More importantly, do you know when to not get in there and muck about?

I had an instructor once who spoke about the difference between delegation and abdication. She really helped me understand the difference between rolling up your sleeves only when I needed to and always putting yourself in a place to have to.

Delegation – Assigning duties to someone, providing parameters and having them meet scheduled milestones.

Abdication – Assigning duties to someone, and getting mad when the result doesn’t turn out the way you secretly wish it did.

What’s the key difference? Set expectations.

For instance, when I was in charge of Marketing for my Toastmasters District, I would have to delegate Demonstration Meetings for prospective clubs (groups that wanted to start a new club). I let the lead know how many people and what roles needed to be filled, gave some advice on certain skill sets, and required them to provide me a draft agenda three weeks out and a final agenda two weeks before the event.

If they missed the first milestone, I could roll up my sleeves and help them finish the draft (getting the last few volunteers to sign up). That way we didn’t miss the second deadline, or have a poorly planned event.

Rolling up your sleeves at the right time can help your team be more successful, and setting the right parameters up front can make sure you only have to do it when absolutely necessary.

About 200-300 people filled a local church to here Willie speak on attitude. Specifically, Willie talked about the need to take on an Attitude of Excellence. He said there were 5 simple steps. But before that, we heard 7 principles that I thought were just as important:

1. Don’t panic – remember, this to shall pass
2. Don’t buy into the gloom and doom
3. Don’t let your pride poison your prosperity. He told the story about having an MBA … a Mob and Bucket Attitude – willing to do the hard work to have success…this is not personal and it is not permanent…get over it…if its legal and moral, it’s honorable work
4. Don’t stop thinking about the power and possibilities of tomorrow…keep one eye on the problem and one on your dreams
5. Be proactive…don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it. 
6. Be creative
7. Be prayful — actually number one. He saved it ’til last because he doesn’t want us to just pray and do nothing else.

The 5 simple steps?

1. Wake up and dream
2. Show up … They only lane where there isn’t any traffic is the extra mile. If you do the things others won’t do, you’ll get things that others won’t have. – Les Brown
3. Stand up – become the leader of one. Become a life long learner…read more books. Commit to one per month.
4. Step up – to the plate and swing for the fences. Go all out. The doctors can give you the diagnosis, but God gives you the prognosis.
5. Make up your mind to win.

Change is good when your attitude is great
Your best is yet to come

I looked at the clock at the top of the iPad, and noticed that in the last few minutes, Willie had been speaking for over an hour. Yeah, he was that good.

In his wrap up, he quickly ran through the steps: Wake up, Show up, Stand up, Step up and Make up…your mind to be successful. When you think about it that way, doesn’t it make sense?

Willie was awesome, and worth the side trip on my way to Joplin for the weekend. If you aren’t familiar with him, I’d say take a look at http://www.williejolley.com and see for yourself.

Have you ever noticed how the best leaders – you know, the ones you really respect – tend to also be great communicators? Would you like get unstuck? If so, read ahead to learn the correlation, and learn how you can make one change and see greater success in both your speaking and leadership skills.

Think about the three successive key areas to being a successful speaker:

Know Your Self
Know Your Message
Know Your Audience

Both speaking and leadership follow similar development tracks here, but if you aren’t focused on your audience, you may be stuck and not even know it.

Know Your Self

Nearly every new speaker has started out uncomfortable in front of their audience. Practice is critical here to be able to Know Your Self. In Toastmasters, the Competent Communicator (CC) manual helps here, as you develop presentations to practice specific skills.

A new leader will suffer from similar uneasiness. Not being sure of your authority, how others will perceive you and how you’ll react to adversity can make the transition to (or through) leadership difficult. In Toastmasters, understanding and following the core values can be a big help in Knowing Your Self. Respect, Integrity, Service, and Excellence (RISE) are values you can use to center your leadership and move to the next phase.

Know Your Message

As a speaker, this is where you find your voice, determine what you have to offer, and tell your stories. It may take some time to find your niche, but when you do you’ll see your value in the faces of your audience as you guide, teach or inspire them to act.

As a leader, you’ll see some similarities developing – guide, teach and inspire are also aspects of leadership. As a leader, your voice – your story – will be partially dictated by your organization. Whether you follow the corporate path, or your own, you need to understand what your message is if you can hope to deliver it.

This, unfortunately, is the phase where both speakers and leaders get stuck.

