Is Your Business Writing Holding You Back?

"I'm talking to you instead of drowning my sorrows in a pint of Chunky Monkey ice cream," said Tanya on the phone.

"That's a great flavor!" I said. "Which sorrows are you trying to drown?”

"I was so close on a great job," Tanya groaned. "I had two interviews. After the second one the recruiter said 'They love you! You're a finalist.' She said they’d want a writing sample. Someone in HR sent me an email message with the writing sample requirements in it

I wrote the sample last night and sent it back to them. I thought it would be fine. Then I got a no-thank-you letter this morning. The headhunter just called me and said 'They said they loved you, but it's a position with a lot of writing in it.' I'm devastated."

"I'm so sorry, Tanya!" I said. "Do you want a job with lots of writing in it?"

"I'd kill for one," she replied. "I'm sure I didn't make any spelling or grammatical errors in my sample. What else could they have been looking for?"

Business is changing fast -- faster than I've seen it change in thirty years. Business writing is changing, too.

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Stuck for words: 5 things not to say when a person is grieving.

Grief can happen at the least expected moments, it might be a teenager who has had his or her young heart broken, it might be someone who has just been diagnosed with a life threatening illness, someone who has lost an animal companion, someone going through a divorce – or who is grieving the death of a loved one.

Grief can take place anywhere, anytime and suddenly. We can be going along our merry way then suddenly something happens and our world is taken from us. Most people have no idea what to say or how to support someone in grief. We slip into general statements such as “Time will heal,” when right in that moment time may seem like a strange notion for the person grieving.

When my sisters’ husband died suddenly at the age of 38, and she was left to raise her 2, 4, 6 and 8 year old children on her own; she confided in me a few weeks after his passing “People miss him terribly and they try to say the right thing – but actually all they talk about is how sad they are – I find myself supporting them in
their grief rather than the other way around.”

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How To make Email Newsletters Awesome

Just recently, I have received some really bad and I mean really bad email newsletters from people and companies that I subscribe to and because some have been shockingly bad, I thought it would be a good time to give some pointers if you are not absolutely happy with your own.

We all work very hard creating email lists because as a marketing tool, they still really work and as long as you have the subscribers' permission, you own the list. Compare that to gaining huge amounts of fans and followers that you really don’t own if the platforms ever died, so always grow the two together

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The Three Ds That Can Save Your Business

Where can I find organic growth and beat my competitors? At its essence, that’s the question that drives every business. It’s not an easy question to answer, especially given how complicated things are (Big Data, large global organizations, fast-changing customer behaviors, disruptive technologies). And throw into the mix the anemic growth plaguing many economies in the world today.

Obtaining Your Unlimited Freedom

We have a point of view on this (you can read the full white paper I co-authored: Discover, Design, Deliver: 3D Marketing & Sales for Above-Market Growth) and it comes down to building and linking up your three “Ds”:

1. Discovery: Building a data advantage by pulling in relevant data sets, analyzing the data at high speed, turning it into relevant business insights, and then delivering those insights to the decision makers so they can take meaningful action. The discovery needs to be based on a thorough understanding of today’s customer decision journey, and uncover segments whose journey you can reshape. Only 30 percent of companies believe they understand their customers’ needs and have a clear sense of where growth will come from.

2. Design: Creating business strategies, processes, pricing programs, products, and experiences that the brand delivers to customers. Design strategists start with learning what customers care about, how they truly behave, what their needs are, and what influences them. Fed by a continuing stream of insights, strategists in business units rapidly learn what is and is not working, innovate new solutions, assess their economics and feasibility, and then work with the frontline on implementation.

3. Delivery: Getting the right offering to each customer across a complex range of online and offline channels. Orchestrating the tailored delivery of products and offers across marketing and sales channels requires operational excellence and organizational agility

Linking them together is the critical component here. It’s not enough to have a great analytics team if their insights never make it to the front lines. And it doesn’t matter if your sales organization is out of this world if they trying to sell products that customers just don’t want. That breakdown was obvious in a survey we did recently. Almost 50 percent of companies said their customer database doesn’t help them make decisions. In addition, fewer than 20 percent said that the way they capture insights contributes directly to sales effectiveness.

As companies build capabilities in specific areas, they also need to have an eye towards how to fine-tune the entire organization to take advantage of those capabilities. It’s a little like when coach Herb Brooks chose the US ice hockey team for the 1980 Olympics. He didn’t select the best players; he chose the best players who played best together. The result was the “Miracle on Ice,” when the US team beat its Soviet archrivals and went on to win the gold medal.

This 3D model places equal emphasis on individual and team excellence. Companies need that kind of double strength if they want to beat their competitors.

So, what is holding back your organization from being 3D?

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Author / INFLUENCER: David Edelman

Revealed: The World's Most & Least Advanced Countries

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UNTIL recently, the popular way to compare the progress of one country relative to another was to use the size of their economies. America had the biggest GDP (and almost the biggest per capita GDP), so it stood to reason it was the most advanced country in the world.

Nowadays, we all know that GDP is a flawed measure of how well a country is doing. Because it only adds up the activity that involves money changing hands, it ignores all sorts of things that matter to a country's well-being.

