The other day I tried on a pair of pants I had bought three weeks earlier. But these weren’t the same pants. The thigh area of the pant legs were so tight they would not have made it out of the store and onto my bill without trying on another pair. And now that I think back I had tried those pants on and they did fit comfortably enough to toss into my bag. So what happened?

Last week I was sub contracted to provide air quality testing services for a commercial environmental safety company. The task required me to collect air samples then walk down and up flights of stairs as high as 140 ft. several times a day in a respirator mask dodging temperatures of 100 – 150 degrees to our mobile laboratory. Granted this type of work isn’t something you can just jump into without being in moderately good health.

Had you saw the physical condition I was in at the close of 2009 you would understand that there’s no way to have fooled myself into thinking I’d be able to take advantage of such a well paying opportunity. I was unemployed, emotionally drained, spiritually crushed, and grossly out of shape compared to my norm. That’s when I started a daily two-mile walk regiment that included climbing eight flights of steps where I live instead of taking the elevator. I knew that when the chance came for me to get back into the game of life I’d better be ready.

Not only was I ready to collect from a well paying job with all of its physical demands, but I also have fabulous quads, calves, and abs for that beachfront vacation next month. You gotta love this life or you’ll hate the journey.

Stay focused. Stay confident and believe your preparation will pass emissions test.

LiLTweeks (Lessons I Learned This Week) is a weekly observation of some problems I’ve encountered and possible actions for resolve. If you have been inspired from this article please leave a comment and consider subscribing to the RSS (top right column) to have future post delivered to your feed reader [look for Weekend Post].

One of the most valuable tips for engaging your student’s parent(s) before conference is to establish a non-biased relationship and well-prepared conference prior to meeting them on cookie and juice night. I set a goal each semester to contact each parent or guardian with positive reports at least twice before dropping the F bomb let alone before meeting them in person.

You will do everyone a big service by researching the family and community [if unfamiliar] prior to what I call the interview. There’s nothing worst than getting a name wrong or assuming we all share the same cultural beliefs. So do your homework, do your homework, do your homework.

One thing I learned early on was to maintain high expectations for my students and their parents. Regardless to how things appear and develop, staying focused on high expectations trumps all other methods of taking point on the war against apathy.

For your convenience I have listed a few post to help with successful parent teacher conferences:

• 7 Steps to Becoming an Effective Teacher

• Why is it so difficult to contact my student’s parents?

• Five Simple Steps to Making That Call Home to Parents

• Create a floor plan that flows from your classroom door.

• Actions to take for having your best year teaching in 2010

Stay focused. Stay confident and you’ll blow wind in your sails!

Your Best Year Teaching: If you have been inspired from this article please consider leaving a comment and subscribing to the RSS feed (top right column) to have future post delivered to your feed reader. Please send your friends to http://laroncarter.com to connect with me or @laroncarter on Twitter.

Time for recovery

Last month I traveled four hours by car to visit my mother after a long winter hibernation. After making the rounds visiting family and friends I was ready to pick back up the exercise routine started weeks earlier. I set out to explore a few miles of her suburban neighborhood. Within minutes I noticed bicyclist and joggers crossing the street and heading down a path, I came to find out was named the Monon Rail Trail. This course of exercise routes stretches from the north end of the city over more than ten miles between backyard residential communities to downtown Indianapolis.

A culture of pleasantries

For an entire week I walked 2 – 4 miles every morning amongst the other peaceful exercisers on the rail. The Monon has its own culture and rules of courtesy. There’s the smile and head nod as you approach a passerby. Dogs have manners and walk on a short leash. Then there’s the friendly, “On your left,” bicyclist use to warn pedestrians they’re about to whisk by. The asphalt trail is maintenanced daily by the city, but its natural beauty of trees and bushes are left to appear uninhabited. The perfect conditions for mental and physical rehabilitation I desperately needed.

