Lately my friends and I have been talking about how the Internet has revolutionized so much. When I find myself in the middle of these conversations, I always think about the first computer I ever had. Back in 1998, my mom bought our first desktop, a Compaq Presario. I don’t remember many of the specifications of that first computer, but I have to laugh when I remember that my cellphone has more storage and capability than it ever did.

Fast forward to 2011, and who really could have predicted the current state of the Internet so accurately? Higher bandwith speeds allow us to stream music and videos in the blink of an eye. The cloud allows for easy storage and playability on multiple devices. And information is everywhere: on blogs, on Twitter, on Facebook, on Google. No, really, it is everywhere.

It’s never been easier to connect with people. If someone will take that first step of putting himself online and allowing others to keep in touch, the whole world can be waiting to make contact. As cool as that may seem, lately I find myself wondering about the consequences that may come with such power and availability.

For example…

Kelly Clarkson recently tweeted her endorsement of Ron Paul, a move which angered some of her followers. While Clarkson is certainly entitled to her opinion and the right to share her opinion, I just keep thinking that we’re talking about a pop singer who’s talking about politics. While it doesn’t matter what’s fair or unfair, should there be any kind of backlash or reaction to this? Is there a need for her to explain herself?

And then there’s GoDaddy and SOPA. In response to GoDaddy’s support of SOPA, many people moved their websites from GoDaddy to other webhosts’ servers. Of course, GoDaddy, in an attempt to save face, now opposes SOPA. But I wonder, is anyone buying it? It’s obvious that GoDaddy changed their stance only because of the consequences that followed when they stood for something. Those who care have not forgotten, and it’s obvious that GoDaddy’s gesture is not sincere.

It’s kind of like when someone apologizes for getting caught, not for the wrong of his actions.

How serious should we take these reactions?

Oh yeah, speaking of GoDaddy, my hosting is up next month. Does anyone have any recommendations on where I should move my blog? Thanks in advance!

Every once in a while, I’ll get into a weird YouTube kick and I’ll browse around looking for music videos, perhaps a studio version of a favorite song or maybe even an unexpected surprise from a previously unheard live version. Tonight I happened to stumble upon an old favorite, “Accelerator” by Primal Scream, from their XTMNTR album (which is, by the way, EPIC!).

If you sample the song and don’t like it, don’t worry. The track is noisy and very distorted and just plain crazy. But as is often the case with those old favorites, it reminds me of myself in a different time; it allows me to time travel, but only in reverse.

When I first heard this song, I’m pretty sure that it scared the hell out of me. I’m not insinuating that the song is scary, but at the time it was very much unlike anything else that I had previously heard. Yet there was something that appealed to me, something that kept me coming back, as was the case with whole XTRMNTR album.

When the album first came out, I read a very brief review that summed it up like this: “When was the last time that a CD made you want to go out and do something?” I don’t mean “do something” as in go for a walk or help an old lady cross the street, which is a very admirable thing to do, by the way. I mean do something, as in making a mark somewhere. As in defying authority or conventional wisdom. As in pushing yourself to new limits. As in actually being inspired.

As I said, this song takes me back. It takes me back to the summer of 2000, when I was a young buck all of 15 years old. You remember those times, don’t you? When you were so young, so naïve, yet you had it all figured out. Come on, don’t lie. You know you had it all figured out. The great thing about being so young is that there is so much future ahead of you. Or so you think.

At that age, 30 seems old. 40 seems damn old. And anything over 50 seems ancient. Surely you’ll have plenty of time to accomplish something, right?

But the chances are that as you get older, you find that things change. The world changes. No, the world doesn’t really change; your perception of it changes. After much searching, you finally find your place in all of the madness. Your place isn’t really what you had in mind, but it’s yours and it feels comfortable, so why complain?

You become content.

You’ve lost your will to challenge.

You’ve lost that teenage angst.

