Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

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

Social Networking: Do You Need a Memory Upgrad . . . ?

Filed Under Productivity, Successful Blog | 21 Comments

What Was the Question, Again?

Personal Identity logo

Someone writes a comment, sends you IM, or walks up to you at a trade show and makes it clear he’s met you before. He’s acting like you’re the best of friends. But you have no clue who the guy is.

Been there . . .

Do You Need a Memory Upgrade?

Does that mean we’re losing our memory? It’s probably not memory loss, but it could be sure sign that we need a memory upgrade. Forgetting people and information can be a seriously liability to success these days.

Relationships are build on experiences that went before. We have to remember the experiences for the relationships to move forward in a good way.

Here are three ways we forget . . .

  1. Fading: We meet someone and forget his or her name seconds later. That’s called fading. We didn’t move the name from short-term memory into “working memory.”

  2. Interference: New information can interfere with old information. Old information can also mix up with new information.

  3. Distortion: When we have vivid recollections of events only to find later that the events happened differently.

Ten Ways to Upgrade Your Personal Memory Bank

We all have the power to rebuild our memories by doing simple things when we’re learning new information.

  1. Think about what you’re learning and be sure you’re clear on it. Try to restate when you know in other words

  2. Associate new information with something you already know. “Oh Joe, you’re a friend of Joanna Young! So is Bob Hruzek!”

  3. Being fully present when you lrarn new things to keep old information separate from what you’re learning. Don’t be playing on Twitter the first time you use Plurk.

  4. Break big blocks of information into smaller chunks. Practice one point on this list until you have it as a habit.

  5. Involve as many modalities — visual, auditory, kinesthetic — as you can. See things. Talk about them. Touch them while you’re at it.

  6. Overlearn things by teaching someone else.

  7. Apply the information quickly. When you’re introduced, use the person’s name immediately.

  8. Repeat things that you think you might forget. 2+3=5, 2+3=5, 2+3=5 . . .

  9. Debrief and retell important events with people who were part of them as soon as you are able. That was a fabulous podcast! Let’s debrief on what happened!

  10. Blog your experience. Last night I met Eric Benderoff at the blogger meetup hosted by Gas Pedal.

Doing what you can to “defrag” your brain is also a great idea.

First impressions are important as ever, but they sure lose their glow if on the second go we can’t place the person we met.

Having a great memory is powerful way to demonstrate we value relationships. Everyone likes to be remembered. Nothing beats a second meeting that easily moves the first meeting forward. People respond when we invest in them — they invest back.

How do you keep your memory fast and functioning?

Click for more information on Memory and Information Processing.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Buy the ebook and find out the secret.

MinuteFix: Computer help is only a click away

Filed Under Interviews, Productivity, Tools | 4 Comments

I’m pleased to announce that this week while I’m in the UK,

Phil and Diego will be hosting
Tuesday Open Comments
Come Ask Them Questions!!

Minute Fix and Diego Orjuela
Guest interview by Phil Gerbyshak

Recently I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes chatting with my friend Diego Orjuela, founder and CEO of what will hopefully the world’s greatest tech support company, MinuteFix. Full disclosure: I got to know Diego at the 2007 Successful and Outstanding Blogger Conference, and have been working with him at MinuteFix since December of 2007 as the Customer Experience Officer.

I wanted to share this interview with the audience here at Successful Blog because a service like this can really help you out if you’re in a pinch working at your home office and you need tech support. If you don’t want to pay $50 or more to take your computer into your local computer shop, give MinuteFix a shot.

Without further ado…

Tech support from MinuteFix

An interview with Phil Gerbyshak and Diego Orjuela

Phil Gerbyshak: So tell me Diego, what is MinuteFix?

