What’s Twitter?

My short answer — if a blog married a chat room and they had a child, it’s name would be twitter.  That sounds silly – hey, I felt silly writing it.

In truth, twitter is a phenomenal communication tool that puts you in contact with almost anyone in the world.  You can follow anyone and they may even follow you back.  Unlike Facebook, you don’t have to be friends.  You can share your thoughts, great sites, news — you name it.

Where to start

• Go to twitter and set up an account – its simple, quick and best of all FREE
• Create your profile – don’t worry too much about this, you can update anytime
• Spend a little time following the public timeline
• Start using the search function to find people who have similar interests
• Follow me

A good video introduction

Click here to view the embedded video.

Like anything new, there’s a short learning curve – very short.  If you can type – you’re in.  See you soon and by the way I’ll follow you back.

(photo courtesy of saschapohflepp)

Our Shoulder Rehab Device will be at the ACSM Annual Conference

The Rotater and I will be in Indianapolis this week (May 28–31) at the American College of Sports Medicine’s annual conference. The ACSM is the world’s premier sports medicine and exercise science organization.

The ACSM mission statement:

The American College of Sports Medicine promotes and integrates scientific research, education, and practical applications of sports medicine and exercise science to maintain and enhance physical performance, fitness, health, and quality of life.

If you’re anywhere near Indianapolis this week, then please stop at the Rotater booth and say hi. I’d love to hear from you.

Tags: ACSM, American+College+of+Sports+Medicine, the+Rotater, shoulder+rehab+device

A brief description of commentluv.

Basically, it works like this:

1. A person, (who has their own blog) reads on of your blog articles.
2. That blogger then leaves a comment on your site.
3. The commentluv plugin then goes to the other bloggers blog and retrieves that bloggers latest post title and places it at the end of his/her comment as a link back to his/her site.

Sounds cool, huh? Want to see how it works? Go to my article Six Barriers to Successful Living and scroll down through the comments. At the bottom, you will see where MichelleVan has left a couple of comments since I have installed this plugin.

Example

• • I loved this article because of the solutions. Nice work. I stumbled it. – off to digg it now.
    MichelleVan’s last blog post..Subscribe to Divine Purpose -3 Ways to Stay in Touch
    By MichelleVan on Jan 10, 2008 | Edit

Try the commentluv plugin for yourself

Leave me a comment and then watch and marvel at how well it works. Instant links.

Thanks to Andy Bailey at FiddyP

Thanks Andy for this fantastic plugin. I hope that this article sends a lot of traffic your way. You deserve it. Kudos!

Tags: commentluv, WordPress+plugin, link+love, blogging, blog

1. You are scapegoating through life.

You have convinced yourself and everyone who will listen that all of your problems are caused by someone else or something else. Everything (at the very least, most things in your mind) are beyond your control.

Man, it depresses me just to write this stuff down. I can’t imagine how someone who truly believes this crap, must feel.

Napoleon said,

“I create the circumstances that affect me.”

This is true. It’s a fact, “stuff” happens to everybody – You are not special. At least, not in that sense. The universe is not picking on you. Crap hits everybody. Make up your mind to deal with it and then deal with it.

Accept responsibility for your actions or more likely your inaction. Decide that you are not going to take it anymore. Then don’t take it anymore. The simple fact that you are reading this is evidence that you are searching for direction. Here it is: You have every right to be successful in life. Make it your quest to soar above your present situation. Once you make a decision and begin to search for answers, the help you need will be revealed.

SOLUTION: Decide to be the master of your destiny or relegate yourself to being pushed around by circumstances beyond your control. Take control of your life. It’s really up to you.

2. It’s all about me – you are self-absorbed.

You know who you are. You get bored when someone else is getting the attention. You have the best stories (we’ve heard you one-up everybody). It’s always all about “you”.

Here is a wake up call: You are boring and dull. The only reason we listen to you is because either we are too nice to walk away or we realize that the politics of the organization we are a part of would be violated.

Your potential is diminished because you don’t understand that you cannot influence others when it’s obvious that you don’t care about them. Zig Ziglar said, “You can get anything you want, if you help enough other people get what they want.”

SOLUTION: In order to help yourself, you must help others. There’s no better long-term strategy to achieving your success. As Dr. Phil would say, “It ain’t about YOU!” Become a listener and a people person. Help others and then help yourself indirectly.

