I predict “nimble” is going to be the business buzzword of 2012. Just saying!

Image via CrunchBase

I use the Zemanta plug in on this blog. Zemanta makes blogging easier. As you type, Zemanta offers relevant photo’s you can add to the post, it provides link recommendations automatically based on what you type and it offers “related articles” you can add the bottom of your post. Zemanta makes blogging easier.

I had always wondered how Zemanta determined what posts to suggest and more importantly how to get this blog’s posts in their recommendation stream. I’ve yet to figure out how Zemanta works but as of a few weeks ago, this blog is now appearing in the recommendation stream.

I don’t know how it happened but It’s pretty cool.

I don’t know if any of my posts have been added to someone else’s blog as a “related article” but it’s pretty slick knowing they can be.

I’m in Zemanta’s related articles list. I guess that means I’ve arrived.

Related articles

• Zemanta: Your Blogging Assistant (viglink.com)
• Using Zemanta with Blogger (peterbijkerk.blogspot.com)
• Get Related Content for Your Blog with the Zemanta Gadget (buzz.blogger.com)

But, before you jump into the new year and abandon the old, take a look back. Look back and ask; did you achieve your goals? Did you accomplish what you set out to accomplish? Were you the person you wanted to be? What did you learn? How did you grow? What don’t you want to keep doing in 2012? Look back, take an account of the year then look forward.

When we combine our look back with our look forward the view is that much better.

Look back first.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all the through the house not a user was stirring, not even their mouse

Posts were posted on their blogs with care, in hopes Chris Brogan or Robert Scoble would soon be there

Tweeters were tweeting from the comfort of their beds,

In hopes their tweets would put them ahead

My numbers are down, as I stare my Google stats

I need to put my computer down and try to relax

When out in Twitter land there rose such a clatter,

I ran to my computer to see what was the matter

Off to twitter search I flew with a flash

Tore open my laptop in hopes it wouldn’t crash

I saw the cheesy avatars and wondered what they were for

With this Social Media thing, there has to be more

When what to my blurry eyes should appear

But a YouTube video, I turned it up in order to hear

It started to bore, so I moved on with a click

In hopes of find something a little more hip

It gets old watching people pining for fame

As they dance around like fools, where is the shame

Scantly clad women, who think they are vixen

and geeky fools with sites they’re a hackin

To the top of digg, they wish they were all

but to no avail as their efforts for fame, crumble and fall

Social Media can be such a high

Its possibilities are beyond the stars in the sky

It takes lots of effort, it embraces more than a few

It rewards those who are good, it can reward you too

In the results there is proof

Just be authentic and always tell the truth

Look to be careful, cause spammers abound

Alas, what makes the web great, is they will always be found

With tons of information you can’t help but have a look

Even Google is trying to add EVERY SINGLE BOOK!!!

It’s hard to imagine when you take a look back

A world without the internet or a good computer hack

Its limits how few, the time spent how merry

It’s never been easier to learn to make a pie topped with a cherry

It expands our horizons and helps us to grow

Yet, there is still much to happen, still more to know

We share information in hopes it will teach

How social media has expanded our reach

We connect from LA to New Dehli

To many the Internet has now replaced their Telly

For some it’s become all about self

To others it’s been fun and a great a boost to their health

As the New Year comes, let’s look ahead

In the Internet and Social Media there is nothing to dread

They are a great place to play and a great place to work

Even if on occasion you will find a creepy jerk

They will continue to rise, they will continue to grow

How far they expand nobody knows

What ever your thoughts, they are not worth dismissal

Cause, at least online, the creep can’t blow you a whistle

So on this day as you work on your site

Wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a wonderful night

I was struggling with a post topic today. I was looking at past posts looking for inspiration when I noticed my posts total. It’s 801. It was kind of shocking to see that number.  When I started blogging in February of 2009, I didn’t set out to post 801, or 1,000 at that matter.  I took it day by day.

It’s been an amazing journey. I have developed an entirely new group of friends and acquaintances. A fun and engaging community is sprung up around this blog and I’ve learned a lot.