Fitting into others space

New lessons in life are more rare as I get older, but those repeat lessons are reinforced daily as in that first Sunday’s late afternoon walk. It just wasn’t the same. There were literally ten times as many users bustling the rail. Hardly anyone used the rules I had come accustomed to. And the friendly smiles and eye contact from earlier in the week were nowhere to be found. This was clearly a different breed of which I didn’t fit in. Or was it that they didn’t fit.

iShape the world I live in

The experience made me think about how others affect my world. Yeah, I wondered why that bicyclist with more than 100 meters of space between the two of us and the person ahead felt it was a good time to spit in my direction after passing by. And I must admit it was a challenge to keep smiling when others didn’t smile back. I was tempted to give up and close into my own little space like everyone else. After all there was plenty of stuff going on in my head that I was using the Monon Rail to get away from. When the world doesn’t acknowledge my role as equal I realized that as an individual I still contribute to shaping the world as it tries to shape me.

I’m reminded of an adage my mother mailed over seas to me more than 30 years ago, “Use your head to get along. To get along use your head.” Words to live by. Thank you mother.

Stay focused. Stay confident and believe you shape our world.

LiLTweeks (Lessons I Learned This Week) is a weekly observation of some problems I’ve encountered and possible actions for resolve. If you have been inspired from this article please leave a comment and consider subscribing to the RSS (top right column) to have future post delivered to your feed reader [look for Weekend Post].

Popularity listings worth modeling

Most of us have seen the Twitter users with 1,856,000 followers tweeting random mental gushes of what’s happening in their world of fame and fortune. Now and then there are famous people I’ve managed to sneak in a confirmed Facebook friend request before they reached 5K and move to the overflowing Like Page, if that’s even possible post Oprah’s social media jump. But few of them connect back with us like Paulo Coehlo or Mari Smith. Then there are my above average Facebook friends (Ty Adams) that earn special celebrity status within our community because they post great content that gets many more comments and likes than most of us do.

Stop it right now

Have you noticed people creating problems for themselves trying to win social media popularity contest in an effort to get the most comment replies? I’ve been guilty of posting favorite quotes to the point of plain intellectual laziness myself. I suppose it’s a learning process. Every now and then one of my friends will rant about witnessing spiritual campaigns people launch to convince the world of fake “I’m living holy” status updates backed by bible scriptures to get attention. Word to the wise, “If that’s you stop it?”

Just be a friend

I know a few of my friends will wonder if I’m talking about them so let me set the record straight right now. None of my friends behave that way. That is you don’t behave that way without me eventually telling you about yourself. I expect to be treated the same and have been in the past. That’s what friends do. Friends don’t let friends faux tweet or falsify status updates. From one friend to another, being a friend is about doing something good for others like showing them you care. That’s all. Just list your friends and follow them to the point of ensuring their confidence in you being there. Making friends smile when they need it most guarantees social media success to the point of following you back and maybe even buying your stuff.

Stay focused. Stay confident, keep posting valuable content, and you will be followed.

LiLTweeks (Lessons I Learned This Week) is a weekly observation of some problems I’ve encountered and possible actions for resolve. If you have been inspired from this article please leave a comment and consider subscribing to the RSS (top right column) to have future post delivered to your feed reader [look for Weekend Post].

Social Media: PLN 7.5

Good friends know how to grow that covenant personal relationship sharing affections that eventually transcends boundaries that guard our core feelings. Yet many of us forget these basic truths when connecting with people we call our friends.

That’s where Facebook Lists come in. By creating lists those you follow are placed under a microscope for smoothly merging onto the many social media highways out there. That way your paths are more likely to cross outside of your personal space. It’s an effective way for getting yourself onto Facebook radar patterns. Not so much for being seen as it is for discovering the minds of those added as friends so that you can comment on their status updates, notes, and “Like” their pictures and links.

If you ever wondered why you never saw so and so’s status updates in the Most Recent and Top News feeds of your home page it’s because you didn’t know where to look.

Creating and closely following lists helps to discover content you need for showing friends how much you care.

