Having a problem at work? BoomerangThink your way to a solution!

Endless meetings…stalled plans…unresolved issues…poorly recycled ideas. These are just a few of the challenges prevalent in today’s workplace. If you’re tired of getting nothing but blank faces when you ask for solutions to your company’s tough issues and want to go beyond ideas that are nothing more than a tweak of an old process, then it’s time for you and your organization to start thinking in new ways.

Unfortunately, the way many people think today rarely allows employees to unlock the limitless potential of their minds. Too often, they seem to be on autopilot, just providing a knee-jerk response to any problem that may arise. The reason for that isn’t so much because of what they think as it is because of how they think. Companies have done so much process improvement and are running at such a fast pace that the truly visionary entrepreneur skill set is not valued. As a result, the corporate world has become an assembly line of production to get things out the door faster and cheaper. And because people are so focused on the problems, they rely on quick fixes or they settle for the first solution (which often isn’t the best solution).

Most people don’t use the full capabilities of their mind to find better answers to today’s tough problems. Instead, they’ve trained their way of thinking to follow a straight line, rarely veering off a predictable path.

They choose a solution because “it’s how we’ve always done it.” Or they choose a solution because it’s the easiest or cheapest one.

Such a way of thinking limits people’s professional and personal careers. And in fact, often the best answer is not the first one or the obvious one-it’s the one that comes after some clear and original thinking. To do this, you need to release the talents and experiences your team has inside of them with a process called Boomerang Think™.

Boomerang in Business

A boomerang is a tool and weapon of Australian aboriginal origin that comes back to you if you throw it properly. It is usually carved out of wood and consists of two wings connected at an angle. One side of the boomerang will be slightly curved, and this is usually decorated. The other side will be flat. Of importance is the smoothness of the boomerang, as the wings act as an airfoil. As the air travels faster over the surface of one wing than the other, lift occurs. The angle of the two wings causes the boomerang to fly out straight for a distance and then begin to turn to the left, returning to the thrower. One of the secrets to a successful boomerang throw is the smoothness, the lack of burrs or extra weight along the wings.

Just like the successful flight of the boomerang, Boomerang Think™ has special features and steps.

• Step #1: Create a Barrier-Free Environment
  In order to fly correctly, a boomerang needs a smooth surface. The same concept applies to your new way of thinking. You cannot have barriers weighing down the flight of ideas. In most organizations, once you announce a problem and a potential solution, people quickly list all the excuses why the solution won’t work: “It costs too much,” “The boss will never agree,” “It would take too long,” etc. At this point, have everyone stop and put all those issues on sticky notes. Put the sticky notes on the wall and instruct everyone to forget about those issues for a moment.

  Often the solution you need is obvious, but you only see it when you’re issue-free. If you spend all your time talking about the issues and all the reasons why you can’t do something, you’ll never move forward. Therefore, allocate a certain amount of meeting time to voice those issues so you can
  get them out of the way. If you don’t allow people to voice them, then they’ll silently let the excuses simmer and block the group’s creativity.

  Remember, a boomerang won’t fly if you weigh it down.

• Step #2: Brainstorm or Dream about the Best Possible Solution
  Once you open your mind and toss the boomerang, you are now into the second step, or the straight part of the flying pattern. This is when you have the opportunity to stretch your thinking and come up with that best possible solution. Have everyone think in terms of limitless opportunities…no boundaries…the sky’s the limit. You may have to do this part in two steps.

  First, get people warmed up to the idea of thinking creatively. Then, encourage them to take it further.

  For example, if you ask people to describe the best possible airline flight, they’ll begin with such answers as, “No lines at the gate,” “The airplane leaves on time,” “My luggage doesn’t get lost.” But are these answers really describing the best possible airline flight? No. These are the “warm up” answers that describe the okay possibilities. Once people are warmed up, they can take it further and start describing the best possible solutions. For our airline flight example, they’ll continue until they start saying such answers as, “I’m in first class,” “I’m on a flight to Cancun for a month’s vacation,” “I’m sitting next to Tiger Woods.” These are the “stretch” answers that start to depict the best possible solutions.

• Step #3: Stretch the Solutions Even Further
  The third step of the process occurs at the apex of the flight. Here you list all the elements of the very best possible solution. At this point, after people voice each possible solution, ask “What would be even better?”

  Keep asking this question over and over until the answer is amazing. For example, using our airline flight example, the amazing answer might be, “I’m on a private jet flying to my vacation home in Cancun, where I’ll be spending the next six months working on my latest project from my home office, which of course overlooks the beach. With me on the plane are my family and my closest friends, including Tiger Woods.” That answer is quite different than simply wanting short lines and an on-time flight. Remember,
  if the answer is not amazing, then there’s still something better.

• Step #4: Assess Your Ability to Implement the Best Possible Solution
  Just like a real boomerang comes back to your hand, you have to bring your best possible solution back to the current business situation. This is when you take your amazing idea and start to break it down into steps. When you start to break the idea down and brainstorm the components of it, you often
  find that you can actually do them. Granted, about 20 percent of your idea won’t work. You rarely get it all. But getting 70-80 percent of your best possible solution is way better than getting 100 percent of your first possible idea.

Throw Your Own Boomerang

The following is an example of how to use Boomerang Think™ with a business
challenge.

Suppose you have to train 300 employees on a new technology. Your sticky notes would include such phrases as “Not enough training rooms,” “Too expensive to rent additional training rooms,” “Not enough time to get everyone trained.” Now that the issues are out of the way, you can begin to dream about the best possible solution. In this case it may be to have all the training done in 30 days and to do the training in multiple locations around the city rather than your lone in-house training room so you can
train more people at the same time.

With the vision of the best possible solution in mind, you would break it down and assess the viability of each individual component. In this case, you may realize that some of your suppliers or clients have offices with training rooms in them. Can you use those? You’re also a member of the Chamber, and they have boardrooms that are free for members to use. Could you use those boardrooms as training rooms? After a few phone calls, you learn that you have multiple options for additional training rooms that are
either free or very inexpensive.

This is the power of Boomerang Think™. You would never have started the conversation by saying, “Let’s talk to our suppliers or Chamber about training rooms.” Instead, you have to go all the way out with your solution and then come back in with it. So throw the boomerang in your organization
today. The results you’ll achieve will amaze you.

For more information please call 905-326-3251, e-mail carol@carolring.ca or visit www.carolring.ca

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Read these tips and apply them for a healthy lifestyle!

By Jessica Merritt

Everyone wants to look and feel healthy, and there are seemingly endless easy ways to improve your health from the inside out. Whether you’re improving your diet or just getting off the couch, small steps can make a big impact. Read on to learn about 100 different ways to make make an easy, healthy change for the better.

Food

What you eat has a great impact on your health, but that doesn’t mean you have to do a crash diet. These are a few of the ways you can improve the food you eat without going overboard.

