“I am grateful that I am not as judgmental as all those censorious, self-righteous people around me.”
~ Anonymous

“80 percent of success is showing up.”
~ Woody Allen

“Pessimists have been saying ‘the world is coming to an end’ all through history. How many times have they been right so far?”
~ Warren Greeley (me)

“Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.”
~ Laurence Olivier

“Before the beginning of great brilliance, there must be chaos.”
~ I Ching

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.”
~ Winston Churchill

“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”
~ Bill Gates

“My friends tell me that I have a tendency to point out problems without offering solutions, but they never tell me what I should do about it.”
~ Daniel Gilbert

“Deal with the faults of others as gently as with your own.”
~ Chinese proverb

“Inventions reached their limit long ago, and I see no hope for further development.”
~ Sextus Julius Frontinus, 100AD

“Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.”
~ Henry David Thoreau

There are two vital aspects of turning a dream or an idea into a reality; Goals and Plans. The two are somewhat mixed up when having casual conversations with colleagues and friends but need to be separated and understood each for their importance.

First up to bat is Goals. Goals are what you are aiming to accomplish. They are generally vague but very meaningful and are the necessary plateaus needed to be reached.

Plans however a much different. Plans are what is needed to be done to reach your goals. Plans are specific and intricate. They normally involve milestones, timelines, day to day steps, and lots and lots of alterations.

Now to turn an idea into reality these two things must be separated and appreciated. How to do it is simple. Use two separate mediums to convey their importance to yourself and your team.

Goals should be up on the bulletin, dry erase, or chalk board. They should be put on banners and used to make slogans for the team. Hell, paint them in big bold letters on the wall if needed. The objective is to have the goal implanted, inescapably, in your mind and the minds of those helping you.

Plans, on the other hand should be made in print; handed out to everyone involved with highlights of each person’s objectives to reach the goal, be it daily, weekly, monthly; whatever is need. They should be flexible and living.

The plans will change. This needs to be addressed and delt with accordingly otherwise the goals painted on your wall cannot be met. They also should be verbally communicated on a daily basis and made sure the plan is constantly staying on track.

Once a the plan has taken action, and only then can a goal be met, can the ideas and dreams of your visionary mind be set into motion to become a living entity.

Think about it. What can you change next time you are setting out to accomplish something, be it something small or something out of this world?

Today is a day I have been waiting for since August when I found out about the revolutionary concept of Blog Action Day - a day when blogs from all around the world discuss a singular topic. Blog Action Day is here! And the topic is the Environment.

Why does the world need changing?

For centuries now, in our ignorance, we have been using up the world resources that can never be brought back once they are gone. In doing so, our consumption has lead to pollution and destruction of earth’s fragile structure.

Now that all this has occured we are faced with a big question mark where tomorrow used to be. For years now we have ignored the vital signs and brushed it off with the excuse of being to busy or not stopping progression.

I say We in all of this because We are the problem. Not the Bush administration alone, not big corporations, not the wealthy elite. It is us. All of us. And it will now take all of us to fix the problem.

What is being done?

We are at a time now like no other in history. Today there are a growing number of people fighting, not for money or power but instead for a better world to live in.

There are now activist groups and scientists working together to get active about climate crisis. Our former vice president, Al Gore, and his governmental council have just won a Nobel Prize for their efforts to inform the world about this major problem that effects us all.

The people are speaking out and companies are listening, making products and services that are more eco friendly. Governments and nations from around the world are doing their part to become more earth conscious in efforts to preserve their futures and all of our futures.

What needs to be done?

The United States Government, along with several others have neglected this problem and still do. They need to take initiative, regardless of any personal reasons they may have not to find alternative fuel sources and build a better society to coincide with the earth we all inhabit.

People need to get smart fast. Schools, Workplaces, Media should all press onward in educating the populous in doing what needs to be done. They will not do it unless there is a great push by the people who already know enough to understand our crisis.

