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08-15-11

how to change the world using social networking

“YES WE CAN”…an inspi­ra­tional slo­gan from the 2008 Obama cam­paign that inspired mil­lions and put Obama into the pres­i­den­tial office. The Mil­len­nial gen­er­a­tion (those born 1980–2000) is defined by a few key ele­ments, one of which is the indi­vid­ual drive to make a dif­fer­ence in this world. The Mil­len­ni­als don’t care about being pres­i­dent or becom­ing a mil­lion­aire and single-​​handedly chang­ing the world, they just want to do some­thing that makes a dif­fer­ence in this world (and it’s happening). So, this is my appeal to the Mil­len­ni­als and any­one else out there who wants to make a difference.

The rise of the inter­net in our gen­er­a­tion has become one of the most pow­er­ful influ­enc­ing tools in his­tory. There are so many exam­ples of peo­ple who have unin­ten­tion­ally impacted the world through things they’ve put up on web­sites, blogs and videos. Just think what we can do if we inten­tion­ally use the free media out­let at our fin­ger­tips. There’s so many ways to make your voice heard, but I want to focus on social networking.

Face­book is some­what restric­tive as far as how many peo­ple are exposed to what you post. How­ever, Twit­ter and Google+ are, by default, view­able by the entire world. We hear about those who post their every move from when they’re tak­ing a shower to what condi­ment they decided to use on their sand­wich for lunch. I think that kind of use of social net­work­ing is friv­o­lous and a poor use of one’s time. Most of us aren’t that bad, but I think it’s fair to say that we can all admit to some extent of friv­o­lous posting.

This is a call to become more inten­tional with the way we use social net­work­ing. More inten­tional to make a dif­fer­ence in this world. Here’s the stan­dards I’ve set for myself and some ideas that you can implement.

1. Make peo­ple pause. I want to post things that will cause peo­ple to stop, ques­tion, reeval­u­ate, reflect, learn, etc. Chal­leng­ing the sta­tus quo and, if relevent, try­ing to inspire action. This includes quotes, videos and links to arti­cles and organizations.
2. Shar­ing your life. One of the great­est things about social net­work­ing is that it has added an ele­ment to rela­tion­ships that no other gen­er­a­tion has had. There’s a bal­ance between post­ing about tak­ing a shower and let­ting peo­ple know I got the job I’ve wanted. I try to post things about myself that define my life story. A good indi­ca­tor is ask­ing your­self what your mom would want to hear about your week if you called her?
3. Inten­tional inter­ac­tion. Social net­work­ing is an aspect of mod­ern rela­tion­ships and like any rela­tion­ship it requires inter­ac­tions on both sides. I want to inter­act, though, in an inten­tional way that encour­ages, chal­lenges and sup­ports. The ideal inten­tional rela­tion­ship doesn’t just stop online, it should be fol­lowed up with a phone call or get­ting together.

08-05-11

Do Right

There’s a song I grew up lis­ten­ing to as a kid. It’s stuck with me and now more than ever I love the sim­plic­ity of the message.

Here’s some prin­ci­pals I want to point out from these lyrics. First of all, doing right starts with a deep pur­pose and con­vic­tion about what you believe. Sec­ond, don’t con­tem­plate or jus­tify, go head strong and do what you believe. Third, real­ize there’s often a price for doing right. Make sure you count the cost so you’re not taken off guard. Fourth, per­se­vere to the end. One right deci­sion doesn’t jus­tify your bad decisions.

And now, the lyrics to “Do Right” by Ron Hamil­ton (from Patch the Pirate).

Verse 1:
From the very start, have pur­pose in your heart
To do what’s right and never ques­tion why.
Never count the cost, though every­thing seems lost;
The price for doing right is some­times high.

Verse 2:
Right is always right, and wrong is always wrong,
And we must learn to sep­a­rate the two!
If you love the right, the Lord will give you light;
So seek the right in every­thing you do!

Cho­rus:
Do right till the stars fall, do right till the last call
Do right when there’s no one else to stand by you!
Do right when you’re all alone, do right though it’s never known.
Do right since you love the Lord — do right, do right!