I wonder if, these days, we’re not marked by the ideas we have, or how articulate we are, or the force of our personalities… but rather by the ideas we actually make happen.

I mean, there are a ton of great ideas floating around out there. The trick is motivation, overcoming inertia and bringing one of those great ideas to life. Here’s a couple of “damn, I wish I’d get off my lazy ass every now and again” things for you today:

1. The Age of Conversation

A couple of guys by the name of Drew and Gavin thought up a book. They got 100 authors from around the marketing blogosphere, including such bright lights as Gareth Kay and our own Faris Yakob, to contribute one chapter to the book using a simple brief: The conversation age. Whatever that happened to mean to them.

They went from idea conception to publication in only a few short months. Amazing. The book goes on sale today, and proceeds go to Variety the Children’s Charity. Buy your copy at Lulu, and read a bit more about the book’s conception and author list here at Drew McLellan’s blog.

2. Street Mining

I work with the guy, so perhaps I’m a little biased in reporting this… But I’m still pretty impressed with Noah Brier and how he just goes and makes things happen. He and Piers started Likemind almost exactly a year ago, an idea that has since spread beyond New York City to more than 30 other cities. Now comes Street Mining. The idea, like Likemind and the book above, is simple:

once a month a bunch of people get together and go walk the streets. each month is guided by a different person showing off their favorite gems. anyone’s invited, so why not come exploring?

Why? Because it’s fun to discover new things and places. And it’s nice when technology facilitates physical, real-world interaction. He announced the idea not quite two weeks ago on his blog, and he already has more than 50 people signed up for the first one on July 28th. Again I say, amazing.