You become valuably important by establishing trust and being found credible over time, two of the most valuable qualities we can contribute to the community teaches Facebook friend Michael Port, national best selling author of Beyond Booked Solid, Think Big Manifesto, and The Contrarian Effect.

Facebook and Twitter friend Tiffany Michelle Alexander says, “I have several lists. Family and close friends, book lovers, film lovers, hometown folks, -easier for me to keep track of people and things that way.” So how do we create these lists?

1) You can take care of placing people that you’ve requested into lists before they accept you as a friend by clicking the Add to List drag down bar. The same can be done for those trying to be added as a friend to your Facebook.

2) I always recommend adding a comment.

3) If you didn’t catch them before now, it’s Ok. Go to your Edit Friends option (top right Home > Profile > Account link) and place them into a list or create a new one.

4) Finding your list can be a little tricky, but I’ll walk you through being able to follow your friends more closely. From your Home page click Friends in the left column of the page. Go down a little click More. That’s it, just find the list you’ve created and click again to find all those lost updates.

Stay focused. Stay confident and accountable for making friends smile like Chris Gloss champions. I guarantee they’ll start replying more often to your stuff.

Your Best Year Teaching: If you have been inspired from this article please consider leaving a comment and subscribing to the RSS feed (top right column) to have future post delivered to your feed reader. Please send your friends to http://laroncarter.com to connect with me or @laroncarter on Twitter.

Social Media: PLN 7.4

I don’t know what it is about getting caught up on organizing my Twitter List. Maybe I feel a rant coming on because the WiFi I’m on in the public library is so slow right now. But honestly, the issue of staying current with my list may cause me to hire one of my young cousins to work it out, because the benefits far out way the challenge.

Out source on a small budget

The way I look at it is that I’m going to spend valuable time learning how Twitter works, sharing newly discovered content, and creating personal leaning networks I should at least use my time wisely by following the lists feature. Otherwise the challenge of following those with shared interest become closer to resembling a needle in a haystack everyday my small account grows bigger.

Here’s why lists are so valuable:

Brings valuable content to the top
If you’re smart the reason for following people is to connect and learn. Lists allow you to place users into categories of like interest that brings those feeds to the top of all the other noise.

Sends a message I care about your news
You’ll rarely see the news feeds of those you care about if you’re not on line when they are posting their content. By clicking on the lists you’ve created of them you will be able to comment replies more often sending a message that you are genuinely following their stuff.

Subscribed to lists feature builds network
Once you subscribe to someone’s list your learning network is exponentially increased and your feeds become more visible as well. Who wouldn’t like more followers for a daily ego rush?

Makes me more Twitter Savvy
I love my social media, but my time is valuable when I’m online. Creating category lists and maintaining it (ouch) is just plain smart use of your time.

Ok. Ok already. I’m committed to naming June, Social Media List Update Month. Being a smart follower is far too important not to.

Stay focused. Stay confident and stay on top of your list for Twitter savvy consciousness.

Your Best Year Teaching: If you have been inspired from this article please consider leaving a comment and subscribing to the RSS feed (top right column) to have future post delivered to your feed reader. Please send your friends to http://laroncarter.com to connect with me or @laroncarter on Twitter.

Surreal Opportunities

Back in February of 2010, Tavis Smiley interviewed talented actor and comedian Tracy Morgan to promote his new movie. The energy coming off of Tracy was electrifying. From the moment the interview started he was talking about the surrealness of coming up with nothing other than a dream and now being able to walk down the street seeing billboards of him and Bruce Willis in, “Cop Out.”

Three minutes into the conversation Tavis asked, Like Richard Pryor owning his style of comedy, “Have you gotten to a point in your career yet where you think you own anything yet? Where you can say this is Tracy Morgan’s, this is my thing?”

Full Responsibility Disclosure

That’s when Tracy dropped the bombshell that nearly diffused the interview. And would have had Tracy not kept talking after, “Yeah. My mistakes. The mistakes I’ve made in my life are mine. I own them. That’s all I own in this world.”