You know, that teenage angst that left you feeling that there was something more, that things could be different and better. It gave you courage to question authority, even if only in private with friends. It made you loathe and despise anything even remotely resembling the status quo.

It made you want to do something.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel that there’s a little fuel left, yearning to be set aflame. Unfortunately, it often feels as if there aren’t enough sparks to get the flames started.

As I said earlier, when you were a teenager, you thought you had it all figured out. Then you got older and realized how little you knew. But teenage angst has never been about being right. It’s always been about being inspired and motivated. It’s always been about being moved to do something. Anything. Just something, damn it.

Too often now I find myself asking, “How do we keep that teenage angst alive?”

How do we maintain that punk rock spirit?

What do we do so that we can keep on rockin’ in the free world?

I don’t know, but maybe I can hope to find a little inspiration in a song, a little diddy by Primal Scream.

C’mon!
C’mon!
Hit the accelerator,
The accelerator!

‘Cause whether we like it or not, our window’s closing.

So let’s do something.

Explanation:
In late 2010 or early 2011, BrightFuse, a professional network designed by CareerBuilder, shut down. I had some blog posts on the network that didn’t make it onto my own site, but before BrightFuse closed its doors for good, I saved a few of those posts with the intent of sharing them on my own site in the future. Here is the first of those posts.

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“I’m a million different people from one day to the next”

If there were one line from a song that I thought best described me, that little diddy from Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve would be it. When it comes to matters of identifying myself — describing who I am — I feel that I am the most inconsistent person in the world. One day I’m loud and confident, and the next day I’m quiet and shy. I think this is probably why I thought I might be bipolar when I was younger. No, I’m not kidding. But I finally realized that this is how life goes. Life’s a roller coaster, a wave of ups and downs. And this is just who I am.

That being said, inconsistency is still an issue. Right now, at this very second, everything seems to be clicking. I’ve got a subject, I’m focused, and I’m blogging and attempting to connect with you. But come tomorrow, who knows how I’ll feel. I might sit down and be unable to find the part of me that enjoys doing this.

It’s not writer’s block. It’s not a feeling of being unable to tie everything together. It’s something different. I might feel as if I’ve never written a blog post before. I may wonder why I’m even blogging, how did I ever get to this point?

The truth is, I enjoy blogging. It’s not part of a job. It’s a hobby in some ways, and it’s the only hobby I’ve maintained for any length of time. And it’s a productive hobby. I can see and feel an evolution in myself. I’m learning from the experience, and I’m changing. Dare I say, I’m getting better. If you blog, I hope you feel the same way about your experience.

So I don’t want to quit. That’s the last thing I want to do. But there are days when I wake up and say, This is not me; this cannot be me, and it will never be me.

But it was me yesterday. And it is me today. And it will be me tomorrow.

Sometimes it’s so hard to stay focused, and I’m not referring to ADD or ADHD. It’s something different from that.

Have you ever experienced this, or am I just crazy? If you have experienced it, how do you get yourself back on track? And if you haven’t experienced it, what do you do to stay focused?

In sports, everyone deals with unfavorable calls differently. In baseball, the cool thing is to get all up in the umpire’s grill and yell and spittle on him until he has no choice but to kick the angry players out of the game. (Personally, I think that some baseball players harass the umps with the intention of getting sent home early. And I can’t say I blame them; after all, they play 162 games in a season. 162!)

In football, the players usually complain to the coach, who then pleads his case with the referee. And basketball seems to be somewhere in the middle. The players will take their beef up with the referees, and if they get a little too crazy, they get slapped with a technical and the other team’s shooting free throws.

No matter the sport, one thing I hate to see is players who argue with the refs. Why?

Because no matter how convincing your case may be, you’re not getting an appeal.

It’s not a court of law, and “innocent until proven guilty” does not apply. And arguing with the refs, especially when you’re yelling and throwing your hands in the air, can only lead to worse consequences.

