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Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Ditch the 5-Hour Energy: 5 Natural Ways to Energize
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Five Reasons to Think Before You Speak
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5 Ways to Reduce Stress and Anxiety at Work
Stress at work can be a result of too many short deadlines, a pushy boss, too many major projects and more. Whatever the cause of your workplace anxiety though, you can reduce the associated stress through these five simple steps from Dumb Little Man:
Prepare for the pressure. If you know you’re going to have a high pressure situation coming up, get ready for it so you can go into it with the right mindset and tackle issues as quickly and efficiently as possible.Know when to say “no.” Taking on too many tasks is a surefire way to stress yourself out and ensure you do a medoicre job on many projects rather than a great job on a few.Refuse to climb the molehill. This one is simple: don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.Relax your muscles. Feeling relaxed physically will make you feel relaxed mentally as well.Cultivate positive thinking. Seeing the bright side of things can help you make the best out of any situation and fight anxiety in the worst conditions.Learn how to use each of these suggestions to minimize stress, the ten habits suggested in the article are: 10 Habits to Reduce the Stress in Your Daily Life
Featured photo credit: sad unhappy girl in the autumn forest, stress, depression via ShutterstockSpearhead Capital: Looking for *ONE* Fast-Growing Start-Up to Take Mainstream
(Photo: Andrew Atkinson)
I am looking for one great company to put my name, brand, and entire network behind.
Usually, I do this through advising, and my start-ups include Uber, Evernote, Automattic (WordPress.com), and Shopify, among others. I’ve been with some of them from pre-seed money to $1-billion+ valuations.
Here’s my full bio and credentials, and below is a testimonial from one of my start-ups:
“Tim has played a huge part in putting Shopify on the map. He has been an advisor to Shopify since 2009, and he’s been invaluable in the growth of our business.
Back when no one knew about us, we were brainstorming with him. He challenged us to prove that building an online business was in fact as easy as we claimed. In order to accomplish that, and under Tim’s guidance and leadership, we created the Shopify Build-a-Business competition. Now, it’s one of the most important things that we do.
In the most recent Build-a-Business contest alone, more than 12,000 brand-new shops sold more than $55 million in products. It’s become the most popular ‘online retail’ competition in the world.
This helped Shopify ‘cross the chasm’ in terms of pushing Shopify’s brand to a mainstream audience.
It was risky, but Tim knew it would succeed – it was entirely consistent with his track record for PR and Marketing. Simply put, Tim is our secret weapon!”
- Harley Finkelstein, CPO
Shopify – The world’s most popular ecommerce platform for small businesses, currently powering more than 60,000 online stores that sell more than $1B in products annually. Shopify also powers stores for brands like Gatorade, Forbes, Budweiser, The Chive, and more.
Back to Spearhead Capital…
This time, I’m doing things differently: I’m raising an entire round of financing for one company… with unusual perks. I’ve been planning this for a long time, and it’s only possible now.
Here’s what it looks like…
You should want (or be willing) to raise $500,000-$1,000,000, and here are the benefits of doing it with me:
- I won’t take a board seat, so you retain all control.
- Massive national PR/exposure. This is going to get a LOT of attention, and I’m famous for maximizing impact (e.g. Forbes’ “The Tim Ferriss Effect” and AdAge awards for product launches).
- VCs usually want a minimum of 20% ownership. You can sell as little (or much) % as you want here.
- Once VCs see you succeed, you are in a massive position of strength and will probably receive unsolicited term sheets. This flips the tables. If you want optimal leverage for a larger round (say $5-10M total), raising a small amount with me makes sense.
- Minimal disclosure. You don’t have to pitch to investors and potential competitors.
What I’m looking for:
- Consumer-facing product/service (e.g. Evernote, StumbleUpon, Uber, etc.), or small-business focused product/service (e.g. Shopify), not enterprise software.
- 100K+ active users OR serial founder(s) with past exits OR 10K+ paying customers.
- 10%+ month-on-month activity growth.
- Clean cap table, minimal previous financing (or none), no bridge rounds.
- If you’re in “stealth” mode, you’d have to come out of stealth when I start fundraising, which would only last a few weeks.
- US-based companies, or companies willing to create US-based investable entities (which is easy). Shopify started in Canada, for instance.
Interested? I’m psyched. Please fill out this form. Deadline is July 25, 2013 at 5pm EST, and I’ll be in touch!
VERY big things ahead.
###
Posted on July 17th, 2013Please note: I’m only recruiting the start-up at this point in time. I’m not talking publicly about the mechanisms or process, so thanks for understanding if I can’t answer many questions in the comments.
Daily Quote: Most People have Never Learned that One of the Main Aims in Life
Most people have never learned that one of the main aims in life is to enjoy it. - Samuel Butler
What are important things and advice to know that people generally aren’t told about? Here’s a great answer we found in Quora by Marcus Geduld who provides some valuable tips on life improvement.
The Important Things and Advice to know that People Generally Aren’t Told about
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Is Your Job Putting Your Health At Risk? 8 Ways To Survive Cubicle Lifestyle And Take Care Of Your Health.
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Don't Let Your Children Fail In School. Know The Top 3 Distractions That Keep Students From Studying.
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New York City Meetup Details
Here are the details for the New York City meetup that I mentioned in the last post.
When: Friday, July 26, 2013 at 6:30pm (usually these meetups last for around 2 hours)
Where: Sheep Meadow, Central Park, New York City (map showing exact location, the pin shows the spot)
Who: Anyone who’s interested in personal growth and wants to meet like-minded people
Why: See the last post for details on why you may want to attend if you can.
We’ll meet on top of the hill in the southwest part of Sheep Meadow, which in on the west side of Central Park, within easy walking distance of Columbus Circle. It’s not far from a subway station. If you need directions, you can click the map link above and use Google Maps to plot your course. It can provide navigation directions using public transportation if you need that.
It will probably be cool and a bit breezy, and there’s a small chance of rain. There are plenty of trees nearby that we can use for cover if necessary though. But I’d recommend dressing warm.
There is a public restroom nearby on the north side of the meadow.
The meadow has a fence around it, but there are various gates that should be open. The closest one is directly west of the meetup location, in the west-most corner of the meadow. If you go through that entrance, just follow along the fence to your right up the hill.
If anything is messed up with the meetup location, such as if there happen to be a bunch of other people in that spot, the meadow is big enough that we should be able to move to a decent spot nearby. And if for whatever reason the gates are locked, just meet at the western gate, and we’ll find another spot in the park nearby.
If we do need to adjust the meetup spot, I’ll mention any changes or updates on my Twitter account, so be sure to check there if you have any issues finding us.
While an indoor meetup might be better considering the weather, it’s unpredictable how many people might show up. I’d expect at least 40, but it wouldn’t surprise me if we had double that. This could very well be our biggest meetup ever.
If you know anyone else who’d enjoy this, feel free to invite them.
See you tomorrow if you’re able to make it! 
Discuss this post on Google+
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Thursday, July 18, 2013
Taking emotions at face value
Boston Magazine has a fascinating article on the work of psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett who has been leading the charge against the idea that we recognise the same facial expression of emotion across the world.
This was first suggested by Paul Ekman whose work suggested that humans can universally recognise six emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise.
His research involved showing people from different cultures pictures of faces and asking them to label each expression from a choice of emotional words.
But Barrett has found a simple flaw in the procedure:
She returned to those famous cross-cultural studies that had launched Ekman’s career—and found that they were less than watertight. The problem was the options that Ekman had given his subjects when asking them to identify the emotions shown on the faces they were presented with. Those options, Barrett discovered, had limited the ways in which people allowed themselves to think.
