It’s 6:26am, Saturday morning I’m sitting in the lobby of the beautiful Gaylord Hotel Resort and Convention Centre, and I’m still on a high after opening up the Blogalicious 2011 Conference with my Keynote address yesterday morning.  The energy at this conference is next level, and I was truly honoured to be blessed with this opportunity.  Got a chance to speak to so many incredible people, build with them, and share with them.  It’s been a great time here in DC.

Wanted to take the opportunity to post the key take aways from my talk as future reference tools and discussion points in order to keep this stimulating conversation about passion finding going.  Don’t hesitate to reach out to me, I’m always down to engage.

Thanks to everyone in attendance, and please know that I appreciate every single one of your incredibly supportive and wonderful comments.  You all helped contribute to one of the most magical experiences in my life thus far.

Cheers.

#keepgoing

Jesse

“Connecting with U” – Key take aways from #Blogalicious11 opening Keynote address w/ @iamjessejones

Main Thought: Before connecting with the outside world, it’s important that we take the time to figure out who we are, and what truly drives us as those findings can directly dictate our paths. “the most important and most masterful connection we will ever make, is the one with ourselves.”

UNCOVER IT
-          SACRIFICE: Take the time to focus on uncovering the true reasons for why you do what you do. It may take some sacrifice and a trip back to the drawing board, but “It’s never too late to take the bus.”

TALK ABOUT IT
-          COMMUNICATE YOUR INTERESTS: Share, share, share, share, share! When you meet people, make sure they know what you’re about. You never know who will share your interests and who could potentially be your next partner.  If you don’t let people know what you’re up to, who will?

THE POWER OF RELATIONSHIPS
-          RELATIONSHIPS ARE LIKE PLANTS. THEY NEED TO BE WATERED: Develop earnest and honest relationships, not for what they can do for you in the instant, but harness them and develop with people you genuinely believe in, subscribe to, and like. That’s where the best scenarios stem from.
-          It’s important to always ask ourselves: Who and/or what are we surrounding ourselves with day in and day out?  And are these people and/or things contributing to the uplift and betterment of us as individuals?  Or are they doing the opposite?  Will Smith said that the 5 people we spend the most time around can directly affect where we’re heading.
-          Don’t get caught up on # of followers.  Build with those that have made the decision to build with you.  Create an army with them.  Work with and harness the relationship with the 50 followers that you have, rather than being concerned with how to get the 5000. Cultivate and develop your relationships and allow your brand the opportunity to grow.
-          No need to focus on trying to convert those who haven’t made an effort to build with you. Focus energy on the ones that do.

WE ARE THE BRAND
-           “WE ARE WHAT WE TWEET” – How are we handling ourselves on social media? Is our timeline truly representative of who we are, and what we want to convey? We are what we tweet.
-          Your next tweet could directly reflect your next opportunity. Positively, or negatively.
-          EMBRACE YOUR DEFINING DIFFERENCE – This is what makes you, you.  One should never shy away from this.  It’ s not about what your competitors are doing.  It’s about understanding what your true brand dna is, and working that to the fullest.

IT’S OKAY TO BE HUMAN
-          Mistakes are part of the game. Keep playing.
-          Character is shown, not through the mistake but from how we come back from the mistake, and how we learn from the mistake.
-          You’ll never hit the pitches that you don’t swing for.  Don’t stand in the batter’s box waiting for the “perfect pitch”. Keep swinging. #keepgoing.
-          “DONT LET THE PERFECT BE THE ENEMY OF THE POSSIBLE”

BE UNCOMFORTABLE
-          UNCOVERING WHAT ONE IS TRULY CONNECTED TO AND MAKING A LIFE OUT OF IT IS TRULY A JOURNEY
-          EVERY EXPERIENCE IS A PART OF WHAT EVENTUALLY SHAPES US
-          THE PAINFUL MOMENTS ARE WHERE GROWTH LIVES. Embrace the tough times. Lean forward if only a little bit, and #keepgoing
-          LOOK WITHIN YOUR DAY TO DAY LIVES AND CONSIDER THE PASSION AND LOVE YOU HAVE FOR WHAT YOU DO
-          AND IF THERE’S DOUBT, MAKE A STEP TO FIND OUT WHAT YOUR TRUE PASSION IS
-          Don’t fear stepping into YOUR “yoga class” of new opportunity.  You may not know everything from the get go, but learning is growing.

