How Do You AUDITION Goals?

Full credit for the concept to Jon Acuff! He's a man on a mission about goals! He's written numerous books on the topic. I've mentioned him before on this blog here, here, and here. Jon has a new 30-day program beginning February 1, 2026 if you're reading this before it starts.

(I receive no affiliate bonuses or anything for shouting out his resources. He's just an awesome resource that may interest you.)

Try Out 1-3 Goal Ideas - Audition Them!
That's all - test out your goal ideas for 30 days to see if they're solid enough and whether you can commit to them. This can be done anytime in the year. Here we are after Quitters Day and talking about starting goals for the year!

Choose ONLY 1-3. More than that increases your chance of giving up as "too much" or burning out. You likely already have some habits or goals to maintain. Control the overwhelm.

Dream, Plan, Do, Review
These are Jon's basic steps to goal setting with my take on them. 

• Dream
  • Create a Brag Table: What are your wins from last year? Make a list or get tangible—put items on a table to see your accomplishments. (a race medal, a granola bar, completed project)
  • Create a Lessons Table: What would you consider doing differently and lessons learned? These are not necessarily negative (what could have been better), but literally what did you learn - take any classes or read an inspiring book?
  • Envision you in a year or at the end of this year: Really get into it - how will you feel, think, or look? Get all the senses into it to really put yourself in that place. How do you feel 65 pounds lighter or after you ran that 5k or got that dream job?
  • Consider what (or who) to remove to achieve this dream. Too many projects on your list? Time to get firm with yourself so you can be firm with others. Every "yes" is a "no" to something later if your plate is too full. Toxic relationships in your life? This is where you prioritize your needs - self-care. Get off the hamster wheel of "too much."
  • Do this with a kind and curious eye, not a critical one. Just examine yourself and your schedule, your hopes and dreams. Dare to dream what could be! No judgements. 
• Plan
  • Who inspires you? Consider a vision board. Who is a role model? Anyone who can be an active mentor in your journey? Maybe a podcast or audiobook to have in your ears regularly?
  • What are you trying to accomplish? Make it measurable. How will you know DID IT!
  • Where do you envision yourself working on this goal? Mentally put yourself there, then make it happen. Have a comfy chair with a cup of hot tea? Gym vs mall walking or the local park for exercise?
  • When will you work on this goal? Make a calendar appointment with yourself and keep it - no shifting for a better offer. You are worth the time commitment! 
  • How? What action will you take and steps to make progress? 
• Villains impacting goals
  • Too vague: "Lose weight." "Do this better." Hard as it is, the specificity is the anchor. 
  • Too big: "Run a half-marathon" when you've never run a mile is tough to stick with.
  • Wrong season of life: You can only accomplish so much when you have multiple wee ones to raise for now. This season doesn't last long, but you can realistically do only so much beyond raising humans. Same if you're caring for parents or are a caregiver.
  • Lone Wolf syndrome: There is strength in community. It doesn't need to be Jon's group. Build your own accountability group or system! Share your progress on your socials. Find a few others with similar goals for regular check-ins and cheering.
    • A group of even a couple of others holds you accountable.
    • They see things you can't see clearly. (they tried to tell you that guy was a jerk, but you were too deep in the moment)
    • Per Jon, sharing "doubles the wins and divides the losses." The group magnifies and shares the wins while commiserating and reassuring about the losses. 
    • "Archive progress and hold the wins for you." The group will remind you you're doing better than you realize. 
    • "Hope, discipline, and joy are contagious."

Back to Basics
What will you be doing next year with your goal achieved? Attach a reward to it! 

• You've written that long-promised book: Indulge in a get-away with your spouse or family!
• You've lost the equivalent of a football player in weight: Plan on a swanky spa day when you reach your goal! 
• Focus on something FUN rather than a number on a chart or in your bank account!

What Goals Will You Audition?
I'd love to hear what you're working on! I'd also be honored to be your accountability buddy as we cheer for each other!

Let's Chat or find me on LinkedIn!

Word of the Year as a Goal

How did the Word of the Year trend start? Turns out this is credited to English professor Allan Metcalf in 1990, then Executive Secretary of the American Dialect Society, eager to capture the spirit of the year with language, inspired by Time magazine's Person of the Year. Merriam-Webster began its lists in 2003 and the College English Dictionary in 2013. 

Over time, it evolved into a self-improvement goal concept. The Bright Balloon shares an extensive article about the concept. #oneword became a trend beginning in the 2010s.

