The History of Daddy Claxton

It’s Saturday a.m. before the first speaking session of the morning.

Grabbing a quick bowl of oatmeal and a couple pieces of sausage to get some protein, fiber and energy in me for the morning.

CC_Chapman and PJ Mullen of Boston both are sitting a couple tables away. I really respect CC.  He’s really a trailblazer in this space.

FRIDAY RECAP

It was an exciting moment when Dave Taylor began to introduce Charles J. Orlando yesterday.  Only a couple people in the room understand the level of work that’s gone into putting this on with as few people as we’ve had directly involved.  For me, it’s been almost five months of almost daily involvement.  Today’s the last day and it’s hard to believe this year’s event is almost a wrap.

Looking at the photos that I got Christina from T-Mobile to shoot of the six of us interviewed by CNN I’m really angry at myself.  In my lap looks like I have two inner tubes tucked under my shirt.  What a painful sight that was to see.  And what a wake up call.

My quest upon my return to Dallas is to begin an immediate exercise program and controlled diet of good foods.  It’s got to happen or I’m going to go nuts.

ORGANIZING AN EVENT V. LEARNING AT AN EVENT

I’ve been so tied up getting things going for the conference, there were too many sessions and speeches yesterday I was compelled to miss. That’s the hard part of being an event coordinator and being someone who can enjoy the event itself.   I wish there’d been a way to make it to more of what was happening at the time instead of making what came next easier, but such as it is, I’ve had a great experience.

WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR FAMILY

I’m heading up a panel today with Eric Elkins and Doug Block to talk about how much is too much when it comes to sharing information about your family.   Yesterday we shot a bunch of short interviews with the moms and dads here at Modern Media Man Summit.  Today, we show a condensed version of their comments.  It’ll be up here in the Website with an opportunity for you to share your perspective as well.  Check back in later in the day.

STATS ON THE DAD MARKET PLACE

I’m headed to the first event of the morning.  A discussion about statistical findings about dads, blogging and the marketplace.   Going to be some interesting information to share from Dad Central Consulting.

Whew, what a great morning it’s been here at the first-ever Modern Media Man Summit.

We got going with a great speech from Charles J Orlando who was talking about the importance of social engagement, not social media. 

Then we were fortunate enough to have had a planned visit from CNN.  The interview is likely going to be about four minutes long but isn’t going to run for about two weeks.  Nonetheless, CC Chapman, Eric Elkins, Kevin Metzger, Clay Nichols, Paul Banas and I got some good points in about the emerging field of dad bloggers and the changing marketplace where dads have a more active roll.

I’m now sitting in a panel with several key important brands listening to them talk about from Facebook to Face time.

Whew.  I’m tired.  Got up at 3:53 a.m. EST to get to CBSAtlanta.com with Ron Mattocks for a 5 a.m. hit on their air about @M3Summit.

It was a good interview.  We talked about the conference, why men and dads blog, and then Brandon wanted to know what the big deal was with Twitter.

And I made sure I got in a mention of our Platinum Sponsor, Chevrolet.

It was a peeve of mine in a previous position to find someone being sponsored who had a hard time giving the sponsor a mention.  I didn’t make that same mistake this morning.  Part of relating to brands is giving them their due for their generosity.  You don’t want to sell out, but you do want to say thank you by mentioning how their support is making it easier for you to do your thing.

So, now we’re sitting in the CBS “green” area waiting for Ron’s hit.

Monday was a great travel day.  But a little puzzling.  I drove from Dallas to Houston to get Ron Mattocks.  We then left and headed to Montgomery, AL.  We got here 12.5 hours after I left Dallas.  Okay, here’s the weird part.  It’s a 3.5 hour drive to Houston.  So, it was 9 hours from Houston to MGM.

Now, if I’d just gotten on I-20 and driven to Montgomery, it would have taken 11 hours.  So, I drove 3.5 hours out of the way and got here 1.5 hours later than I would have if I’d come straight across.

The Chevy Traverse is handling the trip superbly.  Ron Mattocks is a cool guy.

We’re now having breakfast at Chappies Deli with my mom.

Soon to be back on the road.

Look what else we’re taking with us to Atlanta…..

In spite of the adversity that’s come about in 2010, it has been a good year. 

I’ve used these first eight months to this year to really do some soul searching and to set me life in some new and more meaningful directions.

Today is Sunday and I’m finalizing what preparations I still can do from her for the Modern Media Man Summit in Atlanta that begins Thursday.  I’ll be picking up Ron Mattocks in Houston tomorrow and we’re headed toward Montgomery, AL for the day.  (That’s my goal at this writing.)

