“Well we all have a face
That we hide away forever
And we take them out and
Show ourselves
When everyone has gone
Some are satin some are steel
Some are silk and some are leather
They're the faces of the stranger
But we love to try them on.”
~~Billy Joel, “The Stranger”~~
Have you thought about who you are in public? Are you different at home with your family than you are “in business”? Have you considered your online persona? Are you the same? As I talk to more people about the importance of an online presence in today’s marketplace I encounter many who don’t understand who they “should be” online. A few tips: 1. Be yourself. 2. Listen first to what’s going on around you, and then engage in conversation. 3. Add value and insight. And 4, which is the most important advice I can offer, stay positive. No.Matter.What.
It is becoming more and more apparent as online social networking tools increase in popularity that too many people still don’t understand the impact of negativity in public. Say whatever you want to at home behind closed doors, but when you’re out there, whether in person or behind a computer screen, please, I beg you, stay positive. Airing dirty laundry, complaining about your job (or lack of one), dissing the guy you just interviewed with in front of MILLIONS of people online, or otherwise being negative and whiny is just not going to help you. Not in any way.
If you really can’t think of a way to spin it so it’s positive, if you simply cannot find that silver lining, just stay off the computer. You’ll be glad later that you made that choice.
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Focus: The Organization Correlation
“Whenever your mind is totally absorbed in whatever activities you are performing, your mind will remain calm and content.” ~~Chin-Ning Chu~~
Being able to focus, actually minimizing or ignoring distractions, and seeing something through to completion, is a valuable ability. Whether you’re researching, writing, or even talking with someone, that ability to be present and be fully engrossed by the task at hand is a skill. Is there a direct correlation between that kind of intentional focus and being organized?
When presenting social media tools to be used for job search, the number one complaint I hear is that there is too much noise online. People state that they get too many emails, there’s too much activity on LinkedIn and it takes too long to read through it all to determine what is valuable. There are too many people on Twitter still telling the world that they’re eating breakfast or walking their dog. And, don’t even get them started on Facebook. They’re so surprised when I show them how to turn off the email that floods their “real” inbox from LinkedIn, how to manage the content that shows up on their homepage, how to create Twitter lists and use an application like Hootsuite** to manage what they see… It’s pretty eye-opening. They CAN actually focus on what’s important to them by simply getting organized.
If I take that a step further and I think about the “clearing the clutter” phase I just went through, I realize that I too can stay more focused when I am organized. There are fewer physical distractions, fewer “other” things to do, when my workspace is clear and things are put away. This may seem like “common sense” to you, but it’s not something I’ve ever really thought about… What is the correlation between organization and focus? Does it work that way for you too?
**To sign up for Hootsuite (FREE!!!!) click here: http://hootsuite.com/p_4061
Being able to focus, actually minimizing or ignoring distractions, and seeing something through to completion, is a valuable ability. Whether you’re researching, writing, or even talking with someone, that ability to be present and be fully engrossed by the task at hand is a skill. Is there a direct correlation between that kind of intentional focus and being organized?
When presenting social media tools to be used for job search, the number one complaint I hear is that there is too much noise online. People state that they get too many emails, there’s too much activity on LinkedIn and it takes too long to read through it all to determine what is valuable. There are too many people on Twitter still telling the world that they’re eating breakfast or walking their dog. And, don’t even get them started on Facebook. They’re so surprised when I show them how to turn off the email that floods their “real” inbox from LinkedIn, how to manage the content that shows up on their homepage, how to create Twitter lists and use an application like Hootsuite** to manage what they see… It’s pretty eye-opening. They CAN actually focus on what’s important to them by simply getting organized.
If I take that a step further and I think about the “clearing the clutter” phase I just went through, I realize that I too can stay more focused when I am organized. There are fewer physical distractions, fewer “other” things to do, when my workspace is clear and things are put away. This may seem like “common sense” to you, but it’s not something I’ve ever really thought about… What is the correlation between organization and focus? Does it work that way for you too?
**To sign up for Hootsuite (FREE!!!!) click here: http://hootsuite.com/p_4061
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Focus: To multitask, or not to multitask, that is the question.
“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” ~~Alexander Graham Bell~~
I’ve noticed a lot of buzz recently around the topic of multitasking. The thought used to be that if you could multitask, you were ahead of the game. The ability to focus on more than one thing at a time was seen as a great quality. If you could actually work on multiple things simultaneously, you were a tremendous asset. It seems ironic to me that the tide seems to be turning.
In this electronic age where it is so copiously possible to do so many things at one time (tweet while watching TV; comment on social media posts while sitting in a classroom; play on your laptop or tablet while doing just about anything; texting while also sitting and socializing with live people…) the buzz now is about focusing on a single task and not multitasking at all. Research is being done, and to some extent it is actually showing that people who work on one thing at a time complete more than the people who multitask. Studies are suggesting that the level of multitasking does matter, but at a certain point it actually becomes counter-productive. I find it ironic, but not surprising. Isn’t over-multi-tasking synonymous with a lack of focus? It seems to me that I should be able to switch gears quickly, be flexible, and be willing to change direction… but that I should focus on one thing at a time and see it through to fruition. I know that like the sun, when I put all my energy towards one thing, I burn through it with ease.
I’ve noticed a lot of buzz recently around the topic of multitasking. The thought used to be that if you could multitask, you were ahead of the game. The ability to focus on more than one thing at a time was seen as a great quality. If you could actually work on multiple things simultaneously, you were a tremendous asset. It seems ironic to me that the tide seems to be turning.
In this electronic age where it is so copiously possible to do so many things at one time (tweet while watching TV; comment on social media posts while sitting in a classroom; play on your laptop or tablet while doing just about anything; texting while also sitting and socializing with live people…) the buzz now is about focusing on a single task and not multitasking at all. Research is being done, and to some extent it is actually showing that people who work on one thing at a time complete more than the people who multitask. Studies are suggesting that the level of multitasking does matter, but at a certain point it actually becomes counter-productive. I find it ironic, but not surprising. Isn’t over-multi-tasking synonymous with a lack of focus? It seems to me that I should be able to switch gears quickly, be flexible, and be willing to change direction… but that I should focus on one thing at a time and see it through to fruition. I know that like the sun, when I put all my energy towards one thing, I burn through it with ease.
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