The Power of One Word
It's not a bad idea. Goals are hard to come up with let alone to stick with. Quitter's Day is now a recognized thing - 2nd Friday of January. For the concept of New Year's Resolutions beginning 4,000 years ago, Strava conducted research in 2019 leading them to predict the 2nd Friday of January as when goal motivation begins to seriously drop. More recent research indicates about 2/3 abandon resolutions in the first month. 

Maybe a single word is easier to sustain than one or more goals! 

• One word can be a broad reference covering multiple aspects of your life. (for the skeptics in the house, admittedly something generic like a horoscope)
• Goals are more structured typically - think SMART goals which have Specificity and Time involved.
• Less pressure to achieve specific items which may lead to guilt and a sense of failure. 

Intention
I'll admit, I do struggle with the rigidity of goals, numbers, and specificity. I resonate more with the flexibility of an overarching word covering many aspects for my year.

Intention feels right for me this year.

• I'm beginning my 4th year in business as a solopreneur. I've explored a variety of paths, keeping myself open to clients and jobs that suit me, and sort of going where the wind blew me—my version of "vibe marketing." 
• It's time to be a bit more directed in my business, making a point to be where my ideal clients are, whether that's online or in person. 
• It's easy to be too flexible in a work-from-home solopreneur's schedule, especially when I have a family to tend to. Intention will help me prioritize client work and set specific daily minimum plans while allowing plenty of flexibility. 
• I do aim to set a few business goals - no more than 2-3 - in short time spans that are achievable (monthly/quarterly), where I can see the reference point and can keep moving the goal posts forward. 

Your Word of the Year
If you do Word of the Year, what's your word? I'd love to cheer for you to stick with it!

While Intention may not be your word this year, as a small nonprofit, solopreneur, or nonfiction author, do you approach your business with Intention? How do you hold yourself accountable and stay on track? Let's Chat or find me on LinkedIn!

2026 Approaches!

Do you create goals for yourself or your business? This can become a surprisingly heated debate with folks firmly "yay" or "nay" on goals.

When Is A Good Time?
Short answer--any time! No need to wait for January 1. If you're feeling inspired, it's the perfect time to heed the call. It doesn't need to be the first of the week, month, quarter, or year. Those are handy markers, but any time is good. 


How to Approach Goal Setting
There is a "goal guru" wherever you look. There are different approaches and styles to test out to see what resonates with you. A few ideas have been covered on this blog here, here, here, and here. 

A Different Way of Thinking
A Content Inc podcast by Joe Pulizzi, episode 521, talks about approaching 2026 with intention. Identify what really matters as we approach the new year. Per his show notes--"It's not about doing more...it's about doing less but with intention." 

Mic drop. 

Doing Less
Before we imagine all the new things we'd like to do going forward, let's consider a time or calendar audit or even gut check on what to do less of. Note: all of these "what" questions can just as easily be "who" questions.

• What's dragging you down?
• What stresses you out or frustrates you?
• What is not moving you toward your goals or plan?

Every "Yes" Is A "No" to Something
This is a tough one. Life is just so exciting and full of possibility, It's so easy to want to do all the things! But there are only so many hours in a day in a lifetime. The book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman does a great job of bringing this point home. This may be why the concept of removing tasks, people, meetings, and activities resonates with me. 

"Focus on What Truly Lights You Up"
Now that we've asked some hard questions and realized what we need to say "no" to, we can think hard about what we wish to say "yes" to. 

• What will help you meet your life goals or work/life balance?
• What will move you forward in your work?
• What activities—or people—do you truly enjoy? 

Life is short—be happy! It's also far better for your health and wellness. 

How Long for Goals?
Everyone has a different goal tolerance for how long to set your goal or your goal approach. The second Friday in January has become known as Quitters Day. Seriously. For those that focus on January 1 for resolutions, there is a large majority who don't stick with them longer than two weeks!

If you're reading this, you've likely been on and off the goal wagon many times. You know yourself about goals. Joe Pulizzi has recently discovered Misogi goals--one powerful but meaningful challenge for 90 days. The approach is to keep that one goal in mind with a daily plan of how to achieve it in  90 days, pushing all else to the side. 

For business folks, quarterly goals may work, breaking down an annual goal into four pieces. OKR's (Optimal Key Results) may work for you with steps built on the path to the goal. Julia Taylor of GeekPack has a fabulous analogy about this approach. Think of a cross-country road trip with plenty of curves along the path—never a straight line—and identify key stops (mini-goals or check points) along the way. 

