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If you are anything like me, you have your RSS reader filled with great information that seems impossible to get through on a day-to-day basis. I love to comment on the great information and suggestions that are provided out there and flag information that I would like to be able to access later.
I have gotten better about getting through my RSS reader and scanning quickly through some information, but others have a little bit more meat to them and take time to get through. Between the RSS information from some great websites that I like to keep up with, magazines, and books that I like to go through, that is a lot of reading in only so much available time.
Spreeder.com is a great way for me to get through my online reading quickly. I just paste the information in and “go.” I see it as a great flashcard idea if you are taking college courses and have a lot of terminology that you need to get through in preparing for tests. As long as you have the information already typed into your computer, you can paste it into the Spreeder and cycle through the information over and over at a faster rate.
Now if you are looking to get through information that is not readily available on your computer to paste into Spreeder, such as your magazines, books, and journals information, I suggest you take a look at this article at The Art of Manliness.
Obviously, like any other skill that you are looking to improve on, the more you read, the more you learn, and the better you get at it. I hope you find this information as helpful as I have. Let me know what you think and don’t forget to show your love to The Art of Manliness while you’re at it.
I believe there are three qualities, that when cultivated, bring upon a domino effect of other admirable traits conducive to personal development. Courage, self-confidence, and graciousness.
COURAGE
Courage is about standing up for what you believe in. Courage is standing firm when everyone around you is caving in for what you believe is right. It is not about bulldozing over other people to get what you want or to get your way. It’s not about being a bully. Courage is something as simple as doing something that you normally don’t have the nerve to do, but you do it anyway.
I don’t necessarily see myself as extraordinarily extroverted, but am very outgoing and personable with people I know and trust. So it takes a lot for me to approach people and things I don’t know. However, I do think of myself as friendly and approachable. It is important for me to get myself out and commune and interact with people. I’m someone who you will find in the back watching as others engage, but once I’m involved and participating, I lighten up and am able to enjoy a friendly exchange.
It’s about baby steps. Someone who loves to sing, but is aware that they aren’t the greatest singer, a baby step would be to go out and sing karaoke. It’s about courage, taking a leap of faith that you won’t be ridiculed and heckled. And, seriously, I have never seen someone, even really bad, given a hard time for putting themselves out there and sing for everyone to hear. If nothing else, the surrounding crowd will clap and cheer them on. Talk about encouragement! We’re not talking about the prospects of becoming a rock star, but it is definitely one baby step to give you the confidence to take on the next challenge with courage.
SELF-CONFIDENCE
Self-confidence is about knowing what you are good at, you own gifts and talents, and not taking personally or believing someone else’s harsh comments that are only meant to crush you. I have heard it said that many people try to hold down people close to them so they don’t surpass, grow past, or succeed before them. They keep them in their comfort zone. Well, who wants to be comfortable? Who wants to be unchallenged? Who wants to stagnate and stay where they are? And, do you really want to have a relationship with someone who does want to be content with who and how they are?
Self-confidence is not about being arrogant, cocky, or bossy. Those traits actually signal a lack of self-confidence. They are covering up insecurities and worry about being found out. It could be very much unfounded, but have lacked the encouragement and have overcompensated in “puffing” their attitude so they, themselves, will believe it.
Self-confidence has patience that not everyone else knows or can do what you do, and that is a gifted opportunity to teach or guide. You build a reputation and people will seek you out to know what you know. I have heard, start with what you believe your strengths are, grow and nurture them and they will increase exponentially. By focusing on things that you don’t find to be a natural talent, you can become good or even very good at it, but you may find yourself frustrated or exhausted in the process. Doing something you love and find pleasure in, even in the process of the challenges, encourages you to find your greatness.
I consider myself a “work in progress,” ever evolving. That is why I love to learn. Everything is changing at the speed of light. It is not to say I can keep up, but to continually strive to learn and grow with all the knowledge that comes available.
GRACIOUSNESS
Graciousness is about being kind and considerate to yourself and those around you, no matter where you or they are in life. Graciousness is about appreciation. You can find appreciation in your challenges. They push you past who you think you are to something better or to create something better from those circumstances for you and others. Graciousness is about giving because you can.
Graciousness is not about being taken advantage of or being manipulated and feeling used. It’s about finding peace and acknowledging what is good in what is presented to you at each given moment. You are able to let go of the flaws and imperfections and realize that we are all on our own path.
I believe, when cultivating these qualities, the by-product is self-respect and respect from those around you. It’s a process and a journey. We live and learn, make mistakes along the way, and hopefully create the person in us that we desire to be and become.