Then Tuesday, we’ll be able to roll into Atlanta, help get our shops set up, and be ready for some early morning media in Atlanta on Wednesday.

My Adventurous Life

A California dad blogger, a mysterious guy named Jack, proclaimed 2010 as the year of the dad blogger.  In January of this year, during a trip to LA for EA SPORTS Active, I began convinced that corporate PR just wasn’t my thing any longer and that there were other opportunities awaiting.

The next thing I knew I was neck deep in planning M3Summit.

The past nine months have been probably some of the most intense learning experiences I’ve had in a while.  My horizons and friendships have been exponentially expanded. Thanks to companies like Gillette, EA SPORTS Active, and my good friends at Chevrolet, I’ve been able to enjoy some great and memorable adventures that I’ve already begun to share here and over at TraverseAdventures.com. (Did you check out Angus Nelson’s newest post?)

There are more exciting announcements soon to come.

M3Summit Friends

I’m very much looking forward to M3Summit.  Chevrolet dropped off a new 2011 Traverse to drive to the conference.  But there are new opportunities and new friendships to be formed for me in the next week and they’re beyond what I can imagine at this writing.  Already I’m in frequent contact with some of the most influential men bloggers in the country.  Meeting them in person and spending time with them, sharing ideas, and learning the heart of their stories and adventures is what my mission is for the next week.

Post M3Summit

And upon my return, I’ve promised myself, since I won’t have Debbie Lawrence after me on East Coast Time to crank things up an hour normally than I would, I’m going to restart my EA SPORTS Active program.  I’m stopping the consumption of all fried foods.  I’ve done so much to get my life back this year, it’s finally time to begin working in this area, too.

Stay in touch during the adventure.  Maybe Ron and I will do some sort of give away as we “Traverse” the Southeast on the way to Atlanta.

Yesterday, the Modern Media Man Summit received it’s greatest level of support to date: A whopping, super duper sponsorship from Chevrolet and General Motors.  This one announcement has taken M3 to a new level of credibility, and today, we’ve been in touch with two other significant sponsors from two other spaces in the marketplace.  

What we as men and dad bloggers now must also come to realize is that it’s now our job to reciprocate in the generosity of Chevrolet and GM,  P&G’s project Man Of  The House, PitchEngine, and iContact, and bring our A-Games to the equation.

In our quest to seek sponsors, we’ve heard from a good many of them about the frustration brands have when they get taken for granted by other bloggers in the past who seemed a little less savvy to the principles of doing business.

Companies are into social media because of the value of the relationships they have with bloggers and social media mavens.  And like all good relationships, there needs to be a balance between give and take.

I’m not speaking on behalf of any of our sponsors specifically, but brands make investments in conferences like M3 so that they also yield a return on their investment.  They are, after all, in existence to make money.  Investing in conferences like M3, is a newer form of traditional marketing.  Likewise, if they make a buy in a local/national newspaper and they don’t see any shifts in purchase trends, they move away from that modality in the future and put it somewhere else where there will be a positive return with measurable metrics.

Seriously, isn’t this how all of us do business?  We try something.  If it brings tangible results, we consider it a success.  If we’re making such investments on behalf of a client and we place their money on something and if in the end, there’s a low ROI, how likely is it that your client is going to let you do it again the following year?

This is one of the prime factors M3 is seeking to make sure doesn’t happen as we assist men and dad bloggers in their formations of partnerships with brands in the future.  Let’s face it, there are some Wanna Be Mom Diva bloggers out there, whom we all know and “love,” who contact brands and say, “Hi, I’m @SuzieSweetieSnazzle on Twitter, and I’d like for you to let me know when I can come pick up:  a car … try out a new phone …  get a whole exercise gym in my house … get a new house to live in … etc. Now, can I come get one tomorrow or when will it be delivered?”

How do you think brands feel when they get this sort of treatment?   How would you feel if you were a brand manager and got a DM from @SuzieSweetieSnazzle? **

My guess is the first thing you’d say to yourself is, “Well, let’s ship one out to Suzie right now!”  Uh, no.

Ultimately, the questions would start with, now how much would that cost me?  How much reach does @SuzieSweetieSnazzle even have?  Oh, she has 69 followers on Twitter, is following 1,996, and has 98 friends on Facebook, and has an Alexa ranking somewhere between 5-6 million worldwide.  Seeing that, you’d say, “Let me pick up the phone and call shipping!”  Uh, no.

