Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You're only a stranger once.

Jersey Todd, Vince Lombardi, and Collecting Quotes of Humanity

Filed Under Community, Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | 19 Comments

I've been thinking . . .

Jersey Todd sent me this quote by the famed Vince Lombardi, a legend in American football coaching.

“Once you agree upon the price you and your family must pay for success, it enables you to ignore the minor hurts, the opponent’s pressure, and the temporary failures. ”

That got me thinking about success, and then . . .

And then, it got me thinking about Jersey Todd and Vince Lombardi — and all of the men and women who are like them, which got me thinking about how alike we all are. You see, I’m guessing that most of us already know what Mr. Lombardi was saying.

Been-There-Done-That!

I’m thinking that’s the reason we collect quotes and send them to friends. Those words of wisdom we pull out to share for whatever reason are a way of saying, “Hey, look . . . see. We might choose other words. Our experience of them might look different, but the essence is that we’ve been there. . . . and so has he.

Inspiring isn’t it that a sentence one person said years ago would be kept and valued?Amazing to see how a sentence can be a fine thread that connects and translates our humanity.

We’re there inside the words we say. We already know that.
If we look closer, we’ll find ourselves inside the words that everyone is saying,
Words connect us as human beings.

Young children know this.

” “Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” –Christopher Robin to Pooh(A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh)

Would you add your own quote to the list?

Liz's Signature

Stop Being Dangerous and Annoying the Blogosphere!

Filed Under Comments, Successful Blog | 32 Comments

Adjust Your Senses!

relationships button

I’ve been wondering, watching Internet relationships — how they are virtually the same and different from those in the real world. I’ve found patterns behaviors and looked through my experience to see whether those patterns hold up when I test them out.

My conclusion is that folks bring behaviors to the virtual world that don’t always make sense here. We do the human thing of continuing what we feel has worked for us before — without considering whether, in this new situation, it’s still the sensible thing to do.

Some foolish folks are getting this Internet thing wrong. That’s dangerous and annoying.

Read on if you are one of them. Better yet, read on anyway, we never know when a wave of foolishness has taken over us.

Here are the 5 senses that folks need to adjust to stop being dangerous and annoying the Blogosphere.

  1. Sense of Security Living online is more complicated than living in a real-world community. People here haven’t agreed to one single set of laws. The people can more easily falsify who they are, where they are, whose picture we see. If someone pulls a “fast one,” what you believe and have learned to be your legal right probably won’t mean a thing in this “world with no border.” Either way, it will probably be too expensive to enforce. If you know that, you’ll be more secure.

  2. Sense of Reality I can route my calls through Montana and answer them in Madagascar. I could be 93. You won’t know for certain until we meet. Most importantly, unless you have and have verified my street address, if I go offline, it’s possible you’ll never find me. On the other hand, you might find people who can trace back to my IP and the route my computer took to get to your to your computer’s door.

  3. Sense of Privacy Sitting at home locked in safe doesn’t make what we say secret. Writing in the middle of the night alone can feel personal and private. Remember the Internet is public and always open — forever. There is no eraser. In times of high emotion, stress, or other serious consequence, type into a word processor not your blog. Anything can wait 24 hours.

  4. Sense of Entitlement The woo of a “free” Internet can make us think everyone should serve up what we want — get over that. Re-read the story of “The Golden Goose” again. Or to put it another way, everyone has their own. It’s annoying to be asked or to be told to fulfill a request by folks who can’t bother to be polite or finish a sentence. First impressions last and last . . . and often are the last some folks will want to know of you.

  5. Sense of Humor Words in text don’t have the same context as words shared verbally. Tone is implied and easily goes askew. Here where many cultures meet, sensitivity means we use humor carefully. Make sure that everyone knows when you’re going for a laugh. It’s sad to say something seriously not funny when it was intended to be.

These five senses are critical to a successful experience in the Blogosphere. What other sense can you add to the list to make the Internet less dangerous and less annoying?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

The Game of Life

Filed Under Idea Bank, Outside the Box, Successful Blog | 14 Comments

I've been thinking . . .

how we make things work.

We finish a day’s work exhausted, burnt out, bone tired. If we were asked to keep going, it would be a stretch — nor a healthy thing. Do we go home to rest? Do we take a nap, rejuvenate and refuel? No, most of us don’t. An hour or two later, you’ll find us out dancing, playing ball, or at the gym lifting weights.

Many of the sports and activities that we do for fun require more physical and mental energy than what we need to invest to get through a work day. Yet, they don’t wear us out nearly as much, and in some cases, they pick us back up.

How is that? It’s no surprise that it has to do with how we think about work.

Years ago, Charles A. Coonradt tested his idea by turning work tasks into measurable self-competing contests — games that could be won. Folks were asked to weigh the paper they filed every day. Within 3 weeks, a department that had overdue filing for 3 years was ahead and found itself with 3 hours extra each day. The people in the department asked for more work — new work — that they could measure that way. [He called his book, The Game of Work.]

elevators-going-up-a-wall

Sometimes I use this technique to get myself to conquer tasks I’m not fond of doing. Today I’m wondering what life would be like if I took the same approach to everything I do?

Have you thought about that? What problem would be easier if you thought of it as one more level, challenge, quest, in the game of life?

Liz's Signature

The Mic Is On: We’re Talking About Parties . . .

Filed Under Comments, SOB Business, Successful Blog | 203 Comments

It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

The Mic Is On

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

You know, social events! Hooray, let’s party!

Here’s a few ideas to get us started:

pinkballoons.jpg


And, whatever else comes up, including THE EVER POPULAR, Basil the code-writing donkey . . . and flamenco dancing (because we always get off topic, anyway.)

Oh, and bring links about parties to share!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Open Mic 7pm Chgo Time: Let’s Talk About Parties . . .

Filed Under Comments, SOB Business, Successful Blog | 1 Comment

Yes the Mic Will Be on Tonight

Join Us Tonight

You know, Social Events!.

We can talk about parties, online or off, social events, network events, family events, and whatever else comes up — even flamenco dancing. Hooray, let’s party!

Oh, and bring links about parties that you want to share!

The rules are simple — be nice.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

« go back — keep looking »