1. Cut down on sugary drinks: Reduce your intake, or completely cut out soft drinks, juices, and sports drinks that are full of sugar, and opt for water, milk and healthier options instead.
2. Don’t forget to eat your veggies: Eat at least five servings of fruit and vegetables every day.
3. Make sure you’re getting enough Omega-3 fats: Eat a diet rich in fish, legumes, and nuts to get Omega-3 fats.
4. Drink water: You’ve heard it before, but we’ll say it again. Drink water to stay hydrated. You can add some cucumber, lemon, orange, or grapefruit to bring some flavor to water if you need to.
5. Never super size: Eating fast food occasionally is not bad, but eating astronomic portions of it is, so stick to smaller servings.
6. Eat whole grains: The outer bran of grains is richer, and whole grains provide healthier carbohydrates than processed ones.
7. Eat a varied diet: Balance your diet with a variety of different food groups to ensure that you get all of the proper nutrition you need.
8. Find out the recommended serving size: Research regular portions for food so that you don’t overeat.
9. Keep healthy foods on hand: Make healthy meals and snacks easily accessible, so you’ll eat them instead of ones that are bad for you.
10. Eat plenty of eggs: Eggs are high in protein and full of vitamins.
11. Steam your vegetables: Protect the antioxidant properties of your vegetables by steaming them instead of boiling or microwaving them.
12. Avoid processed foods: Do your best to eat foods as close to their natural state as possible.
13. Buy frozen vegetables: Make eating vegetables more convenient by buying and preparing frozen vegetables.
14. Eat lean protein: Get your protein from chicken, beans, and dairy products.
15. Drink tea: Most teas are full of polyphenols and antioxidants that not only make you healthier, but can clean your teeth.
16. Just stop eating junk food: It’s obvious and simple, but effective. Don’t eat anything that comes in a box.
17. Avoid eating in front of your TV: Pay attention to what you’re eating, and avoid sitting in front of the TV, computer or other distractions at mealtime.
18. Eat from a smaller plate: Use salad plates instead of dinner plates to shrink your portions.

Eating Out

Going out to eat is fun and convenient, but restaurant menus are filled with landmines. Here are a few ways to find healthy food while eating out.

1. Ask for what you want: If the meal you want only comes with fried chicken, ask if you can have it grilled instead.
2. Look for the light options: Many restaurants have a light, low fat, or healthy section on their menu, so check it out.
3. Request extra vegetables: Ask for more vegetables, and you’ll probably get them at no charge.
4. Share: Split your entree with someone and you’ll get a much more realistic portion size.
5. Get a soup or salad first: Eat a healthy starter, and you’ll eat fewer calories overall.
6. Stay away from hidden fats: Descriptions like creamy, stuffed, sauced, or breaded generally indicate that the dish is heavy with fats.
7. Avoid fancy drinks: Most mixed drinks like margaritas or pina coladas are full of sugar. Drink wine, beer, or a simple cocktail instead.
8. Eat fish: Eat on the lighter side and order fish-just be sure to avoid fish that’s heavily sauced or fried.

Illness

Keep allergies, colds, and other nasties at bay with these small steps.

1. Get rid of dust mite breeding grounds: Allergy sufferers can keep symptoms under control by avoiding stacks of books and magazines, stuffed animals, and pillows, all of which are great environments for dust mites.
2. Wash your hands: Protect yourself from germs and illnesses by washing your hands frequently.
3. Jog in the evening: If you suffer from a pollen allergy exercise outside in the evening when pollen counts are lower.
4. Carry hand sanitizer: For times when you can’t wash your hands, keep some hand sanitizer ready.
5. Go to free screenings: Even if you don’t have insurance, you can take advantage of free preventive screenings for illnesses like skin cancer and high blood pressure.
6. Sleep with your windows closed: If you like to sleep with the windows open, but you wake up with allergy symptoms, close your windows and use a fan instead.
7. Take a multi-vitamin: Get the vitamins your body needs to protect itself by taking a multi-vitamin every day.
8. Eat plenty of fiber: Avoid digestive illnesses by cleaning your digestive tract with lots of fiber.
9. Keep your animals out of your bed: If you’re allergic to pet dander, you need to avoid letting your pets sleep in your bed with you.
10. Sleep well: One of the best ways to prevent illness is to get a good night’s rest every evening.

At Work

You spend a lot of your time at work, so make sure you’re in a healthy environment with these tips for the office.

1. Spend some time outside: Get out of the office and see the sun, even if it’s just for a minute. Even better, use your lunch hour to take a stroll around the block or head to the gym.
2. Pack your lunch: Don’t leave your lunch up to the fast food joint around the corner. Pack a healthy lunch ahead of time, and you’ll know that your lunch is good for you.
3. Cut down on coffee consumption: Don’t put yourself on an energy roller coaster-avoid using caffeine as a way to get energy throughout the day, and use water and healthy food instead.
4. Keep healthy snacks: Stay away from the office cookie jar and stock up on dried fruit, nuts, and bars instead.
5. Clean your desk: Ban bacteria from your desk by wiping down surfaces like your keyboard and telephone on a regular basis.
6. Be careful with buffets: Avoid overindulging at office buffets just because the food is there.
7. Get away from it all: If you are suffering from intense levels of stress, step away from your office for a few moments by taking a walk in the halls or getting up to grab a glass of water.
8. Resist the temptation of free food: Don’t eat free food unless it’s at least marginally healthy and you’re actually hungry. Don’t forget to exercise portion control, either.

Sleep

A good night’s rest is vital to your well being, so follow these tips for more quality sleep.

1. Create a sleep ritual: Read a book or drink a warm glass of milk every night before bed to improve the quality of your sleep.
2. Sleep with your lights off: Keep your sleep hormones in check by sleeping with your lights off, including TVs.
3. Don’t drink before bed: Drinking alcohol before bed might put you to sleep, but the quality of your rest will be affected.
4. Don’t use an alarm clock: This is a challenge for most, but you’ll get better sleep if you go to bed early enough to allow your body to wake naturally.
5. Pay attention to light exposure: Do most of your sleeping when the sun is down, and you’ll have higher quality sleep.
6. Take a nap: Refresh yourself with a quick afternoon nap.

Mental Health

Be happier, satisfied, and more self confident by following these tips for mental health.

1. Allow yourself to relax: Let go of your tensions and find a fun hobby that you can enjoy.
2. Read: Exercise your brain with a good book.
3. Adapt to change: Don’t resist change-just be patient and learn to adapt.
4. Read something new: If you usually read mysteries, pick up a classic novel instead to give yourself a variety of reading material.
5. Practice good self esteem: Give yourself credit, cut down on criticism, and be confident for a more healthy outlook.
6. Write: Use writing as a way to stimulate your mind, release thoughts, and improve your memory.
7. Praise yourself: When you’ve done a good job, don’t be afraid to pat yourself on the back.
8. Express your feelings: Find a way to let your feelings out, whether it’s by crying, singing, or writing in your journal.
9. Learn something new: Make multiple areas of your brain get to work by learning a new skill.
10. Turn your TV off: Spend more time actually living by turning off your TV and getting off the couch.
11. Practice memorization: Practice memory games like remembering shopping lists, to do lists, and other tasks.
12. Avoid procrastination: Putting off the things you really need or want to do will only make you feel bad about yourself.
13. Play brain games: Find crossword puzzles, brain teasers, or graphic illusions to improve your mental clarity.
14. Meditate: Give your brain a workout and relax at the same time with meditation.
15. Laugh often: See the humor in everyday life, and you’ll be a happier person.
16. Listen to music: Use music as therapy to reduce stress, improve your memory, and even stimulate the immune system.
17. Do brain training: Seek out courses, websites or books that will teach you how to make your brain work better and faster.

