![]() Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work, by Chip & Dan Heath I just finished a book recommended by a LinkedIn friend, Stephen Mostrom. This was definitely well worth my time! I will highly recommend it as well, especially for those looking for assistance to make a weighty decision. As we all make at least 35,000 decisions daily as noted in this blog post, most won't require a decision-making framework, but this will come in handy for the more challenging ones. Thought Provoking Literally and figuratively. This book is heavy on research and science but with a ton of relatable real world examples of their recommended thought process. It was fascinating to follow the decision processes on topics spanning "shall I get serious about this relationship" to high-finance business decisions that impact a company's growth or demise. One such weighty business example followed Intel's decision to move to microprocessors from memory chips. How to Make Decisions - Thoughtfully and Intentionally You mean, there's a process out there to make decisions? Beyond "gut feeling?" Outside of self-admitted personal biases or Magic Eight Ball? Mind blown! Even "ask a few friends" is a valid option to get some perspective. That's a WRAP! There are many methods within each component that you simply must read the book to appreciate. On reading the book, you'll discover the Heath Brothers' resources that accompany the book including podcasts, single-page references, and a workbook for more complete reminders of the multiple decision methods that can be utilized.
The Heath Brothers This duo have authored six books at this writing:
Thank you, Chip and Dan, for sharing your ideas on ideas with us! I'm looking forward to ways to decrease my personal biases in decisions and generally take a more methodical step back. Their books are available on Amazon, but I was also able to find them on Libby through my library. Read any good books lately? Love to hear your recommendations! Nonfiction is my current focus. Audiobooks are the way to go for me to enjoy "reading" while on my walks. How do you fit in reading time?
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![]() What Is the Eisenhower Matrix? I was today-old when I learned this quadrant of ways to prioritize tasks is as old as (and attributed to!) President Dwight D. Eisenhower! According to James Clear, this method of organizing tasks to maximize your productivity is what made Eisenhower so successful as a five-star general, President of the United States, and more. It's a great story. I simply knew it as "that four-quadrant system for important/urgent tasks." Does It Really Work? I've been playing with it recently and am impressed so far, but it's not easy - not gonna lie. When you consider we each make at least 35,000 decisions daily, no wonder we're tired at the end of the day! There are some matters that are purely routine in my day (wake up, shower, brush teeth, eat breakfast). The decision's been made in my book, so we move on. There have to be ways to drop that 35,000 down to something reasonable! ![]() It Works for FranklinCovey and Dave Ramsey!
It's Not As Easy As All That So some of us can take the "routine" decisions out of the 35,000 equation. That leaves us to focus on the more important priorities and goals in our lives. Let's break this down a bit and why something so long-lasting and time-tested is not all that easy to live with.
How do you do with this quadrant concept?
If it's time for you to delegate some of your less favorite work tasks, we may be able to collaborate! I would love to take some of your tasks off your plate for you to focus on your "A-1 sauce." Let's Chat! ![]() Where Were You When... There's been a lot of talk this week about the past four years. Where were you when - the world seemed to come to a sudden stop. What did you do during the COVID-19 lockdown? There's life before COVID - and life after COVID. It was one of those "flashbulb memory" events, like where were you on 9-11, when President Kennedy was killed, when Elvis died, and when the space shuttle Challenger went down. How Did You Spend Your Days? Home. We were all home! It was a crazy time. Just as so many wish for time at home, forced time at home was a different matter! We were all suddenly "toddlers," going stir crazy, not sure how to occupy ourselves, raging against the world for "having" to stay home. I was actually grateful for the radical shift in time.
What Changed? We're not going to touch on good, bad, or indifferent. Simply - different. A lot changed.
Change Is the Only Constant This was one of those events that tested all of us in a number of ways. Some lost family members, health, jobs, careers, and a way of life. Change tests us and demands flexibility and adaptability. Change is as constant as Time. To change is to grow. It may not be everyone's favorite thing to do, especially in the moment, but it undeniably brings growth if you let it. It tests and creates "grit." How Do YOU Deal with Change?
If change is the only constant, what have you been changing? Are you growing? Maybe developing grit? Love to hear how you handle change! And "where were you when the world stopped turning..." for an equally stunning "flashbulb memory." (thank you, Alan Jackson!) ![]() Nonprofit Focus February was a whirlwind of focus on event preparation to support a favorite nonprofit. Children of the American Revolution has groups at local and state levels across the country and even a few internationally. Children learn about their heritage through genealogy, American history, and patriotism. It's a combination of history lessons and community service while teaching meeting processes, officer skills, and public speaking. Membership is for those birth to 22 years old. ![]() Projects Supporting Our Community The National and State Presidents are the hardest workers in the organization. These are elected annually and they develop projects for members to support. Our State President, the young lady pictured above, chose to support a local organization which supports foster children. You can learn more about Arizona's efforts here. She has done an incredible job presenting a program about the need of foster children, raised funds to support the organization, and solicited donations of items they need. Members shown here are creating fleece tie blankets to donate to the foster children. ![]() Service in Action My role is as the adult leader for the state. I mentor and supervise the State President and local societies through the state. We host two events each year, and February was our State Conference to celebrate the successes of projects and societies. This involves working with children and adult leaders to prepare reports and certificates for the meeting; prepare script, program, and registration for the meeting; prepare a project the children can work on at the meeting; as well as facility and food preparation. Lots of Reading, Writing, and Engaging! Value of Volunteering
Volunteering is good for the soul. It feels good. You support your community. It's an amazing learning opportunity with many skills developed. You connect with others IRL (In Real Life). It's a fabulous networking opportunity. It's great for your health as confirmed in research. Mayo Clinic has an article reminding us of the benefits of volunteering:
So it was a busy February, but I'm glad to be back! I'm grateful for friends and fellow adult leaders who make it possible to serve and grow these children. What were your successes in February? Do you track your wins to remind yourself at the end of the year? I'd love to hear what you do beyond your business and family efforts - Let's Chat! ![]() How Are Those Goals Going? No need to get hung up on the calendar and January 1 as an arbitrary date. Has the house settled down? Any "CEO Day" for yourself yet? How about (more realistically!) a "CEO Hour" for yourself! #reality! Still Working on Goals? Same! They've been percolating in my brain, with some ongoing that just work to keep me moving forward. Time to start writing them and get a bit more intentional. Moving Forward I've noted a variety of goal setting ideas and philosophies the past month. Check these other blog posts here and here. I've been leaning into Jon Acuff's approach to goal setting after catching a video workshop at the start of the month and I've been binge listening to his audiobooks (he reads them - totally love when an author reads their own book!). I've finished Start and am listening to Finish now. I'm looking forward to listening to Soundtracks, but I think his latest All It Takes Is A Goal will be my next Audible monthly read. Simplicity Is Crucial Life move fast and Time is short. For me to deal with goals, they have to be fairly limited in number and focused or they lose me. I'm moving forward with a scaled back version of what Jon suggests. I'll note his basic process below.
