Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

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

The Old Neighborhood Bars and Blogs

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Chicago is a city of neighborhoods and neighborhood bars. Every neighborhood has a name. Every neighborhood bar is like Cheers. People go there because the folks inside, especially the bartender, knows their name. Names are important. They’re the first words we know about ourselves and each other.

When I think of my favorite neighborhood bar, I can’t separate it from the folks who are always there. Over time the people grow and change. Some days all one bartender can talk about is his camera. Other days all he can think of is sports. That’s who he is. That’s part of what makes him interesting.

We have personal jokes. He knows some of what I like. I can tune in. I can have my beverage and hardly talk to him at all. There was a time when he was not a happy guy. He’s a friend. You ride it out. Everyone has phases. . . .

It’s a well-known fact that I think of my blog as my father thought of his saloon. But in one way it can’t be the same. Saloons don’t have RSS feeds.

What difference does that make?

When I change focus for a while — you might do it too, or you might not, but we know I always will — readers can decide the new direction is not their “beverage of choice.” That’s cool. That’s only right. I do the same thing — with the blogs I read, not with the people in my life.

In life when my friends shift gears, I often come back to see what they’re doing later. Most often what I find is that we have plenty in common still. Yet when a blog has changed direction, it’s felt more permanent. I hardly ever go back. I’m rethinking that today.

Over the next week or two, I’m going to check in on blogs I used to read. It will be like visiting the old neighborhood bar to see who’s still there. I’m looking forward to it.

I think I might find some nice surprises. What do you think? What’s your experience? Do you ever go back to the old neighborhood?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!! Liz understands how people think.

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

Filed Under Audience, Comments, Community, Marketing, Outside the Box, SOB Business, Successful Blog | 2 Comments

Yes the Mic Will Be on Tonight

Join Us Tonight

With Ari Garber, Special Guest

Stress. Gosh don’t I know it? I’ve got enough of it in my life. But then, you do too. Who doesn’t?

So, I asked a friend who knows a bit about the stress experience — he was a full-time trader and now he works in a firm run by four partners (all Ph.D.s). He and I thought that it’s time we talked about stress. Maybe we have ideas on how to have less stress and more fun.

I introduce, my friend, Ari.

Liz,
Thanks for inviting me to submit the open mic topic for this week. I chose stress as the discussion starter, how it comes about, how we combat it, how we avoid it.

A few basic thoughts to throw to everyone, from my experiences and random mental meanderings.

Stress is caused by our interpretation and attitude towards the circumstances we find ourselves in. Attitude colors interpretation, it prevents us from coping at optimal levels, it can solve 90% of issues by allowing the freedom to creatively address what otherwise might be viewed as a crisis.

Stress is largely the result of our own decisions. We place ourselves in circumstances. We choose to care. We lose self awareness in the moment, and react emotionally. Our attitudes in dealing with the consequences of our decisions then come into play.

Stress is also directly keyed to physiology as well as the psychology. Health is a key factor. If my diet is off, if I have not been to the gym to release some energy in a positive fashion; my stress levels rise. I need to take care of my body as a baseline, to then be able to take care of my brain.

Stress is subjective, and amazingly can be adapted to in some fashion. I used to be a full-time trader, moving, winning, and losing most peoples salary in seconds, hundreds of times a day. Stress for me today is too many things on my to-do list, and too many people wanting to chat with me while I am attempting to accomplish my own goals.

Oddly, doctors say that the stress I feel today is just as negative to my wellbeing as the stress back then.

I cannot be happy without some stress in my life. Without some pressure, I am not producing at my optimal levels.

What causes you stress?

  • What specific little tricks and methodologies do you use to combat it?
  • Do you focus on psychological, physiological, or holistic approaches to deal with it?
  • Do you self medicate? Do you have prescribed medication? I didn’t want to be the alcoholic cliche of a trader, but the heroin was fun… (That was a joke.)
  • Is stress just the luxury of those who have time to dwell on it?

I look forward to hearing everyone’s ideas.

Thanks again Liz for making this available to all,

ALG

Oh, and bring a link about how you deal with stress to share, if you have one.

The rules are simple — be nice.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Metrics: Who Are We and How Are We Feeling?

Filed Under Audience, Successful Blog, Tech/Stats | 4 Comments

Information as Art: A New Look at Stats

In August of 2005, the We Feel Fine project began harvesting data from weblogs. In this metrics of feelings, the system scans the Internet every few minutes for new blog posts sentences that include the phrases, I feel and I am feeling. Whenever possible it also gathers from the blog additional identifying data: the age, gender, and geographical location of the blogger who wrote the sentence.

The database now contains several million human feelings and grows by 15,000+ daily.

Jonathan Harris and Sepandar Kamvar have organized the data into “six movements” — each artful, entrancing, and compelling in it’s presentation of humanity. They describe We Feel Fine in this way.

The interface to this data is a self-organizing particle system, where each particle represents a single feeling posted by a single individual. The particles’ properties – color, size, shape, opacity – indicate the nature of the feeling inside, and any particle can be clicked to reveal the full sentence or photograph it contains. . . .

At its core, We Feel Fine is an artwork authored by everyone. It will grow and change as we grow and change, reflecting what’s on our blogs, what’s in our hearts, what’s in our minds.

Click the image below to go explore how we’re feeling.

We Feel Fine 55

The people who wrote these sentences are our readers. They are also us.

What do you think of how we’re feeling today?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Writing for That One Most Important Reader: That Curious, Clever, Intelligent Individual

Filed Under Audience, Basics, Successful Blog, Writing | 13 Comments

How Do You Write for Everyone?

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How easy it is to get overwhelmed when I think of how individual each reader is. How can I possibly meet what they expect, when each of them comes with a different goal, a different history, and a different mind set?

Whatever the subject I choose to write on, I can be sure that some readers will know it far better than I do and some will have never encountered it before. How do I bridge gap to write a piece that meets learners on solid ground while engaging readers with significant expertise? These writing questions are central for anyone who writes for an audience of more than two people they already know.

How do I answer these questions for myself and for others?

I give them the answer Big Roy discovered.
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How to Age Ideas Like a Fine Cognac OR Making Compelling Writing the Center of Your Brand

Filed Under Audience, Branding, Idea Bank, Motivation/Inspiration, Outside the Box, Successful Blog, Writing | 13 Comments

I Love My Pocket Journal

Finding Ideas Outside of the Box logo 2

Yesterday in the comments to Inside Out Thinking: Catching Ideas Coming In and Going Out, Hans at Blogosquare asked a question that was one I had when I first started writing. That made me think that others might have it as well. You see, Han’s problem is that he has too many ideas and his exuberance makes him anxious to use them all as soon as he gets them.

. . . I just don’t have to sit back and wait for thoughts, actually they are filling me. When I get a thought, . . . I just can’t wait for that thought to leave me. So I write it down quickly, quickly and post it and there when I see it I feel much relieved.
How in fact to you deal with thoughts when they come in? Should I set myself to some relaxation or things like this? All day long everything I see, read, and hear just give me thoughts and ideas. . . . Right now after reading the post above, I just got that thought and couldn’t wait to put it down, to get it off my mind. Am I not normal? [edited with Hans permission]

Hans, my friend, I value you and your passion for writing. Turn the page and I’ll answer your question with the seriousness it deserves.

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