Ten Days of Broken Promises

10 Days Lost...

I promised myself starting March 1st I’d be more self-disciplined and write something in my blog – EVERY DAY.

Well, today is March 11th and I missed days 1-10.

Yeah, I feel like a loser with a capital “L”. And I can make a long list of excuses like how busy I am writing for my clients, attending meetings, solving problems and just taking care of life as a mom, wife and business owner. But that doesn’t really cut it. It’s what I choose to do that matters. I’m really good at hitting client deadlines. It’s my job. So why don’t I hit my own deadlines? Choice. I choose to put off writing “MarketUP Musings”.

Then I read some interesting blogs by a couple of Canadian communicators I admire – @dannybrown and @knealemann – and I got inspired to get off my duff, so to speak, and DO SOMETHING. Today. Right now.

Danny inspired me to sign up for Earth Hour, contact friends to do the same, send messages via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and post it on my blog. Viral activism. He also inspired me to submit a story about what social media means to me. He’s such a great storyteller, he stimulates discussion.

Kneale reaches out to people. A true communicator in every sense. Plus he’s funny. And he questions things. And he promotes action. This morning he made me smile through my tiredness, which gave me more energy and then – I got busy.

Part then of my social media story is this: the connections that are made that are unexpected and sometimes stimulative, promoting new thoughts and discourse. We’re all familiar with slumps: creative ones, personal relationship types, financial markets, business cycles. Ebb and flow. The difference between successful companies – and individuals – compared to failed ones is that successful types work through problems, recreate energy and motivate themselves and others to achieve goals.

That’s what I believe my job is as a communicator, whether through PR, marketing messages, branding or developing strategy – it’s to continue to engage and inspire action.

Now that I got that off my chest, here are some simply fun references to what can happen in 10 Days:

Ten Days in Africa – Out of the Box board game.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days – Sappy romantic comedy.

The Year the World Lost 10 Days – Seriously! You might think, ‘WTF?’, but it happened.

10 Days Late – Song by Third Eye Blind

What could YOU do in 10 days?

As Kneale says, “Cheers you!”

–Donna