Beauty

These methods will make you healthy and enhance your outward appearance at the same time.

1. Consider a detoxification: Consider cleansing detoxification diets to clean out your body from the inside out.
2. Don’t over-wash your skin: Avoid going overboard by washing your face and body too often, or you’ll over dry your skin and produce more oil.
3. Stay out of tanning beds: Golden skin may look good now, but your skin cells will pay a price. Limit your exposure to harmful UV rays, and never, ever visit a tanning bed.
4. Trim your hair: Cut down on split ends and uneven hair with a regular trimming.
5. Don’t drink or smoke: Drinking and smoking can accellerate the aging process and bring on harmful diseases.
6. Don’t overdo hair treatments: Blow dryers, dying, and chemical straightening can all damage your hair.
7. Be careful of UV rays: UV rays can damage your skin and cause skin cancer, so it’s important to limit your exposure to them. For most people, this means wearing appropriate clothing or sunscreen.
8. Use natural beauty products: Steer clear of hamful preservatives and caricinogens by using natural products.

Relationships

Foster healthy relationships that support your happiness and mental health by following these tips.

1. Spend time with healthy people: We tend to pick up the habits of people around us, so hang out with your friends that have healthy habits.
2. Surround yourself with positive people: Stay away from naysayers and spend more time with positive influences.
3. Know when to say no: Don’t let others demand too much of your time-say no when you really don’t want to do something.
4. Cultivate friendships: Grow as a person by working on a successful friendly relationship with another person.
5. Embrace: Get a hug or kiss from someone you care about every day.
6. Tell stories: Solidify your memories and have fun sharing moments by telling stories to your friends and family.
7. Don’t be afraid to ask for help: When you need a shoulder to lean on, say so. If you don’t have anyone, seek out professional help.
8. Practice random acts of kindness: Feel better about yourself and make someone else feel good by doing something nice.

Fitness

Physical fitness is a large part of overall health, so make sure you’re implementing these methods for a healthier life.

1. Just do it It doesn’t really matter what you do to be active, just that you do it, and you get started right away.
2. Use free weights: Free weights are more challenging than exercise machines because they force you to stabilize the weight, allow natural movements, and will help you build functional strength.
3. Do active chores: Fit activity into your daily life by seeing chores as a way to get exercise. Do lunges while you’re vacuuming and squats while you wash the car.
4. Do whole-body exercises: Focus on exercises that will work out multiple parts of your body at the same time.
5. Get at least 60 minutes of exercise daily: For at least 60 minutes every day, make sure you’re active. You can even break this time up into manageable 15 minute chunks.
6. Have fun: Find something that’s both fun and active at the same time, like dancing or team sports.
7. Pay attention to technique: Cut your risk of injury and improve the quality of your workout by using safe fitness techniques.
8. Team up: Enlist the help of a friend who will work out with you to stay motivated and enjoy yourself.
9. Be persistent: Focus on your long-term fitness goals and never give up.

Away from home

Traveling can take a toll on your body, so do your best to protect yourself by following these tips.

1. Get vaccinated: Visit the CDC’s website to find out which immunizations you’ll need to take when traveling abroad.
2. Drink bottled water: Often, local water supplies overseas will contain bacteria and parasites that residents are immune to, but can make travelers sick, so always bring your own sterilized water.
3. Stay out of ponds and lakes: Just like local drinking water, you can pick up bacteria and parasites in still bodies of water like ponds or lakes. Chlorinated pools and the ocean should be safe, however.
4. Brush your teeth with bottled water: Even if you’re drinking bottled water to avoid bacteria and parasites, you should remember to brush your teeth with bottled water, too.
5. Peel your fruit and vegetables: Remove the skin from raw fruits and vegetables before you eat it.
6. Bring extra medication: If you’re on a regular medication, bring extra doses along with you, just in case you run into delays or unexpected events.
7. Spray for insects: Protect yourself from mosquitos and other pests by spraying yourself with a DEET insect repellent.
8. Pack a first aid kit: With a first aid kit, you’ll have tools to deal with minor difficulties like diarrhea, motion sickness, and bug bites

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Just because you don’t have the deep pockets or stellar grades it takes to get into top tier schools doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy some of the same resources these establishments offer. Through open courseware programs, you can access course materials from a wide range of top universities. Whether you decide to take these courses on your own time or just skim through the information, we’ve compiled a list of 100 places to start looking for great business and entrepreneurship information.

Leadership

These courses can help you be a better leader by teaching you important skills like working as a team, ethics, and how to work with a diverse group of people.

1. Cross-Cultural Leadership: This course explores what constitutes effective leadership across cultures. It can be especially valuable for business owners who are working in a global environment.
2. Leadership Tools and Teams: A Product Development Lab: If you’d like to explore your creative side, consider checking out this online course from MIT. It aims to have students develop tools that will help other students develop their leadership abilities.
3. Practical Leadership: Want to get some insight into your leadership abilities? This course provides readings and the chance to evaluate your own leadership skills as you move through the material.
4. Leadership Lab: This workshop is designed to help promote social responsibility and improve business success. Students will look at existing companies as examples and work through ideas and observations about what makes them successful.
5. People and Organizations: Check out this MIT course to learn about the historical evolution and current state in which scientists, engineers and other professionals work. Managers can learn how to deal with negotiations, teamwork and leadership no matter what field they’re working within.
6. Dynamic Leadership: Using Improvisation in Business: Want to be able to lead a business meeting off the cuff or come up with new ideas for working in teams on the spot? This course focuses on applying improvisation concepts in business situations.
7. Literature, Ethics and Authority: In this course, you’ll use works of literature to explore ideas of ethics and authority and find ways that these can be applied to the workplace.
8. Building and Leading Effective Teams: Managers and project leaders can benefit from this course to build leadership skills that will allow them to better help employees to work together effectively.
9. Leading Organizations II: This course analyzes the human processes underlying organizational behavior and change from a psychological and sociological standpoint.
10. Designing and Leading the Entrepreneurial Organization: Through the materials provided in this MIT course, students will learn how to build, organize and grow an organization.
11. Individuals, Groups, and Organizations: Check out this course to learn the basic concepts for understanding individual, group, and organizational behavior and how individuals function within the workplace.
12. Ethical Practice: Professionalism, Social Responsibility, and the Purpose of the Corporation: This MIT course allows students to explore theoretical concepts in business ethics as well apply these theories to real-life cases that represent the challenges they will likely face as managers

Accounting and Finance

These free courses can give you some tips on managing money and making sound investments in your business.

