Learn From Your Yoda

I had an incredible lunch with Joey McGirr of joeymcgirr.com yesterday. Joey is a legend in these parts when it comes to all things social media and lucky for me he just so happens to be a confirmed Rippler!  So you can imagine how excited I was when he reached out to me to offer to help me as we look to expand The 8 Minute Ripple® Engaged Connection Events beyond Austin. Yes world we are coming to a town near you!

It was a lunch of great storytelling and idea sharing on how to more efficiently leverage social media to expand our reach for the concept.  My goal of creating real community, Joey pointed out, begins in my ability to touch people using today's social media tools such as this BLOG, Twitter, Facebook and the like.  It's about building that tribe mentality to get people engaged and wanting the concept.  And It's a committed strategy that requires far more attention than I've been giving it (my bad!).

The thing I like about Joey is his calm approach to things.  He doesn't pass judgement nor does he make you feel stupid for not doing the obvious.  He's creative and thoughtful and you can tell when he speaks he speaks with purpose as each word, each idea is carefully crafted like an artist embarking on a new canvas full of possibilities.

I learned years ago that you can either fake it til you make it or you can quit bullshitting yourself and seek out people who can help you.  In this particular instance Joey sought me out at a time when I suspect he knew I was struggling with the question of what's next the most.  I am grateful for his Yoda-like understanding of me and my limitations and his willingness to teach me the correct ways of the "force."

Whenever we face big obstacles or opportunities in our lives, we often do not face these things alone.  If we'll only take the time to look up and see who's there what we'll often find are people willing to help us with better ideas, better strategies and the experience we lack.  They are our masters.  And like Yoda, the masters have some of the answers to the questions that we need to answer in order to get to where we want to go.  It takes acknowledging we need help, asking for it and then getting out of the way so those who can help us can actually do just that...work their magic.

Although the feat before me is not nearly as challenging as lifting my X-Wing Fighter from the swamp, Joey's Yoda-like mastery of the ways in which I need to follow to gain ultimate acceptance and build the kind of Ripple communities we seek, is still difficult without help.  I'm not afraid to ask for it and neither should you be.

Find the Yodas in your world. Engage them. Learn from them.  Let them help you.

Thanks Master Joey for your taking me under your wing.  I can only hope that I can return the favor somehow.

Ripple On!!! (or is it may the force be with you?  I get confused!)