Life to be In Freedom

After the financial crash of 2008 revealed that the world had been fooled by strong GDP growth into thinking all was well, there was general agreement among policymakers that we needed better measures to judge how individual countries, and the world as a whole, are doing. I chaired a Global Agenda Council at the World Economic Forum that decided to create* what has become the "Social Progress Index", which has just been published, comparing some 132 countries. You can see the full results here.
The SPI uses 54 different measures of social and environmental progress, grouped into three categories, to answer the following questions:

• Does a country provide for its people's most essential needs?
• Are the building blocks in place for individuals and communities to enhance and sustain well-being?
• Is there opportunity for all individuals to reach their full potential?

So, which country comes out as the best in the world by this measure. As Nick Kristof pointed out in his column in the New York Times this morning, it is not America, as "we underperform because our economic and military strengths don’t translate into well-being for the average citizen." True, as Kristof notes, the US "excels in access to advanced education but ranks 70th in health, 69th in ecosystem sustainability, 39th in basic education, 34th in access to water and sanitation and 31st in personal safety. Even in access to cellphones and the Internet, the United States ranks a disappointing 23rd, partly because one American in five lacks internet access."

 
The most advanced country in fact is New Zealand, living proof that small is beautiful (and that isn't a reference to all the hobbits living there). According to the SPI, New Zealand is truly the land of opportunity, showing strongest on indicators of the chances it gives its citizens to reach their full potential. Two other smallish countries rank second and third, Switzerland and Iceland, whilst the highest ranking member of the big economy G8 is Canada, in seventh place. (Canada ranks second on "opportunity", ahead of the fifth-ranked US.)
Poorer countries are often compared using to the UN's Human Development Index, though this tends to be highly-correlated with GDP, with all the limitations that implies. One of the strengths of the SPI is that, by only using social and environmental indicators and excluding all economic measures, it is easier to compare how countries with similar GDP are doing relative to each other. According to SPI, eight of the ten least advanced countries are in Africa, including relatively wealthy Nigeria in 123rd place. Bottom of the ranking is Chad. Yet some African countries rank fairly highly, such as Botswana in 57th place, above South Africa (69th), Turkey (64th), Saudi Arabia (65th), Russia (80th) and China (90th), among others.


One lesson from the SPI is that the economy is not destiny when it comes to building a better country. Some countries do considerably better by their citizens than others with similar levels of GDP. One goal of publishing the SPI is to encourage proper study of why some countries do better than others, so that the laggards can learn to do better. One striking finding is that three countries in sub-Saharan Africa far outperformed on social progress compared to other countries with a similar GDP, Ghana, Malawi and Liberia. Could it be that there is an emerging sub-Saharan model that other countries in the region can copy?
For businesses, the SPI may also be a useful leading indicator of social and political risk. For instance, the Middle East countries in which there was political upheaval during the Arab Spring all under-performed versus countries with a similar GDP on the measure of "opportunity".

Explore the SPI and you may learn something valuable!


* The original idea was transformed into the SPI under the brilliant academic leadership of Michael Porter, an influential Harvard professor, working with the staff at the Social Progress Imperative, lead by my frequent co-author, Michael Green. I am a member of the Social Progress Imperative's advisory board.

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Author / INfluencer: MATTHEW BISHOP     

The Importance of Strong Partnerships BY: Meg Whitman

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Relationships with customers and employees are at the core of any successful business. But in today’s evolving landscape, strategic alliances, joint ventures and creative collaborations can be just as critical to success. At HP, we’re especially focused on the relationship with our channel partners – the distributors and resellers who bring our products and services to the marketplace every day.

In many cases, these partners are the face of HP, the team on the front lines helping us serve our customers. Many have been with us for decades, and today they contribute up to 70 percent of HP’s revenue. For those reasons, maintaining and developing strong partner relationships is one of HP’s top priorities.

Global Partner Conference

This week, we are bringing together more than 2,000 of HP’s partners from around the world for our annual Global Partner Conference (GPC) in Las Vegas. The event provides our partners with the opportunity to share their goals for the year ahead, preview new products and solutions, and align on our respective strategies.

Keeping these relationships strong and mutually beneficial is absolutely critical to our ecosystem and success. Look around your organization’s ecosystem. Beyond your customers and employees, who are your essential partners? Whether it’s your sales channel or collaborations with other organizations, the following principles are key to maintaining healthy business partnerships.

1. Start with Stability

Stability forms the foundation of any successful partnership. At HP, years of uncertainty – from inconsistent strategy to a revolving door of leadership – were beginning to wear down our partners. As a result, we made restoring stability the first step toward rebuilding our relationships. This included articulating a clear strategy and taking immediate actions to stabilize the business. We repaired our balance sheet, reduced operating company net debt to zero, and put in place a solid leadership team that understood the value of our partners.

2. Play Away Games

When it comes to building strong relationships, there’s no substitute for meeting people on their home turf. Over the past year, I’ve met with more than 1,000 customers and partners and the bulk of these meetings have been outside the walls of HP. Traveling can be time-consuming and expensive, but it can also be a strong signal of your commitment to a relationship.

3. Listen and Translate Words into Action

Establishing two-way communications is just one part of strengthening relationships. Words are great, but action is what matters. When I meet with partners, I always try to make our conversations about what we can be doing better for them, not the other way around, and then act quickly to address their needs.

