Katie

Originally uploaded by drewmaniac

M.I.A.

You may not have noticed, but it’s been a little more quiet here than normal. Don’t worry, this isn’t a “oh wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted” post. The quiet has been purpose. First of all, it’s summer. My blogging always slows naturally in the summer. I like to think it’s because I’m getting out more and enjoying the great weather. I’ve also been focusing more on my photography. As a result I’ve been pretty busy in my free time shooting, editing, and everything in between. I’m sure you all haven’t missed me too much.

365 fAceS i KnOw

One project I’ve started this summer just for fun, kicks, and grins is my 365 Faces I Know project. It’s pretty self explanatory – one year of people I know. Each day for an entire year I’m uploading a photo of someone I know in real life (IRL for those of you who don’t leave your computers very often). So far the response has been very positive. I’ve really enjoyed compiling just the first 50+ faces. You can check it out here on Flickr.

Wrapping It Up

Finally, I’ve taken advantage of my partial hiatus to think about the content here and the direction I want the blog to take in the future. I’m considering a bit of a reboot or change in direction. I have a few details I’m still trying to hash out, but I plan to take things in a better and fresh direction in the fall. In the meantime, I will continue to write, albeit at a slower pace. I’ve got to enjoy the summer while it’s here. In fact, why are you here? Get out and enjoy it too! The Internet will be here waiting when you get back.

Closing Music

Here’s a great song (the video is very cool too) from the band Bishop Allen called Click, Click, Click, Click. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I thought it fit well with this post.

Giant Claw Game, originally uploaded by Lopiccolo.

In the beginning…

What a long, strange trip it has been. I started Leave It To Weaver over a year and a half ago. Time has flown by and it has most certainly been fun. When I set out to start a blog, I wasn’t sure what path I was going to take. I just started. It was raw, random, and usually not worth reading. In fact, very few people were reading it thankfully.

Thanks to each and every one of you. Over time I fine tuned the message and the blog itself has evolved. It has always been my goal to produce solid content and as I grew along with the blog, I believe I have done that. I’ve tried to provide you with inspiration and usefulness while being as direct as I can. I hope you have benefited. One thing that began to happen is you began to read, comment, and even share my posts with others. Your participation and feedback makes the blog. Thank you for sharing your time with me here.

The photography slant. I have always loved great photography and have slowly started to dabble in professional photography myself. From the beginning of Leave It To Weaver, I wanted to be able to share great photos with my posts (mine and others). Foto Finish Friday was started very early on and is still one of my personal favorites to post each week. The search for a great photo to feature makes it fun. I hope you have enjoyed all of the photos that have been featured on all the posts. I try to select only the most interesting photos. I want the blog to be a sort of visual candy.

It’s time for a makeover. I’m no Danny Brown. I don’t give my site a makeover every other month, but it’s high time I made some improvements. In the coming weeks I will be bringing some exciting changes to Leave It To Weaver. I hope you will find the changes to be a big improvement. I look forward to sharing them with you very soon.

One final thing. As I was working behind the scenes on rolling out some of these changes, it occurred to me that I have never provided a resource post with links featuring some of the top posts (other than the rarely updated list to the right). So, that’s exactly what the following list is – some of the top posts over the past year and a half. I hope you find them inspiring and useful in some way.

