"Too Much Stability Means We're Not Trying Hard Enough"

I just typed that sentence in an iChat conversation, and it suddenly seemed far more applicable than just in the context it was intended.

So often, it seems like I (and everyone else I know) is striving to reach equilibrium. We want a day where we can "just relax." We want all the bills to be paid, the work to be done and the hard questions to be answered. (Hell, we even strive to ensure our Twitter friends are numbered the same as our followers.)

We want stability.

Fortunately, we rarely have it. Because when we do, a funny thing happens: we get complacent. And last time I checked, it was necessity, not complacency, that was the mother of invention.

Embrace Your Broken Pieces

I'm in the worst financial shape of my life.

I'm in relatively good shape health-wise. I have a good group of friends. I have a supportive family. I have a girlfriend who loves me despite my regularly asinine behavior. And I have this web series that continues to grow in all directions.

If I weren't embarrassingly broke, I'd be bored off my ass. Because being broke means I need to bust my ass and get as much done as possible to create new solutions to this problem.

I could say the same thing if I were ill, or lonely, or single, or working a job
I despised -- and I've been in each of those situations before. But the same methodology would still apply: my need to improve upon an existing trouble is the motivation that will lead me to new creative, social, economic and experiential endeavors.

I won't be able to solve my problems sitting at home. Or working alone. Or making the minimum possible effort and being otherwise content with my unsatisfying present situation.

Instead, I'll be inventing all kinds of harebrained schemes. I'll be taking risks and pushing myself to the edge. I'll be meeting people I never would have cause to talk to if I didn't need to track them down. And I'll be learning more about myself, and this wonderful world we live in, through my response to adversity than I ever would learn by waking up every day in a state of absolute contentment.

It may not be pretty, and it may not be the most zen-like approach to life, but it's what I have right now. And that's exciting.

It's our broken pieces that set us free.

5 Ways Twitter Has Changed My Life (After a Week)

I started using Twitter last Monday.

I was wary. I didn't know if it would be worth my time. I didn't understand how another attention-stealing device could improve my life.

After 8 days of use, here are my five observations:

1. Twitter Is Highly Addictive

This is obvious, because that's what Twitter was built to do. It's designed to enthrall the generation that can't help oversharing with itself, 24/7. But it's WHY in which it's addictive that's unusual.

Unlike a publicly-accessible forum, in which you may or may not particularly care what half the commenters have to say, the members of your Twitter group are all friends you've VOLUNTARILY chosen to "follow." This amounts to a nonstop stream-of-consciousness dialogue with the people whose opinions and anecdotes you inherently care about.

In my case, my Twitter friends happen to be a few dozen of the movers and shakers in the new media space. This colors the information I receive. Instead of inane posts from friends whose lives are no more interesting than where they're eating dinner and what they're watching on TV, I get real-time windows into the offices and mobile lives of the people who are changing the way we communicate.

This enables me to take action or supply information as needed on an instantaneous basis, which means I need to stay connected.

2. Twitter Replaces Multiple Websites and Apps

Twitter is billed as a "better IM" -- or, in some circles, the app that will kill blogs -- but I disagree.

I see Twitter as an ever-updating group chat or forum thread. Here, my Twitter friends can post links to news articles they're reading (or writing), events they're attending, pop culture they're consuming and world events they're considering.

Instead of needing to check Digg, Newsvine, CNN and other rapidly-updated sites all day, I can usually gleam the best of the buzz from my Twitter list. If something's relevant or worth talking about, someone on my list probably mentioned it, and included a link.

Instead of leaving Instant Messenger open all day, I now logon only when I'm looking to communicate with someone directly and privately and may need to transfer files. (I could do most of that directly in Twitter as well, but I have yet to cycle AIM completely out of my bag of tricks.)

And I check MySpace almost exclusively for business purposes at this point, because the people I'm really interested in keeping up with are on my Twitter list -- and I don't need to waste time opening their messages or approving their comments in Twitter; they're just there.

3. Twitter Inspires Me to Do More

Seeing what everyone on my Twitter list is up to reminds me that I need to keep up with their productivity.

At my old day jobs, I paced my workflow against that of my managers. If they seemed to be slacking, I knew I could slow down because the vibe was mellow. If they were stressed out, I knew I'd better keep my head down and get things done.

Now I can gauge the day's workvibe against my Twitter friends. And since the folks I follow on Twitter are all involved in a medium I'm highly interested in, and their work has massive and far-reaching impacts on the medium (and on me), they set the bar pretty high.

Speaking of which...

4. Twitter Urges Me to Be More Relevant

The meta-conversation my Twitter friends have tends to be the kind of conversation that moves a medium forward. At any given moment, a few of them can be asking questions, soliciting advice and making connections. If I'm fast on the draw, I can be part of the problem-solving process.

Twitter is also a great place for self-promotion. Did you just blog about something? Include a link in your Twitterstream. Are you being interviewed at a certain time and place? Mention that to your "followers." New song? New video? New website you've found that no one else seems to have glommed onto yet? Stake your find on Twitter.

Meanwhile, if I've noticed that 3 or 4 of my own most recent Twitter updates are of the "what I ate for dinner" variety, I realize I need to get back to work...

5. Twitter Reminds Me to Get Up Earlier

If I didn't realize I was wasting time by sleeping in before, I certainly do now.

