There’s an old joke in marketing that goes, if you wait for 100% of the data, you’ll miss 100% of the opportunity. I genuinely believe in the philosophy. We all have a certain order we expect things to happen in. We assume if A happens, then we’ll do B, which will lead to C, etc. But, what happens if A doesn’t happen? Do you not do B?
A good friend of mine calls this the “I love you paradox.” In a relationship if you’re waiting for the other person to say “I love you” so that you can say it, and that person is waiting for you to say it first; well, neither of you will ever say it. At some point you have to do B even though A hasn’t happened.
A better way to think about this, is how we learn to swim. You could say, well I’m not getting in the pool until I know I how to swim. But, you can’t learn to swim, if you don’t get in the pool. Chicken or the egg, right? Me? I just jump right in. That’s actually how I learned to swim. My parents through me into a pool and survival instincts kicked in. I was swimming in no time flat. As the story goes, I learned how to swim in a weekend. We did the same thing with Cora and she took the water immediately.
If you wait for 100% of the data, you will miss 100% of the opportunity. Mark my words. If you want to do something or something, just do it. Don’t wait.
This is what Christmas is all about. It’s not about $600 purses, new cars, jewelry from Tiffany’s, expensive bottles of wine or any other material items. Nope, this is what makes Christmas amazing…seeing these two faces after they’ve made sure Santa ate some cookies, drank his milk and shared the carrots with Rudolph.
It’s the little things that are the big things. Merry Christmas.
I love the Believe initiative by Macy’s. For the last 3 years, my kids have participated in “writing” a letter to Santa at Macy’s and then mailing it to the North Pole. For every letter Macy’s receives they donate $1 to Make A Wish. How can you not be a fan of that? I took the kids this year and it was so cool to see both John and Cora crafting their letters to Santa.
Eventually we all stop believing in Santa. I never thought much about that idea over the years. But, this year it really stuck with me. I’m going to make sure Cora and John believe for as long as possible. Why not? Believing is a good thing and it just might help ensure they eat their vegetables.
In the movie Inception Leonardo Dicaprio’s character explains, “The most dangerous thing is an idea that takes hold in someone’s mind.” In the context of the movie, I can understand why he chose the word dangerous. But, let’s substitute dangerous for “powerful.” That’s what the Believe project means to me. It’s all about the power of the idea. This Christmas, remember to let the idea…the meaning of Christmas take hold of you. You just may see things a little differently and enjoy yourself a little more.
Still, working on a title for the book, but I’ve definitely made some serious progress on the chapter names and even the actual content. First, a little bit of background. For as long as I can remember, my dad has been pushing me to write a book about the insanity I’ver observed and experienced. I’m no, Bill Clinton, so writing an auto-biography of sorts always seemed silly. But, after John was born I got the idea to write an advice book for my two kids – with the advice being slightly different for John than it would be for Cora. Yes, there’s a double-standard; my daughter can never date. It’s that simple!
A few weeks ago, it occurred to me that I could merge both of these topics together into 1 compelling story. The advice I’d be giving my kids would be heavily based on my own life experiences (the good and the bad). So here’s where we’re at with the chapter names:
Thin Is In
Mean Kids Suck
Make Mistakes Often
You Can Be Anything You Want To, Unless You Can’t
Travel Far And Often
The Soundtrack Of Your Life
…And Eventually You’ll Discover The Beatles
“Put On Side 1 Of Led Zeppelin IV”
The Grand Gesture
Never Take No For An Answer
Why Star Wars Is Better Than Star Trek
Nothing Good Happens After Midnight
Liquor Before Beer
What You Wear Mattters
Act Like You’ve Been There Before
How To Tell If They’re Right For You
“You Ruined My Life”
Blood Is Thicker Than Water, Except When Love Is Involved
3 Simple Rules
Take Time, To Make Time, To Soak It All In
Quality Trumps Quantity
Don’t Negotiate With Terrorists
Negotiate Like A Terrorist
The Bucket List
Why I’m Always Right…And Why You’ll Always Be Right When You’re A Parent
Chapters 1, 4, 6, 8, 13, 17 and 22 already have first drafts. My goal is to have a first draft of the whole book by March 1st. I figure I’ll have a lot of time over the holidays to make a serious dent. If you’ve got thoughts for a title, send them my way. Who knows, maybe you’ll make the acknowledgments!
When you have kids, you get to experience a lot of firsts. There’s the steps, words, dates and so much more. Today, I got to experience another first. Cora had her first haircut today…just a little trim.
I used some high grain (ISO 800) for this and no Flash. I just love the how gritty the picture processed and how serious Cora looked.
Today, Cora turned 3. Her birthday somehow coincided with wear your bathing suit to school day. We celebrated her birthday with friends and Family on Sunday. It’s amazing to see how quickly they grow up. It’s almost as if it were yesterday when she was just learning how to crawl. Now she’s running and jumping around. Time flies.
Every once in a while I like to stop talking about marketing, advertising, the web, social, etc. and talk about my two awesome kids, Cora and John. People always claim to have the cutest kids in the world. But, I think it’s safe to say, we all know mine are the cutest.
I know it’s not a competition, but it’s still nice to know mine are the cutest Happy Easter!
Today, we played hard for charity. The Junior League in Minneapolis organized great event today, Bowling For Books. It’s simple, really. You bring in your books. You trade them in so that kids who are less fortunate can have books. You eat pizza. You drink beer (well the kids didn’t). And, you bowl.
This was Cora and John’s first time bowling. I have to say, they were quite brave. There was no ramp and no bumper guards. Nope. We don’t use enablers or crutches at my house
I love bowling. It’s a simple activity that anyone can play regardless of age. As I was meeting all these new people and watching all these people engage with one another it reminded me of something very important. Real connections, real relationships and real conversations are way better than virtual ones on twitter, Facebook and the like. I mean think about it. You can’t share a beer virtually and have the same REAL effect. That alone makes it a more meaningful activity.
Get out from behind the computer, put the Nexus One down and start engaging in real life. You just might like it.
As you can see from the photos and video below, we had a great time.
Head of Social Media at Walgreens. Interactive marketer, innovator, boat rocker, continuous learner, movie lover, risk taker, dad and all around good guy.
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Happy Easter!
Head of Social Media at Walgreens. Interactive marketer, innovator, boat rocker, continuous learner, movie lover, risk taker, dad and all around good guy.
