One year anniversary of Connecting the Dots

Today is the one year anniversary of my first blog post in 2004 (and nearly 7 months of podcasting). Thought this week was time too for a re-design…and what you see now (mainly a new header, new podcasting page, new about page) is an attempt to freshen it up.

My purpose with diving in to the blogosphere, becoming a podcaster and totally and completely immersing myself in this next phase of the Web (of which the acceleration and momentum is becoming palpable) was to figure it out, be in-the-game and gain an intuitive understanding of what’s happening as the collective consciousness of humankind gets connected. The only way to understand a paradigm shift is to live it and what’s happening right now is the most fundamental shift in communications I’ll see in my lifetime.

As a way to explain why I started blogging and podcasting, this snippet (which is my favorite and I have it framed and in my office as a constant reminder) is from our former president, Teddy Roosevelt, who said this in a speech to the Sorbonne in France in 1910:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

I’ve tried to be in the arena with Connecting the Dots instead of observing in the stands as this communications shift unfolds…mostly being in awe and appreciative of the others in this space striving valiantly, erring, coming up short again and again, but most often putting forth their best. Sometimes I’ve been embarrassed when friends and colleagues say, “You’re doing a what? What’s a blog? What’s a podcast?”, often been criticized, but mostly enjoying the weekly growth in readership and personal connections which have come about as a result. It’s been very worthwhile. Thanks to all of you who read this blog…I appreciate it.