Why? Because they don’t know their audience. In fact, they probably have been trained (or learned on-the-job) to ignore the “noise” and plow ahead with the facts.

Oddly enough, most leaders stuck here (speakers too!) feel that they are doing the right thing, and by not allowing distraction they are more effective. They tend to suffer from “good enough” syndrome. “Why change if it’s working?” – Because it isn’t really working. You’re just getting by for now.

Know Your Audience

This is the most powerful lesson in Speaking and in Leadership. Powerful because of just how much you get, and how much your audience benefits from the change.

It’s also very risky, which is why many avoid this technique. It means you have to accept criticism. You have to be willing to change. You have to be willing to defend yourself with more than, “because I’m in charge!!” If you can’t handle those aspects, it will be a tough change. But…worth it.

Connection – by understanding your audience and the differences between what you know and what they need, you can tailor you style to make sure you communicate effectively, and truly lead them instead of just telling them what to do.

I had a troop once who would be late to work once in a while, and just barely on-time other days. I had to ask, “What does on-time mean to you?” She replied, “If I’m in the building by 7:30, I’m okay, right?”

Even the sharpest of people can’t read your mind. If you see a difference between what you asked for and what they did,  you probably didn’t connect. Listen to your audience and adapt your message.

Authority – When I’ve taught leadership seminars, I’ve used the tried-and-true example of earned vs. implied authority I learned in the Air Force.

Implied authority is what we’re mostly used to. Your authority comes from your position, i.e. Director, Sergeant, Project Lead, etc. Implied authority comes before you even meet your audience, much less know them. It’ll get you off the ground with the team, but leaders who live off of implied authority lack the true respect of their people, and are usually less effective.

Earned authority is what you want to strive for as you know your audience. Show respect to get respect. Care. Listen. Train. Explain. Understand. Basically, all the stuff you wish your boss did.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that you create a democracy with your team. You’re still the boss, and accountability rests with you. But, if you do it right you should never have to remind your team that you are the boss.

Respect – You have to give respect to get respect. What does that mean? It means you take the high road. You never “Reply to All” to tell someone they messed up. You do reply to all to congratulate someone on a big win. You show (real) appreciation and give your team a chance to give you their recommendations before you make the final decision. Even if you go your own way, they’ll respect that you considered their opinion. Take time to explain your decisions – not to satisfy critics – to train your people on the methods to make the right decisions themselves.

I’ve found that 90% of the time, the excuse, “I don’t have time to explain” is a cop-out. Make the time for respect, or they won’t either.

Excitement – You can’t create energy, excitement or excellence by just droning on. Get them involved. In speaking, include exercises and interaction. As a leader do the same off the stage. Have a team lunch once in a while, do non-work things with them and give your team opportunities to lead their own projects and watch the energy change.

This will seem odd, but knowing your mission can lead to excitement. What? No, not reading the mission statement to them. I mean making sure they know their role in the team’s (or company’s) mission. When they know that they matter to the mission and to you, they’ll be more likely to respond to adversity with a positive attitude. When they feel the work has no value, then they feel that they have no value. Where is the fun in that?

You may find that you’ve done well with improving in the phases of Know Your Self and Know Your Message. But you still are struggling with your results, you may need to take another look at the skill Know Your Audience. As you practice these skills in both speaking and leading, you’ll see the complimentary improvements in both as you progress.

The most respected leaders in the world have at least one thing in common: They know their audience. If you’re stuck in the rut of leadership, it’s time to get out now!

Last week I had the opportunity to hear author Paul White, coauthor of the book The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace with Gary Chapman. His presentation was titled, The True Value of Diamonds.

He started by discussing the value of diamonds. Looking beyond the shiny and pretty, you’ll find Diamonds are used extensively in industrial settings because of their strength and intrinsic value. He drew a tangible comparison between the value of a diamond as a hard-worker, and the differences between a shiny employee and one with intrinsic value to the organization.

Paul used references from his best-selling book, and really struck a chord when he discussed the differences between recognition and appreciation.

You probably agree with 69% of those in corporate settings that don’t feel that their recognition programs make them feel appreciated. Paul gave us the key reasons why this is true:

Focus: Recognition is focused on Employee Behavior. Appreciation is focused on Employee Behavior, Character and Intrinsic Value

Objective: Recognition is designed to Improve Performance. Appreciation will not only Improve Performance, but also Support and Encourage the person.

