Open Source Living

I just finished the book, "What Would Google Do?," and I found it a very compelling read. Much of what Google has done is to build an open source community where others can build, or profit from their platform (of course Google profits most from this philosophy). The fundemental premise is to open your platform to others who will improve, revise and contribute to the greater good in the community (i.e. OpenOffice & Wikipedia). Yes, Google also has closed networks, and proprietary features, but the general concept has helped others and in so doing enriched Google.

What if we practiced "open source living."  Everyday I am trying to be the best I can be, but unfortunately I do that from a skewed, biased perspective. If you ask me, I am a pretty good guy, talented, intelligent and if you are over 50, I am not to hard on the eyes (and yes there is a little ego there). What if I allowed others to contribute to my pursuit of perfection - yes there are risks, but let me share three thoughts with you about "Open Source Living."

1. We already allow others to impact our "programming." We read self-help books, hire trainers, dietitians, even medical professionals to advise us how to have a better life. Some of us consult with counselors, preachers or friends in areas we need improvement. Still, we can be very protective in this area, even when we seek advice and improvement.
2. Your life has certain open source elements already. There are people who talk to us and about us with or without permission. They comment on our shoes and on our work-ethic. They make judgments about our moral conduct and our parenting skills. People are trying to write chapters into our lives whether we want them too or not.
3. So what if we take a Wikipedia approach to life. Here is Trent version 1.0. Make your edits, your changes, and your contributions. Once you are finished, I will go back and edit the results in an effort to retain accuracy (and my overly active ego). Folks are going to talk about me anyway, how about I give them permission to do it to my face.

So here is your chance friends and enemies, brothers and sisters, acquantances and strangers. Today is an experiment in open source living. This is your chance to add your praise or criticisms, your suggestions and concerns. Trent version 1.02 will be released after the weekend.

Trent Wheeler

Typos

I was reading through some old blogs this morning and noticed there were some typos in some (o.k. most of my blogs). It may have been a misspelled word, or the omission of the proper conjunction, but in most cases it didn't do too much harm to the overall content.

My first reaction was to go back and correct all my blogs, but I reconsidered and here is why. A few years ago I wrote and published a book. I proofed the book about a dozen times, then I had three other sets of eyes proof the book (all with exceptional writing and grammar skills). As soon as the book was published and during my first read through, I found typos.

I decided to leave the typos in my blog because they are indicative of two things:

1. We all have "typos" in our lives. There are things we wish we could go back and correct, but in many cases there isn't much we can do about them - they become part of our developmental DNA.
2. More importantly, the typos in our lives (the warts and blemishes) tell us a lot about others. Do they always see our mistakes, our flaws, our missteps, or do they look for what is good, honorable and decent?

Many of you may be thinking - "thats just lazy" or "you don't care about quality." Not true, but thank you for making my point. Life is similar in many ways to the blogs I write, you can judge them on grammar, or you can judge them on the content (or both). I prefer you look at the heart and intent of the writer, rather than weather I dotted all my (i's) and crossed all my (t's).