The Daily Innovator

Do over

At this same time every 12 months, everybody gets a do over.  In just a few hours, when the clock strikes midnight tonite and the calendar rolls over to 2006, we get the kind of clean slate opportunity that only a new year can offer.  With the arrival of each new year, there is a small break with the past, from which emerges the possibility and the inspiration for renewing ourselves and every dimension of the lives we lead.

What will you do with your do over?  How will you and your life be different one year from today?

Food for thought.  And while you're reflecting on these big questions, please accept my best wishes for a very safe and peaceful New Year's Day holiday!

Quotations to innovate by #36

Okay, I've promised to fill in the archive with posts for all the days I've missed in the last couple of months.  It is my intention to do that, and so I'm projecting ahead on the number of quotations I'll include from the middle of October to the middle of December in order to catch up.  I'm figuring it will be 24 quotations, including this one from Sir Winston Churchill, which I just heard from author Frans Johansson at ASAE & The Center's Great Ideas Conference in Orlando:

If you're going through hell, keep going.

I think these words should be something of a mantra for daily innovators.  It can be hellish trying to persuade people to embrace innovation.  But when things get tough, we cannot simply give up on our efforts.  Doing so will leave us in right where we don't want to be:  frustrated, disappointed and without having made any real progress on the work of innovation.  So my advice is to not lose sight of the big picture.  The naysayers will try to distract you, but in the long run, the daily innovators will prevail!

Another blog...

No, don't worry.  I'm not launching YET ANOTHER blog!  I simply want to make TDI readers aware of another blog to which I contribute called The Association Renewal Blog.   It is the blog of my joint venture consulting practice, Association Renewal LLC, and it was just included in a list of Ten Cool blogs for the association community.

The focus of The Association Renewal Blog is on associations, of course, but I think that Jamie Notter (my Association Renewal business partner and blog co-author) and I write about issues that have relevance beyond associations.  I want to bring this blog to your attention and encourage you to check it out.  To help make it more accessible for you, I have added a feed for the blog to the TDI sidebar (scroll down) so you can see the five most recent posts.  Thanks in advance for giving it a chance.  Let me know what you think!

Gmail Clips irritate me!

For several months now, I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival in my inbox of a Gmail feature to which only some users had access until last week.  The feature, known as Gmail Clips, integrates RSS into Gmail making it possible to view microchunks of content at the top of the inbox.  When I first learned about it, I was really excited about it and frustrated that I was not included in the initial release.

So when I found out last week that Gmail Clips had been made available to all users, I discovered something I didn't expect:  I HATE IT!  I find the presence of the constantly-changing feeds irritating, particularly the feed for Spam recipes included in the the Spam filter.  It's too clever by half, and it cannot be turned off unless you turn off Gmail Clips entirely.  And that is precisely what I have done. 

This surprising situation does not diminish my admiration for Google one bit.  Every innovator will create things that some people love and others loathe.  I love RSS, but not in the way Gmail is incorporating it.  Perhaps I'll come to appreciate Gmail Clips in time, but for right now, its been clipped out of my inbox!