Big Is The New Small

If you have followed my blog, Facebook or Twitter stream you obviously know that I am one of the biggest Twitter advocates, probably outside of Mr. @ev  himself.  Although Twitter is an amazing tool to: network, develop relationships, find information, share information, promote your business, promote your brand, make the world smaller, minister to people…  It’s not all good!

What I mean by Twitter is not all good is the fact that the tool itself is great; however the element of humans using the tools can create problems.  Twitter can actually ruin your life if you don’t guard yourself and become aware of the fact that if you choose to drive down the Twitter Highway there are some potholes to avoid.   Here are the 7 Deadly Sins Of Twitter… and These 7 Things Can Ruin Your Life! It may be a lengthy list but we are talking about Ruining Your Life!

Share your thoughts on any of the 7 Deadly Sins of Twitter or add some additional to the list.

Often times people are assessing their jobs, roles, callings… by asking themselves the following question over and over: “Should I stay or should I go, should I stay or should I go…?”  Here are 10 Signs It May Be Time To Move On:

1. You get an upset stomach every morning on your way to work.
2. At-least once a week you think the following thoughts “If so and so does (_blank__) again today I’m going to quit.”
3. You’ve asked God for signs that it’s time to move on and he has spoken to you through people, places, circumstances, His Word… you’ve heard its time to move on from God in every way besides hearing his audible voice.
4. You can’t find anyone within a square mile radius of your job that you like, trust or believe in.
5. Your boss has said to you “It may be time for you to move on!”
6. You are 100% certain that you could have a bigger impact, be happier, put your family in a better situation… by moving on and the only thing that’s holding you back is fear.
7. You tell yourself, your spouse and your friends on a regular basis that it’s time to move on and they agree.
8. When an American Idol Contestant is sent home; you begin envision the greener pastures that are on the other side of them be kicked off.  You then draw parallels to yourself being in the Top 10 and imagine how being kicked out of your workplace will be better for you.
9. Every time your boss calls you in his office or on the phone; you immediately start wondering what you did wrong or think they’re going to act like Donald Trump and say “You’re Fired!”
10. You’ve read through the 9 signs above and said to yourself “That’s the confirmation that I needed.”

Life brings us many seasons and we have to be prepared for each and every one of them.  There is always a time to stay and a time to Go.  Many people are absolutely supposed to stay exactly where they are; however there is a percent who should definitely Go. 

Whatever decision you make, don’t merely make it on emotions alone; but rather give yourself and your family opportunity to evaluate legitimate considerations.  Don’t be the miserable person sitting around saying “Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda but never Dida!” Shh, be quiet & listen to God’s Whispers.

Share your stories, perspective & thoughts?  What are other signs that it may be time to move on?

It’s amazing the amount of time, energy, money and resources people spend on trying to be cool.  Let’s face it the phenomenon of wanting to be cool begins in our elementary school days.  That’s when kids start to have the desire to hang with the cool kids, dress like the cool kids, mimic the cool kids and frankly want to be one of the cool kids.

You can see these same scenarios played out all the way through adulthood.  We have all been there done that in some shape form or fashion.  I happen to work for a church that is perceived as being one of the cool kids.  We have been voted The Most Innovative Church in America by our peers for several years in a row and I’m not going to lie, by ministry standards we do some pretty cool stuff.  In my opinion, many of the cool things that we do are birthed out of the realness of who we are and not just being cool for coolness sake.

I’ve seen the old elementary school antics of trying to be like the cool kids continue to be played out as adults.  I see a lot of churches trying to be cool like the cool church, many leaders trying to be like the cool leader, many adults trying to be like the cool person on television… people in general simply trying to be like the cool kids!

NEWS FLASH: Cool Aint Cool Anymore… Real Is The New Cool!

It’s more important and more cool to be Real.  In other words stop trying so hard to be cool; but rather find your own voice and be Real.  When you are Real, you begin to set the standard for what was once considered cool.  Just look around you at the booming businesses, the up and coming ministries, the top pastors that you follow, the winning coaches, the great leaders… I’m willing to bet that the majority of them would be respected more for their Realness and Uniqueness than their Coolness.  Real Is The New Cool!

Embrace the fact that everyone can’t be cool; however everyone can be Real.  Find your identity, find your voice, find your vision, find your style, find the “You” that God created you to be, run after it full speed and Keep It Real.  It’s funny how attractive being Real is… when you are real you begin to define and set new standards for coolness. 

“Hi, My Name is Scott and I Keep It Real!”  Real Is The New Cool!

Do people spend too much time trying to be cool instead of just being real?  Share your thoughts?

Auto Tuning from Casey Donahue on Vimeo.

This is funny… I need one of these!

I’m gonna get straight to the point; I am not trying to sound holier than thou, but I’m gonna keep it real as it relates to Cussing Christians.  I’m not talking about words like sucks, screwed, freakin’… I’m talking about the four letter words and their cussing cousins.  There is no need for me to share them, because we’re all grown folks and all have probably heard or spewed them at some time or another ourselves.  I personally don’t use them, nor do I don’t judge people who do; however I do feel as Christ followers we have a responsibility to encourage people to do better.   Doing better can come in the form of encouraging our Christian brothers and sisters to use better language.   The expectations and standards aren’t the same for my Non-Christian friends.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. James 3:9-12

I have been around too many Cussing Christians and Cussing Pastors; all I have to say is we can and should do better.  Salty springs don’t produce fresh water and salty words don’t produce fresh fruit if you know what I mean. Do you want to be salty water or fresh water?