Barrett explained the problem to me this way: “I can break that experiment really easily, just by removing the words. I can just show you a face and ask how this person feels. Or I can show you two faces, two scowling faces, and I can say, ‘Do these people feel the same thing?’ And agreement drops into the toilet.”
The article is on much more than this controversy in cognitive science and also tracks how research on emotion and facial expression is playing an increasing role in law enforcement – with not all of it well supported by evidence.
And if you want links to some of the scientific papers, the always interesting Neuroanthropology blog has more at the bottom of this post.
Link to Boston Magazine article ‘About Face’.
Change Your Attitude With Timeless Life Lessons From My Dog
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Debt Management: 5 Reasons Paying Down Your Debt Might Be Even More Important Than You Realize
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30sec Tip: The Secret to Success
The secret to success is… Is not secret. It’s called work your ass off and find a way to add more value to people lives than anyone else does!
We’re all in a hurry, it seems. The pace of life has increased and rushing through our days—through our lives—has now become the norm. We want everything now; happiness now, success now, health now, love now. Not surprisingly, this is the way we approach our goals and life changes as well. Patience is hard to come by: we expect results now, and if we haven’t reached our goal yet, it must be because we’re not working hard enough or fast enough or we’re lazy and undisciplined.
Brian is a Lifehacker who covers all sorts of tips for life. He is also fascinated with new technology. Contact him at brian@lifehack.org
Get On The Road To Better Health By Building Healthy Habits At The Office
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A Year of Living Without
For the next 12 months, I’ll be conducting a personal experiment that I’m calling A Year of Living Without.
It’s my way of finding out what’s truly necessary, of simplifying my life, of making room for other things.
I’m testing the boundaries of my needs. It’s good to test your personal boundaries now and then (or, if you’re me, all the time).
So what’s the Year of Living Without?
Each month, I’ll go the whole month without one thing I do every day. Something that I tend to not want to give up, for various reasons.
I’ll give up something for a month, then evaluate whether it was something I enjoyed giving up, whether it’s worth leaving it out of my life, or if I want to put it back in after the month’s over. The next month, I’ll try giving up something else (see the list below).
Each month, I’ll try a different experiment:
July: Coffee. I drink about 1-2 cups each morning, and it’s the first thing I do each morning after I meditate. I’ve quit coffee a couple times in the past, as experiments, but haven’t found it to be useful or enjoyable. I’m going to give it another try. Starting today. Replacement habit: tea.August: Sitting for longer than 30 mins at a time. I work online. I also read a lot online. And do research, pay bills, watch some videos, etc. You get the picture — a typical life in the Western world, probably. I’m going to ban myself from sitting for too long — after 30 minutes, I have to get up for 15 minutes and do something else. Sitting too long is killing us. Replacement habit: yoga (at least for a few of the breaks).September: Video entertainment. While I gave up cable TV years ago, Eva & I still watch shows on iTunes/Netflix for about an hour or so at night (without commercials). I also watch stuff on YouTube once in awhile, though not much. I’ll cut all of this out. Replacement habit: read books.October: Sugar. I love vegan desserts. I don’t eat them much anymore, but for this month, I’ll eat them not at all. Replacement habit: veggies, fruit.November: Computer/Internet in morning (except to write). I use the computer for email, to read longer articles and blog posts, to pay bills, to manage my tasks, etc. I won’t be able to do any of that before noon. Only write, or do non-computer stuff. Replacement habit: write a novel.December: Refined carbs. Honestly, I don’t do many refined carbs anymore, but I do “cheat” with the kids now and then. For this month, I’m going to ban them completely. Should be fun to do during the holidays! Replacement habit: veggies.January: Using Internet all day (except to post writing). Similar to November, except it will be all day long (including evenings). This means no email in January either, probably, though I might need to find a system to keep my Sea Change membership going during the month. Replacement habit: write book.February: Alcohol. I drink 1-2 glasses of red wine a night, usually with Eva. On rare occasions I’ll have a beer. Not this month. Replacement habit: tea.March: Cell phone. For a long time, I had no iPhone, only a dumb phone. It was completely good enough for my needs. Then Eva bought me an iPhone, and I use it fairly regularly (not addicted). But I’m going to go a month without using my iPhone (or any other cell phone). Note that we don’t have a landline. Replacement habit: drawing.April: Buying new things. When I was in debt, I was really frugal. I haven’t been as much of a tightwad now that I’m completely debt-free because it’s not as necessary. This month, I’ll buy nothing new. Replacement habit:creating, borrowing, sharing.May: Restaurants. I don’t go out to restaurants much, except on dates with Eva, to socialize with friends, or to treat the kids. This month, no restaurants! Replacement habit: nature, cooking meals for people.June: Computer. No computer at all this month. I’ll write with pen & paper, and maybe ask someone to post things for me on Zen Habits. Yikes. Replacement habit: meditating, stretching, writing, drawing.This list might change as the year progresses and I find other things I’d rather give up, but this is what I’m planning for now. I’ll do at least one post each month about what I’ve learned.
At the end of each month, I’ll decide whether I want to keep doing without that month’s Living Without item. It will really depend on how the experiment went.
Some things I’ve already given up:
Owning a carMeatDairy & EggsCable TVHaving a lot of stuffFast foodFacebookPacking a lot of stuff when I travelI’ve enjoyed giving all these things up. They’re not sacrifices, but a joy.
If you ever thought something like, “Oh, I could never give up cheese!” (or coffee, or sugar, or your car, or TV, or Facebook, or the Internet), then you know what I’m faced with. I’m faced with a year of this reaction, inside myself.
And I’m faced with a year of learning that, perhaps, none of it is true. We can give up that which we hold dearly to. We can push those boundaries, and feel them push back, and be OK with the push.
I’m doing this for myself, to learn about myself, but also to show others that our initial reaction is false. We can give it up.
And in the process, make room for something that just might be better. You’ll never know until you try.
If you’d like to read my daily journal on this process, I’ve made it public.
Some questions you might have:
Q: How can you give up the Internet when you work online?
A: Well, I plan to still write, but do little else. I’ll figure out a system where I can write but not do anything else online. I haven’t worked out the details yet.
Q: Isn’t this a bit extreme?
A: Possibly, depending on context. Honestly, I don’t think some of this will be incredibly difficult, but the computer-related ones will be hard (and alcohol seems like it’ll be missed as well). And I’m not afraid of a little extremes — when we push ourselves a bit, we learn about ourselves.
Q: I’ve already been going without these things for years!
A: Awesome! I don’t claim to be the first to do these things. This is simply a series of personal experiments, to see what I can learn. I would love to learn from you — share your story with me on Twitter or Google+, give me some tips.
Q: What will you do with your new free time?
A: I’m interested to find out! I hope it’ll be used for writing, reading, exercise, yoga, meditation, and spending time with Eva & the kids. We’ll see!
Q: Coffee? Dude, you have lost your mind …
A: Yes, I love coffee. But it’s the things I am most resistant to giving up that interest me the most. Is my reaction — “I can’t/shouldn’t/don’t wanna give that up!” — true, or can I prove it false? What can I learn about myself? If we only listen to the little scared child within ourselves, we never learn anything interesting.
Q: Are you giving up each item permanently? Or are you only going to abstain from the items on your list until said month is up??
A: We’ll see. I’m only committing to abstaining from each item until said month is up, but if I like it I plan to continue the experiment for as long as it feels right. I’ll share my findings, and which ones I keep, as I go.
Q: I’m wondering if you don’t eat refined carbs and meat… What do you eat? I really like to know with a weekly menu example.