He also spoke about the Relational Direction (Top Down vs. Any), Goal (Good of the Company vs. Good of the Company and the Person), and Relationship (Organization to Employee vs. Person to Person).

Why don’t those organizational programs work?
- Generic actions
- Group based
- Infrequent
- Organizational (not personal)
- Not perceived as genuine

How do you do it better? He gave us an overview of the 5 Languages of Appreciation:

Words of Affection – verbal communication that is positive and timely
Quality Time – focused attention – could be lunch, social, or just 15 minutes in your office to vent
Acts of Service – get their computer to work right, help with clean up – note: Ask first!
Tangible Gifts – not bonuses or compensation, this could be a card, movie tickets – #1 choice is food
Physical Touch – spontaneous celebration – high five, fist bump, even an actual pat on the back

Each is detailed well in the book (affiliate link). He also discussed what we should do to use the correct language in the right situations.

1. Know your default language – that is, which one works best for you.
2. Observe
3. Get an assessment – there is a tool in the book, and some free resources here.

Simply put, I was bummed when his hour was up. He was entertaining and made very interesting and relevant points about recognition. If you’re in a position to recognize others (work, school, non-profit, etc.) his concepts will be an eye-opener for you and your organization.

I haven’t finished the book yet, but after hearing him speak and what I’ve read so far I easily recommend the book. Take a look yourself.

How can that be? I was wondering that too, at first. It’s simple if you think about it. Lets say you have a group of tasks that you need help with. It doesn’t even matter what they are, or when you need them. Now, add in an e-mail from me that says, “How can I help?”

Do you send me the first task on the list? Do you send me something simple that I can’t screw up? How do you decide? How do you even start to figure it out?

This question comes up in my mind because of my work in Toastmasters. There is a lot of work to be done, and a lot of potential volunteers out there. The trick is trying to match the needs with the skillsets, which I’m sure is a common problem in any volunteer organization, and even in the corporate settings.

So what is the solution? I think that it comes in two parts. First, you have to be able to define your need. I say that, knowing that even well polished job descriptions coupled with accurate and truthful resumés don’t often lead to good matches in the corporate settings. However, you can’t let the difficulty of doing the job right paralyze you from doing the job, right?

Second, you want to get your volunteer pool to shift gears and start providing you with ideas on how they can help, not just offers of help. As an example, I recently had one volunteer step back due to some scheduling issues. Before I had a chance to look for a replacement, I received a request from another member to step in and help with an important task that was needed in the short term (next two weeks). That was far better that 6 “How can I help?” messages.

What’s my strategy? I’ve been working with our team to put together specific needs, much like job descriptions. This can work in your small business or Toastmasters club too. Define the job and see who fits the bill. If you can’t find anyone, change the description and see if you get the right experience to at least cover a portion of the job.

How do you get them used to volunteering for specific tasks? You have to be specific.

What is the job?
What is the importance? To whom?
What is time requirements?
What are the travel and communication requirements?
Who do they report to?
What defines success?

There are probably other questions, but answer those above and you’ll likely have a description someone can understand and decide on.

I recently tried this in our TM District, sending a brief description to 101 Club VPs of Membership. I receive about 7 positive responses, and ended up with 4 volunteers for jobs we had never filled before. So far so good – and more will be coming.

If you’re like me and you have tasks that need to be done, whether in a volunteer organization or a small business, take the time to outline your need first. Then you can answer the folks who ask the tough question, ”How can I help?”

The important question is how does this advice affect you?  Is this where your next speech comes from, where your next project comes from, where your next success comes from?

The notes from the Edge Summit are presented in chronological order. If you have some thoughts I missed, feel free to e-mail me at contact@robchristeson.com and I’ll include them here with attribution and a link (if you want). Please note that links to the Edge site are affiliate links.

Also, I’ve done my best to properly attribute information as I typed it in the session. Most of what you read here comes from World Champions Darren LaCroix, Ed Tate, Craig Valentine or Lance Miller from the Edge event. Mark Brown also participated remotely, and some material comes from the awesome Alan Weiss and the amazing Patricia Fripp. If you do spot any errors or omissions, they are unintentional and I’ll correct them immediately.

Here we go…
“Ya ain’t gonna learn any younger” – Lance Miller quoting advice he received from a story about learning to back up a semi trailer truck.

lightbulb moment – think chandelier moment – Maureen Zapalla

Three questions you should ask about your business
why you?
who will pay?
how will I reach them?