4. Make It Profitable

When I first joined HP, I kept hearing from partners that our organization was too complex. Outdated tools, hard-to-navigate processes, and too many programs were making it challenging to work with HP.

To fix these problems, we rolled out new tools and removed bureaucracy to make it easier and faster to close deals. We cut in half the number of technical certifications and created role-based certifications that require significantly less time out of office. We removed gates and caps, enabling partners to begin earning rebates from their first sale and giving them access to unlimited earning potential. Meaningful incentives and a streamlined compensation structure are not only driving our business forward, they are making doing business with HP more rewarding.

Building strong relationships with our partners based on mutual respect and profitability doesn’t just benefit HP and our partners. It also puts us in a better position to help our customers win.

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Key Truths For Being An Outstanding Manager

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While there are numerous books, courses, and online trainings for improving your managerial skills, seldom do they address the psychological underbelly of wise and wonderful management. That’s understandable since they aren’t created by people with a psychological background. 

But over the past many years we’ve seen how understanding and incorporating the following psychological truths have enabled good managers to become great: 

1 - Everyone Knows How To Follow 
Everyone was once a small child whose very existence depended on following their parents or other caretakers. So the act of following is built into each and every one of us. And while some chronological adults rebel against managerial leadership in an unconscious carryover from their youth, the vast majority of people welcome clear, supportive leadership they can readily follow. 

2 - Your Followers Want You To Exhibit Strong Leadership 
When a manager can be counted on to provide clear directions, clear expectations, clear rewards and clear critique in response to outcomes, s/he can provide a confident-making platform for everyone on the team. Being nice, wishy washy, or distracted by the company’s internal politics raises grave concerns for the future of the team’s project as well as anxiety about management’s missing guidance about current expectations.

3 - Your Team Wants You To Lead Not Rely On Their Opinion
While team input and collaboration are extremely important and invaluable, all too often managers abdicate their leadership role in favor of “consulting” with people on the team to try to handle dicey hiring problems, team restructuring, or other insecurities that are not the business of that manager’s team members. 

4 - Forget About Being A Buddy 
Some managers, uncomfortable with their senior status and leadership role, believe that becoming friends and buddies with their team members will empower those who report to them. Actually, nothing is further from the truth. Role confusion makes for team members’ job confusion which creates organizational confusion. 

5 - Trying Too Hard To Save An Employee Endangers Your Whole Team 
Well meaning managers can often get caught up in trying to rescue a team member whose behavior and/or output is insufficient, incorrect, or injurious to the well being of the team. They may have recruited and/or hired this individual. They may have had great hopes for this person’s career and it’s now a blow to their sense of competence to have to concede that the person needs to be let go. But letting go must become a must-do in order to protect the well being of the other team members and the team’s output. 

6 - Big Visions Do Not Make For Wise Guidance 
Your team needs wise and caring guidance for execution of your project vision, whatever it is. Merely providing a big vision leaves everyone scrambling to guess at what is expected, demoralizing and rendering insecure what might otherwise be an excellent team. Remember, everyone knows how to follow. Give them clear, empowering guidelines and most people will knock themselves out to produce what you want from them. 

While there are certainly many other psychological truths about excellent management, these six will get you started thinking about what’s most wanted and expected of you from your followers—who by and large want to please and impress you.

What other psychologically-oriented qualities do you think are essential?

(Photo: Business meetings eventspaceportland/Flickr)

Judith Sherven, PhD and her husband Jim Sniechowski, PhD http://JudithandJim.com have developed a penetrating perspective on people’s resistance to success, which they call The Fear of Being Fabuloustm. Recognizing the power of unconscious programming to always outweigh conscious desires, they assert that no one is ever failing—they are always succeeding. The question is, at what? To learn about how this played out in the life of Whitney Houston for example, and how it may be playing out in your own life, check out their 6th book: http://WhatReally KilledWhitneyHouston.com 

Currently consultants on retainer to LinkedIn providing executive coaching, leadership training and consulting as well as working with private clients around the world, they continually prove that when unconscious beliefs are brought to the surface, the barriers to greater success and leadership presence begin to fade away. You can learn about their core program “Overcoming the Fear of Being Fabulous” by going to http://OvercomingtheFearofBeingFabulous.com 

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Why We All Need Visionary Leaders

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Click Here To Start Your Vision

I have always felt as leaders with global experiences and exceptional connections we have a responsibility to share our journey and energy to inspire future generations.

In recent years, I’ve focused my time and energy on sharing Burberry’s brand, culture and digital transformational lessons. Speaking to different sectors - from banking to insurance to educational institutions - I hope in some small way to have shed light on ideas that could greatly impact the companies and communities they serve.

Just under a year ago, I had coffee with someone I greatly admire - the visionary digital educator Sal Khan who is single handedly disrupting a sector desperate for revolution. Very few leaders have what author Jim Collins calls ‘big hairy audacious goals’ but with their simple mission to make education accessible to everyone, Sal and Khan Academy could change the world.

Not dissimilar to Bill and Melinda Gates who want to eradicate disease, Scott Harrison ofcharity: water who wants to provide everyone with clean drinking water or Mark Zuckerbergwho dreams of connecting the world, it is so rare to find a great leader with a gigantic global vision and such passion and clarity as to how to resolve it.