1. Introduction to Financial and Managerial Accounting: This course is designed to help business owners make investment decisions, access managerial performance and place a value on other firms and businesses.
2. Financial Accounting: Through this short course, students will learn the basic concepts of corporate financial accounting and reporting to help make better finance-related decisions.
3. Management Accounting and Control: Learn how the finances of your business function through this course. You’ll get information about product costing, budget control systems, and performance evaluation so that you can plan and monitor the financial success of your business.
4. Introduction to the Art of Venture Valuation: This Columbia University seminar helps you learn how to value potential companies you’d like to invest in, especially those in the technology fields.
5. Mathematics of Finance: This mathematics of finance course is based on homework from Master’s level courses offered at Columbia University. You’ll get a chance to learn about elements of finance that include derivatives, futures, volatility, hedging and more.
6. Finance Theory II: Gain the financial tools and background needed to make good business decisions through this MIT course. You’ll learn the theory behind corporate finance and discover some ways that it can be applied to real-life situations.
7. Financial Management: This course focuses on the financial decisions that you’ll have to make as a manager. It will include information on the valuation of assets, risk management, risk and return, and corporate financing policies.
8. Real Estate Finance and Investment: Learn the basics of real estate finance and investment through this course. You’ll gain insight to the fundamental concepts behind what makes a good real estate investment and learn to apply it in everyday life.
9. Advanced Topics in Real Estate Finance: If you’ve already gotten the basics of real estate finance down and want to up your game in the field, check out this course offered by MIT. You’ll get information on the latest cutting-edge developments in real estate to help you keep up and stay informed.
10. Entrepreneurial Finance: For those building a new start-up, this course could be especially helpful as it focuses on the early stages of company development. You’ll learn about how to raise money, where to get money from, how to value your company and some basic organizational skills for finances.
11. Investments: If you want to learn about financial theory and empirical evidence for making investment decisions check out this course from MIT. Some of the topics touched upon will include portfolio theory, security prices, market efficiency, performance evaluation, and behavioral finance.
12. Early Stage Capital: This course focuses on elements of raising early stage capital and can be a big help to start-ups and young companies. You’ll gain some skills in making the most of advisors, negotiation relationships and finding great sources of funding.
13. Taxes and Business Strategy: If you manage your own business taxes, or just want to understand how they affect your bottom line, this course can be helpful. It attempts to combine education about the basics of business taxes and how they affect administrative issues.
14. Pricing: Improve your business’ pricing strategies and tactics with the information provided in this course. Topics will include pricing in competitive markets, estimating demand, price discrimination, the role of price cues, anticipating competitive responses, pricing in business to business markets, and pricing of new products.

Economics

Make sure you understand the larger factors that are at work in affecting your businesses profits and losses by educating yourself on economics through these classes.

1. Real Estate Economics: Whether you want to work directly in real estate or just need some information to help you make a better decision on purchasing office space, this course from MIT can provide instruction on real estate markets through a study of demographics, location, and government behavior.
2. Economics: Carnegie Mellon offers this introductory course in economics to help you learn the basics of issues like supply and demand, taxation, externalities and wages.
3. Applied Statistics: Through the materials offered in this free online course, you’ll deal with collecting and exploring data, basic inference, simple and multiple linear regression, analysis of variance, non-parametric methods, and statistical computing with all material geared towards practical applications in business.
4. Economic Analysis for Business Decisions: Check out this course to learn about the economic factors that influence making sound business decisions on a microeconomic level.
5. Applied Macro- and International Economics: Learn about big economic factors like GNP, inflation, interest rates, exchange rates and international trade in this wide-reaching course from MIT.
6. Applied Economics for Managers: This course focuses on microeconomics, and provides information on the integration of theory, data, and judgment in the analysis of corporate decisions and public policy.
7. Political Economy I: Theories of the State and the Economy: Get a background in the social sciences for analyzing relations among state, economy, and society in this course. You’ll learn about historical theories of economics, and learn how social ideas have affected the financial market.
8. Global Climate Change: Economics, Science, and Policy: If you don’t think global warming will have an affect on your business, you may want to reconsider. This course examines some of the economic ramifications of climate change and proposed policy measures designed to slow its progress.
9. Global Entrepreneurship Lab: Why limit yourself to a national business when you could be working in the international market as well? This course addresses some of the challenges faced by international businesses and provides advice on working on a worldwide scale.

Communication

Getting ahead in business without good communication skills can be hard, so give yours a boost with help from these top-tier courses.

1. No Sweat Speaking: Check out this short online seminar from Columbia University to help you overcome your fear or nervousness about public speaking. You’ll get access to a series of videos that can offer you some tips and pointers on feeling at ease in front of a group of coworkers, clients or anyone else.
2. Architecture and Communication in Organizations: Think your office space or how its arranged has no effect on the performance of your business? This course may cause you to think differently, showing how workspace can influence the communication and organization of your business.
3. International Multilateral Negotiation: Take this course from Tufts to get some insight into how to negotiate with businesses from around the world to form new deals, open new markets or expand both of your businesses.
4. Management Communication for Undergraduates: If you feel you’re struggling with your communication skills, give this MIT course a try. You’ll build writing, speaking, teamwork, and interpersonal communication skills that can help you to be a more effective manager.
5. Advanced Managerial Communication: Once you’ve mastered some basic communication skills, then consider taking this course which builds on those skills to provide more in-depth instruction. You’ll learn how to deal with a hostile audience, run a meeting and converse successfully with clients.
6. Negotiation and Conflict Management: In any workplace there are bound to be conflicts that arise, but when they do will you know how to effectively resolve them? This course can help you to learn how to diffuse situations and come to resolutions that meet the needs of the parties involved.
7. Communication Skills for Academics: If your business is based in a particularly academic field, you may benefit from this course. You’ll learn skills that can translate not only in the academic world but to business, personal relationships and beyond.
8. Competitive Decision-Making and Negotiation: This MIT course is based on twelve negotiation exercises designed to simulate real life business experiences. It will cover topics like distributive bargaining, mixed-motive bargaining, auctions, fair division and more.
9. Power and Negotiation: Want to build your negotiation skills to the benefit of your business? This course may be able to offer some assistance. You’ll get insights into how to successfully work towards a deal within new and existing business relationships.
10. Listening to the Customer: Communication isn’t just about conveying ideas within your office but with your customers as well. This course will help you learn to better get feedback from your customers about your products and services so you can create more effective marketing plans and products.

Management

Management plays an essential role in keeping any business running smoothly. Ensure you and your employees are working to their full potential with some advice from these free courses.