31 Flavors of Posts

1. Comfort of Average – There’s a certain comfort that comes from being average. Try to resist the temptation to simply be comfortable.
2. Your Employees Are Your First Customers – When you value your employees, especially your best, you are in essence creating a ripple effect that will extend to your customers. What are you doing to ensure your most loyal employees are taken care of?
3. Maybe – It’s short. It’s to the point. Maybe you should take a moment and read.
4. Are You Depressing Excellence? – Are you inviting mediocrity into your life or business by depressing excellence?
5. No Time Crowd – Always too busy? Odds are you’re a part of the no time crowd. It’s probably time to change things up.
6. Promoting Mediocrity – Are you watering down the reward for excellence within the workplace? If so, you’re promoting mediocrity instead.
7. Visionary Leaders vs. Functional Leaders – Which style are you and what fits best within your organization?
8. Panic! – Don’t be a reactionary leader who waits until the siren is sounding to lead your people through the panic.
9. Be The Exception To The Rule – When everyone else is content to be mediocre, be the exception to the rule.
10. Bailout For Newspapers? Why? – My thoughts on the possibility of of a newspaper bailout and why the newspaper industry is suffering in the first place. The comments here are great.
11. 12 Reasons You Didn’t Get That Promotion – Passed up for that promotion? Maybe one of these reasons is why.
12. Already A Leader – The thing about true leaders is they will lead whether their in a position of authority or not.
13. Talking Change – Anyone can talk change and nearly anyone does. What action are you taking to actually bring about change?
14. Yesterday’s Home Runs – Are you reveling in the successes of yesterday? Don’t let your home runs from yesterday keep you from hitting more today.
15. Building Your Friend Base – Those who are best at networking don’t network. They make friends.
16. What Game Are You Playing? – Does your team know what game you’re playing? Or is everyone playing their own game by their own rules?
17. Remaining Silent – Realize that sometimes you’re better off remaining silent and simply listening.
18. What If You Had The Best Employee Service? – Focus on your first customers, your employees and practice the best employee service.
19. 4 Things Social Media Won’t (GASP!) Do For You – They’re tools, not miracle workers.
20. Who Will Promote You? – Stop waiting for something to happen and start making things happen. If you don’t promote yourself, who will?
21. The Best Leaders – Some characteristics that the very best leaders will have.
22. When Leadership Erodes – Some tips on what to do when you find yourself in an environment where leadership has eroded.
23. 3 Reasons You Should Be Reading – If you aren’t reading on a regular basis, here’s 3 reasons you should be. Get started now.
24. That’s Not My Job – The “That’s not my job” (TNMJ) attitude, is one of the most dangerous diseases that can infect the work place. It discourages teamwork and is the source of useless animosity.
25. Do, Re, Mi – “We all do ‘do, re, mi,’ but you have got to find the other notes yourself.” ~ Louis Armstrong
26. 7 Things To Do If You’re NOT Laid Off – In short, prepare. Don’t take your job for granted, but as Charlie Hoehn points out, you need to force yourself to swim.
27. Graveyard Of Good Ideas – Often good ideas go to the graveyard of good ideas in large corporations. Make sure your good ideas aren’t getting buried.
28. You’re Still Just Cutting The Grass – Social media may be changing how we do business and interact with one another, but in the end you’re still just performing good old fashioned business.
29. They Say – The point is sometimes they are wrong. Just like you or I can be wrong. Just because they say you can’t or shouldn’t, doesn’t mean it is so.
30. Waiting To Die – You know who they are. They are those people you can look around the workplace and see are simply going through the motions.
31. The SMTP Method – Shuffle this. Move that. Talk change. Proclaim success. Have you really accomplished anything when you use this method?

London Bridge station
Originally uploaded by buckaroo kid

I’ve been thinking about the value of simplicity a lot lately. Whether it is personal improvement, business, or other areas of our lives we’re often better off keeping things simple. We humans like to muck it up. We like to make things harder than they really are. When really all we need is to keep it simple, stupid.

So as I dilly dally around and think about writing a post on the subject, Danny Brown (as he so often does) comes out says all of this much better than I in his post, The New Storytellers. I’m going to do something a little different here and post to point you to a post.

It’s all based off the fan video below of a Dashboard Confessional song. So enjoy the music, but go and see what Danny has to say.

Sitting On Edge
Originally uploaded by drewmaniac

Just thinking out loud over here. Some entirely random musings.

• What happens when a customer asks for a service you cannot provide? Do you satisfy them by recommending a competitor who can? Maybe you should consider it. I learned this lesson very early when the flooring store I worked for out of high school would consistently point the customer they could not satisfy in the direction of someone who could. You aren’t sending them elsewhere because you cannot satisfy them. You’re satisfying them by helping them when you could not.
• How do you know when to quit?
• You know a nation is in trouble when the government shrugs at real problems and the populace watches American Idol.
• When all else fails, blog.
• Decide today to make someone’s day. Do I really need to give you ideas?
• Sometimes fears hold us back. I could go on and on about why they shouldn’t, but Leo gives us solutions to the problem in his guide to beating the fears holding us back.
• I know we all want forward motion, but sometimes it’s good to slow down or even stop for a moment.
• Too many little things distract us. Try to stay focused bigger picture.

What are you thinking about?