Also, after a player has made his case, I’ve never seen a ref or ump scratch his chin and say, “You know, you’re right — that wasn’t a traveling violation” or “Yeah, that hit wasn’t dirty after all”. No, they usually stick to their guns, and the verdict is gonna stick.

But, maybe that has a bit to do with how people go about trying to debate the calls. The upset players are usually extremely animated and overly emotional. I can’t say that I blame them for losing their composure though. After all, they’re competitors and they’re in the heat of the moment. It doesn’t do any good to postpone; they can’t put it off for a few days (or even a few minutes).

But what about in your everyday situations? How do you react to the foul calls in life?

Do you allow yourself to be charged by emotion? Are you throwing your arms around, your voice rising an octave with every word that comes flying out of your mouth? Are you so eager to defend your mistakes (or to condemn offenses from other people) that you forget to maintain your exposure?

We all need to learn how to keep our heads in these situations. I can think of a couple of reasons:

1. Just because you yell louder doesn’t always mean that you’re going to win. As with the sports examples, I’d argue that the opposite is more likely true. No one’s receptive to yelling and being aggressively told that he’s wrong.

2. These situations are going to happen more often that you would like. There’s no point in giving yourself an ulcer every single time.

If you’ve been wronged, should you simply let it go? Of course not, but if you’re going to voice your feelings, you need to make sure that you do it in a professional manner. If you’re going to argue your case, it helps if you’re in control of your emotions. When you can present your argument in the best manner possible, everyone can focus on the real issue at hand — how you feel that you were wronged.

Some people are just too eager to be whistleblowers.

How many times have we heard that rock ‘n’ roll is dead? The talk probably started as soon as the Rolling Stones had their first #1 single, because as far as I can remember, people have been declaring its demise while always looking like idiots. Of course, these people also declare that rap music is the rock killer. Apparently, in some people’s eyes, there is no such thing as coexistence and if you’re not on top, then you must not be alive or relevant.

Well, folks, I’m here to tell you that rock ‘n’ roll is still alive and well. I should know, I listen to enough of it.

And so, some people are always looking for that next big declaration. Everybody wants to the first to see it coming, so they make crazy statements for the shock value and the hope that one of these days they’ll be right.

Right now, such attention is turned to social media, blogging in particular. Too often I see blog posts with a title along the lines of “Is Blogging Dead?” I won’t even bother linking to such a post. Just search for it on Google; you shouldn’t have any problem finding a relevant blog post (is that irony?).

Before John Mayer clarified that he was not saying that Twitter was dead, people were asking if Twitter was the next to face an ugly fate after Mayer left the social networking site for the comforts of Tumblr.

For some people, every minor change is a sign of the end.

Just look at some of the commentary related to the world economy. Now that the bubble has burst, some people will tell you that it’s all over, that the end is just around the corner.

Rock ‘n’ roll hasn’t died. But music has evolved. Perhaps rock isn’t the chart-topping genre that it once was, but it’s still there, and it’s waiting for you to listen.

When I hear that the social aspects of the Internet are dying, I laugh, because to me, the Internet has always been about being social. We’ve moved from chat rooms and AOL Instant Messenger and ICQ to blogs and Twitter and Facebook. Sure, maybe blogs and Twitter and Facebook will die someday, but what they represent — a method of online communication — most likely will not.

And, as for the economy, well, it’s evolving as well. Maybe we have to be more creative and maybe the days of working at the same factory for 40 years are far behind us, but surely that doesn’t mean that the economy is dead.

Right? Or no?

Depending on the situation and the stakes involved, change can suck. It seems that every day you can find someone going on and on about how things are changing and how his world has been flipped upside down. When I find such a person, I imagine him sitting alone in his living room, holding himself on his couch, rocking back and forth.

The world’s coming to an end. My world’s coming to an end. Everything that I’ve built my career and life around will soon be no more. This SUCKS!