It's embarrassing to see Chris Penn posting a new Financial Aid Podcast, Chris Brogan wading through three meetings, Jeff Pulver flying through twelve time zones and Steve Garfield raising the dead before I've even had breakfast.

Striving to keep up with my contemporaries means I need to get at the workload earlier and hit it harder. Otherwise, the dozens of people who get my Twitter updates will start noticing I haven't been around, and they may presume I'm wasting time... and they might be right.

The Last Word

Despite the downsides to the service -- it's obviously growing faster than it can handle, and it doesn't currently support a lot of features that many of us are striving to find workarounds for (like groups, filtering and "highlight reels") -- the immediate upside is hard to argue.

Twitter hasn't yet changed my life in such drastic tones that I can't imagine not having it around. But it certainly does add a new facet to my daily web life that I'm finding increasingly more dynamic by the day. And it enables me to live at the pulse of the new media lifeline.

I don't believe I'm jumping the gun when I say: The revolution will not be televised -- it will be Twittered.

Be the Hero

As I mentioned previously, there seems to be a worldwide subconscious need for "heroes" these days. Times are tough, positivity is waning and people in power seem ignorant to our needs. Everyone is looking for someone to believe in.

Why not be your own hero?

Reality Check

Every so often, when I seem overwhelmed, landlocked or depressed, I'll ask myself, "What would the ideal me do in this situation?"

It's the agnostic's equivalent of "What Would Jesus Do?" It also addresses the same issue: if I were perfect, what would I do in this situation?

Well, I'm not perfect. But I CAN improve. And, realistically, I CAN be a much better person than the one I am now.

So what would the version of me that I can look up to, the version that I would want to be around, the version I (were I seeing myself through the eyes of others) would want for a boyfriend, a son, a dad, a friend... what would THAT version of me do?

Find Your Superpower

Yes, it's geeky, but the analogy applies: all of us have a skill or two that sets us apart from everyone else we know.

Think about your own friends. Ask around. Who are the "experts" at certain things? Or, more accurately, when you think of a person, what do you immediately think of in conjunction WITH that person?

For example, in my mind, Chris Brogan is synonymous with "connectivity." Chris is a community developer, he's a bridge builder, he's a people person. That's his superpower.

Likewise, Christopher Penn is the MacGyver of finance; he could probably find a way to monetize your bathroom if you gave him ten minutes and a paperclip. That's his "mutant ability."

And iJustine is the closest thing I've seen to the apex of the perfect geek storm: equal parts attractive, self-deprecating, nerd and dork. As such, life just falls into her lap. She doesn't control it; things just happen to her. She's a web magnet -- that's her "special ability."

Me? I'm not sure I know what my ability is, but I have a few guesses. (Quite often, these elements are best observed by others who don't see the "alter ego" of the individual every day, and aren't distracted by both the pros AND the cons...)

Take Action

Of course, knowing what your superpower is doesn't help if you don't use it. And, since no one wants to take meaningless action, you won't feel fulfilled until you move toward something you're passionate about.

- Is there a cause you feel strongly about? How can you use your abilities to help that cause succeed?

- Is there a flaw in your current business that you feel needs to be repaired? How can you fix it?

- Is there a brand new business or organization you feel needs to be built? How can you create it?

- Is there a specific person you know of who needs help? What can you do to assist them?

Once you identify the one thing you're most passionate about AT THIS MOMENT, decide what action needs to be taken next to solve the problem. Even if it's just a 10 % action, it's better than no action at all.

Form a Team

Have you ever noticed that Captain America, Spider-Man and Batman can handle just about anything on their own, until a problem becomes so gigantic that they actually need help?

Terrorists? Drug dealers? Stilt-Man? No problem.

But when alien armadas, natural disasters and pissed-off gods come to town, very few heroes can stand on their own. That's why we have The Avengers, The X-Men and The Justice League.

Since new media, at its heart, is all about community, it helps to build connections you can call on when the going gets tough. When a problem is larger than you can easily handle on your own, what other skills (that you don't possess) would help you solve that problem faster? How quickly can you get the word out?

Seek out others who are using their skills to accomplish greater things. Ask what you can do to help. Join forces. Win bigger.

All Change Starts With You

Obviously The Avengers don't come knocking door-to-door, asking if any two-bit hero off the street wants to join. They need to know a person is serious about getting the job done in the first place.

That means you need to take action. Even one small step, and then another, until you're no longer walking; you're running. After that, the rest comes naturally:

Run until you can fly.

So Much for a 24-7 World...

Have you noticed that the web tends to slow to a crawl on the weekends?

Does anyone else find it ironic that the internet, which is used to connect people 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, operates primarily under the guise of a 9-5 workweek?

What a lot of people forget is that the web is powered by the same people who live a life beyond their monitors... and those peolple tend to need a break on the weekends, too.

In a way, this is a good thing, because the people who READ the blogs and USE the websites need just as much of a break as the people who generate them. Otherwise, we'd all be sailing into information overload.

On the other hand, this still limits the ability of new information to inlfuence us in real time. Just like the frontpage of USA Today's Friday edition usually looks antiquated by Sunday night, many of the conversations we generate during the week seem like completely different animals the following Monday. By the time we've had a break from the norm, our motivations have had a chance to wind down as well, and it can take a huge effort to restart that same energy all over again.

So: what's the solution? Stay connected throughout the weekend and allow the momentum of ideas to continue along their course? Or unplug for the weekend and remind ourselves that there IS a real world?