Inspiration in the Oddest Places

Interesting perspective from an article in Golf Digest.

I was reading a short article by Adam Hergenrother - "The Game Gave Me the Focus I Needed" - and was struck by an observation toward the end of the article:

I began writing a daily "gratitude" diary for my wife, essentially a few sentences expressing my love and appreciation that I presented to her at the end of the year. Just as you gain muscle memory through practice, this regular act of reminding myself how lucky I am strengthens my soul.

I think it makes sense that the more that you practice positive thinking, the easier it will be for you to be positive.

My ultimate goal for 2013 is satisfaction (I guess I'm not shooting for happiness yet, just contentment), and I'm going to start trying to note on a regular basis things that a) are good in my life; b) make me happy; and/or c) I'm lucky to have in my life.

A couple of gratitude reminders for today:
1) I feel like a rock star because I'm currently being followed on Pinterest (all boards) by a major fashion designer! Unsolicited (with the exception of one evening of me pinning a ton of stuff on Black Friday to my Fashion Wish Board from the designer's site). I'm curious (and still researching) how the designer is using Pinterest (I did confirm that I'm being followed by the actual corporate board and not a designer fan page). It's exciting to think that what I think is cool might be used to develop future trends. And it's weird to think that people at a major designer, this evening, will be seeing my Christmas candle recommendations to my followers and a recipe that I want to try for "taco cupcakes." Sounds like the building blocks of a Project Runway fashion challenge!

2) I did marketing for a non-profit to assist with a one-day giving event and -- it worked! I was one part of a team, but I can see how my contribution with the social media strategy of the campaign helped improve results over what could have happened (based anecdotally on other non-profits that, I'm assuming, didn't do the same type of promotion). It's awesome to see the finally see the results of what I put into the campaign.

To be fair, I also see what I could have done better if I were in charge, versus just providing consulting and copywriting, and it's a bit frustrating (because I'm a perfectionist). But, this project was about proving the benefits of social media to the non-profit board, and my contribution definitely helped that happen. Next year, if this campaign continues, can be about kicking ass and taking names.