You might think that this kind of attitude and thinking is negative and pessimistic. And it is. Well, only halfway. This kind of thinking is actually quite positive and constructive. Well, the first part of this monologue is positive — the part where the person admits that change is on its way.

Half of the battle of problem-solving is identifying the problem. Or in many cases, half of the battle is admitting that there’s a problem. If you get into a funk like the one described above, you’re halfway there. You’ve identified the problem — change — and you know it’s on its way.

The destructive part comes in the end of the monologue. Feeling that the world is coming to an end. Merely accepting this sad fate.

You know what’s missing?

Action.

What good is identifying a problem if you fail to create a plan of action? I understand that change is inconvenient sometimes. It doesn’t favor everyone. Some of us will benefit while some of us will have to adapt in order to prosper in the new settings. I know, sometimes you just have to get your frustration and disappointment out.

So, by all means…

Freak out. And complain.. Then do something about it.

Do you remember your teenage days? I know that, for some of you, your adolescent years were longer ago than mine, so by all means, take a little time to sift through your memories and rediscover that time.

Okay, bad jokes aside, let’s be completely honest: you thought you knew everything, right? You thought you had the world figured out. Don’t be afraid to admit it; I think it’s basic human teenage nature. We all think we’re smarter than the idiot next to us, and we all know that we’re smarter than the idiot from that older generation.

A big part of those teenage years is that struggle to find yourself. To find out who you are, what your values are, and how you can make an impact on the world. In my opinion, that’s where self discovery begins for most of us. A big part of that self discovery process is establishing yourself as an individual. And we all want to be individuals, don’t we?

It seems that we all want to believe that every single person is unique, because that means that we ourselves must surely be unique. I know that I pride myself on my individuality, and I always have. But it seems that, as teenagers, we get a little too caught up in it.

As I said before, when you’re a teenager, you think you know it all. You’ve got it all figured out. And you’re an individual, so that means that every brilliant idea is your own. You’re not impressionable. Oh, no, not you! And no one else can influence you.

In a world of individuals, you are the most individual of them all!

And now, at the age of 25, I realize that that way of thinking is complete bullshit.

The bottom line is that we are all subject to influence; we are all impressionable. The question is to what degree we are impressionable and can be influenced. Often, I hear the phrase: “You are the company you keep.” And there is a lot of truth to that. If you hang around with negative people, chances are that you tend to be negative. If you hang around ambitious people, surely their ambition rubs off on you.

But, you know, we’re influenced by a lot more than people. We’re influenced by the media that we choose to surround ourselves with. That’s why I like to read progressive-minded business books. I don’t like to hear from the people who say that the economy has gone to crap and we’re never going to recover and prosper. Save that for the pessimists; I have too much life to live for me to sit around and mope all day.

This is one reason that I love social media. With social media (whether through Twitter or blogs), I can connect with people who are the professionals that I want to be. People who are active thinkers, people who ask questions, and people with an entrepreneurial spirit.

And I love TedTalks for the same reason. TedTalks features so many intelligent speakers who offer a different way of looking at things. Sometimes their brilliance simply amazes me, and I continually hope that they’ll infect me.

Of course, there’s no denying that we are influenced by our environments, our families, our socio-economic factors, and who knows what else.

So now, I happily admit that I am indeed impressionable and very much able to be influenced. Instead of trying to fight this fact, I ask myself how I can utilize this awareness. Who (or what) can I surround myself with to make myself a better person?

And so, I want to share something that I hope will leave an impression with you. I feel as if I’ve shared this video before, but I’m unsure what post it may have been on. That’s irrelevant because the video is so powerful that it deserves to be shared multiple times.

Now, I offer to you, Jimmy Valvano’s “Don’t Ever Give Up” speech. If Valvano can be so positive while looking death in the face, via cancer, surely we all can be as well. I watch this video from time to time, so it’s safe to say that it’s left an impression on me.

