by Caroline Leach | Sep 29, 2020 | Social Media, Work/Life
Are you feeling out of sorts right now? I know I am.
Sometimes I wonder why. Then I remember there are five major reasons.
First, we are in the middle of global pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 200,000 people in the United States.
Second, we are experiencing the financial fallout of an economy closed down to fight Covid.
Third, we are in the midst of an important drive for social justice and equality.
Fourth, we are experiencing climate change more intensely with extreme heat and widespread fires.
And fifth, we are in the midst of a most unusual political environment, punctuated by a very odd presidential debate this week.
Our ‘Surge Capacity’ is Under Siege
Simply articulating those reasons brings relief. These are major issues to contend with. And it’s exhausting to do so, day after day after week after week after month after month.
In the words of Tara Haelle, writing on Medium, our “surge capacity” is depleted. Our ability to deal with an intense and ongoing crisis has reached a low point.
Ya think?
And yet …
And yet, hope lives on. As I often recount the many seemingly horrible things that happen on any given day while I can’t help but doomscroll through my news feed, I’ve found a positive practice.
A Powerful Daily Practice
Each day, I write down at least one good thing that happened. Often, there are many more than one. They often become obscured by the heaviness of everything else that’s going on in the world. But when I consciously call up the positive moments, I’m reminded of the importance of making progress every day, no matter how small the step seems.
It’s a concept articulated by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer in The Progress Principle. What motivates us most, they say, is the powerful feeling of making progress every day toward our most meaningful goals.
What I realized is there’s a great deal of progress happening every day. Those days add up to weeks and months and some really significant milestones.
For example, I’ve completed more than 100 coaching hours this year and a certification (next month) to go along with that. My husband Kevin opened a new restaurant last month, fulfilling a lifelong dream. Even though we’re limited to outdoor patio dining of about nine tables, people are loving the experience. My son is making progress toward his college degree through online courses. I’m fulfilling a dream of my own by teaching in an MS program for communications.
Good Things Take Time
Not only do these milestones indicate progress, but they also demonstrate the importance of patience. Often, good things take time. Here are just a few examples …
- My coaching certification process: 1 year
- Starting to teach at the graduate level: more than 1 year
- Beginning work with an exciting new client: more than 1 year
- Kevin’s restaurant: 2 years (really 23 if you count a snippet of a conversation from long ago).
Life goes on during a pandemic, during economic upheaval, during civil justice, during climate change, and during political campaigns. What are you doing to make progress in your life right now, every day?
Those are the actions to celebrate and to motivate you to carry on and make change. Those are exactly the sorts of things you can share on social media, to inform and inspire others.
What steps will you take today?
by Caroline Leach | Aug 6, 2020 | Careers, Change, Social Media, Work/Life
Three aspects of Covid-19 stand out in August 2020.
First, transmission of the coronavirus is largely airborne through respiratory droplets, when people talk and interact.
Second, wearing a face covering and physically distancing are our individual best defenses against the virus.
And third, we’ll probably need to spend a lot of time at home as the virus rages on for the better part of a year.
Wow. Let that sink in. A year of remote work (and life), for those of us lucky enough to be in a profession that can be done outside of a physical office.
In my case, writing, consulting, coaching, speaking, and teaching can all be done remotely. The first three were already remote work activities. But how about speaking and teaching? Thankfully, they’ve both moved online to Zoom.
Since the pandemic sent us home in March, I’ve spoken (remotely) in several graduate school courses on digital communications and marketing. A highlight this fall will speaking in an executive education program. And a few interesting developments are happening in the teaching space, which I’ll share more about soon.
One question seems to loom large. Simply because an activity can be done remotely and online, does that mean it’s of the same or higher quality? Many people might say no. However, I disagree. Why? It’s an opportunity to innovate, experiment, and iterate. As we do that, it will be on a scale none of us has ever experienced before.
From Surviving to Thriving
For those who love to play in ambiguous spaces, this is a dream come true. Yet the uncertainty and capriciousness of the pandemic has pushed even me to crave a bit more structure and concreteness.
And while this might seem to be a matter of survival, I’d like to do more than simply grit my teeth and get through it. How about you?
As the renowned internet commentator Mary Meeker says of this pandemic period, we’re in the process of, “getting to the other side.”