A: Well, I’m vegan, and I rarely eat refined carbs these days (maybe 1-2 times a week unless I’m traveling). But my meals might go something like this:
Q: How does one meditate after waking and before coffee, without falling back asleep!??
A: Well, I sit upright on a cushion. If you lie down, you’ll fall asleep. I’m also not super tired as long as I get 6-7 hours sleep. Each person is different.
Q: I can’t see ever giving up my cellphone for the peace of mind it brings me knowing that my elderly mother can always reach me and the same for my adult kids who live far from us.
A: Well, I hear that. I have non-grown kids and a wife, and it does worry me a bit to not have a cell phone when I’m out. However, the times when I’ve actually needed the cell phone for such a dreaded emergency has been zero. So it’s not a grounded fear, at least not in my case. Every person has a different situation, though.
Q: On the coffee habit, are you replacing with a caffeine-free tea? That would seem to make a big difference.
A: No, I plan to drink mostly green teas and oolongs. The caffeine isn’t an issue for me — I’m used to a lot of caffeine so the amount in tea isn’t really noticeable. I also don’t usually get a crash in the afternoon.
“Sitting for longer than 30 minutes at a time” – I think that is a great idea. I will certainly do this next month. Will you use any special software on the computer or outside of the computer as a reminder ??
Q: Sitting for longer than 30 minutes at a time — will you use any special software on the computer or outside of the computer as a reminder??
A: Yes, I’ll probably use a computer reminder. I’ve used Mindful Mynah in the past and like it, but I’ll figure that out when I start.
Suggestion from reader: Perhaps I would just downgrade to a vintage no frills phone, instead of a phone.
Leo: Yes, I had a no-frills phone until about a month ago, and liked it. Even that’s not always necessary.
Suggestion from reader: When you give up watching movies with your wife in the evening, maybe replace that “together” time with playing a game or some other activity that you do together. I imagine the reading would replace the alone movie watching you do, but was just thinking about the together time.
Leo: That’s a great point. Will talk to Eva about this.
Suggestion from reader: For your month without computer, may I suggest you try writing with a fountain pen? Anything with a reasonably fine nib and good flow will do. You might like how it glides effortlessly across the paper, how your thoughts literally pour out in liquid ink. Add a cup of tea and you could have a great morning ritual.?
Leo: I love this idea!
Suggestion from reader: Two words: walking desk. Saves you from the long sit. My husband and I created one for me very inexpensively using a thrift store treadmill. ?
Leo: I’ll consider this. I’ve tried something similar and found I want to sit every now and then because my legs get tired after awhile.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
The Easiest Way to Finally Get Organized
Feeling organized still remains the elusive dream for many and it makes sense. I know I never took time management 101 when I was in school. When you leave school and you take on the ever-growing amount of responsibilities, getting organized isn’t a choice anymore. It is essential if you want to actually enjoy your life to the fullest. How do you know where to start when you are feeling so overwhelmed? And how do you even know what you are doing wrong?
You could try to identify what you need to work on, especially your time thieves. If you feel like you are always putting out fires, perhaps you should brush up on your prioritization skills. If you often feel stressed and overwhelmed, you might need to implement some system or structure to guide you. However, there is an easier way to finally get organized.
Time management tools are not like cookie cutters though; you need to adjust them to suit your needs. What works for your colleague might not work for you. The extent that you can plan your days will largely be influenced by the type of work you do, of course, if your work is more structured, it is easier.
Here is what works for me.
Number one is always getting clear on everything you have to do. So start by writing down all your tasks on a To-Do list. You must separate all your tasks into one-off tasks, routine tasks, projects, long term tasks, etc
If you read my article on why To-Do lists don’t work and how to change that, you will know that you also need to estimate the time needed in your list and to sequence and prioritize too. Working effectively from this list is key.
Remember to break your tasks down into manageable steps and then prioritize them.
With your To-Do list in one hand and your calendar in the other, you are going to plan the next week, weeks, or month ahead. I like to plan the month ahead but do what works best for you.
First put in your routine tasks that you have on your list. These are all the tasks that you often do and block this time off in your calendar. Lunch breaks and coffee breaks should be scheduled in your calendar and don’t forget to batch your tasks where possible, for example; schedule times to check your email in the day, make your phone calls, etc. It also helps if you categorize your tasks by color.Block off hours in the day, preferably 1 to 2 hours at a time throughout the day, working around your routine tasks. Looking at your To-Do list, select the priority tasks and include them in the various blocked off hours in the week. Your schedule will now include your routine tasks and the other important tasks coming up.You must leave at least an hour a day free on your schedule for unforeseen crises, etc.Create a balance and flow in your schedule that you feel comfortable with. Your schedule must be realistic and ensure you estimated your timing well, prioritized tasks and left time open in your schedule.Identify obstacles. Think about the obstacles or challenges that might come up for you when you attempt to implement this new structure. You know what will be difficult and what will be easier for you. Whatever your obstacles are, you need to identify them.Overcome obstacles. Plan how you are going to overcome your obstacles so you are prepared with tools to move forward. Remind yourself of the benefits of what you are doing when you lose a little motivation, be the voice that champions you on when you need it.Imagine ending the day feeling that you accomplished everything you wanted to. How much would it mean to you to feel less stressed and overwhelmed? Most of the energy needed to make this change is needed at the beginning. Getting organized isn’t difficult, having the commitment and dedication to make the change is the hardest for most. If you can do that, getting organized will be a breeze.
To your success!
It’s so easy to get buried under the press of paper, most of which is just not important: How to Organize Your Paperwork to Boost Productivity
Featured photo credit: White office shelves with different stationery, close up via Shutterstock
Kirstin O’Donovan is the founder of TopResultsCoaching and author of The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Time Management’. - http://www.topresultscoaching.com/ Kirstin is a Productivity coach, who specializes in helping individuals gain control over their time, to feel more productive and organized. Kirstin is committed to empowering others to live a life that they desire and build a mindset that will supports seeing their dreams and desires turn into reality. Want 7 Simple Strategies to Triple Your Productivity? - Free Access to E-Course -@topresultscoaching.com
Do Your Goals Conflict with Your Personality?
Since today is the start of the second half of the year, it’s a good time to update your goals. How are you doing so far with the goals you set (or refreshed) at the beginning of the year? Are you making good progress? Are you drifting or stuck? Did you fail to set intelligent goals to begin with?
In my experience, choosing the right goals to begin with is incredibly important if you want to make real progress and enjoy that wonderful feeling of flow. So let me share some of my recent discoveries on how to set goals more consciously.
In the past I used to set goals with a focus on covering the different areas of my life. I’d set goals for my health, work/business, contribution, finances, social life, relationships, personal growth, spiritual path, etc. This worked okay for the most part, and I maintained this approach for many years. I even wrote some articles recommending this approach.
This wasn’t an approach I devised. It was basically something I inherited from various personal development books I read. The approach seemed sound, so I used it by default. Initially I couldn’t see anything wrong with it.
However, as I continued using this approach I often felt myself getting stuck or sidetracked. Sometimes I’d look at my goals, and while they seemed pretty intelligent on the surface, I felt like something was missing. I didn’t feel as motivated as I expected.
I kept tweaking the categories, but something was definitely off.
I experimented by letting go of goals for a while and just going with the flow, but that produced even worse results. I know some people are fans of that style, but it hasn’t worked well for me. I make much better progress — and I’m generally happier and more fulfilled — when I wield greater conscious control over the direction of my life.
Recently I’ve found an approach that works much better, so let me share that with you now.