People don’t like change so it is difficult to get the world to make a difference for the next generations of man kind. It must be stressed that this is not a matter of inconvenience but instead a matter of life or death for our grandchildren, children, and even ourselves.

[Moment for a deep breath]

We can all do something to change. Use recycled products, walk or bike instead of driving short distance, turn the lights off when we leave a room, don’t buy from companies known to pollute, vote canidates into office who want to make a change, etc. If each person just pushed themselves the smallest bit into common sense changes to make the world better, it would be better for all of us.

Here are a few links related to this topic.

Clarity Multimedia: Greener Business Article
Environmental Protection Agency
Clean Power Now
Blog Action Day
Live Earth

“The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.”
~ Goering at the Nuremberg Trials
(Sound familiar? Uh huh.)

“Get the important things right.”
~ N. P. Collingwood

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
~ Mark Twain

“Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word.”
~ Stephen King

“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”
~ Einstein

“The best writing is rewriting.”
~ E. B. White

“Dealing with failure is easy: Work hard to improve. Success is also easy to handle: You’ve solved the wrong problem. Work hard to improve.”
~ Alan Perlis

“It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.”
~ Mark Twain

“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”
~ Bill Gates

“To me, swimming is a confusing sport because sometimes you do it for fun and sometimes you do it to not die.” ~ Demetri Martin

A while back I was made aware of a great opportunity by my friend and associate Ron Johnson of CyberOptik.net. He dropped me an email about a Guy Kawasaki contest on his blog. After participating by adding the Truemors Application to my Facebook I sent an email to Guy and I was one of the lucky first 200 to receive a free autographed copy of The Art of the Start - The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything.

My overall opinion of The Art of the Start was that it was a book written with true personal experience from a business veteran. In reading the pages and absorbing the information as best I could (I am dyslexic so my reading takes a while) I really felt like the thorough advice I was receiving was from a man who knew what the hell he was talking about. This is a growingly uncommon feeling in reading Business books now a days.

Briefly, here is a history of Guy Kawasaki’s career. He started out working as a Mac Evangelist for Apple Computers, Inc. in the 80’s and grew a reputation as the key Apple Fellow in spreading the word about this great machine to programmers and engineers in the infant stage of the Personal Computer.

After getting out of Apple (once he had established the brand enough to move on) he took on several ventures and then went back to Apple in the 90’s with the intention of recovering the damage done by an idiot CEO and Board of Directors (the guys who let Steve Jobs go). Once Guy left Apple again he co-founded his current company called Garage Technology Ventures, a Startup Capital firm.

In his latest book (of 8 written) he addresses exactly what the title implies, the excitement and pure chaos of starting a new venture from scratch. He runs through all the types of practice a person will need in starting their venture and gives a lot of great insight into the world of starting something new in pursuit of Changing the World.

The fundamental aspect I took away from this book over everything else is that one should not go into business to make money but instead do so to make Meaning or in otherwords make the world a better place. If a person can accomplish this, money will come (it is almost inevitable).

Most will give a star, number, or letter rating in their reviews but I have to say I think it would demean a book’s intentions to rate it in such a simplistic way so instead I am going to use a sentence to show my rating of the book.

Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of the Start is an excellent read for people starting a new business venture because it gives the reader the fundimentals but leave room open for them to make personal meaning in their new Startup, whatever it may be.

To check out more about Guy and his new book go to…
www.artofthestart.com

Blog Action Day is on October 15th. On this day bloggers from all around the world will post articles on a single topic which will be the Environment. The point is to get people thinking and discussing about one topic on one day that effects all of us. Be sure to read your favorite blogs that are involved and if you have a blog yourself, please commit to joining this revolutionary movement that is being done for the first time ever.

I will be participating in Blog Action Day here on the Warren Greeley Blog so feel free to stop by on the 15th and check out my environmentally themed post. I have already started working on it. To make sure you don’t miss a beat, take a second to subscribe to my feeds.

Previous Posts on this subject:
» Some More Environemental Rambling
» join the community on october 15th