What qualities would you like to see more of in yourself and/or in others? What could you do today that would enhance a quality you would like to see in yourself? Your thoughts and input are always encouraged and appreciated.
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This is a recommendation post. You have got to check out and sign up for this at Typeracer.com. This is the coolest thing online for working on your typing skills.
A little bit about it. You can do “practice” sets and you can compete with other online people or your friends. It displays your skill level, average speed, and races completed. You are able to view your own scores, as well as the fastest typists. You can race against anywhere from one to four or five other typists and watch all the typists progression and where you are in that race. The program also sets you up to race with typists that are around the same level as you so you don’t feel either completely humiliated with defeat or not challenged.
Generally when I’m working on accuracy and speed drills, I use a program called Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. It has games, tests, and a great graphical interface. It’s a fun way to work on and improve your typing skills. This one I suggest for getting the nitty-gritty, basic to advanced, practice to getting better at your typing.
What I love about Typeracer.com is it’s fun to compete against others. A little bit of my competitive nature coming out with this suggestion. I’m amazed at some of the speed skills that are out there. And I think I’m pretty good, so it definitely humbled me a bit.
You don’t have to sign up to use the website and compete, but would definitely encourage you to if you want to compete with friends and track how you’re doing.
Have fun and let me know what you think!
You have something to offer: friendship, partnership, a service, a product, information, even an experience. There are two considerations involved in the process of every selection. 1. The mental process: this consists of evaluating the logic and facts in order to make an informed decision. Assessing and evaluating information available and researching choices and alternatives. 2. The emotional process: when considering something, we ask ourselves various questions. Do we want it, do we trust it, do we need it, do we love it? Just a few of the questions we may ask ourselves.
So with 50 percent of our decision process consisting of the mental process of the facts and logic and the other 50 percent based on emotion, what puts us over the edge in making the decision?
I have to admit, I love Sony. When researching electronic equipment that I considered to purchase, I looked at the various choices out there: the price, options, consumer rating. Along the way I got emotionally involved. Which brand made me feel like it I would enjoy it the most? Which brand did I feel was dependable? Which brand did I feel the company presented itself in establishing a reputation of excellence? Once I made my decision and purchased a Sony I was hooked. I loved it. From then on, and because they showed their brand to be everything I expected, I make Sony my first choice in selecting electronic products. I still look a great deal and sales, but I will pay that little bit more for something that believe in.
So here’s your cheat sheet to Persuasive Writing.
- Assess your readers’ needs and objectives.
- Define your own role and objectives relating to those of your readers.
- Collaborate with your readers to generate persuasive solutions and benefits.
- Design a message that speaks clearly, effectively, and persuasively to your readers.
- Maintain a credible position so the reader has reasons for agreeing with you and your ideas.
You can switch “readers” to “customers” or “clients” works too.
In assessing your readers’ needs and objectives, determine who they are. Profile your readers with the following questions:
- Who are they, their jobs, their profession, responsibilities?
- What level and type of decisions do they make?
- Whom do they work for and whom do they supervise?
- What problems are they trying to solve and what are they working on now?
- What do they already know about you and what you have to offer?
Define your own role and objectives relating to those of your readers. Your role and objectives involve your ethics and where you stand, your honesty, dedication, and integrity. The easiest way to lose your persuasive credibility is to hesitate on an ethical question. Know what yours are and make sure your actions speak as loud as your words. Ultimately, they are going to believe what they see and forget what you said. Or, in the alternative, they will remember what you said and believe you to be dishonest and a liar.
Collaborate with your readers to generate persuasive solutions and benefits. Continue working with your readers, clients, or customers. Ask questions. Be available. Make them feel special. You never want your readers, clients, or customers to feel neglected.
Design a message that speaks clearly, effectively, and persuasively to your readers. Your message should clearly focus on your reader, client, or customer. You and your interests should be in the background. Use more you’s and less I’s. Here are some principles to follow in focusing on your reader, client, or customer:
- Be as clear as possible. This involves the visual presentation of the material with the use of formatting and style, as well as writing that defines technical terms and assumptions. Your message should convey as unambiguous and as effectively as possible.
- Organize your information with your readers, customers, and clients needs. You have organized the information of your logic of the points and arrangement of your points for maximum effectiveness to your readers, client, and customers.
- Choose effective and forceful examples. Determine your readers’ background. Is your reader limited in their technical background, choose non-technical terms? What generation do they relate to? Use terminology and examples they can understand and identify with.