Instead of thinking of goals as specific accomplishments I want to rack up in each part of my life, I began thinking of goals as a means of self-expression. Some part of my personality wants to be expressed, and a strong goal can help me focus that desire for self-expression. As this expression manifests in reality, the result is a feeling of satisfaction or fulfillment.
For example, some part of me obviously loves to learn, grow, and explore. I love traveling, especially to new places. I love meeting new people and having new experiences. This desire is deeply rooted in me, but it’s not limited to any particular category like health or career development.
Another part of me loves to teach. I find it rewarding to write, speak, and otherwise communicate in ways that help people grow. This desire isn’t limited to one particular area in terms of what I enjoy teaching, so I may help people improve their health, relationships, career path, etc. That’s one reason I write and speak about so many different topics and refuse to limit myself to one specific niche. Furthermore, I don’t constrain this form of self-expression to my career path. I freely share guidance with friends in my personal life just as I do this work professionally. I don’t turn off this aspect of my personality at the end of the workday.
I began thinking of simple labels I could use for these different aspects of my personality where I seem to have a strong need for self-expression. Eventually I came up with the following list:
The Explorer – The part of me that loves to learn, grow, and explore. This part loves traveling, making new friends, and new experiences.The Guide – The part of me that loves to teach and help people grow. This part especially loves to express himself through writing and speaking.The A-Player – The part of me that enjoys being effective, efficient, and successful. He’s competent and confident. He doesn’t need praise or acknowledgement to function well, and negative criticism just bounces off of him. He trusts himself. And he especially likes to connect and work with other A-players.The Member – The part of me that loves to connect with interesting people, to volunteer, to be social, and to belong. This part of me served as President of a non-profit association, was active in Toastmasters, was a member of the Transformational Leadership Council, administered multiple successful discussion forums, and hosted public meet-ups in different cities.The Champion – The part of me that loves to eat healthy, exercise regularly, and pop out of bed well before dawn. This part loves to keep training to become stronger, faster, smarter. He ensures that I have abundant physical and mental energy.The Master – The part of me that loves to be in control. He has a strong need for order, structure, and neatness. He stays calm under pressure and is very good at managing his emotions. This part especially loves D/s play. He welcomes responsibility and likes to be in charge.This is a work in progress, so the list isn’t complete, but I like what I have so far. For the sake of simplicity, I think I’ll limit this list to a maximum of seven items.
Now instead of setting goals with the classical approach, I use this identity-based approach. I begin by deepening my understanding of the parts of me that crave expression. Then I set goals to give a voice to those desires.
For example, The Explorer will be going to New York City this month. The Guide will be speaking at a number of events this year (and he’s writing this blog post). The Champion is currently starting on Week 5 of the Insanity workout program (which is insanely challenging) — he’s been pretty happy lately since I’m bouncing around with extra energy and a higher than usual metabolism.
The Member has been feeling dissatisfied lately. I had a very social time traveling through Europe for a month, but after returning home to Vegas, I slacked off and let my social life become a bit dry. This feeling of dissatisfaction tells me it’s time for some fresh goals and pursuits to express this aspect of my personality. It would also be nice to express this aspect more evenly instead of yo-yo’ing so much between super social times and slower times.
Some goals are inspired by just one aspect of my personality, while other goals are suggested by multiple aspects. The key here is that every aspect needs at least one current goal to express itself.
Sometimes these personality aspects align somewhat with the categories from the classical coverage approach, but they aren’t so limited. For instance, The Champion often aligns with health goals, but that same personality aspect can push me to raise my standards in my social life as well. And The Explorer can also get involved in setting health goals, such as by suggesting new 30-day trials.
I think the main thing missing from my list above would be the part of me that loves caring, intimacy, cuddling, not harming animals, etc. I haven’t come up with a good label for that part yet, but when I do, I’ll include it as well, and I’ll make sure I have some goals to express that part of my personality more fully. What I have above is just a first draft, so I’ll probably refactor it significantly in the weeks ahead. But even though it’s a bit rough, I wanted to share it now instead of waiting till it’s perfect. An imperfect idea shared immediately is generally superior to a perfect idea delayed indefinitely.
It would be ideal for the personality aspects to exhibit loose coupling and strong coherence. Loose coupling means that there’s little overlap between each aspect. Strong coherence means that they’re very crisply defined without too much fuzziness at the edges. We may not be able to achieve such rigidity with personality aspects that are integrated into our neural nets, but if we can come up with abstractions that adhere to these standards as much as possible, it can assist us greatly in understanding how to set more congruent goals.
Often the mere act of deciding to pay more attention to a particular aspect of self-expression is enough to kick-start it and get some fresh energy moving. For instance, when I decided it was time to open up and start being more social while I’m in Vegas, a friend texted me and said he and some other people I know are in town for a week. We’re having dinner tomorrow. It might sound a bit hokey to say this, but I do believe there are aspects of ourselves that are superconsciously connected somehow. When we energetically open ourselves to new experiences, we may receive compatible invitations and opportunities even when it appears that we haven’t taken action yet. I think that deciding to move forward is a valid form of action itself though, one that the universe seems to acknowledge with positive feedback at times.
Another benefit of using this approach is that you can bring more aspects of your personality to bear on your existing goals and activities. I normally play disc golf with friends each weekend while I’m in town. Disc golf has been a fun hobby of mine for years. To me it’s a time to have fun and joke around, but I normally don’t take the game itself too seriously. Within the context of personality expression, however, I realized that I could likely play better if I really tried to play my very best, which some aspects of my personality would really like to see (A-Player, Champion, Master). So I went out last Saturday and tried to bring my A-game to the experience, while still having fun and joking around as usual. I ended up tying my personal best score on that course, a score that I made years ago and have never matched until now. I actually feel that I have a good shot of beating it, perhaps even this summer. Interestingly, my friends seemed to rise to a greater level of skill as well. They played extremely well and got significantly better than usual scores too. Between the three of us, we scored five 2s (getting the disc in the basket in only 2 throws), which is pretty amazing for our group. Normally we can go a whole game without anyone scoring a 2. The best part is that we all seemed to have a really good time. To me the experience felt richer and more exciting than usual.
In the past I told myself that disc golf was just a recreational activity, something I do on the side for fun. I wasn’t interested in pushing myself to play my best. A sloppy throw here and there wasn’t a big deal to me. But my personality apparently enjoys it when I try to do my best anyway. Even a strictly recreational/fun activity can be made richer and more satisfying by inviting more of myself into the experience.
Consider how you can apply this idea to some activity in your own life. How can you inject more of your personality into your work, play, relationships, etc?
One advantage to this approach is that you won’t ignore significant aspects of your personality, which is easy to do with the classical coverage-based approach.
A problem I had in the past was not paying enough attention to my need for exploration and fresh experiences. This part was especially squashed when I was broke, and it also felt caged when I was married. Four years ago I had never been outside the USA. Now my passport is halfway filled up with stamps. This type of change is very fulfilling.
In the past I would still set some travel goals, but they were usually my lowest priority goals. Career and contribution and relationships were always more important, and travel was just an optional tack-on entertainment category, often listed as “Travel/Fun.”
As I began pushing myself to do more traveling, I realized it wasn’t a diversion or an escape for me. It was an immersive growth experience, and I found it deeply satisfying most of the time. This helped me to stop treating this category of goals as something optional and recreational. I realized that this is an important aspect of my personality that needs to be expressed. Otherwise I just don’t feel like I’m really being me. Now I’m finally treating this aspect of my personality with a high degree of respect, at least on the same footing as any other types of goals.
I think you’ll find it immensely satisfying when you finally start expressing a part of your personality that’s previously been caged or squashed. That’s definitely been the case for me.
