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The SOBCon Lego Man Story – 4 Learnings About Work-Life & Social Media

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This is my son Adam.  He is 9 years old and is a special boy. Sometimes when I travel for business he misses me.  Recently, I attended SOBCon in Chicago.  The night before I was to leave, Adam told me how sad he was feeling and that he would really miss me. In an effort to provide comfort and to prevent him from focusing on my departure, I suggested that he give me something of his that I could take on the trip with me. This is a strategy that I have used over the years with my children.  More than a few times,  I have taken a little stuffed animal along in my suitcase and periodically taken photos of them here and there.  In the past, I have always shared these photos with my kids after my travels – once I returned home.   For some reason, this time, I told Adam that I would just Tweet pictures of whatever he gave me to take from along my travels.  After careful consideration, Adam provided me with a well used and loved Lego Man.  He understood that even though he would not see me the next morning, he would be able to follow Lego Man as he made his way to the airport (and beyond) via his Dad’s iPhone.

What happened next is where the story gets pretty interesting.  My great friend and colleague April Ennis, who is from Prince Edward Island, tweeted me to advise that she would be bringing a Lego Lady to SOBCon as well.  She thought it might also be fun for her two little boys back home as well. So over the next series of tweets, Lego Man & Lego Lady then made their plans for a grand “meetup” in Chicago at SOBCon.  All the while, Adam (and the rest of my kids) were watching the adventures of Lego Man & Lego Lady unfold with great excitement.  The fact that Lego Man had a friend who was going to join him in Chicago became a big screen attraction at my house; with the tweets and related photos being played out for all to see over the Apple TV.

All in all, Lego Man & Lego Lady’s adventures included multiple flights, scary taxi rides, daily walks with Marti Konstant, table hopping throughout the entire SOBCon weekend, dinner and masterminding with Chris Brogan & Jaqueline Carly + the Brogan family and friends, much ongoing love and care from Diane Brogran and a trip to their dream destination – the Lego store in Chicago.  They were an amazing addition to the fun and brilliance that is SOBCon; while simultaneously bridging the distance between my work life and my home life.

Crazy as it seems, when I came back to Vancouver, I spent time thinking about what Lego Man & Lego Lady had accomplished during their travels to SOBCon.  They were an ongoing topic of discussion while I was there; as well as when I returned home. Multiple people tweeted me wondering if they would see Lego Man again in the future.  So over a period of days I bounced the whole adventure back and fourth with @AprilEnnis, @MartiKonstant and @Omaniblog. I even recorded an AudioBoo about the story and my thoughts after we returned home.

As I have considered things further I have come to recognize a few things:

  1. Social Builds Bridges: As hard as we try, we cannot be everywhere at once.  That said, social media gives us an ever expanding array of tools  that we can use to maintain ongoing connections with our loved ones in new and creative ways.  While not perfect, this type of connection can truly help to build bridges that reinforce the love we have for the people in our lives who matter.
  2. Social Help Breakdown Invisible Barriers: The line between work and life is eroding more and more. Years ago, many people would not dare to mention their family while attending a business conference, meeting or event.  Today, technology enables us to breakdown invisible barriers.  Every single person who heard the story of Lego Man & Lego Lady showed interest and wanted to know more.  This opened the door to multiple discussions related to how we work, live and play.
  3. Authentic Personal Branding Matters: Who you are in your personal life can be part of your personal branding.  Sharing stories and personal things about your life enables people to get to know the real you.  It allows you to be authentic.  People can really identify with this and come to trust you more.  Trust leads to relationships.  Relationships lead to increased business opportunities with partners who both respect and relate to the true you. There are countless online influencers who have managed to successfully blend their personal life with their online identity.
  4. People Like Simple Ideas: People like things they can smile about.  Sometimes the smallest of ideas can create a buzz that people can relate to.  Even more, when there are opportunities for people to part of building a story buy-in is increased.  Multiple people at SOBCon wanted help create the Lego Man & Lego Lady story.  They wanted to contribute to the happiness they saw unfolding.