Just as there are different types of intelligence, I believe that there are different aspects of maturity. While many people will say that being able to handle responsibility is a sign of maturity, I will argue that being able to admit that you cannot handle responsibility is also a sign of maturity. I see that as a part of self-awareness.

When I think about this subject, I think about Andrew Luck, the superstar quarterback for the Stanford Cardinal. Luck had the opportunity to bypass the collegiate ranks during his senior year and enter the NFL draft with the security of knowing that, unless he did something to screw it up between now and April 2011, there was a 99.99% chance that he would be the first overall pick taken. If you’re a football fan, surely you know that the money made by a quarterback taken first overall in the NFL draft is nothing short of ridiculous. But, as you’ve likely already heard or figured out from the direction in which my post is headed, Luck said no thank you and instead opted to return to the Cardinal for his senior season, despite the fact this coach, Jim Harbaugh, left the Cardinal to join the San Francisco 49ers.

Why Luck should want to enter the NFL draft:

Because of the money involved in Luck’s decision, some commentators have been eager to call him crazy. How can he turn down all of that guaranteed money? Forget your architecture degree, kid! You’ve got a sure thing! After all, there’s no guarantee that Luck will be the first overall pick in the 2012 draft. In 2006, USC quarterback Matt Leinart was drafted tenth overall by the Arizona Cardinals. If Leinart had entered the draft a year before, he likely would have been the first overall pick and would have increased the contents of his wallet by millions of dollars! I’m sure Luck has heard this numerous times and is sick of it.

So many of us, if in Luck’s position, would jump at the chance to skip our senior season and take the opportunity to cash in. We’d see the dollar signs and jump, whether we were ready for the move or not. Whether we wanted to, whether we could handle the pressure. I’m not saying that Andrew Luck cannot handle the pressure of being an NFL quarterback, but I am saying that, for whatever reason, he does not want to handle the pressure of being an NFL quarterback at this moment.

Why wouldn’t Luck want to the enter the draft?

I don’t know Luck’s motivations for sticking around for another season. That’s his business. But, once he leaves college and makes that jump to the NFL — once he starts making the big bucks — he will truly be a full-fledged adult. Depending how things go, who knows how long he can play in the NFL. 10, 12 years? Or, if he might look to celebrate a silver anniversary in the league, as George Blanda did.

Even if Luck has a long career, when he retires from football, he will still be young. Whether he transitions to coaching, is charismatic enough to be a commentator, or decides to make use of that architecture degree, he will still have plenty of money-making years ahead of him. So what’s the harm in waiting one more season? Sure, he may not make the maximum return on investment by passing on the draft this year, but I’ll take his return over mine any day. (I’ll take the dollar figures, that is; he can keep the concussions).

Obviously, Luck is not ready to make the leap. If only we could all be so honest with ourselves.

We all know people who aren’t ready to make “the leap”.

How many people do you know who sit around and complain because they haven’t been given more responsibility or a leadership position at their current places of employment, while you know damn well that they’re not ready for a promotion of any kind? And you know that, if offered a promotion, they would jump at the opportunity without really considering whether the position was a right fit for them, or whether they were a right fit for the position.

Some people will tell you that girls mature faster than boys, but I don’t buy that. I think that girls want to mature faster than boys. As I said at the beginning of this post, there are different types of maturity. In those puberty years, girls seem to try to look older than they actually are, and so they end up wearing too much makeup and looking like clowns. Boys tend to let maturity come to them.

Some people will mention that one friend they have — the guy who’s 35 and parties every single night and shows no signs of ever settling down. Yes, maybe there is something to the idea that he may be immature, but at least he didn’t get married at 18, knowing that he was not ready, in an attempt to prove how mature he was. (I am not saying that everyone who gets married at 18 is not ready for the responsibility and commitment, but I give respect to those who will admit that they are not ready). Luck could go to the NFL just to prove that he can handle it. But he doesn’t want to, and I think there’s something to be said about that.