Guys, we have our chance to show that we understand how to participate in the social media space with brands.  Several of our guys have been knowingly joking in their tweets about how they’d like to use Chevrolet products for the drive to program to M3 since we made the announcement.  While I’m sure all of us would like to get our own Camaro or Corvette to drive cross country to the event, that’s not what our sponsor has in mind.  (I’m sure they’re happy though to see us using their product names, so don’t let that stop!)

Indeed, they’re trying to reach family men; Guys who are excited to have a turn at the wheel of one of their new lines of Chevrolet or GM SUVs or Crossovers.  (And guys, on a cross-country road trip, it’ll be okay to share the wheel.)

They want us to feature cars that look sleek on the outside, but also are practical enough to use back at home with moms who you have 2.5 kids with; who like 2-2-3 row seating configurations because that means you’re not going to have to fool with a bench row when you get the kids out of the car for school/soccer drop offs; and yet is still sophisticated enough with OnStar, cool gadgets like the back up camera, the Bluetooth connections for your cell phone, and the Bose speakers so you can crank it when you get to drive to the ZippyMart to pick up a gallon of milk at 9:30 p.m or put gas in the car for the next morning’s routine.

And by reaching guys who are interested in those particulars, it’s then where we’re going to be looking for guys who are the mayors of great places to eat on FourSquare, who tell great photo and word stories on Whrrl, who Tweet their business–”Hey Y’all, I just passed a (insert name of cool-looking @Chevrolet product) that looks like the one I’m in & damn, I know I’m hot because she looked hot in hers.”  (Obviously, there’d be the hope at that point that the Mrs. doesn’t follow your Tweets.)

And then there’s the prospect of blogging, posting pictures of your adventure, and, even asking others to write about their experiences in the same make of car. (My example to you of such would be from my relationship with @GMTexas, who loaned me a 2010 Traverse in June and we created www.TraverseAdventures.com)

At Modern Media Men Summit, we’re thrilled to have a sponsor like Chevrolet on board.  They’ve been great to work with and are really excited about coming to Atlanta Sept. 9-11 for our first-ever event.  Obviously, we’re still looking to close the deal on other great brands and get others to join with them.  Our essential point to all brand managers and potential sponsors out there reading this is simple:  As men and dad bloggers, we get it.  We’re happy to do the Quid Pro Quo dance with you in Hotlanta.

Like I’ve said, a sponsor like Chevrolet is fantastic to have aboard as our Platinum Sponsor.  The company that forever has burned the notion of “Baseball, Apple Pie and Chevrolet” has stepped up to the proverbial plate.  Now it’s time for Modern Media Men to bring their bats.  We’ve got some social media hitting to do.

** (For clarity’s sake, I do not know anyone named SuzieSweetieSnazzle and the characters make the name impossible to have on Twitter.)

1. iFroggy

   iFroggy

   @daddyclaxton I think that a lot of it has to do simply with how you were raised, too, oddly enough. I’ve been talking with companies and receiving free products since at least 2003 or so, when I would have been 18. I never had the obnoxious, gross sense of entitlement that your post mentions and that I’ve seen in people. Definitely ugly! 17 minutes ago via web

• • Chevrolet becomes Platinum Sponsor for 2010 Modern Media Man Summit
  • Christopher Barger, director, Global Social Media, General Motors attending
  • “Drive To” cars available to limited number of Men/Dads Attending
  • Sept. 9 – 11 Modern Media Man Summit now 51 days away

Sponsorship includes “Drive To” program for selected men/dad bloggers, other fun surprises

ATLANTA—The Modern Media Man Summit Thursday announced that Chevrolet has become the first platinum sponsor for the first-ever blogging conference for men and dads to be held at the Omni Hotel – CNN Center in Atlanta from Sept. 9-11, 2010.

Christopher Barger, director, Global Social Media, for General Motors, who will be in attendance at M3, said sponsorship with Modern Media Man was an easy decision to make.

“Chevrolet and General Motors recognize the increasing influence of men and dad bloggers in the marketplace,” Barger said.  “We are looking forward to the Modern Media Man Summit as our opportunity to continue fostering positive relationships between this emerging sector of social media.  Through our relationship, we are providing resources to make this event happen, while at the same time providing Chevrolet vehicles for a ‘drive to’ program, vehicles to test drive at the event, and very likely, a ‘player to be named later.’”

Debbie T. Lawrence, M3’s co-founder Tuesday thanked Chevrolet and GM for its participation in the upcoming event.

