Small Computers –> Big Future

I’ll make this short and sweet, just like a tweet.  I read this article this morning about the PeeWee tablet Laptop.  It is specifically made for 3 to 10 year olds.  These machines are important for us to reach the next generation with life changing technology.  In poor rural areas, books are hard to come by, but with the spread of the internet via WIMAX and other broadband technologies, we can put technology like this in the hand of a child.  With this technology, they can have access to 100s of books and other info from around the world.  That would be hyper-growth.  Check out the article here http://bit.ly/LGz40, “PeeWee Tablet Laptop Is Resistant To Drops, Spills, Screaming Children”.

Thanks for reading.  If you are working to expand technology to low-income areas around the world, let me know and also leave a comment or tweet me at @dfresh411 .

Effective Communication – Improving the Probability of Success

What did you just say?

Only fifty-five percent of communication is spoken.  The rest of it is body language, tone, and other  non-verbal queues.  An effective communicator will take time to read and understand the whole  message and not just the words. 

It is difficult for folks to hide how they feel.  Sighs, eye rolling, head turning, finger pointing, frowns, all can be signs of frustration. Laughter, smiles,  and wide eyes point to someone who is fulfilled and happy.

 

The word “Hello”, for instance, can be used to be polite or it can be relayed with sarcasm, as to say get a clue, in which case, it would not be received well.  The delivery of the words is as important as the words we choose to say.   We should deliver the message, good or bad, in as constructive a manner as possible to give our ideas the best chance for success.

Fail Well

Fail Well:  Live well after a failure

In life failure is inevitable, trust me, you will fail at some point. What you do with that failure after that will determine if you continue to do well in life or not.

Many of us think of failing and start shaking in our boots, but studies have shown that 80% of what we fear never happens. So most of our lives, we live in fear when the only reality is the fear itself. There is no substance behind the fear. Wow! That statistic should set us all free. A failure is never as bad as it seems. And that fear paralyzes us and steals the most significant dreams. If you come out on the other side of a failure above the ground, then you still have work to do for God and mankind, so you might as well get busy.

The grave is full of books that were never written, art that was never painted or sculpted, big ideas that never saw the day of light. Don’t let it happen to you.

Change your perspective. See failure as just a step in the evolution of your success. See failure as what shapes you into the person that you need to become to attain the prize ahead. See failures as the steps on your stairwell to greatness.

Failure is necessary, but we must be careful to use failure properly. We cannot internalize failure because then it becomes a shackle. It can bind us with fear and hurt and self-doubt if we internalize it when it happens.
Failure is neutral like a brick and bricks can be used to build a home or a prison. You choose what you do with the failure in your life. Also, remember this point, that when you do fail, you are not a failure, you had a failure. So, fail well my friends, fail well.

More Resources

http://www.badmintonsecrets.com/why-failing-is-good.html

http://www.helium.com/items/575355-recovering-from-failure

twitter.com/JohnCMaxWell —  Get His Book “Failing Forward”

Ashton Hits A Million Twitter Followers – Now What?

So, when I caught the news of Ashton Kutcher racing CNN to the be the first to have a million followers on Twitter, I had mixed emotions. The social equity that most celebs have gives them follow leverage that non-celebs can’t usually touch. It didn’t really excite me all that much and I don’t know that I really cared. There is a part of me that is really excited for Ashton and a part of me that is not. I have to have some excitement for Ashton, because if it was me, I would want folks to be excited for me, and I definitely would be excited. Heck, I get excited every time I connect with 1 more person. Every hundredth follower I get, I send them a reply thanking them for being that x hundredth follower.

I’m a late adopter to the 2.0 scene, but I’m all in. I have had access to computers since the 9th grade and I can remember chatting with friends using Ytalk on UNIX systems back in the early 90s. I actually found that the program is still available today. I also remember playing chess on-line via a terminal with other college students around the world. I loved this technology and would spend hours on end on-line just socializing. What I realize now, so many years later, is that social media has been around since the beginning of the computer, especially since the personal computer. The limitation has been and still is the accessibility to all people.