Topics members wanted to discuss (questions in bold)
coaching – developing a multi-session plan (this one didn’t get touched on) 

marketing a seminar - 3 months out – marketing blasts – touch multiple times – research says you can reach out to customers 220 times per year without annoying them – multiple items (e-mail, Facebook, twitter, etc.)

what 3 tips for the 73 people who didn’t make the finals - there were some thoughts later on the finals, read my notes here: http://robchristeson.com/toastmasters-why-you-wont-win-your-contest

Selling from the back of the room - selling without annoying people (SWAP) – sell another’s program before selling your own – Seeding (plant seeds) – weaving () – you aren’t selling products,you’re selling results
Lance – going from zero to moving – change from manipulating your client to helping them – 1. believe in the product, 2. care about the customer, 3. 
Craig – everybody has a story to tell, but rarely do they get to tell it, because (wait for it) everybody has a story to tell. Be the one to listen to other peoples stories.
#1 reason they buy – confidence in you – confidence comes from familiarity – familiarity comes from repeated exposure – sell the results (Craig’s car story) – put the result before the resource – not just for products, but in your speech too
Lance- present and ask for feedback – take the materials that work and use them to make your product

Ed – retention after 48 hours – 10 percent; take notes – 50 percent; notes and discuss – 75 percent; notes, discuss, and teach – 82 percent after one year

Should you have a book first, DVD, or other product?
Craig – never create a product without teaching it several times first – your first product should be an audio CD

Details about being a small business
Ed – this is a business first, you speak second. If you don’t treat it as a business, you won’t get to do either. More will come in the 2-day Get Paid to Speak seminar.

Using YouTube, how much is too much - embrace the concept of abundance – answer the question – 2-3 minutes – give a next step (more below)

Craig – recommended a book – Launch by Michael Stelzner

Maleki (District 71) – Take the Talent to Training and the Treasure will come out – not about the price, it’s about the process

“Be careful not to keep your ego to close to your position, if you lose your position, your ego will go with it” – Colin Powell quoted by Ed

Ed – the word is receiving – 3rd place Scott Pritchard stayed on stage after speaking and saying “mister contest master” (at the finish) and smiled at the audience for about 10 seconds – what’s the word? receiving

Ed – number one job of a speaker is to make an impact – not to be liked

Ed – Talk in Tweets (talk in sound bytes) <–blog topic

Craig – speaking in sound bytes creates a memorable message – what is his focus? two words – touch lives – before you speak, say “please help me forget myself, remember my speech and touch my audience”

Lance – conviction – convict – what happened to become a convict – trial with evidence beyond a reasonable doubt – conviction is having a position you believe beyond a reasonable doubt 
- passion – in dictionary, passion came from ancient word for suffer. 
Practice to execution ratio (pro football)
Passion are those things that we do that we would suffer through without feeling like we are suffering
Sincere – means we have a clean, clear message
Do a raffle for your product- collect business cards and draw one to get a free copy of your product. Be clear “I’m going to email you with an option to opt in” so they know why you’re collecting the cards

Ed – Presentation variety- in order to maintain peoples attention, change your delivery method every 5- 10 minutes (I.e. You talking, asking questions, audience interactions, etc.)

Ed asked a few of us to run the 10 minute review after lunch
Take one minute and review your notes and write down your three favorite tweets or sound bytes of the morning. – you will learn…
Instruct online folks to tweet to hashtag Championsedge 
Take two minutes to turn to your neighbor and choose your best tweet
Next we go one group per row to give their top tweet
Maureen will write them down

general or specialist? – start with what you know – package/title it in what they want Book “how to earn more than a million dollars …”  

“the Psychology of Money” – became  ”the millionaire mindset”
“anatomy of an audience” – “connect with any audience”

Esteem
Do
Gain
Enjoy

Craig – touch all 4 categories to reach your audience
Darren – start with 3 topics, 2 specific and 1 general (or 1 and 2)
Craig – your audience is going to come up and tell you what you are speaking about – “never strike oil by digging an inch deep”
Ed – you can also specialize by delivery methods – be known as “the person who is known as…”

Make three colums – Experience     Delivery     Results

Experience
Specifics about your experience

Delivery
Speech          
Seminar
Book
Process CD

Results
increase profits
decrease costs
decrease turnover

Homework – flesh this list out for yourself

Mine – Experience
Teaching
PM Increase knowledge (anecdotal)
Military
Logistics
Supervision
Evaluations
Speaking
Blogging
Writing