“The Modern Media Man Summit was designed to bring big brands together with the increasing number of men and dad bloggers involved with social media,” Lawrence said.   “Bringing GM and Chevrolet to M3 as a Platinum Sponsor far and away exceeds our expectations and we are honored this internationally recognized brand is being so active in our upcoming event.”

Organizers have arranged to bring together the entire men’s marketplace; bloggers, podcasters, videobloggers, online TV and radio broadcasters, social media influencers, consumers and small business owners for the event.

With it’s sponsorship, Chevrolet is providing a limited number of vehicles that will be used by selected men and dads across the country to drive to the Atlanta venue.  During the cross-country adventure, those using the cars will be providing social media updates via such sites as Twitter, Facebook, their blogs, FourSquare and Whrrl as part of their participation.

At the Atlanta event, M3 participants also will have the opportunity to drive a wide-range of Chevrolet vehicles, which could include the Traverse, Equinox, Malibu, Corvette, Camaro and Volt.

Kevin Roy, M3’s other co-founder also said that GM’s Barger, aka @CBarger, will be attending the conference and offering a great opportunities for men and dads to put a face to the name.

“Social media is a great platform for creating relationships online, however, there’s still nothing better than a handshake and the ability to look someone in the eyes and know that you’re working toward establishing long lasting bonds,” Roy said.  “Most guys know Christopher Barger as @CBarger on Twitter.  As of September 9^th, they’re going to have the opportunity to get to know him in person which will add significant value to the relationship for Chevrolet and for M3’s individual bloggers themselves.”

Details about event sponsors, a menu of the speakers/panelists, costs for credentials, and venue information are available on www.ModernMediaMan.com.

Modern Media Man Summit

The Modern Media Man organization was founded with the focus of becoming the first dedicated blogging conference in the United States focused solely on the issues facing men and dad bloggers as they pursue their interests in blogging about personal, business and educational issues.  The organization is focused on meeting the needs of bloggers, podcasters, videobloggers, online TV and radio broadcasters, social media influencers, consumers and small business owners, while also bringing them together with key corporate brands affected by the active purchasing power of today’s Modern Media Man.

The M3 Summit will feature a host of recognized speakers; include a variety of essential seminars, panel discussions and keynotes from some of the best known in the industry.   Held in Atlanta, the three-day conference lends a once-a-year opportunity for contact and lead generation, the exchange of ideas, and a look into the heart of men and dad bloggers.  More information about Modern Media Man and the M3 Summit can be found at www.ModernMediaMan.com.

About Chevrolet

Chevrolet is one of America’s best-known and best-selling automotive brands, and one of the fastest growing brands in the world. With fuel solutions that range from “gas-friendly to gas-free,” Chevrolet has nine models that offer an EPA-estimated 30 miles per gallon or more on the highway, and offers two hybrid models. More than 2.5 million Chevrolets that run on E85 biofuel have been sold. Chevrolet delivers expressive design, spirited performance and strives to provide the best value in every segment in which it competes. More information can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

—30—

As noted in this space many, many times, I’m a big fan of Gary Vaynerchuk and his book Crush It! My copy of the book is covered in as much self-applied ink as what the publisher printed.  As a man/dad blogger, I’ve really stepped up my social media presence in 2010 thanks to reading and re-reading Crush It! and other noted books, and the results are really beginning to show.

One of the primary points we’re trying to make to men/dad bloggers through the Modern Media Man Summit is that besides the great one like GaryVee, women and moms aren’t the only ones who can do social media and do it successfully.  And wisely, in the blog world we’re beginning to see brands begin to better recognize that we men/dads are out here wanting to do good things with our social media presence and do something quid pro quo as well.

@SnickersIceCrm

Last Thursday morning before Mom and I headed out the door to go to on our adventure trip for the Taste of Creede, CO for the weekend, I stumbled upon the mouth-watering taste at the thought of  Snicker’s Ice Cream brand’s Twitter account and sent them the following tweet:

@SnickersIceCrm: I’ll bet with lots of dry ice & some ingenuity I could sample some samples & tell the world how good your product is!

Their almost immediate response was simple and to the point:

Ha! How about I send you some coupons!

With a follow up DM of my mailing address, I smiled, told mom how cool that was and we walked out the door on our trip.

ONE WEEK LATER

Today, June 3, a week later, I received in the mail 6 coupons:  Three for $1 off the Snicker’s Ice Cream product lines and three coupons for FREE boxes of their product lines. 