I recently took up Yoga. Like, very recently. It’s been just under 2 weeks. I’ve done 3 classes to date and after intense muscle soreness and surprise I’m close to being hooked on a new (for me) form of both full body workout and relaxation that I didn’t know before. It’s something new for me that I’ve embraced, and surprisingly I’m loving it. But, it didn’t start there, in fact on the very first day I decided to go, I got to the room, saw a full class of women and almost chickened out, saying to myself, “there’s no way I’m going to put myself in this situation, not knowing what I’m doing and having to learn as I go along in front of all of them, no way!” (Note: I’m chuckling to myself as I write this because in hindsight the moment I’m describing is kinda humourous) My pride, whether at the time it be “masculine macho pride” or not, literally almost got in the way of experiencing something that has turned out to be pretty positive and beneficial to me.

The initial situation was incredibly uncomfortable. Even though I had already made my mind up about trying yoga out, I had thought about it for months prior, read and heard about all of its benefits and had decided that yes I am going to go try this thing out. Even with a prior commitment to it, I was there, looking into the room as the first class was about to begin and I was considering turning around.

Why?

Because I was uncomfortable.

I actually even walked back to the change-room and was considering doing my regular workout regimen for the day. As I was walking back to the change-room though something was speaking to me inside. Something was telling me that I came to the gym to take that class, and I should follow through on that commitment I had already made in my mind. Even though I was pretty uncomfortable about putting myself into unknown territory, and didn’t know everything there was to know about where I was about to go. There was also the group of people in the class I considered to be “experts” whom I felt I would look ridiculous in front of because I “didn’t know what I was doing”. All of these factors almost lead me to lose out on an experience that two weeks later I’m finding is contributing positively to me in ways I didn’t even consider originally.

I use the above examples to say this: How many times have we neglected to go in a direction in our lives simply because it felt a bit uncomfortable to do so? Perhaps pride got in the way, or maybe it was just the fear of the unknown that stopped us from pursuing that desire. What’s crazy is that, the unknown is only one step away from being “the known”, and even though there’s just one step between the two, one has to actually take that step, and make that leap. To illustrate my point, I’m making use of a simple yoga example, but my “yoga” story may be your “desire to start a small business” story, or it may be the new job opportunity you want to pursue, or that new place you’ve wanted to travel to for some time now, or that new project you’ve been meaning to start, or that passion you want to pursue. All things we’ve already thought about, considered, and decided in our minds we’d love to do at some point, but because the time isn’t perfect, just haven’t gotten to it.

My father once gave me a quote he heard that’s stuck with me forever and it reads: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the possible.” And let me tell you, those words couldn’t be more true. The “perfect time” never comes. There will always be reasons not to start on your dreams. Always. In fact there quite often may be more reasons not to start, than to start! Comfort is a heck of a thing. It’s said to be the thing we should all strive for, and while I believe comfort is a great thing, I also feel that at times it does us a huge disservice. Because too much comfort, can sometimes lead to a lack of new experiences. We get comfortable with life’s “workouts” and we feel we are completely okay with just that. Thus we shy away from experiencing the new “yoga classes” around us. The unknown makes us, uncomfortable.

I know it’s hard sometimes to go out on the limb, but (at the risk of sounding a bit cliché) that’s where the fruit is. I’m experiencing this as we speak, as I embark on this crazy new chapter of my life as an entrepreneur where I’m literally putting myself out there with endeavors I’ve never before taken on. To be completely honest, most days I feel very uncomfortable, but that feeling doesn’t last and many great things have come and are coming from my decision to take a chance on things that I deeply believe in, and just go for it. I know I’m not alone on that either. Many of you can probably say the same for experiences you’ve had in your own lives. I’ve always said, two things are for sure. We will all die one day, and we’ll always be sure to fail from time to time. I can’t come back from death, but I can most certainly come back from failure. I’d rather try, and fail, than to not try at all.