Hopefully, this is not the first time you're hearing about Sal or Khan Academy. Perhaps you’ve seen his TED talk, visited Khan Academy or read about it in various business publications. In short, Khan Academy is a not-for profit with the goal of providing free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Through leveraging digital and great video content, they’ve created one of the most innovative companies in the world that will transform one of the most underinvested and fundamentally valuable foundation to our future generations’ growth and development.

I had the honour of speaking with Sal and his incredible team in San Francisco last spring, sharing lessons on brand, leadership and how to nurture a culture of creativity and innovation. I left that day with even greater respect for the clarity and intensity of their vision and the passion with which they execute it.

At Burberry, we have always said that our greater purpose is to create not just a great brand, but a great company. Through the Burberry Foundation, global teams unite to share key learnings with young people in communities where associates live and work to inspire, unlock and nurture their creative confidence. As the company prepares for tomorrow’s changes and challenges, one key measure of its success will be how many lives around the world are touched and transformed by the power of its performance. It is humbling to think our story could inspire the Khan Academy team to continue to do what they already do so brilliantly.

Education is a global issue for all of us. We need all companies to get behind Khan Academy and contribute to making sure every person on this planet has the opportunity of education.

Congratulations to Sal and the Khan Academy team!!!!!!

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HOW TO STAY UP-TO-DATE ON SOCIAL MEDIA FOR BUSINESS TRENDS"""

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In the past ten years, social media has changed the way that businesses communicate with their audiences. Research shows that a significant number of people use social media to follow their favorite brands. According to a survey conducted by The Social Habit, 53% of those who follow brands on social media show more brand loyalty. This medium of communication has proven very effective, and also very dynamic. Shifts occur so often in the world of social media that whole websites exist just to keep track of them all. If you’re convinced of the power of social media for reaching audiences, yet are a bit befuddled when it comes to how to keep up with it all, then this guide is for you.

why social is great for brands

Needless to say, B2C commerce has changed a lot in the past decade. For a long time, brands depended largely on traditional advertising mediums, celebrity endorsements, and other gimmicks to get their message in front of potential customers. Then, they’d initiate the hard sell in order to close the deal. While these tactics still have their place in the business world, today’s consumers desire information and two-way communication more than ever. Consumers want to know all about the products and services they’re spending money on, and they expect brands to oblige them. Social media facilitates this by creating a platform for exchanging ideas. Information flows freely and easily across social media platforms, and allows brands to reach a large number of people with little effort. It puts everyone on a level playing field. Whether you’re a mom and pop shop or a multi-national corporation, you can reach your audience using the same technology. Social media is also free to use, and you can’t get more cost effective than free.

The downside to all of this is that since social media is so accessible, literally anyone can create a Facebook page and call themselves your competitor. Also, as mentioned above, social media is ever evolving and sometimes difficult to keep up with. Terms like “social graph” and “sponsored tweets” often pop up literally overnight. Staying ahead of the curve can seem daunting, but there are a number of ways to effectively keep on top of social media for your business.

track blogs

There are a number of great blogs that will keep you up to speed when it comes to social media for business. Social Media Today brings together news and commentary about all things social media, and also related topics like content marketing and blogging. Social Media Examiner is another helpful source of social media marketing information. TechCrunch and Mashable are both highly respected blogs about internet and technology trends. The best way to keep track of these and other blogs is to sign up for an RSS reader like Feedly or Newsblur. These user-friendly platforms allow you to track multiple RSS feeds, therefore keeping you in the social media loop.

Follow The Right Accounts


Using social media to stay on top of social media is pretty intuitive, and also quite effective. If you know who to follow on Twitter, then you’ll have pretty much all the news you need in your Twitter stream. Social Media Examiner, TechCrunch, and Mashable all have Twitter accounts, as do notable social media mavens like Jeff Bullas and Heidi Cohen.

Google Alerts

Google Alerts is a great tool for keeping your ear to the virtual ground. All you do is enter the keywords you would like to track (e.g, social media for business, social media trends), and you will receive regular emails with the top results for your keywords. You can choose the frequency of the emails, and also control how many results that get returned to you.

attend conferences and expos
Catching up on news from the convenience of your home or office is great and all, but nothing beats going straight to the source. Conferences and expos give you the chance to do just that. Plus, they give you a chance to network with social media insiders and other business owners. Annual conferences like the well-known Search Marketing Expo (SMX) usually feature high profile speakers and guests that are on the cutting edge of social media trends. If you or your company have a vested interest in social media, then attending at least one conference a year is a worthwhile investment.

local meetups

If you can’t afford a conference this year, or if you simply prefer not to travel, then attending a local business meetup might be a better choice. Meetup.com has tons of meetups to choose from depending on your location. You can also contact your local chamber of commerce to see if they’ll be hosting any meetings about social media, or see if any professional advertising or marketing organizations have chapters in your area (e.g, the American Advertising Federation).

intra-office updates

If you have a team of people involved in your business’ social media efforts, then it’s a good idea to hold regular meetings so that everyone is on the same page. It’s a good time to talk about the company’s digital marketing campaigns, as well as update each other on news and tidbits. This is also a good way to clue other team members in who may not know much about social media marketing.

