Why are you doing that?


I just wrote Seth Godin an e-mail to thank him for something that he created back in 2004.

For Seth it was probably just a small thing, but he created the idea and then did the important work of making it happen.

Today in his blog, Seth was talking about urgent versus important.  It’s something we all know, but we need a reminder every day.

Everyday, other people’s attempt to sell us on the urgency of their priorities works to take us away from doing the things that are important to the body of work that we should be creating one small thing at a time.

Today, what was important, was to thank Seth.

Seth Godin developed the idea for ChangeThis, a website aimed at spreading ideas through PDF files.

In the summer of 2004, Godin hired five interns-Amit Gupta, Catherine Hickey, Noah Weiss, Phoebe Espiritu and Michelle Sriwongtong-to build and develop the website.

Seth Godin, Hugh MacLeod, Brian Solis, Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson from 37signals, Guy Kawasaki, Chris Anderson, Jay Conrad Levinson, Tom Peters, Malcolm Gladwell and Robert Scoble all had manifestos featured on ChangeThis.

In July 2005, Change This was turned over to 800-CEO-READ, the leading distributor of business literature in the United States.

Great ideas were spread to thousands of people.

Why is it important to thank Seth?

I know that thousands of people probably thank Seth for impacting their lives every day, but maybe today is the day that Seth forgets that he is making an impact.

No matter how many times we hear from people telling us that we’ve made a difference, the lizard brain creeps in and tells us we are insignificant in the noise of this world.

It’s not true, but the world is telling us urgently that we don’t matter.

It’s the small things that make the big impact.

Who knows what Seth Godin is feeling today.

Here’s the good news.

You can do something important today.  It’s easy and you can make a difference guaranteed.

Just tell someone that what they are doing matters.

Seth Godin does work every day that matters and so do you.

Just imagine if Seth (or you) stopped.

What a tragedy that would be.

Make sure that you don’t stop doing the important work and make sure that the people around you don’t stop doing the work that matters.

Something that Seth started way back in 2004 is still making a difference.

I just got word that “Change This” has approved my manifesto proposal titled: “The Impact Manifesto: You Make A Difference Whether You Want To Or Not”

Download it now at:

http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/108.03.ImpactFactor

All the best,

Ken McArthur
KenMcArthur.com
jvAlertLive.com
OneDayIntensive.com
TheImpactFactor.com


About Ken McArthur

Ken McArthur is the founder of ConnectLab.live, an AI relationship-intelligence and warm-intro platform that helps founders who are raising find the funds that fit and the people who can introduce them, and helps fund managers connect with the founders they back. He was recently accepted into Harvard Business School Foundry. He also writes Raise Smarter, a daily newsletter on what's really moving in early-stage fundraising. Ken challenges us to realize we ALL have an impact, whether we want to or not, on thousands of people we touch in our day-to-day lives, and he shows that simple things make a HUGE difference. ConnectLab.live grew out of that belief. Connection is the currency of the 21st Century, and the right introduction can change a company's future. Long before ConnectLab, Ken was the popular host of live events that brought together top-level marketers, entrepreneurs, business owners, corporations and non-profit organizations to build multi-million dollar joint venture relationships. He has managed product launches ranked in the top 400 sites on the Internet and is regularly asked to speak at leading marketing events. He created AffiliateShowcase.com, a pioneering affiliate program search engine and directory. He also founded the MBS Internet Research Center, which conducted the world's largest survey ever attempted on creating and launching successful information products. Ken was the official mentor for Sterling Valentine as he took his launch from zero to over $100,000 in less than 8 days, a proof of concept documented in Info Product Blueprint. Today he puts that same skill for connecting people and launching ideas to work for founders and the investors who back them.

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