Google search is a wonderfully powerful tool, and there’s a lot of things that you might not have known about! You can focus Google on searching a particular website. If you’re having trouble finding the information on a particular site, let Google work for you.
Read more on my Workbloom blog»
I got a note from a reader pointing me to this Bschool blog post: 10 Incredible Team-Building Trips You Wish Your Company Would Do. Of course, these examples are so notable precisely because they’re so far outside our normal experience.
Actually, I’m not a great fan of doing outrageous things that often. In my view, parties and events should be proportional to the impact of what’s being celebrated. I would imagine that there might have been a pretty outrageous party after NASA landed the first man on the moon.
But I wouldn’t think it would be good to have outrageous parties for relatively normal events. With that mentality, you end up with an over-the-top culture like Enron or AIG.
So here’s today’s thought to consider: Celebration is good, whether it’s work-related or personal. What would be proportional to the emotional impact you’d like it to have?
Perhaps that’s an interesting thought as we consider what to do for our sweethearts for Valentine’s day!
Like most of Microsoft’s products, Word contains about ten times as much functionality as most of us will ever even be aware of. That’s the state of PC software these days, and one of the reasons why I find applications on my phone to be quite refreshing – they do one thing very well, but they don’t attempt to do everything.
There are some real time-savers in MS Word, though…
Read more on my Workbloom blog»
I have some big news!
I have just signed up with a coaching services firm, Small Fish Business Coaching, based in Australia. This is a huge leap forward for me and my business, because I’m moving away from working totally on my own, to being in partnership with a rapidly growing group that is intent on improving the plight of small business owners, one at a time.
Here’s a useful concept that might come in handy at some point: A MasterMind group can help you to achieve your goals through support, ideas, and motivation. So what is it?
Peter Bregman, in the Harvard Business Review, wrote an interesting article this week about what motivates people to help. If you haven’t seen it yet, follow that link and have a look. Peter raises an interesting question about why people are motivated to give to others, to help.
In general, people like to be helpful. I suppose part of it is an expectation of getting something in return, but that’s not the core.
The fact is, you get a rush just from knowing you’ve done good. It actually physically feels good to you, and in many cases that may be enough reward in itself.
Of course, we get rather cynical about all this. Many charitable organizations prey on our need to be loved and to feel like we’re making a difference. After a while we get the sense that maybe we’re not actually making the difference that we’d hoped, and that some of the unscrupulous types might be taking advantage of us.
That’s why Peter’s example is so powerful. It’s about making a difference to someone here and now, in a way that makes a difference that you can actually see.
Here’s what we learn about giving:
As I said before, the act of giving has great value. Remember that in your own life, and those of people who you work with.
Well, we survived the first decade of the third millennium. It’s been an amazing and ever-accelerating ride for me, and I hope that you can see your own sparks of potential which will help you build your own future success.
Now it’s time to look forward:
As the year and the decade draw to a close, I just wanted to express my gratitude for all the help I’ve received this year. It’s been tumultuous, the future is uncertain, and depression and fear still reign over the economy.
Despite all that, I’ve been blessed with a great number of friends and supporters, a wonderful number of opportunities, and the love of my family. If you’re going to lose your job and head off into a new career, it’s hard to ask for more.
Thank you.
Now let’s get to work on making 2010 a much better place!
When I was growing up as a child in the 1960s, I thought about the upcoming turn of the century – 2000 seemed so impossibly far away. But here we are, ten years AFTER entering this new millennium, and it’s disappeared so quickly!
Ten years I was employed in Hewlett-Packard, just beginning to discover this new emerging field called coaching. I was managing a team that was embroiled in the whole Y2K issue, worried that all our hard preparation might not have been enough to ward off customer problems on January 1st. As it turns out, things went remarkably well.
I hinted that a big decision was in the works for me, which is this: I’m no longer hunting for a job. Instead, I’m now building my coaching business. What surprises me is how much of a difference this makes in my life.
—> Small Fish Business Coaching