Reflection, Changing the World, and Passion

Guest post by @terryeva, a solutions architect and a social media enthusiast

I just returned from a 3000+ mile drive across the United States.  As I drove, I enjoyed the peacefulness of the trip and the beauty of our country.  I laughed at the numerous billboards along the interstate. In more than one instance, I saw billboards marketing religious messages and a few miles down the road, billboard messages would market an adult store. I could not help but associate the billboards to other mediums that market irrelevant messages to me.  I kept an eye out for a sign pointing me to the largest ball of twine but I failed to find it. Lessons I learned on the trip include:

Location based services are really starting be used as a marketing tool. Robert Scoble, in his article “Foursquare: will it be bigger than Twitter?” stated he thought locations services would be bigger than Twitter once businesses learn it’s a great way to engage customers.  I experienced this first hand as I checked into a Holiday Inn Express.  IHG CheckIn immediately sent me a tweet with an offer of up to 20% off my next booking! Thank you to the InterContinental Hotels Group for sending me a relevant marketing message.

Give genuine gifts. There are ways to change the world for the better. Jeremy Epstein tweeted a link to an article by Adam Schorr. The article title is simple: Are you changing the world? This article reminded me of my visit to the Oklahoma City National Memorial. As I stood between the gates of the memorial marked 9:01 and 9:03, the time before the bombing and the time after the bombing, I felt a flood of emotions: Sorrow for the victims, pride for the heroic actions of the responders, and a hope that we will never see or experience tragedy like this again. I wondered how I had changed the world. Life is short. As Schorr says, “I think if we orient our actions to trying to change the world for the better, that our lives are more likely to have purpose and meaning.”

Passion trumps everything. I visited Graceland during Elvis week. I was not aware there was an Elvis week until I tried to find a hotel room in Memphis.  Memphis was flooded with a tribe and that tribe was passionate about Elvis. People dressed like Elvis, sang like Elvis and could recite every obscure fact known about Elvis. This experience made me think about the people I have met in life that are not passionate about what they do for a living. If one is not passionate, one probably is not having fun and one is probably not performing to the best of their abilities. Life is not about money or who has the most toys. Be passionate and give genuine gifts, everything else will follow.

My vacation is now over. I experienced the King, National Memorials, Outlaw hideouts, and the last home of a big man. I exposed myself to different marketing messages and I reminded myself of the importance of passion and giving gifts. Reconnecting with friends and family on the trip helped me to remember there is more to life than ads, page views, SEO, and unique visitors.