Here's what I'm concluding about change in America.
It's all going on under the surface--and there's a lot of it happening.
If you put down the daily newspapers, stop surfing the web, step away from cable TV news, give talk radio a rest, and just go out into your own community--and I mean any community in any city in any country any where in the world--you will be thrilled, delighted, amazed, and profoundly moved at the kinds of changes going on all around us.
Below the surface, like icebergs and ducks, out of sight of the traditional media and traditional politics, there is a movement gaining force.
It is micro-change. It is entrepreneurial and vibrant. The projects are often small. Think of them as Petri-dish size experiments.
They involve small groups of like-minded individuals who want to make a difference, have some impact.
I'm not talking about angry shouters. I'm talking about do-something-abouters.

I heard about Alan Webber via Seth Godin this morning, though I sgould have remembered him from the early days of Fast Company. Looks like there will be good ideas here.

★ What is this site about?

I've long been inspired by an idea I first learned about in The Artist's Way called morning pages. Morning pages are three pages of writing done every day, typically encouraged to be in "long hand", typically done in the morning, that can be about anything and everything that comes into your head. It's about getting it all out of your head, and is not supposed to be edited or censored in any way. The idea is that if you can get in the habit of writing three pages a day, that it will help clear your mind and get the ideas flowing for the rest of the day. Unlike many of the other exercises in that book, I found that this one actually worked and was really really useful.

I've used the exercise as a great way to think out loud without having to worry about half-formed ideas, random tangents, private stuff, and all the other things in our heads that we often filter out before ever voicing them or writing about them. It's a daily brain dump. Over time, I've found that it's also very helpful as a tool to get thoughts going that have become stuck, or to help get to the bottom of a rotten mood.

750 Words is the online, future-ified, fun-ified translation of this exercise. Here's how it works:

★ All Online

In the past, looking for a spare notebook was probably easier than looking for a computer. Not anymore. I don't know if my hands even work anymore with pen and paper for any task that takes longer than signing a check or credit card reciept.

Heard about this on Lifehacker and am thinking it's awfully tempting...I wonder if there's a site that offers an incentive for daily reading, too. Anyone?

Yes, I know Albert Einstein was a theoretical physicist, philosopher and author who is widely regarded as one of the most influential scientists and intellectuals of all time.  But what strikes me the most is that he is an icon of distractedness.  Once when Einstein slept at a friend's house he forgot to bring his suitcase home.  The parents of the other boy said to Einstein's parents, "He would never amount to anything because he can't remember anything."  Einstein single-handedly changed the assumption that distractedness=dumb.  Thanks Albert! The Association of Distracted People

*The consequences of distractedness are challenging and if distractedness is seriously interfering with a constructive life there is help for the varying degrees of distractedness via diet, exercise, meditation, therapy and medications. Google it!

Will have to track this site for a while. At first glance, this puts me in mind of the Right Brain Workouts at Peter Lloyd's ste.