28 January 2010

Use your words

Words hold power. They’re symbols of much more complicated thoughts, symbols we’ve come to collectively agree mean certain things.
But a word is never just a word. It has nuance and subtext that our unconscious minds hear and understand even as our conscious ones don’t.
We get used to using certain words. So used to them, in fact, [...]

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26 January 2010

Never mind the Elevator Pitch,
Here’s the Lobby Pitch

Got your elevator pitch? Good for you. But it means nothing if you never get on the elevator.
These days, you need a Lobby Pitch, too.
The Lobby Pitch
The Lobby Pitch isn’t a tagline (though it could be). It’s two simple things:
1.  What you are.
2.  What you do.
“I’m a __________ that__________.”
“We’re a __________ that __________.”
That’s it. That’s all you get. And If [...]

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19 January 2010

Notes on Seth Godin’s Linchpin, part 2

I suspect Seth Godin really wanted to start his book at Page 101, the section on “The Resistance.” In many ways, the first half seemed like a 100-page run up to that section, one that could be summarized in four words: you can do it.
The book took an interesting turn after that. Here are the [...]

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18 January 2010

Notes on Seth Godin’s Linchpin, part 1

Knowing in advance you’ll be writing about a book changes how you read it. For me, it meant I read Seth Godin’s new book, Linchpin, with pencil in hand , marking ideas I liked (or didn’t) and capturing thoughts and questions as they occurred to me.
But I’m still processing it, my reactions to it, and how [...]

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7 January 2010

Three words for 2010

So I'm a little late on this one, but here they are:

Focus. Definitions 1 and 7.

Balance. Definitions 2, 7, 23 and 24.

Faith. Definitions 1, 4, and 7.
Posted via email from Magpie with a Mirror

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4 January 2010

Contribute or complicate?

Chris Brogan wrote a great post on using questions to stay on target.

Here's one I use all the time:

Will this (whatever it is) contribute to, or complicate, my goals?

Yes, that's very close to Dr. Phil's "contribute or contaminate" dichotomy, but I don't like the implied judgment of that. It's already too easy for us to [...]

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23 December 2009

What Festivus can teach us about managing holiday stress

So, it's Festivus. At least according to Seinfeld. The original Festivus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus), happened whenever it was most needed. 

Yep, now works.
Festivus, as formalized by Seinfeld, has three main components: the Aluminum Pole, the Airing of Grievances, and the Feats of Strength. And perhaps unsurprisingly for a holiday meant to be an alternative to the madness that [...]

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14 December 2009

Best of 2009 Blog Challenge: The Catch-up Edition #best09

So life kinda got in the way a bit this week. Here, in super-fast form, are my missed "Best of 2009" posts:

Best Night Out: December 4, with the Hubband. We ended up at (literally) the sixth place we tried, but it turned out it was where we supposed to be all along. And they had [...]

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5 December 2009

Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety #best09

I remember how, in the earliest days and months of motherhood, I felt like I'd been betrayed. Like the world had lied to me. That the image of empowered career woman as competent mother was a pack of lies. That my career and my child were supposed to be able to coexist, equally.

I was angry. [...]

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3 December 2009

Two articles, 10 minutes, instant improvement #best09

I spend a lot of time thinking about to help make change happen. That means spending a lot of time thinking about goals, how to set them, and how to meet them. (And spending even more time thinking about how and when goals go awry.)

It's no surprise then, that a headline like "Habits Can Beat [...]

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