“Fame and fortune bring out your true character, good or bad.” – Anonymous

Authenticity, Transparency, Integrity

When the history of social media is written, the triad of words used to reference it may well be these.

In the deeply interconnected virtual Universe we all are a part of, it is becoming increasingly difficult to run and hide. Just about everything we say, do, or even think, is now ‘public domain’ in a disconcerting and scary way.

Welcome to “Life in the fishbowl”

Everyone (at least it seems that way) is watching you. Whatever you do, say or claim is subject to the closest scrutiny and debate. Your smallest move is now visible to hundreds, if not thousands or even millions around the world.

The brand called YOU

Your brand may start out as what you say or project about yourself and your business. But it ends up being what THEY say – ‘they’ being a global audience that’s scattered, and yet intimately connected via social media networks.

Integration is the key

You no longer have a choice. You need to weave this new reality into your view of the world – and adapt whatever you’re doing to leverage off its power. And that boils down to what you let social media become to you.

Mirror – Or Magnifying Glass?

At the simplest level, you can simply be “You” on social media. Let it reflect the diverse unique components that go to make up the incomparable wonder that stares back at you every time you look in a mirror.

Or you can go deeper, and tap into some of the more powerful facets of social media – like human networks, niche interests, sharing tools, and more – to amplify a few of them.

• Make them exciting and fascinating, or horrifying and repulsive.

• Gain mindshare and attention by honing down your focus like a laser beam.
• Build tribes that engage with and follow you – because they like what you share.

Social media can be a mirror – or a magnifying glass. It depends on what you want to do with it.

What DO you?

Had he paid to have “The Social Network“ produced and marketed, Mark Zuckerberg could consider it a wise and fruitful investment.

In two hours, it altered my perception of a driven and greedy capitalist who stole a great idea while stiffing his best friend en route to billionaredom, and turned it into one of a smart, savvy businessman who trusted his instincts and leveraged his judgment about the inadequacy of his partners as hopeless dreamers, to create a behemoth social network… that has since touched and revolutionized the lives of hundreds of millions of people – in less than a decade!

And if that were all that the movie did, it would still be worth shooting. Except that it does a lot more.

So much more, that I consider “The Social Network” among one of the more enjoyable films I’ve watched this year.

Some favorite scenes.

FaceMash has just been coded, and the first few emails go out to friends. The hero’s dorm mates ask, “How many people are you going to tell?” and he replies:

“The really important question is: How many people will they tell?“

That’s how Facebook grew, if you come to think about it. Friends telling friends, who in turn told their friends!

Another one.

They’re seated at a table, with lawyers of both sides trading barbs. The twins burst out, “You stole our idea!”

Deadpan, Jesse Eisenberg who plays the uber-rich plaintiff quips:

“If Facebook was your idea, you’d have built Facebook.”

The final scene is poignant, too. It has the battle-weary CEO endlessly refreshing his Facebook page, seeking confirmation of a ‘friend’ request he sends his ex-girlfriend.

And in that subtle way, the director makes another point… no matter how much money you have, in the end we all crave recognition and affection from THAT special person. Without it, the rest doesn’t seem to matter all that much.

There were portions of the movie that were special to me in a more personal sense.

Watching the role of the maniacally focused young Zuckerberg brought back to mind my own youth – as a teenager, preparing for my pre-medical exams. Where the nerd in the movie stays glued to his computer screen, churning out thousands of lines of code, I would have my nose stuck in my textbooks for as long as 16 hours in a day as I fought to beat out the ‘competition’ for 1,000 medical school seats.

The difference lies only in WHAT we focus on as youngsters. The similarity is in the raw ambition, fierce determination and vast dreams we had about our future.

Surely that part will resonate with you, and everyone who watches the movie.

And finally, “The Social Network” got me to dream again.

Big dreams. Bold dreams. Daring dreams.

Because the undertone throughout is this…

ANYTHING is possible.

Yes, Twitter is a waste.