1. Optimization Methods in Management Science: In this course, you’ll learn about the theory, algorithms, and applications of optimization to help you better control the logistics, manufacturing, transportation, marketing, project management, and financial issues of your business.
2. Operations Management: By taking this courses, you’ll learn about design, planning and control of manufacturing and service operations. This can include operation analysis, quality management, project management and supply chain management.
3. The Nuts and Bolt of Business Plans: Unclear how to put together a fool-proof business plan? This course can provide some guidance and make it easier to get your business ideas off the ground.
4. Strategic Management I: This course is designed to cover the emerging issues in strategic management including technology and global markets while providing a firm foundation in more traditional ideas as well.
5. Strategic Management II: For those who enjoyed the material from Strategic Management I, this course provides a means to expand those theoretical ideas into real-life business scenarios.
6. Managerial Psychology: Get into the heads of your coworkers and employees with this course. You’ll use behavioral science theories, methods, and tools to analyze situations that you may encounter in the workplace and understand them from a psychological viewpoint.
7. Game Theory for Managers: While it might sound like fun, this course is serious when it comes to business applications. It is designed to help students think strategically in complex, interactive environments with clients, customers and employees.
8. Communicating With Data: This course provides insight into ways that managers can use data of all kinds to make informed and sound business decisions.
9. Advanced Corporate Risk Management: With any business venture there is always an element of risk involved. This course focuses on businesses and how they can best manage issues like hedging, liability, risk, control and more.
10. Strategic Management and Consulting Proseminar: Theoretical Foundations: This course focuses on key issues to management like winning customer trust, business efficiency, shareholder value, globalization and motivating employees.
11. Seminar in Operations Management: Those interested in operations management will find this course of interest. It cover the purposes and development of Technology Roadmaps for showing “development paths for various technological domains and the industries that build on them.”
12. Management of Supply Networks for Products and Services: If you’re selling a product, a big part of doing so is making sure it gets out there on time and in one piece. This course provides some insight into how to manage these supply networks to ensure they stay up and running smoothly.
13. Theory of Operations Management: The focus of this operations management is on customer-driven businesses. You may be able to draw some pointers to use in your own business to create management operations that function similarly to these cutting-edge businesses.
14. Introduction to Operations Management: This is a relatively short course offered through MIT that discusses problems and analysis related to the design, planning, control, and improvement of manufacturing and service operations.
15. Strategic HR Management: The biggest asset of any business is the people that help run, organize and maintain its daily activities. This course can help you learn to more effectively manage your HR department and build a high-performance and satisfied group of employees.
16. System Dynamics Self Study: Through a series of readings and online exercises, students in this class will learn how to apply the basics of system dynamics to their workplace and business practices.
17. Sociology of Strategy: Check out this course to get a better understanding of the work sociologists are doing to understand strategy in businesses. This can shed some light on business performance, market interaction, competition and more.
18. Applications of System Dynamics: This course employs a hands-on method to system dynamics, allowing students to understand how they function in a real-world setting to make managerial and consulting decisions.

Marketing and Advertising

If you’ve got a product or service to sell, you need to get your name out there. These courses can give you some helpful ways to better market your business.

1. Brand Leadership/E-Seminar 1, Brand Identity and Strategy: Professor Bernd Schmitt of Columbia Business School explains the steps businesses must take when marketing themselves to develop a successful brand identity in this online seminar, using real companies to illustrate his points.
2. Brand Leadership/E-Seminar 2, Experiential Branding: Learn why it’s not enough to simply promote the features of your products in part two of this online seminar offered by Columbia University. You’ll gain insight into how to market the “experiences” of your products to increase the effectiveness of your selling.
3. Brand Leadership/E-Seminar 3, Branding and the Creative Organization: Give this seminar a try to learn how to better organize your company to foster a creative environment that can help you to better build and maintain your brand. It’s the third and final part of the program offered by Columbia University.
4. Introduction to Marketing: This basic marketing course covers the 5 C’s: Customer needs, Company skills, Competition, Collaborators, and Context.
5. Special Seminar in Marketing: Marketing Management: Give this course a try to learn some key marketing terms and occurrences and to develop your skills in supporting and defending your argument for marketing decisions.
6. Marketing Management: This course from MIT provides an introduction to the fundamental concepts of marketing which can include customer orientation, attention to competition and building core strengths.
7. Strategic Marketing Measurement: What to know how to deal with the market when it comes to branding your products? This course is dedicated to helping business owners and students to learn how to develop market research surveys and develop the techniques needed to analyze them.
8. Marketing Strategy: This course can help students to develop marketing strategies, evaluate a firm’s opportunities, anticipate competition, and evaluate the sustainability of competitive advantages.
9. Entrepreneurial Marketing: Gain some new perspective on your business’ marketing from this course. You’ll be able to analyze to whom you are trying to sell products and the best ways to do so given your resources.
10. Global Markets, National Policies, and the Competitive Advantages of Firms: Gain a global perspective on your business business by studying the interaction between environment and business around the world in today’s fast-changing economy.

Product Development and Launch

These courses can give you some help on successfully developing new products and getting them out to your buyers.

1. Managing the Innovation Process: Get a handle on the research and development going on in your business through this course which analyzes the process through through five levels: individual, team, network, organizational, and industrial.
2. How to Develop “Breakthrough” Products and Services: In order to be successful, your business will need to develop unique and profitable products and services. This course can help you to use new ideas in innovation to more easily develop breakthrough products.
3. Organizing for Innovative Product Development: Topics in this course include technology transfer, relations between science and technology, and the innovation process to help you learn to more effectively organize your process of development.
4. Developmental Entrepreneurship: See both successful and failed businesses in this course to see what kind of new business products and models work and which may lead to financial issues.
5. Data Mining: With technology making it easier than ever to collect data relevant to your business how can you get through it all and use it to make effective decisions? This course will help you learn how to store, manage and analyze data so you can make informed decisions about marketing and investment.
6. Supply Chain Planning (SMA 6305): This course from MIT focuses on how to plan and integrate supply chain components into a coordinated system to ensure your products arrive when and where they are supposed to.

Technology

No business can run without technology these days, so ensure you have a handle on the IT technologies it takes to keep your business in good shape through these courses.

1. Practical Information Technology Management: If you feel you don’t have the background to make sound business decisions about IT, give this course a try. You’ll gain insight into how to implement, maintain and manage these systems to the benefit of your business.
2. Computer Science 162: UC Berkeley provides this computer science course which will cover some of the basics and give even those without the greatest knowledge of technology a good foundation for understanding the information systems keeping their business running.
3. Integrating eSystems & Global Information Systems: This course will teach you how careful coordination of strategic applications, information technologies, and organizational structures can help you to build a successful IT foundation for your business.
4. Information Technology Essentials: For those with little background in computer science this course can be a good introduction to issues in technology concepts and trends in using information management systems.
5. Information Technology I: This course is designed to help students understand technical concepts underlying current and future developments in information technology.
6. Information Technology as an Integrating Force in Manufacturing: Business leaders and owners without a knowledge of technology could be at quite a disadvantage as this class shows. Students will learn how to integrate information systems into their manufacturing process to make for more profitable and streamlined business practices.
7. Generating Business Value from Information Technology: Learn how to make your IT investments more valuable to your business in the short and long term through the guidance of this MIT course.
8. Technology Strategy: If you’re managing a high-tech business, this course can provide some helpful and interesting information on how to maintain a balance between innovation and demand.
9. Systems Optimization: Models and Computation (SMA 5223): This course can be a big help to managers or engineers who are trying to make their businesses or designs more efficient. Students will learn how to use strategic models and apply them to real-life situations.
10. Network Optimization: Make sure your business’ network is created in the right way with some help from this course. Students will learn about network flow issues that can affect everything from IT to project management.
11. Queues: Theory and Applications: This course deals with the “modeling and analysis of queuing systems, with applications in communications, manufacturing, computers, call centers, service industries and transportation.”

Law

These courses can help you make sure you know the legal rights and regulations that apply to your business.

