More beach art from our Sunday morning walks at Fingal.
I am continually delighted by the images that the changing faces of nature. Often these branches will be totally exposed.
What in nature delights you?
Friday! Finally!
On a short week, it can seem to take even longer to get here and we can end up with a Friday that seems jammed packed with things we’re still trying to get done. And before we know it the weekend will again be upon us …
Don’t let it sneak up on you!
Rather than fall into this weekend still working, start a new productivity habit.
Set a plan that will end your Friday neatly, get your Monday optimized for productivity in the very best way so that your weekend can be your own.
It may take some practice to get it down perfectly, but if you get the habit of this checklist, you’ll find that you start your weekends and your Mondays more sweetly.
2. Use that half-hour to organize everything on your desk. Put things away. Lay out things that still need attending to. Mark what needs to be done. Make a to-do list, if that’s your way.
3. Make a plan for next week–at the least, decide what you will tackle first on Monday and what your three most important goals will be.
4. Do an office check. Are the things you use most closest to where you use them? If not, move them, so that they will be. Are the files you access most on your computer only one click away? If not, move them so that they will be.
5. Order the Monday tasks by putting what you can get done fastest first. Do this for two reasons. It will start your week with a quick sense of accomplishment, and you’ll be able to pass on what you finished–that means that when you move on to task two, someone else can be starting on what was your task one.
Then consider the week closed, leave the office at work, give your brain a break, and have a weekend. What a great way to promote yourself and your brand to anyone who walks by on their way home for the weekend. It says a lot for your personal brand — almost everyone wishes their office looked like it could be in a magazine . . . Even if the only one it says it to is you — that’s plenty.
Whether you work in a building away from home or in your bedroom, a productivity boost will find you on Monday walking back into a space that’s ready to work in.
The idea is to end work on Friday so that if you open your on the weekend you might actually be refueling — talking to friends or watching a movie — rather than cleaning up details left over from the week you just left. Having a headstart on Monday can free the mind space to enjoy Saturday and Sunday.
How do you amp your productivity to mark the end of a Friday?
Be irresistible.
— ME “Liz” Strauss
Yes, you are a big-time investor. Like, Warren Buffet big. What? You donât see it?
Every morning you wake up with 24 hours to invest. Youâre rich beyond compare.
That 24 hours has a value that canât even be measured. When you stack up a whole week of those, youâre talking about 168 hours!
Will you invest in Facebook? (No, not the stock shares, the status checking). Will you invest in your children? Your business? Will you choose to invest in yourself?
Thereâs a reason itâs called âspending time.â It feels like an unlimited resource, but itâs truly not. We all have an unknowable limit.
Sometimes people get caught up in believing that social media is âfreeâ because Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ donât charge our credit cards. But in fact, you are investing a far more precious resource when you use social media—your own time or that of your staff.
Furthermore, by choosing to invest your limited resource in social media, you are de facto choosing not to spend it elsewhere. Should you ignore your customer newsletter to post pictures on Pinterest? Only if itâs getting you an outcome you want. Should you cancel your sponsorship of the local 4th of July fireworks display so that you can record a YouTube video?
When you manage your time, whether itâs putting together a life plan or a business plan, remember that itâs all about where you choose to invest.
If you invest wisely, youâll see dividends!
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Thank you, Rosemary!
You’re irresistible!
ME “Liz” Strauss
Blogging was never meant to be an activity that contributes to your stress (in fact it was supposed to be the opposite) but somehow, it is becoming more and more stressful, given the competition and how much more challenging blogging has actually become.
If you are about to start a blog, and youâÂÂre inspired by the stories of bloggers who started blogging as a pastime some years ago, and now they are making hundreds and thousands of dollars from their blogs (if they are to be believed), please beware that it is not going to be the case when you launch a blog in this time and age. Sorry to break it to you, but while it was easy to hit the jackpot with little or no effort some time ago, now the internet in general, and blogosphere in specific is turning more and more vicious, and jumping into the red ocean (read: Blue Ocean Strategy) and coming face to face with the big fish is going to be quite tiresome, if not destructive.
To cut a long story short, full time blogging, especially when you are doing it for the sole purpose of making money, can be quite stressful and unhealthy for following reasons.
Taking all of the above in consideration, we can safely declare that modern blogging is a job full of stress, and if you are not taking your mental and physical fitness seriously, it can cast quite negative effects on your overall health and well being.
So hereâÂÂs the two-way approach to stay fit and deal with the stress built by blogging.
Goal One – Stay Physically Fit:
As earlier suggested, full time blogging will require you to spend more and more time in front of your PC, because you need to be online for everything, from finding new topics to researching for the material, and writing your posts to doing the marketing, and spending all this time while sitting in a bad, bad posture canâÂÂt be good for your body. You need to make up for this lack of physical activity by fitting in some exercise routines or sports to your daily schedule to make sure you are not putting up excessive weight. Secondly, if you are looking to take up blogging as a full time job, try to do more work on a standard PC instead of a laptop or notebook, because the smaller screens and keypads will put extra strain on your body parts like eyes, wrists, and shoulders. Lastly, for Bloggers, it can become even more important to maintain a healthy diet program, for example, a big part of your work will require mental labor, therefore it is recommended that you are consuming food which is good for healthy brain, for example salmon, avocado, or walnuts (of course after consulting with your physician).
