Afraid of spiders? Afraid of Social Media?
I am constantly thinking of ways to inspire my clients to embrace social media. Many clients are reluctant. About half of my clients are over 40, some of them are on board with social media; some of them cower in fear.
I recently did an SEO training with Vermont Author, Seth Steinzor, who is on my side of 40. He gets it. His latest book, To Join the Lost, is a modern interpretation of Dante’s Inferno, written in the 1300s. Seth gets it. As a writer, he understands connecting with his audience. He is also willing to work to expand this audience.
But I have worked with all kinds of website owners, from Realtors to comedians to environmentalists, who initially do not want to participate in the online conversation. A lack of understanding or willingness to accept the power of social media may be part of their reluctance. But I know from personal experience that they might be stymied by fear. Fear of pressing the wrong button at the wrong time, fear of sending the wrong message, wasting time, appearing foolish, fear of the void, etc.
But the Dalai Lama tweets, it cannot be all that bad.
Breakthrough with Tony Robbins
A great NPR program called The Moth Radio Hour inspired me the other night to take Twitter more seriously. The Moth presents stories told live without notes and carries with it a refreshing immediacy – just like Twitter. The phrase that got me was “When you move forward, you’ll intuitively be able to handle what used to baffle you.” from Dan Kennedy’s ‘And How Does That Make you Feel’. Immediately after the program, I took computer in lap and Tweeted, after almost a year of silence.
I found another instructive inspiration in yoga class. My teacher quoted one of my favorite sections of the the Bhagavad Gita: “So with the sword of wisdom, sever the doubts in your heart. Arise, O best of men, take your stand. Be a warrior.” This quote is about Svadharma, meaning our personal path, duty, calling, or place. In taking this yoga message off the mat and into social media, I figure if you really are doing your life’s work, you should be able to share it with others. The internet makes this easy.
And finally Tony Robbins. Tonight is the television debut of his new series “Breakthrough”. I can only imagine as I have not followed Tony Robbins and I do not have a TV. In the trailer, he promises to “make you face things you don’t want to face and do things you don’t want to do” in order to become more successful.
So you don’t have to take it from me…
