Today is Saturday, July 04th, 2009

All Posts Tagged With: "SOBCon08"

Good Advice Hiding in Plain Sight

In the last several months I’ve spent very little time in my office - I travel quite a bit to begin with, plus there were numerous other excursions for personal and professional reasons, including one to Chicago in May for SOBCon08.

As someone who has worked for the same company for 14 years, my workspace is really my second home, with many knicknacks, books, pictures, plaques, art prints, posters, and (mostly) piles of paper. It’s a comfortable place I often take for granted, rarely actually looking around at the accumulation of “stuff” and all the memories and lessons that they represent.

Most of the time I’m “thinking forward”, trying to stay a few steps ahead in my business, and operating what I call the “mental vacuum cleaner”, reading and scanning for new learning and personal development opportunities.

I surmise this is a pretty natural thing for most people to do, especially in a world where new information and learning is so readily available (thanks to the Internet and E-mail).

So it was a pleasant surprise to rediscover a lesson this morning just by looking six inches below my computer monitor. For whatever reason today my eyes wandered a bit below my e-mails and Twitters and saw that there were 5 small pieces of metal arranged on the monitor stand.

These metal pieces have been there for over 5 years - they were given to me by a dear friend when I was at one of my career crossroads. I hadn’t really looked at them (or absorbed their content) for that long, even though they were hiding in plain sight.

What did these things say? Each piece had a number and a lesson.

Free Your Mind From Hatred
Free Your Mind From Worries
Live Simply
Give More
Expect Less

After I re-read these lessons, I couldn’t help but smile. I couldn’t think of a better way of describing how I wanted to live my life of “Half-Fullism”, and it was right in front of me for all those years.

I’m leaving those metal pieces in place (of course I made sure they were all nicely lined up and in order) in the hope I’ll refer to them a little bit sooner next time.

I write about this today because this is a great take-away for all of us. While we always want to learn and experience new things, we shouldn’t forget about the key lessons we’ve picked up in the past, especially the ones our “past selves” have put on display, hiding in plain sight.

We did that for a reason. Sometimes we forget that reason. Next time you are in one of those “comfortable places” like my office, take a look around and re-familiarize yourself with your past learnings. Like me, I bet you’ll be glad you did!

“We’ve Got the Dreamers Disease”: Reflections on SOBCon08

May 5th, 2008 • Starbucker • 34 comments • Click to view Related Articles
Filed Under: SOBCon

It happened on the plane over to Chicago.

The excitement, the anticipation, and the nervousness over what was about to come.

SOBCon08. Showtime!

Like last year, I had fears that people wouldn’t come, the facility would be bad, the food would stink, and I would make a fool of myself at the podium.

Liz Strauss had put SO much work into this (if you all only knew) - I couldn’t let her down. She has always been the kind of partner you just never wanted to let down, because of what she gave - and gave, and gave.

The good news was, I knew how to quell those bad thoughts. Yep, the trusty iPod. iPod always knows what is good for me - it has a 6th sense (thank you Steve Jobs).

I clamped on my headphones, put iPod on shuffle, and let ‘er rip.

It did not disappoint me. Right out of the box it played “You Get What You Give” by the New Radicals, which just happens to be one of my favorite songs of all time.

Why? Because of a beat and melody you just can’t shake, and lyrics that hit me in the heart, right from the very first line:

“Wake up kids. We’ve got the dreamers disease”

I love that line. It’s a call to action. It was calling me to action. Forget about all that fear stuff - we are going to make everyone’s SOBCon08 dream come true!

My feelings immediately became lighter - now buoyant in the anticipation of what was to come. Then I heard the chorus:

But when the night is falling
And you cannot find the light
If you feel your dream is dying
Hold tight
You’ve got the music in you
Don’t let go
You’ve got the music in you
One dance left
This world is gonna pull through
Don’t give up
You’ve got a reason to live
Can’t forget you only get what you give

My eyes were welling up with tears - happy ones. I was about to spend three days with people like me, people with the same “dreamers disease” - and a bunch of givers to boot.

Then I realized that if Liz and I gave the best conference we could put on, what we’d get would be incalculable and indescribable.

I came to Chicago on a wonderful high, spurred on by a musical marker.

And then the smiling, and warmth, and giving, and learning began, from the very minute I picked up Chris Garrett from the airport on Thursday.

It went on for 72 hours straight - as many

hugs, smiles, photos

thank yous, laughs, Twitters,

“ah-has“, “wows“,

“you rocks!”, “I didn’t know thats“,

“why is there so many men with facial hairs“,

debates about the best music decade (I voted the 70’s),

interesting attempts at karaoke by the MC (”Sexy Back”, of all things) and by Starbucker and Brogan on the streets of Chicago (a rockin’ “Bohemian Rhapsody”),

“the food is pretty darn goods“,

“the speakers were awesomes“,

“I love yous”

and finally, tears (and hugs again)

as one could ever experience in that short of a time.

We even created (or should I say Melissa created and we endorsed) a new word - “vulnerablogity”

We put ourselves way, way out there - we gave ourselves up to the moments. Which was because, as Chris Cree said on Sunday, “we all have value - each of us has something to offer”.

And there were thousands of things offered, all moments to savor. I can’t even begin to list all of them.

By Sunday morning, the word “trust” was mentioned again and again - our hearts were clearly showing. There was no “strutting” going on (thanks for that word Tammy).

We didn’t want it to end. I didn’t want it to end. But it had to.

There was really no doubt about the words I wanted to use to close the conference (before Liz brought the house down). I had to bring this full circle.

I read the chorus of “You Get What You Give”.

Yes, we had the Dreamers Disease. We got what we gave, alright - and then some.

It all tells me, and all of us, that we must continue to dream, and dream big, and not let them go. Be fearless, and open, and giving - all the time. Nothing is beyond our grasp. After all, who would have thought a small little Open Comment idea would turn into this?

And oh yea, I should keep blogging too.

To those who attended, or twitted, or watched the video feed, or submitted slides, or gave us positive vibes because they couldn’t go, I sincerely thank you all. You have enriched my life in ways I never thought possible.

Here’s the list of attendees