But only if you consider one hour on it a waste… even if it results in 300 primary school kids getting important teaching aids.

Let me explain how I ‘wasted’ an hour this morning on Twitter. But first, here’s the…

Back Story

It started a few weeks back… with a connection on Twitter.

I read a guest blog post by Veena Verma on the Pratham Books site.

It led (thanks to Maya) to an interesting phone conversation with Veena, who lives and works in Mumbai. Her project of working with primary school students with very limited access to educational aids, and her obvious passion for what she does, got me very enthusiastic about helping in whatever way I could.

As Veena was changing over to a new school within the project, she wasn’t sure about what form this support might take – until yesterday, when she wrote to me.

“I am teaching grade 3 but most of my children are at pre-KG (kindergarden) or KG level. I’m starting with the alphabet and phonic sounds. This is a much bigger challenge than the last time around.”

There are 2 things that are ‘top priority’ for her work:

1. A set of math teaching kits to help the 3rd graders construct knowledge about numbers, place values and number operations.

2. A projector, to help build language skills as soon as possible. Videos and songs will be a great resource. A laptop simply doesn’t work, given the class size.

When I heard her estimated budget, I was surprised. Veena’s choice for the math kit provider was Navnirmiti, a non-profit organization itself, and they unhesitatingly offered a 15% discount on already reasonable prices when they heard about her work.

I instantly agreed to sponsor that portion myself.

The projector is a bit costlier, but definitely NOT expensive. And it will be shared among at least 10 classrooms in the area! Who can resist the chance to help nearly 400 young children get an education?!

Together, the entire cost is $750. I want to try and raise it – by Monday. (Call me an ambitious over-achiever, if you like – but donate first, before you do!)

So, I went to Twitter. And posted a tweet, asking for ideas.

Nothing happened until I went to bed.

An Hour This Morning…

Nothing had happened by the time I logged on this morning, either.

That was surprising. So I tweeted about it.

And then, this did:

To cut a long story short, I now have 2 great ideas, and one influential connection, that will together almost certainly get the kids what they need… by tomorrow.

So, yes, Twitter is a waste… if you don’t place much value on the literacy levels of hundreds of children, or the power and impact of a caring network of people, or in the belief of our existence in a inter-connected global community.

Not if you do.

Do YOU want to be a part of this ‘challenge’? Here’s how you can:

* I’m offering ONLY FIVE slots in my 6 week long Infopreneur mentoring program – for donors who contribute $150 to this project. (regular proposed price $1,497 – currently NOT open to registration)

Here are a few comments recent mentorees made:

“Dr. Mani genuinely wants to help and has extreme experience in what he is saying. You should join the course and follow it to the letter.”
Sanjay Wadhwa, Mumbai, India

“The mentorship is wonderful worth doing it.Its very valuable and informative. Thanks Dr. for having me onboard.”
Joshua Mwakazi

“This is the best program and it is worth the value. its simple to understand and helps you build a business from scratch.”
ikechiawazie

“The information here will help so much by saving you time and infusing you with the knowledge you need to get things off the ground!”
Sharon Mosser

“Unlike most guru who are out just to earn your money, dr mani is really here to help you out. he will help you build a strong foundation and mindset which will help you get far in the internet business. there is a easy to follow system in his program and you can approach him any time when you have any questions.”
Gladwin

(Full disclosure: These reviewers did NOT pay full-price, but are early testers of the process, as I’m refining the program and course material)

There are many more along these lines. And not one of the students enrolled have estimated the value they have received as being less than $197 (even though most are only halfway through the course)

How to donate?

Make your payment via PayPal ONLY to info (at) ezinemarketingcenter.com

That’s

Please mention that it is for the School Teaching Aids project.

If you’re not among the first 5 to donate, I may not be able to let you join the mentoring program.

Oh, and if you’d like to donate a smaller (or larger) amount, please do. I’ll keep the total updated from time to time.