It’s easy to verbally acknowledge an aspect of your personality that you recognize. It takes little effort to say, “I like to travel too.” But it’s another thing to set specific goals in this area (travel to where? when are you leaving?) and to begin working on these goals seriously, as if your life depended on it. I’d say you’re not really serious till your flight is booked.
Also note that your strongest goals will satisfy multiple aspects of your personality. Last year I decided to do more public speaking, and this was an easy goal to accomplish because it aligns so well with aspects of my personality that desire expression. The Explorer gets to travel. The Guide gets to teach. The Member gets to connect with new people. The A-Player gets to thoroughly prepare. The Champion enjoys the challenge. And The Master loves to direct the audience to stretch themselves (with their permission of course).
If you were to come up with a similar list of personality aspects for yourself, what would you include? I encourage you to brainstorm a first stab at such a list right now. How well do you know yourself?
Note that you don’t need to list every little piece of your personality. Try to only list the strongest and most pervasive aspects, the ones that keep trying to express themselves again and again — and when they aren’t being expressed, you feel trapped, stuck, or depressed.
Do your best to generalize these aspects as much as possible. For instance, if you like coffee and you need to drink it every day, is it because you like to indulge in the sensual experience of it? Do you do it for social reasons? Do you crave the stimulation of the caffeine? Any or all of these could be aspects of your personality looking for expression.
Notice what you catch yourself doing in your spare moments. What aspects of your personality might you be trying to express?
When you really take ownership of your personality… when you can look at your list and say, “Yup, that’s me!” then I think you’ll find it much easier to claim full ownership of the goals that arise from this approach. You’ll finally be setting goals that are truly you — not your parents’ goals for you, not society’s goals for you, and not merely some marketing-implanted desire for the latest iStuff.
A major benefit to this approach is that it will help you set more holistic, intelligently integrated goals. You’ll develop a better understanding of which goals are wise choices for you, and which aren’t.
I can see that public speaking is a great fit for my personality. That’s probably why I love it so much. I currently have engagements booked through March of next year, and I’m always looking for more. Speaking-related goals are very congruent, and so I find them fairly easy to achieve. Working on these goals is a labor of love.
On the other hand, developing new products is much more challenging for me. I can eventually accomplish such goals, but they take a lot longer, and my progress is slower. Such goals satisfy some aspects of my personality like The A-Player and The Guide, but they don’t do much to satisfy other aspects like The Explorer and The Member. This awareness suggests that I could develop products faster if I could align the process with more aspects of my personality. For instance, one thing that helps is working with other people on a product instead of working solo. I’m currently working with an audio engineer on the new Subjective Reality audio program, and this is indeed helping to move things along since we can collaborate on some aspects of the project.
I’ll cover this personality-based approach to goal setting in more detail in the upcoming Subjective Reality program since this ties in with your avatar’s identity and the story you create with your avatar, but I wanted to share the rough version of this now in the hopes that you’ll find it worthy of some experimentation.
If you try this approach, please let me know what you come up with for the list of your personality aspects. And especially let me know if you find this approach helpful in setting new goals that you otherwise might not have considered.
The Guide is now satisfied.
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Make Buying A Car Less Stressful By Answering These Questions
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A Secret to Dad Greatness
I have six kids, ages ranging at the moment from 7 to 20. And while I’m not perfect as a father, I have learned a thing or two from my 20 years of service.
I’ve learned to pay attention, to give them space, to accept them for who they are, to be a guide and not a director, to help them through teachable moments, to love reading a book with them, to walk and talk when we have problems, to give hugs when they are in pain and hugs when they experience a triumph, to set limits and then remove the limits when they’re excited about something.
It’s a lot to learn, a lot to tackle at once.
And so I’ve boiled all of this down to one daily practice.
One thing to help you be a great dad.
Appreciate your child’s love for you.
Do this every day, whenever you see your child, and even when they’re not around. This love for you is a gift, and it manifests itself in so many ways: in the way they want your attention, your affection, your approval, your pride in what they do. In wanting to spend time with you. In watching you to see how to live life. In learning from you whenever you talk to them.
This daily practice, of appreciating their love for you, will make your life better. It will help you be the role model they need, because someone who appreciates the love of others is a beacon of gratitude and humility and mindfulness.
And when you appreciate their love for you, you realize that you have a boundless source of happiness in every moment. And you are a boundless source of happiness for them.
No matter what happens, from tantrums to heartbreaks to injuries to rejections, this love is there for you.
I am incredibly grateful for the love of my kids (some of whom aren’t even kids anymore).
They look up to me, and I in turn learn from them. They are funny, and excited, and curious, and affectionate, and fun. I’m lucky to have them in my life, and I wouldn’t be the man I am today without them.
Thank you, my loves.
An unrecognised revolution in street drug design
I’ve got an article in The Observer about the ongoing but little recognised revolution in street drug design being pushed forward by the ‘legal high’ market.
Since 2008 we’ve seen the first genuine wave of ‘designer drugs’ that are being produced by science-savvy professional labs that are deliberately producing substances to avoid drug laws.
New substances are appearing at a rate of more than one-a-week and some are completely new to science.
The article looks at how the clandestine labs are creating these new highs and what this almost impossible to regulate situation means for the ‘war on drugs’ approach to recreational drug use.
Link to article in The Observer.
How to Make Your Office Incredibly Awesome
If you’ve ever seen the movie Office Space, you know there are only two options for workplace culture: (1) Cubicles, TPS reports, and birthday parties where the haves get cake, and the Miltons get sad music and, (2) 37 pieces of flare.
Except, that is, if you work for any number of big and small companies across the world that are radically reshaping what office culture can (and should!) be. After all, what better way to keep employees motivated and working until the job is done than helping them actually enjoy office life? Let’s take a look at a few truly unique initiatives at some of the world’s most fun companies for a few cues and a lot of inspiration.
Thanksgiving, Christmas, Memorial Day. These are just a few of the many holidays most companies celebrate throughout the year, but how about National Doughnut Day? If you work for Shutterstock, that’s more than enough reason to roll up your sleeves and dig in.
Earlier this June, a very humorous series of images appeared on the company’s blog, with employees and their children weighing the merits of fruit vs. doughnuts. Perfectly on brand, the images paid tribute to the best doughnut stock images in the company’s vaults. While the delectable glazed treats were undoubtedly delicious, the real benefit here was likely the boost in morale and creativity that comes with doing something a little different and swapping deadlines for play.
What This Means for You: Do a little research and find the wackiest holidays out there. Then have your office vote on the ones they’d most like to celebrate. Initiatives like this not only boost morale, but they also make great blog posts, giving your customers and clients an inside look into your company and establishing rapport—a fact you can use to convince your boss.
There’s BYOB and then there’s BYOS—Build Your Own Skatepark. That’s what the Italian clothing company, Comvert, did when they converted this old movie house into a warehouse. That’d certainly provide a better way to let off steam than rummaging through the break room cupboards for a good round of stress eating.
What This Means for You: Okay, so you probably don’t have the time, money or perhaps even interest to build an entire skate ramp. But that doesn’t mean you can’t outfit a good game room, complete with video games, ping pong, foosball, and hey, why not trampolines, too? This is another good one to put to employee vote.
Sure, most of us would prefer working outside to hunching our lives away in a windowless cubicle, but it’s not like we can plop our desks onto a dolly and haul them to the grass every time the sun peeks its way out from behind a wall of clouds (can you tell I live in Seattle?). This is one problem the architects at the Madrid branch of Selgas Cano don’t have to worry about, as their offices are made almost entirely from windows and are tucked away in a suburban forest. For knowledge workers of any stripe, this is the best kind of “fun” one can have: peace, quiet and plenty of natural inspiration.