I tell you, hearing those words makes everything I thought about accusing someone else for, [unattractive]. Over the last six years I’ve taken my fair share of finger pointing and problem blaming way too far. Just bitter about things that I have no one else to blame other than me.

I’m to blame for not having my own lawyers and inspectors present when making those real estate deals. I’m to blame for not monitoring my professional development credit hours for meeting my end of the state board of education contract. There is no one else to blame other than me for allowing my trust in people to go uninspected. People sometimes have a corrupted agenda, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t fight back when they’re exposed, instead of hiding behind the guise of, “What would Jesus do?”

Learn From Everything Around You

Morgan said, “When I was young my father taught me how to learn.” Somewhere on that very same journey we forget what we’ve already learned, because we let our guard down, or either we just quit learning all together. For me, I passed on the blame as a substitute for not getting wise counsel and allowing the mind chatter to drown out the voice of God in me.

Well Tracy, I was listening when you said, “The key to longevity is to approach everything you do like it’s the last time you’re going to do it.” From now on I’ll be alert, paying attention to life as it pertains to the many lessons I’ve learned along the way. And you better believe from now on, “I own my mistakes, they’re all mine. No more Christian nice guy, beginning with myself.”

Stay focused. Stay confident and appreciate the art of learning.

LiLTweeks (Lessons I Learned This Week) is a weekly observation of some problems I’ve encountered and possible actions for resolve. If you have been inspired from this article please leave a comment and consider subscribing to the RSS (top right column) to have future post delivered to your feed reader [look for Weekend Post].

Teach you child to take action.

Kids have a huge advantage over adults for many reasons. They “should” have more energy, not be prone to life failures that have suffocated our resiliency, and they just do things without thinking through what might go wrong.

OK, that last one can keep us from making some rather big mistakes. But it can also hinder a business owner from taking needed action to get out ahead of the competition or start something that can cause a revolution before someone else thinks it into action first.

In my eBook, A Guide to Your Best Year Teaching, I cover a section on Action Based Goals (SCR V2.6) that uniquely looks at how the teacher can be a change agent in their community by using social media clients that are designed to make taking action an event without excuse.

Teaching your kid CEO to take action is probably the least expensive deterrent for them developing procrastinating behaviors.

Children learn on individual learning curves, but one thing we know for sure is that procrastination is developed out of fear and the best way to teach them differently is to teach taking fearless action without delay.

Stay focused, stay confident, and teach yours to take action.

Kids Mind Your Own Business is loaded with tips of how parents can assist their children in growing their character and business with new school strategies and old school values. If you have been inspired from this article please leave a comment and consider subscribing to the RSS (top right column) to have future post delivered to your feed reader [look for Weekend Post].

Social Media: PLN 7.3

Twitter operates on a community model. Think about it. Don’t you use social media around your availability and the stuff that happens throughout the day? Scheduling tweets allows me to make sure others see my content on their schedule rather than when it’s convenient for me to post information live. Scheduling creates flexibility to schedule the same or similar tweets more than once for increased visibility. Here are a few ideas for how to best use scheduled tweets:

Reason 1: Eliminate forgetting to tweet. If you you’re into #followfriday, #teachertuesday, or some other hash tag, schedule them when you think of it throughout the week. You’ll eliminate forgetting about it or missing the opportunity because something came up after you ran out in a hurry to do your Friday banking.

Reason 2: Tweet on “their” schedule. Have you logged on and realized that others mentioned you in tweets several hours earlier? Schedule your reply around the time of day they tweeted you. Of course you want to have real time conversations whenever possible. So, check their profile to see if they are tweeting live at the moment, if not online, schedule your reply comment. It’s not an exact science, but it works.

(Keep in mind others may also schedule their tweets or they’ve stepped away if they don’t respond within minutes of your reply.)