I can see 1,000 posts is just around the corner. I don’t know how long I will post. I don’t know what the final number will be.  I do know that it’s not a 1,000. However, I will mark that day here. It seems like it might feel like a special day.

From 801, to 1,000 and then to ????, I’m going to take the approach I took when I started. I’m going to take it one day at at time.

Laura recently finished this painting and I love it.

I worked with Laura at Avaya.  Believe it or not she spends her days with her head buried in spreadsheets. I don’t know how someone so creative can be so successful using the other side of her brain.

Laura sent Big E and I gorgeous painting for the birth of our 3rd daughter, Ava.  It’s a creative play on a pea pod and pregnancy.  I love it.

Laura’s art is clean, creative, sharp, and detailed. Her work has layers. Each layer brings you deeper into the painting. It’s great stuff to look at.

Go check her out. I think you’ll like.

Ever get the feeling sales doesn’t get the credit it deserves?

Really?

What would you do if you knew failing meant you would die. What would you do different? How many more hours would you put in? How much more creative would you be? How much harder would you push? How much sleep would you get? How much time would you spend on other, unrelated things? How much help would you ask for? If you knew you were going to die, would things look different?

When we are desperate and the consequence for failure is dire, trying is no longer OK. When this happens, we stop allow trying to be an acceptable outcome.

The next time you say you tried and failed ask yourself, would you have done anything different if your life were on the line? Then you’ll know if you REALLY tried.

Treat it like life or death, then their will be no question.

Because of this, I was pumped to see Lindsey Vonn was scheduled to make an appearance at Vail this weekend.  Lindsey is a great role model for my girls, not because she is pretty or because she has this squeaky clean image, but because she excels as a women.  She is great at something that isn’t associated with sex or looks, or clothes, or a man.  She is a stand out athlete at a cool, fast, dangerous, sport and that is good for little girls.

I want my daughters to know they are great not because they have great legs, a nice rack, pretty hair or a nice face, but because they have earned greatness through hard work, through passion and commitment.  I want them to know that they are great for who they are and what they accomplish.  Not because of what they look like.

We don’t produce enough women role models that deliver on those traits. Even more disappointing, we don’t celebrate more women who accomplish great things without their looks.   Too often we celebrate the Kardashian’s, the bimbo’s from Heff’s manion, or Paris Hilton.   If we keep parading these types of women around as role models, our girls are screwed before they’re 18.

Lindsy was great.  She signed my daughter’s helmet.  She thanked the crowd for coming out.  She answered questions for a handful of starry eyed little girls.

My daughter now has Lindsey’s picture hanging on her wall. As a dad it feels good to know Lindsey is on her wall.  We’re headed in the right direction.

Image via CrunchBase

My friend Seth Levine over at Foundry Group is looking to make a push with his blog. Seth is a great writer, with killer ideas.  Beyond his intellect, Seth is a shit-cool guy.  He and I met at an empty trade show booth during Defrag about 2 years ago.   I was squatting in the Gist booth just bullshitting with @lizasperling when he walked up to get his bag.  We’ve been friends ever since.

Seth writes a great blog.  He’s (The Foundry Group) an investor in some cool companies.  The most recent big news was portfolio company Gist’s purchase by RIM.

Like I said, Seth writes a cool a blog.   In a conversation we had this morning, I was encouraging him to blog more. and it got us on the topic of, well, topics.  It’s hard to come up with stuff everyday. He said it was one of his challenges to blogging more  Because I want him writing more stuff, more often, I told him I would ask this community to give him some ideas.   If you want to get into the head of an VC of the same ilk as Fred Wilson, Mark Suster or his partner Brad Feld, then go check him out.  If you need data, he was identified as one of the top 50 VC’s in the country.  Give Seth a little push.  Let him know what you’d like him to blog about.  He’s listening.

If he sucks blame him. If you love him, feel free to come back and thank me.  I’m good like that.

(Seth, it’s up to you now brother. Here is to a post a day. Go get him tiger!)