Others of us may need far shorter than year-long goals. Focusing on just one quarter with 30-day check points may be more effective for you. A month with weekly goals may be even better so you can feel successful with how your brain and focus work best. 

Block the Calendar
Yup. You heard me. Make time for the thing you want to focus on to make it happen.

• You've done a calendar review or time audit for a few days.
• You've identified what (or who) to say "no" to, clearing your plate to focus on select "yes" items. 
• You've identified that one thing, or no more than a couple of goals, to maximize your focus and success. 
• Now make it important enough to put it on your calendar as a high priority item, avoiding shifts or rescheduling where possible. 
  • Looking for exercise time? Set the clock earlier than usual or schedule it after work before distractions of home.
  • Aiming for journaling time to focus your thoughts and add clarity? Find your best rhythm in the day for it—maybe before the house wakes up or before bed to clear your mind.
  • Focusing on your business and need strategic thinking time? Calendar a couple of hours on Friday, maybe end of day when the rest of the world checks out early for the weekend. Make it a no meeting time. 

What Is  Your Goal Strategy?
​Are you a Goal Master and regularly move yourself and your goal posts further? Or do you struggle with goals and aren't quite sure what model suits you? 

I really like the remove items first approach. I'll be adding that twist to my plans this year! I'm a big fan of "start goals any time," but now does feel like a great time to prepare before January 1.

Love to hear your approach! Let's Chat or find me on LinkedIn!

Are You Struggling to Move Forward?

Sometimes, we're our own worst enemy—standing in our own way! 

Maybe you're thinking of starting a business or book or blog or anything, but you're stuck in the "some day" or "thinking about it" stage. 

Maybe you started that thing but it's stalled and isn't really moving forward. The day-to-day is happening but the excitement and fire are gone. You've gotten bogged down in survival mode or simply doing all the steps—wash, rinse, repeat. 

How to Move On
A recent podcast episode from Joe Pulizzi inspired today's post with some suggestions that may energize you. The suggestions noted here were listed in his podcast as excerpts from his new book, Burn the Playbook. It is definitely on my buy list after listening to the podcast. Purchasing from Joe directly gives you a ton of extra resources. As he notes in his podcast, there's no need to implement all of his mindset ideas at once—that's a perfect recipe for failure. Instead, pick one. Start there.

6 Mindset Shifts - Joe Pulizzi

• From drifting to goal driven
• Lean into your crazy
• From tilt to mastery of repetition
• Create before you consume
• Get better friends
• Sell every day

From Drifting to Goal Driven
Goals are anchors. Write them. Speak them. Track them. You'll get further than if you have none and float along. "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there" as the Cheshire Cat effectively told Alice in Wonderland. 

Joe suggests reviewing your BIG goal weekly, if not morning and night, to really ingrain it. Weigh every decision against that goal. Does your action serve to get closer to your goal? 

• Write like you've achieved your goal: "I PUBLISHED my book," "I RECORDED 52 podcasts" (reflects weekly podcast schedule), "I LOST 30 pounds" - you get the idea. Joe shares Billy Joel's goal was to "Play music every day and pay the bills." It doesn't need to be fancy.
• Misogi Challenge: This is a method for goal setting based on an ancient Japanese ritual explained well on this blog post. The idea is to choose one big audacious goal that pushes you outside of your comfort zone. Make it so big that there's a 50/50 chance you won't achieve it, while focusing on growth, not competition. 
• 60/60/1 Goal Challenge: The idea is for the first 60 minutes of every day x 60 days, focus on ONE big high-priority goal. No surfing social media. No diversions - those can wait. If your focus is on health, it may be when you get your walk, run, or exercise accomplished. 

Lean into Your Crazy
Identify your "tilt" as Joe calls it. Find your unique set of skills, quirks, and passions. "I help (who) with (what) so they can benefit (how)."

From Tilt to Mastery of Repetition
"Repetition is branding, not redundancy" - Joe Pulizzi. We've all heard various numbers of how often you need to say something before someone actually hears it, anywhere from 7-20x!

Create Before You Consume
This is along the 60/60/1 goal idea. Even if you don't follow that philosophy, focus on your goal before you indulge in social media or surfing the news or random entertainment. Focus for your first hour on what you aim to achieve. Consider a time audit for a week to see where you have opportunities to be more focused, capturing those mindless surfing times or how frequently you're checking email. 