But others have made “the leap” with no problem.

Of course, some people might want to mention LeBron James, who before leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to carry his talents to South Beach and so making himself a very controversial figure, was often credited for being able to handle to the pressure of jumping to the NBA from high school. Not only did LeBron James come into the league looking like a man, but he also had no problem conducting himself like one. Unfortunately, for every LeBron James, there are a likely a hundred Kwame Browns. And, if you’re Andrew Luck and your heart isn’t in going to the pros, then I’d say that you’re not ready.

Right now, Luck is like that guy working the drive-thru at Burger King just so that he can make a buck and who has no desire for anything else. And when he was offered the opportunity to become manager, he said, You know, I think I’m good where I’m at.

Until next year…

Surely, admitting that you’re not ready to take on extra responsibility has to be a sign of maturity, a sign of self-awareness. Some people think that Luck is crazy, but at least he’s not the second string quarterback at some Sun Belt school who thinks that he’s ready for the big leagues. In my opinion, that would be a much, much worse situation and also, a sign of immaturity.

Andrew Luck Photo Credit: Gear Live

LeBron James Photo Credit: AM Basketball

This past weekend, my wife and I had a great conversation about the paradox of choice. She had watched this video of Barry Schwartz’s TED Talk, in which Schwartz argues that while we may believe that having a seemingly unlimited number of choices is supposed to be liberating, in many cases, it may actually be paralyzing. Having too many choices may actually prevent us from making a choice. (If you have about 20 minutes of time to spare, I recommend taking the time to watch this video.)

I can see where Schwartz is coming from.

As he says in the video, we often think that there is only one choice: the right choice. And we all want to make sure that we make the right choice. When we make a choice, there is always the possibility that we could have made a better decision that could have yielded better results. And, if a better choice could have been made, that means that we may be subject to criticism. And the criticism can be justified because, after all, we didn’t make the best decision. We didn’t reap all of the benefits.

The problem with the paradox of choice is not the abundance of choice.

The problem with this paradox is our attitude toward the decisions we make. Schwartz says that the way to combat the paradox is to have low expectations. When we expect little or nothing, we can never be disappointed. Though I think he’s right in that assessment, I do not agree that this is the healthiest solution.

We have to accept that we cannot always make the best decision. Instead, we need to focus on making good decisions. In the Information Age, when things are constantly changing and information is more readily available than ever before in history, making the best decision is becoming more and more difficult.

I recently read a blog post that claimed that the bailout has earned an 8.2% return in two years. That’s pretty damn good, but apparently the return could have been higher if the government had invested that money in the stock market or gold. So, if you supported the bailout and are pleased by the news of the return, should you be disappointed to hear that your tax dollars weren’t fully utilized?

On the Fellowstream blog, Deborah Fike has an interesting post about understanding “dumb” decisions in the workplace. If you are a manager, any decision you make is going to be unpopular with someone. You can’t please everyone, and a manager needs to understand that trying to do so is not his job. No matter the decision you make, you likely will receive criticism, whether from yourself or from others. After all, if good and bad are a matter of opinion, so are best and worst.

Avoiding decision-making is not the solution. The solution is to make a decision and execute it, see it through. Once a decision is made, all you can do is give maximum effort to make the best out of the decision that you’ve made. Even if it’s not the best decision.

I’m a big believer that many of the things that we observe in our everyday lives can relate to business. This post is meant to reflect that belief.

Many of us, if not all of us, have a desire to be recognized for something. We want to belong, but we also want to be known for something. To be identified with something, but with something pleasant. Nobody wants to be identified as that guy. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.

If you accept that this is true, then you must accept that, while we all may not desire to be the center of attention, we all do desire to gain some degree of attention. After all, standing out or being recognized in any capacity requires attention from someone, if only from one person.

The question is, How are we going to obtain that recognition and the attention that accompanies it?