Maintain a credible position so the reader has reasons for agreeing with you and your ideas. Are you seen as honest? Knowledgeable? Professional? A good listener? How and what you write, as well as the presentation forms an impression of the details you pay attention to. Is your writing free of misspellings and punctuation errors? Is the document presented with formatting that is visually appealing with appropriate bolding, italics, separations, white space? Is the message clear and effective?
In covering what I have written, I will ask myself the following questions to see if I have covered everything I think my reader would want to know:
- Who. Who am I trying to reach? Who am I writing to? Who is my demographic? Who is my target market?
- What. What I am talking about? What is the message I want to convey? What do they need or want that I offer? What makes my service better, easier, more fun, more dependable, or whatever you are offering, than someone else?
- When. When is the service or product available? When can the reader get what I’m offering?
- Where. Where can they get the service or product? Where is the information?
- How. How can they use my product or service? How can I help them that distinguishes me from the rest? How can I make a difference? How can they get my service or product?
- Why? Why should they want to choose me over another? Why would they want my service or product?
Your questions would identify your niche and who you are trying to reach.
Let me know what you think. What processes do you use to put together the message you want to covey? What techniques do you have that makes your communication stronger, clearer, and more persuasive? Do you find that writing is a skill that gets better with practice? Do you find that you are better at providing a strong clear message, but not quite as good at putting the information together so that is visually appealing and attractive? Would love to hear your feedback on what you think about writing.
Boss’s Day is October 16. I thought it was interesting to look into the history of Boss’s Day. Boss’s Day is explained by www.wikipedia.org as:
Boss’s Day (also known as Bosses Day or National Boss Day) is a secular holiday celebrated on October 16 in the United States. It has traditionally been a day for employees to thank their boss for being kind and fair throughout the year.
The history is detailed as follows:
Patricia Bays Haroski registered “National Boss’s Day” with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1958. She was working as a secretary for State Farm Insurance Company in Deerfield, Illinois at the time and chose October 16 because she forgot that the birthday of her boss, who was her father, was actually on the 16th. Four years later in 1962, Illinois Governor Otto Kerner backed Haroski’s registration and officially proclaimed the day.
Wikipedia states the observance of the day as “A day to celebrate having a job.”
What I love about the story is it tells a tale about a daughter whose father is also her boss. The back of the story conveys the love, appreciation, and respect that she has for someone who means a lot to her. So she came up with a creative “birthday” gift idea.
Do you have a boss who inspires you, encourages you, gives you the tools to continue to learn, grow, and expand as a professional? Do you have great respect for him/her not only as your boss, but as a person? Is he/she a person whom you admire and look up to? Is he/she someone that you desire to emulate and learn from in both the professional and personal life they lead in both action and word?
So what creative ideas have you come up with to “celebrate having a job,” but, more importantly, to express your appreciation in getting to come to work every day and work with the “greatest boss ever!”
Would love to hear your stories, inspirations, and ideas. Don’t forget this Friday, October 16 is Boss’s Day.
What image message are you sending as a professional? I mentioned in a previous writing about “The Suit,” expressing the changes in the workplace that have become much more relaxed. I enjoyed reading the comments that it generated. Some were for and some against. Love diversity. Well, this post is about writing and style.
With technology (i.e., email, texting, IMing, tweeting, etc.), standard USPS mail and even FedEx is not the standard venue to send correspondence. No wonder USPS is having a fit. That’s evolution for you, keep up or die. I still believe that USPS has its value for the “personal touch.”
What’s interesting is that along with the casual attire that we sport to the office, our correspondence has become casual as well. Before all the emails and technology enhancements, letters were sent out on corporate letterheads, with all the elegant style of formatting with the date, salutation, body of the letter, closing, and signature. It was all very formal, courteous, and informative. Notice the difference in business emails that you get today. You will find spelling and grammatical errors, and some even come across kind of “cute” with smiley faces and quick closes with (maybe) a name at the end.
Sending correspondence doesn’t require the date because the date is stamped in your inbox. A name to the sender may not necessarily be required because you are sending it directly to the recipient’s address. And you may not need to necessarily close with a signature line because your email “sender” address is there as well. But didn’t we have this already with regular mail? All that information was included when you sent the letter located right on the envelope, including the date stamp of when the letter was sent.
Sending correspondence is still about the image you represent to the receiver. In most cases, like regular mail, the recipient may not know who you are and your letter signifies the impression you leave. That’s all you get. People respond to you by image of the representation that you send to them.
Sending correspondence can get relaxed as you get to know the person or the company that you deal with. However, because it is electronic, it has a much greater possibility of getting sent around. There are responses to more persons than yourself, forwarding, and finding that message somewhere on the internet. It does happen.