Get Better Friends
This one cracks me up, but he has a point! You are who you surround yourself with. Be inspired by being with inspiring people who challenge you to do more or be better. Joe flips this and suggests your crew determines your ceiling - I like that. Build your core group of friends intentionally. Joe suggests a few types:

• Truth Teller​: someone who can and will be brutally honest with you
• Super Fan: we all need a cheerleader in our corner!
• Expert: a mentor, someone a bit further ahead than you are
• Peer: someone in the thick of it as you are, someone to commiserate with
• Connector: a networker, someone who knows a lot of people and can get you introduced

Sell Every Day!
Somewhere along the line, we grew up thinking sales is icky. "Sales" is no more than sharing your opportunity with others! Why wouldn't just the right person want and need to work with you! If you're in business for yourself, you're obligated to share the news. Don't think of it as selling if you're getting hung up on that word. 

How Is Your Year Going?
We're starting Q4 - fourth quarter of the year. No one says you need to start goals on January 1. You can start them any time—including now—or take this opportunity to update what you may have going. 

I'd love to hear how you're doing on your goals! I'd be thrilled to be someone you can run some ideas by if you're looking to bounce some ideas off of someone. Let's Chat or find me on LinkedIn! 

Artificial Intelligence Literacy for All

I can't recommend this organization highly enough. Paul Roetzer and his team do an amazing job educating the public at all levels of AI awareness about AI, its impact, current industry news and activity, ethics, and more. 



What Does He Have?
Marketing AI's basic mission is to "help marketers and business leaders understand, pilot, and scale AI." They do this in a variety of ways, many of them free or low cost! The focus is on marketers. 

• 60 min free webinars monthly on Intro to AI, Scaling AI webinars quarterly I believe
• Weekly newsletter
• Weekly podcast
• A book!
• A blog
• Additional free webinars as they develop
• Head to their Resources page for a FULL review of options! 

SmarterX "is an AI research and education firm and parent company of AI Academy, The Artificial Intelligence Show [the podcast], and Marketing AI Institute." It's purpose is "to drive efficiencies, productivity, innovation, and growth in all areas of business, but focuses on marketing, sales, and service as the primary drivers of value creation."

• Separate weekly newsletter
• Additional webinars that tend to be deeper dives on topics
• Three different GPTs available for use and research
• Freely shares prompting information to create an AI Co-CEO/thought partner
• Information for parents on how to try to keep kids safe in this age of AI
• Ways to partner to train teams and advise executives

AI Academy is a membership program providing courses and regular topical communication as AI rapidly changes. Their education, ethics, and business model encourages a human-centered approach to AI. AI will definitely be disruptive of jobs in the short-term, but the hope is opportunities are maximized to create new and different jobs around and with AI as well as capitalizing on advancements made thanks to insights and speed of AI. Certificates and badges are available with course completion. 

If you're just beginning to dabble with AI or you're looking for bigger steps into your use, Paul Roetzer and his resources can't be beat. I've read the book, subscribe to both newsletters, and the podcast is a weekly must-listen for me. Their information and insights are cutting edge current with real world human perspective. 

AI is only growing stronger and more present. I suggest it's a smart investment in your small business or nonprofit to be aware of its capabilities, limitations, and best way to partner with it to maximize your own time and presence. This resource is a great first step to learn more with many free resources and paid options when you're ready.

Where do you find yourself in your AI journey? Is it a big part of your work or daily processes or more on the fringes?

​I'd love to hear how you're using it and compare notes - Let's Chat or find me on LinkedIn!

Where Are You in Your Goal Plans?


June 1 is the perfect mid-year point for a goal check! We're a tad past that and on the downhill slide of the year, but any time is a good time to check on goal progress—take stock and reset as needed.

First Question - Are You Even a Goal Setter?
Not everyone is! I do my best to come up with a few (and only a few!) focused goals for a given new year, but I invariably fall off the rigorous bandwagon. My independent "roll with the punches" nature struggles to maintain daily goal tracking. I've tried. Multiple times.

A more fluid quarterly (at most) check works better for me to ensure I'm at least flowing in the right direction. So let it be said - no shame for not being a goal setter!



No Time Like the Present!
There's also no calendar you need to be tied to. So it's not January 1. You can start any time in the year that suits you, even if it's completely random such as July 31! Simply start with today, whatever day that is. 

