Here is an interesting article about some former Google employees leaving to build social networking sites.   This was found on the Mashable and it offers an insight into the importance of building your brand or products community.  This continues to be the secret success for online companies as well as traditional companies.  As Seth Godin describes in his book Tribes, once you have a loyal “Tribe” following you and your product there is nothing you can’t achieve.  But how do you do this?  In my opinion, it starts with being authentic.  Second, have to build trust.  Finally, you have to provide a product or service that can go viral.  Are your customers proud to talk about your product and promote it to their friends and family?  If you can answer yes to all three you are well on your way to having a smashing success on your hands.

Something that I have come to realize is that there is a whole slew of memes that are interconnected in the area of money and success. But these memes are about keeping us from achieving money and success, instead of helping us obtain it. They are very widespread today, and a huge majority of the population is tainted with them. These memes are gladly accepted and replicated because they allow people to validate their lack of progress in their life goals. I’ve found that some of them are:

❚ Money is bad.
❚ Rich people are evil.
❚ It is spiritual or noble to be poor.
❚ Big entities are bad; underdogs and the little guys are good.
❚ You have to sell your soul to get rich.
❚ Rich people lie, cheat, and steal.
❚ Rich people have lots of money, but they also have many additional
problems. Being rich isn’t worth it.
❚ Money causes good people to go bad.
❚ If you deny yourself now, God will provide true prosperity in
the afterlife.

It might be hard to believe that something a teacher or parent said to us when we were six years old is preventing us from getting a promotion today, but it could very true. We may doubt that a TV show we watched when we were younger could be causing our friendships, relationships, and/or marriages to suffer 20 years later, but that might be the case. We may find it hard to believe to think the books we’ve read or the movies we’ve enjoyed could be causing us to get sick or manifest disease.

But in fact, this is exactly what is happening to millions of people. And most likely you or I could be one of them. As we are exposed to these people, institutions, and environments, we are likely to be infected by thousands of potential memes. Just as exposure to raw sewage can cause us to be infected with germs, microbes, and other nasty things, prolonged exposure to the data-sphere (meaning TV, radio, movies, books, magazines, newspapers, the Internet, and e-mail) will infect us with many nasty viruses of your mind if we’re not careful what we chose and what we do with it.

Memes are as real—and deadly—as biological viruses. Just like computer viruses, memes parasitize the host (our minds), replicate, and spread to others. And just like other viruses, an epidemic of memes is sweeping through our society today.

I had recently chatted with a Recruitment Director for one of the nation’s largest Information Technology firms.  Four months each year she visits college campuses to recruit graduating seniors for her company’s junior executive  training  program.  The tenor of her remarks indicated she was discouraged about the attitudes of many people she talked with.

“Most days I interview between 8 and 12 college seniors, all in the upper third of  their class, all at least mildly  interested in coming with  us.  One of the main things we want to determine in the screening interview is the individual’s motivation. We want to find out if he or she is the kind of person who can, in a few years, direct major projects, manage a branch office, or in some other way make a really substantial contribution to the company.  “I must say I’m not too pleased with the personal objectives of most of those I talk with.  You’d be surprised,” she went on, “how many 22-year-olds are more interested in our retirement plan than in anything else we have to offer.  A second favorite question is ‘Will I move around a lot?’  Most of them seem to define the word success as synonymous with security. Can we risk turning our company over to people like that?  “The thing I can’t understand is why should young people these days be so ultra-conservative,  so narrow in their view of the future? Every day there are more signs of expanding opportunity.

This country is making record progress in scientific and technological development.  Our population is gaining rapidly.  If there ever was a time to be bullish about America, it’s now.”   The tendency for so many people to think small means  there is much less competition than you think for a very rewarding career.

Where success is concerned, people are not measured in inches, or pounds, or college degrees, or family  background;  they are measure by the size of their thinking.  How big do we think determines the size of our accomplishments. Now, let’s see how we can enlarge our thinking.

Ever ask yourself, “What is my greatest weakness?” Probably the greatest human weakness is self-deprecation    that is selling oneself short.  Self-deprecation shows through in countless ways.

John sees a job advertisement in the paper;  it’s exactly what he would like.  But he does nothing about it because he  thinks,  “I’m not good enough for that job, so why bother.” Or Jim wants a date with  Joan, but he doesn’t call her  because he thinks he wouldn’t rate with her.  Tom feels Mr. Richards would be a very good prospect for his product, but Tom doesn’t call. He feels Mr. Richards is too big to see  him.  Pete is filling out a job application form.  One  question asks,  “What  beginning  salary  do  you  expect?”  Pete puts down a modest figure because he feels he really isn’t worth the bigger sum that he would like to earn.

Philosophers for thousands of  years  have  issued  good  advice: Know Thyself. But most people, it seems, interpret this suggestion to  mean Know Only Thy Negative Self. Most self-evaluation consists of making long mental lists of one’s faults, shortcomings, inadequacies.

It’s well to know our inabilities, for this shows us areas in which we can improve. But if we only know our negative characteristics we’re in a mess. Our value is small.

Among his many generous efforts to spread good, it looks like one of the richest men is setting his goals on solving world hunger. Recently, Bill Gates called for the second “Green Revolution,” focusing on farmer training and infrastructure in Africa, in addition to new crop varieties and higher yields.

“Three-quarters of the world’s poorest people get their food and income by farming small plots of land,” Gates said. “So if we can make smallholder farming more productive and more profitable, we can have a massive impact on hunger and nutrition and poverty.”

Interestingly, Bill is looking to controversial genetically modified foods (GMFs) as part of the solution. The Microsoft founder recently gifted $10.4 million to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and Michigan State University, as part of a charge to develop a center in Africa to regulate the new biotechnology.

Think Gates can lead the way? Are GMFs a viable solution? It’s certainly great to see someone using his wealth to do so much good in his lifetime.

Read the entire article at: Scientific American

So here is a repost of an entry I made back on January of 2005 after assessing my 2004-2005 New Year’s Resolution.  I’m glad I stumbled across this (and no…this is not a StumbleUpon plug) because I had completely forgot about it until now.  Currently, my life is quite the same, yet very different at the same time.  I don’t drink coffee any more.  You will no longer find me smoking a cigarette or drinking alcohol other than the occasional celebratory glass of red wine.  I enjoy this much better than my previous “lifestyle”.  So, in a nut shell…it’s cool to look back and see how things change from time to time. 

“Sleep Debt
Category: Life

There may come a time in your life where you have to make some hard decisions. When you do, half of the people will think you’re crazy and the other half will think you’re right.  You’ll need to make those decisions for yourself and your family when your time comes. I do believe the future is bright and my one hope is that I want anybody that reads to know that inside of you are the seeds of greatness. God blessed you with special gifts that only you have. Learn what those gifts are. I know that you can do anything in the world that you choose to do. You have to focus and always believe in yourself. Never beat yourself up for your past performance, just keep on striving to make your dreams come true. I know you are going to do something great in your future and that you can accomplish all you want and then some. Never give up on yourself. You know that it is better to go to bed tired knowing you give it your all than to go to bed lazy because you are striving for nothing. Keep on dreaming, it’s worth it. You are on your way to being the best. You will go beyond where you thought you could. I am proud of you for standing up against mediocrity and claiming yourself to be A DREAMER!! Yes, that is what you are and never ever forget it. Don’t let the fog take it away from you.

You’re the real deal my friend.

May God bless you and always be there for you.