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Billboards in the Desert

Courtesy of Joel Bedford

Courtesy of Joel Bedford

Did you know that almost none of Emily Dickinson’s poems were published during her lifetime? She spent a significant portion of her life not leaving her home, often not even leaving her room, just writing poetry and corresponding through letters with her few friends.

Recently, I posted What skills do you have that you’re not using? and Jacob Morgan guest posted If You Want to Promote Yourself…Then Promote!. Following this theme is the idea that it does not matter how proficient or amazing you are at something if no one is aware of it. There is of course a lot to be said for personal satisfaction, but what about your impact or your lasting legacy?

If you are working hard on something, risk a little pride, take a chance, and tell people. If you get some criticism, it will help to steer your future efforts. If you receive praise, it will be confirmation that you are doing something significant, something of value to others, a sign that you may have an impact of which you’re not even aware.

Is there anything you’ve been working on, or possibly neglecting working on, that might be of significance to the world? What would happen to you or those around you if you shared it? Could you be the living legend of your field? What about being its Emily Dickinson?

Go out today and everyday after and share your work and your passions. You might make a contribution you didn’t even know you could. Just don’t let your work go unnoticed and forgotten like a billboard in the desert.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Lessons, life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Interesting. And, besides billboards, I think we're remembering the finer art of networking in person even. Social Online Networking is all about the relationships, and so is in person networking. So while we're doing the work of becoming an expert, your encouragement to tell people about our passions are a great reminder. But I think of it more as connecting and relating, grassroots style, more than a billboard. Billboards are my metaphor for 20th century selling. There's a new medium, and the Obama Campaign is the poster child for success in Social Networking.

    <abbr>WineDiverGirl’s last blog post..Wineries in Social Media</abbr>
  • I "like" how every time I post a blog from my work computer the damn thing freezes up so I have to force restart http://tinyurl.com/5maep7
  • Thanks for the comment, Casey. That's a good point that you make. Details like that might not make you or me leaders in our field/s, but they flesh out our histories and have the potential to make us seem more familiar to those around us.
  • Very true. Too often social networking gives us a false sense of familiarity. You're not all mind-readers. Besides, if I don't say I used to develop databases in dBase II or commuted up and down the 405 through LA twice a day on a Honda Aspencade, how would anyone know about it? (Not that I would be able to do so today - it's just an example.)

    <abbr>MK (Casey) van Bronkhorst’s last blog post..SalesCast: Free Shipping for Holiday SilkFlowers</abbr>
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