NOW What?
There are a thousand-and-one Goal Gurus who will be happy to sell you their philosophy on how to best achieve your goals. You've likely tried a few of those! 

I'm a big fan of the KISS principle - Keep It Simple, Stupid! You know best how your brain works for how to create and monitor goals and keep yourself on track. 

• Jon Acuff is a "goal guru" I follow who has some great ideas about goals. I fell off the daily tracking wagon after a few months last year, but his basic categories are a useful framework for reference.
• April Perry of Learn. Do. Become. suggests no more than 8 goals at any one time (too many for me) and bases hers on Me, Family, and Beyond. (I think my speed is more like no more than one in each category!)
• I've even caught recent podcasts advocating for only one "big, hairy, audacious goal" (thank you, Jim Collins) and all other smaller goals work toward that one. 
• You may prefer a few categories for your goals such as Personal, Finance, Health, Work, Volunteer, or Family for how your goals resonate for you. I need more focus to make any progress in this regard!

What's Next?
You've got your goals, either from earlier this year or just created. Now comes the tracking piece. 

• ​Spreadsheets - numbers across the top (calendar/date reference, new tab by month), simple yes/no one/zero number sum at the end of a month. How often did you put in time toward your goal?
• Journaling - leave yourself notes on your progress
• Win Jar - this is more for visual folks where you drop a penny, bead, or something in a jar to show "did something" toward your goal to reward yourself with a treat once full or see how successful you've been. Think "swear jar" as a reference point. It can be as mason jar simple or fancy as you'd like! Pinterest and Amazon are your friends here. 

How's It Going!
Those ideas help get you started if you haven't tackled goals for the year yet but would like to. 

For those who have set goals, how's progress! Are you making gains in work/life balance? Health? Financial? Family focus? Social or even Spiritual? 

Personal Report
My goals this year have been more about maintaining what's working to stay consistent with a few new ones thrown into the mix. 

• Maintaining consistency
  • Health - daily walk: generally on track with only slight modifications in distance and timing to accommodate local conditions. (* I'm writing this in July in Phoenix, AZ - it's 110 degrees this week so walks have shifted to extra early, in the dark, and occasionally slightly less if needed for sleep + work timing)
  • Work/life balance - nightly cross-stitch: helps me unwind before bed. Aiming to improve on this one, tough for me to maintain as I work later than I should many nights.
  • Work - weekly blog posts: this has finally become real this year thanks to committing a time to go to a co-working session at a local library. Added bonus: social + networking opportunity! 
• New this year
  • Work - monthly business newsletter: in process but hasn't happened yet. I'm fighting procrastination and perfectionism on this one and need to just get started, heeding the advice I give clients! Time is also a factor - maybe I need another locked in the calendar co-working session to make steady regular progress rather than hold myself to one long marathon session. Working on a business rebrand with a client load is holding up newsletter production as well. In process with lots of thoughts!
  • Health - add weight training or balance work to daily walks: not happening at all at this time. Likely time to admit defeat and move on for now—try again in the future. Layering more exercise on top of the daily walks I enjoy is too much.
  • Family/Home - transition a craft room into a sitting room for my college kids: after a year of not touching this project, Daughter #2 poked me at just the right time to take action on this. Pleased with the progress made over one weekend. Now to find ways to continue to inspire myself to keep going.

Status Check - Your Turn!
Love to hear how your year is going, with or without goals! Are you making progress toward reaching your dreams in personal or work life? Let's Chat by email or connect on LinkedIn to message! I'm here to cheer for you!

Goals - Love 'Em or Hate 'Em?
It's that time of the year when everyone is talking about or thinking about GOALS. It's a natural topic at a milestone like the start of a new year.

But it doesn't need to be only at the start or end of a year. Any time is good! And sometimes they need updated along the way. 



Focused or Loose Goals?
How detailed do you get?

• Do you create SMART goals? (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely)
• Do you call your goals Resolutions? (maybe less intimidating?)
• Do you prefer to keep your goals fairly general and let the winds of the world guide you? 

Quitter's Day
The 2nd Friday in January has become known as Quitter's Day! By this time, many have already fallen short of New Year's goals and just quit all resolutions. Perfectionism is a challenge for many and some decide "If I can't achieve all of them, then none of them are worth pursuing." 

No One Size Fits All
You can find a lot of "Goal Gurus" out there with a variety of suggestions for how to develop goals.

