This morning I was reading my buddy’s Dana VanDen Heuvel @marketingsavant.com email. Dana and I met a few years ago when I addressed the ad feds in Wisconsin. We’ve keep in touch and I always enjoy reading his materials on his blog and his other social media content. Today he posted a very timely piece on How Lists can prevent big time disasters and significantly  help one achieve their goals. I’m a list junkie. In fact, if you’ve been to our new estore, you see lots of lists. We call them Ta-Do lists. These lists are boiled down Ta-Dos based on my life experiences. They are quick reads and can truly help get things done and  prevent costly missteps.

Back to my friend Dana, his post below is very good. Later today I’m going to check out the The Checklist Manifesto, by Atul Gawande and will comment on that shortly.

I also learned about a new tool today that makes it super easy to reblog great posts like this one and to get folks to reblog your comments. It’s called Zemanta.

Here the List eBlog from marketingsavant.com:

I found this fascinating quote today:

“…checklists seem able to defend anyone, even the experienced, against failure in many more tasks than we realize. They provide a kind of cognitive net. They catch mental flaws … And because they do, they raise wide, unexpected possibilities.”

marketingsavant.com, Marketing Savant.com, May 2010

You should read the whole article.

Posted in: Biz development, Creativity, Innovation, Lessons learned, Marketing, Reinvention

Today I attended a “Get Motivated” event. I experienced 8 hours of elite speakers.

Message takeaways from each speaker:

Colin Powell (who was amazing)

• Recognize people in your world and your team’s purpose
• Small acts of kindness make a big difference
• The organization’s success is mandatory; if someone is not carrying his or her weight, make a change

John Walsh (who shared an important message)

• People, their passion and causes can make a difference in this world
• When life hands you your greatest loss, turn the situation into positive change to help others

James Smith (who was very entertaining)

• If you are not in the game, you’ll never win
• Self responsibility is not an option

Apolo Anton Ono (who is such an inspiration and so cute)

• Embrace a zero regret mindset
• The journey is as rewarding as the win

Zig Ziglar (who is a legend, but getting old)

• Healthy relationships impact your business success
• When you get old and can’t speak the way you once did, add video to your presentation

As a speaker, I love to watch other speakers. As a entrepreneur, I’m always looking for gems of wisdom and as a human in the rat race, I’m forever seeking added motivation.
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Posted in: Conferences, Creativity, Innovation, Lessons learned, Marketing