Try it. And tell me how it goes.

The past couple days I’ve been struck by calls and emails from people asking me for advice on matters business and personal, asking me for my thoughts, advice and counsel.

I mean, who am I?

But seriously, it’s meant a lot to me.

Thus, Friday morning I asked:

Why? To try to fix a couple things. Like: what happens when the markets and metrics for attention, value and impact break down? And: how can we figure out the impact we have if the traditional markets fail us, if we don’t get feedback, if nobody tells us?

The simple goal: to tell people they matter, to help give them the verve and confidence necessary to push uphill, to help them fight through the dips, to help them keep moving forward.

The much-larger goal: to help make meaning “pay”.

Clicks, page views, followers, these are the metrics we see everyday, but they aren’t enough.

That’s why I like what Jen and Frank are doing with thankfulfor; that’s why I care about supporting people living lives “too meaningful to ignore” *; that’s why I proposed an idea a couple weeks ago:

Let’s take the idea one step forward. Pick out one person “living a life too cool to ignore”, and tell them. Reach out to one person that you follow online everyday but have never said hello to. And share with me the results, privately or publicly. I’m sincerely interested in what happens.

Try it. And tell me how it goes.

—

* Yes, I’m switching from saying “too cool to ignore” to “too meaningful to ignore”. Just seems more powerful.