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We need more doing these days. Dreaming is great, talking can get us there, but doing is where it’s at. I don’t want to contribute more noise. I want to contribute more cool stuff.

Here’s what I’ve been doing in the past few months:

CreativeMornings/Minneapolis
It’s a free monthly event with coffee, a great speaker, and creative people from around Minneapolis and St. Paul. A few of our speakers this year include Mark Wheat from the Current, Brother Ali, and Kieran Folliard of 2 Gingers. In October, I got to hang out in Brooklyn at the CM Summit with other CreativeMornings teams from all over the world. 2015 will be a big year. Check us out here and come to our next event: www.creativemornings.com/msp

What I’m learning: I’m so lucky to be part of this team. Good things happen when you work together. Everyone should build stuff that’s more about what you can give rather than take. Everyone is creative.

Co-taught a Social Media Strategy course at the University of Northwestern-St Paul
For one month, I helped teach a class on social strategy at the college I attended and graduated from. We had students write a social strategy, and build a WordPress site, Facebook Page, and Twitter profile. It was a great exercise for me in clearly communicating what I do every day. Huge thanks to some of my social media friends (Haley, Clark, Carrie, and Rena) for guest speaking as well!

What I’m learning: Teaching needs to be about listening. I want to keep doing things that seem scary at first.

Packing meals in Dallas, Chicago, and Atlanta
During the past year, Feed My Starving Children has hosted many very large meal packing events across the country. Our volunteer experience is all about doing, action, and teamwork. Thousands of volunteers participated to pack millions of life-giving meals. I traveled to events in Dallas, Chicago, and Atlanta to meet with our volunteers, take pictures, do social, and run some video and audio.

What I’m learning: People want to be part of something bigger.

I bet you have a dream you should be turning into a project. Adding a person or two can really give the thing life. Make cool stuff with cool people and pour yourself into it.

I used to think this character didn’t want to try Green Eggs and Ham because he was grumpy. Sam-I-Am needed to stop acting like a caffeinated car salesman.

Then I realized the truth. He isn’t annoyed. He’s afraid. Afraid of new things, of adventure, of breaking a comfortable and predictable routine. Look at his eyes.

We know the end of the story. He tries Green Eggs and Ham and loves them. His fear melts away.

Don’t let fear stop you from trying new things. You might like those Green Eggs and Ham after all.

Seth Godin has taught me more than any other writer or marketer. Whether I’m reading his daily blog or books, Seth’s thoughts on building remarkable things, learning, creativity, and bravery are rich.

Here are 15 great keynote speeches or interviews from Seth Godin. Each is completely worth the time.

How to Get Your Ideas to Spread at TED (18:59)

Thinking Backwards at CreativeMornings NYC (19:21)

Seth Godin CreativeMornings Q&A (20:48)

Seth Gives Advice to Entrepreneurs (5:03)

The Tribes We Lead at TED (17:23)

Seth Talks About What We Need To Do Now with Bernadette Jiwa (14:58)

INBOUND 2013 Keynote (55:54)

Sculpting the Future at Further with Ford (8:04)

Stop Stealing Dreams at TEDx (16:57)

How to Win at Business on Behind the Brand (44:27)

This Is Broken! (20:13)

Art and Science and Making Things (27:14)

Failing Until You Succeed at Entrepreneur (20:35)

Overpowering Your Lizard Brain (4:04)

Medicine Ball Session (54:01)

I just came back from an event called “Best of Social Media Summit” in Washington DC. I’m on a high.

This group is comprised of some of the top Social Media Managers in the country. We spent several days listening to amazing speakers, learning about new strategies for social, and supporting and spurring each other on to do big things. The personal and professional relationships I’ve formed are priceless.

Conference events can take you to a different place. Most people experience the High, but even after it’s over, there’s more.

Part 1. The High.

New learning and new faces and new ideas take us higher. It’s that feeling of going to summer camp or an overseas missions trip. The High. You go, experience something new, and you get fired up.

We feel invincible, wanting to take on the world. When we get home, we’re excited to rearrange our desk, our pencils, and our calendar. These new concepts and learning will help us do our jobs differently. We’re determined and amped to bring change.

Part 2. Life Goes On.

The experience ends. When we get back to our homes and our jobs, we realize the problems, frustrations, and struggles are all still here.

Doubt sets in. My boss won’t let me. People don’t “get social media.” We have no budget, no time, no support. Maybe these new changes can’t happen.

Momentum is lost. We give up.

But there’s more! We must not stop!

Part 3. Rebound (or Moving Towards the Real High).