What This Means for You: So maybe you can’t get your boss to replace all of your walls with windows, but you can bring the great outdoors to you. Decorate your personal office space with local plants, and see if you can outfit the hallways and break room with hanging plants and planter boxes. Tell your boss, “Nature is the source of all productivity.” It’s worth a shot!
Hack-athons have become pretty commonplace at many tech companies these days, and it’s no wonder: In these intensive, 24-hour (usually) marathons, engineers, designers and even non-tech employees meet to brainstorm and build “crazy” new ideas. Many will be left to gather dust once the hackathon is done, while a precious few will be further developed into prominent new features or even new and important products in their own right.
Shutterstock is famous for their hackathons, with the initial idea for the company actually stemming from an event in which CEO and founder, Jon Oringer, participated over 9 years ago. Given the intense conditions, hackathons like this also build camaraderie at the same time as they’re possibly birthing the world’s biggest next idea. How’s that for a great combo?
What This Means for You: From 24-hour play festivals to all night design marathons and mini-NANOWRIMOs, hackathons aren’t the sole domain of the tech sphere. Order some pizza, stock up on the Mountain Dew, dial up the intensity, and host a hackathon of your own.
No article on fun work environments would be complete without Google—the company that defines the concept. When it comes to office design itself, how do pods, swings, hammocks, ski gondolas, slides, pubs, forests and bowling alleys sound to you? (Take a peek at Google’s coolest offices here). Googlers also enjoy 20% time; an initiative that allows them to work on their own projects 20% of the time, as well as yoga classes, gyms, and easy access to healthy and delicious food, wherever they go.
What This Means for You: What can your workplace learn from Google? You mean… besides everything? While most companies won’t have the funds for Google-level perks, you can still argue for 20% time as an effective way to rejuvenate the mind and possibly even produce a useful and unexpected new feature. Google is also a great example of a way to give workspaces creativity and an individual feel without relying on cheesy posters and figurines. To decorate like Google, why not hold a hackathon specifically devoted to the subject, and see what creative spaces you can produce?
You may feel you work in the world’s most corporate, sanitized office, but chances are your colleagues are also looking for a little injection of fun. Fortunately, fun often leads to that business buzzword, “innovation”, and a well-reasoned argument should get your boss right on board. So hack your office with a little amusement, and make the office space of your dreams.
Enjoy this wisdom and make sure to put the advice into action: Improve Your Home Office Productivity With These 4 Timeless Quotes
Featured photo credit: Modern Office via Shutterstock
Seattleite, lover of tech, coffee and dogs. Loves all things geek. He can be found occasionally rambling on his own blog or more professionally working on Chess Club.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
6 Tips to Improve your Face-to-Face Networking
There is an old saying, “It is not what you know, it is who you know.” You can significantly increase your chances of success in almost any field if you know or can get in touch with the right people. Most jobs are not advertised, they are filled through personal contacts. Most important business deals are done person-to-person. This is the power of networking. You can network over the internet using social media sites and LinkedIn. You can also network face-to-face either with friends and colleagues or with strangers who become new contacts. You can meet new people at networking events such as trade shows, exhibitions, professional association meetings, chambers of commerce, etc. Let’s focus on these kinds of opportunities. Here are some tips to improve your face-to-face networking.
Do not go to a networking meeting aimlessly. Have a purpose. Your goal is to meet people that you can help and people who can help you. You do not know who they are yet, so you have to mix with a fair number to improve your chances. But you must have an overall goal. It helps other people to help you if they know what you are looking for.
Don’t be too serious. People might see you as threatening if you are too intense and plunge straight into a heavy topic. Lighten up a little and give people your best smile.
Start with a friendly, safe question. Ask about themselves and their interests. Gradually, the conversation will turn to you, and then you can give a little background and introduce your focus. Remember that you are there to help others and that you have useful information and contacts for some of the people you meet.
Always have plenty of business cards. If you are out of work and looking for opportunities, have some cards printed with your name, email, and phone number. You can leave the title blank or put ‘consultant’ or ‘looking for the next opportunity.’ It is important to exchange cards with people so that the contact details are not forgotten.
Don’t stay the whole time making comfortable small talk with the first group you meet. After a while make a polite excuse e.g., “Nice to meet you, but please excuse me. There is someone else I need to speak to.” Move around the room spending, say, 10 minutes with each new person. You will find that you can leave conversations without being brusque. Networking means circulating, and most of the people at the meeting are aware of this.
Always email the people you met within a couple of days of meeting them. Remind them of what you are interested in and offer to help. Ask if they would like to link on LinkedIn. Try not to send a standard email. Mention something you discussed.
Build your network list using email follow-up, LinkedIn, and other social media. Send people useful links and other information. Politely ask people in your network for help when you need contacts or information. Stay in touch and help other people to connect. You can become an expert networker and connector. It will help you to be successful.
Life, to me, is all about human connections: 7 Epic Strategies for Introverts (by Introverts) to Ignite Your Social Skills
Featured photo credit: Portrait of two cute little girls o beach talking on mobile phones. via Shutterstock
Paul Sloane is an author and professional speaker. He helps organizations improve lateral thinking and innovation. His books include How to be a Brilliant Thinker, The Innovative Leader and Lateral Thinking Puzzlers.
Great cure but we lost the patient
The Journal of Neuroscience has a surprising case report of a patient who was treated with an implanted brain stimulator to treat severe movement side-effects from an extended period of taking antipsychotic drugs for behavioural problems.
This is the background to the case:
A 27-year-old woman with developmental delay and severe behavioural disturbance was treated with risperidone 6 mg/day from age 14. At age 20, she developed facial twitching, blinks, and truncal extension spasms, which persisted during both sitting and lying supine. By age 21, she was no longer able to walk due to the spasms. She became housebound and was forced to ambulate by crawling, to the extent that she developed post-traumatic cysts over both knees. She was unable to sit in a chair. She was forced to eat from a plate on the floor while kneeling because the extension spasms were too severe in other positions.
The movement problems were due to tardive dystonia – a problem where the brain’s automatic control of muscle tone stops working.
When you move, some muscles need to contract while others need to relax. This happens automatically but turns out to be a complex brain process that is mediated by important dopamine pathways in a deep brain area called the basal ganglia.
Antipsychotic medication was first widely used to treat the delusions and hallucinations of psychosis but is increasingly being used to treat ‘behavioural disturbance’ (normally meaning aggression) as it can be slightly sedating and reduces anxiety.
This medication works by blocking dopamine receptors but in high doses it can lead to temporary and, occasionally, permanent movement problems due to its effects on the dopamine-mediated movement pathways in the brain.
This most typically appears as tic-like movements called tardive dyskinesia, Parkinson’s-disease like stiffness, a form of restlessness called akithisia, or movement problems that affect muscle tone – which is what this patient had.
These severe symptoms were treated in similar way to one option for Parkinson’s disease – a deep brain stimulation device was inserted into the brain to send electrical pulses directly into the basal ganglia to help regulate the movement circuits.
It turns out that many studies have reported the results of putting brain implants in people to treat movement side effects from antipsychotic drugs.
It’s probably true to say that some people have been left with permanent movement problems from the days when large doses of antipsychotics were prescribed and the side-effects were poorly understood.
These days, one of a psychiatrist’s most important jobs is to avoid these unwanted effects.
From one perspective, no matter how the situation arose, patients deserve the best possible treatments, of which deep brain stimulation is certainly one.
