This post was originally going to be something completely different.

It was either going to be a follow-up to my Twitter mobile app post, or a look at social media relationships and the connection to message and content. Both these will come – but for now, I want to talk about something that happened today.

I was on a call earlier with Lotay Yang, founder of Black Card Circle and Black Card Circle Foundation. Lotay is an incredibly inspiring individual who is using his vast reach and hugely successful network to effect social change.

The reason for the call was to discuss how Black Card Circle and 12for12k can work together toward social good, and when I came away from it I was buzzing. So many great things, so many great ideas, and all toward making the world a better place.

During the call, Lotay responded to something I said about the global community by saying, “Borders and walls are man-made.”

Think about that for a minute.

Borders and walls are man-made.

This really resonated in so many ways. Obviously we were discussing charity but think how that simple phrase can impact your personal and professional life.

You might be on the start of your social media journey at the minute, either personally or for your business. You might be about to start a new business, or have an existing one that you’re unsure of where to go next. You might even be thinking of something as simple as starting a blog and don’t know how to proceed and start writing.

Yet these examples and others like them are just walls and borders made by us.

Our fear is the cement mix for the bricks that build the walls. Our vision (or lack of) is what makes these borders either thick or transparent. Our minds and ambition are the tools that will either build the walls higher and make the borders wider, or tear them down altogether.

Borders and walls don’t need to last forever. Look at the Berlin Wall and how that came tumbling down in spectacular style, offering freedom to those that had felt trapped behind it. You can tear down your own Berlin Wall.

• The social media journey you’re starting out on? Embrace it. Open up; listen; converse; learn; engage; did I say listen already? There are numerous people – good people – just ready to help. Let them.

• The business you’re unsure of, both new and existing? Evaluate and re-evaluate. Speak to mentors; peers; advisors; listen to what they have to say and adapt to your needs.

• The blog you want to start but don’t know where or how to? Take it little steps at a time. Join Posterous or Tumblr and write mini thoughts or tips or whatever’s going through your mind. You can even email posts in for the Posterous and Tumblr teams to publish for you if you don’t have time to do it yourself. Get comfortable writing regularly then when you’re ready, move up a gear.

We face obstacles every waking minute of our lives. We have to overcome cynicism. We have to overcome people trying to hold us back. We have to overcome natural and man-made disasters. We have to remember to breathe.

But obstacles are just borders and walls. And borders and walls are man-made.

So. What borders and walls do you have and are you ready to start pulling them down?

photo credit: Valentina Photography