In the closing days of 2014, are you looking back at the year that passed or are you looking forward into the next? I've found that most people do one or the other. They rehash the previous year, the good or the bad. And they rate themselves on how it went. Or they plan out the upcoming year, with goals, resolutions, and dreams. Sometimes, in a fit of introspective intensity, they do both! Which is better? I'm sitting at my desk, thinking about what I want 2015 to look like and the goals of 2014 that I hit (wrote a book) and missed (did not learn Spanish fluently). And I realized that the analysis of the past and the dreaming of … [Read more...]
Networking Etiquette for the Holidays
For most of us the holidays are filled with celebrations, fun, and... stress. Whether it's getting just the right gift for someone or cleaning for a holiday party, there are a lot of things going on. One thing that doesn't need to stress you out: trying to decide the right way to share your holiday wishes with your networking partners! It's a Big, Hyper-Connected World It might seem like a small thing, but in the 21st century, our networks are wide-spread and very diverse. In fact, the most successful networks are heterogeneous (which is a fancy way of saying that there's a lot of different types of people in them). So it does make … [Read more...]
Gamification Won’t Help Me Achieve My Real-World Destiny
Every few months I read another article on why gamification is the new tool to achieve success. Sometimes it's a social media dashboard that promises to make engaging with your network fun and easy. Or a smartphone app for creating better habits that will give you medals and awards for exercise or some other personal development goal. But they all claim to tap into the same psychology that makes video games so addictive and use that power for professional and personal change. But I'm not sold. Like many of my friends who grew up in the 80's and 90's, I'm a bit of video game nerd. OK, I'm a big video game nerd. From late-night … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Add Some Swagger to Your Personal Brand
As far as personal brands go, "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business" is a pretty good one. Everyone knew who James Brown was and why he was so good at what he did. And it helped that he had his own personal hype man, Bobby Byrd, who would tell everyone James's many titles and sterling attributes before, during, and after his songs. Unfortunately for you, though, there's no hype man following you around who will brag about your professional track record. And we don't hype ourselves, either. We don't let our network know about our strengths, experiences, and the successes that we've had. This comes back to haunt us when we reach out … [Read more...]
The 6 Simple Secrets to Effective Holiday Networking
It's a cruel irony. As the end of the year approaches there are more demands on our time for festivities and celebrations and time with family. There's holiday travel and children off from school who need minding. There are parties to go to and presents to buy. And at the same time we also feel the looming pressure of year-end goals and unfinished plans. How can you balance working and personal fun during the holidays? Why Holiday Networking Rocks If you are building your professional network, it can seem like you have to take the holidays off. It can be much easier to throw our hands up and say, "I'll put my focus on my … [Read more...]
Poetry and Page Numbers
Updated 7/12/2018 When I write poems for poetry slams I have a tendency to rework a line over and over. I want it perfect. I move words around, play around with contractions...I generally obsess. And over the past year I've written over 300 haiku - a poetry form that demands precision because you only have 17 syllables. It required me to spend a lot of time thinking about each word. But there's a time and a place. For example, it doesn't help me to obsess over every little word when I'm writing a 1,000 word article. Give Things the Right Amount of Attention This has been an important lesson as I've written, edited, and formatted … [Read more...]
The Two Networks Young Professionals Need for Success
Who should I target when I'm looking to build my network? I mean, who should I actually go out and try to meet? Who should be on my radar? I don't even know where to start!!" This stream of questions came from a recent college graduate after I had spoken at an alumni networking event. She was running into a common problem that many young (and not-so-young) professionals face when starting their network: creating a connection strategy. It used to be that you would network with whomever was in your general physical location. With the arrival of LinkedIn, Twitter, and email, though, it's possible to research and reach out to professionals … [Read more...]
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