And if you want to ‘waste’ a little more time on Twitter, re-tweet a link to this post

UPDATE:

Target amount to raise by Monday: $750
Amount we have raised until now: $750

Yes, we hit our target – and it isn’t even tomorrow yet! YAY!!!

Special thanks: Wendy Landes and Nicole Dean

UPDATE #2:

I might run a special offer for some of my best ebooks, as an additional fundraiser. If this interests you, please stay informed by joining my email list.

I’m an ‘early adopter’ of Twitter, signed up in June 2007.

Seeing how this could easily become a serious time-sucking activity, I set a limit of no more than 10 minutes a day on Twitter.

Also, I chose to follow no more than 40 people… and actually engage with them, read all their tweets, and have mini-conversations on Twitter – because relationships matter more than sheer size of your network.

It was fun. My friendships on Twitter have been incredibly energizing and inspiring, profitable and lucrative, fulfilling and satisfying.

Yet, it can be more.

More extensive. More beneficial. More efficient.

Especially since Twitter has grown massively through 2009, and fantastic tools are now available to make it more exciting. So, I’m re-thinking my Twitter strategy.

I’m Segregating

No, don’t worry. Nothing racial here! This is by ‘interest area’… yours and mine.

I wear many hats, and at different times, I’m a:

• heart surgeon

• Internet infopreneur
• online business owner
• blogger
• writer/author
• social entrepreneur
• parent

… as well as many things more. And when someone follows me on Twitter from knowing one facet of my online persona, they are often surprised by how varied and diverse my Twitter stream gets!

My business clients wonder why I’m fund raising. My donors and supporters wonder why I’m hawking an information product. And those who know me as a doctor or author are confused at both!

Not good.

So, I’m segregating my “business” and “marketing” oriented stuff, taking it out of Twitter (which anyway isn’t great for direct response stuff) – and moving it to another micro-blogging service I’m starting to like a lot… SOKULE.

If you are following me for my business and marketing opinions, thoughts and insights, you should follow me on Sokule here.

On Twitter, I’ll still be ME… just less the ‘marketing me’!

I’m Minimizing

Twitter introduced a new feature called ‘lists’. It’s now easier to follow people with similar interests – without cluttering up the main timeline.

I’ve set up a few lists. Will expand to include other topics. And then move those I follow for subject-specific information into a relevant Twitter list.

This will help me stick to my “Twitter in 10 Minutes a Day” limit – something that has become more difficult lately. Lists can be browsed quickly, whenever there’s time available. My main Twitter timeline will have a smaller stream of general tweets – and can be consumed more meaningfully.

It’s kind of like how I use email just now – with filters handling most of the inflow, leaving a manageable amount to tackle daily.

I’m Keeping It Real

Auto-tweets, Twitter adders, pre-scheduling services and more script-based tweeting behavior has destroyed some very useful features of Twitter lately.

Direct messages used to allow quick access to busy people. Not any more. Today, DMs are worse than email (at least email may get glanced at before deletion!) The @username feature is the last bastion… and I wonder when it will fall.

M.K.Gandhi said: “Be the change you want to see in the world!”

So, my contribution is to keep it real – by not using any of this garbage on my main Twitter account, @drmani

Transparency and authenticity are cornerstones of today’s social media networking, and I’m keeping my Twitter presence at @drmani in alignment with these tenets.

• You’ll get my attention with an @drmani tweet.

• You’ll lose it right quick if you abuse it.
• You’ll interest me if you engage with something of mutual concern, and do it in a polite, fun or innovative way.
• You’ll keep my interest if that’s really ‘you’ – and you’re always like that!

I’m Expanding My Network

In a blog post on trend predictions for 2010, I placed the death of email marketing right at the top – and am putting my money where my mouth is!

In 2010, while my email marketing will continue, it will become subsidiary to my main thrust – which will focus on expanding my network on social media like Twitter, Sokule, Facebook and others.

• I will be blogging VERY actively at my new blog, “Information Marketing Made Easy“.

