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MommyBlog Reviews (& Giveaways!)Joining: A Chance to Lead
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Link Love
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Starts fun, ends by bashing Napoleon Hill (still fun)!
My friend Dawn and I went out for lunch and a margarita at my local Pepe’s this evening. We had a fantastic waiter, who spoke to us in a lovely hybrid of spanish and english. It was quite sexy. We didn’t understand a word, but all was forgiven when he brought the pitcher of margaritas and poured for us. There were even little pieces of straw top on the straws. So we knew they were sterile…I think.
After finishing our culinary journey to salsa-land, we talked about what to do next and instead of calling it a night, we decided to be complete wild women…which means (of course) we took ourselves straight to the bookstore.
She wanted crochet mags, and I needed to do a little market research.
I have told you I’m writing a book, haven’t I? No? Well…more on that later. I’m a big fan of not letting cats out of bags before their time. Let me just say I’m terribly excited and couldn’t find anything like itig fan of not letting cats anywhere in my local – and quite large – Borders Bookstore (always a plus, wouldn’t you say? Unless it’s about something in which no one is interested…that’s not the case here, I assure you!) One thing I did notice, because it always sticks out like a sore thumb, is that no matter what time of day, what day of the week, or how busy it is in the bookstore I’m always – ALWAYS – the only person in the business section.
From my location, I’m always able to see that while I peruse yet another business book telling me yet another tale of rags to riches through the power of the great sale, there are at least three people in the self-help section.
Seriously, people, isn’t the business section self-help?
Obviously the resounding answer in my community is “No! Business books are NOT self help!” If anyone else thought it was, I wouldn’t be the only one in the business section desperately wishing there was a book that I could pick up and have a moment of pure joy from having found. (I’m becoming melancholy, just a little, about business books and marketing gurus and all kinds of business-y subjects. I think it’s an end of the year kind of thing.)
The only thing I ended up scoring on our fantastic journey to the bookstore was the current copy of Fast Company magazine. I’m looking into getting a subscription…is it worth it? It seemed that the way things are changing in the business world (fast!) it would behoove me to look into a magazine rather than a book, for more up-to-the-minute knowledge of what’s going on out there.
There is still a part of me that resists getting all of my information from blogs and online sources. Even if those online sources have magazines or print books behind their blogging. I just like paper an awful lot and hate the thought that I may be giving it up for blogs and RSS feeds. My fondest memories (some of them) are of libraries in different states at different points of my life. Libraries have always been there for me, full of knowledge that was mine for the asking. Libraries symbolize the pinnacle of information availability – well, in my mind. The Internet is actually the pinnacle of information availability now, not the library, but I’m an old dog and as long as my memories comfort me, so do my books and magazines.
Where are people getting business inspiration from? Seriously, I hope the Napoleon Hill phase is over. “One must have definiteness of purpose.” No s*** Dick Tracy. Positive attitude, I get it. Have a plan. Focus. Um, yeah. I would have to say that makes sense.
But it’s all theory. No one says WHAT to do. If you can’t get it from theory to practice…I don’t care if your personal deity of choice comes down (or up) to talk to you personally, you’re not going to succeed.
We cannot seriously just get our insights from people that had to wing it because there was nothing to look back 100 years to find. This whole craze of getting your business knowledge from Gutenberg.org is killing me. Yes history repeats itself, I get that. But maybe if someone broke out of the shell, it would create a new present and that moment would then be the new history that is repeated. See how this works?
But no one has done that. Does that mean there isn’t a new way of doing business? Must we follow the robber barons and ancient self help gurus? I thought we were trailblazers here on the ‘net – why do we keep trying to find someone to follow?
Damn. I answered my own question again.
I want to find someone to follow that has broken the mold and isn’t following anyone else. Is it just me or does that strike you as odd? It’s like I want to be the first groupie for a band that hasn’t been formed yet that plays a genre of music that doesn’t exist yet.
Sometimes I feel a little silly when I’ve written out an entry like this. When I re-read it, it seems so obvious that it was illogical, yet I’ve been looking in the business section of Borders for years.
Thank you, blogosphere. Thank you brain. I get it. If I want something to be done a new way, I have to suck it up and do it myself. Then others will see that there is a better way (or at the very least a new way, that may work better for a different personality type) and maybe there can be a new breed of successful people.
It still remains, however, that I have a fear of being a leader. By definition, if I lead, I’ll have followers. While that’s all well and good for my Twitter account, I don’t know how I feel about feeling responsible for my decisions and beliefs affecting the lives of others.
Even if the change is for the better.
