Changing the World Starts with You: Personal Development for a Purposeful Life

Summary – Collaboration with ChatGPT

My blog post emphasizes the importance of personal development as a foundation for making meaningful contributions to others and improving the world. Drawing inspiration from quotes by Margaret Mead and Simon Zingerman, the post underscores that everyone has talents that can be harnessed to contribute positively. The twinz, Bill and Don Tomoff, encourage individuals to dedicate themselves to continual learning and self-improvement, guided by the question: “How can I contribute with my talents?”

The draft incorporates insights from two recent blog posts by Seth Godin:

  1. “Better at being better” (December 12, 2024): While Godin discusses this concept from an organizational standpoint, the #TwinzTalk message adapts it for individuals. The post highlights the transformative power of committing to ongoing improvement, which is both challenging and rewarding.
  2. “Our new school” (December 25, 2024): Godin emphasizes the cumulative power of small, consistent actions, likening it to the ocean being made of drops. This resonates with the #TwinzTalk philosophy that daily efforts can create significant change over time.

I leave a call to action that aligns with the #TwinzTalk theme: “Changing the world, one interaction, one person, at a time.” It ties the message back to our core values of personal development, urging readers to believe in their ability to make a difference through steady, thoughtful dedication to learning and sharing to lift others.

Full Blog Post

In our personal development work, my twin Don and I emphasize the importance of building a foundation of skills and expertise so that individuals can contribute to others and make the world a better place.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

–Margaret Mead

“Using your talent, hobby, or profession in a way that makes you contribute with something good to this world is truly the way to go.”

–Simon Zingerman

We all have talents that we can contribute to making the world better. Let’s care and dedicate ourselves to continual learning. Then, we should always ask ourselves, “How can I contribute with my talents?

**

Seth Godin recently published two blog posts that resonated with me. They encouraged us all to be better and that our efforts matter. The posts:

Blog December 12, 2024, “Better at being better.” Seth speaks from an organizational perspective, but #TwinzTalk encourages us to consider his encouragement individually.

“What truly changes the game is when an organization decides to commit to being better at being better.

That’s hard to do and difficult to compete against.”

Blog December 25, 2024, “Our new school.” Seth emphasizes that significant impact starts with small, consistent drips of effort. We all can make a difference! Believe.

“The ocean is made of drops.”

We all can change the world through daily drips and drips of effort.

**

“Changing the world, one interaction, one person, at a time.”

#TwinzTalk theme – Bill and Don Tomoff

2019 | #TwinzTalk Don and Bill Tomoff
December 11, 2022 | Bill and Terri Tomoff with Seth Godin

Making a Ruckus with AI: A Call to Action for Agile Thinkers

Are you on the sideline thinking about using AI tools such as ChatGPT Plus and Claude.AI? Hard stop – listen to the incredible wisdom of Seth Godin on Branding & Marketing In The Age of AI with Stephen Houraghan.

When ChatGPT was introduced on November 30, 2023, Don Tomoff and I quickly thought, “We need to understand what is happening here.” Since then, we have been stunned by the potential of this technology to assist us personally and professionally. We encourage anyone to adopt the ChatGPT Plus Pro plan for $20 per month and dedicate daily time to experimenting and getting a sense of the technology. We focus on narrowing the path to help others enter the AI-enabled world. For a quick start, see blog post dated February 14, 2024, ChatGPT Lite – How to Get Started: Introduction Part 1 of 6.

In the podcast episode linked below, Stephen asks Seth about his thoughts on the impact of AI. The image below speaks volumes. When Seth heard the question – he smiled as if to say “I was hoping you would ask this question!” For almost four minutes, Seth made compelling points that everyone should pay heed to:

  1. “I think AI is the biggest change in our world since the invention of electricity. A bigger change than the internet.”
  2. “If you are not using it for half an hour a day, you don’t understand.”
  3. “Every word I put out there with my name on it [Seth Godin blog, etc.] was written by me. But if I was starting today, that would not be true.”
  4. “What AI does today is it replaces competence… The only space left is to not be simply competent… You have to figure out how to do something that AI couldn’t do because that is the only thing worth charging for.”
  5. “When you are doing work that could be done by AI, you should have AI do it so you can get back to the work that we need to pay you for.”
  6. “You have helped create change. And now, change is coming after you.”
  7. “The opportunities for agile, smart people to take advantage of AI over the next three years are enormous.”

The last point bears repeating for emphasis: “The opportunities for agile, smart people to take advantage of AI over the next three years are enormous.

The YouTube video posted here will start at 32:18 when Stephen asks the AI question. The conversation goes to 36:00 minutes. Embrace these four minutes of learning Seth’s thoughtful and dramatic observations about the future of AI and what every professional needs to do now.

As Seth would encourage, “Go. Make a ruckus.” Please. The world needs your contribution. AI will help you create value for yourself and your ability to contribute and help others!

Introducing Brainstorm Road – Community of Practice!

https://vimeo.com/788345059
What is Brainstorm Road?

It is exciting to hear of the introduction of the Brainstorm Road initiative that is coming in March 2023, led by Kristin Hatcher (Founder of Writing in Community) and Margo Aaron, with the support of Seth Godin.

Brainstorm Road is a new “community of practice” available after the current WIC session ends. Akimbo is not going forward with the WIC initiative, and Brainstorm Road appears to be an exciting new initiative! Terri and I were excited to see the recent update and the introduction to the concept on the website.

The idea of Brainstorm Road is to bring together a community of people interested in “leveling up” (as Seth would encourage) to ship their work to the world. Beyond the current mission of writing in community, BR is adopting a more expanded approach to help those who have a creative dream and would like support to hit a “finish line” with a plan they might be holding inside them. The introduction website notes:

“It’s not online learning. It’s online practice.”

“Finish your novel, launch your podcast, publish your website”

“Brainstorm Road is a community of practice organized around a weekly shipping commitment.”

I will join the community excited to hear about the dreams that participants plan to accomplish. WIC profoundly changed Terri and me – our writing adventure has taken many paths over the last 2 and 1/2 years – and we look forward to continuing to be inspired by others, helping others, and creating work that we might not even realize yet! This six-month program is the start of an exciting new adventure!

Take the time to watch the 11-minute video discussion What is Brainstorm Road, between Seth, Kristin, and Margo, to learn more. Then sign up to be on the waitlist for the March 2023 launch. You and the world need your work!