Easy is hard - And Hard can be Easy; our Video

A couple random thoughts -

First of all, technology wise, these days I'm feeling like it's amazing how challenging it can be to do the things that people find easy. And sometimes, the things that seem challenging are incredibly easy with the luck of good accidents - or just information.

In the category of the former, I made a very conscious decision that Teens Run Yonkers needed to connect to the social media world in a more consistent, strategic and focused way. Since I'm lucky to have contacts in both the for-profit and non-profit world, I was particularly impressed by how some of my friends -that are leaders in those industries seemed to have the magic touch. So, I took the time to read things like Socialnomics (book on social media), read blogs, asked for help and studied how exactly all these things - well more specifically facebook, twitter, linkedin, blogs etc - link. I was sure there must be a formula for the right number of tweets per day, when to connect your twitter posts to facebook (and when not to) and all kinds of other "rules" I was convinced existed. You know what? (and I'm not disparaging anyone who is providing techniques or workshops on this stuff because I'm sure there's value in it) but for me, there's just doing. So, I've been trying it all. Honestly, I'm not sure where it's all leading but blocking out an hour to do this stuff is no big deal. And at the end of the day, getting thoughts out on paper can never be a bad thing.

On the flip side of hard to easy, I was filling out an application to go to a free nonprofit workshop. One of the last questions or requirements was to make a one minute video of yourself saying why you'd like to be included - and simply put the url to the video. I was stopped in my place. While, I certainly know how to make an iphone video of myself and did so after a few takes, I had no clue how to get that video hosted. Fortunately, one TRY's more tech saavy mentors pointed me to a video on youtube instructing you. It turns out to be ridiculously easy - there's an option right on the camera that with a touch of a button, allows you to send it to youtube.

I'm not sure there's really a moral to this story other than 1) sometimes you just have to do something to learn how to do something and 2) don't be afraid to ask for help - chances are the answers in front of you and it just takes a nudge to find it

And speaking of our film director/tech saavy friend, one more shameless plug for checking out our Teens Run Yonkers video - for me, it's even more inspiring than watching all six Rocky's back to back - these guys and gals are the best:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWRGRAod0no