Goal Two – Stay Mentally Fit:
A healthy body will eventually result in a hale and hearty mind, plus you need to provide your mind with some respite and lots of breaks, mainly because in blogging you are making it work harder than the routine jobs. Ideally, all full time bloggers must be having some sort of a hobby or pastime Away from the computer or TV screen. It will help if you can go out and meet your friends and have some good laugh to wash away the tiredness accumulated from hours and hours of blogging. Lastly, (and this one is going to be tough), try not to be too greedy, because unrealistic expectations or goals will result in more and more stress.
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This post was by Rahil who writes for WeightLossTriumph, who offers fitness related coupon codes like nutrisystem coupons codes and TRX promotions at his website. You will find many more discounts and reviews of popular products, in addition to nutrisystem and TRX, if you visit his site.
Although some âexpertsâ stand by their claim that email will one day go the way of Beanie Babies, New Coke and Pontiac, there are others that believe email will be with us for the foreseeable future.
No matter which side of the fence you find yourself on with such a debate, one thing we can all agree on is that our respective email folders do not take very long to get filled up. In fact, go away on vacation for a few days without computer access and see what your business or personal email folder looks like when you return home.
For those individuals that are in charge of email marketing campaigns for their respective companies, it takes a delicate touch of finding the right amount of emails to send out to current and prospective clients so that you do not come across as a spammer. Making matters worse than spamming, a bad email campaign can dampen your companyâs reputation, leading consumers to go elsewhere for the products and/or services that you offer.
So, how can you put together winning email marketing solutions that not only keep you out of the doghouse with search engines, but allow your company to get its message across at the same time?
Email marketing is still a prime player in a companyâs efforts to attract and retain business these days.
If your email marketing campaigns seem a little junky these days, donât automatically mail it in on failing.
Photo credit: websiteexpert.com
Dave Thomas, who discusses subjects such as direct mail advertising, writes extensively for San Diego-based Business.com.
Early in my career at Accenture, I didnât get promoted when I thought I should have. I didn’t have the necessary skills to perform as a consulting manager. This prompted me — with the help of my mentor — to realize the following: I needed to undertake the responsibilities of the position I wanted before I could be promoted to it. I had to take responsibility for myself ⦠I needed to figure out who I wanted to be and how to make it happen. Ultimately, I became the CEO of Me, Inc. This professional epiphany opened the door to a promotion as Senior Executive, the Office Managing Partner of Accenture’s Philadelphia office and the Managing Partner of the Office of the CEO at Accenture.
Changing roles in the workplace isn’t always easy, but I facilitated my new roles through my Make-it-Happen (MIH) Model, which consists of four easy-to-follow steps:
Just like the CEO of a corporation has a vision for their company, you need to have a vision for your company (You, Inc.). Take a moment to think about your future. What are you doing in five years? For example: “I am a partner at Accenture, in the Government Services practice, and my team just won a contract with the Department of Defense to implement a new human resources system.” Send an e-mail to someone, describing what you wish to be doing, and date it five years from today. By doing this, you’re talking with others about your aspirations and you’re committing to make it happen.
You know what they say: two heads are better than one. Your team will serve as the Board of Directors of You, Inc. They will help you gather the necessary resources for you to achieve your vision. Your team should include people who: you admire, will open doors for you, and will recommend you for the opportunities you need to gain valuable experience. These people can be experts, mentors, advocates, executive coaches, stakeholders, etc. When I was at Accenture, my team included my peers, my clients, people I admired, and people who were in positions that I aspired to have (in addition to others in senior positions).
What do you need to do to obtain the promotion you want and how will you do it? What kinds of skills, experience, and knowledge are required to achieve your vision? Think of your plan as a roadmap or a GPS. Youâd never leave for a long road trip without one of these, right? Developing a detailed plan will get you from where you are to where you want to be. Be clear, be concise, and set goals with dates. This way, youâll always know where you are and what you need to do next.
Once you have your vision, your team, and your plan set in place, it’s time to put You, Inc. into motion. Be aware of your product and its packaging. You should also be aware of how you’re presenting and marketing You, Inc. As you navigate through your journey, monitor what’s going on around you. Which parts of your plan are successful? How about the parts that didn’t work out quite as you planned? Learn from any possible mistakes and move on. Look back at your original plan and make adjustments as needed. I proactively change my plan every 3-5 years. My end goal is to make myself indispensable. As the strategy of your organization changes, you need to change to be indispensable.
Ultimately, to make change happen, you must embrace these four steps and proactively seek opportunities for yourself. As I always say: make things happen for you, don’t just let them happen to you. Take responsibility for yourself. If you do this, you’ll be well on your way to achieving your goals and becoming the CEO of You, Inc.
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Thank you for adding to the conversation!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!