Here are some suggestions for sending business appropriate email:
1. Make sure that your email address is professional. Your personal email address can be mskitty@yahoo.com, but I wouldn’t suggest it for business (unless your business is called “Ms. Kitty”).
2. Don’t forget the “Subject” line. In the letter it was the “Re:” or “Regarding” line. With all the email that comes through and weeding out the spam, it’s nice to know what you are writing to me about. We know how important your email is, but it’s a courtesy and gives me an idea of the urgency.
3. Open with a gracious salutation. Even if it is their name (most people aren’t so formal as to require Ms./Mr. So-n-So).
4. Sign your email. It makes it personal (as personal as you can get without actually signing anyway). Also, under the signature, leave your contact information. It let’s them know where and what (by identifying your company’s name and your job title) the information is relevant to. Also, give them access to your number so they can contact you if they should have any questions without having to conduct a “search and destroy” mission to locate how to get in touch with you.
5. Avoid emoticons and acronyms. Emoticons are not appropriate for business, as well as acronyms such as “LOL.”
6. Pay attention to the tone of the message. If you are upset or angry, it is possible that the tone will come across in the message. Take some time to simmer down, or imagine your boss reading it, or have someone else read it before sending. There is always a way to get your message across without sounding rude or accusatory, especially if this is not a single incident and this situation just seems to be “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” Maybe you are having a bad, hectic, or difficult day and your email comes across hurried, impatient, or frustrated. Pay attention to what the receiver is getting without the knowledge of what is going on with you.
7. Avoid ALL CAPS. In an email that is all your eye will go to and the tone has been set. You’ve already made an impression of the email without the receiver having even started reading it. If you want to emphasize something, use italics or bold. They get your message across better without looking like you are screaming at them.
8. Remember to spell check and grammar check. If you find your email to be somewhat lengthy, compose it in your word processing program such as Word.
This is pretty basic for correspondence, it does not cover content. Even you find yourself falling into the relaxed form of communication and don’t believe that it really makes that much of a difference, maybe you are right. I do hope that you will consider the whole idea of bringing up your communication style. Setting your style and image above the rest. The English language has all the elements to be stylized and elegant. Determine your style and you will see immediately the results in your responses.
I encourage you to send your comments and any suggestions that help us at being the best at what we do.
The internet has taken over. Ten years ago, the extent of our technology beyond using MS Office, Lotus programs, and WordPerfect (now owned by Corel), was Outlook for internal and external communication. Not today, business relies on full-blown internet use for managers and staff beyond communication. We research, network, communicate, interact, connect, and get informed. Our basic internet experience involves several factors on how you view, retrieve, and receive your information. It’s mostly about personal preference.
Web Browsers
Here are the players: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, Flock. View your website or blog on these browsers as they are ones being used by the people you want to be able to see and access your information. View this link to get some details on each browser.
Search Providers
Choices, choices, choices. If you weren’t aware, well here is it. There is something for everyone and everything. It just might open up your internet world and discover there is life beyond Google and Yahoo search.
I remember the day when shopping had its limitations. You almost felt like you had to be a model to find anything to fit. We’re all different, whether size, shape, taste, style, or preference. Social networking some prefer Myspace, while others like Facebook, and for others it is LinkedIn. That is just a small pool of selection that match your social network and lifestyle. But that’s for another blog altogether.
For a great resource for web browsers view this link. For an extensive list of search providers, broken down into categories, take a look at this link.
Enjoy your new internet toys!
Active and passive sentences convey action. Active sentences are strong, decisive, and self-confident. Passive sentences can appear weak, evasive, and lack ownership. They consist of three components: the actor—the person or thing conducting the action; the action—the verb; and the receiver—the person or thing receiving the action. Keeping these three components in mind when writing will greatly simplify how to construct the ideal sentence structure and assist you in using a more active voice.
1. The first rule is to prefer the active sentence. Active sentences are shorter, crisper, to the point, and carry energy. However, the passive sentence does have their purpose, and at times preferable, in construction under certain circumstances.
2. The passive sentence is used when you don’t know or don’t want to mention the actor. The sentence becomes passive, is actually a preferable use, when you don’t know who or what the “actor” is or mentioning names is not in the best interest of the writing because of the sensitivity or possible ramifications for identifying the actor.
3. The passive sentence is used when the receiver is less important than the actor. The paragraph has more impact and carries more weight using the receiver, while the actor plays a smaller role in what you are trying to express in the sentence.