Diego OrjeulaDiego Orjuela: MinuteFix is the first provider of tech support that is powered by a community of experts. Think of it like a Geek Squad combined with the power of a community model like Wikipedia or eBay. Customers can get help for any computer problem, no matter how big or small, 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. The service is very affordable, at only $0.99 per minute. It doesn’t matter what the problem is, our certified community technicians will do
their best to fix it. And, if we don’t fix your problem, the session is free.

PG: Wow, why didn’t I think of that? Seems like it could be very useful for anyone working at home or with a limited budget.

DO: Absolutely! Imagine you are at your computer and you are having trouble with a
simple task like downloading an image from the Internet. MinuteFix can help you complete such a simple task in a few minutes, which otherwise might have taken you an hour to figure out on your own, all the way to more complex issues like virus or security problems. One customer last week lost her entire iTunes music library. We were able to help her recover it, and get her on her way, saving her tons of lost time and money.

PG: I hear you guys are very big on customer service. Why is that so important to you?

DO: Well, we are a company built by a passionate community of technicians who love what they do. With tech support from MinuteFix, we empower technology experts to work from home, at the hours they choose. Because they do what we love, we can offer a superior service. We deeply believe that technology should help us to interact seamlessly with the people we care about, produce tremendous results while making us more productive – and not get in the way in the process. We are your friend, and maybe even our neighbor, so we want to treat you as that. All Certified MinuteFix Technicians are thoroughly screened and tested, and must pass a customer service exam. Great customer service is the foundation of MinuteFix. Read more

The Big Challenge is OVER, Keep that Energy Going ON

Filed Under Inside-Out Thinking, Productivity, Successful Blog | 6 Comments

Sometimes Timing Is Everything

This week’s challenge in the the b5media Business Apprentice Team Challenge . . . Kay’s finally settling into her role as entrepreneur. Kay hardly has time to read the whole web. What one blog post or article might I recommend that will help her move forward at this point?

insideout logo

In the apprentice story, Kay has made it through her first, and hugely successful, Christmas rush. Now Christmas is over and I’m guessing that Kay is only human. Sometime, win or lose, a big push in business can cause a dip in enthusiasm about the business we love.

The sheer investment of energy can leave feeling like we need a rest. Moving forward to face the next challenge can seem like something we have a right to put off. Unfortunately, a business won’t stand still while we’re resting and refueling. If we stop to do that we can find ourselves in crisis mode again when the new challenge rolls around.

The best business advice for a time like that is to have great habits to fall back on. An article over at LifeDev is just what this situation needs. It’s a simple method for time management. Simple is the key because, at a moment of regrouping, the way to entice ourselves back into involvement is by accomplishing little things that mean a lot.

Time Management, Simplified: How to Be Productive With No Worries simplifies the system and streamlines David Allen’s Getting Things Done for folks who want to reduce the time spent learning and maintaining Mr. Allen’s system. Leo Babauta who wrote the post says:

The fewer tasks you have, the less you have to do to organize them. Focus only on those tasks that give you the absolute most return on your time investment, and you will become more productive and have less to do. You will need only the simplest tools and system, and you will be much less stressed.

Boy do I agree.

In fact, that’s just what I’m going to start in today.

How do you keep your momentum going? Has a blog post ever made it easier for you?

Only 8 blogs are left in the Apprentice Challenge if you like my choice and this post, would you give Successful-Blog a vote in the poll in the sidebar at TAXGIRL?

The Blogs remaining in the challenge are:

Accounting Solver . . . Biz Chicks Rule . . . Greener Assets . . . Home Biz Notes
Leadership Turn . . . Small Business Boomers . . . Successful Blog . . . Yielding Wealth



–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Related
Success Can Come Right Out of Nowhere
Six Steps to a Remarkably Powerful, Personal Network
How Do You Know When You’re Ready to Move to the Next Level?
How to Think Like a Millionaire and Be What You Want to Be

Myers-Briggs: Vacation and Work with your PJs

Filed Under Productivity, Successful Blog | 11 Comments

Last in the Series:

Two Groups — Two Vacations

Customer Think Logo

Armed with our individual Myers-Briggs Type Indicator results, the seminar leader divided the 25 of us into two groups, one group on each side of the room. We didn’t know how the groups were decided. We only knew that we were assigned a task.

