Featured Articles

In the wake of SOBCon08, I’ve been exposed to many more great writers, and many more viewpoints on the craft of blogging. Even though I’ve been at this for over two and a half years, I was amazed by what I still didn’t know, or understand, when it came to putting content out there that was readable, compelling, and engaging.

Reading posts and advice from those who have “cracked the code” has led me to step back and reevaluate the three fundamental questions that I believe confronts everyone before they write their first post:

• Why am I doing this?
• And for whom am I doing it?
• How will I gain satisfaction from it?

Back in December 2005, when I set up Ramblings From a Glass Half Full as a lark, my answers to these questions were:

• For the fun of it
• Myself
• Getting things “on paper” that just needed to get out

That rationale served me well the first year or so, because I was essentially putting a hodgepodge of stuff out there about things that interested me and not necessarily needing much of an audience to read it.

I also was very curious about what others were doing with this medium, so I started reading a lot of other blogs, and commenting on them.

Then I discovered Technorati. And links. And “ranking”. The competitive spirit in me started to rise up, and the answers to the fundamental questions came dangerously close to changing to this:

• For a high ranking
• The people that will link to me
• From a high ranking

Fortunately, I never quite got to that point, but it did put what I was doing in a much broader context, and so I thought more about things like RSS feeds, blogging platforms and presentation, SEO, and social networking sites.

Once I corralled my competitiveness and vanity I made an important promise – that I would never post something because I felt I “had to”. And, more importantly, I got involved with Liz Strauss and SOBCon07, which put the relationship side of this form of communication front and center.

That put me about two years on, and the answers to the fundamental questions now looked like this:

• To share my learning and life experiences with other people
• Myself (and those who may be able to use it for their own benefit)
• Getting back what I give from my readers, and forming lasting friendships

I then changed my platform to WordPress, changed my look, and kept writing with my latest answers in mind. With my posting I was now much more focused on drawing responses and engaging in conversation, but I still was writing about a wide variety of topics (take a look at my categories and you’ll see what I mean).

Then came SOBCon08. This time around, I spent a lot more time with folks who did this for a living or as a centerpiece to a business, and did it very, very well. While I differed greatly from them in my current objectives , I couldn’t help but be mindful of the advice they were dispensing, particularly about maximizing a blog’s “reach”.

Which brought me back once again to those three fundamental questions. Now that I’ve experienced a great deal of the personal satisfaction that comes from the “getting back” and the many friends I have made, I find that I want more. I want to change “other people” in my “Why” answer to “as many people as possible”.

I feel like I’m at a crossroads. This blog has taken on a life of its own, and now I want to nurture it, feed it, and grow it even more – but I sense may I need to make an adjustment.

Since a lot of the advice I’ve seen suggests that a blog’s ultimate “reach” is tied to sticking to a specific niche or a theme, I’m debating whether I should tighten up my writing focus – just Personal Development? Just Business Commentary? Just Leadership Principles? Only Discourses on Half-Fullism? Eliminate the one-offs on my musical tastes? Or have more than one blog?

As my internal deliberations began I found one more piece of advice that suggested that if a blog really wanted to find out what was engaging its readers, then it would be well served to just go ahead and ask them. Now that initially spooked me – do I really want to find that out? But the more I thought about it (and “road tested” the idea with my Twitter friends – yet another interesting use for this service), the more I wanted to do it.

So, I’m going to take that advice, and turn to all of you. Join my debate. What content is bringing you here? What content would bring you back? Should I tighten my focus? Or keep doing what I’m doing?

Because I want to give you the best of what’s inside my head and my heart, knowing that the greatest rewards are in what you’ll give me back.

Let the conversation begin!

One of the great benefits of my day job is the chance to drive around the states of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. I have grown to very much appreciate the scenic beauty of this Rocky Mountain region, and have had many opportunities to capture this grandeur on film.

I finally had an opportunity to collate these images in a public place (Flickr), and am happy to share some (82) of them with all of you.

Here’s the link to the slide show:   Terry’s Rocky Mountain High

I hope these photos bring you some of the the joy and peace that these places have given to me over the past 6 years.

The earth is such a beautiful place. Enjoy!

A few years ago (pre-blogging) I really enjoyed reading the book “John Adams” by David McCullough, so it’s been no surprise that I’ve been enthralled by the HBO miniseries of the same name that is in the middle of its seven episode run.

The courage, intelligence, eloquence, and tenacity of Adams and our founding fathers was never so vividly illustrated than in the re-enactments that have been portrayed on the screen.

I have to admit I was nearly in tears watching the final deliberations over whether or not the colonies would declare independence, stirred by the passion for freedom and liberty but balanced by the fear of what was to come from their decision.

