Life Is About Reflection & Why The Reason I "Check-In" Isn't What You Think.

The reason I check-in (daily) is because of 1 thing; Reflection.

Whether you love or hate the new location based services, hear me out. I get the business and power of serendipity (which I believe are more practical use cases of check-ins but this is why I personally do it.)

I spent the last 4 days in Memphis, TN rummaging around with my brother and dad for the International Blues Competition. 

Amazing. Seriously, if you can ever go during this competition, go. Walking down Beale St from bar to bar with the best blues music from around the world playing every waking hour is absolutely amazing.

But what about the "Check-Ins" I was talking about and the first word of this post, reflection?

Our entire lives are built upon experiences. Experiences define who we are and ultimately what we become. They define friendships, family and everything in-between. 
In comes reflection.

My favorite thing to do is none other than sitting around a table flipping through old photos, videos or letters from the past. Reflection brings upon feelings of happiness, sorrow or remorse and is often the best thing to do with others. 

Sometimes, talking about the moments or parties are more enjoyable than the actual night. It drove me to think about how I would reflect on the past four days since I only see most of my family a few times a year. 

It made me realize that reflection is actually all about remembering.

If we don't have actual pictures, videos or written notes about a moment in time it becomes very hard to truly "reflect" and feel as though you are there again. Documentation, whether it be pictures, videos or notes, have always been the way we reflect and remember important moments in history. Nowadays, we can have our entire story retold to us in a completely new way...

This is where I get freaking excited.

To know that we live in a world where I can take a picture, push a button and it automatically uploads to groups of friends, links to groups of followers, stores on my personal blog, pings my best friends to tell them something is up, then drive an entire conversation about that moment in time which will last forever honestly 
  1. Blows my mind
  2. Makes me love everything about the industry I work in
  3. Gets me jacked about the future of more open and better communication. I really do believe it can change the world and bring all of us closer together, as one society.
So this past weekend I wanted to try something new and make sure I "checked-in" at every single bar/restaurant/location I went to while trying to only be on my phone (I hate phone starers IRL) for this brief moment.
Now, because of services like Gowalla, Foursquare and Facebook Places, I will have an exact story, timeline and photos to document an amazing trip to Memphis for my dad's 60th birthday. 

Now to build me an app that takes 2 moments in time (SEA Airport to SEA Airport 4 days later) and tells me a perfect story of my trip to memphis. Something like,

You set out on your trip to "Memphis, TN" by jumping on a plane at the "Seattle International Airport" where you said "Goodbye Seattle" and posted a photo called "Taking off." You were with 37 others as well as your friend "Max McSimov." 
(You get the idea. Just rewrite my life, basically. The website http://weeplaces.com is close and I embeded my trip below so you can see where I went and when.) 

If someone would build that I would love to be a part of it. That would be amazing. Pick any moment in your life and relive the story.

In the end, life is all about the story we create of it but remembering the story just got much easier. 

Here's to a better world, better communication and spending more time with the people who matter. The fact that every single thing I do will be a story about my entire life that hopefully my kids or grandkids can read in the future really makes me want to do better, and more everyday.

I never met my Grandpa but I'd love to know if he drank at the same bars that I do. I'd love to just know what he thought, how he acted and if he was a spitting image of his grandson today. 

Do you realize that every generation from now on will know exactly who we were, what we liked, where we went and who we were associated with? That's why we should always ask ourselves;

What's my legacy? 

You are the only one who can write it nowadays. Not stories passed along. Not wise tales. Just truth. I think about that everyday. 

Shane Mcsimov's Checkins by WeePlaces.com.

What Is The Next Step?

I spent over 16 years of my life going to school and always striving to achieve the next step, the next goal, the next level.  You spend countless nights cramming for some deadline, all in hopes to get to the next step.  Then you make it.  You graduate.  You can see clearly the path that was laid out for you and now you stand so close to the top.  At this moment you have one more step, the step we have been trying to get to this entire time, a career. 

It has been forever in the back of your mind yet forgotten so easily throughout the years.  The last step.  That's what I thought.  I thought it was the last step and once I got to the step we call a career, what's next?  Am I shooting to climb the corporate ladder to the top?  Do I want to start my own business?  Do I want to crunch numbers all day as an accountant?  It really doesn't matter what you strive to be but for many of us, like myself, we think it is the last step before we "start" our life, and that is the problem.  The real story is that we can't see the next staircase.  For our entire life the staircase was built by someone else, a system of guidance to help us get to what we thought was the top.  It was easy to see it and had a yearly break point where we could stop for a few months before taking the next step.  Now, as I stand at the top, I can't even see a step, let alone a staircase.  Is this it?  What's Next?  The truth is that we have to build the next staircase and realize that it will be longer, harder, and not as clear as the first, but the key is that you need to build it, build something, one step at a time and realize that the staircase is not a straight line to the top, if there even is a top.

Know that the world is to big for one's mind to comprehend all that is possible within it.  It is too complicated to solve all of the problems so think small.  It is too overwhelming to even know where to begin so pick one thing.  So where do I start?  How do I start climbing the next set of stairs when we can't even see the top? Just start, as Thomas Edison famously said,

“Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”  

This is not about finding a new job, new career, or even changing where you are at today.  I truly enjoy my career and the people that I work with every day.  This is about aspiring to do more, build something greater, and discover like minded people that can help you get to the next step.  Start looking, start connecting, start searching for people, companies, and causes with values that you believe in.  Take it one step at a time and work to build relationships on a level that is greater than a Facebook friend or a Twitter follower.  Know that the second staircase will be much taller than the one you have already climbed and instead of looking for the top, just look for the next step.  Realize that in a world where we can have 5000 followers on twitter and a 1000 friends facebook know that it is no longer about who you know, it is about who CAN you know and as my friend Matt Sage says, "HOW you know them."  Who you know means that you are looking backwards whereas who CAN you know if looking to the future.  Big difference.  You have to work to build new relationships and do more than is asked of you.  Technology and Social Media are not the answer to better relationships, rather they are the channel.  A powerful channel, but if anything it may be more difficult to make a lasting connecting nowadays because of the multitude of connections we now have and it may require more effort to build lasting relationships.  

So if you find yourself thinking about doing more and wanting to give more, what are you waiting for?  To get started, make a goal for today and then worry about what happens tomorrow, well, tomorrow.  Search a new topic on google that interests you.  Find someone who is talking about it on Twitter and reach out to them with a simple, "hello."  The power of connection in this newly connected world is greater than one can imagine and it can help you find people and causes that would have never been possible 5, 10, or 15 years ago.  The ability to search the words that anyone has written is remarkable to say the least.  In the end it is all about a person's word. It can help you become a part of projects that you didn't know existed.  It can steer you in a direction that was never on your roadmap.  It can help you with your career, life, or just finding like minded people that can help you get to or find that next step.  Right now, go to search.twitter.com and search for something that you really enjoy.  A phrase, a person, a company.  Connect with the first person who says something that you agree with.  Who knows when a simple relationship you make will be a life long one?  Always remember that you might not be able to see the next step and instead just build them as you climb.  It is not about what the next step will be, it is about looking back on all of the steps you have built.  

Not sure where this "inspirational" post came from but it may be due to the projects, people, and steps that I have built over the past year.  It is truly humbling.  Thank you.

-Shane Mac