• Jon Acuff has a number of books on the subject. His philosophy is "...a goal is the fastest path between where you are today and where you want to be tomorrow. Best of all, finishing a goal feels amazing." Jon is also very data driven as a motivator for goals. He suggests  folks create spreadsheets or some sort of tracking mechanism to note progress or even number of times taking steps to achieve a goal. It IS exciting to check boxes on achievements and even count achievements!
• James Clear is more about process than goals. "Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress." A goal treats "a symptom without addressing the cause." 

What Kind of a Goal Setter Are You?

• Do you even bother with goals or learned long ago you do fine without them?
• You create and track your goals religiously along the way? 
• Somewhere in the middle with a few specifics but more go-with-the-flow?
• More process based and create systems rather than goals?

As we look to the new year, how are you setting yourself up for success? 

If you're looking for strategy or marketing assistance to create engagement for your business, Let's Chat! I provide a number of services for nonprofits, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and authors.

What is Co-Working?
​Co-working is meeting with other individuals to share work time while increasing focus and productivity. 

According to Merriam-Webster: "being, relating to, or working in a building where multiple tenants (such as entrepreneurs, start-ups, or nonprofits) rent working space (such as desks or offices) and have the use of communal facilities."


History of Co-working
Co-working is said to have begun as early as 1995 in Berlin, Germany. The term is credited to Bernard DeKoven in 1999. The first "official" co-working space is considered to be in San Francisco in 2005. These references can be found in many articles. A solid history is available thanks to a LinkedIn article by Matthew F. February 2024. Another good history is brought to us by coworking resources in April 2021.

Where Can You Co-Work?
As of 2017, Focusmate has been offering this concept online. I discovered it June 2024. They offer some great science behind why co-working works, complete with footnotes. They also have a great pricing structure - free for up to 3 sessions/week, roughly $7/month for unlimited sessions, and they offer business plans. 

I've been participating in a weekly co-working session created by a few editing friends from a Facebook group. One person has created a recurring weekly zoom-style link and added weekly Events on Facebook as a reminder. There's a related discussion group to let each other know if the leader will be taking the week off and to communicate for someone else to manage the link or motivate each other. 

I've headed to a local Panera on my own or with a colleague or two for years to work on projects related to an organization, each doing our own thing or sharing ideas on a certain collaborative project. I didn't realize I  was "co-working!" 

How Does This Work?
The appeal is primarily to those who work from home who would like the accountability of committing to showing up at a particular time and place (productivity method + goal strategy) or who want a bit of social resemblance to a work site. 

Whether you meet at a physical location or online, the general concept is you arrange to meet at a certain time - someone is counting on you as an accountability partner. You show up with a brief introduction and your goal(s) for the session and you get to work. You reconnect for a few minutes at the end of the session as a check-in on goals and success of the work session. Lather, rinse, repeat. 

Focusmate tends to have 50 min session blocks that start at the top of each hour giving you a 10-minute stretch or bathroom break. You can schedule as many as close together on your calendar as you wish. You may be part of a group on Focusmate to find partners within that group, or you can partner with anyone who is a Focusmate user from around the world.

There are desk sessions and active sessions (exercise or clean together). It's tricky to find particular people until you've had a session with that person or send someone an "invitation" to find your calendar to collaborate.

Once you collaborate and it seems to work well, you can "favorite" someone to more easily search for sessions on the calendar. Focusmate has an active Facebook group where members can seek and respond to others with similar interests to partner in these sessions.

Is It Useful?
I've become a big fan of these co-working opportunities! As a solopreneur, my home is my office. Scheduling these sessions helps me focus on work activities with someone else who is working. It does improve my productivity and keeps me accountable - I promised to show up. 

It's also a fabulous networking tool as you meet others from around the world, in your affiliated field, potential clients, or completely unique individuals! It's useful to get out of your own space and interact with others. 

Have you had any co-working sessions using Focusmate or some other platform? Love to hear how it went for you - likes and dislikes. Looking for a co-working partner to make progress on your goals? Let's chat!

What Comes to Mind
When you think of A.I., what image comes to mind? 

For me, it's definitely Doris, Bowler Hat Guy's hat, in the movie Meet the Robinsons.

That's probably not ideal! 

The short premise of this 2007 movie is a time travel adventure in which a young adventurer saves the space-time continuum and the world as we know it from an A.I. robot (Doris) gone mad with power. SPOILER ALERT: Our young hero comes face-to-face with his invention and promises to never invent it. POOF! GONE, and the world is saved!

