During the course of any given week I come across a lot of interesting and useful things, some of which I write about, most of which I don’t. At the end of most weeks I have a small list of links that I end up saving, so I thought I’d start sharing those with you on Saturdays, in the hope that perhaps you’ll find some value from them. I’m sure this will change and evolve as I go, but for now, here’s a quick summary of what went on this week.

My Stuff:

Spreading Ideas: TED
One of my favorite sites on the web — TED’s mission is to spread knowledge.

Be Remarkable (It’s Not That Hard)
Lessons learned from a trip to the hospital — how to stand out in people’s minds.

Other Good Stuff:

Gary Vaynerchuk
Speaking at the Web 2.0 Expo about building a personal brand (caution: strong language).

How to Make Student Engagement Contagious
How to encourage group participation by just being flat-out crazy (but sincere). Second video, last two paragraphs.

Nyle — Let the Beat Build
I absolutely love the idea behind this video.

40 Examples of Incredible Photo Manipulation
Awesome Photoshopped pictures.

Cool New People:

Kelly Rae
Seattle artist with some unique stuff, a fun outlook on life, a nice site, and even pictures of her (artistic) home.

Funny:

Tiny Dancers
This kid makes me laugh hard every time he smacks his bottom.

Inspiring:

$2.00 portraits
Whenever a homeless person asks Thomas Hawk for money, he offers them $2.00 to take their portait. Great pictures.

Difficult:

Our son’s asthma complications putting us in the ER for two nights this week. It’s very, very scary. (He’s fine now.)

How I’ve Made An Impact:

Told my wife that I noticed her taking time out of her busy day to console our daughter over a little broken toy, instead of casually dismissing it like I was about to do. Reinforcing the fact that all of us need to slow down and realize what’s most important in any given situation.

Friends Who Have Helped Me Out:

@Killandra
Kind words and compassion during a tough time

@absolutelytrue
Helped one of my articles get seen by 1,000 people instead of the usual 30

Mentions of ItStartsWith.Us

2 Techniques to Improve Your Conversational Savvy
By: The Four O’Clock Project

It Starts With Us
By: ABI Possibilities

If you have any thoughts, questions or comments about any of this stuff, feel free to respond below. If you’ve seen anything particularly inspiring, useful, or funny this week, I’d love to hear about that as well. Until next week . . . Similar Posts:

• 5 Things You Shouldn’t Be Afraid Of
• Even In Sickness, Hope
• Be Remarkable (It’s Not That Hard)
• 1000 Awesome Things: Neil Pasricha
• A Big Brand Doing It Right: Avery Block And Claim Jumper