• I will be providing some very valuable material to my GOLD members on that blog.
• I will be using my email list primarily to share links to the blog content.

But on social networks, I will be trying out many of the tactics that were earlier limited to my email marketing. This will be, in a sense, like going back to 1997 when I started marketing online, with barely a few dozen people in my network – and growing it by hundreds of thousands since then.

Except that this time around, the focus will be NOT on the ‘numbers’ but on ‘value’.

If YOU are someone who would like, enjoy and benefit from being in my network, I want to know you. I really do. So please come over and introduce yourself.

Where Should We Meet?

• Are you interested in discussing marketing and online business?

  You should follow me on sokule here

• Are you interested in more general topics of mutual concern to you and me?

  You should follow me on twitter here

• Are you (or want to be) a supporter of my work with under-privileged children born with congenital heart defects?

  You should follow me on twitter here – and then @drmani me to say you’re a CHD fan)

  You should also join the Heart Kids Tribe here

• Are you a writer, author or infopreneur – or want to become one?

  You should follow me on twitter here

  And join the ‘Think, Write & Retire’ tribe here

• Are you not sure yet WHY you want to be associated with me, but still want to?

  You should follow me on twitter here

  Watch the stuff I tweet about, and then decide if that’s right for you.

• Are you old-fashioned, conservative and straight-laced, think social media is all a new-fangled fad, and will only consider email-based communication?

  You should sign up for my email list here

  Be sure to READ my emails!

• Are you the ultra-shy, uber-sensitive, hiding-in-your-cave recluse that I used to be in my early days online?

  You should go to my blog here and subscribe to the RSS feed

  Just click on the big orange button beside the word SUBSCRIBE at the top right corner of the page. That way, you get access to all that I’m sharing, without having to ever engage with me in a single conversational exchange – until you’re ready to!

Tweet Me Your Thoughts

What do you think about this revised Twitter strategy?

How do you think I can make it better, more effective, useful?

Which way will you move ahead with Twitter?

Please tweet me to share. Or leave a comment right here, below.

Today, I posted my 10,000th tweet on Twitter. And of these thousands, one has been very widely re-tweeted… it says:

“Transparency is the new risk – Authenticity is the new currency – Trust is the new reward.”

Maybe because it encapsulates the essence of social media networking. Or maybe because it sounds nice and snappy. Or maybe because it is suitably ambiguous.

I’m taking the chance that this post will remove the last reason – but anyway, here goes…

Transparency is the new risk

Why? Because it is scary to invite the world at large to peer into your life, peek inside your mind – which is what social networking does. It’s like living inside the ‘Big Brother’ glass house – but virtually.

Yes, you can – and should – draw strict boundaries as to how many facets of it you allow to be transparent online.

But within those limits, there’s pretty little you can effectively hide – least of all, those most sacrosanct ones like attitude and bias, prejudice and ethics, neuroses and genius.

Everything’s on show. And that’s a part of being active on social media. Accept it. Embrace it. Because it’s part of being…

Authentic.

Authenticity is the new currency

When you’re authentic, you can trade on it. On social media.

That’s what makes being transparent worthwhile – and the benefit you balance against the risk.

In a nutshell, this involves being true to yourself – about yourself. In every way that you choose to expose on social networks. All the time. Under all circumstances.

Being congruent and consistent in what you say, do and are. Making sure all parts are moving in harmony. Just being YOU.

Sure, it may not be your (or someone else’s) “idealized conception” of a super-hero or celebrity – but that’s exactly what makes you appealing (or not) to your audience… and your strongest, most unassailable USP (unique selling proposition).

Yes, you need to stand out from the crowd, stop blending in with the sameness, in one way or another. Authenticity is one of your most powerful tools.

Because when everyone else knows who you really are, something magical happens.

Trust.

Trust is the new reward

If you show me who you are, and that display is honest and fairly representative of the persona behind the social media avatar, I can choose to begin to trust you.

And trust is the grease that smoothens and speeds up other transactions, makes them frictionless, fast and free.

