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Before I get into this post, I’d like to say that this post marks my 400th post since March 14th, 2007.
I know what you must be thinking, “Dan you’ve officially lost your mind.” In the past two weeks, I’ve really been thinking about sleep being an opportunity cost of connecting with more people online. I’ve been preaching this nonstop to people in the web 2.0 space and they look at me funny at the beginning and then after I explain a few major points, they agree. It’s very hard for me to go to sleep these days.
I used to post once a day, Monday through Friday, but now I have doubled that, along with the book, video series, magazine and full-time job. Most people think that is rather unhealthy, yet I think it’s a requirement if you’re passionate about your topic and understand the networking capacity on the web today.
Passion
Passion is a very interesting word. To me, passion means having an incredible feeling inside of yourself, which translates outside. Passion makes you go crazy! When you are passionate, you never quit, you’re always excited and it has a great impact on everyone you are in contact with. When you have that energy flowing through you constantly, it’s hard to go to sleep, period. Heck a lot of people wonder why I don’t drink coffee (I’ve never had a sip in my life), yet work 13 or so hours a day. Passion blocks out negative thoughts and focuses on the good.
Connectivity and accessibility
I think you know that web 2.0 has made us all hyperconnected. Between the ability to access everything on your mobile phone to being able to send 140 characters to thousands of people at once, it’s obvious that we are connected and what we say counts. It is this connectivity that begs to have more hours in each day, yet we can’t. We are humans and love to interact with one another. When this occurs online, it happens with more people in less time and can scale substantially.
Since a percentage of our world has adopted these tools, it has, in effect, put everyone on the same ground. Famous people such as Alyssa Milano, Anna Kournikova, and John Mayer have blogs. They are accessible and want to be contacted. For instance, John Mayer promotes his email address (john@johnmayer.com) on his blog. Another example is MC Hammer, who lists my blog on his top 10 favorite blog list. Hammer uses Twitter and responds to your messages. None of this would happen in a web 1.0 world. It happens because celebrities are using the same tools we are and it’s a more open world now.
Take my company, EMC, for example. We have an EVP on Facebook and a few VP bloggers that can easily be contacted, not just by their peers, but by YOU. I’ll stop with examples because I know you get the point.
Theory
I strongly believe the fact that any new person you meet could change your life for the better. The accessibility and connectivity that web 2.0 creates allow you (yes, even you the marketing associate or you, the intern) a channel to meet some very successful people. We dream about starting businesses, climbing the corporate ladder and having a fulfilling life and now it’s right in front of us. Literally, these people are a few mouse clicks away.
I can’t sleep because I know who I’ve already met and who I’m bound to meet if I put the time in. Sleep is overrated (I’m saying this with a possible cold) because it’s time you could be spending networking online. It’s true and I promise you that if you sacrifice an hour more of sleep, you will become more successful. You snooze you lose!
Competitively, while you are asleep, everyone else is making the connections that YOU need. Next time you curl up with your pillow, remember that and see if you can go back to bed 😉
