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Huh? Have I redefined physics? Not at all, just borrowed a famous equation!

To rephrase Einstein, E=MC4; Effectiveness = Motivation x Commitment x Concentration x Clarity x Consistency, where motivation and commitment both include action as well as positive thinking, concentration is focus and clarity is having a clear objective.

Whilst “The  Secret” and the “Law of Attraction” are deserverdly popular – they have focused people’s attention on the important part their beliefs play in their daily lives, they miss out on the action element.  Empowering beliefs and positive thinking  on their own are not enough, otherwise we’d all win the lottery! Taken to its logical conclusion, if positive thinking and beliefs were all that is required, you needn’t even take the action of buying a ticket! But we know that’s absurd, we know that action and effort are required.

Yet the idea of putting effort into something has become unpopular as more and more people want a fast fix, quick buck, easy solution. If people really understood tha social media and networking is not a sprint, it’s a marathon as Gary Vaynerchuk is fond of saying, I’m prepared to bet that the number of bloggers out there would drop off sharply!

Where does effort come into the equation above? Effort is a combination of the energy that comes from being committed and motivated and the repetition of consistency.

Maslow, in his well-known hierarchy of needs, says there are two processes necessary for self-actualization: self exploration and action. It’s not an either/or, it requires both. So, what are the characteristics of self-actualized people? According to Maslow (1) they:

• Embrace reality and facts rather than denying truth.
• Are spontaneous.
• Are interested in solving problems.
• Are accepting of themselves and others and lack prejudice.

(1) Maslow, Abraham H. “A Theory of Human Motivation.”  (1943) PDF retrieved 14 December 2009

I’m sometimes asked to recommend a book on social media and social networking and thought I’d post a few ideas here; these are all books that I’ve read in the last 2 months!

Trust Agents – Chris Brogan, Julien Smith
This is in some ways similar to Penny’s book in that the focus is clearly on creating trust.  Because trust is key to building online reputations, the authors define those who understand the value of, and set out to create, trust as “trust agents.” It’s a mixture of the theoretical and the practical and is well worth a read, if only because it is written by authors with over 10 years of online media experience

That said, the checklist in appendix a is worth the price of the book alone, for those who are new to the topic or who what to make sure that they have covered everything.

It takes on an ambitious task, to unify the concepts of Personal Branding, Digital Marketing and Entrepreneurship, and achieves it in a clear, fun and provocative manner. Full of  case studies to illustrate the points he makes, this book offers a complete set of tools, tactics and insights to empower individuals to reach a global audience and consumer base with a few clicks of the mouse, and almost all of them for free.

Recommendations

So, my recommendations? I enjoyed all four and think people will benefit from reading any or all of them.And recommending books is always difficult as it’s so much a matter of personal preference and each of these books has much to offer.

However, if I had to make a recommendation, it would be to buy Mitch Joel’s book and if you want to add a semi-autobiographical account from a woman who’s been there, read Penny’s too. The get on the internet and watch Gary V’s videocasts and hop over to Chris Brogan’s blog (one of my favourite blogs) for a full set!