4. The passive sentence is ideal when structuring the sentence to form a smooth transition from one sentence to the next. For example,
“We have created a system that simplifies the job duties making the process more efficient. The process will be trained to all employees by management to establish conformity and consistency.”
The second sentence is passive. When the second sentence is changed to the active voice, you will see that the active sentence becomes stronger and shorter, but does not transition well from the leading sentence. Seen here:
“We have created a system that simplifies the job duties making the process more efficient. Management will train all employees the process to establish conformity and consistency.”
Keeping the key word “process” closer together improves the fluidity of the passage.
5. Do not use passive sentences to avoid using first person pronouns (I, me, we, or us). Many writers will erroneously avoid identifying the actor as inappropriate use in business and technical writings. When, in fact, leading with a passive voice will convey a message that either does not take ownership or creates vague ambiguity in who the decision maker is.
6. Make a sentence active by switching the sentence or clause around. Sometimes it is just as simple as that.
7. Make sentences active by changing the verb. Use strong verbs or eliminate verbiage that convolutes or weakens the message.
8. Make sentences active by rethinking the sentence. There may be a better way to state the message.
Work with your words or sentence structures and how you want to express your thoughts. Over time and with practice, you will be surprised at how much your overall document will come across confident, direct, clear, and informative. After all, isn’t that really what we’re trying to do in the first place?
I have always preferred working close to home. So close in fact that I don’t have to drive if I don’t want to. I can ride a bicycle, walk, rollerblade, whatever strikes my mood. I just don’t like dealing with commuting traffic and paying the costs related to commuting to work, including gas and parking.
I think it started when I was a divorced mom raising two young children on my own. I chose to live two blocks down the street so my kids could always come to my work when I was working late. When I lived in Minneapolis, I lived two blocks from the metrodome, four blocks from my work, six blocks from the river, and could take the train into the heart of Minneapolis for music and dining. Now I live in a Historic Park of Sacramento and just walk through the downtown mall and across the street to my job. I live one block from the riverfront and I’m in the heart of great dining, music, museums, and theater. Where I live overlooks the downtown city lights and on the weekends I can hear the horse drawn carriages clacking away as they round the corner under my windows.
The only transportation I keep is my bike. Well, that’s not quite accurate. A motorcycle. Wait a minute that’s not quite right either. Okay, a scooter. Yeah, but it’s freeway legal, classed as a motorycycle, but the gas mileage and maintenance of a scooter. That’s it!
Tonight I went for a ride with my sister. She used to own and ride a motorcycle ten years ago, never thought she would again because she just never quite felt comfortable or safe on one. After she saw what I decided to use as my mode of transportation after returning to California, she was hooked and got her own. A Sym. I ride a Honda.
I have to put my brain in a different mode when I ride with her. She won’t ride the freeways. But tonight I had suggested going to the other side of the river. This can be done by driving through Discovery Park. I tend to “idle” a bit faster mentally. She probably drives five miles below the speed limit, while I probably tend to drive five miles above the speed limit. Which means, at some point I have to slow down a lot for her to catch up. I find myself at times getting impatient, but remind myself that I’m out to enjoy the ride, hang out with my sister, and the fantastic ride in some gorgeous weather.
On our way home, Discovery Park was closed. We couldn’t get through and there aren’t that many alternatives to getting across the river to downtown without using the freeway. Our only option was to route all the way around the perimeter and through the east side of downtown. Instead of getting home in 10 minutes it would have taken going through the park, or 5 minutes had we jumped on the freeway, it would now take us at least 30 minutes to drive around the river line, past the University of California in Sacramento, and through downtown.
Sometimes we just don’t get to our destination the way we want or the way we think we should. We all have different ways of doing things. We can still get to our destination without having to make ourselves or others uncomfortable in the process. When faced with roadblocks is when we get creative, finding other alternatives. And, the journey just might be that much more interesting. So enjoy the experience. It’s definitely worth the relationships that you build along the way and discovering new perspectives as you go.
Success really is more than money. It’s about the passion, the people, and the challenge.
I’m interested in what you have to say. As professional assistants, we are always on the lookout for great resources that help us stay abreast of technology, continually improve, and constantly learn. My hope is that you will find the information here helpful and include it in your toolbox.
I have created a survey for this month (you will find on the sidebar here to the right) titled, “What information would you like to see more of?” I hope that you will take the time to participate so I can keep information coming to you that gets you excited and looking forward to then next piece to come your way. If I did not identify a topic that you would like to see information on, let me know that too.
I greatly appreciate all the suggestions that my fellow professional assistants provide and look forward to interacting with you.
