Observe

This is the first step after initial discovery.  People take time to observe the landscape of a situation or how the results of an action look.  This first section can also include reading a lot of books, articles and blogs.  This is where most folks try to gain the knowledge so they can replicate the success that they have seen others have on platforms.  Unfortunately so many people get stuck in the observation stage because that's what they're taught in school to do: acquire information and regurgitate it.

Contemplate

The next stage that people get to is the point where they either want to replicate the actions or an opportunity to do so simply presents itself.  This is where people allow themselves to think about the possible consequences of their proposed action and it's in this place that a lack of self confidence kills projects and people's ability to create what they want from life.  They give themselves all the reasons in the world to simply give up and eventually fall into a state of learned helplessness.  I think this is why so many folks (myself included) consume self-help books and yet never change their behavior.  They get in their own way and prevent themselves from simply trying to see if they can achieve any results.

Execute

This is the step that so few people get to, regardless of project size and scope.  It's these folks who risk their own reputation and go out and do something.  I can't tell you how many times I've been approached by students and other audience members after I speak who say they "could never" speak in front of large crowds.  On one hand that makes me really sad because I know that most folks have a great perspective and if they sat down and boiled away all the regurgitated crap that there are some real original thoughts in there that I can learn from.  On the other hand it makes it easier for me to get speaking opportunities so thanks I guess.  The people who get outside their own head and begin to execute are the one's who are heralded as being thought leaders and icons of their area.  That simply isn't the case, they're simply the ones who had the self confidence or simply lacked fear about stepping out on the public square and risking embarrassment.  To be honest, it takes a lot of chutzpa to do this the first time in any area of your life but I know that for me, my friends and even the folks who I have had the honor of mentoring it's worth doing every time.

What do you think of what I'm proposing?  How can you improve this model to make it even simpler and wide reaching?

I subscribe to over 250 RSS feeds and about a dozen blog alerts for specific terms.  More than a few folks have asked me to give them the list (and I have after some slight modifications) and even more have asked me to use a service like Delicious so they can see what I'm reading and what I like.  Unfortunately the social bookmarking tools have never made it into my regular every day use.  I find Google's Share feature to force me to go back and share items after I fully read and process them and even that is a bit of an annoying process. However, Instapaper has entered my workflow in the "river of news".  It's ability to intelligently grab URLs and put them in specific folders (through the use of their Safari bookmarklets) makes me marking something for review a piece of cake.  I treat my google reader like a triage station; figure out which pieces are valuable as quickly as possible, mark for review and move on.

So do I publicly advertise those Instapaper URLs?  No, because even some crappy articles get in there and there's no opportunity for me to comment on them.  Create a blog? Too much work to create individual entries even with something like Tumblr's reblog.  I decided to go with a tried and (somewhat) reliable tool in Twitter.  I always have it open, it automatically allows an RSS feed to be created and most of all after the headline and a bit.ly link I can give some kind of commentary.  You can follow the @KadeRead twitter account or you can see the most recent 20 or so posts on the KadeRead's page here on the blog.  

Fair warning: I have a bit of backlog in there right now so you may see comments on postings as old as December 16, 2009.  Give me a week or so to clear them up.  My hope is that me playing digital article DJ will allow you guys to use my obnoxious obsession with RSS feeds to your benefit.  

The first person I'd like to call out is Annie Sorensen (@anniesorensen, anniesorensen.com).  She's so elevated herself from being a work contact that I'm hesitant to even tell folks that I met her because of my job.  Incredibly intelligent and she has the ability to do anything that she sets her mind to.  Top that off with the fact that her husband Nate is one of the few people who I'm desperate to spend more time with.  He possesses such a cool confidence that I wish I had more of.  I suspect that I'll have to make a trip out to Kansas City to see them both before too long.

The next group of folks that I have to thank for making me feel appreciated are the entire Polcyn family.  I knew that Grady (@gradypolcyn) was a stand up guy but I had no idea his parents, sister, aunt and girlfriend were all at the same quality of character.  Massive thanks to Glen (@bgfinancial), Becki, Grady, Paris (@parispolcyn), Jessie and Chantel for making me feel like family the entire time we were in Vegas.  I can't wait to hang out with each of you again and I'll be crushed if I have to wait until the next Vemma convention.

The final person who I've looked forward to interacting with over the last couple of weeks is none other than a member of the RenMen crew, Grant Peelle (@grantpeelle, renmenshow.com).  It's amazing to me how much I'll do to help people who I think are hustling. Every time I receive a DM from Grant or I finally pin him down on the phone I feel like I help bring in to focus the social media puzzle just a little bit more for both him and his and Alan's (his business partner) entire organization. Such a satisfying feeling knowing that he's not only seeking my counsel but then immediately putting it to work for his business.  I get the sense that he's feeling like this is a one way street though where he's constantly taking from our interaction and I won't hesitate to say this publicly: Grant you're teaching me how it's possible to be actively be involved in many different businesses simultaneously.  The Big Bang Dueling Piano bar has a location out there in the C-Bus that I haven't been to yet....we might have to resolve that soon as part of me swinging out there to hang for a bit.

