I'll Trade You an S for a V

In 16 days, our book officially releases. (Actually, Amazon is showing it in stock, so if you get it there, it could arrive on your doorstep before October 27th.)

I've held a copy of the finished product. I guess I'd always dreamed of writing a book, and now I have. And it's nothing like I thought it would be. And every time I crack the cover on it, it doesn't feel quite like I thought it would.

It feels better.

So, now that it's done and the book will soon be out there for all the world to see (with no erasers or delete buttons), it's time to tell you why we named it what we did.

At the beginning of this year, we launched a campaign at CoolPeopleCare. Everyone has heard of New Year's Resolutions. Everyone has made one at some point. And, everyone has broken one shortly thereafter.

Since we're in the business of change, we wanted to put a new spin on this old idea. But we didn't just want to rename or rebrand something. We wanted to rethink it. We wanted to reimagine the idea, not for the sake of marketing, but for the sake of success.

We thought that if people made a resolution for just a day, they might be better at keeping it. And, if they kept if for an entire day, maybe they could do it again. And so on. Before we knew it, a New Year's Resolution quickly became a New Day's Resolution.

We then ran 8 More Time on Your Hands from people who made a resolution to do something that would change their lives and their communities. We told the stories of ordinary people who changed their eating habits, started exercising and cleaned out their closets. Resolving to make any sort of change is a big deal, even if it's just one act, one day.

And whenever you get a lot of people doing something, even a little something, you start to see the stirrings of a revolution. It's interesting that there's only one letter of difference between 'resolution' and 'revolution.' In many ways, resolutions are precursors to revolution. Once people have resolved within themselves to act, to protest, to change, to march, to speak out or to be different, then a revolution becomes tangible.

Folks who buy our book will be treated to a free soundtrack to help them save the world. Music has long been a motivating factor for many, and for some folks, some tunes might be just the thing to help them kick their own revolution into gear.

I, of course, have access to the music now, and Gabe Dixon has been generous enough to write a title track for this endeavor. His song is brilliantly poetic, smacking the listener in the face by revealing to us our own apathy. When children are sent to war and when the earth is abused, it is time for a revolution. When everyone around is silently watching, it is time for a revolution.

Clearly, the word 'revolution' is a marketable one. Certain products promise to revolutionize the way we experience music, buy groceries or go for a jog. And while revolution may not be some panacea of a word that can be slapped on everything, it does have a certain connotation that things will be different. When a revolution happens, things change. When a revolution happens, it's a chance for a fresh start. When a revolution happens, it's a new day.

Will our book revolutionize your life? I don't know. It's not a magical book that you can put under your pillow and when you wake up tomorrow your skin will be clearer, your jeans will fit better and your relationships will be less complicated.

But in it, we dream of a new day. And in that new day, you'll be different, and we'll be different. We will all have made different choices about the way we shop, the way we eat, the way we spend our free time, and even the way we enjoy a trip to the coffee shop. And when enough of us resolve that what we need is a new day, we'll have a revolution.