Ashton’s race has inspired me to put my challenge out there. I invite you to help me put 1 million netbooks into the hands of 1 million children. Netbooks are small laptops at a low price. The low price is key here for me. The low price is going to allow access to families and kids right here in America that couldn’t bring this technology home before. I know personally what technology in the hand of a child can do for a family because it changed my life and that is why I’m a highly skilled professional today. Children will do amazing things with tools like this…things we can’t even fathom today.

To learn more about the netbook, I’ll give @hightechdad a plug here because he did such a good job reviewing netbooks. Go check out his article here 10-things-to-consider-when-buying-a-netbook

Ashton won, so now what? The balls in your court. If you are interested in helping me positively impact the lives of 1 million children now, leave a comment and follow me and Direct Message me at twitter.com/dfresh411 .

Subscribe to dfreshTV411

Follow Me On Twitter

Never Never Never Give Up!

Fall seven times, stand up eight. ~Japanese Proverb

“Success is achieved through perseverance, so never, never, never give up!” I still remember the day I came home and told my wife that. I don’t remember the particular goal that I had in front of me at the time, but that statement became the motto for the Tillman family. If you have ever called my home, you have heard it on our voicemail. You can not make any significant impacts in the life of others without this character trait in your repertoire. I have heard people say, if you are struggling with it, then you might need to try something else. I disagree with that. Success is hard. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

Success is not easy
Business owners know this all too well. A profitable business is a result of many qualities that you have learned successfully over time. A well run business has many aspects that are all working well together. A business needs great customer service, quality production, good financial habits, etc. To get a business to this state, the owner has to work relentlessly on each of these. How does it all happen? Late nights of going over the books while everyone else is sleep, refining product recipes that are already good so that customers are wowed the next time they interact with the product, remaining on the phone with a customer for as long as it takes to resolve their issues and so on. This is what it takes to win and late nights and brain storming sessions for product improvement and extra customer care means less sleep for the body. This concept is not easy to adopt for most. Hey, there are only 24 hours in a day, so if you add something else to your life then one of those 24 hours will need to be occupied by it. And if you are a productive citizen, then you probably work 8 hours or more per day, sleep 8 hours, relax for 2, spend a couple of hours eating, drinking, exercising, grooming etc… you get the point. You have to starting giving something in that routine up once you decide to achieve more. Due to the excitement of achieving something new, sleep is usually the first to take a hit and you also don’t have as much time to watch TV or go to the movies. Most people are not willing to give up their sleep or syndicated TV shows and so they consciously decide to remain the same.

Pain is weakness escaping
Those who have reached the boiling point (where the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change) are ready for to make some sacrifices. It will not feel good, but it will be necessary.

It is much like an athlete striving for that perfect body so that he can perform at his peak. The workout is great, but the morning after is quite painful. When we workout, our muscles actually breakdown and as they heal the tissue is rebuilt stronger and this process is painful. Success requires us to persevere through the inconvenient pain. Think of that pain as weakness escaping.

After many late nights and false starts and brick walls and financial difficulties, you may say what many have said before you, “It just ain’t worth it”. I challenge you to be the few and not the many and persevere. If you are passionate about what you are doing, then come hell or high water, you must persist. Reach for that single degree that will bring your dream out of the world of imagination into reality. Read and watch material that will encourage you to persevere. I’ve embedded a video that personifies perseverance, watch it.

Again, the pain you feel is weakness escaping, so be strong, have courage…persevere.

#FollowFriday

What in the world is follow friday?

The digital shout out for Gen Y.  We all know about the radio shout out, where you mention a friends name when you call in to a radio show.  You call in to WZZX (made that up) and tell them what you want them to play and then you hear, “I’d like to give a shout out to RayRay, my boyfriend”.  Back then, that was about the end of it, besides the fact that the name RayRay rang in your head all day.  But here in the age of Web 2.0, we take the shout out to a whole notha level.

#FollowFriday is a term used in the world of micro-blogging at one of the most popular sites, Twitter.  It might look like this

Yes, that is a real #followfriday tweet from my lovely wife.  Thanks Baby!

