Do what you think is right.

Do you strategically plan? You should. A strategic plan provides a road map to your professional and personal life. Assigning priorities/goals, objectives and actions allow you to assess progress and stay on target. Academic programs are strategic plans because they usually follow two or four year initiatives to reach a goal.

I’m going to publish my strategic plan here soon. Start thinking of where you want to be in one year, five years, and ten years.

Promises are important. Sometimes things happen where a promise gets broken.

I had hoped to write here each day. I’ve fallen down on the promise.

When you break a promise, the best things to do are to recognize, apologize, and do whatever it takes to make good.

Truth really does set you free. Being true to yourself and focusing on your passion will make you excited to live each day.

Ask yourself, is this really for me? Then, follow your truth to happiness.

Awesome gig and memories with Wise Old River opening for Leon Russell at the Barter Theatre. It’s not every night a guy like me gets to open for a legend in front of a sold out crowd in a historic theatre. I didn’t get to speak with Leon but I met lots of cool guys in his band including Pat Flynn!

Thanks to Eric & Tracey Childress for the great picture! Awesome experience. Here’s a taste…

I’ve been promoting my alumni tracking initiative with colleagues but I want to share this idea to my readers. I strongly believe if we do this now, our alumni tracking challenges will be greatly reduced in the long term. Here’s what I am doing:

1. I have my students create a LinkedIn account. (I am requiring my Multimedia students to do it as part of an assignment.)
2. I ask them to connect with faculty and our alumni page
3. (Very important) Ask them to make connections with their student colleagues NOW and not after graduation. I explain even if a student isn’t “friends” with another student in class, the fact they were in class together can be an “ice breaking moment” five years from now.
4. Create an objective # of profile by a certain date.

From our POV, alumni will forever be searchable, organized, and reachable in a professional social networking space (unlike Facebook). Also we will always need to create value in the LinkedIn network or they will not remain active. I tell my students I’m committed to building and maintaining our LinkedIn page by posting jobs, announcements, etc. so to continue to deliver value. (Value=motivation) Plus, it’s a great way to discuss the relevance, power, and need of professional networks in our classes.

I’m a routine guy. I love my routine and I thrive in it. I’m less creative, happy, or focused when I’m robbed of my routine.

Why is this important to know? Because I’ve recognized my routine is a major part of my quality of life.

The more I recognize the what causes storms in my life, the more I can calm them.

My multimedia class is discussing creativity this week and I found this exciting TED Talk done by Amy Tan.

Here’s another great one with Elizabeth Gilbert.

Fear is a great motivator. It is also great at continuing the status quo.

Don’t be afraid of change. Embrace. Change could lead to better places.

These two great minds were recently at ETSU. I was there and was greatly moved…