“Plan a vacation together,” she said. Then she allowed us a block of time to do so.

The two groups jumped on the task with enthusiasm. This was much more fun than a day at the office. At the office, we worked together as a department, so a group vacation was easy to imagine. I remember looking around at my group that day, thinking This is the group I would want to vacation with. How did she know that?

When the time was up, two vacations had been planned. They sounded something like this.

Both groups were delighted with our plans.

Vacation and Work with your PJs (and other letters)

All of my work life, I’ve run into people who believed that everyone thinks the same way, should do things the same way — the industrial revolution was run on that exact premise.

I use the vacation planning story above to bring home the point that we don’t think alike. Want more proof?

Think about when your vacation starts. Does it start when you leave work on the last day before? . . . or when you leave for the airport or when you get in the car? . . . or does it not start until you’ve arrived and settled in? If your answer is different from that of your vacation companion, there could be conflict without understanding.

If my companions’ vacation starts before mine does, it’s irritating. He’s playing. I’m still trying to get to where my vacation begins.

If we care about how others think when we plan, we can get the best effect with the least stress and conflict. Hey, who doesn’t prefer a smile to getting yelled at? Though everyone is able to work in all eight modes, we have more fuel when we can go with our natural preferences.

Here are some ways to manage a team to their strengths and preferences.

We work counter to our preferences every day, and we do well. But it wears us out. It makes us tired and cranky, and strains relationships. When we do what we’re good at, work is fun; we’re enthusiastic; and we’re exponentially more passionate and productive. Which do you think is better for us, for the customers, and for the work?

On that Myers-Briggs day, the Ps “went to Taos.” The Js “went to Europe.” We all had fun planning in our homogenous groups.

How would you get a team of both Ps and Js to plan a vacation that worked?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you think I can help with your business, your brand or your blog, check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Related articles
Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as a Personal Productivity Tool
Who’s Talking about the Myers Briggs Tonight?

Other resources
Keirsey.com They carried on the research.
Google Directory for Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Type Logic Resources and software

Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as a Personal Productivity Tool

Filed Under Productivity, Successful Blog | 25 Comments

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

A conversation started this weekend about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. I promised to continue it, but before I do, some background might help. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator outlines our preferences for four categories of focus:

  1. Favorite World: Introvert or Extrovert — Do you prefer to focus on your inner world, or do you prefer to focus on the outer world?

  2. Information: Sensing or Intuitiion — Do you prefer to focus on basic information, or do you prefer to focus on adding value and interpretation?

  3. Decisions: Thinking or Feeling — Do you prefer to focus on logic and consistency first, or do you prefer to focus first on people and circumstances?

  4. Structure: Judging or Perceiving — Do you prefer to get things decided and to closure, or do you prefer to keep room for new information and possibilities?

All of us can do all eight. The indicator only points to our preferences — where we go first and where we would rather focus.

Finding our preferences adds to our self-awareness. It’s one more way to help manage our life and our business. If we know our preferences, we can keep our energy up and our stress level down — making opportunities for things we prefer does just that.

An introvert, who has a day of meetings, can schedule private time to regroup. An extrovert, who has a day of paperwork to get through, can schedule in a break to touch base with clients or colleagues.

More energy and less stress just by using what we know about ourselves. That makes the Myers-Briggs a personal productivity tool.

How might you change your work day based only on what you know about you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related articles
Who’s Talking about the Myers Briggs Tonight?

Other resources
If you want to seriously take the MBTI, the Myers & Briggs Foundation recommends Capt.org. It’s US$150 via email. If you want a taste of what the test measures, you might go to Humanmetrics. com
Keirsey.com They carried on the research.
Google Directory for Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Type Logic Resources and software

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