Reason 3: Free up time for live chatting. If joining Twitter hash tag conversations is your thing, the amount of incoming tweets can upload the search grid so fast that just following the thread takes up all your energy. A remedy is to schedule well thought out comments [including hash tags] so that you can focus on a few tweets while the continuity of your update thread remains fluid in the discussion.

Reason 4: Make yourself visible in other time zone rush hours. Twitter users from the opposite end of the country or on the other side of the world may never see your live tweets if they only watch their home feeds to follow what you’re saying on Twitter. This is a good time to schedule content links, Re-Tweets, and Replies.

Reason 5: Spread out your non-reply links. The majority of my tweets were links to great blogs, web stories, and websites when I started K12Live: Teachers using Twitter. That kind of tweeting gives your profile the appearance you aren’t socializing with other people. And although you maybe producing fantastic content people like to connect with people for social reasons. Think of it as personal learning networks that interact on a human level. Although you maybe tweeting fantastic content – produce a profile image that actually looks like you’re having real conversations.

Stay focused. Stay confident and schedule in success.

Your Best Year Teaching: If you have been inspired from this article please consider leaving a comment and subscribing to the RSS feed (top right column) to have future post delivered to your feed reader. Please send your friends to http://laroncarter.com to connect with me or @laroncarter on Twitter.

The lesson I learned this week [LiLTweeks] brings humility in knowing that God is no respecter of man, it is that man’s faith that moves mountains.

Rejoice. Rejoice.

Just a quick message of what it means to know that if you don’t give up and expect that all things are possible to him that believes, you will win.

Being a businessman for more than half of my life makes it both extremely important to have grace in my conduct and to respect that which is owed for products and service. Somewhere on the road I began holding myself extremely accountable for meeting my part of the bargain in transactions. However, from time to time we all need help getting out of the mess we create for ourselves. Say, Amen.

That’s where this story begins. I was not able to pay for services from a vendor that resulted in costing me more for being late on payment in full than from the original bill. I think you get the idea. So, I went to the service provider and let him know that I was financially challenged at the moment and wanted him to know I would make good on the deal, it was just going to take a little longer than expected.

You should know the first time I met with the vendor months earlier he reduced my rather large bill by 25% for no other reason I can imagine than having received favor from him. That’s grace. Now here I am again seeking a solution in faith for settling my debt with dignity and once again that same vendor reduced my balance due by more than 60%. That’s knocking a mountain down to the size of a hill.

I never requested a payment reduction. I continued to stand in faith. I was confident in the results being what I believed instead of what it looked like. What I learned again is that God is no respecter of man. He is a respecter of faith and integrity. That’s perfecting. In the words of My Total Money Makeover author, Dave Ramsey, “I’m doing better than I deserve.”

Stay focused. Stay confident and replace your fears with faith.

LiLTweeks (Lessons I Learned This Week) is a weekly observation of some problems I’ve encountered and possible actions for resolve. If you have been inspired from this article please leave a comment and consider subscribing to the RSS (top right column) to have future post delivered to your feed reader [look for Weekend Post].

The Internet brings valuable information and worldwide presence to our doorstep. With the development of web 2.0 an era of abundance was ushered into our computers filled with free stuff. That is what Twitter friend Alejandro Reyes (@alejandroreyes) calls insane content value. Web tools filled with how to information can bake up tasty social media networking opportunities for you and your kidpreneur with little to no money down.

Get familiar with how networking works.

Although there are literally unlimited web tools available to everyone online, those tools are used differently by web learners. And quite frankly, many social media communities afford members networking potential only limited to the users creativity. Provided members of these communities follow appropriate social media etiquette, the popularly used platforms are buzzing with all sorts of people sharing information, products, and services. I recommend starting slow at first. Join kidpreneur groups on Facebook like Raising CEO Kids and Linkedin’s Ypulse Networking For Youth Media & Marketing Professionals. Then connect and engage the discussions. Review this post for tips on how to enter a social media conversation. Although it’s teacher specific you’ll get the idea.

Seek to develop a network of wise counsel for doing big things.