3. You allow others to make your life decisions.

You know how it goes; someone (Mom, Dad, or whoever you deem as influential) says you should do “this or that” with your life. Why? How do they know what you want? Or how you feel?

The family needs you to become a lawyer, or doctor, or accountant, or football star or whatever. “If you want me to pay for your college, then you’ll major in what I tell you to major in”.

To some of us, this seems absurd, but it happens. Really. Here’s a secret, if you are not happy, then you will not be able to make anyone else happy. The only thing that is sure is that by compromising you desires for someone else you will be filled with resentment and hurt.

Eventually, those emotions will be revealed.

SOLUTION: Why not cut to the chase and deal with it now? You’ll be happier in the long run and probably save a heap of money in psychoanalyst fees.

4. You are filled with subconscious self-doubt.

You are filled with doubts and thoughts of inadequacy. You feel un-deserving. If you don’t believe in yourself, then why should I? Or anyone else for that matter?

The short answer is that no one will believe in you. By the simple act of thinking self-deprecating thoughts, you have defeated yourself, regardless of your abilities.

Everyday, average people just like you and me have fantastic, original, creative thoughts and ideas. But just as quickly, they are dismissed and discarded for the simple reason that they must be of no value if a simpleton like you thought of them.

People tend to overestimate the talent, ability and intelligence of others and then compound the problem by underestimating their own attributes.

SOLUTION: Read “The Power of Positive Thinking” by Norman Vincent Peale. It is a classic and deserves to be. Learn some meaningful affirmations and use them. Become a true believer – in yourself.

5. Your are afraid.

I am not even going to attempt to list the wide variety of fears that hold people back.

SOLUTION: You must think of fear as the fence that keeps the herd in the pasture of mediocrity. You were not built for mediocrity. You are unique and you have unique abilities – use them.

6. You have no clear goals.

At least you are not alone. Studies and statistics that have been repeated many times prove that only 3–5 percent of the population have a tangible, written set of goals. Remarkably, this is the same percentage of financial independent people in the U.S. and world.

Do you think there is a correlation? It’s a no-brainer.

SOLUTION: Write down your goals and go over them daily. It will change your life.

Tags: success, fear, goals, self-doubt, scapegoat

Great Bloggers, Great Friends and Great Support

This rise in the popularity of soupornuts.com is due to the help of a great blogging community along with their continual motivation and support. As a result, I want to use this article to express my thanks by adding some great blogs to my blogroll.

• Luciano Passuello at Litemind – Luciano asked me to participate in his “Lists Group Writing Project”, which resulted in a large increase in new visitors to soupornuts.com. My list was – 26 ways to change the world.
• Daylle Deanna Schwartz from Lessons from a Recovering Doormat – Daylle has been a source of inspiration for me. She writes excellent articles (she is a published author of several books), she has been on several TV shows and she is very approachable. Daylle tagged me to participate in a meme ( 7 things that you may not know about me ) and since then we have corresponded on a number of occasions. Most recently, she hosted a blog carnival and asked me to submit an article from my “other” blog, Shoulder Performance & Rehab. I submitted an article written by my business partner, Scott Kay, entitled “Shoulder Rehab (shoulder rehabilitation)”.
• Tina Fukuchi at Public Spark – Tina is a great writer with phenomenal insight.
• Michelle Vandepas and CK Reyes at Divine Purpose Unleashed.
• Holli Jo at Evolving Blueprint.
• Al at 7P Productions – all the powerful P attributes – Passion, Purpose, Planning, Pursuit, Progress, Power and Peace.
• Jeannie Marshall at JMviews Meditation and Empowerment.
• Karen Lynch at Live the Power.
• Daniel Sitter at Idea Sellers.
• Albert at Urban Monk.Net – Albert has a powerful insight and a humble delivery of his views.
• Change Therapy
• Pearl at Interesting Observations
• Work(s) in Progress
• Luke Houghton at The Issues of Life – Outstanding advice, applicable insight and quite knowledgeable.
• Peter at I WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE . COM
• Pricilla Palmer.com – Pricilla’s idea for a list of Personal Development blogs was a stroke of genius for both her and those of us who benefitted from the exposure and increased traffic. A million thanks Pricilla!
• Tina Su at Think Simple Now – Tina is a continual source of inspiration for me with many outstanding articles. My personal favorite is The Art of Smiling.
• Robin Skeen at Robin’s Reflections.
• Kirsten Harrell at Ipopin
• Personal Growth with Corinne Edwards
• Bob at every, every minute – Bob allowed me to participate in his Desiderata Project for which I am eternally grateful.
• Tune Up Your EQ
• Tristan Loo at The Synergy Institute – Tristan is a published author, former NCAA athlete and a great motivator.
• ElemantalTruths.Com
• JobMob
• Dream Jobs Dialog
• Millionaire Mommy Next Door – the real thing.

