Always be learning, if you’re here reading this next post, you must be open to that. One way is by being a student of life. Learn from what’s in front of you, but balance your energies in a way that gives you room to relax and be yourself. There is More to Life.

Another and very important way to always be learning is to always be teaching. Have some tools at hand that you can quickly use to show someone else how your social media site or social networking system works. It’s called screencasting and below there are three fun and fast tools that are worth some attention. These tools are invaluable for helping people visualize how things actually work, especially when you’re going for funding.

www.JingProject.com – works on PC and Mac. Simply amazing and completely worth paying for the Pro version. I use it weekly and also assist my clients in its use. This is a good tool to show employees and/or others how to use new features in a system or how to explain/show a new idea to the inside group. One example is demonstrating how to use a new tool to save time.

iShowU – Mac platform. Fast and easy. I haven’t used it but it looks promising.

ScreenCast – My favorite, but this one has a ’slightly’ higher learning curve then the other two. But that’s ok right? You’re open to learning. What I remind myself –compared to what it would take to create this screencast using tools like Final Cut Pro, Screencast.com is a snap.  It produces an extremely polished look and sound in the final results.

Ok, so have you looked into SXSW2009 to figure out what panels you’re attending? I’m starting that process myself for Film and Interactive. Think about it. Check it out. Help others learn how to be successful.

Tom

Starting each day out right is a true challenge in this age with all the constant changes. So each day between now and Friday, March 13, I will share a short thought to inspire or a piece of experience to teach. These articles stem from my strategy work with social media and social networking systems and SEO work over the last 8 years and IT management over the last 20  years and most importantly the amazing experiences I had working with an AI spin-off from MIT called Symbolics throughout the 80’s. I learned the importance of learning and embracing tools that help you be more creative.

Let’s start with right attitude of ABC and ABL. Always be creating and always always be learning.

The number of existing  web-based social media tools and new ones being brought out each month can feel overwhelming. Ever visit www.Mashable.com? Subscribe to that feed! And read www.ReadWriteWeb.com or www.TechCrunch.com? Monitor them for tools that help you become more aware of what’s possible with the systems you’re using. Tools like Sharepoint, WordPress, Facebook, Google and others can make life easier after surviving the learning curve! No you don’t have to learn them all. Pick the ones that are worth exploring. Test them. Use them. Throw out the ones that are of no value but remember to cycle back.

Watch how you dig in and justify that you know enough already.  Are you saying – ‘no more’ I don’t need this social networking stuff? I don’t have the time. I’m too busy. I can’t keep up anyway. Take notice when you get into that line of thinking and just let it go. You’re not in a Catch 22 situation. You CAN both learn and ‘be’ who you want to be and have control over your time and what you share with others. I remember when I worked for a major US corporation for 12 years all through the 90’s and early 2000’s. I felt trapped. Middle management was like being stuck. Can’t leave, paid too well. Can’t advance; not in the inner circle.  Don’t have time; always too busy just trying to stay even. Then… I got laid off.

Last night I watched Catch-22, the movie by Mike Nichols.  Take some time and watch it again. Watch carefully for who gets out of the catch 22 and most importantly ‘why and how’ he did it.

Always be creating. Always be learning. These are your unalienable rights.

Tom