Sometimes it seems impossible. Or it seems that you have to do something extravagant. It may seem that you have to go over the top.

Especially with the likes of Lady Gaga getting so much attention. How does she do it? What does she do to get so much attention? She’s obviously very glam. She wears insane hairdos. Sometimes her makeup is styled a bit crazy. What about her bling and props? Oh, and don’t forget the meat suit.

It seems that Lady Gaga has become the poster child for standing out from the crowd. And it may seem as if you can’t possibly hope to stand out with the Lady Gagas of the world taking everything to extremes. But I want to argue that it doesn’t take that much to gain attention. If you want to gain attention on Lady Gaga’s level, then yes, you may need to take things to her level.

But I want to share with you a couple of things that I observed this week.

I hope it’s safe to say that we all know that walking is a form of exercise and that exercise is good for your health. But this week, I became worried that my walking may be bad for other people’s health. Have you ever gone for a walk in a small town in the South? People in the South love their vehicles, and it seems that, for the most part, the only people who walk in the South are probably, for one reason or the other, unable to drive themselves or hitch a ride with someone else. If your small town doesn’t have crosswalk signals at its intersections, it’s probably because people don’t walk much. Maybe the town isn’t pedestrian friendly because people don’t walk much, or maybe people don’t walk much because your town isn’t pedestrian friendly (Which came first: the chicken or the egg?)

Anyway, the point is, when you go walking in a town like this, you get uncomfortable looks from the drivers passing by on the road. You can see it in their eyes. You can tell that, if only for a second, you’ve disrupted their world. Their eyes tell it all; they’re thinking, Nobody walks in this town. Who in the hell is this guy? Is he a crackhead? A murderer?

And you can see the fear in people’s eyes when you approach their cars even though you’re simply trying to cross the road while they’re stopped at a stop sign.

Also, if you want to get a little bit of attention, find a bench in front of your local Wal-Mart and sit there with a Papa John’s pizza box in your lap. You might be surprised at how long people will glare at you. In my experience, I sat there, not eating the pizza; I’m not sure if this added a small touch of shock value or not, but I felt that it may be noteworthy.

The point of the post is this…

Sometimes we try too hard when we’re looking to gain some attention or make a name for ourselves. Too many of us are looking for the next big thing. We’re looking to change the foundation of everything. We think that in order to achieve extravagant results, we must need extravagant methods. But that’s not always true.

Sometimes we emphasize too much on thinking outside of the box. But as Seth Godin said (I wish I could remember exactly where I saw this), the most successful ideas aren’t always found outside of the box. They’re found just along the edges of the box. Along the edges, an idea can be familiar enough to give us a bit of comfort, while also being just different enough to stand out.

Now, I could have gone outside of the box this week and run around town with my hands flying in the air, screaming at the world as if I were some kind of possessed madman. Surely, that would have gotten me more attention. Or I could have taken my pizza to the local Wal-Mart, slammed it on the ground, and stomped on it while screaming profanities. But I didn’t have to go that far to disrupt things just a bit.

Don’t believe that it can be that simple?

What about when Amazon started offering free shipping on orders of $25 or more? What about companies like Build-A-Bear that allow you to customize and watch the construction of your dream teddy bear, allowing you to take an active part in the process, rather than simply buying a teddy bear off the shelf? What about Papa Murphy’s, a place that sells only take ‘n’ bake pizzas? When you stop to think about it, these ideas aren’t that out there.

Sure, we can talk about Wal-Mart, a company that’s on a quest to dominate the retail world and a company who seeks to do so by dictating everything. But our companies don’t have to be another Wal-Mart. It can be something different. We can achieve great things by making simple changes.

Sometimes the most difficult feat is seeing how big of an impact little things can have. Believe in the big potential of little ideas. The evidence is all around you.

By the way, Christmas is just around the corner. If you’re looking for a great gift for that aspiring entrepreneur in your life, I recommend this awesome book that shows the power of small ideas: