Until that point, I had excelled at procrastination – I took the opportunity to avoid taking action better than anyone I knew.  My personal development, health, finances, relationships and direction had definitely suffered.

I was a world beater procrastinator.  From the relatively menial to the significant I had items that had languished on my to do list for more than 15 years !!

A rudimentary analysis of my procrastination identified a few root causes:

FEAR and LAZINESS.

One of the recommended techniques for getting focused was to incorporate mantras into my thinking.  I developed a simple mantra that has served me very well:

THINK IT – DO IT

This action oriented mantra is all about immediacy – the antithesis of procrastination.

The mistake that procrastinators make is to delay and obsfucate when it comes to taking action.  The first delay is significant; every subsequent delay and avoidance has less and less significance.  It becomes easier to procrastinate once you’ve open the door of procrastination.

‘I’ve already put this off, it won’t matter if I put it off for a bit longer’.

Procrastination breeds procrastination.

The ‘DO IT’ part of the mantra part doesn’t necesarily mean that you should stop what you’re doing to take action on the latest thought or remembered task. That would be far too intrusive – you’d never get anything done.

‘DO IT’ can be as simple as adding an item to your to do list or taking a small step that puts the task in motion.

But often ‘DO IT’ can mean exactly that – this works brilliantly with small menial tasks that you don’t really want to do.  You can significantly reduce the amount of time that you spend thinking, putting off and actioning this task by doing it there and then.

THINK IT – DO IT

These four words have served me well.  In the past two years, I have managed to get my act together in many different aspects of my life, crossed off some significant personal objectives and made great progress towards some of the specific personal goals that I set myself in the very first meeting with the life coach two years ago.

What’s your mantra for getting things done?  Do you need one?

So here follows 17 reasons why managing a social media program is like having a baby.

1. Everyone is an expert
2. It takes time
3. You can’t rush things
4. You are not in control
5. Make sure you have a plan in place for the launch
6. Be prepared to be flexible
7. You’ll need to draw on extra resources to pull it off
8. It’s highly likely that you’ll experience some pain along the way
9. There will probably be some late nights
10. Your involvement does not end at the time of launch
11. Results may not be as pretty as you would like
12. You have to accept this
13. It’s a long term commitment
14. It will be challenging and rewarding
15. You’ll learn as you go and make adjustments to your strategy
16. It will require significant investment
17. ROI may be difficult to quantify

I am sure that there are many more – please add in comments.

And here is Noah.  Ain’t he gorgeous!!

]]> http://justanother24hours.com/life/17-reasons-why-developing-and-managing-a-social-media-program-is-like-having-a-baby/feed/ 7 http://justanother24hours.com/life/recommended-read-simon-schama-the-american-future/ http://justanother24hours.com/life/recommended-read-simon-schama-the-american-future/#comments Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:46:00 +0000 Daniel Young http://justanother24hours.com/?p=1059 I have just finished reading one of the best history books that I have ever read: ‘The American Future: A History‘ by Simon Schama. 

The book charts the development of the military in the America from Lincoln up to the present day, pretty much, starting with the establishment of the West Point, the famous military academy. 

The book explains that many of the Founding Fathers resisted the idea of a military force for the purposes of expansion, empire building and control believing that democracy rightfully implemented would not require enforcement via military powers. 

The first graduates of West Point were trained in civil engineering as much as they were in military strategy.  The books focuses on Montgomery C. Meigs (1816 to 1892), a total legend by all accounts who built monuments, public works (aqueducts, bridges etc.) and served as Quartermaster General of the US Army during and after the American Civil War. Montgomery C. Meigs was by all accounts a very civilised, progressive, noble and talented individual.

The great thing about Schama’s writing in this book (the first that I have read) is the way he identifies individuals and uses them to convey the events of the day. It makes reading history very engaging. 

The book deals in detail with the abolitionist movement and the multi-culturalisation of North America, covering the experience of Mexicans, the native Americans, Chinese immigrants, the Irish and African Americans.  

I thought Schama sat on the fence somewhat in his analysis of the American military machine while acknowledging that the military basically exists to fulfil the nation’s desire to consume, conquer, extend its borders and enslave. In other words to look after its own. 

He takes the view that anything can happen in America and leaves us on a hopeful note in relation to the likely use of its power (diminishing as it is). On finishing this book, I immediately purchased ‘A History of Britain – At the Edge of the World?‘ by the same author. If you’ve read it please don’t tell me what happens.  

Lets hope that sane people remain at the helm in the United States for the foreseeable future.       

“Stop maltreating your dog, take it for longer walks and feed it less.”

Yeah, yeah, your dog has problems with its glands… heard it all before.

Stupid product supported by a stupid ad for stupid people.

Jesus!!

We went live with a new website for Burson-Marsteller Australia. You can find it at www.bm.com/australia.

Its about time that we had a local web presence given the fact that we are advising many clients on digital PR and social media strategy. The site is a starting point, which we will add to and develop over time. The site is based on Microsoft Sharepoint, which I found to be an ‘OK but slightly frustrating’ content management tool.

We are currently working on a really exciting research project for Australia and working with clients on a number of digital projects and some cool new business projects. More on this later.

I am also judging a competition for the International Advertising Association and have a medium sized cardboard box of entries from teams of University students to read through over the weekend.

