I never had the chance to meet my father-in-law, Doug Curran. He passed away before I met his third oldest daughter, who I’m lucky enough to now call my wife. But through his legacy, I’ve come to appreciate his many talents. Doug was a gifted musician (a former member of The Lettermen) and a wordsmith with a deep love for Christmas and a knack for capturing its magic in his writing.
While sifting through Doug’s collection of over 1,600 files—a mix of duplicates, drafts, and gems—we discovered a treasure trove of Christmas-themed poems, songs, and stories. Inspired by his love for the season, we decided to compile his holiday writings into a book to share with family, friends, and anyone who cherishes the Christmas spirit.
Poems like Hate to See This Christmas Go and I’m a Snowflake
Songs and lullabies such as A Christmas Lullaby and It’s Christmas Time!
Short stories, including the heartwarming Christmas Ever After, where Doug playfully pleads to extend the Christmas spirit long after the holiday fades.
At the heart of the book is A Christmas Manifesto, an imaginative yet earnest invitation to keep the joy of Christmas alive well beyond the season—a sentiment that feels especially timely today.
We’re thrilled to announce that “A Curran Christmas” is now available on Amazon Kindle and in paperback. It’s the perfect addition to your holiday traditions or a thoughtful gift for loved ones.
Table of Contents
Poems
Hate to See This Christmas Go
Home for Christmas
I Have Stood on Snowy Roads
I’m a Snowflake
Twas the Week After Christmas
When I Walk in Snow
Songs and Lullaby’s
A Christmas Lullaby
Christmas Wishes
It’s Christmas Time!
Little Child
On Christmas Eve
The Christmas Star
The New Star
Short Stories
Christmas Ever After
Old Man Snowman
The Fake Christmas Tree
Santa’s Extra Elves and Their Fabulous Freaky Names
This collection celebrates the wonder, nostalgia, and joy of Christmas—just as Doug would have wanted. We hope it brings warmth to your home and inspires you to keep the holiday spirit alive, no matter the time of year.
***this post is a work in progress and I would greatly appreciate your input as this gets refined***
A simple question, right? I wonder if it would be easier to explain what marketing isn’t. For the longest time, I would get asked what I do for work and answer “digital marketing” and that seemed to be a conversation stopper. More recently, I have been getting replies back like “Isn’t all marketing digital”? That led me on this journey of wanting to map out what is marketing.
First off though, here are a few definitions by some marketing greats that do answer the question, what is marketing.
“The goal of marketing is to create customers who create customers.” Philip Kotler
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits them and sells itself.” Peter Drucker
“It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do. So you can’t go out and ask people, you know, what the next big [thing.] There’s a great quote by Henry Ford, right? He said, ‘If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me ‘A faster horse’.” Steve Jobs
The image below shows where I have landed so far, the 10 functions of marketing. Although Digital Marketing is one of these pillars and interacts with all of the other pillars, there is a lot to marketing that isn’t “digital marketing”.
When it comes to achieving goals, the SMART framework has become a gold standard. The idea is simple yet powerful: make your goals Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Here’s a breakdown of the SMART framework, using the theme of losing weight, followed by an experience of mine that highlights the power of breaking goals into manageable chunks.
The SMART Goal Framework
S – Specific
A specific goal clearly defines what you want to achieve.
Less Effective: “I want to lose weight.”
Better: “I want to lose 15 pounds by eating healthier and exercising regularly.”
M – Measurable
A measurable goal allows you to track progress and know when it’s achieved.
Less Effective: “I want to exercise more.”
Better: “I will exercise 4 days a week for 30 minutes each session.”
A – Achievable
An achievable goal is realistic, given your resources and constraints.
Less Effective: “I will lose 30 pounds in two weeks.”
Better: “I will lose 1 to 2 pounds per week by reducing my calorie intake and exercising.”
R – Relevant
A relevant goal aligns with your overall priorities and values.
Less Effective: “I want to fit into a specific outfit.”
Better: “I want to lose weight to improve my health and energy levels.”
T – Time-bound
A time-bound goal has a deadline to keep you focused.
Less Effective: “I’ll start losing weight soon.”
Better: “I will lose 15 pounds over the next 12 weeks.”
My Push-Up Journey
In 2020, I had a simple goal: do 10,000 push-ups by the end of the year. I remember doing sets of less than five at a time when I started. This approach taught me two valuable lessons:
Breaking It Down: Instead of focusing on a big, intimidating target, I focused on small, manageable chunks—one day or one week at a time. Not that I was doing push-ups every day but this worked out to around 27 push-ups a day to hit this 10,000 goal.
Focusing on Activity Over Outcome: I didn’t obsess over the scale or immediate results. In fact, I didn’t even pay much attention to what I was eating which wasn’t ideal but instead of fighting that will power battle, the focus entirely was on the push-ups. Without realizing it, my body started looking more defined and less frumpy, and I became stronger and capable of more reps over time.
This method was a game-changer. By emphasizing consistent effort over immediate results, I achieved far more than I initially thought possible.
