tan·gent (tnjnt) n. A sudden digression or change of course
Today we are proud to launch The Personal Network. Practically all of us carry a camera phone, and our photos tell the stories of our lives. Starting today, we hope that Path is the place you will always feel comfortable being yourself and sharing the story of your life with your closest friends…
When we talked about How to Spot a Wiener Dog a couple of weeks ago, you may recall that I said every product, service or idea has:
1. Limiting Factors – (factors that limit it. Impediments.)2. Defining Characteristics – (characteristics that define it. Brand essence.)
The same is true of you and me. You and I have Limiting Factors and Defining Characteristics.
Drifters on the ocean of life define themselves by their circumstances. Pushed here and there by the winds and waves of chance, their mantra is, “whatever.”
Surfers on the ocean of life define themselves by their activities. Riding the swells this way and that, they dream of the perfect wave.
Drowners in the ocean of life define themselves by their limiting factors. Sad and mournful, they are professional victims, the walking wounded, an army that never heals.
Navigators sailing happily on the ocean of life define themselves by their commitments. Navigators know exactly what they’re trying to make happen and they’re willing to pay the price.
Do you know what you’re trying to make happen? Are you willing to pay the price?
Lorian Hemingway chose not to drown in life’s ocean. In her marvelous book, Walk on Water, she speaks of childhood loneliness and a hollow stepfather who abused her alcoholic mother. But Lorian chose not to let these limiting factors become her defining characteristics. She chose instead to admire the toothless but resilient old black woman, Catfish, who cooked hamburgers at the café. Lorian was also shaped by encounters with her mother’s sister, Freda:
“At the age of thirty-five Freda had had a mastectomy. The bow and arrow was her therapy, to strengthen what was left of her chest muscles. Her body had been perfect, a sculptor’s model, and she’d worn her summer shirts tied up high under her breasts, braless most of the time. She still wore her shirts knotted at the rib cage, but now they were men’s cotton pajama tops, the material thicker so you could not see through; but often when she bent forward I could see the scarred bony place where the breast had been. I never knew if she was bitter for the loss, if she stared at the deformity in the mirror and wished for a time when she’d been whole. She never said. I never asked. She was not a woman martyred by tragedy, nor was she at all acquainted with self-pity…”
“Freda was a dazzle, a virtual watercolor of a woman whose moods and mannerisms were as electric as her wild black hair. Her grin alone, a flash of Ipana-white teeth, head tossed back, stopped men in their tracks, delayed them in traffic, and threatened their wives so completely even the milkman was not allowed to deliver at Freda’s house…”
“She’d tried once to kill my stepfather, whom she’d always referred to by his first and last names, Bill McClain, the two words run together in her odd accent so it came out ‘Bimicain,’ sounding like a fungal cream.”
- Lorian Hemingway, Walk on Water, p. 38-39
Limiting factors are outside you.
Defining characteristics are within.
Has your self-image been damaged by things you did not choose? Have you internalized your limiting factors? Spit them out. Ceremoniously and with contempt. Spit them out. Limiting factors can be fought or ignored but they should never be accepted. To accept them is to move them inside you.
I’m not uneducated. Uneducated people are dull. I simply chose not to go to college.
I’m not a bald guy. Bald guys are pitiable. I’m just a guy who has no hair.
And I’m certainly not scruffy and poorly dressed. I’m a man whose mind is filled with things other than his personal appearance. The fact that this makes me look like a homeless beggar is nothing more than a meaningless coincidence.
I am deeply committed to my wife, astoundingly loyal to my friends and surprisingly dangerous to my enemies. See how easy it is to choose your identity?
You alone decide who you will be.
What have you decided?
Roy H. Williams
OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbow’d.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
- W. E. Henley
Sent from my iPhone
| Authenticity is difficult for some, but worth it’s (virtual) weight in gold. | |
| http://www.fastcompany.com/1667106/influence-project Source: fastcompany.com | |
My wife received this email after filling out an online survey she received this week promising a free sample of skin lotion. Whether a genuine mistake, or an elaborately contrived ruse, this, ladies and gentlemen, is a massive #marketingfail:
Hello,
Thank you for taking the time to fill out the Skin MD Natural survey on Survey Monkey. Unfortunately, the survey offer you received expired in June of 2009. Due to a technical error the promotion was re-posted several times in the last week. Because this is an expired promotion we cannot honor the sending of a free sample.
However, if you are interested in receiving 2 free samples of Skin MD Natural or Skin MD Natural + SPF 15 you can mail a self addressed and stamped envelope to:
Free Sample Offer
21st Century Formulations
9663 Santa Monica Blvd, Suite 860
Beverly Hills CA 90210
On our website you will also find the option to pay $2.00 shipping to receive 2 free samples. Details on this offer and how to order Skin MD Natural can be found at www.skinmdnatural.com.
We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you.
Best Regards,
Katie Mandel
21st Century Formulations
p: 800.540.4790/310.858.2929
f: 310.858.2992
katie@skinmdnatural.com
Nothing would please me more than for you to write Katie a note and let her know about it. J
As good as advice gets…
Quotes:
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During a recent session on viral marketing, I was asked this question. The person asking suspected that there is an intangible “X” factor. I suggested that in fact, yes, great viral marketing can be purely planned and executed. Here is a great example (keep in mind that while all reactions seem entirely organic – or unstaged – they may very well not be. There are quite likely several plants in the “audience”):
I don’t look up to many people… but his guy, he’s got it:
Quotes:
Zach Anner: My Vote For Oprah’s Talk Show | Misty Curious
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