I was particularly impressed by Adams, who again and again would remind his fellow congress attendees that the facts were speaking for themselves - the British had already essentially declared war on the colonies by their words and actions against them. There was really no choice but to stand up to the tyranny and declare independence.

It wasn’t the first time Adams publicly convinced other people that facts should rule - in 1770 he conducted the defense of the British soldiers accused of murder in the Boston Massacre, an almost impossible task given the Bostonians’ hatred of British rule.

In his summation to the jury, he said this:

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

He won that case, by the power and persuasiveness of his words, and (of course), the facts.

What a valuable lesson to take from him - it can be applied to our world of business by this maxim - “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it“. That’s what I thought of after the impact of Adams’ words sunk in.

No matter how well we THINK things are going, or we HEAR things are going, if the facts say otherwise - the facts MUST rule. So we must generate the appropriate facts in our businesses that guide our decision making, and temper any feelings or emotions that may obfuscate those facts and put us down the wrong path.

Easier said than done, but if we can stick to our principles like John Adams did so well, we have nothing to worry about.

Take my advice and read the book and watch the miniseries - you will be enriched and inspired too!

Hi all - I’m still in the middle of a very slow recovery from a nasty flu bug, but I did want to pass along this exciting news - Liz Strauss, Blog Catalog and Chrisg have announced the SOBCon Authority Blogger contest.  What a list of prizes!

First, a $1000 budget to pay for SOBCon08 registration and travel expenses
which also includes:

• a copy of “ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income” by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett
• 60 attendees will get free design and SEO consults from Network Solutions experts.
• a $99 lifetime hosting offer from THC
• a pro account at E-Junkie
• a free subscription to Blogger & Podcaster Magazine and a chance to join their new USA Today guide
• a professional video interview on you and your biz for BlogTV sponsored by Fuel My Blog

But that’s not all!   The winner will also get:

• A hour of consulting with Chris Garrett, face-to-face if possible.
• The complete Authority Blogger online course when it launches.
• An introduction to all of the speakers at the event.

Here’s how to enter:

1. Write a blog post explaining why you’re the best candidate to be the next authority blogger. What you’ll add to the event, what you hope to learn from a personal consultancy with Chris Garrett and the wealth of great business bloggers in that weekend in Chicago. Be sure to write with authority. Tell your compelling story.
2. Have your post published by March 31st.
3. Leave a trackback to this post on Chrisg.comor a link in the comments, so that we know you’ve entered.
4. Your post can include pictures, but should be no longer than 1000 words.
5. Liz Strauss, and Chris Garrett will select the winner on 1st of April.
6. In the case of a draw a representative from Blog Catalog will have the deciding vote.
7. Yes registrants can enter!
   The winner will be selected based on the strength of the argument, the understanding of Chris’ meaning of Authority Blogger, and story of how attending SOBCon08 will contribute to their future.

Make sure you sign up for Chris’ Authority Blogger newsletter to be eligible for the full prize and to see all the competition announcements.

Good luck, and see you in Chicago.

Don’t forget to register soon!

Last week while I was on the road I finally got a chance to read the book “The 4-Hour Workweek“, by Timothy Ferriss (check it out here on my Amazon page).

I’ll be posting a full review of the book on March 10 on Joyful Jubilant Learning (bookmark it or subscribe now so you don’t miss it), but I wanted to raise a particular leadership point featured in the book today, because I believe in it so fervently.

I’ll put the point in my own words: “Empowerment Equals Leadership Freedom”

Or perhaps a more pointed subtitle, “Be an Enabler, Not a Disabler”

Ferriss talks about this in a quite different context than I would (he uses it as a means to a different end - stay tuned for the book review), but he makes a powerful case nonetheless for “pushing down” as much responsibility as possible. His key observation:

“It’s amazing how someone’s IQ seems to double as soon as you give them responsibility and indicate that you trust them”

Ah yes, trust. I’ve personally seen someone grow two inches taller upon my utterance of these magic words - “I trust you”.

It is a marvelously enabling string of words - and not without risk. It takes a good degree of courage to let something go, since as humans I think we have a tendency to be control freaks. I can personally attest it’s a pretty strong thing to resist.

But resist we must, because from a leadership perspective enabling reveals something else - our effectiveness in selecting and hiring teammates.

Because if we can’t entrust someone with proper responsibilities commensurate with the job description, we simply shouldn’t hire them. Having too many “disabled” teammates chains a leader to too much minutiae, and gives him or her much less freedom to do what leaders really should be doing - LEADING.

And that’s the kind of freedom that leads us to our own promised land of job fulfillment.

Ferriss included a great quote from Henry David Thoreau in his book that sums it all up very nicely:

“A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone”

So set them free, and find the richness in your leadership life.