If we want real change to happen, we must be ready for Rebound. Slingshot yourself back towards the High with the momentum you can feel pulling you back down to the Normal.

You might not be able to recreate the original High, but the Real High is where you’ll get stuff done. Review your conference notes and Tweets. Meditate on an important principle that inspired you. Email a new friend from the conference and reignite a conversation.

Yes, real life is back, but you’ve learned these new lessons for a reason. Stay focused and be patient. Things will not change overnight. Don’t let your new passion get lost.

“Tomorrow is too late, yesterday is over and now is exactly the right moment. So start.” -Seth Godin

Most people don’t write a book. If you want to write a book, you have to do things most people aren’t.

Most people don’t run a marathon. If you want to run a marathon, act like someone in the minority.

Most people don’t know how to shoot pictures well or write code or speak three languages. If you want to do these things, create a plan that seems strange to most people. When people start pointing out that you’re being weird, you know you’re on the right track.

Don’t expect different results without being different. Be weird.

Did you know you can make a $25 microloan to a rice farmer in the Philippines? Or a woman in Nicaragua who wants to expand her garment shop? Or a livestock owner in Tajikistan who wants to improve their farm?

Kiva is a microlending platform that matches up borrowers with lenders to alleviate poverty through small loans. Make a $25 loan and when the borrower pays it back, you can lend the money again. It’s an easy and fun way to empower people to help themselves.

Right now, I want to give you a free $25 to lend on Kiva. When you sign up, I get a free $25 too. This will literally cost you nothing more than five minutes to click and make your first loan.

I’ve already made seven different loans through Kiva to borrowers in Kenya, Tajikistan, Liberia, Cambodia, and the Philippines. Join me.

Shahryar was the king of a vast Persian Empire. His wife betrayed him, convincing Shahryar that all women would eventually do the same.

Shahryar married a new woman every day. Each morning the new bride would be beheaded. This daily ritual went on for three years.

One day, the King married Scheherazade, his advisor’s daughter. Scheherazade was not only beautiful–she was a well-read storyteller.

That night, Scheherazade began telling the King a story. Shahryar was enthralled. As the sun began to rise, she stopped telling the story midway through. The King begged for more, but Scheherazade promised to continue the next night.

Night two began. Scheherazade finished her first story and began another. Night after night, she started a story but stopped it short, buying another day of life from the curious King. Among Scheherazade’s many tales was Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor, and Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.

Scheherazade ran out of stories after 1,001 Nights, but Shahryar’s heart had changed. He had fallen in love. Shahryar made Scheherazade his queen.

Many organizations die because they don’t tell enough stories for people to fall in love.

A young man named Ted was working as a cartoonist at The Judge, a humor magazine. His work had received some positive praise.

Among his first fan letters, was a short note from a condemned murderer on death row in Huntsville, Texas.

“If your stuff is the kind of thing they’re publishing nowadays, I don’t so much mind leaving.”

A man about to die chose to spend some of his last moments writing this note. It could have stopped Ted from ever drawing another cartoon.

Instead, Ted was mesmerized by the letter. He kept it in his desk the rest of his life.

At his desk, he wrote many books including Horton Hears A Who, Green Eggs and Ham, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Ted’s last name was Geisel, and his pen name was Dr. Seuss.

In 1896, Lord Delamere saw central Kenya for the first time. He immediately fell in love.

Lord Delamere had been to Africa before. As an avid hunter, he had taken yearly hunting trips to Somaliand. During one hunt, Delamere was attacked and mauled by a lion. His Somali gunbearer dove on the lion, giving Delamere enough time to make use of his rifle and escape with his life. Delamere gained a new level of respect and admiration for Somalis.

After seeing central Kenya, Delamere applied for a land grant, purchased a ranch, and moved to the north of Nakuru. He grew in his passion for the land and for the Maasi people. Over the course of the next 20 years, Delamere became known as an pioneer for Kenyan agriculture and the East African dairy industry. His constant experimenting with crops led to many breakthroughs that shaped the future.

Many of Delamere’s experiments also failed. Most took years to be profitable. Challenges aside, there was at least one lesson he learned in a harder way than needed.

Delamere was baffled how northern Kenya could have such lush, green grass fields, but the Maasi people weren’t using them to feed their cattle. Certainly he had discovered an untapped resource.

Lord Delamere began importing British cattle, spending a fortune. The truth was quickly discovered.

In “Walking With The Poor,” Bryant Myers says, “The grass in that particular part of the Rift Valley lacks a key nutrient that results in poor milk production, resulting in the death of most calves. This, of course, was something that every Maasi boy knew but was never asked.”

Our good intentions, cleverness, and hard work aren’t enough. We must listen.