1. Law for the Entrepreneur and Manager: Through his course, you’ll gain a basic understanding of legal issues that corporations and businesses face when organizing, getting financing, protecting intellectual property, working internationally and more.
2. Patents, Copyright and the Law of Intellectual Property: Protect your ideas with information from this course which discusses key concepts of U.S. intellectual property law, with emphasis on patents and copyrights and a briefer look at trade secrets and trademarks.
3. The Law of Corporate Finance and Financial Markets: This course provides an introduction to the legal issues surrounding businesses, and covers topics like mergers, regulation, contracts, and liability.
4. The Law of Mergers and Acquisitions: If you’re planning on making a merger or acquisition in the life of your company, you may find this course of interest. You’ll get walkthroughs of how both friendly mergers and unfriendly mergers can take place.
5. Innovative Businesses and Breakthrough Technologies - The Legal Issues: This course covers the legal issues relating to breakthrough technologies, including R&D, the commercialization of new high-technology products, and the liability and regulatory implications of new products and business models to help you best protect the products and services developed by your business.

Field Specific

These courses cover a range of more specific business topics.

1. System Optimization and Analysis for Manufacturing: No matter what it is you’re producing you want to make sure you’re doing so in the easiest and most cost efficient manner. This course from MIT provides some background on how you can optimize your manufacturing process for the best results.
2. Principles of Industrial Hygiene: Johns Hopkins provides this course which helps those working in an industrial or manufacturing environment to understand how to maintain a clean and safe workplace environment for employees.
3. Competition in Telecommunications: Through a series of readings in this MIT course, students will get insight into the economics, strategies and technology behind telecommunications companies to give them a better understanding of the intricacies of working in cable, internet or phone services.
4. Principles and Practice of Drug Development: For those working on developing new pharmaceuticals and medical innovations, this course describes the process and provides information on the myriad of regulatory issues.
5. The Software Business: If you have an interest in starting a software company, this course can be a good place to get some introductory information.

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Are You a Leader? You are the leader of your own life!

Leadership Training - being a leader

Great leadership is one of the keys to long-term organizational success; so how come there seems to be such a shortage? In the corridors of political power, and in the boardrooms of large and small organizations, we regularly hear the questions: “Where is the inspired leadership we crave?”, “Where is our next generation of leaders coming from?”, “Where is the flair and inspiration we need to take us to the next level?”

If asked, you could probably say what ‘leadership’ is. Like everyone else, you’ve read the books and seen the leadership competency frameworks. You could clearly describe how it feels to be well and poorly led - you ‘know it when you see it’. But how many current great world leaders can you name off the top of your head? How many great leaders are there in your organisation now?

Why do so many people, knowing what good leadership is, fail to demonstrate it themselves? The first place to look is in the learning environment where leaders are usually developed.

What They Didn’t Teach You about Leadership

1. There is an imbalance in leadership training. There is not enough emphasis on the skills, central to great leadership, of inspiring others with beliefs, vision, values and attitude; and too much emphasis on the importance of systems, planning, measurement, budgets, controls and procedures - in short, on management! Does any great leader ever manage people into following him? No, he inspires them, motivates them, keeps them in touch with the bigger vision - he leads them.

2. As a business leader, you have probably been well trained in logic and analysis. But a key leadership skill is the application of ‘emotional intelligence’ - the ability to know when things are ‘true’ or when they are ‘off’, when people are truly inspired, or just paying lip service. As a leader you need emotional intelligence to manage your own and others’ emotions, and you need skills appropriate to this task. Trying to do it by analysis and logic is about as effective as trying to drive a car by studying from a manual how the engine works.

3. People, especially in the business world, tend to avoid emotion - expressing it, dealing with it, looking at where it came from and its role in a situation. The rationale for not dealing with emotion, the very essence of leadership, is that all ‘this emotion stuff’ is ‘not professional’! Not so: it’s only ‘unprofessional’ to suppress emotion or express it inappropriately. When all ‘this emotion stuff’ is not explored and resolved in leadership groups, it always produces long-term tensions and political battles. These cause acute stress in individuals and cripple organisational effectiveness and efficiency. At the same time, they also destroy satisfaction, joy, fun, friendship, health, trust and a good night’s sleep!

4. Leadership skills like vision, inspiration and emotional intelligence can be trained on training courses - but it takes a different kind of course. In most leadership training programmes you will see models of leadership discussed, followed by practical exercises that analyse logically what went right and wrong in a ‘leadership game’. It’s all familiar and fun, but what’s being taught are the elements that underpin leadership, not the essence of leadership.

How Can You Learn to ‘Do’ Great Leadership?

You need to be coached in leadership skills, over time, in real situations - ones that matter to you and where there is a chance of meaningful success or failure - by coaches who themselves demonstrate the skills. A life skill like leadership can’t be learned by numbers; you can’t read a book about it, learn a model or play a game that simulates a real life situation, and say you know anything about leadership. The greater the ‘distance’ your learning experience is from your real world experience, the less likely it is that the learning will be transferred to your everyday performance. You didn’t learn to drive by sitting in a classroom!

So you can only effectively demonstrate the skills of leadership when the situation calling for them is real. Get a coach who has the experience to produce leadership competence, and put yourself in a programme where you are guided through real-time experience to learn leadership skills over time. Only this kind of approach will finally get you to the point where your leadership competence is as natural and instinctive as your driving ability!

At Shine Consulting, we work with leaders who are consciously engaged in designing their organizations to be places where people:

- are consistently passionate, inspired and committed
- produce results well beyond the predictable norm
In short, organizations that really shine! http://www.shineconsulting.co.uk

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So, I have been listening to a lot of enlightening media lately, and they seem to have a central theme.  The moment.  Most of us get caught up in the day-to-day living of life, in which we are always tuned into thinking about things that don’t necessarily apply to right now.  If you want to overcome procrastination, you must respect the moment.

With this economy, it sure is easy to drift away thinking about this bill or that bill, or how we are going to pay this or that.  With the election season caught, we get thinking about the worse case scenario if this candidate gets into office or if that candidate gets into office.  

We get into our emails and forward all this negative news about Candidate X and get all bend out of shape.  Oh, how we worry about worst case scenarios.  Oh how we dwell in the past and fret over the future. It is these type of activities that are really procrastination in action. In this state of mind, it is hard to overcome procrastination.

The enlightenment masters all say the same thing.  ”Now is the moment of power”.  You can’t change what happened yesterday, nor can you control events that are happening many days from now.  The only thing that is within your ability to affect is NOW, because there is ONLY NOW.  

Robin Williams starred in a movie in 1989 called, “Dead Poet’s Society”.  This movie had a very powerful catch phrase in it… “Carpe Diem”.  But seizing the day isn’t good enough… it’s too vague.  More importantly, you need to SEIZE THE MOMENT. Carpe Punctum…  Specifically… SEIZING THIS MOMENT.

Time is now.  So clear your mind from the trash within, the thoughts that pollute and disempower you.  The thoughts that tell you that you aren’t good enough, and the thoughts that tell you that you’ll never measure up.  Those thoughts that nitpick at your self-worth and make you feel inferior… they are all trash.

Trash is what keeps you from the only thing that matters… this moment.  NOW.

So if you want to motivate yourself to overcome procrastination, just realize that the only thing that you have control over, is right now.  Carpe Punctum, my friends.  Life is filled with only moments, and doing the right thing now, will ensure that your life will be where you want it to be in the future.

I’d recommend picking up the book, “Peaceful Warrior”, by Dan Millman or watch the movie by the same name.  It will help give you a different perspective on this time called time.  Use this moment wisely, don’t abuse this moment.  Don’t waste this moment.  Do in this moment that in which is most important, and your life will be better than you could possibly imagine.

