A lot of people in the online world talk about time. Some people talk about how much time they invest in, well, social media. Others talk about how much time it may take to build a community online or how much time it takes to get to 1,000 blog subscribers. A fair amount of time is spent talking about how to balance work time with family time, too.
With all of this talk about time floating about, it’s easy to make people feel like they’re forgotten, overlooked, or maybe not as important to you as they really are. You mean to spend time with them or on their questions, but time just seems to slip away at the worst times.
I have been struggling a lot lately with the thought that I don’t express my appreciation to some people as often as I should be. It’s not that I don’t think about them every day and thank my lucky stars that I know them. It’s just they give me so much time and support that I always feel like I’m falling short in showing them my gratitude.
Maybe you have people like that in your online reality too.
Well, I thought maybe I could convince you to do a little exercise with me (because let’s face it, the online world needs some positive vibes!). I’m doing this on Friday as a kind of elaborate take-off on “Follow Friday,” but you can do it whenever. The goal? List five people that you feel you don’t show your appreciation to enough – and do it!
Here are my five folks. They are wonderful people and I want to make sure they know I see everything they do for me and for others.
1. Danny Garcia (@dannybuntu): Danny was one of my very first followers on Twitter. He was one of the very first people to leave a comment on my blog, at a time when getting a comment was, geeze, like winning the lottery. And somehow, after a year, he is still around and still supports me on every platform where we intersect. He is a darned good writer and you’d be hard-pressed to meet a more kind-hearted person.
2. Corinne Edwards (@miraclady): Corinne extended me the great privilege of guest-posting on her site. She tweets out my posts on a regular basis and leaves extraordinary comments here (you’ve probably seen them if you come by here a lot). Corinne perpetually uses her talents and gifts to help others, and I have been one of those beneficiaries.
3. Jason Sokol (@jwsokol): New papa Jason Sokol has been a wonderful friend. He often includes a post of mine in his awesome Sunday shout-outs, and he says so many kind things about me that I’m almost sure I’ll never be able to pay him back. The really neat thing about Jason is that he is not one of those people who feels like they have nothing left to learn. Jason is always asking questions, always looking for new perspectives, and wowzer…he’s open to opinions or ideas that might differ from his own. What a rarity!
4. Ingrid Abboud (@nittygriddyblog): Ingrid is another person who honors me by often including a post of mine in her weekly blog round-ups. I still don’t know the best way to handle such high compliments. Ingrid lights up my Twitter stream whenever she shows up there, and she is a fantabulous writer with a great blog community.
5. Raúl Colón (@rj_c): How can you not like this fellow? He is a delightful man, a profoundly intelligent gentleman, and so very kind. What I also like about Raúl is that he has this vivacity about him that he carries everywhere. He gets in a bad mood sometimes, but it’s like a cloud passing over the sun. You see it for about five seconds and then he’s back to making everyone smile. Raúl always seems to have a great new project up his sleeve, too. I’m not sure he actually sleeps.
I’m not saying these are the only people I appreciate, and they aren’t even the only people I need to appreciate more – but they are five of ’em.
Now, who are yours?
This is post #93 in the Engagement Series. Thank you for reading!
Image by Sergey K.. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/O_m
Aw shucks, Margie, you didn’t have to, but thanks 🙂
Let’s just have barbecue over at tweetdiner. 🙂 Next Thursday right?
Wao… I was thinking of skipping tweetdiner… But now that I saw this… LOL just kidding.
Margie You are zoo kind thank you for always making me smile also. For some reason I was so busy yesterday catching up so many things I missed out on this post.
Thanks for always cheering me up and believing in me. As for the projects I try to keep my self busy as much as I can that helps me stay in a good mood even when I am going through difficult financial issues to keep my business afloat.
By creating I get closer to getting out of this hole. With people like you I get motivated to work even harder.
And yes I do sleep a full 4 hours every night. 🙂
Margie, I’m looking forward to getting to know you better. What I would like to publicly comment on — the fact that you reach out to others who either directly ask for help, or you observe that they are clueless about some things. ツ Perhaps you’re too humble to admit that there are a lot of people who would not.
I’d like to write that I appreciate you! There are many people that I have now started to connect with, just by having THE Margie Clayman follow me back on Twitter. xx
I appreciate so many people and do try to tell them all the time how much I value them. I am sure I could be doing better. Here are mine:
1. Margie Clayman – you say some of the nicest things about me, and I never know how to say thank you properly. When you told me you chose me as the first blogger to be featured in your Blog Library I was astonished. I sat looking at the screen open-mouthed. I was stunned, and grateful beyond belief.
2. John Falchetto – the Expat Life Coach – not only is he incredibly supportive of me, he says some of the most amazing things about me that I have ever heard, John is a brilliant storyteller, and I highly recommend his blog
3. Marcus Sheridan a/k/a The Sales Lion – Marcus has an amazing community at his blog and he was a pleasure to meet in person. He has no idea how much he has influenced me over the past several months.
4. Joe Sorge – Joe is the reason (not our beloved Mr. Brogan) that I signed up for KTC. This is a true story – I was griping one Tuesday because someone suggested an audio book for the next book club installment. I complained that I did not have an iPod. Joe sent me a message asking me to get in touch with him. He sent me an iPod loaded with several business books! How amazing is that?
5. Gini Dietrich – we kid each other on Facebook and I am “banned” from asking questions on her Arment Dietrich wall,. but I love Ms. Gini! When I met her at Blog World, we just hugged and hugged. The good, real hugs too (not the crappy one arm kind) I love her to death, and hope she knows how much she has been a positive influence on me.
I am sure there are others, but that’s a good start.
Hi Margie!
Thanks so much for the mention. I honestly don’t know if I deserve the mention as I get more out of our friendship than I could ever offer you. I am always amazed by the level of expertise you bring to the game matched by your unique sense of humor and sincerity. You are an amazing woman and I am so glad to know you.
Thanks for all you are doing to improve our social media landscape,
@jwsokol a.k.a. the very proud new dad