Social media is booming, and it certainly shows no signs of slowing down. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+ allow brands to share information and increase customer engagement on a whole new level. Luckily, you have lots of ways to stay on top of the latest social media developments, though the best way to learn will always be to dive in and try it for yourself.

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ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR CS5 TUTORIAL""" By: Derek Banas

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In these two video’s I show you how to use Adobe Illustrator CS5. I created this tutorial because of a request from DeathByKazillion.

Adobe Illustrator Tutorial & Review Part 1

Here I cover every new feature available with Illustrator CS5 and provide a review.

I cover specifically:

1. Bristle Brush
2. Perspective Tool
3. Creating Custom Brushes
4. Live Paint
5. Live Trace

If you like videos like this tell Google To make me extra happy, feel free to share it

Adobe Illustrator Tutorial & Review Part 2

Here I show you how to convert a jpeg or any image into vector art / EPS with Illustrator CS5. I also cover:

1. Rasterizing Images
2. Live Trace
3. Live Paint
4. Live Paint
5. Convert Muli-color Image into Vector Art
6. Working with Text Tool’s
7. Using Gradients
8. Using Strokes
9. Using the Knife Tool
10. Cleaning up Vector Art
11. And a bunch more in just 9 minutes

Adobe Illustrator Tutorial & Review Part 3
Here I show you how to use every other tool available with Illustrator CS5. I also cover:

1. Line tools
2. Shape tools
3. Layers
4. Colors
5. Text
6. Art boards
7. A bunch of random tip’s and trick’s

That’s All Folk’s

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The Two Basic Mindsets That Shape Up Our Lives"""

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Let’s talk about the two basic mindsets that shape up our lives: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.
A fixed mindset presumes that our mental ability, character, and creative skills are constant givens that can’t be altered in any significant way. Additionally, success is confirmed by that innate intelligence, which is actually an evaluation of how those givens correlate to an equally fixed standard. Moreover, evading failure at all cost and striving to succeed no matter what turn into a way to maintain the belief of being smart or at least skilled

On the other hand, a growth mindset flourishes on challenges and views failure not as a proof of being poor mentally or of lacking aptitude but as an encouraging starting point for growth and for enhancing our potential. A great deal of our behavior, the way we see success and failure, both in a professional and a personal context, and finally our capability to be happy springs from these two mindsets which we manifest in the earliest stages of our life.

Here’s How You Can Be The Best and Shine This Year

So, for those of you who are looking to shine this year and be the best you you can be, here are ten tips for how to achieve it.

As we embark upon a new year, there are so many ways to view our lives and the chances ahead of us – new opportunities, old regrets, the same cycles people go through every year. However, if you want to change this year-  if you want to shine this year as a human being and as the best version of yourself – then you’re going to need to work at what makes you tick. What makes you happy, what makes you sad, your strengths, weaknesses, your days and nights. Everything about yourself has to undergo an examination if not a re-evaluation.

1. Drink water every morning.
One of the easiest ways to shine this year is start every day off by drinking plenty of water as part of your early morning routine. The reason? Drinking water first thing in the morning has an incredible set of health benefits, including purifying the colon and allowing better nutrient absorption, aids weight loss and better metabolism, helps give you glowing skin thanks to flushing out toxins, and helps balance your lymph system. In short, it helps rejuvenate your system and helps you start every day off in the right way.

2. Change your morning routine to suit you.
Everyone has a morning routine and one of the ways to shine this year is to go through it and modify aspects of it that can be best suited to you. After all, everyone’s different and has their own way of working things in the early hours. If you always feel like you need more sleep, go to bed earlier or use a sleep calculator to find out when you should be going to bed to work with your circadian rhythms and cycles. Add in time for a morning shower if you always feel better with one but never have time. Make sure you have breakfast. All these little things can have a big positive effect on your morning routine and wlll help you shine this year.

3. Make an active effort to see the good around you.
The world is, surprisingly, a good place despite the bad things going around and not a lot of us actually choose to see. Let’s face it, with the news creating catastrophe and calamity in every news item, some pretty seriously twisted ideals of perfection and beauty being pushed on us, and a general feeling that cynicism is the standard, it can be hard to be optimistic and someone who sees the silver lining when everyone else sees an oncoming storm. If you want to truly shine this year, look for the positive. Surround yourself with positive friends and be more considerate to people going through their own situations, so that by looking for the positive, you transfer it forward and become the positive change yourself.

4. Exercise at least three times a week.
Exercise is a bit of a hate word around people – it brings back memories of school gyms and forced running and mandatory activities. However, choosing to go out and engage in something that gets your body moving is absolutely a fantastic thing to get involved in and something that is certain to make you shine this year. Find the kind of exercise you like to do, rather than immediately going down the gym even though you’ll hate it. If you like slow rhythmic movements, take up tai chi or yoga; if you like high-energy stuff, check our Zumba or aerobics. There are more than enough exercise options out there for you and if you really want to shine this year, it’s a good idea to go and get your body moving.