So with that I ask this: is there a “yoga class” that you’re on the outside looking into? Are you literally standing at the door of life’s “yoga studio”, on the fence about whether or not to go in, simply because the unknown and uncomfortable nature of it all make you nervous? If so, open the door, walk in and take the class. Because you never know, you may gain a sense of flexibility you never even knew you had.

#KeepGoing

Jj

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I tend to assess my environments every so often, constantly reviewing what I’m surrounding myself with.  It’s a great self-check, and opportunity to regain control of one’s immediate space and development.

So today, ask yourself – Who are you running with?  And are they helping push you to the finish line, or are they holding you back in the race?

Jesse

Ep #1 (Part 1) Guest – MuchMusic’s Tyrone “T-RexXx” Edwards

Ep #1 (Part 2) Guest – MuchMusic’s Tyrone “T-RexXx” Edwards

Stay tuned for more Conversations coming soon!

Channeling Excitement For The Youth Vote

As we come up on this year’s election, a lot has been, and is being, said about the potential power of the youth vote. For many years the issue of youth voter apathy, the questions surrounding it, and why it occurs have been met with much debate.

Among many reasons it has been said that a “lack of knowledge” about politicians and institutions in Canada have been primary sources of the lower than hoped for voter turnouts by youth. And while the issue of youth voter apathy may not be a new one generation by generation, I want to consider another reason for its presence, and in the same breath perhaps provide a consideration for solution.

Let’s take a step back. Before even outlining that a “lack of knowledge” about institutions and party platforms is a leading cause in the apathy rates nationwide, what if we considered for a moment the potential impact on the desire or need to vote when there is “lack of knowledge” of self? Stay with me here.

What if we peeled back all of the layers and started with the individual? I am a firm believer that as a nation, if we begin to place top priority on uncovering one’s true passions and showing not only our youth, but people in general, how one can live their lives doing, not what they feel they must settle for, but what they feel they are truly meant for, we would be developing stronger and potentially more active members of society.

What I mean by that is this: if we have a growing number of individuals in society that are becoming more and more connected to their true passions in life, then all of a sudden political issues become more important.

Are you passionate about becoming a doctor or architect? Then education and tuition issues will and should matter to you, followed by tax concerns that will most definitely affect you.

Do you want to become a musician or plan for your band to make it big? Then funding into government arts programs are going to be of concern for you one day if not already.

If our youth have yet to understand themselves, how can they possibly understand how political parties, policies and agendas will affect them?

The discussion here is about a deeper connection to one’s purpose in life. I’ve always said that the words apathy, and youth together strike me as odd.

Have you ever seen the excitement in a young person’s eyes when they are truly passionate about something? You cannot bottle that energy in.

Our young people are not only our future, they are also some of the brightest and most optimistic individuals our society has to offer, but I believe that this optimism, this excitement, and this passion for life and civic duty can only truly be realized when the connection to self and one’s innate passions and purpose are realized.

So before we revisit the same recurring lists of considerations for voter apathy around election time, let us maybe step back and ask ourselves, how could youth voter apathy, and voter apathy in general, be improved if as a society we were urging people to figure out who they are meant to be?

Jesse Jones, 29, has a zest for life that is fuelled by ambition and positive energy. As the founder of TEN81 brand consultancy, he helps brands manage their public image and connect in an authentic way to their target audience through creative lifestyle-based marketing opportunities. Jones is also the founder of U-ology 101, a motivational presentation that helps people identify the things they are passionate about, develop strategies for harnessing those concepts, and build an action plan for success. His background includes working with a broad range of organizations, including Bell, Mattel, RBC, Converse, Energizer, Fuji Film and Ford. He is a member of the Toronto Star’s Youth Nation 2011 Panel.