In a nutshell, that tells, the folks in the Twitterverse (all that is twitter.com) that you are friends with or feel they should know the user who is goodlifediva.  Again, in the primetime days of radio, that would have been the end of it, but not in the world of Web 2.0.  Now you can mosey over to @goodlifediva twitter homepage and she has a link to her website in her profile which you can click on to find out all about @goodlifediva.  You can also start to follow @goodlifediva on twitter which is litterally what #followfriday means…start following @goodlifediva.  It is a twitter tradition to only do this on friday, hence, the term, #followfriday.  The pound sign “#”  also called a hash symbol is the symbol used to help find all posts for a particular term appear in search results at search.twitter.com (a twitter specific search engine).

When you think about it, this is a powerful way to be introduced to folks online.  You see, we trust people we know and we trust them to not introduce us to folks that we cannot trust.  And though, we may not be able to meet all our digital friends in person, we can get a feel for them through their websites and tweets (140 character or less updates they make on twitter).

From time to time, I will talk about social media, because it is changing things and is here to stay.  If you aren’t involved, you are missing out.  I’m just getting started and I enjoy my twitter interactions.  I think you woud too.  Everyone has an opinion on #FollowFriday, get involved and form your own opinion. 

Here is my #followfriday list for today

 @goodlifediva – My wonderful wife who pulled me into the twitterverse after I saw the benefit she received from it.

 @arizonafitclub – I just started p90x and here is a club that offers 1 free class a week in Scottsdale, Arizona

 @hajjflemings – personal brand strategist that really knows his stuff and can help you create a polished image for yourself.  This is important in today’s market or any market.

That’s a wrap and thanks for reading. If this was helpful to you or not, leave a comment about your thoughts on #FollowFriday or this article.

There’s Nothing I Can Do…?

“ without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayer”   
   — Paul The Apostle

So, today is about going a little deeper. On Thursdays, I will attempt to write about principles that cause our world to be a better place, our lives to ascend and our inner man to mature. It is what I call, Deep Thought Thursday. This blog is about life strategies that can be used in every area of your life (home, business, spiritual, etc). I don’t believe in compartmentalizing our lives. Anytime we attempt to be someone different at work versus at home versus at church versus anywhere, what we are really doing is posing.

Do you have an attitude of gratitude for those that surround you? Many times we can become quite self indulgent and forget that who we are is very much connected to who we interact with everyday. Do we really care about our family, neighbors and friends? The people around us are a critical part of who we are and this fact cannot be underestimated.

Many of us pray and ask for what we want or need in life, but here is a thought, thank God for and get involved with the people in your life more often. They are a gift from God and every gift from God is good and beautiful. Yes, we can thank God and should thank Him for prosperity and health, but even above that, we should give Him thanks for those who live with us daily. We are connected to them. I know what you are thinking, and yes, there are people connected to you that have hurt you and it is hard for you to do anything for them, but is it really hurting them when you hold that grudge and bitterness inside or is it hurting you? The answer is, it is really hurting you. So, find a way to mend the bridges and heal the past hurts so that you live a life that is tasteful and refreshing to those around you.

We all know someone who is going through a hard time. Isn’t there a flaw in the reasoning that says there is nothing we can do?

At the water cooler this week, discuss getting involved to help someone in need instead of gossiping about the boss or the office mole.

What are you doing to help someone in need? Encourage us all, leave a comment.

Successful People Have It…Do You?

“If this cup can pass from me, never the less thy will not my will be done”
Familiar verse of scripture from the Bible and  movie “The Passion”.
Christ drank the cup and endured the unimaginable because of his passionate love for all mankind.

Passion is a force that we can use to powerfully effect the world around us.  Passion by Webster’s definition is defined as a deep love toward some activity.  I like that definition and it is the one that I explore further here.

Passion Is Deep

Passion comes from within, it is not on the surface.  Your outer self is a mirror of the passions that you posses inside you.  Passion is to our soul and spirit what food and water is to our bodies.  When we eat, our body absorbs the food, makes it a part of it, fuses it into cells and uses it as fuel to grow and mature.  That is exactly how our spirit and soul use our passion.

In my own life, my passion in life is to eradicate ignorance, because ignorance is the foundation of poverty and hatred.  I will go to any depth to educate anyone who wants to listen about removing the barrier of ignorance so that they can walk out of poverty and leave behind the vice that is hatred.  And there is absolutely nothing you can do to me to dissuade me from preaching that message.  This is why I write and why I teach.