Get off Cultivate Greatnes, and go do something more important and Carpe Punctum!

Yours in growth,

Travis Wright

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Many people wait for things to be “perfect” before they pursue their dreams and goals. They wait for the perfect conditions, the perfect attitude, and the perfect time of year. They really want to achieve their goals … but the time just isn’t right.

In business they wait to take action on things they need to do to grow their business until they have their strategic plan in place, until staff turnover settles down, until they stop being so busy, until they get a few more clients. They really want to get around to taking the actions they need to do to grow their business … but the time just isn’t right.

When managing people they really want to tackle the poor performer, the rude staff member, the tardy employee. They want to give recognition to the high performing team member and take time out to plan their team’s projects or tasks… but the time just isn’t right.

Are you seeing any patterns?

Waiting for the right conditions is another name for procrastination which is an excuse for not achieving your goals. By waiting for the “right” time before acting - people accept mediocrity.

People often procrastinate because of fear – fear that they won’t be able to handle the results of their action (either good or bad). They may be afraid that if they have that hard conversation at work the person may cry (or resign). They worry they may not make a difference at work if they try and change things or they may go broke and cause embarrassment to themselves and their family.

They end up paralysing themselves into place, numbing themselves into inactivity.

So if you recognise yourself in these patterns what can you do about it?

… Start from wherever you are.

By that I mean, look at one just thing that immediately needs doing and start there. Don’t try and change the world … just do one small thing which, in the process, will also help you to clarify your direction and goals.

In business, if you need to revamp your brand for business cards … start there. A great graphic designer will ask lots of questions to help you clarify your business direction and goals before they put pen to paper. The act of re-designing your brand will in the hands of a skilled designer, help you to focus on your business goals (and if it doesn’t – find another designer – I know a few great ones!).

If you need to manage staff performance … start there. Part of managing performance is having clear and open discussions about future directions and objectives. The outcome of those discussions is greater and shared clarity about your business direction and goals.

If you need to get some direct mail or marketing out there to draw in customers … start there. A good writer will place your writing in the context of your business direction and will help you to articulate precisely what that direction is.

If you need to get a handle on your finances … start there. A good accountant or book-keeper will do more than process your accounts; they will help you work out your financial goals and targets.

If you need to change a bad habit … start there. Bad habits come about from a past response to a usually stressful situation. The habit was helpful at the time as a way of helping you deal with the circumstances. Changing the habit needs to be seen in the context of your broader life goals and direction.

To start from wherever you are, sometimes you need a hand to help you get moving.

The easiest way is to always surround yourself with people who will help you to take that step up and get a helicopter view of your situation – bigger than waiting for everything to be just right.

Find yourself business mentors, coaches, consultants, friends or executive teams who will tell you when you are procrastinating … then who nudge you off your self imposed limitations. People who won’t join in on the “feeling of being stuck”, but who will prompt you to see the actions and the choices available to you that you maybe didn’t see before.

A great support team that gets you moving is one of the best predictors of success for any business owner.

You don’t need perfect situations to get started. You just need the courage to take the first step (even if it isn’t a big one or perfectly executed!) or the right support team around you to help you run.

Author’s Bio

Ingrid Cliff is a Brisbane freelance writer and the Chief Word Wizard of Heart Harmony - her writing services studio that helps put your business into words. Ingrid writes a free weekly newsletter packed full of small business tips to help both you and your business grow www.heartharmony.com.au .

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If I asked you to name someone you thought was a great leader, who would you pick? John Wooden? Abraham Lincoln? Your grandmother? You have reasons for your selection. What are they? What makes that person a great leader? Too often we know a great leader when we see one, but less often are we able to pinpoint what makes it so. It’s worth taking the time to define the qualities of the person you selected as a great leader, and determine how you can incorporate those qualities into your own leadership.  Every one of us is different, so we will be different leaders, but there are core essentials that need to be well-developed to create a great leader. I believe there are 6 essential areas to being a great leader:

1. Know your own leadership style. Are you a take-charge person who can get things done regardless of barriers? A planner who is skilled with the details of a large project? Spontaneous and creative, but struggle with deadlines and timetables? Do you prefer a low-key, slow-paced environment? Who we are naturally will determine how we will lead others. By default, we will lead others the way we prefer to be led. If we are spontaneous and not a planner, we will do things spur of the moment; some people cannot thrive in that environment. If we are a take-charge person and fast-paced, we’ll find some people need more processing time than we will give. So we must know what our own leadership style is and how to adjust it to create a culture where all can thrive. 
2. Understand whether you’re a manager or a leader. What’s the difference? An analogy from Stephen Covey asks you to imagine there is a large group of people on the ground, and a ladder leaning against a tall building. Everyone must climb the ladder to get to the top of the building. The MANAGER makes sure the ladder is secured, rungs are in good repair, people ascend safely, etc. The LEADER makes sure the ladder is leaning against the right building - so the group ends up where they need to be. The LEADER determines what the goal is - why the people need to be at the top of the building. Do you sometimes have to work in both roles? Probably, but it’s important we stay focused on our primary role. 

 

3. Promote Succession Planning. What is succession planning? Until recently, it has been defined as identifying and planning for the next CEO. But today, succession planning has a whole new meaning as we anticipate a mass exodus of leadership - as the Baby Boomers are retiring, it is estimated that by 2018, 60% of current leadership will be gone. So even if you’re a new leader, you need to already begin to develop new leadership right alongside you. It’s a great time in history for new leaders, because promotional possibilities are much greater than ever before. You may not stay in your leadership role very long, and you need to be intentional about preparing someone to step in. 

 

4. Understand that “It’s All About Relationships.” This is so fundamental, and yet one area that leaders neglect the most. There are 3 reasons why everything in the marketplace really is all about relationships: 
   • People leave managers, not organizations. Staff retention, morale, productivity, and effectiveness are tied more to the relationship they have with their direct supervisor than on any other factor.
   • People buy from and work for people they trust. You can’t build a high level of trust without focusing on building positive relationships at all levels.
   • People work at peak for those who help them rise to their potential. ”People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” If you provide the support needed for a person rise to his or her potential, you have discovered the greatest key to that person performing at their peak abilities.

      

 

5. Promote Effective Communication. An organization knows when they do not have effective communication, but often doesn’t know how to create it. Traditional communication methods are important, and should be used effectively. But there are particular events that are typically neglected that should be a strong focus for strong, positive communication, including: 
   • Performance evaluations. New leaders, especially, are often not equipped with skills to conduct effective performance evaluations. The leader must feel confident during the evaluation process and have a tool that is effective.
   • Staff discipline. Sometimes staff discipline is necessary, but often can be avoided with good mentoring and communication concerning regarding the job description, expectations, and frequent feedback.
   • Multiple generations in the workforce. For the first time in history, we have four different generations in our workforce, which creates exciting possibilities, as well as unique challenges. You’re probably heard “the younger generation has no work ethic,” or “senior management needs to come into the 21st century.” These are common comments, and the leader must understand the generations, their characteristics, strengths and weaknesses, unique needs, and how all four can be utilized to the greatest effectiveness of the organization.

