Successful Blog

Success Is NOT Sleeping Faster

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If editorials put you to sleep, read on, a little snooze could be a good thing.

Everyone needs a nap now and then. I’m a firm believer in them. I think that naps are good things. American Naps are a way of refueling. Take a nap at the right time on a weekend, and you get two Saturdays instead of one. . . .

It was only three years ago, that BBC News quoted a Harvard Research study which suggested 60-90 minutes around 2p.m. every afternoon would rejuvenate us. I still subscribe to that theory.

But late last year, things started changing, new studies reported in Men’s Journal were touting the benefits of sleeping “as fast as possible” and smaller naps from the now-called “lazy-man’s” nap of 50 to 90 minutes to the “nano-nap” of 10-20 seconds.

10-20 seconds? That’s blinking!

Of course, if that doesn’t suit you, Steve Pavlina began talking about the uberman sleep schedule of polyphasic sleep. That’s where you sleep for 20 minutes at six different times a day–no more daytime and nighttime. One long day with lots of little naps–sort of like being a human laptop.

Now British researchers are discussing the CAFFEINE NAP. That’s right–drink one cup of coffee, and go to sleep for 15 minutes. (The coffee must shave off that extra five from the original 20 minute power nap.) According to Achieve-It, the reporting blog, this process clears your system of adenosine, the chemical that makes you sleepy. (I came across this tidbit browsing Lifehacker.)

Could I just say something? . . . What’s wrong with sleeping?

Success is not about sleeping faster. It’s no wonder someone wrote a Snark Manifesto recently. Snarky–that’s how little kids get when they haven’t had a good nap–all kinds of cranky and hard to get along with. Maybe we should all take a couple hours, have a snack and take a siesta. Not for ourselves, for the community.

Don’t even get me started on the topic of one-minute bedtime stories for kids.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Sunday Night Bloggy Question 8

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For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week, tonight I offer a Blogging Question.

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Here you go. . . .

People keep asking me What does a blog network offer a blogger?

I suppose that I should expect to get this question more than most people might. I always have trouble explaining my answer, because my answer is unique to who I am.

Today it hit me. The question isn’t right. The question should be:

What does a being part of a blog network offer READERS?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Introducing Three SOBs

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Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Purple SOB Button

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Please Meet These SOBs

Let me introduce some people I met this week.

Ingrid at Midnight Island

Thank you, Ingrid, for the work you’re doing. I know there are still some tweaks. But it’s so exciting to see Successful-Blog FINALLY LOOKING SUCCESSFUL!

Aaron at Technosailor

Jonic at 100yen

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Thank you, Aaron and Jonic, for jumping in–without notice–to help with technical difficulties.

A week ago I didn’t know these bloggers. Now they are a part of Successful-Blog. That’s the way Successful and Outstanding Bloggers do things. Their commitment to quality reflects in all they do. Stop by their blogs and leave a comment–just click the logos. Like the bloggers who write them, the blogs are unique and worth getting to know.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Talk about Google-ing

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Did you notice the new feature in your Gmail?

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Gmail now has a link called Gmail Chats.
Click the link in your Gmail to open a list of contacts.
Click the contacts and you’ll open IM sessions in your browser IE and Firefox.

Google Talk logo

You’ll be set to have voice conversations with your pals for FREE–that’s NO money.

What’s WAY COOL is the way the Google Talk works inside Gmail. Check it out. To quote Google

About Gmail
Gmail is an experiment in a new kind of webmail, built on the idea that you should never have to delete mail and you should always be able to find the message you want.

Search, don’t sort.
Use Google search to find the exact message you want, no matter when it was sent or received.

Don’t throw anything away.
Over 2692.883065 megabytes (and counting) of free storage so you’ll never need to delete another message.

Keep it all in context.
Each message is grouped with all its replies and displayed as a conversation

Don’t have Gmail?
You might have to wait a while. I tried to open a second account and got a message saying that it’s by invitation only. Guess they figure they’re going to be busy keeping current customers hooked up and going. They’re probably right. Someone tried to call me with this service already tonight. Like I said, “It’s WAY COOL.”

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Content Explorer on a Quest

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When I was a kid, Craig Capitani and I used to go exploring. We’d go across my backyard, down the riverbank, around end of the slough, into the woods on the other side. We got really good at exploring. We went places other kids in our neighbordhood didn’t know about. We could walk right up to the most interesing things by second nature. We found dead fish and arrowheads. We even found a farm with cornfields the other kids didn’t know was there.

We were the Lewis and Clark, the Marco Polos, the Leif Ericsons of our corner of the world. We were always on a quest of some sort. It made life fun. Fun is a good thing.

This week, in his post on the Blogosphere, David Sifry said about Technorati

We track about 1.2 million posts each day, which means that there are about 50,000 posts each hour. At that rate, it is literally impossible to read everything that is relevant to an issue or subject . . .

Here’s my response to that statement. I still see my role as to provide some of that content, but also more than ever as to find out where well-written content already exists . . . to do what my pal, Craig, and I used to–turn over leaves to see what’s under them and kick trees to see what falls out of them.

    The more I sift through (ahem) read to find quality, the less you have to.

    There’s great content out there, and as David Sifry said, it’s impossible for anyone to read it all.

    You do what you usually do. I’ll go on a quest, and maybe I can bring you a Great Reminder, a Great Find, a Blog Worth Checking Out, even something that might knock your socks off every now and then. No dead fish I promise.

    In the meantime, if you have an idea about what you’re looking for . . .

    you could turn this quest into a MISSION, just by telling me what you need.

    –ME “Liz” Strauss

The New Successful-Blog Feed Address

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Sorry it took me so long to get it done, but now I can finally say…

With our shiny new skyline comes a shiny new

Successful-Blog Feed Address

http://feeds.feedburner.com/successful-blog/AsiQ

Thanks to Matt at Blog Media for his help in getting the subscription button to work.

Let me know if I’ve missed something. I’m finding it’s easy to do.

–ME “Liz” Strauss