Feast your mouth-watering eyes on this: The coupons are good for “Any one MULTI PACK: DOVEBAR Brand 3 Pack, DOVEBAR Miniatures, DOVE Brand Packaged Ice Cream, TWIX Ice Cream Bar 6 Pack, M&M’s Brand Cookie Ice Cream Cone 6 Pack, SNICKER’S Ice Cream Cone 6 Pack, SNICKER’S Ice Cream Bar 6 Pack, SNICKER’S Ice Cream Bar Miniatures.”

Until I just typed that, I didn’t know there was a Twix Ice Cream Bar, and to know that there are six of them in a pack, well, I’m all that about that. (Just don’t tell my EA SPORTS Active friends!)

You see, the other great thing about all this is that I did this as a man blogger/dad blogger!  Yes, even with testosterone in my system, I’m able to reach out to brands, make contacts, offer to do something positive for their company, and reap incredible rewards because of it.

Hey, and now I also get to enjoy SIX TWIX Ice Cream Bars that I won’t be telling my DDs that I have!  Sorry girls, I don’t know where they went…..

“YASEETIMMY”

If you ever watched the 1994 movie “Speechless” with Michael Keaton and Geena Davis, you will recall that Keaton said at the end of a good story, there’s a “YaSeeTimmy,” just like in Lassie when they always said, “You see Timmy ….” and passed on an important lesson from the episode.

The Ya See Tim,/Jim/Gary/Chuck/Don, of this lesson is two-fold:

1. Brands want to have relationships with men/dad bloggers. At the present, it’s sort of a challenge for them to find us.  Without parsing any words, it’s been a Mom Blogger World for far too long.  Moms do a lot of the buying in a household, but so do we men/dads. Reaching out to brands and connecting with them can be a positive experience.  There needs to be a system for helping brands find dads.  I know some peeps who are working on just that!
2. Men/Dads, we need to do a better job of reaching out to brands. They’re not going to come looking for us.  Well, they’re kind of having to, but it makes it a challenge for them when they can find 500 mom bloggers at the click of an enter button on Google and they can’t do that when they go looking for us.  We must step up our efforts to present ourselves to brands online, to build positive mutually-beneficial relationships with the brand managers, and then do honest and positive things to support that relationship.

There is an ever-increasing role in the blogosphere for men/dads.  There are some great pioneers in this field–e.g. Gary Vaynerchuk, etc.  but there are more of us still standing around on the shoulder of the information highway wishing we had the courage or knew the right way to stop a top brand coming down the expressway.

@GMTexas

I can’t give a better current example of the benefits of a quid pro quo men/dad blogger exchange than my relationship with Donna M. from @GMTexas. Our connectivity began through her own Twitter account and then through the corporate account.

I’ve been invited to three events with GM now in the past two months and been in town to enjoy two of them.  While I was savoring the thought of eating the Snicker’s Ice Cream bars, I received a phone call on behalf of GM.  From roughly noon June 21, 2010 to noon June 28, 2010, I’ll be the driver of a 2010 Chevy Traverse LTZ, complete with OnStar, XM Radio and free to go anywhere I want to with it during those seven days.

The girls and I are planning an adventure for that week.  As a matter of fact, you already can go to TRAVERSEADVENTURES.com and find yourself right back here at www.DaddyClaxton.com.  Just wait, in a few days, there will be a specific page set up just so you can find out great things about this new product from GM.

And that, my friends, makes all this even better than the convertible roadster Keaton was driving Davis around in Speechless.

There now are 100 days left until the first men and dads’ blogging conference dubbed the Modern Media Man Summit in Atlanta.

That’s not a lot of time, but things are coming together.  Hopefully, within the next two weeks, we’ll be prepared to announce the names of some widely known and highly visible sponsors.  The speakers’ list is being composed. Plans are being formalized.  Things really are beginning to fall in place and it’s been an exciting adventure to be a part of something that’s going to be such a positive experience for so many men who are trying to find their way into blogging.

If you’ve not checked out the Modern Media Man.com site, I encourage you to do so.

At the conference, there will be three tracks: One about personal blogging, one about business, and then an educational track that’s designed to really bring guys up to speed with the latest trends and ways to monetize their blogs.

Early bird tickets still are on sale.  Now is the time to get a price break on the event, which runs from Sept. 9-11, 2010.

What sorts of excitement await those who come?  You really wouldn’t want me to give it all away, now would you?

Hats off to 13-year-old Jordan Romero, now the youngest person ever to scale Mount Everest.  What a tremendous feat. What an incredible adventure.