But still, you can’t help thinking it’s kind of a bleak situation where brain implants are needed to treat medication side-effects.
When used appropriately, antipsychotics can be a genuinely useful form of treatment but cases like these serve to remind us how far we have to go in developing safer psychiatric medications.
Link to locked Journal of Neuroscience case report.
Recognizing the Distinction Between Blame and Responsibility
“A man can fail many times, but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.” ~John Burroughs
Do you believe that in a perfect world everything would go right every time? At the beginning that sounds pretty nice, especially if it is a radical change from your present circumstances. In our fantasies, things work out, we get the “yes”, and events go exactly as we planned. The problem is that certainty can get boring, so we tinker, we try new things, and we experiment. That’s when it happens:
What you do next is the thing that makes all the difference. Is it your common response to cast about for who messed up? That might seem practical: after all, until you know who made the mistake, you can’t fix it. Do you look for what went wrong? Not just people are involved; there are things and there are processes. Perhaps one of them is faulty. Who was in charge anyway? Maybe it was a failure of leadership or instruction or training—after all, the buck has to stop somewhere.
Before we head down these roads, we need to check one thing: What is our intent in this inquiry? Are we looking for someone to pin it on? Are we looking for something to “fix”? Are we looking for a leader to denounce?
These are the common motivators. In politics, business, and the social scene, a favorite pastime is finding fault. News television is full of talking heads who are assigning blame everywhere and rallying to replace those at fault. Unfortunately, their replacements become the next targets and the cycle continues.
Only a few are strong enough to accept blame and take responsibility when something goes south. Only a subset of those strong individuals manages to hang on to face their next scrutiny. but there are such persons and we can model ourselves after them. What do they do differently than those who run from the blame?
Before we go further, we need to get some definitions straight. What is blame, what is fault, and what is responsibility?
To be responsible is to be answerable or accountable. It means that we will be measured.To be at fault is to be responsible for a failure or worse, a wrongful act.Finally, to blame is not just to hold responsible but to find fault with.There are ways to approach responsibility that work and ways that don’t. Let’s start with the latter. When our focus is on blame, it is all about finding someone to get. It turns focus away from what went wrong and how to keep it from going wrong again. It is judgmental and vindictive.
Blame is often used to divert attention away from ourselves. After all, we don’t want the blame—who ever wants to be “at fault”? But the blame game shows a lack of understanding of what responsibility fundamentally is. Responsibility cannot be assigned after the fact even though many attempt to do so. Responsibility was always present, even if it was not acknowledged. When you start to realize this, you stop blaming others. You begin focusing on your own role, whether in action or in abdication.
This is a moment of clarity but some folks lose it immediately by making one critical error: they replace blaming others with blaming themselves. This turns into self-recrimination, self-judgment and self-hatred. Blaming yourself is not the same thing as taking responsibility: In fact, it is a way to avoid taking responsibility.
How so?
The focus of blame is to find fault. Its objective is judgmental to its core. Finding yourself guilty is not going to change anything, fix anything or improve anything. Taking responsibility, on the other hand, has a superior objective—it is all about accountability. It is an assignment, not a verdict. When something is assigned to us, we take care to manage it, protect it, and make it successful, so in circumstances where many go from blame to self-blame, can you see the superior path of focusing on assignment? Whatever happened is now a provider of new and useful information, rather than a distraction from your objectives like blame can be.
There is one other turn of a phrase we must be wary of. That phrase is “to hold responsible”. Yes, it has “responsible” in it, but don’t be fooled: the active word is “hold”. It’s just a stand-in for finding fault. Remember, responsibility just is, and it was, but it cannot be assigned after the fact. A better phrase to embrace is “to accept responsibility”. It is best if you do it in advance. It is painful if you have to do it after the fact but keep in mind that your acceptance didn’t bring your responsibility into existence, it was already present.
If responsibility is sounding like a serious matter, it is, but it isn’t a circus like blame and faultfinding. Take responsibility mindfully and stay away from blame. If you do, you will find that things calm down and get clearer. It feels better to be responsible than to merely endure the blame.
OK, you screwed up. Something’s gone horribly, horribly wrong, and it’s all your fault. And now, it’s time to pay the piper: How to Admit Your Mistakes
Featured photo credit: businessman in suit and tie pointing the finger in front of himself via Shutterstock
You know how many small business owners have lots of ambitions but can’t seem to get clear enough to make them real? Kenneth Vogt teaches them how to transform their ambitions into a big mission and then into reality at VeraClaritas.com.
Give Yourself A Raise With The Single Most Valuable Asset! Here Is How To Acquire It Without Spending A Cent!
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How Young Veterans Can Eliminate Stigmas While Job Searching
Job searching when you’re a young professional can be tricky. Job searching when you’re a young veteran can be an even more difficult process.The veteran group that is having the hardest time finding jobs are those aged 18 to 24. In fact, in 2012, veterans between the ages of 18 and 24 posted an unemployment rate of 20.4 percent. Not only do young veterans have to face the hurdles of actually looking for a job, but they also face certain stigmas that come with being a veteran.What are these stigmas exactly? They can range from an employer not wanting to hire a veteran to whether or not they are qualified for the job based on their time away. While it’s completely illegal to discriminate against veterans, these stigmas do exist. The trick is learning how to combat them in order to come out on top in the job search. Here are a few ways to do it:As a young veteran, your skills are what can make you into the ideal candidate, and employers are desperate for them. Recent surveys indicate about 35 percent of employers report difficulties in finding employees with the right skills, the highest number since the start of the recession. So, showing off your talent is what’s going to make you stand out to employers, regardless of your veteran status.How to do it: Transferable and soft skills are a great way to take what you learned in your time away and apply it to a new job. For example, if you gained ample leadership experience or can speak a foreign language, be sure to note this on your resume. So, even if it may not fit with the exact job description or industry, these skills may still be preferred.There are many resources for veterans, including GallantFew and the National Veterans Foundation. These tools exist to help transition, mentor, train, and eventually assist you to be better citizens and professionals post-duty. In addition, using these resources means it’s going to be easier to find connections or employers who understand you better because they’re aware of and accept your circumstances.How to do it: While every veteran-friendly resource is going to differ, try to utilize the tools that are going to help you the most. For example, if you need job search advice, check out websites with advice columns. If you’re looking for job listings, many resources offer a job board.Stigmas exist because many have preconceived notions about that particular issue. In this case, your veteran status may make employers or recruiters believe you’re not capable of certain job duties or can’t perform well because you’re a veteran. While this is obviously illegal, it’s vital that you embrace your past and use it in your job search arsenal. After all, the fact that you’re a young veteran isn’t going to change. However, the way you use your past in your job search is something you can use to your advantage.How to do it: There are lots of ways to embrace your past. For example, you can tell your story through your social networking platforms. You can blog about your job search. You can connect with influencers at networking events and illustrate why you’re a great candidate. You can even create videos or multimedia elements showcasing the benefits of hiring a veteran and what you can do for an organization. Using your veteran status as a ladder can help you stand out.Though being a young veteran job seeker is tough, you can eliminate any stigmas associated with your status by emphasizing your skills, checking out veteran-friendly resources, and embracing your past. Doing so can assist you in your job search and beyond.What do you think? What are some other ways young veterans can eliminate stigmas while job searching?
Let’s think about all the parts of a successful job search: How to Make Your Job Search Productive
Featured photo credit: http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&search_source=search_form&search_tracking_id=fqXLHGPRdOdAeT0ILc-iSw&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&searchterm=not+to+do&photos=on&search_group=&orient=&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&commercial_ok=&color=&show_color_wheel=1#id=92570944&src=9GcdPXGkjpOP1741h_DlNw-3-48 via Shutterstock Sudy Bharadwaj is a co-founder and the CEO of Jackalope Jobs, a platform that helps job seekers find a job via their social networks. Connect with Sudy and Jackalope Jobs on Twitter.