That’s your social media reward – for taking the risk to share yourself online, and do it in an authentic and genuine way.

What do you think?

On August 25th, 2009, I had a fun-filled day launching my first ever print book, “Think, Write & Retire – How To Turn Words Into Wealth, Easily!“.

And in keeping with this era of social networking and marketing online, I was on Twitter most of the day, watching with mounting excitement as the buzz spread.

Tweet after tweet after tweet rippled across the Twitterverse. And as I watched the word spread like wildfire, rosy dreams of having an Amazon.com best-seller kept springing up before my eyes.

And don’t get me wrong – the book launch went very well. My book started the week before with an Amazon.com rank of #821,902. On Tuesday morning, it was at #35,021. And by 3 a.m. on Wednesday, it had gone up all the way to #537 of all books listed on Amazon.com.

A few hours later, the book broke into the AMAZON.COM HOT 100 ranks, reaching #83 in Business & Investing, and a high of #474 overall.

Much of this was the result of the interest generated on Twitter.

But I wish Amazon.com awarded best-seller status based upon the number of tweets generated around a book – because then I would have BEEN NUMBER ONE… easily!

Sadly, re-tweets do not make a best-seller. Book sales do.

And re-tweets not allow non-profits to do good work. Donations do.

Yet re-tweets will always be plentiful and profuse – because they are quick and easy. And therefore appealing.

The problem is, re-tweeting may be considered as EFFECTIVE ACTION, in and of itself.

It is not.

Impact, REAL meaningful impact, takes more than “quick and easy”.

It takes more than a casual involvement, for a few fleeting seconds, after which we get back to “business as usual”.

No. Impact takes effort. Commitment. Involvement.

Worst of all, impact takes TIME to achieve.

Time spent working behind the scenes. Without any fanfare or spotlights. Often doing the many tasks others won’t do, taking the trouble most are reluctant to take, hoping against hope that some day, all of it will pay-off in a big way.

Re-tweets are a prop to support the structure, for sure. Get your event or cause or product or service a quick flash of visibility among a wider audience.

But that impact is as fleeting and superficial as a casual ‘Thank you’ from a stranger.

It can, however, have the deep impact of a sincere smile from the same stranger – if the motivation behind it is deeper.

When you re-tweet from your heart.

And then, back it up by DOING something about whatever you re-tweet.

Like buying a book.

Or making a donation.

Or changing the world!

This here is a mosaic of (a part of) my Twitter network…

(click on the image to go to a detailed view)

Now here’s a contest – and you can win a copy of my new book, “Think, Write & Retire”

Come up with creative ways you can use this Twitter Mosaic in your business or life.

Leave a comment with your ideas – and the best one will win a prize!

—>

It has been a year since I was introduced to TRIIIBES.com, the exclusive social network that’s a brainchild of marketing genius, thought leader and bestselling author Seth Godin.

Apart from everything else it has done, TRIIIBES messed with my head – in a good way. And it got me to do some things that I hadn’t done before. For which I owe the Super-Squid Master a huge big thank you.

Since Seth is a person focused on ACTION, not merely ideas, I’m going to list only the things that actually got done, not the many more that have been sparked off by ideas, discussions and connections from within the Triiibe.

These are eight things that happened since I joined Triiibes.com – and that may never have happened without it!

1. I published my first print book. It’s called “Think, Write & Retire”. It launches on August 25th – and I’m trying to get it a lot of publicity because it ties in with #2.

2. I created the Heart Kids Tribe. This is a passionate and purpose-driven network of people who care enough for under-privileged children born with heart defects that they are willing to commit to making a difference in their lives.

3. I built a network for the Think, Write and Retire tribe. While it was in part intended to be a marketing vehicle for the book, it is a lot more. It’s a place where infopreneurs connect, engage and share – and it is working!

4. I morphed my email/ezine list into a tribe. Turned it from an anonymous list of email addresses into a social network that is ‘private access’ – and a comfortable, supportive place where people help other people.

