Good Lord! This whole social media thingy got complicated quickly! One minute, I’m trying to decide if Myspace is worth the effort and then next everyone has moved over to facebook. Ten minutes later, someone asks if I tweet. A moment after that ping has a new meaning too.

Generally, I’m an early adopter but when it comes to internet stuff I tend to sit back and wait. This is probably a hang over from my software development days. I just don’t want to touch anything bleeding edge for fear that it will change next week and I’ll have to learn everything again. But, I eventually jumped into social media (SM) and had a quick and passionate love affair with all things twitter. Then, well, it went sour. I got bored of all the affiliate marketers and I just liked the feel of facebook more.

After a short hiatus, I’m back baby and I’m firing with both barrels. This time I’m playing with twitter, facebook, foursquare, Google Buzz and LinkedIn. Sounds serious, eh?

In my SM adventures, I’ve found that updating statuses over multiple platforms is both tedious and irritating. I’ve played with a few tools that update multiple platforms at once, here are my thoughts:

• TweetDeck is a damn sexy little interface for updating SM. It’s available for desktop, iPad and iPhone. I’ve only used the desktop version but was happy with it for the time I used it. The only problem was the fact that my MacBook monitor is 13″ and all the info was not viewable at once. The one thing I really like about TweetDeck is the ability to update multiple twitter accounts at the same time.
• Seesmic (web) is the tool that I’m using at present. It’s web-based so I’m not locked to my MacBook but they also have iPhone and desktop versions. I like the interface and it updates more SM platforms than TweetDeck (Google Buzz, ping.fm & foursquare). However, I can’t see the option for multiple SM platform accounts. Note: updating ping.fm via Seesmic might cause double posts if both ping.fm and Seesmic are updating the same SM platforms.
• Ping.fm is now owned by Seesmic and is simply a great way to spread your updates to multiple SM platforms. I have an account setup for all of my businesses and for personal use too.

Another way I use SM networks is to drive traffic to this blog and also to my business blogs. When I write a new blog post I want that news communicated via my network. It would be a nightmare to have to do this manually so I found a way to automate the process. Here’s what I did:

1. First of all I used FeedBurner to format my RSS. This tool also has some other cool tools once you’ve “burnt” your feed.
2. Next I set up a Ping.fm account to allow update of multiple social media platforms with a single message. Ping.fm is great at being a central point from which to spread updates however it doesn’t have the facility to grab a feed from a blog so a further step was required.
3. My first choice to grab my blog feed and pass it to ping.fm was twitterfeed. It has a cool interface and setup was pretty simple. Unfortunately, at some point after running smoothly for a few months it all came to a screaming halt. It seems that ping.fm and twitterfeed aren’t talking to each other these days. Apparently spammers are to blame but whatever the cause it does help me. So, I had to move on…
4. Twitterlive was the solution. At first glance it isn’t as sexy as twitterfeed but it works. Setup wasn’t as intuitive as twitterfeed but I got it all working and am quite happy with the result.

This is what happens in the process: I publish a blog post using wordpress, the feed gets sent to FeedBurner, Twitterlive grabs the feed and sends it to ping.fm which then spreads the love to twitter, facebook and LinkedIn. A word of warning: don’t set-up both Twitterlive and ping.fm to update your network or you’ll get double posts in your profiles.

This is by no means a complete solution. There are still plenty of SM platforms to be utilised in one’s drive for fame and fortune. But it’s certainly a start. I hope this helps you.

I’m just wondering: are we so stressed and so busy simply because we are trying to do too much?

We are continually told that life was/is meant to be easier with all these new gadgets to help us live. (Does anyone remember life without a mobile phone?) Perhaps we’re consuming ourselves with trying to obtain more, faster? Perhaps we really do have more time but we are simply filling it up with superfluous tasks? Perhaps we can’t see the forest for the trees?

Look back two generations are try to find a task management methodology. No chance. And these days we need a system just to survive work without going loopy. Is this a sign of progress or insanity?