      

 

6. Develop an Effective Professional Image. How others perceive you is how you are in their mind; their perception is their reality. If they perceive you as trustworthy, to them you are. And if they perceive that you are not, you are not. The critical link here is that your professional effectiveness with that person is directly linked to their perception. You already have an image, whether you know what it is or not, and it speaks louder than your words. As you assess the other 5 areas for yourself, this sixth area becomes a natural conclusion and easier to understand. Take your leadership style, for example, and determine your strengths and weaknesses - what about your style contributes positively to your professional image? What does not? What would you like to change? Think about your skills as a communicator, and determine what areas you’d like to strengthen there, which has a direct correlation to your professional image.

What can you do to enhance your skills as a leader? Start today! Leadership Development guru Teresa Gilbert, “The Emerging Leader’s Champion,” publishes the ‘Emerging Leadership’ weekly ezine. If you are ready to rise to excellence as a leader, get your FREE tips now at http://www.leaderschampion.com

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They say having children changes everything. While it’s unquestionably a remarkable time in one’s life, I can also see how the transition introduces obvious limitations. Suddenly you have dependent beings of life to care for. Responsibility kicks in, compelling you to dedicate a significant portion of your time and attention to the best interests of the little ones. Combine this with the obvious physical and lifestyle limitations that come with age and it seems to me that there are several activities to check off the bucket list before settling down to start a family.

Here’s our list of 70 things to do before having children. For us, it’s simply about conquering as many life experiences as possible. We’re not quite there yet, but we’re getting closer.

1. Live in a high rise condo with an amazing view.
2. Take a month long vacation on the opposite side of the world in a city with a completely different culture.
3. Attend the Super Bowl live.
4. Jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

Check Out This @ Marc and Angel Hack Life!

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Sometimes, it is very difficult to NOT think of what you DON’T want. We are wired to think and worry about things that we don’t wish to happen. This is very detrimental to your success, as when you think of anything, your subconscious views it as something you would like to have happen. We think things into reality.

If you have kids, and you are worrying about them getting abducted every time they go outside or are out of your view… don’t be surprised if, one day, your kid gets kidnapped. You were silently wishing for it with every little ‘worry prayer’.

Worrying about losing your job, losing your home, losing your car, losing your marriage or getting ill… actually INCREASES the odds that that in which you are dreading will become reality.

Does this make sense?

I know it’s hard. Some people are oversensitive and show their worry and concern as a sign of love for those they care about. My Grandma Wright was a huge worrier. She worried about her health constantly, and died relatively young with health issues.

When I find myself worrying about something, I change my focus to working on a solution to the issue. I change my state of worry and concern to a state of ingenuity and inventiveness. Don’t worry or bitch about a problem… work towards finding a solution for that which mentally ails you.

Knowing that worry is a silent prayer, which asks and pleads for that which we don’t want is a powerful thing to consider. It could profoundly affect your life. Worry is the Law of Attraction working AGAINST you.

The more we think about something, the greater chance it has to become reality. Keep that in mind!!!

Much Love!

Travis Wright

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by Dustin Wax

No matter what you’re doing, there comes a time when you are going to want to take things up a notch. Maybe it’s your career — even if things are going along fine right now, ultimately you’d like to get a promotion, increase your client base, or reach a larger audience. Or maybe it’s a hobby that you think you’d like to turn into a career.

Getting started with anything can be a struggle, but once you reach a certain level of success, it can be hard to figure out how to make whatever it is you do truly remarkable. The things we do have a way of developing their own inertia, and if we’re not careful, we get carried along in the routine without ever realizing the full potential of what we and our lives can be.

How can you shake things up a bit? What do you have to do to take your project, your career, your product, or your life to the next level?

1. Build Your Brand

Long-time readers know that I haven’t always been fond of the idea of personal branding. Consider me convinced.

The strength of your brand is how well you are associated with whatever you do. For instance, lifehack.org offers tips and hacks to increase personal productivity. When people hear the word “lifehack”, they think of personal productivity, and when they hear “personal productivity” they think of lifehack. It’s a pretty strong brand. Some people have equally strong brands: when you hear about permission marketing, chances are you think of Seth Godin.

How strongly is your name linked with what you do? What could you do to link them more strongly? Some things to consider:

• Traditional marketing: Commercials, print ads, billboards, bus wraps — anything that gets your name and message in people’s faces. There are a few problems, though: people might mistake your message, linking you with the wrong speciality; people tend to tune out a lot of advertising as a survival mechanism; people often respond negatively to blatant branding efforts; it’s quite expensive.
• Blogging: A blog is a conversation with your audience, and can help build up a loyal following that actually cares about what you do.
• Word-of-mouth: Hard to create and hard to fake, but very effective. Seek out people with a great deal of influence and focus on convincing them of your value. If Seth Godin wrote on his blog that I was the best web writer he knew of, you can bet that within the day my career would be at the next level (maybe the level after that, even!).

2. Build Your Audience

Make a concerted effort to increase the number of people who know about you. Branding is part of this, but it’s not all of it. Give something away, find a new outlet, tell everyone you meet what you do, hand out cards wherever you go, show up at conferences and exhibitions, go to your kids’ classrooms and talk about what you do (and make it interesting enough that they tell their parents). Make yourself useful so people have a compelling reason to pay attention.

3. Increase Your Output

Give your audience, whoever that is, more of what they expect from you. Double, triple, or septuple your output. If you’re a writer, write twice as much. If you’re an actor, get into more plays. If you’re a filmmaker, pledge to produce four short films this year instead of one. Make a painting a day. Aim to top your sales quotas by 50% every month. Do whatever it takes to make yourself more productive. Learn to do whatever you do in half the time — then halve it again. (Read lifehack.org every day, of course!)

4. Improve Your Output

Make whatever you make twice as well. Improve the quality of your work until people have no choice but to stop and gape. Create benchmarks for your output, and aim to top them every single time. Take classes, read book, follow a mentor, practice twice as much, commit yourself to doing what it takes to master your craft or profession.

5. Expand Your Niche

Do what you do now but with a wider outlook. If you write about dogs, start writing about pets in general. If you sell widgets, get into the widget case business. If you’re a musician, learn how to produce. Think about the people whose needs you aren’t meeting, and figure out how to meet them. Don’t try to create a new niche altogether, just look for ways to complement and leverage the work you’re already doing.

6. Restrict Your Niche

Or, do the opposite. Focus yourself on a narrow part of your niche until you’re the only one doing it. If you write about sports, write about baseball, then write about left-handed pitchers. If you make household appliances, make appliances for college students (and then for left-handed college students, maybe). If you paint landscapes, paint trees. If you do marketing consulting, offer viral marketing techniques that work with teenage boys. Become the person people have to go to when they have very specialized needs, because you’re the only one that does it.

7. Cross-Develop

Figure out how to use what you know in an entirely different way. If you coach little leaguers, write a book about coaching. If you offer one-on-one organization coaching, work with a developer to create home organization software. If you’re a TV camera operator, tutor middle schoolers in video podcasting. Find a new way to challenge yourself and put your knowledge to the test — while developing new knowledge and skills.

8. Expand Your Network

Your audience are the people who buy, read, or otherwise use your product; your network are the people that help you make it, market it, or distribute it. Focus on building strong relationships with a variety of people both in and out of your profession. Don’t try to fake it — strong relationships have to be genuine or they won’t last. Join a social networking site like L