Share your thoughts on Cussing Christians and Cussing Pastors… Are words like sucks, screwed and freakin’ acceptable?

Leadership is often times as much about what you see and have seen, as it is about what you know.  In other-words there are many book smart leaders, philosophical leaders and paper leaders that Can’t See Leadership.   Here is what I mean by a leader seeing leadership:

• Have seen failure up close and personal and always learn from what they’ve seen.
• See when someone has the gift of leadership and help to develop that natural gift.
• See themselves in the mirror as others see them… good self-awareness and reality testing.
• See through problems and recognize/offer solutions.
• See their boss as another person and not as some untouchable, un-challengeable figure.
• See the other side of the mountain when other’s only see a hill. 
• See [Fill in the blank!]

As a leader you must be willing to see leadership, always learn from what you see, realize there are opportunities to learn all around you, embrace your unique life experiences that contribute to your leadership, see opportunities within the problems, see success… 

You must embrace the fact that you are merely a product of what you’ve seen and how you process what you’ve seen.  Are you wearing the right glasses?  Are you looking through the right set of eyes?  Do you need corrective lenses?  CAN YOU SEE LEADERSHIP?

Have you seen Jesus…  It changes the way you see leadership!

This weekend our message at church was inspired by the movie Coach Carter. Overall it was a great message; however the reciting of an excerpt of Marianne Williamson’s poem “Our Deepest Fear” was truly inspiring. Check out the 39 sec. typography video from the movie Coach Carter as it was recited by Timo Cruz in the movie. Below is the full version of Marianne Williamson’s original poem… let these words inspire you to believe and not fear:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Share your thoughts on these words…

Quick Top 5 list of Twitter Links, Apps & Tools that I have ran across this week.

1. Tweetpo.st-  A smarter way to update Facebook from Twitter.
2. Twitdone- Helps keep you organized and get things done
3. 70 Reasons People Follow You On Twitter-  Survey-style compilation of reasons people follow you. 
4. TwitCam- Livestreaming for Twitter.
5. Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Twitter Users: 7 Habits & Tips.

Share any useful Twitter Apps that you have recently ran across!

Today I celebrate my 36th Birthday which means I’m closer to 40 than not.  I have never been a huge Birthday, Pomp and Pagentry Celebration kinda guy; maybe I will do it big when I turn 40.  When you have children you tend to look at Birthdays Like the Trix Cereal Commercial… “Silly rabbit Birthdays are for kids!”

As adults, often times we will look at a Birthday as just another day.  Birthday’s really are important, not necessarily for the person that is having the Birthday but for those whose life has been impacted by the person having the birthday.  My buddy @iChilly  made a simple but profound statement about The Purose Of A Birthday and I wanted to share it with you.  He stated: “It’s NOT just another day – It’s the day God chose to begin your earthly mission!”  Enough said… Happy Birthday to me!

Share your thoughts this post, @iChilly’s  statement or how you view Birthday’s!

Those of you that follow my blog and Twitter stream know that I’m a huge proponent of twitter.  A Couple of days ago I shared a post entitled “70 Reasons People Follow You On Twitter” and it received alot of views and retweets…  how many is alot; well like my son used to say, “A whole big bunch.”  There were a couple of primary reasons that people follow you, #1 was being interesting and another at the top of the list was authenticity.  I thought I would take a stab at authenticity and give you the opportunity to be authentic as well, by adding to this Confessions Of A Twitterer Post. 

Here We Go:

• I think some Twitter profile pics are weird!
• The Porn people on Twitter really irritate me.
• I have an auto Welcome DM response on my account that reads: #FistBump to ya’ Thanks For Following My Random Tweets/Random Life. FYI-My random blog is http://bigisthenewsmall.com
• I’m encouraged when people send DM’s and @replies  saying my tweets positively impact their life.
• I have met people on Twitter and as a result we have met in real life.
• I think it’s ridiculous and laughable when someone that has 19k less followers than me sends me a DM telling me how to get more followers.  I don’t like silly DM’s.
• I have a search column on Tweetdeck for ScottWilliams.
• Most of my tweets are 120 characters or less to leave room to be re-tweeted.
• I view Twitter as part of my ministry.
• Many people ask me where I come up with my quotes… I wish I had a profound answer; however 9 times out of 10 I make em’ up in a few seconds.
• I set up Twitter accounts over a year ago for my wife @Lakendria  and my two sons ages 6 and 10.  My wife uses hers and the boys don’t… Yet!
• I’ve gotten caught stretching the truth on my exact location… “I’ll tell @LaKendria  I’m almost in the neighborhood and forget that I just tweeted: Just leaving the office.”
• I consider retweets to be one of the biggest forms of a Twitter compliment. 
• I don’t digg the fake This Is God & This Is Jesus Tweeps; however I do know that God is Omnipresent and that includes Twitter!
• I believe the Twitter community is as legitimate as any or maybe even the most legitimate social media community.
• I don’t follow many people that don’t follow me…  Sorry Celebrity Tweeps!
• I pray for people on Twitter.
• Several people have stated that me following them makes them nervous, because I’m a Pastor.
• I might be a Twitteraholic!
• I’m not a robot…  I’ve been asked that question; now you understand what I mean by silly DM!

I could go on and on; however I want you to share your confessions!  I’ll add some more to the comment section or I’m sure I’ll agree with some of yours!