Thursday, November 3, 2011

ROL: Knowing When.

ROL is an abbreviation for Return on Life. Return on Life is all about making small incremental changes that yield large returns on life enjoyment. This week's ROL is about the courage to quit.
Hi, Margie.
I met Margie Clayman through a guest post she wrote about the Rolling Stones and Social Media. We exchanged comments and Margie encouraged me to post my presentation "Fab Four Networking". I subscribed to Margie's blog, often sharing and always enjoying her insight. Margie's post yesterday indicated I won't have the opportunity to appreciate Margie's musings for a while.
Bye, Margie.
Margie is taking some time away from social media. Her decision was driven (according to Margie) by many factors including: a collaborator's disloyalty, 2 e-contact suicides and the fact that social media had become a drain instead of a pleasure. Comments, including mine were all supportive. There is a quiet lesson beyond Margie's self-driven sabbatical.
Thank You, Margie.
Our society operates under the notion that quitting is always bad.
  • "Winners never quit and quitters never win."-Vince Lombardi
  • "Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul."-Douglas MacArthur
  • "Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever."-Lance Armstrong
  • "Quitting doesn't enter my mind."-Jimmy Buffet (Jimmy Buffet?)
The stories of the athlete/entertainer/business person persevering through failure after failure after failure to ultimate massive success are repeated ad nauseum in a multitude of different packaging. Unfortunately the stories of those that lost spouses, families, years and/or lives by blindly charging ahead without taking a few quiet moments to evaluate efficacy, efficiency and enjoyment are never told. Strength lies not in forging ahead forever. Strength is admitting when it's time to stop.

3 comments:

  1. I was very touched when I read her explanation. It made me thnk about the meaning of " endorsement" and all it implies. The new reality of social media creates responsibilities never before imagined. Last week a person from Spain did a drive by of my twitter stream to leave a malicious article from a newspaper. I was able to ask another person in the same community about the nature of the article which accused my twitter buddy of being a holocaust denier and a Nazi. For a moment I felt like Margie, thinking how could my very friendly tweep be a Nazi behind my back? It turned out to be unfounded political hoo ha, but I did relate to her main points here. if we heartily retweet, endorse, "make friends", we need to have some caveats, at least in our ethical practices.

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  2. Barry, this is an excellent post, giving us all food for thought. I agree with Anonymous that social media is, in many respects, a new animal with which we need to wrestle with in this "new world order." I'm sorry to hear of Margie's struggles but applaud her strength in knowing her limits. It's a sign of maturity and wisdom, and it's time our society stop the crazy "quitting is failure and failure is bad" mentality. Life is about beginnings, growth, maturity, endings, and rebirth. The sooner we embrace this natural cycle, the happier we will be.

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  3. A- I think it should be incumbent on the reader to view RT's and endorsements very critically. After all Twitter may be great but 140 characters is indeed a limitation.
    V- I'll miss Margie's insight, but I'm glad she stopped if it's no longer fun. If everyone decided life's too short to spend X hrs a day doing something they hate, the world would be better and more productive. Alas, 'tis merely a dream.

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