Passion Is Love

Passion is the lover within your heart.  What do we do with lovers, we become intimate with them, we hold them, caress them, think about them, hold them in high esteem, and protect them.  They are the targets of our affection.  In the same way, passion causes us to love, be intimate with, hold on to, caress, think about, hold in high esteem, and protect the THING, that we are passionate about.

…passion will
keep you going
when it gets really hard
to keep moving forward…

Wilma Rudolph was passionate about winning races
Alexander Graham Bell was passionate about telelphones
The Wright Brothers were passionate about airplanes
Martin Luther King Jr. was passionate about civil rights
Washington Carver Jr. was passionate about peanuts
Christ was passionate about all mankind

Think about your passion…no passion is too big or too small…it could be your children… anything that drives/motivates you to do more
and want to be better than you’ve been is a passion.

Passion doesn’t say yes, it says YEEEESSSSSS!
Passion doesn’t say no, it says NOOOOOOOOO!
Passion doesn’t say I might, it says I WILL!
Passion doesn’t say I love you, it says OMG, I LOVE YOU!
Passion drives you to not only run your race, but to finish your race STRONG.  Passion will keep you going when it gets really hard to keep moving forward.  If you don’t have passion, you will quit, when the hardness comes and it will come.

So, the question is yours…Where is your passion?

The Light Bulb Effect

A stationary object cannot effect the changing world around it accept to get in the way of its progress.  I’d rather you move in one direction or the other or get ready to be easily pushed aside.  Change is inevitable, it has come,  it is coming and it will come.  There are a few things that do not change; the perfect and moral absolutes.   The only other thing that doesn’t change is the past because we live in the now.  Everything else must change, because everything else is imperfect, especially you and I.  Perfection is like a magnet, It draws us to it causing improvement in our lives.  You and I fall into 1 of 3 categories  when it comes to change.  Either we effect change, accept change or reject change.  How many people does it take to change a light bulb?  “Six: 1 to change it, 3 to say attaboy, and 2 to reminisce about how good the old light bulb was.

So, how do we effect change: we first change ourselves and then apply ourselves to our world. Ray Kroc went through many changes in his life.  He joined the American Red Cross, he was a jazz piano player, he was a husband, he dabbled in real estate, he was a  multi-mixer salesman and finally he became the Ray Kroc we all know as pioneer of fast food franchising who built the McDonald’s empire.  What empire lies within you?

So, how do we accept change: by accepting the fact that every good idea will not come from you, but others and that our way of doing things will conflict with some good ideas, then we can accept the change that comes.   When Twitter first appeared on the digital scene there were many of us with a wait and see attitude, people I called adopters, whether early or late.  We didn’t really get it…Why would anyone want to continuously post short 140 character messages about what you are doing throughout the day? 

“I’m sipping green tea and watching the game.”  “At the mall buying some jeans for the conference tomorrow.”  “Thinking about cutting my yard…” “I need a vacation” 

Then, one day my wife jumped on the bandwagon and I started to see that she was making meaningful connections for her business that helps mothers build successful careers without losing their families.  I begin to understand that it wasn’t just about shouting random messages to the world, but making short term and long lasting connections that make a difference.  So, hence my revelation,  Twitter is a change agent in the digital world and I’ve accepted it and jumped in with both feet.

Resistance to change can have lasting negative affects.
Took 200+ years 1553-1794 for the navy to accept the fact that lemon juice could cure scurvy which is a disease which killed tens of thousands of sailors.  The Navy wanted  to believe that a more  elaborate cure was necessary when all they needed to do was added a little lemon juice to the sailors daily intake.

Marriages fall apart year after year, because 1 or both people are unwilling to change themselves to adadpt to the other.
Are you effecting change, accepting change or are you in the way of change?

To effect change, we must change and those who do this are leaders (or change agents), To accept change we must be persuaded that change is good and those of us who are persuaded are the followers and workers and even have the potential to lead, To reject change that is good is foolish and those who do, cause pain and suffering and stand in the way of an oncoming train. 

So, let us constantly examine ourselves for areas of needed change so that we cause positive change, are accepting of good ideas that bring about positive change and so that we are not left standing in the dark reminiscing over how good the old light bulb was.