5. I applied for a TED fellowship. Others in the Triiibes.com community were actively involved in TED, and that brought it on to my radar. Then, I discovered there was a TED India event – so have applied for a fellowship!

6. I blueprinted a donor community plan for my CHD work. It involves writing another book, creating another social network, and building another tribe – one that is focused on making heart surgery available to the 45,000+ kids who are waiting.

7. I wrote and published a PASSION manifesto on ChangeThis.com – because Seth advised all his tribe to distill their thinking into a manifesto, and share it with the world!

8. I made a LOT of new friends inside TRIIIBES.com. That’s probably the BIGGEST benefit of being in this vibrant, passionate, exciting network. And time will prove that it’s the most effective practical application of the concept in Seth Godin’s groundbreaking book, TRIBES.

For all of this, thank you Seth.

And thank you, TRIIIBES.com

See more Triiibes.com tributes here

Insights, Lessons and Suggestions to Make the Most of Twitter

It has been 27 months since I started using Twitter, the micro-blogging service that has set the social networking universe afire.

Over this period, I have learned many things about Twitter, tried out different ideas and modified the way I use this fascinating service. And interesting enough, I have seen many users who joined later on go through startlingly similar phases as I once did – only to arrive at similar conclusions.

This was the seed of this post about Twitter. Maybe by sharing some insights, lessons and suggestions from 27 months of Twitter, this will help you past speed-bumps – and let you make the most of Twitter.

Let’s begin by addressing some Twitter myths. There are many of these myths, primarily points of view and opinions of folks who are new to Twitter and not yet sure what to make of it.

5 Twitter Myths That Need Debunking

1. Auto-following is polite.

Yeah, right. And of course, you smile at everyone you see on your way to work, pass the time of the day with your janitor, waitress, bus conductor, gardener and others at home or your office, refuse to ignore anyone who passes by you or makes contact – or just is within 25 feet of where you are!

That’s the surest way to waste your time, lose your focus and get nothing meaningful done – while being ‘terribly busy’ all day long!

Thinking that courtesy demands that you follow back anyone on Twitter who chooses to follow you is responsible for most of the woes new Twitter users suffer. And the myth is perpetuated by those who, as a strategy, follow many people on Twitter… and claim that to NOT do so is impolite!

2. Auto-DMs build instant rapport.

Direct messages allow one-to-one communication within the framework of a ‘broadcast’ medium that Twitter is. It is personal, direct and private. Or so you’d think!

What destroyed this (once-)reality is a practice called ‘Auto DM’s – automatically sending DMs to anyone who follows you on Twitter. No, not always ‘automated’ by scripts; even manually sending DMs to your new followers counts as this.

Coupled with the habit of following many people, and auto-following from politeness everyone who follows you, this auto-DM behavior practically destroyed it’s effectiveness. Hardly any power-user reads all the garbage sent to them via DM robots, and the result is like what spam did to email!

3. No one reads their entire timeline.

The Twitter timeline is fascinating or frustrating – it all depends on how you view it. And how much clutters it up!

Personally, I follow no more than 40 people on Twitter. I make it a point to read my Twitter time-line DAILY. I find snippets and quotes, links and offers, wisdom and wonder – and much of it I share with my own followers.

Making it easier to ‘mine’ the Twitter timeline is the powerful Twitter Search tool. With it, you can sort through the vast Twitter database by keyword, phrase or search term.

4. Everyone uses Twitter the same way.

Many people (I mean REALLY many people) have guidelines, rules and laws about how to use Twitter. Their own. And that’s because they assume – wrongly – that everyone uses Twitter the same way as themselves.

For the same purpose. With the same goals. From the same perspective.

Yet Twitter has several MILLION people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and countries, speaking different languages, believing in different religions, having different political leanings.

I have rules, too. But only one, though. It’s this.

“There are no rules for Twitter”

5. Follower count matters most.

Unless you’re a celebrity, you won’t have many followers – and don’t need many.