Who are you grateful for either entering your life or stepping up in a more meaningful way since 2010 started? Leave a comment, @ reply or email me if you're not quite ready to share that information publicly.

Barring the last three days which have been absolutely crazy (and will require me to go back and write more substantive posts) I am going to call the 30 in 30 for January a huge success and the numbers show that.  This more than anything proves that the idea of hustle and creating any content on a regular basis can grow an audience.

Are there some things I would do differently if I were to do it again? You bet. Has this experiment changed the way I think about blogging? No doubt. Will it affect my future behavior on this blog? Without question.  Should be fun to move this one in a direction that hopefully will help both you guys get value and get to know me a bit better.

Anyway I got to go crank and make things happen with the crew.

That's a great question from James so here are the top 5 podcasts that I have learned the most from:

1. This Week in Tech hosted by Leo Laporte

My week begins with Leo and the crew.  Technology is something I love and follow with an absolute fervor but listening to some of the top minds discuss tech (and every once in a while politics and food) helps keep me appraised of what's going on out there.  Specifically though this show has introduced me to great folks like Baratunde Thurston, Robert Llewellyn and got me through that dislike period with Jason Calacanis.  Smart folks, talking about the tech of tomorrow is always a great investment.

2. Fast Money by CNBC

Speaking of investments CNBC's Fast Money is a must watch for me.  Maybe it's because I no longer work a night shift job where I can easily watch Bloomberg over the net live at 4AM but I need news on the financial markets.  (I am not kidding when I say I love, live and breathe business.) This show is really interesting to me because while I studied the markets and terms in school I can't say that I understood entirely how to play the options markets or how to make money when volatility is at an all time low.  Additionally people yelling who know what the heck they're talking about (unlike another CNBC personality) and are crazy passionate about this make it a fun space to watch.  Finally it's always good to know who might be looking to buy that little tech company I'm advising or who's the new top brass at a S&P 500 company.

3. Diggnation hosted by Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht Produced by Revision3

I know it might seem weird to have the original "Wayne's World" podcast on my list of top 5 podcasts I learn the most from but seriously without these guys I never would have got as deeply involved in the social media space as I have.  I mean I wrote my master's thesis on Revision3 and how IP TV is changing the marketing landscape for companies for goodness sake.  But Kevin and Alex make me laugh at the end of the week while highlighting some of the strangest and most interesting stories on Digg.com.  Every once in a while they sneak in a great quote or fact that's worth remembering as well.

4. Mixergy by Andrew Warner

Seriously if you're reading my blog but haven't watch at least a half dozen episodes of Mixergy stop, set aside 5+ hours and go get a crash course in business.  Andrew's mission is to interview entrepreneurs and do the internet age's version of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill where he gains an hour of the top internet entrepreneur's time and goes into the execution points.  To be honest this is the only podcast I dread not watching every episode and that's partially the reason his shows account for over half of my backlogged content.  Watch this show, learn stuff about anything and everything business related and a lot of stuff that isn't.

5. Film Riot hosted by Ryan Connolly distributed by Revision3

Admittedly, I'm not a director, cameraman, editor and special effects designer but goodness does this show make it easy to make me feel like I could be.  I've been consuming this show since it's launch and love it with a passion.  I see the value in what these guys are creating so much so that I intend to start grabbing the materials to allow me to do some of what they are and what my video enabled coworkers are producing.  Next on my tools list is a copy of Final Cut Pro and shortly after that I'll be grabbing my very own green screen kit.  Who knows what I may learn from these guys that helps me get to my next big thing.

Honorable mention: You look nice today

If you want to get a feel for improv comedy using only your voice check out what these guys are doing.  Pretty much everything in all the comedy books I've read is in here and to boot, what they're talking about makes me laugh.  I've listened to each episode several times and given the irregular nature of their podcast I am always stoked to see one in my iTunes list.

And there you have it those podcasts that I love and learn from.  Is there something I'm missing? Anyone who you think doesn't belong in my top 5?

There are a number of books in this space that I could have  (and may subsequently do) written reviews of.  Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely and Influence by Robert Cialdini were key to my studies outside the classroom.  That stated I look time and again at the content I regularly consume and except for football (yes, the European version) psychology plays a huge role in what I watch.  I mean seriously how many times can I watch episodes of Dragon's Den (or Shark Tank) or The Dog Whisperer and not see the changes being made.

Here's the interesting part: even though I know the game it doesn't mean I'm not susceptible to it.  And now for the shocking part, neither are you.  The next time you race off to Amazon (or even a real life book retailer) don't hesitate to pick up a book on perception or education because you never know how important seeing someone else's frame and pitching content to them in the way they can most easily process it may make a huge difference.