5. Get plenty of sleep.

This one cannot be stressed enough – sleep is key. All of our culture seems to be screaming, ‘you don’t need sleep, you can go for longer’ – but to do is to put into jeopardy your physical and mental health because sleep is an option. Sleep is a legitimate physical need that will cause you severe problems if you don’t get enough. A way to truly shine this year is to take care of yourself by engaging in some sleep hygiene. Make your bedroom the best kind of sleeping environment possible for you. Sweet dreams.

6. Make sure to dance at every opportunity.
A bit of a cliche, perhaps, but let’s be honest- people who shine through life are always ready to dance at the drop of a hat. Dancing is both ridiculously simple and complex – it’s a true expression of human emotion and the ability to translate our physical body into a joyous or mournful or reverential proclamation. Plus, dancing has incredible health benefits as it helps you keep fit, works your legs and arms through rhythmic movement, and releases endorphins into the bloodstream providing an entirely natural rush. Whenever you find the chance to, put on your favorite kind of music and dance to it. Dance with a friend, dance alone, let your body do the talking and feel yourself begin to shine.

7. Try something new at least every month.
There’s nothing that kills as quick as routine nor boredom – so the paraphrased saying goes. One of the most enjoyable ways to shine is to keep putting yourself out there more and trying new things as often as possible, within a minimum of one new thing a month. There’s an entire world out there waiting for you to experience it – a world full of fantastic films and delicious food and astonishing plays and beautiful music and joyful dance and great TV. People who shine always try and broaden their horizons and their own perspectives, so make sure you give into that childlike curiosity with that new album, new restaurant, new film. After all, you might just find a new favorite.

8. Visualize your happiness.
If you want your happiness, you’ve got to visualize it. See it, imagine it. Work through it so it becomes an approachable goal rather than a lofty ideal which is as unattainable as it is ill conceived. We create our own happiness and shape our own lives so if you want to truly shine this year and be the best version of yourself that you can be, is to decide what makes you happy and either cultivate it if you have it, or work towards it if you don’t. Create a vision board, a Pinterest channel, a sigil – whatever you need to try and plan out your happiness, use it. The future is yours.

9. Stop comparing yourself to others.
Comparing your life and yourself to other people is one of the most toxic and self-destructive things you could ever do to yourself as it undermines your own experiences and your personality and erodes away at all the positive achievements you’ve managed to accomplish throughout your life. Simply, you need to finish with both the negative and positive comparisons to other peoples’ lives in order to focus on your own. Comparisons lead to negativity, anger, jealousy and gossiping which not only makes you look more petty and negative, it also stops you from focusing on your life and your goals. Cut the comparison and truly shine this year as an example.

10. Stop the ‘should have’ thoughts in your life
We’re constantly being told what we should have and shouldn’t have in our lives. Designer clothes, cars, the latest electronic products, haute cuisine and expensive coffee, everything is construed as a status symbol, an indicator that the person has met untold requirements for being seen as desirable. That is an incredibly toxic way of viewing life and viewing ownership, because if you live your life by the ‘should haves’, then you will be forever chasing trends because what is a la mode always changes, always evolves.

Your life, however, should be based on the wants and needs that you yourself cultivate and desire. It’s not the end of the world if you want the latest tablet or phone or a cup of coffee or shoes – that’s fine – but what you need to assess is why you’re wanting it and then go off your instinct as to whether or not it’ll make you happy. If it makes you happy, go for it. If not, then find something that does make you happy. And then you’ll truly shine this year, and the years to come.

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Why Snapchat is Valuable: It's All About Attention"""

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Most people who encounter a link to this post will never read beyond this paragraph. Heck, most people who encountered a link to this post didn't click on the link to begin with. They simply saw the headline, took note that someone over 30 thinks that maybe Snapchat is important, and moved onto the next item in their Facebook/Twitter/RSS/you-name-it stream of media. And even if they did read it, I'll never know it because they won't comment or retweet or favorite this in any way.

We've all gotten used to wading in streams of social media content. Open up Instagram or Secret on your phone and you'll flick on through the posts in your stream, looking for a piece of content that'll catch your eye. Maybe you don't even bother looking at the raw stream on Twitter. You don't have to because countless curatorial services like digg are available to tell you what was most important in your network. Facebook doesn't even bother letting you see your raw stream; their algorithms determine what you get access to in the first place (unless, of course, someone pays to make sure their friends see their content).

Snapchat offers a different proposition. Everyone gets hung up on how the disappearance of images may (or may not) afford a new kind of privacy. Adults fret about how teens might be using this affordance to share inappropriate (read: sexy) pictures, projecting their own bad habits onto youth. But this is isn't what makes Snapchat utterly intriguing. What makes Snapchat matter has to do with how it treats attention.

When someone sends you an image/video via Snapchat, they choose how long you get to view the image/video. The underlying message is simple: You've got 7 seconds. PAY ATTENTION. And when people do choose to open a Snap, they actually stop what they're doing and look.

In a digital world where everyone's flicking through headshots, images, and text without processing any of it, Snapchat asks you to stand still and pay attention to the gift that someone in your network just gave you. As a result, I watch teens choose not to open a Snap the moment they get it because they want to wait for the moment when they can appreciate whatever is behind that closed door. And when they do, I watch them tune out everything else and just concentrate on what's in front of them. Rather than serving as yet-another distraction, Snapchat invites focus.