The Big Bear, CA resident now has scaled the tallest peaks on six continents.  His next adventure in December:  the Vinson Massif in Antarctica.

The young man reached the top of the world yesterday with his dad at his side.  He’s in eighth grade and took along two months worth of homework with him.  My guess is he’s learned a lot more spending five weeks climbing up Mount Everest than he will in his remaining years of school, but that’s another topic.

They had to take a different route than most in their adventure to get to the top of Everest.  In Napal, there’s an age limit for those who can scale the mountain.  On the Chinese side, there is no age limit.

An argument can be made that letting a kid so young do such a thing isn’t good for the kid.  I’ve gone round and round personally over the same issue and have been told I’m not considering what’s best for my kids.  Personally, I’d like to take my three girls, pull them out of school for a year and spend that time with all three of them traveling around the world.  Would they learn more about what they need to know about themselves and living and life in school, or going around the globe with their dad?

But as a dad, looking to the other side of the world at this fantastic feat, I have to say this to me is nothing but inspiring.  Who could imagine a  greater adventure in life than to scale to the top of the highest peaks on the globe and look down upon the surroundings right there with one’s dad at your side.

Personally, one of my greatest desires in life has been to go to a baseball game with my dad at Wrigley Field in Chicago.  We almost got to do that in 2004, but that year the Cubs were doing well and tickets were hard to come by.  With all three girls and dad in the car, we drove around looking for ticket sellers, but none were to be found.  I still hold out hope.  I was able to take his dad and his mom to a game.  But my dad always has remained elusive to this dream.  I don’t know why, but it’s not ever worked out.

THE SEARCH FOR ADVENTURE

But more importantly for Jordan Romero is that even at a young age, he and his dad are refusing to be confined to the norms and are in search of adventure.  I’m sure Jordan’s dad, Paul Romero, has been told numerous times how “Foolish, starry-eyed and out of his mind” he is for “exploiting” his child and putting him in such harm’s way.  It’s just this type of stereotyping that has put so many of today’s Mod Men in the unfriendly to the soul confined boxes in which many of us are stuck.

Today’s Modern Media Man I feel in many ways has lost his sense of adventure.  In many ways, from seeing Ex2′s boys sit tirelessly for hours at a computer screen playing RPGs, the generations of today are still escaping to adventures.  But I think one day they’re going to find they’ve missed so much about the world.

I’d imagine Jordan Romero isn’t one for sitting hours upon hours in front of a video game.  He’s out walking in the real one.  He’s healthier for it.  He’s more experienced for it.  And he’s living a much richer life.

My point isn’t that we all should pack up our hiking gear and head to China or Napal to climb Everest.  It’s more that today’s Modern Media Man needs to re-evaluate what purpose he wants to serve in this world and begin seeking it out.

IDENTIFYING ROADBLOCKS, STUMBLING BLOCKS, MENTAL BLOCKS

In order to do so, my Faith Coach, Ron Rose told me last week that he wanted me to focus on the road blocks that are now in my way from seeking out God’s purpose in my life and the pursuit of those adventures that will make me more into who I desire to be.  As I’ve pointed out before, Tim Ferriss in The Four Hour Work Week stresses the same point–Find the 20 percent of things in your life that are causing 80 percent of your problems and eliminate them.

Once the roadblocks are out of the way, it’s time to identify and anticipate the stumbling blocks that might trip me up along in my adventures.

And then, maybe as important to the other two points, what mental blocks are out there that are keeping me from seeking out my life’s adventures?

This is what I feel to be one of the biggest problems for Modern Media Men.  The fear of the unknown. The dare to take risks.  The criticism that will come from daring to express or even pursue a dream.  Maybe this comes in the form of a nagging wife.  Maybe it’s a feeling that things are going to turn around this coming week if ….  Maybe it’s just that we as Modern Media Men have been beaten down so by the mores of our culture that we dare not be non-conformists.

Whatever it might be I’m encouraging you to have strength, to identify those immediate challenges, and search your soul for ways in which to over come them.  Maybe it’s the folly of youth that has Jordan Romero not worrying about the dangers of climbing the highest peaks on seven continents.  It doesn’t matter.  He’s out there living life.  He’s living an adventure.  He’s living out dreams some of us have yet to imagine from the confines of our living rooms or laying flat on our bed staring up at the texture of the ceiling as kids play on video games, the wife does what she’s doing, and the sun passes from the east to the west on another day of the same.