My Delivery
Blog
Speaking
Seminars
Lunch ‘n learn

My Results
Increase productivity
Decrease turnover
hmmmmm….(homework)

 
Focus on results, not experience and delivery – discuss results, leave out experience and delivery – Craig, focus on the pain – ask questions and turn their pain into your promise

Social Media is a hot topic right now – Be careful about speaking about making money with social media when your aren’t making money yourself (credibility)

Marketing a seminar - sign up on edtate.com - special report 
Ed – make sure that you have enough time i.e. three months to market it
Delivery mechanism – e-mail, linkedin, postcards, newspaper, business journal,
Darren – web page – convert them – title – split test to find best conversion method
Shopping cart – all three of them use the same one speaker resources.com

6- minutes to a keynote
Craig – structure – you have 7 seconds before they decide if they like you, 30 seconds before they decide to check out. Open with a question or a story – then make a big promise. i.e “By the time you leave here today, you will have the tools… you will have ideas…etc.” Then the roadmap. “…and these come to you in the form of 4 R’s to remarkable results”
10-1 rule of thumb, 1 story/point to every 10 minutes
Phrase
Anchor – what’s loose is lost – Acronym, anecdote, analogy, activity
Reflection – Take your story and have them reflect on how it affects them
Technique – how do they practice it i.e. “write down your perfect day”
Sale – Push them into the Pull – Push away from what they want to avoid and pull them toward what they want
Use the PAR for newer speakers

Demo video - less than 10 minutes on site (have report, need to have a point, need solid audio) – less than 10 seconds on who you are
YouTube 2-3 minutes (1 minute if you can) – 1 video, 1 purpose, 1 next step. no more than 3 scenes (locations)

you must package your process in order to profit

Ed- what do you want people to Know Feel or Do

Darren – watch the first 5 minutes of a movie – notice how they are introducing characters through dialog
Time management from NSA
Focus day – product, speaking
Administrative day – mundane activities
Free day  - free of everything – phone, e-mail, etc. 
Same model for athletes and entertainers

Darren -every time you speak, build your list – then, touch your list – at least once a month
Do interviews
an a-ha moment is a letting-go of a previous belief 

Charles speech (coached on-site)

longer pause after first “so was I”
pauses

“do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Concluded twice 

too many I’s, My’s and Me’s

My homework:

Work on 52bloggingtips.com – finish creating the tips and start filming videos

Talk to the Human
New tagline – an IT guys perspective on communicating with real people

Affiliate link alert: World Champions EDGE. This link will take you to the Edge website, where you can see some free materials or sign up for just $1 for the first month.

If I asked you wether you not you had already read the information on TI’s website about the rebranding, including how the tagline, Where Leaders Are Made, comes from I imagine I would see very few hands come up.

I’ve heard and read comments just this  week about how TI “messed up” by removing communication from the tagline. 

Oops. Maybe you aren’t reading it right. Why do I say that? Because communication IS in our tagline, Where Leaders Are Made. 

Don’t see it? Read it again – Where Leaders Are Made. Now let’s try an exercise. Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Now open your eyes. Picture a leader you respect, admire, or simply choose to follow. Are you thinking of one now? Did that leader struggle to make their point? Did they fail to inspire with their words regularly? Did they usually seem scattered and disoriented when dealing with others? 

Probably not.

In being great leaders they were, by definition, great communicators. 

Prove me wrong. Pick someone you respect as a leader, someone you follow willingly, someone you emulate, and if they can’t communicate, comment with their name, and why it is that you do follow them. 

Remember some leaders use a different formula than 5-7 minutes. Some don’t even blog. If your favorite leader is a man of few words, like your Grandfather, and you followed him because he communicated with his actions, well…leading by example is communication.

Take a few minutes, and check www.toastmasters.org/vbp for more information, including a downloadable Brand Manual with more specifics. Look at slides 11-17 for details. 

By better understanding the connection you can answer those questions that may come when you say, “I’m a Toastmaster, Where Leaders Are Made.”   

I’ve never had a boss respond positively to that kind of statement. Do you know why?

1. Waiting implies inaction. No…actually waiting says “I’m not taking any action at this time.”
2. When your next action is to wait on someone else, it sounds like you’re passing the buck. Oops…you are passing the buck.
3. Waiting means you have no plan for your own next action, until you get the thing from what’s-his-name.