What is the other side? And how long will it take to get there?
There’s no way of knowing for sure. So rather than feeling like a rudderless ship being tossed about in a storm, I choose to captain my own ship. I choose to create my own environment, to the greatest extent possible. I choose to thrive, rather than simply survive.
This topic of thriving is one I’ll explore in my upcoming writing. For today, I’ll couple this with my focus on boosting your career through social media. How do the two interact? It’s a topic I’ve written about this year on a few levels — from How to Pivot Your Personal Brand on Social Media to How to Engage People with Your Social Media Content.
With an eye toward thriving in a stay-at-home world, here are three ideas for making the most of your social media time.
Create a Learning Environment
Now is the time to experiment with social media. Within the bounds of respect for all people, it’s an ideal moment to try new types of content. See what resonates with your network. Use new features you may not have engaged with much before. Rarely share an Instagram story? Give it a whirl, play with the features, and see how people respond. Or use the newly announced Instagram Reels video feature. This can be your own personal learning environment. In fact, I gave a TEDx talk on the subject. It’s called How Social Media Can Make You a #LifelongLearner. Check it out for more ideas.
Follow New Voices
The move toward social justice through the Black Lives Matter movement and others can present an opportunity to seek out new voices and perspectives. It’s an ideal time to actively listen. On Instagram and Twitter, a few accounts I’m now following are Black Lives Matter and PrivtoProg. LinkedIn has a great feature in “My Network” where it suggests Black voices to follow and amplify. Mellody Hobson of Ariel Investments, Carla Harris of Morgan Stanley, and Karamo Brown of Netflix’s Queer Eye stood out to me. Mellody’s TED talk called Color blind or color brave? is excellent. Carla has leadership motivation for the ages in a talk she gave about how to own your power.
Say No to Negativity
With all the polarization in America, it has sometimes felt to me that I shouldn’t retreat into my own echo chamber of similar voices. Often, I kept people in my feed in the name of listening to a variety of perspectives. However, that doesn’t extend to negative, disrespectful, or incorrect information. It has become increasingly important to consider the source of information, whether it’s scientifically based, and how healthy it is. It’s okay to unfollow people, or to simply mute their content. There’s so much negativity in the world. Why perpetuate it by tolerating people’s feeds who are insulting your deeply held values?
In Closing …
People are spending more time on social media during the pandemic. Increased usage has plenty of downsides. However, with a slight shift in how you view social media, it can become a force for good in your life. With a spirit of curiosity and innovation, you can get playful and have some fun with it. I shared a few ideas here. How are you using social media to help you thrive and transform during this time?
by Caroline Leach | Aug 30, 2019 | Learning, Social Media, Work/Life
August is the Sunday of summer. So said a chalkboard sign I spotted by the beach a few years ago.
And so true. It’s bittersweet when summer comes to an end. The longer, more leisurely days start getting shorter and filling up with more commitments as Labor Day approaches.
Businesses and teams have year-end goals to meet. Children are back in school. Maybe the Sunday Scaries are staring you down as you head into Labor Day.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. During a last-minute summer getaway, I learned something important. Maybe it will help you, too.
Although it’s summer, it’s been an intense season with two fledgling businesses in our household – mine and my husband’s. I realized I was putting life on hold, so I headed to the Eastern Sierras for a few days. A mini-retreat, I called it. Or a working vacation. Or working remotely.
Whatever it was, it was delightful. With the backdrop of mountains, trees and summer breezes from my desk, I worked on some of my big projects, did client calls, and dipped into the flow state of being completely consumed by what I was doing, oblivious to the passage of time.
The Lingering Project
One of my projects has been on my list for the better part of a year. As a new author of What Successful People Do in Social Media, I know I need to build an email list of subscribers. I even created a free workbook to accompany my book as a reason for people to sign up.
But I ran into a roadblock in the spring, figuring out how to integrate the MailChimp email service with my download document on this WordPress site. I did research. I leaned on the chat and email service functions of the various providers. I reached out to experts to see if someone could do it for me.
And completing this project has been standing in my way. As much as I talk about the need for everyone to have a social media strategy for their career, I also emphasize the importance of owning your own online real estate.
