General

I was told by the great Cheryl Smithem that I should never have a category of “undetermined”, and I agree with her. So instead of that I have a “General” category. Everything that doesn’t have a defined home somewhere else belongs here. This is my grab bag.

It's Time For A Change

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As some of you already know, I am kind of nuts. Yes, I admit it. I am not going to say I am alone in this condition, but I will say that I need to spend some time and effort straightening out my head. It is time for a change. So, to that end, I … Read more

In The End We Name Ourselves – Exercise #18

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In Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare asks us, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” That all may be well and good, but names do have strength. This goes back to the ancient belief that if we name something or know a creature’s real name, then we have power over it. So while the task for Kindle in my namethis exercise may sound easy, “The Meaning Behind Your Blog Name”, the story behind that meaning is much more important.

Ok, directly, this site is my blog and it bears my name, Michael Carnell. Simple as that. But it didn’t always have that name. And in the past it wasn’t even my blog. If we go way back, this was my personal business site, business only, and it was named “Palmettobug Digital.” In fact if you got to http://www.Palmettobug.com it still brings you right here. Palmettobug Digital was my professional business identity. On the personal side I had a blog titled “Postcards From Myself”. A cute little title that not only indicated that I was trying to post a good number of pictures, but that I also wanted to travel, and that what I was writing was as much a reminder to me of what was going on as anything else.

Now jump forward a few years – my business is doing better, I am doing more public speaking and writing, and people are becoming more familiar with my work and my name. Well the problem is that outside of the Southern United States for the most part, no one knows what a palmettobug is. By the way, palmettobugs are cockroaches. And, as my friend and unofficial business advisor Andra Watkins pointed out to me one day, those folks who do know what a palmettobug is don’t like them. It was not very inviting to new clients. And the name really didn’t have anything to do with my vocation or skills, it was just some interesting local color. Understanding that then, I started to consider new names for my business. Well, duh, it finally hit me that it was me people knew or were looking for. It was my name that was on those magazine articles and book chapters, it was me standing up giving presentations, and it was my name that was my most reliable search term. With that, my name became my brand.

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Pride Goeth Before Parenthood – Exercise #17

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Today’s exercise is about pride. I am going to switch it up a bit, use multiple definitions, and generally do what I feel like. So when the exercise says,”What is your proudest moment,” what I’m going to tell you about is me being proud of my kids. So we are talking about pride in a pride. I am doing this for two reasons.

Carnell KidsFirst is that although I am happy about things I have done, I don’t take huge amounts of pride in my accomplishments. What I do usually involves a lot of people as a team, not just me working by myself. I have partners in business, in hobbies, and in life. So I can’t and won’t take credit for everything goes on. Very often it is other people fixing my mistakes or polishing my rough work that makes me look good.

Second, what I really am proud of is what my kids have done. And what they will do. They are still young and have a lot of time ahead of them, but if their history is any indication then their futures will be burning bright. If I leave nothing in the world other than the legacy of these two young adults, I can be content with that. I have a feeling that they will both leave their marks on people in great ways.

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