And if you’re a celebrity, you’re obviously using Twitter in a way (and for a reason) that VERY few other non-celebrities are… so how you do it won’t matter to them in any meaningful way!

What matters, just as in your own email contact list, is WHO is on your follower list - not how many are. The 35 people I follow on Twitter at any time collectively have a network reach of several MILLION others. But that’s NOT why I follow them.

I follow people on Twitter whom I feel are interesting. You may find the same people dull – and that’s why Twitter is so amazing, it allows YOU to decide whom to follow, for any reason you want!

5 Things Twitter Is NOT

1. Twitter is NOT good for direct response

I’ve tested it several different ways, for many purposes – and it always works out a poor alternative to email or other forms of persuasion.

2. Twitter is NOT a reliable communication channel

That’s because even though it is ‘instant’, not everyone is ON Twitter all the time – and tweets can get lost in clutter easier than email in an inbox.

3. Twitter is NOT great to defend positions or win arguments

I mean, how much can you say or state in 140 characters, right?

4. Twitter is NOT ‘instant traffic’

If you’re on Twitter to matter, drop the idea that all it’s good for just a short burst of traffic, and focus on being someone worth listening to and following.

5. Twitter is NOT about you… it’s about THEM!

Always. So figure out how to add value to your followers. That way, they’ll stick around – and ask their friends to join them.

5 Things Twitter IS

1. Twitter is great for connecting

I’ve developed associations with high profile bloggers, newspaper editors, powerful politicians, best-selling authors, world-changers – all on Twitter.

2. Twitter is convenient to catch someone’s attention

When other options don’t work quite as well, Twitter can get your ‘foot in the door’. What you do with that attention is entirely up to you, though!

3. Twitter is a coffee-room

It’s a place to hang-out, chew the fat, catch up with news, relax and unwind during a busy day, take a refreshing break – and then get back to work, energized!

4. Twitter is a viral medium

The right kind of meme can spread like a wildfire across the network, creating ripples and making waves. Of course, it depends on WHAT you tweet about!

5. Twitter is a time-sump

If you let it, Twitter will suck up a lot of your day, leaving you feeling unproductive and wasteful. Limit your time on Twitter. Make it matter.

To The Next 27 Months of Twitter

These are just a few things I’ve learned in 27 months on Twitter. Over the next 27 months on Twitter, I will surely learn many new things – and maybe discover that some of these are wrong or inappropriate.

Maybe you already did. If so, please share your thoughts and ideas about using Twitter – and making the most of it!

There are special moments in our lives when we feel deeply grateful for what is and has been. Today I enjoyed one such moment.

I got a parcel in the post. Opening it, I found a copy of one of my all-time favorite books, “The Aladdin Factor” – but this one was VERY special.

It reads:

To Dr.Mani -

I am so moved by your
commitment to saving infant
lives. I am thrilled this book
has played some small part in
your life’s mission.

With great love, admiration and
respect…

Jack Canfield

And also extremely thankful for the person who made this possible – Lee Ann Price.

How it happened is an interesting story.

I am active on Twitter. Once I tweeted about the power of asking, and mentioned “The Aladdin Factor”. Lee Ann Price saw my tweet – as it turns out, at a stoplight while she was driving to an event where Jack Canfield would be speaking! She had picked a book to have autographed by Jack earlier that morning – and surprise, surprise… it was “The Aladdin Factor”!

Speak of coincidences! Lee Ann mentioned this curious event to Jack, told him about my work with children having congenital heart defects, and even showed him the tweet I posted!

Special moments and sweet memories happen quite by chance most of the time. And what makes them happen is never easy to predict or control. For that very reason, they are more cherished and enjoyed.

Thank you, Lee Ann, for making my day!

Y’know what was even nicer?

My daughter saw it, and asked: “Why does such a famous person respect you?”

And I got a chance to tell her a bit more about what I do with my ‘heart kids’.

Thank you for that, too, Lee Ann.

And Jack