Is this another manifestation of the fact that our minds have taken over? That they crave something to do? That sitting and doing nothing is unbearable to the mind and it will do anything to avoid it?

Take 15 minutes every day to stare at a wall and do nothing. I guarantee that you have the time to do it and that you will find that you have a lot more time that you think.

I’ll always remember the scene in the movie Reality Bites where Ethan Hawke answers the phone, “Welcome to the winter of our discontent.” Perhaps this is how we should all be answering the phone these days.

When I was in the early stages of conceiving my business and wealth creation plans, I thought that the level to which I was discontent with my results, earnings, bank balance, investment portfolio, lifestyle etc. was what was driving me. I even wrote “I am not content” on one of my personal vision development sheets. Now I’ve realised that it was one of the things that was holding me in a state of (almost) constant anxiety.

I have long been torn between The Buddha’s teachings regarding desire (read: yearning/clinging/grasping) being the root of suffering and wanting to build a better life for myself and my family. This is something that seems – on the surface – to be nigh on impossible to reconcile. However, with and little thought and a lot more non-thought I may have come to my own solution. Unfortunately, it’s not something new. In fact, Buddhist teachers have been teaching it more thousands of years.

So, here’s what I’ve come up with to reconcile all this in myself and cease that internal strife and anxiety. My plans remain my plans but they do not define me. They are part of the illusion that is my future. They have little effect on my now. It is my now that is solely important. It is all that I have. I now focus completely on my now and in so doing lay the path for my future. (I am by no means getting this right all the time but I’m giving it my all.)

I’ve spent too many years on focusing on what my future would hold. Too many hours of thought on how to achieve success. Too many days thinking of things that were not part of my immediate present. What a waste! Today, I focus on right now. I might be writing a plan for the future but I focus on writing the plan, on making sure that I get it right based on right now. And I’m happy to change the plan if needed without clinging to what I created in my past.

No doubt I’ve hugely influenced by what I’ve been reading (and listening to). And I should send out some positive vibes to:

• Ven. Eshu,
• Alan Watts, and
• Eckhart Tolle

I’m feeling a lot more freedom these days. Freedom to do. Freedom to be. Freedom to act.

And my personal vision ends with the words “I am content!”

Jeffrey Gitomer is a genius!

I subscribe to his weekly ezine “Sales Caffeine“. You should too.

Here’s what Gitomer says about listening:

The good elements of listening are:

Listen with the intent to understand. A sermon. A movie. In a classroom.
Listen with the intent to take action. Someone giving instructions.
Listen with the intent to learn. A teacher. A trainer. A seminar leader.
Listen with the intent to enjoy. Music. Sounds of nature. Waterfalls. A crackling fire.
Listen with the intent to remember. Driving directions. A website address. A phone number.

So, are you listening or thinking about what to say next or what you’ve got to do later?

Do you have a personal mission?

Have you written down what it is that you want to become, what you are, what you strive for?

Have you clearly articulated why you want to do the things that you wants to do?

I found that writing my personal mission was both difficult and rewarding. It took me sometime to decide what was truly important and how I was going to achieve my goals. I cannot recommend writing your own highly enough.

Here’s my personal mission:

To be recognised as a man who provides a secure, loving and happy home for his family and as a man who benefits to his community through his business ventures and charitable contributions.

My health and fitness are supremely important and I therefore commit to regular exercise and the maintenance of a healthy diet. In this area – as in many others – I will lead by example.

My actions will show that I value honestly, integrity, self-belief and determination. I will utilise these values to succeed in my personal life and business life.

Each day I will live with passion and vigour. I will smile more than I frown. I will always move forward, not accepting roadblocks and removing distractions. I will be bold in my actions and strive for virtuosity in all that I do.

I will achieve my mission by continually improving myself through education, learning from my mistakes, listening to the feedback of my peers and testing and measuring my results. I will surround myself with positive, intelligent people who share my values.

Above all else, I will be remembered as a loving father and husband.