Furthermore, in an ecosystem where people "favorite" or "like" content that is inherently unlikeable just to acknowledge that they've consumed it, Snapchat simply notifies the creator when the receiver opens it up. This is such a subtle but beautiful way of embedding recognition into the system. Sometimes, a direct response is necessary. Sometimes, we need nothing more than a simple nod, a way of signaling acknowledgement. And that's precisely why the small little "opened" note will bring a smile to someone's face even if the recipient never said a word.

Snapchat is a reminder that constraints have a social purpose, that there is beauty in simplicity, and that the ephemeral is valuable. There aren't many services out there that fundamentally question the default logic of social media and, for that, I think that we all need to pay attention to and acknowledge Snapchat's moves in this ecosystem.

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3 Technology Trends Your Company Can’t Ignore"""

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Technology is evolving…fast. For that reason, it’s imperative that your company be focusing not just on the changes that are happening today, but also on the technological trends that are emerging and shaping the future of your organization and your industry. Why? Because the more anticipatory you can be in regard to technology, the more creatively you can use it to gain competitive advantage.

As someone who has been accurately predicting the future of technology for over 30 years, I urge all leaders to focus on the following three trends that are emerging and reshaping the business landscape, as we know it.

1. Just-in-Time Training
Thanks to cloud-based technology, we’re on the brink of a revolution in just-in-time training. This will enable people to use their laptops, cell phones, and tablet computers as a tool to receive training precisely when they need it. In the current training model used by many organizations, people receive training for a variety of things before they actually need the expertise, thus taking the people away from their jobs and costing the company a lot of money. With just-in-time training, companies can keep people in the field or in the office without the specific training. Then, when the person needs a certain skill set to complete a job or do a task, he or she can receive the training for it in real time via cloud-based technology.

For example, suppose your IT staff has to install some new hardware at all your company’s office locations. The hardware is brand new, complex, and requires special installation procedures. Rather than taking your IT staff out of work and putting them in a training course, you keep them on site without the specific training. Then, when they have to install the hardware or troubleshoot it, they can receive the training on how to do so in real time via their mobile device as they are installing or servicing the hardware.

Now, let’s take this trend a step further. Suppose the IT professional is using the just-in-time training module via his tablet computer. But he’s still confused about a certain aspect of the installation. All he has to do is touch the “help” icon on his screen and it immediately connects him to a master trainer live on the screen. But instead of just telling the master trainer what the problem is, the IT person can put on a headband that has a camera on the front, much like the headbands with a light on the front that people use for camping or car repair. By wearing this digital, high-resolution camera that interfaces with the mobile device, the IT professional can show the master trainer exactly what the issue is. Now that master trainer can see what the IT person sees and can tell him exactly what to do. The master trainer can lead the IT professional through the installation as if he were standing right there. Talk about a dramatic savings and increase in efficiency!

Realize that using cloud-based technology for just-in-time services goes way beyond installation and repair. It could be used to train people on new software, train salespeople on product upgrades, instruct employees on new policies and procedures, etc. And it’s different and better than a standard tutorial, because the training can be accessed via any device, anywhere, and at anytime…and it offers an option for live help. In reality, the applications for cloud-based, just-in-time services are virtually limitless.

2. Processing Power on Demand

The increased bandwidth that our mobile devices now receive enables us to connect to the cloud-based technologies easier and faster than ever before. And one thing we know about bandwidth is that it will continue to increase. Because of this, we’ll soon be able to take advantage of another trend that I call processing power on demand—or virtualized processing power.

We have already virtualized so many things. We have virtualized storage where we can store our data on a cloud-based network. Many companies choose this option for data safety and ease of backup, as well as for the ability to access the data via any device. We have virtualized our desktops so that we can see our desktop on anyone else’s machine, just the way it’s supposed to look.

It only makes sense, then, that processing power will be virtualized too. In other words, a mobile device only has a certain amount of processing power. But if you can tap into additional processing power via cloud-based technology, you can turn your mobile device into a super computer where you can do advanced simulations and crunch different data streams together to get real time analytics. Now your handheld device is as powerful and advanced as your desktop. Imagine the increase in productivity if each of your company’s employees had the capability to do complex work that required advanced processing power while they were on the road, armed with nothing more than their mobile device. What would that shift do to your company’s bottom line?

3. Creative Application of Technology
For both of these trends and others to fully emerge, business leaders have to consider what their people would do with the technology. It’s no longer enough to just deploy technology; you also have to consider how your people can creatively apply the technology in order to gain competitive advantage.

Therefore, you need to go to your internal customers (all the people using the technology in the enterprise) and ask what they want technologically. Give them what they ask for, but realize that they will under-ask because they don’t know what’s technically possible. So while you want to listen to what people in the organization are asking for and give it to them, realize that what they’re not asking for is the bigger and better capabilities—the things they don’t even know are possible.