Once settled in as a member on a site spend time adding friends and following their content in forum discussions before jumping into someone’s conversation. Taking time to introduce your self makes for a smoother transition into the community. Feel free to ask any specific questions you may have about using social media for effective networking.

Stay focused, stay confident, and meet-up with social media.

Kids Mind Your Own Business is loaded with tips of how parents can assist their children in growing their character and business with new school strategies and old school values. If you have been inspired from this article please leave a comment and consider subscribing to the RSS (top right column) to have future post delivered to your feed reader [look for Weekend Post].

Social Media: PLN 7.2

In my blog Social Media: PLN 7.0 and 7.1 I shared a few simple, but valuable tips for jumping into the wave of social media PLN’s (personal learning network). This blog post gets specific with identifying a few subgroups that have been making buzz in the K12 education online community and walking you through a less stressed entrance into their space. Once you have followed the Hootsuite video and read the blog for setting up your account, it’s time to turn up productivity.

Step 1: Create Public or Private Group Twitter List Column

Click the Add Column link off to the right side of the window and create a Twitter List (Conference Speakers, example) or choose one already existing in your account. Once you have done this click Create Column.

Step 2: Search for Usernames to Follow – New or Existing

Type the username right into the search box on the right of window (it’s next to the Add Column slide adjuster).

Step 3: Add People to the Column

Click, drag, and drop the avatar picture you want to follow into the new Twitter List column (Shelly Terrell @ShellTerrell, example). Creating a list column of 10 – 20 people to follow closely will take the hard work out of following. And you can repeat up to 10 new columns per tab.

Step 4: Create Hash Tag Searches of Topics or Terms

Start a search column of the hash tags and topics you’re interested in the same way you created the Twitter List by clicking the Add Column link and typing in whatever you want (Teacher Appreciation Day, example).

Step 5: Follow Someone New While Doing All That Creating

Click on some of those Tweets (Ricki James @RickiSiouxan, example) and Follow a new friend, Reply, Re-Tweet, or Add to List you’ve just created. It’ll be cool growing your PLN.

Stay focused. Stay confident and master those search skills.

Your Best Year Teaching: If you have been inspired from this article please consider leaving a comment and subscribing to the RSS feed (top right column) to have future post delivered to your feed reader. Please send your friends to http://laroncarter.com to connect with me or @laroncarter on Twitter.

Social Media: PLN 7.2

In the previous blog (PLN 7.1) I shared some simple, but valuable tips for jumping into the wave of social media PLN’s. This blog post gets specific with identifying a few subgroups that have been making buzz in the K12 education online community and walking you through a less stressed entrance into their universe.

Step 1: Discover who’s who in the community
• Do a little checking around on those you are following. The first thing I do when doing an online background check begins with scrolling through 3 – 6 pages of their Twitter status updates to get a feel of how they’re using Twitter.

• Then I do a search for their username to find out more about whom they’re actually engaging in conversations.

• The next thing I do is follow their web linked to Twitter. If that proves uninteresting I may do a Google Search on their name matching the location and avatar found on Twitter to better match who’s who.

• If they are a blogger I usually enter the URL into my Google Reader to receive RSS feeds each time there is a new post.

Step 2: Closely follow those that have shared interest and personalities
As mentioned earlier following should actually mean following those you add to your PLN. Create client list and groups of those you’re most interested in following closely. And take time on the weekend to read their Twitter and blog post. There is no better way to connect with someone than to make comments on their blog. It is extremely exciting for a blogger to know that others appreciate their articles.

Step 3: Know which client and communities works best for you
Because there are literally thousands of applications known as clients used for social media communications I’ll narrow it down to a few for now and turn this post into a living document by posting updates when needed.

Tweetdeck: A highly favored free social media application offering a downloadable stand-alone program to install onto your computer. Tweetdeck is used by serious Twitter users for status updates for Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Ping, and other online social media communities from one window with flexibility of creating customized columns of search information, Tweet scheduling, status and a lot more.