As a daily habit, I have started reading www.techmeme.com in the morning. I am finding that its a great way to keep up to date with what’s happening in digital and tech generally.

]]> http://justanother24hours.com/life/general-update-this-and-that/feed/ 0 http://justanother24hours.com/life/from-the-handwritten-journal-to-blogging-to-a-continuous-record-of-your-life/ http://justanother24hours.com/life/from-the-handwritten-journal-to-blogging-to-a-continuous-record-of-your-life/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:13:10 +0000 Daniel Young http://justanother24hours.com/?p=842 Humans seem to have an innate urge to chronicle their lives and experiences.  From handwritten journals (think Samuel Pepys and the Fire of London) to blogging, Twitter and lifestreaming, its clear that writing about and recording life is an important aspect of our self realisation.  Technology has dramatically improved and enhanced our ability to capture and relate events and developments.

At some point the human brain will be integrated with technology.  Lets imagine that the technology is a camera and a hard-drive. We’ll effectively have a video recorder built into our heads with our eyes acting as the camera lense.  You’d have the ability to turn the camera on and off by the simple act of thinking.

Maybe some parents would have remote access to their children’s vision so that they could see exactly what they were up to at anytime.  Painful memories and unpleasant experiences could be deleted or archived.

The prospect of human-computer integration is scary but the opportunity to recall and playback experiences on demand would be fun.  I’d love to rewind to my last year of secondary school so that I could re-experience the goal that I scored for the first eleven. A solitary goal during my school career but a cracker (top left corner from the opposite corner of the 18-yard box with defenders galore in pursuit).

This TechCrunch story by Michael Arrington refers to some of the development in this area, including a ten year Microsoft research project called SenseCam.  At the moment, the technology is external and it also has a fair way to go in terms of downsizing.  SenseCam takes images passively but one wonders what the quality or usefulness of these pictures will be  if the thing is basically dangling from the wearer.

I wouldn’t swap my computer free brain for the opportunity to capture my future – not really – and I am struggling to see the value of a semi attached camera.  Most photos aren’t much cop without the ‘point’ part of the process and surely this guy is just going to get in trouble…

Would this appeal to you?

I’ve often wondered if some time with genuine fans would help improve the England team’s all too often lacklustre performance – not that we complain at the minute. Its 12 from 4 and top of the group.

I was reading about the stimulus package – a topic that I blogged on earlier today – and it occurred to me that the focus is on how bad things are right now.

Which begs the question: How good were things before the financial system/ economy went tits up?

Yes, we’ve enjoyed many years of financial growth and prosperity, but what do we have to show for it? Here are some thoughts…

- A increasing gap between rich and poor

- A public health system in crisis, an education system in Australia requiring a ‘Revolution’

- Bigger TVs

- No progress in the Middle East – a more complex, confrontational situation (if you believe the media)

- Apparently, no change in The third world

- A climate change – the result of many year’s excesses

- An overnight swing from surplus to deficit

The list goes on – I’m sure there are some positives that we can point to.

The irony is that it requires a financial downturn for people to take stock and actually assess their situation and make steps to improve it for the better. Will a $950 bonus from the Government really make anything measurably better? OK, it might ease the pressure for a lot of people – that’s great -  but its not sustainable and still needs to be paid back by someone.

It strikes me that throwing money at a problem caused by an obsession with money won’t change the fundamental problem.

I think my main problem is that the Government bailing out the economy prevents us really ever confronting the money thing – its a missed opportunity. It makes the world go round after all.

This story in The Guardian by Dan Roberts provides a great explanation of how ‘we’ got ourselves in this mess. My tax driver reckons its a conspiracy. There seems to be little or no clear or easy solution and Governments around the world are announcing or have announced stimulus packages.

I write this as the Australian Senate debates the Labour Government’s A$42bn rescue plan – a combination of tax cuts, incentives and Government spending that will take this country into deficit for the foreseeable future.

In the US, Barack Obama has imposed a cap of A$782,570 (US$500,000) on the compensation paid to top executives at companies receiving Federal Government assistance or bail outs.

I agree with the concept of salary caps but I can’t help feeling that applying these only to companies that have been bailed out is only likely to exacerbate the problem, slowing down the recovery. These companies are being bailed out because they are basically bankrupt – they are going to require the best industry talent in order to solve these problems.

Surely, that talent is going to choose the multi-million dollar package offered by companies that are not receiving assistance.

A recent BusinessWeek article highlighted some of the other issues associated with Zombie Debtors, which are defined as: ’has-been companies that are feeding off taxpayers, investors and workers – sapping the lifeblood from their competitors and from their market’. The article claims that these bail out assisted companies have actually little or no chance of recovery – if ever there was a case for corporate euthanasia…

It seems to me that the stimulus packages are actually pursuing the path that got us into this predicament in the first place – DEBT. There is no guarantee that these rescue packages are going to succeed and as we’ve seen in the US, there is every chance that companies and executives will callously bleed them dry (an attitude which I find shocking, literally). The Guardian piece very clearly demonstrates that the total international investment by Government represents a drop in the ocean when we consider the size and scale of this problem.

Surely, a short sharp pain (market correction) is better than the protracted and debilitating ache, which will come as a result of Government’s bailing out failed industries and shot systems.