s hard to not let it just take over. My favorite quote is “Seize the Day”. Seize it, take hold of it, make every minute that you have better than the last. I encourage you to seize the day. If you are still reading this… stop. Go love your loved one and embrace the joy of life!

How do we slow down our lives?

This past week I had the great opportunity to spend some time with my grandmother. During our conversation she made the following statement, “I grew up in the best era”. When you really think about that statement you need to realize that she grew up in a time period where money was slim, luxury didn’t exist, and World War II was on the front page. Even with those things happening, she really did grow up in the best era.

In this day and age we are constantly going but feeling as if we didn’t accomplish enough. I can’t find the time to drive 5 minutes from my work to sit for 10 minutes with my grandmother to hear about the life that she has lived. By the time I get home I start to realize that I am spending more time with my co-workers than I am with the wife, whom I promised I would be with “until death do you part”. I’m quickly learning that we have so many things at our fingertips that are built to organize our life so that we can be more efficient with the minutes of our days, but we are then finding more things to take time away from the things that mean the most.

Even though this blog could be considered a waste of time… Laura and I hope that this will be a great way to keep all of our friends and family connected to our lives. We hope that those of you that read our post will also keep us informed with yours as well.

Right now Laura and I are in the middle of buying our FIRST HOUSE! We can’t believe that God has opened the doors and the house that we have been blessed with far exceeds our expectations! We can’t wait to get moved in and have you over! CLICK HERE to see our pictures of the house and let us know what you think!