Huge Blogroll Update

Ok, guys and girls, if you are on this list, then you should also appear on my blogroll ( if for some chance you don’t appear on my blogroll, please contact me and I will correct the problem). I have researched every site and if you appear here, then it is because I feel that your blog has something valuable to say and should be heard.

I also want to thank:

• Stephen Hopson at Adversity University
• Brad Baggett at Juice of Champions
• Eric Sanders at Brainwavers

Tags: blogging, great+personal+development+bloggers, personal+development, networking, blogroll

The Montgomery Advertiser article

Kym Klass, a reporter from the Montgomery Advertiser in Montgomery Alabama, contacted us on Monday about doing a feature article on the Rotater.

On Tuesday, we traveled to Montgomery after working all night to take pictures and answer questions. The whole process took about 4 hours, including drive time, but was worth it.

The article is titled “Pair hope patients in rehab turn to Rotater” and appeared in the paper yesterday. I am not sure how long this link will be good, but it is good right now.

A number of people have contacted me about posting a picture of myself on this site. I am trying to get it done, but right now, it’s not a huge priority. However, there are a number of pictures of me and Scott with this article ( I am the bald guy ).

The Auburn Opelika News

We were contacted by Bob Prater, a features reporter for the Auburn Opelika News yesterday. We met with him today ( again, after working all night) and spent about an hour taking pictures and answering questions.

An article about the us (Joint Mechanix) and the Rotater is supposed to be published in this coming Sunday edition. 

UPDATE!  12-7-07   The Auburn Opelika News featured an article about us on the front page today!

“Local inventor revolutionizes rehab”  

Hard work is paying dividends

As a personal development writer, I am living what I write. My life is a whirlwind at times, because of the time and effort involved in living the ideas that you espouse. However, it is never dull, boring or uneventful. I’m having a blast.

Juicy tidbit

On top of all this excitement, we were contacted yesterday by someone from the “Big Idea” with Donny Deutsch. She spoke with Scott for about a half hour and said that they would be back in touch with us. Maybe we’ll be on TV.

Tags: The+Rotater, shoulder+device, rehab, in+the+news, the+Big+Idea

The commercial appeals to all of us, because subconsciously we understand that there is indeed a vast but often ignored and overlooked source of:

• information
• talent
• help and assistance
• potential financial funding
• advice
• ideas
• contacts

…at your disposal. It is your network. It is the people that you know plus all the people they know and so forth.

This priceless resource often goes untapped because:

1. Most people overlook their network. These people simply have no idea that there is value in people.

2. The value of your network is discounted. People don’t understand the potential nor the far-reaching effects of a geometric progression, which is what your network is – an ever expanding network of people that begins with you. Each person you know, knows someone else, who in turn, knows someone, who … You get the point and you have probably discussed this topic before.

This is what the “six degrees of separation” concept is all about. The theory is that each person on earth is connected to every other person on the planet by six steps ( or people ) or less. Due to the growth of the internet, the reality is that the degree of separation is probably less than six.

3. You are afraid to ask for help. Why would anyone want to help you? They are your friends and relatives, aren’t they? Most people enjoy helping others – they want to help – by helping you, you are helping them to feel good about themselves. They will be flattered that you asked.

If it is a fear of rejection that is stopping you, then you must realize that nothing ventured is nothing gained. You didn’t have their help to start with, so you haven’t lost anything. Move on to the next person and ask again.

Your network is powerful and huge – for everybody. It doesn’t matter who you are, there is someone that you know who can help you do whatever it is that you want to do. You just have to:

• decide what it is that you want and need
• be able to explain your needs
• start introducing your plan and needs to the people you know
• ask the people you know to ask the people they know
• ask for an introduction when a possible resource surfaces
• explain your needs and try to negotiate some sort of quid pro quo ( you help me and I’ll help you )

Most of the time, your network will work for you – if you use it. Otherwise, your network is just a bunch of people that you know, hang out with or are related to.

Tags: networking, your+network, your+resources