Three Lesser-Known Tips for Goal Setting
While the SMART framework is a fantastic starting point, here are three additional tips I’ve found helpful:
1. Make Tracking Easy and Accessible
Having an app or tool that’s always with you makes it easy to track progress and stay on top of your goals. Whether it’s a quick update during downtime or a reminder to stay on track, accessibility is key. For several years, I have been using the Strides. mobile app It’s not free but this is a case where you get what you pay for. It’s easy to update, I can see how I am pacing, and it offers flexibility not found in other apps like is this a daily/weekly/monthly entry or if every entry should be added to an overall total. Here’s a screen shot of one of my goals this year – simple but powerful.
However you want to track your goals, make sure it’s not adding friction to your whole goals process. One thing I noticed with Strides, is that I can bucket my goals into key categories – emotional, intellectual, physical, social, and spiritual. I often have too many intellectual goals with number of books to read, number of podcasts to listen to, number of videos to watch, and nujmber of PDFs to read. This is too much and not realistic. Have balance and don’t sabatouge yourself.
2. Make Each Day a Fresh Opportunity
Set up your goals so that every day feels like a new chance to succeed. For example, with my push-up goal, I had a yearly target but also knew the daily average I needed to hit. Missing a day didn’t feel like a failure but rather an opportunity to catch up and stay on course. Seting up your goals this way should avoid the typical New Year’s resolutions that crash and burn just a few weeks into the new year. Keep in mind, if you have a goal that you are not making progress on after a month, perhaps it just needs to be broken down into smaller, more doable pieces. Make it easy on yourself to take action.
3. Celebrate Milestones
Recognizing progress along the way keeps you motivated. Whether it’s completing a week of workouts or hitting your first 100 push-ups, celebrating these wins helps maintain momentum. Share your successes with friends and family. They can better support you and they may also catch the vision of hitting goals one day at a time.
Setting and achieving goals is a skill anyone can master with the right tools and mindset. By combining the SMART framework with these practical tips, you’ll be well on your way to accomplishing your objectives—whether it’s weight loss, push-ups, or any. What goals will you tackle next?
We all have those brands, products, and services we love so much that we naturally become advocates for them. These are the companies that deliver great value, excellent service, and memorable experiences. We don’t share because we have to—we share because we want others to enjoy what we’ve experienced.
For me, Audible is one of those brands. I’ve been a loyal customer since 2004, back when audio books were still niche and long before Amazon realized what an amazing acquisition they would be. For 10+ years I drove 3.5 hours each way over the weekend twice a month to spend time with my three daughters. I churned through a lot of audio books.
Every great company has one or two key metrics that measure customer commitment, usage, and loyalty. For hotels, it is nights stayed and for airlines, it is miles flown. For Audible, I suggest hours listened and books completed are important to both them and their listening audience.
Audible does show total listening time in their app, but here’s the problem: the information isn’t shareable, and it’s not easy for customers to digest or feel proud of. For instance, seeing 4 months, 20 days, 13 hours, and 20 minutes of listening time on my stats page doesn’t evoke any emotion. It’s too abstract, like trying to imagine what a trillion dollars looks like.
What if Audible transformed this into something simpler and more meaningful? An image like the one below could present the data in a way that feels personal, shareable, and impressive. Perhaps, I could even see how this compares to other Audible listeners. Similar to Spotify or Pocket letting you know you are in the 1% of listeners/readers. This easy-to-digest summary is something I would want to brag about and show it off.
Why This Matters Giving customers a clear, visually engaging way to understand and celebrate their achievements builds loyalty and amplifies word-of-mouth marketing. When customers feel proud of their usage, they’re more likely to share it with others, introducing new audiences to the brand.
Audible, you’re already doing so many things great—now make it easier for us to brag about you.
The SWOT Framework The SWOT analysis framework was developed in the 1960s by Albert Humphrey, a business consultant at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI). Initially part of a research project designed to help businesses identify growth and improvement strategies, the SWOT framework evaluates a company’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This 2×2 matrix helps businesses assess both internal and external factors that influence success. It is commonly used in strategic planning, project assessments, and competitive analysis to support informed decision-making.
Internal Factors: Strengths and Weaknesses
External Factors: Opportunities and Threats
The Strengths of SWOT SWOT analysis is valuable because it provides a structured way to assess a company’s current position and strategic possibilities. By understanding both internal and external factors, businesses can leverage their strengths, address weaknesses, seize opportunities, and mitigate threats. This leads to more comprehensive planning and a balanced approach to growth and risk.
The Weaknesses of SWOT While SWOT is a widely-used tool, it does have limitations:
Subjectivity: SWOT analysis can be subjective, as they typically rely only on employees perspectives and opinions that may vary.
Lack of Prioritization: SWOT doesn’t prioritize factors, so it may not clarify which issues or opportunities are most critical.
Static Snapshot: SWOT captures a moment in time and may not account for rapidly changing market conditions.
