September 11th - 20 Years Later
Editor’s Note: This newsletter was originally published on September 13th, 2022.
We are a couple of days removed from the twentieth anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attack that killed nearly 3000 people. In addition to the human, the social, and the economic impact of a nearly 20 year “War on Terror” that resulted from it.
For those of us alive then, the scenes are imprinted on our collective memories.
Interestingly, as I was preparing to watch the Atlanta Falcons – Philadelphia Eagles game today, I found it interesting that the pregame segment was a video segment narrated by Steve Buscemi that focused, not on September 11th, but September 12th.
The events of the September 11th attacks are still a shared memory. Sometimes lost over the past two decades is the resolve that Americans showed after them!
Much has changed and time has introduced new challenges, but we truly are those same people who ran into buildings, dug through the rubble, drove to provide relief, and worked to rebuild in the face of one of the most heinous acts of terrorism to have ever occurred on U.S. soil.
If there are lessons from that time that we could relearn, it is how we all look the same when we’re digging through a mess. It is how little time we have for small grievances when we are busy cleaning up from larger disasters. It is how few the differences are between us when comparing the relatively short time that we have to influence the world around us.
Here's A Couple Of Hints:
- Take 10-15 minutes to identify the two to three things that are truly most important to you.
- Audit the amount of time, money, and energy that you’ve spent trying to influence them for the better over the last 30 days.
- Regardless of what you found, schedule 20 minutes of focused time investing in each of them over the next week.
- Find one funny thing that you can share with the most important people in your life.
If for no other reason, take these four steps in memory of the others who no longer have the opportunity to do so!
Have a start to your week & I’d love to hear what your two to three things are! (I think there’d be some great things to celebrate and I’d love to hear them!)
P.S. On a more personal note, my Georgia Bulldogs improved to 2-0 with their victory over UAB on Saturday. Results from the above-mentioned Atlanta Falcons were not so positive. Kudos to Kirby Smart as he continues to “release the Hounds” upon opposing offenses & has their offense on the upswing. Arthur Smith & the Falcons have more work to do!
The positive news is #ItsFootballSeason and it’s a welcome diversion from debates over masks, vaccines, and variants. Here’s to more of it!
I’m working on a new blog post about Content Marketing that’ll drop in a few days. It’s primarily targeted toward our Attorney-friends, but there’s going to be a lot of “meat” for all of the storytellers & content creators in the group. (Yeah, this is a “right-hook” ask that you check it out & hopefully share it once it ‘goes live’.)
While preparing some of the supporting material and quotes, I found this one from Frank Capra that will be a part of the post.
Most of us intrinsically agree with his point, but like him, we continue telling stories and trying to generate responses by sharing them from our own frame of reference. Actors have this problem. Content creators struggle with this. We all keeping missing this simple fact even in our day-to-day interactions and relationships with other people.
We’re telling the stories from our point-of-view and why it is important/meaningful to us!
It has been almost twenty years since Rick Warren wrote The Purpose-Driven Life (Zonderman 2002). Central to the book’s thesis is the idea that “It’s Not About You.”
Warren’s book isn’t unique. Leaders from business, faith, etc keep reminding us that is about their perspective, their experience, and what they feel.
Yet somehow, the messages we send are too often shared from our own point-of-view (and worse, poorly-disguised vehicles asking for what we want).
I’d love to hear if this is a problem that’s unique to me. Does anyone else have this challenge too?
…and in the spirit of audience interest, what things might you like to see differently out of this weekly email? Feel free to share your thoughts on “Do More” or “Do Less” or, better yet, “Start To Do”. I always appreciate the feedback!
For those checking out the book reviews, I reviewed E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. You can check out my notes at this link.
Keep a lookout as I just finished One Million Followers by Brendan Kane and will be posting my notes for that one soon.
Other Links
Young Lawyer Survival Tips
While I’m not an attorney, Sirus Digital provides services and guidance to them related to their digital strategy. LawPracticeToday.com has this good post with advice for newer attorneys getting started. It is a challenging career and getting off on the “right foot” serves as a foundation for continued success.
Content Marketing Metrics: Measure Your Success
As mentioned above, my upcoming post on Content Marketing for legal firms will be published in a few days. One of the sections deals with metrics (specifically measuring success). This post from Screpy.com is a good starter on the topic.
Faceted Navigation
For websites that publish content on more than one topic, Faceted Navigation (or “topic filters”) has a big impact on site usability/navigability and SEO overall. Most businesses talk about more than one thing so how you subdivide & segment content has a big impact on traffic & on-site time. Ahrefs.com breaks down the technical and content considerations to keep in mind as you execute your strategy.
A number of the links in this newsletter deal with SEO/SERP & how we can generate traffic/build audiences with content. The below links from Moz.com, Seosly.com, and NeilPatel.com provide some solid foundation & tooling that you can use to start (or improve) your site’s rankings and visits.
- Three (3) SEO “Bosses” – Considerations for your SEO strategy
- SEO Tools – List of paid and free tools for your SEO practices
- SEO Audit Tools – List of paid and free tools to measure/audit your website’s SEO status
- SEO Tools – Which Features Are Most Valuable? – Thoughts from Neil Patel on what features you need to look for in your SEO toolbox
