Tag: developingyoureye

Professionals Share 21 Pro-Tips on How To Work Remotely…

Either you run the day or the day runs you.

In a public forum, renowned author Seth Godin asked professionals to share their approach to working remotely. Here are a excerpts of their responses I gleaned as they thunderously chimed in.

  1. Create a designated working space with everything in reach.
  2. Deep work in the morning. Lighter work in afternoon.
  3. Go outside at least once a day
  4. Divide time into 30 minute segments, making sure a task is attached to each. Regular short breaks, food.
  5. Stick to a schedule and treat self to a half hour sitcom during lunch. A good lunch keeps mindset light.
  6. I work from home but my husband doesn’t. Feel like my space is being invaded a little. I always stick to a routine and make sure I dress as though I’m leaving the house. That helps my mindset a lot.
  7. Shower and dress well. Focus on one (only one) major item to accomplish that day.
  8. Act as if you are in an office. Dress, voice and stature. Be even more engaged by email and on calls ideally video. Make presence felt virtually. Do brief turn-the-chair around update chats by messenger and quick zoom call.
  9. How can some (e.g. a dentist) work from home? In response to this question personally I say, plan, strategize future business and/or personal goals.
  10. Do breathing exercises and make sure environment working in isn’t distracting.
  11. Take one hour shift with partner to manage young kids home from school.
  12. Eat lunch with friends over video calls.
  13. Set up own schedule and share with friends to chat when not working
  14. Building a machine learning model.
  15. No prototype…no work meeting. Have a tangible artifact to collaborate on or review
  16. The one thing I appreciate is that I can work from home (and thinking of those who cannot).
  17. More focused… meaning work gets done earlier than disruptions in office (i.e. called to meetings, discussions etc). Then Netflix to end the day.
  18. This is a time to reflect, learn and innovate.
  19. Bought flowers this week. Brightens the view on a rainy day
  20. Made office space private and more organized. When door closed, no one bothers.
  21. Set a goal that you can meet each day that will help you feel accomplished at the end of the day. Oh… and talk to someone each day about something other than work. Social distancing does not mean social isolation.

Any missing that you would like to add? Do share. We would love to hear!

Cheers!

Will Anyone Want To Read What You Write?

Raise your words not your voice. It’s rain that grows flowers not thunder ~Rumi

With exclamation signs and all the teacher sent an email titled “Important! Please read!” Parents rolled their eyes. Who wants to read a lengthy email captioned like that? The essence of what she wrote was students folders were sent home with report cards. Why not just say that? What parent isn’t interested in his/her child’s performance?

Corporate Communication

It’s the same with communication sent to employees by supervisors and managers. That’s essentially what  Aaron Orendorff   discussed in his insightful New York Times article Your Colleagues don’t read anything you write.

Simply say what you mean. No need to shout. It’s what Rumi’s quote alluded to Raise your words not your voice. It’s rain that grows flowers not thunder. 

3 Communication Gems

Personally, I walked away with three gems:

  1. Put action words in your subject line
  2. Listen more. Talk less
  3. Don’t answer. Ask

Often it’s not what we say but how. So check your manner, tone, words and how you speak. Chances are your tone precedes your voice. Something to think about.

Cheers!

Ditch It. Switch It. A Story…

Most of us have only one story to tell. I don’t mean that only one thing happens to us in our lives: there are countless events, which we turn into countless stories. But there’s only one that matters, only one finally worth telling. The tale of someone’s life begins before they are born.

Listen to my interview with former Regional Director turned Radio personnel, singer, songwriter, Poet and Musician shares how he Ditched It to do what he loves in order to follow his passion. Learn the strategies he used.

Most important his audience was exposed to the inner secrets of the man behind the mic.

Stay tuned for new book soon to be released “Your Career: Ditch It. Switch It”

Cheers!

Time Wasters. Manipulators Among The 5 Kinds Of Toxic People

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They give headaches. Increase stress…and Simply make your life miserable. Living with one? Whew! Working with one? May God help you! (yep). But whatever your situation…Do something about it! 