This is about putting existing technologies together and using them in a creative way. For example, there are literally thousands of features in Microsoft Word that you can select. Most people are using only seven to ten features. And your competitors are using the same features, which means you’re not getting any true competitive advantage. So you need to ask, “What features would be great for our sales group [or HR, or accounting department, or logistics people, etc.] to use—features that are so buried in the software that no one knows they exist?” Most IT departments won’t ask those questions because they’re too busy making sure everything is connected, working well, and safe. And if they’re not asking, who is? Who in your organization is looking at the tools you already have and asking if they are being underused? Chances are the answer is “no one.” As such, it’s safe to say that all your tools are underutilized.

Therefore, you need to implement a communication vehicle that engages the different groups you serve in the enterprise—such as sales, logistics, purchasing, accounting, HR, etc.—and you need to engage them in helping them understand the power of the tools they have access to. One suggestion is to automatically show them a “feature of the day” and how it can make their life easier. This is about giving them information in short, fun, engaging ways rather than a hundred-page document detailing all the features (which no one will read anyway). Some software programs have such features where you get a tip per day. Perhaps you can customize that idea and apply it internally so that the different groups get information tailored specifically to them and their needs.

Create Your Company’s Future
Many business leaders will say they are too busy to address any of these trends. But if you don’t address them, who will? Ultimately, whoever drives these trends within an organization will be perceived as a significant contributor to the enterprise—someone worth keeping…and someone with high value in the marketplace. When that someone is you, you can drive results to the bottom line and be a key contributor to the organization’s success

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How to Live the Difference Between Money & Wealth""

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When you consider how many people seem to have money, they aren't the same as the people who are wealthy. The distinction is worth considering. Money is a symbol, often an empty one. Weapons, pornography, and gambling will always make money, because greed, fear, and sex are permanent. Wealth, on the other hand, is based on values. If you can fulfill a value as it arises from society, the opportunity for wealth is made possible.

Wealth circulates, keeping a society vital and alive. After Spain plundered the New World, it captured an enormous horde of gold and silver, but within a century its economy collapsed. Greed and inflation were a deadly combination, but at heart the habit of hoarding seems to have been the real culprit. A monied economy never turned into a wealthy one. In the Great Depression and the recent Great Recession, vast sums of money sat on the sidelines, doing nothing to invest, renew the economy, or aid the unemployed. As a result, even though the world was awash in money, people felt insecure and hopeless - they lived by the psychology of poverty, not wealth.

I'm not preaching the evils of money - symbols can be interpreted any way one chooses. They are essentially empty on their own. But a psychology of wealth needs to be present for success to truly matter. You are in a wealth mode when any of the following are present:

• You fulfill a worthy need.
• You are the steward of money, not its slave or master.
• You deliver the greatest good to the greatest number.
• You benefit the planet rather than despoil it.
• You add to the meaning and purpose of life, both your life and the life of others.

Wealth gives us a reason to forgive the wrongs inflicted by callous, greedy money. I realize that this is a tall order. The wounds suffered by ordinary people at the hands of monied people are grievous. The widening gap between the haves and have nots isn't value neutral, although various factions would like to portray it that way. To be on the right side of a value system is a mark of wealth, which is one reason benefactors are honored long after the greedy are forgotten

ONE WORLD: Paul Scialla & Deepak Chopra
Paul Scialla, former Partner at Goldman Sachs for the past 10 years interest in both altruistic capitalism and in sustainability led him to found Delos, the pioneer of Wellness Real Estate.
At this moment the graduates of prestigious colleges are flocking to Wall Street, one reads, in great numbers if they can get there. The shared aim of these young people is to make a few million by the time they are twenty-four or twenty-five, after which they intend to abandon filthy lucre to live better lives. This phenomenon is what it is. But I hope that someone teaches young people that there is such a thing as capitalism with a conscience, inspiring them to work with wealth as their personal goal, not simply money. The values of a globalized economy and the challenge of revamping the system that has so deeply harmed the planet depends on each generation redefining its values and in so doing finding new avenues for wealth.

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Spring Cleaning for Social Good!

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Four Ways Your Spring Cleaning Can Be Used For Social Good

Housebound by bad weather? Why not do a little pre-emptive spring cleaning. Start small; maybe you have a linen closet or a bookshelf that could use some pruning. Don’t think of it as chore, but as a way to pass along items you no longer need to someone in need. Here are four things you can do: donate books, linens, clothing, or if you're selling on eBay, donate a portion of the proceeds. You'll be surprised how good you'll feel and how much you can help.

Donate Books

                                                                                                                                                                    

According to the American Library Association, most public libraries in the US accept gift books, with the understanding that the library is free to add donated books to its collection, sell these books to raise funds for the library, or discard them. Contact your local library for details.

The ALA’s fact sheet on book donations provides the names and details about organizations that need your old books. Here are some suggestions from the fact sheet:

1. Gently used (or new) children’s books:
2. Bernie's Book Bank for Chicago, IL and surrounding suburbs
3. BookEnds of West Hills, CA
4. Migrant Media Book Flood Project for Watsonville, CA
5. Reader to Reader of Amherst, MA - You can find additional information here, on GreatNonprofits.org. One reviewer said: “Reader to Reader is a great organization. They have made a real difference to many schools and libraries. Plus it’s a great way to give new life to old books.”
6. African Library Project of Portola Valley, CA

Books for All Ages

1. Darien Book Aid Plan Inc. of Darien, CT
2. International Book Project, Inc. of Lexington, KY

Donate Clothing

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