It would appear that the story of Lego Man has only begun.  Clearly, he represents a multitude of things related to how we integrate our work and personal lives.  Further, he is a symbol who reminds us that every single one of us have lives that matter.  Every person leaves behind people that they care about when they go to work, school, meetings, conferences and more.  While we may need to put them aside for an hour, a day, a week or more – so as to focus on other responsibilities, the reality is that they remain with us in our hearts.

Stay tuned, Lego Man will be having ongoing adventures with me in the months to come. Together we will meet old and new friends, join in discussions related to how we all live, laugh & earn and will explore the intersection between work-life and social media.  All the while, I know that Adam will be paying close attention to our travels.

How do you create bridges between your work and the rest of your life?  What role does social media play in helping you maintain connections?  Is your “life” part of who you are online?

PS – Lego Man is accepting requests for speaking engagements, guest blog posts and workshop presentations.  Feel free to contact me at 604-807-0266 to discuss your needs further.

Keep Fooling Yourself or Own Your Life & Act

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The moment when it all comes together can be a pretty powerful moment.  Especially if it is the moment when your realize that you  have been fooling yourself.  Fooling yourself that you:

  • Love your job.
  • Are happy in your relationships.
  • Are the very best parent that you can be.
  • Are living your life the way you want to live it.
  • Are truly authentic in how you represent yourself to others.
When that moment happens; when you actually realize that you might just have short changed yourself, it can be pretty overwhelming.  Even worse, it can be scary.  Here is the thing though, when faced with such a moment you can decide one of two things.  You can either keep fooling yourself or own your life and act.

Keep Fooling Yourself – For  A While

Let’s face it, when you actually arrive at the place of knowing that certain things in your life are not the way you want them to be, it usually means that change is needed.  This type of change is not as simple as rearranging the furniture in your living room.  Often it is disruptive change; that requires work – both emotional and physical.  It requires honesty – both with yourself and others.  Frequently, it means that you need to make significant decisions that involve the people who matter the most to you. Sometimes; that much work can simply be too much.  As such,  it can be much easier to put your head back down and continue along. To keep on going through the motions of the day to day. Choosing the path of least resistance can be comforting and is less complicated.
So,  yes – you can continue to fool yourself.  Yes, you can live with it.  You can get by. Know this though, fooling yourself is a bit like having a cut that begins to fester. Until you really deal with the source of the infection, things just won’t be quite right.  You can put band-aid after band-aid on the cut.  You can try the fancy ones, the waterproof ones and even the most expensive ones.  They will all work but only for a while – band-aids only last so long.   Your life is exactly the same.  Remember that.

Own Your Life & Act

The harder – but better – approach to take when you recognize that you are fooling yourself is this – know that you have been fooling yourself.  Strip all of the excuses away and greet your new understanding with acceptance.  See the new knowledge for what it is.  Examine it. Explore it. Most importantly though – own it.  Own that you have been fooling yourself and make no excuses.  Don’t blame anyone or anything else.  If you can do this, then you will be well on your way to creating the life you want.

Know this – only YOU can own your life.  Only YOU can create the change that enables you to be yourself.  Only YOU can initiate the momentum that you need to get to where you want to be.  No one else can do this for you.  It involves work.  It involves commitment.  It involves believing in yourself.  It involves taking ownership of YOUR life.

Will it be easy?  No – not right away.  Will you immediately have the life you want?  No – not right away.  Will it feel good?  No – not at first.  BUT – over time things will happen.  Important things that will change your perception on many areas of your life.  As you begin to create the kind of life you want you will slowly begin to feel relieved.  As you build a life that aligns with your heart and your mind, you will come to understand that nothing matters more.  You will feel happier.  You will feel more content.  You will feel at peace with yourself. You will work better, love better and play better. You will be an authentic person in all of your relationships. You will attract people who “get you” and you will find yourself willing to give more to others.  You will also be able to live without putting band-aids everywhere.

As you think about your life right now – what do you see?  Are you fooling yourself into happiness? Do you own your life? Remember, while there are two choices that you can make – there really only is one that will get you to the place that you are meant to be in.  What do you choose?