I keep wondering if we may not have similar regrets as we seem to keep racing to keep up with the advances of A.I.

Podcast Recommendation
I've caught a few episodes of The Artificial Intelligence Show with Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput. Thanks to Ilise Benum for recommending it! I highly recommend this one!

The guys are brilliant - genius level - and are incredibly knowledgeable about current A.I., the direction it appears to be heading, and how we can best prepare ourselves for this rapidly advancing technology. They offer a number of resources on their website.  

Episode 105 of their podcast particularly struck me, prompting this post. My anxiety was fortunately tempered by listening to episode 103 and their Intro to AI for Marketers program offered monthly with a limited time replay available.  

How Will We USE A.I.?
I noted a few options that seem useful in business on a prior blog post. Such options include for research purposes, content idea generation, create a model client as a reference point, and assist creating a list of potential ideal clients. 

Paul and Mike are visionaries, and they read a lot of material to stay on top of the A.I. world. They advocate a lot of A.I. literacy needs to happen to be prepared for how rapidly A.I. tech is advancing. That seems accurate to me, so I'm at least dipping my toes into what A.I. is, how to try to master it, and spread the gospel of educating yourself. 

Current Challenges
The trick at this time is A.I. remains a bit unwieldy. You need to become darned good with your prompting skills and be prepared to keep poking A.I. tools to dig deeper to come up with material that's semi-useful yet still relies on human insight to read decently. It's also useful to use the same prompt in a few different A.I. models to see how they respond as each will produce different results. 

There is a fair amount of friction or resistance on the part of the human public to actually use A.I. tools. The current percentage using A.I. remains extremely limited. It just doesn't make sense or fit in most of our worlds to be easily used - yet. 

"Apple Intelligence" 
Apple announced in June 2024 at its Worldwide Developers Conference that "Apple Intelligence" is coming Fall 2024/spring 2025. The features described on multiple Apple platforms aim to integrate many apps and accompanying info embedded within your device to better respond to your particular queries. This will likely bring us a step closer to making A.I. more "useful" with less friction for the average person. It will simply be in your everyday use.

Google and Meta are embedding A.I. into their platforms as a feature that's simply built in and you can't remove it. There are other examples of A.I. at work that we're coming to simply expect will be there to assist us - Siri is one and Alexa is another. We also all see Office, Google Drive products, and our own phones "suggest" words and material as we type. That is A.I. at work. 

The less people need to do to A.I. to make it useful, the more quickly it will be adopted by the general public.

Job Security
After listening to podcast episode #105, and we can all see this coming, A.I. models are in the process of rapidly becoming less buggy in how they operate or even loop back on itself. Sure, there will be jobs created to oversee the output of A.I., but the number needed will be far less than the current number of employees on the job market. 

It was predicted on the podcast that current high-human roles such as physicians and lawyers will be targeted soon as something A.I. can take over in a few years.

How often do you joke you "got your degree from WebMD" as you searched the meaning of lab results or tried to compile symptoms into a disease or syndrome to "help" guide your doctor?

Haven't we all longed to have the handheld device Geordi of Star Trek uses to quickly diagnose and initiate treatments?

When sci-fi becomes real.

Paul and Mike advocate discussions begin happening soon to offset the potential sudden dramatic shift in workforce needs as a worldwide.

Wait - what?

Who's in Charge Here?
Aren't the humans in charge of the invention? Just because A.I. can do things, should it? Or does it need to? There's something of a sense that we are merely bystanders as A.I. becomes developed and it's up to us to keep up.

Plenty of concern has been raised about the use of A.I. by major super-power countries in defense. Remember the 1983 movie War Games? 

There's even a concept called "P(doom)" - "the probability of catastrophic outcomes...as a result of A.I." (Wikipedia)

Let's Step Back a Minute
My general Life philosophy is "What can I control or impact in my little corner of the world?"

I aim to trust humans will realize the benefit of humanity being involved with jobs rather than throwing everything at "digital employees." 

This sentiment is echoed by Paul and Mike at the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute. Their message is actually more hopeful than doom-and-gloom. 

Their mission is focused on education - increase A.I. literacy and help businesses develop processes, teams, and risk reduction to enable employees to use A.I. optimally to maximize human effort. 

Message of Hope
You know how none of us have enough Time or hours in the day to do the million things we'd like to do?

The idea is to focus on the tasks you do that are repetitive or that you don't like to do.

​Train an A.I. model to do those so you can focus on the human aspect needed in the job, maximizing the time and effort you put into things.