Going from Obese to Bikini Body — Briana Case Study (Plus: New Tools, 4-Hour Body Group)
All tactics, no excuses.
This post will explain exactly how Briana, a mother of three and reader of this blog, lost 100 pounds. It’s a lot simpler than you might think.
For additional real-world examples and the fundamentals, I suggest reading “How to Lose 100 Pounds on The Slow-Carb Diet.” There are several men and women profiled.
Sidenote: Many of you have been asking for a free 4-Hour Body support group… so I created it here. It’s designed to improve success rates by 50%+. In a recent four-week test, 86% of people who finished lost an average of 8.6 pounds. Many lost more than 20 pounds. If you’re serious about progress, take a look.
Now, onto our post, which was written by Briana herself. I’ve avoided any major edits to preserve her voice.
Please add any questions or tips of your own to the comment. Both Briana and I will jump in to help…
If you’re meeting me for the first time today, you’d never guess that a little over 1 year ago, I was 100 pounds heavier and the furthest thing from being proud in a bikini.
And if you’d met “the FAT me” a year ago, you probably never would have guessed that the over-weight mother of three was actually an accomplished personal trainer who’d lost 73 pounds years earlier… and gained it all back.
That is really where my introduction to the Slow-Carb Diet (SCD) began.
Five years ago, I was a stay-at-home mom.
I had a husband, two kids, a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence, and a great dane. I was a young mom in my early 20’s, trying to balance everything and be everything to everyone BUT neglecting myself. I made my family the priority, which was great for them, but I lost myself somewhere along the way. Despite numerous failed attempts to lose weight and get in shape, the scale just kept creeping up.
Fat, depressed, and frustrated, I ended up surfing the internet one day for some new nutrition and training inspiration, when I stumbled across Tim’s blog and the post he wrote on How to Lose 20 lbs of Fat in 30 Days… Without Doing Any Exercise. Four paragraphs in, I was HOOKED! I read it, I applied it day-in and day-out, and within 6 months I had not only lost the 73 POUNDS I had gained after having my first two kids, but I had completely transformed my body!
Needless to say, the experience was life-changing. After it, I felt compelled to pursue a career as a certified personal trainer and nutrition specialist. I wanted to empower, educate, and inspire other women to transform their bodies and regain a renewed sense of self — just as I had.
Shortly after I became certified, I went through a devastating divorce. As a newly single-mom, I set out to “4-Hour Workweek” my life, started my own multi-faceted health and wellness company, and spent the last 5 years helping to transform the bodies and lives of hundreds of women around the world in ways they never thought were possible.
Along the way, Tim wrote and released The 4-Hour Body, and my story was featured on national television and throughout numerous editorials, spreads, and fitness publications — the biggest of which was an appearance with Tim on the Dr. Oz show.
And then? I got pregnant with baby #3.
Long story short: despite being a personal trainer and all my previous hard work to be a “weight-loss success story,” I ended up being one of those Mego-Prego women who really went for it! By “went for it” I mean – if my weight gain had been an accurate barometer of my son’s birth weight, I should have given birth to a kindergartner!
From the moment I first found out that I was pregnant I decided to use the “eating for two” excuse. I indulged my cravings, and I packed on the pounds by way of ice-cream, Mexican food, lasagna, and a total break from the adapted SCD nutrition principles I worked so hard to establish in my own life and subsequently teach others.
Needless to say, I exploded over nine months, and by the time I actually gave birth to my 8 lb. 6 oz. bundle of joy, I found myself weighing the heaviest of my life–100 pounds heavier than normal.
So my baby is born… and I find myself asking, “Now what, fatty?”
Faced with the depressing reality that the new weight wasn’t “baby weight” and was really ALL ME, I made it my mission to swiftly re-apply the SCD principles to shed the post-partum pounds in record time.
It began with a commitment to change, and a real look in the mirror.
So many of us are miserable over the current condition of our bodies, we get motivated and inspired by reading stories such as mine, but that’s not enough. We need something lasting. Something that will motivate us to walk away from the bread basket, or in my case — back away from the sour cream twice-baked potato!
For me, that motivation came in the form of photos.
Before I began, I committed to document the entire process via a weekly pictorial where I would stand raw, real, and exposed in front of a camera wearing nothing but the same tiny black bikini. When I felt discouraged, or was having a internal struggle over something I shouldn’t eat, I would look at the photos of where indulging got me — FAT.
I took it one day and one meal at a time.
Beginning the day after I gave birth, I followed every slow-carb principle that is outlined — except for the cheat day.
The reason? I was breast-feeding, and through trial and error, it turned out that keeping my diet consistent by eating the same thing (more or less) everyday was much better for my baby (and my sanity), than trying to sooth a horrific colicky newborn 12-24 hours after binge eating on a “cheat day.”
The biggest SCD keys behind my latest post-pregnancy transformation were:
- Structuring every meal around a lean protein
- Meal frequency (eating every three hours)
- Totally avoiding refined, processed, starchy carbohydrates, and wheat (I came up with some wicked slow-carb recipe option substitutes)
- Eliminating dairy
- Completely cutting out fruit, which was my biggest craving during my pregnancy
- Drinking a gallon of water a day
- Upping my daily fish oil to 1 gram per 1% body fat — liquid form. Obviously, that’d otherwise be quite a few pills.
Just with the slow-carb diet ALONE and ZERO exercise (due to some postpartum recovery issues between week 1 and week 8), I lost 36 POUNDS.
(Click here for larger image)
And 12 months after giving birth, I hit my goal and lost 100 pounds (23 pounds of which were pre-pregnancy), and completely transformed my body.
Consistency is key. A typical day on the SCD might look like this:
Breakfast @ 7am
Egg white frittatas (made with veggies like mushrooms, bell pepper, and onion)
Snack @ 10
Veggies with hummus
Lunch @ 11:30
Usually dinner leftovers from the night before (i.e. Bison marinara sauce over zucchini spaghetti; Tuna stuffed avocados; etc.)
Snack @ 2
Small mixed green salad with chicken, cucumbers, green peppers, and tomatoes with a homemade lemon/garlic vinaigrette
Dinner @ 6
Tilapia fillet served over broiled garlic carrots, and coconut “rice” (cauliflower)
Biggest tip: If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail
As a mom, life can be hectic, and it rarely goes according to plan.
I always prepare ahead of time for those moments with some quick-grab protein snacks. Turkey wrap “roll-ups” with a little hummus and a sliver of bell pepper or cucumber inside is my fave! Or little snack-sized baggies of almonds sprinkled with cinnamon. Hard-boiled “hummus deviled eggs” is another.
Prepare or fail, the choice is yours.
Putting on a bikini 7 days after you give birth is uncomfortable. Some might argue it’s insane.
Standing in front of the bright lights of a professional photographer week-after-week (often times without seeing much change), especially when you’re a personal trainer who is 100 pounds over weight, is humiliating, humbling, and painful.
But transforming my body, documenting the journey, inspiring other mothers, and ultimately founding BikiniBodyMommy.com has been the most empowering 12-month process I’ve ever undergone.
The journey isn’t always easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is.
My name is Briana. I am a 31-year old mother of three, I’ve lost more than 100 pounds on the Slow-Carb Diet, and I work every day to be a success story.
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Odds and Ends: New 4-Hour Body Support Group
Posted on June 20th, 2013
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