On January 24, 2012 I sat at my computer monitor in my home office. My heart was pounding, I felt the sweat beads forming on my upper lip, and my clammy hands were visibly trembling.
I leaned forward at my desk, quickly scanned the page, and ...slowly ... clicked ... the mouse. APPROVE. Silence. No fireworks, no swelling music. Just silence. With one click, I had just fulfilled a dream. I'd just self published a book.
Days later my little book would inexplicably become listed at #1 in Amazon's Hot New Releases. Euphoria. I'd done it. Months before I decided to write my book after having lectured at Marist College. I was there to lecture to the students about how, if they leveraged social media properly - they could use it to help them gain employment. I was there to inspire them, but they were the ones who inspired me! I worked on the book for a few months based on this lecture. I completed 14 chapters, and then I scrapped it. I wasn't following my heart. What was truly in my heart, and what would eventually become my now published book is more of a manifesto really.
I joke and say that you'll understand the zeitgeist of my book if you imagine what would have happened if the character Jerry McGuire knew he could self publish - and decided to do so with his famous "Mission Statement."
I'm not a writer by trade. But I believe what I wrote about so fully that the book poured out of me. It's certainly from the heart, and I hope you feel that when you read it.
All of this. This thing we call social media - is a spiritual awakening, not a technological one.
Of course all of these interactions are supported by technology - but non of it would happen in the manner in which it all unfolds if it weren't for us. We're connecting with each other on a deeper level via technology.
Right now, you're sitting at your desk. We've never met, and yet I'm able to write this content - hit the publish button and have my thoughts appear on your screen. No printing press needed. Immediately I'm now sharing these thoughts. You're hearing them in your mind, and you're adding your own take on my manifesto. There's no way around it. It's spiritual.
Those of us who have the ability to truly, wholeheartedly and profoundly engage in this social media animal are those that understand that all of the content we put out there MUST come from a pure place - reference Gary Vaynerchuk, or Chris Brogan. Truth permeates everything these two put out in the social ecosystem.
Social media is the first step of our humanity connecting in profound ways via our collective unconscious. I'll end this post here, and allow it to stew in your brain for a little while. This is the first of many posts I hope to add to help add some more color around my manifesto. I hope you'll embrace it. I know it to be true, and I hope that you'll add your stories, comments, or questions on this post. I believe that I'm starting a very important conversation that we should all delve into.