In my Success Strategies workbook, I outlined 8. Here are 10 kinds Jeffrey Moore posited. I’ll share my top 5 from his list. Check his 10 kinds of Toxic People for more including descriptions.

Toxic People

1.Time Wasters

2.The Victim

3.The Always Negatives

4.Manipulators

5.The Always Stressed Out

 

But how do you deal with them? Stay tuned to learn more in my soon to be released book Ditch It. Switch It.

From those listed here, what are your top 5? Do share. We would love to hear!

Cheers!

Writer To Entrepreneur: Top 11 Steps To Success…

You can make anything by writing.”
–C.S. Lewis

Developing your writing craft is not easy. As authors we stick to it because it’s our passion. The zeal with which we are connected is likened to a web but one in which we wish not to escape.

Many are the traditional thinking that authors hardly make money, let alone survive while working on their craft. But what do you say to the likes of Stephen King, Poet Maya Angelou, Harry Potter’s J.K. Rowling and countless others. You may say that they are successful because they are well known. Banish that thought and delve into the story of Stephen King who was rejected so many times that he actually threw in the trash his best selling novel. Were it not for his wife, the world would not have enjoyed this story’s amazing work.

So here I share excerpts of my presentation on the topic of “From Books to Bucks”, held at the South Florida’s Writers Book Festival.

Books 2 Bucks

  1. Write Quality Work
  2. Books can have babies. Think of workbooks, series, and so much more
  3. Convert your book to Audio
  4. Create an audience through tapping into Podcast listener-ship
  5. Translate your Book into a different language. Oh the new audience it brings
  6. Convert your book to film, movie, documentary
  7. Written non-fiction? Immense business opportunities exists. Think of workshops, how-to events and more
  8. In the arts? Use your book as the stepping stone to fashion and design
  9. Want to develop and grow your passion? Stick with the right people
  10. Become a Conference Speaker. Share your expertise
  11. Don’t sit on it, enter your book for an Award

Want to go from Books to Bucks, Select from the list, focus your craft on the point(s) you believe you will get best win, then promote, promote, promote. Marketing your work is the key to success and it does not have to cost you a ton. Use social media wisely. It can help you grow into something you never thought you could be.

I end with encouraging you to Be Serious about your craft. SHOW UP and promote, promote, promote.

Cheers!

Life. Take. Another. Shot.

Life is like a camera. Just focus on what’s important. Capture the good times. Develop from the negatives and if things don’t turn out – just take another shot.

Do Something That Don’t Interest You…

That’s how you grow. Be curious. Do something that don’t interest you. Sounds contrary to today’s thinking right? But it’s a valuable lesson. Many are the career paths and relationships that we never thought would interest us.

HBR Writer Joseph Grenny shared in his stance on being creative on the go. Included in it was his stance on doing something that does not interest you. Personally, I never thought of photography but based on my writing interest developed years ago, I realized that I needed photographs to go with my social media posts. Rather than buying, I chose to take them. This has developed an unexpected interest in photography through taking just about anything. My preferred pics include nature, the sand, sea, waves, and just about anything other selfie-takers may miss around them.

So today I encourage you to do something different. Who knows you may find a new delectable pleasure you can’t resist.

Cheers!

Got Flicks?

Water’s Beauty

Anyone else got flicks, drop ’em

Words from a young college grad. I used to hate taking pictures. Photographers would ask you to turn here. Turn there. I found it rather annoying. Then at the passing of a close relative years ago, my niece begged and pleaded with me to take a pic with my siblings. Eventually, I yielded. Unknown to me (to us), that was the last time we would all be together. Within less than a year I lost my mom, brother and later, my younger sister.

So Now

So now I’m an avid neophyte photographer. Thanks to the iPhone, I’m able to take pics in my own novice way. I take pictures at professional association membership meetings, at social gatherings, the sea, nature (where I feel mostly at home), you name it…I take it! Besides, I am an avid blogger and author. I do not wish to pay for every picture I use on my Instagram posts. So I simply take them. Maybe I’ll take WordPress Photography course to build/grow my neophytic taste for pics!

What about you? Have you got a taste for anything that you need to build to achieve your goals? Do share. We would love to hear!

Cheers!