I’m not really into resolutions – I’m into goals. Resolutions are typically made around this time of year and are often long forgotten by Valentine’s Day. Goals (when set correctly) are measurable, require particular actions and have milestones for checking your progress. So that’s why I’ve set a big goal for this coming year to improve something that will positively affect the other areas in my life: my health.  Read more... (624 words, 1 image, estimated 2:30 mins reading time)

read full story of "Making 2010 a Fantastic Year"

Life is not fair – it never has been nor will it ever be. Unfortunately, one of the most unfair parts of life is that occasionally, we’re treated unfair by others. Sometimes there’s something bothering them and we’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. Other times, the person is simply mean spirited and inflicts pain on whoever he or she comes into contact with. Whatever the case, the worst thing we can do is allow that pain to hurt us over and over again.

Growing up I was the type of person to carry a grudge. When someone wronged me, I wanted revenge – with interest. Yes, it wasn’t enough to simply clear my name or collect my damages, I felt the need to destroy the other person. As soon as someone did something bad to me, I’d start plotting my revenge. It would consume me to the point where I’d be so angry, the mere mention of the person I was angry with would result in a verbal diatribe that could only be described as hateful. I became a miserable person to be around.  Read more... (490 words, 1 image, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

read full story of "The Power of Forgiveness"

There’s an interesting scene in “A Very Brady Christmas” where Mike Brady, the patriarch or the infamous Brady Bunch, is giving a speech before Christmas dinner. Mike’s speech is about the importance of family and traditional values such as honesty. What’s funny is that while Mike’s speech isn’t about anyone in the family in particular, members of his family think that he is talking about them and therefore interrupt him to confess about not being honest with the family.  Read more... (381 words, 1 image, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

read full story of "I’m Talking to You"

There’s a piece of advice that I’ve seen floating around the internet that claims that you can create a marketable book in three hours or less. While the claim doesn’t explicitly say that the quality of such a book would get it on the New York Times’ bestseller list, it implies that the book might actually sell. While yes, it is technically possible to create a book in three hours or less, I question the value of such a product and in the three hours spent creating it.

So how does one write a book in three hours? Well all you need to do is speak into a microphone for three hours. That microphone can be attached to a recording device (including a computer with a recording program) so that you can ship off a tape, CD or MP3 file to a transcription service that will provide you with the text of what you have spoken. Or you could use a speech recognition product such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking
(I did an internship at Dragon years ago) that will do the transcription for you.  Read more... (604 words, 2 images, estimated 2:25 mins reading time)

read full story of "Can You Really Write a Book in Three Hours?"

You’re probably wondering if I’ve gone crazy with this one. Yes, I still blog about networking and still teach a class about it. But I wanted to share something that came up in a conversation after a breakout session I did on, you guessed it, networking. One of the attendees asked me if networking was for everyone. My answer was that everyone can benefit from good networking but sometimes networking opportunities (as well as networking events) can be a waste of time, and in some cases, counterproductive.  Read more... (735 words, 1 image, estimated 2:56 mins reading time)

read full story of "Networking Can Be a Complete Waste of Time"

I recently came across a piece of advice that I’ve seen a lot of folks recommending (and they of course claim to implement it themselves). The piece of advice is simple – each night before you go to bed, forgive those who have wronged you that day. It’s a zen-like attitude to clear your mind and conscience so that you can rest well and be more focused the next day. But does it really work?  Read more... (639 words, 1 image, estimated 2:33 mins reading time)

read full story of "Personal Success: When People Have Wronged You"

Social media is a great tool for connecting with people, promoting your business and just plain socializing. You can learn great tips ranging from which gadgets best suit your lifestyle to how to make a great sandwich. If you’ve got a quirky interest, there’s probably someone else (possibly dozens, even hundreds) out there with that same quirky interests.

Yes, some people see social media as a time waster, a useless popularity contest and a distraction from the important things in life. But it’s fun and has a lot of practical businesses as well. Of course, you can get carried away with it so, in the tradition of Jeff Foxworthy’s “You might be a redneck…” here are some fun indicators that you or someone you know might be addicted to social media:  Read more... (539 words, 1 image, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

read full story of "You Might Be Addicted to Social Media If…"