Once, a long time ago, when I used the “I’m waiting” answer on my boss, I learned fast and quick what a mistake that was. My boss told me, “Rob, when you say ‘waiting‘, I hear ‘failing‘.”

“But, I am waiting!!!”

“Not anymore, Rob. Go do something.”

What do you do?

#1 – Don’t wait, follow up. – “Hey boss, I followed up with Mike this morning and…”

#2 – Don’t assign work without a due date, or expected response time. – “…he said he would have the documents to us by 0800 tomorrow…”

#3 – Have a next step for yourself. – “…once I have them, I’ll have the summary to you by noon.”

#4 – Be ready for “what if…?” – “If I don’t have them by 0800, I’ll be parked at his desk until he’s done!”

Lots of people fall into the “I’m waiting” trap everyday. If you adjust how you handle the wait and how you communicate it, you’ll receive fewer stern looks from the boss, and you’ll avoid that perception…you know, the one where the boss wonders are you waiting, or are you failing?

Because he was one of the later presenters in the day, people were primed to volunteer. When Bill said that he wanted to bring two people on stage, some voices called out “me” and similar requests. Bill’s response? (paraphrased) “I already have them picked out.”

He brought up two people, a young woman and her mother. He told us a brief story of how he met the young woman (who worked) at the hotel, and how she had made an impression on him. He asked her to tell the audience what her plan was. She responded “I’m going to be a Physician’s Assistant” (also known as a PA).

Then, Bill asked the mom what he had said to her. After some cajoling, it came out that BIll though she should pursue her dream, which was to be an Orthopedic Surgeon.

He mentioned that in their conversation yesterday, her concern was the time that it would take to reach that goal. At 22, the prospect of being 26, 28 and 34 before she reached that goal. (Bill mentioned all of those ages, but focused on the final #, 34).

Pay attention to this: His response? “You’re going to be 34 either way.” He then asked her if she wanted to be 34 and regret what could have been?

He not only was able to get her to commit to pursuing her dream, he also had her mother commit to keeping the pressure on. Plus, he had the audience cheering and supporting her as well.

The main point he supported throughout the presentation was to be a “Do It.” person.

Bill was funny (duh), relevant, and motivational. Easily worth the price of admission…

Photo by Ambro

I was chatting with a coworker recently who didn’t want to have a web-enabled phone. I asked, “what’s the big deal?” and she said, “Get your head out of your iPhone and make iContact.” (this was in chat)

I replied, “I don’t have an iPhone.” because, well, I don’t. She said, “same thing”

“iKnow”

So, of course the first chance I get I open my MacBook and started typing this post about getting your head out of the electronics and into real life. I am, if nothing else, a credible source on my own topics.

Have you thought about how much time per day you spend tethered to electronic devices? How about the number of hours per day you spend tethered (!) to real people? Is there a clear difference? How and when are you substituting iCrap for iContact?

Maybe you can take some small steps (literally) and add more iContact to your life:

Get out from behind your desk.
There’s a guy about 4 cube-aisles over from me. I need to talk to him about 5 times per day on various projects. It’s easy to open the chat program and ping him to get a quick response. However, I find that if I get up and walk over, I’m usually able to get more info and I can avoid any poor interpretations that can happen with a “quick chat” or e-mail. Are you substituting e-talk for real conversations too often? If so, get up!

Get out from behind the e-mail.
While e-mail and chat conversations can be good for quick distribution of information, nothing beats talking to a human when you need to get things done. When distance won’t allow you to make iContact, then at least put down the keyboard and use your iVoice. Of course, it’s okay to just call that your voice, I just needed to fit an iWord in there. If you find yourself hitting reply to a reply to a reply, then perhaps it time to dial.

Get out from behind the stuffy home computer.
Right now I’m posting this as I sit outside on my patio, diligently  BBQing tonight’s dinner. You may think I’m missing my own point, but consider this: the iWeather is nice, the iView is green and enjoying the iFood with my family is going to be awesome. You may not be able (willing?) to break the tether to iCrap all the time, but maybe you can find a way to get the best of both worlds.

So maybe I do spend to much time with my iStuff. If you do too, take a look at those opportunities and ask yourself, “can I talk to a real human, and maybe make some iContact?”

If so, get up and detach your tether. It can be tough, but you can do it. Trust me, iKnow.