That means your own website where you control everything. That way, an algorithm change on a social media platform doesn’t impact your ability to connect with your community.
And it was standing in the way of my next project — turning my book into an online course or series of courses. If I don’t have an email list of devoted fans who are interested in what I have to say, it’s much harder to launch a course.
I even did a workaround on my free workbook. Not wanting to delay to release of my book in April, I simply put a note on my website that people interested in the workbook could email me to request it. It wasn’t the most efficient or elegant of solutions, but it enabled me to keep moving forward.
One of the lessons I’ve learned over the last year of launching my own business is to fight the oppression of perfectionism. It’s hard to balance a standard of excellence with taking it too far and delaying, as marketing guru Seth Godin would say, shipping the work.
Learning the Way
My last day in Mammoth was my day to tackle my website. The night before, I decided to refresh my WordPress knowledge by completing an online class called WP Savvy by Iglika Mateeva-Drincheva.
It came in a group of online classes called the Entrepreneurship Bundle. And it’s thanks to Marissa Stahl that I learned about it. She’s the COO of Something Social LA along with founder Callie Cholodenko. Marissa and I met through the USC Alumni Association earlier this year.
Marissa was kind enough to speak to my social media class at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising this spring. It was right about the time the Entrepreneurship Bundle was launching. She and Callie had a course in it called Instagram Strategy for Business (great class, BTW!).
The bundle of 31 classes had a special offer for $99, so I thought, why not?
As life often gets in the way, though, I didn’t complete many of the classes right away. Has this ever happened to you?
But what a lifesaver WP Savvy turned out to be. Even after a few years blogging on my WordPress site, I learned several new things from Iglika’s course. And I felt re-energized to tackle the email integration issue.
Figuring It Out
The other inspiration came from Mark Cuban, the business leader and investor on Shark Tank, among other things. He gave a talk at my former employer’s headquarters in the early 2000s.
As the head of communications at the time, my job was to play host while he was onsite. He had driven all night from Texas to Los Angeles to speak to our employees, but he was full of energy.
And I’ll never forget what he said. In the early days of his business, he said they’d be in client meetings, taking in what the client wanted, and telling them they could deliver.
Later, Mark and his colleagues would look at each other and say they had no idea how to do what they’d just committed to. But they had all night to figure it out. And figure it out they did. Time and time again.
If they could do it, so could I.
Figuring it out in this case took a lot longer than I planned. I had to figure out the original email list subscription I started with wasn’t going to work. I had to download existing subscribers and move them to a new platform. I set up the sign up forms, the welcome forms, and the thank you forms. I tested them by subscribing myself. The look and feel still isn’t great yet, but that’s relatively easy to fix.
The Breakthrough
What I couldn’t figure out was how to make my free download available to subscribers. After some web searches, I decided to start clicking through every screen on WordPress to see if I could find something that would work.
And I finally found it. Buried six screens down, in the middle of the page. Even though I wasn’t selling a product, I wondered what would happen if I checked a box that said “enable shop with the plugin I’m using.”
VOILA! That was it. Which was mentioned exactly nowhere in all the online materials I consulted. Or perhaps it was there, but I missed it, which is entirely possible.
The point is, I told myself I would spend whatever time it took to resolve the problem. I was not going to let up until I figured it out.
It now feels like a huge weight is lifted from my shoulders. So many other actions depend on this, and now I can move forward. It’s a release of positive energy and momentum.
I’m going to tackle part two over Labor Day weekend, which is a long-overdue new look and feel for my website. That way, when Sept. 3 rolls around, I’ll have a big project behind me and I can truly move forward with my big goals for the fall.
What’s Holding You Back?
My question for you is, what’s on your list that’s holding you back? Could you devote a morning or an afternoon of your Labor Day weekend to tackle it? Or at least start the process? How much would that jumpstart your fall season? Would it help you greet it with energy and enthusiasm?
I bet it could. And there will still be plenty of time for being with family and friends, celebrating the last of the summer season, and recognizing the social and economic of achievements of American workers on Labor Day.
In thinking about the value of work, I’m inspired by author and poet Maya Angelou, who said, “Whatever you want to do, if you want to be great at it, you have to love it and be able to make sacrifices for it.”
What do you love to do?
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