Paul has given examples of the dramatic difference A.I. has made in his team's work projects.

• He discussed the effort needed to put their weekly podcast together. What could take at least 50 hours to produce, they've gotten down to more like 10 hours with the assistance of A.I. services.
  
• He offers a similar example in his recent effort to create an online education program. As a former marketer, what would have taken at least 50 hours of skilled time to summarize the program (easily a $1,000 job) took approximately 20 minutes. Wow! He was then able to focus his energy on  other activities to promote the new program or answer emails or any number of things only he could accomplish. 

Paul sees A.I. as a way to "democratize" knowledge and skills - all of us having tools readily accessible to share our message with others.

What Makes YOU Unique?
As a hospital physical therapist, we have been challenged for years to identify how we differ from nursing, an aide, or a family member walking around a unit with a patient. 

What can YOU offer that only you can do? 

That is the crux of A.I.

Consider it a tool - a helpmate - a partner. (that's far less scary than trying to take over the world, right?)

• Let it summarize information for you.
• Let it help you brainstorm ideas.
• Let it pretend to be a customer as you poke to identify pain points you can solve.
• Let it help schedule routine tasks and manage aspects of your calendar. 

Now What?
I can see future articles revolve around the topic of A.I. It IS big!

Paul Roetzer notes "A.I." has actually been around for decades at this point, but it wasn't until ChatGPT was introduced to the world as a useful tool for all in November 2023 that it really rocked everyone to take notice. 

These A.I. models are now learning rapidly and exponentially. It's here and not going away. 

If we can think of it as a helper, a tool, a digital coworker, it will still require human input, massaging, and training to be most effective and to keep learning. 

We do need to also consider the dark downside potential and keep that in check. It's up to us to be human!

While we learn more about A.I. as a helpmate, I would be happy to help you do what only you can do best. None of us have all the skills to do all the things.

I would be thrilled to partner with you to bring your vision to life - Let's Chat!

What is "Stolen Time"
This thought evolved for me after a conversation on LinkedIn recently where a friend was wondering if she was a "bad mom" for sneaking away from the kids to do bits of work. 

My response? Heck no! You're a "good mom" for insuring your kids are happy, safe, and self-entertaining when they don't "need" you at this moment. Way to go!

Why the Guilt?
I'm not a fan of things (or people) that make me feel guilty. There should be no shame or guilt in maximizing your time and energy. This includes while you're on full parent duty or your attention is supposed to be fully in one place, yet you find your attention drifting or have a short window of time to insert something else to your advantage. 

Four Thousand Weeks
I highly recommend this book Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. The general premise is, based on an average lifespan, we have roughly 4,000 weeks in this life. So how do we maximize that time?

Is This Multitasking?
I suggest no. Per Merriam-Webster, multitasking is "the performance of multiple tasks at one time." In 2006, the American Psychological Association cited multiple studies from as early as 1994 indicating multitasking actually isn't more efficient. 

"Stolen Time"
Rather than multitasking, what I suggest is instead making the most of unexpected short points of time that become available. 

• The kids are playing quietly and self-entertaining.
• Unexpected delay between flights
• Wrapped up a meeting quicker than scheduled
• Waiting room opportunities

Have Those Tasks Ready!
I suggest having a list of activities in mind or (better yet!) written that you can refer to on just such occasions. These activities are likely to vary in type for your setting, space available, and time available. Suggestions below are more in the 15 min time frame.

• Read - having a  book handy inches you closer to finishing it.
• Calendar - add those new appointments to your planner or get those tasks out of your head into a safe place. 
• Correspondence - you can at least jot some thoughts into a draft email or text. If you're a pen and paper person, keep a few cards with you.
• Work tasks - consider editing a paragraph, write a paragraph, open a few tabs to research later and save those links; continue your work activity in a small way.
• Admin tasks - prep that invoice, file/scan a couple of receipts, respond to a social message.

Go Ahead - Steal Time from that Clock!
You have my permission to maximize your time and energy! The kids will not always be small. Stealing time becomes a bit easier as they get older.

There are  other tasks you can consider in very short windows of time that move you forward in self-care or time with your family. We'll review a few of those next time. 

Are you a "Time Thief?" Do you "steal time" to work on other things? What very small tasks have you found that slip into such found moments?

If you're looking for someone to cover some of these tasks or help you maximize your special talents, Let's Chat! I have many skills that may fill in the gaps you're looking for.