Hootsuite: A fast growing social media client of choice because it offers everything Tweetdeck has, but there is no need to download a separate application. Hootsuite is a Twitter client service meaning all you need is a username and password and you can log onto any internet connected computer or smart phone and it’s on. Hootsuite is getting a lot of noise for being the outstanding Twitter client for Apple’s iPhone users.

Tweetgrid: Seems to be used in addition to Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, and regular web users because of a much quicker real time status update feed. Users claim it feels more authentic offering a pause button so you can catch your breath between Tweets.

Elluninate: This client is a downloaded application created by social learning consultant Steve Hargadon that offers cutting edge PLN flexibility for educators, support staff, and students in both public and private communities.

Ning: A pioneering social media community platform that was quickly embraced by educators in the earlier days PLN boom before it acquired the name.

Edutopia: Created by the George Lucas Foundation offers K-12 community platform for educators, magazine, blog, reports, and videos. Great for joining groups like New Teacher Connections.

Step 4: Stage a few general topic comments
Setting aside time to stage a few prepared comments and scheduling them in advance to be posted during your PLN online event allows you to do some pre-background investigating, have multiple feeds in the conversation, and remain focused on the status updates that interest you the most all at once.

Step 5: Check for comment mentions about you frequently
Once you are engaged into the conversation like #edchat (Tue. 12pm/7pm EDT) or #nchat (Wed. 4pm PDT/7pm EDT) it’s not hard to forget that people in your PLN are commenting to your status updates without seeing them in the live feed because it maybe zipping by at the speed of light. Take your time, do your homework, and you’ll do fine.

Stay focused. Stay confident and come on in.

Your Best Year Teaching: If you have been inspired from this article please consider leaving a comment and subscribing to the RSS feed (top right column) to have future post delivered to your feed reader. Please send your friends to http://laroncarter.com to connect with me or @laroncarter on Twitter.

The lesson I learned this week [LiLTweeks] came about after realizing my Facebook account’s privacy setting preference for personal information and posts was custom set to [be seen by] “Only Me” for over three months. The setting change happened shortly after Facebook made those privacy control changes for user posts on its platform. I continuously posted links to great online content, funny quotes, inspirational messages, and labor intense notes the whole time. Week after week numerous news updates without one comment response.

Technical difficulties are correctable.

You’ve heard of the term technical difficulties right? There are quite a few book titles on the subject. Facebook friend and The Bond Institute’s Audacity Expert and life coach Tonoa Bond (@tonoabond) even offers her thoughts on the idea in a free eBook. But what I discovered is that my Facebook technical difficulties were an extension of a much bigger life issue.

Do you know someone like this?

From lacking clearly defined goals, to depression, to self-sabotage, there are many reasons for not living your dreams. But this LiLTweek is focused on the “Only Me” button. Perhaps you know someone that feels like no matter how hard they try they just aren’t able to produce positive results. Maybe they feel like nobody out there cares about them or what they have to say. Have you ever felt alone in a room full of people?

Don’t worry about everyone else.

Facebook friend and @websuccessdiva Maria Reyes McDavis and I were discussing her inspirational Proverbs 31 Project (scheduled to launch June 1, 2010). And she mentioned, “I just speak out what I need to hear myself sometimes. . .” Reminds me of a pastor preaching, “Don’t worry about whose not here in church hearing this message. The lesson is for you and me to learn, right here, right now.”

Breathe. Relax. Re-focus on the solution.

Investigating my Facebook problem revealed a solution. And I repeatedly changed the preference every few weeks or so. Mysteriously the preference changed back like a default to “Only Me.” I’m not sure what that was all about, but the bigger lesson learned is that if the only me button is activated in your life there won’t be any connections, comments, or relations, let alone friends. Socially speaking if you feel me.

LiLTweeks (Lessons I Learned This Week) is a weekly observation of some problems I’ve encountered and possible actions for resolve. If you have been inspired from this article please leave a comment and consider subscribing to the RSS (top right column) to have future post delivered to your feed reader [look for Weekend Post].