Setting goals is what January 1st is all about. Over the last few years, I’ve practiced something I call “my 3 words,” where I come up with three words that I use as guidance for how I should conduct my efforts in the year to come. I set goals around these three words. I build deadlines and projects around these words. They don’t have to mean anything to you, but the process might prove interesting to you, especially if you’ve found goal-setting difficult in the past.

My three words for 2010 are Be, Empower and Passion. As Chris states, your three words don’t need to make sense to everyone as long as they hold meaning for you.

• Be refers to “being present”. Being in the moment 100% without distraction. Being present for others. Being present to who I’m being so I can execute at my absolute best.
• Empower refers to empowering those around me. I cannot accomplish what I want to accomplish unless I empower those around me. Life is a team sport.
• Passion acts as a reminder to do what I enjoy and enjoy what I do.

Would your company benefit from defining three words for 2010? We’re already working on ours!

I’ve shared my three words. What are yours?

We speak with customer service representatives on a daily basis. It can be a very frustrating experience. That frustration can lead to a need to vent. Recently, we’ve vented on Twitter.

Twitter has become so popular that many companies are monitoring Twitter for real time feedback about their products. Call it “brand protection”. If a company sees a negative comment about their product they are jumping on the opportunity to fix the situation. See also our earlier blog, What is Twitter? (and why you should care) where we posted:

Twitter is impactful because people are moving towards consulting their peers in real time about their experiences via Social Media. Had a great steak? Take a picture with your phone and share it, instantly, with all of your followers. Wondering why traffic is so bad? Ask the “Twitterverse” and find out. Looking to interact directly with the consumers of your products? Bingo! Twitter is your answer!

This week we tweeted our frustration about two vendors and within the hour they responded to us on Twitter and within four business hours we received follow up phone calls from Managers who offered us an ideal solution. Why we couldn’t reach that same solution via standard support channels is still a challenge that companies need to fix, but getting the right type of support is an improvement over no support at all.

If someone searches on Twitter about your product do you want them to see a lot of negative feedback or only positive customers raving about support? What are people saying about your company on Twitter? If you don’t know, maybe you should find out.

Got an opinion? Let us know!

10-28-2009 UPDATE: We have chosen to go with the Techified WordPress Theme. We like it and we hope you do too!