Tracking and Motivating So, how do you keep these brilliant ideas in mind? I've seen a number of ways in a Facebook group of Jon's.
Don't Get Too Uptight I've heard the 2nd Friday in January is known as Quitter's Day! Two weeks into the random start date of January 1, folks give up and move on. (I generalize both start and quit days in my world) Two weeks. As I read Jon's books, Perfectionism is often to blame for quitting goals. I can definitely see that. Whenever you fall off the wagon, lose that commitment, lose that streak of days, folks are done - game over! - why bother. I get it. That's easy. But I'm a stubborn cuss. I like to think of each new day as a brand new slate - opportunity - adventure. Had a daily goal? Try again tomorrow! Missed a week? Get going and just START. Maybe Scale Back I caught a few ideas in Jon's book FInish.
Perfectionism Is Killer As soon as we miss a day or a streak, we stop. Maybe give yourself the gift of Grace and Time. Don't aim for perfect. Aim for doing. Aim for simply moving forward. Tomorrow's a new day. We've got this. I'd be honored to be part of helping you achieve your goals! If you're looking to start a project or business but don't feel you have all the skills, don't let that stop you - partner with others! Things are going well - maybe even too well - and you could use a hand? I'd be thrilled to help you succeed! Let's Chat! ![]() How Is 2024 Looking? How were your holidays? Any downtime to do that reflecting and business planning or goal setting? Me neither! LOL! Best of Intentions Oh, I had every intention to get it done! But Life. Family at home. Not as quiet as I hoped or anticipated. Things needing done. Distractions. Diversions. Life. Any Time Is A Good Time! Don't let the calendar stop you! I'm sure not! I discovered another amazing podcast resource to share - Jon Acuff's All It Takes Is A Goal. You don't want to miss it! The guy is positive energy and inspiring. I love his podcast format - just chatting with friends and down to earth real. He does a 30-second version of his podcast to start - seriously - just the key take away. Boom! Done! Orrrrrr - stick around for about 20 minutes for the full details. Such a simple formula! Turns out as I was listening to earlier podcast episodes, he's been promoting New Year Resolutions since the beginning of December. The idea is to take the time to test out your goals, get into a rhythm with them. (when is a good time to work out in your schedule?) Ready for A Challenge? Jon has a Fail-Proof Resolutions Challenge going on for a limited time. The live version was January 3-5 (yes, ended today), but you can still sign up to get all the goods to watch for free by Monday, January 8th! Not sure about that timing? He has a VIP package option for lifetime access to the videos. He's also breaking up the material on his podcast over the course of 6 weeks. I'm totally in for that! I was taking notes from his January 1 release, the first in the series. Jon offers many books for sale and they're available on Libby as audio books for free (connected with your library) - amazing! He also has a couple of very affordable courses. Do stop by his website to sign up for his newsletter and see what he has going on! January 1 is such a completely arbitrary point. Start TODAY! Who cares! We're making our own rules here! Have any big goals you're aiming for? Love to hear about them - Let's Chat! (business inquiry not necessary - seriously - let's simply chat) ![]() Bringing History to Life A local nonprofit, Pioneers' Cemetery Association, decided they'd like to run a series of short biographies of some of their interred. The organization serves as caretaker of a collection of historic cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places known as Pioneer & Military Memorial Park. Naturally, the short bits of information in Word were wholly insufficient for these pioneers. Canva and some artistic creativity to the rescue! Peruse some of the biographies on their website to learn about territorial Arizona! This campaign was also promoted on their socials (Facebook and Instagram) and through their email newsletter. ![]() 40th Anniversary Special The series is capped off with a more extensive blog post commemorating Thomas Hayden, a local legend instrumental in mapping early Phoenix, AZ and plotting the grave locations of the interred. This post includes a slideshow and features a group photo captioned with the assistance of one of the organization's founders. It Was An Honor and Pleasure I was thrilled to be part of this project to add some interest and publicity for the organization. This little nonprofit is an all-volunteer group of dedicated history buffs. Some have gone so far as to train themselves in proper cleaning, care, and restoration of historic grave markers. Do you have a nonprofit near and dear to your heart? I specialize in bringing an extra lift in marketing for these organizations. If I can be of assistance on your next project, Let's Chat! ![]() Serve Your Community Service is important to me and my family. It always has been. I've been blessed to have married a military man (retired Air Force) who also strongly believes in service. It's a good baseline for our family. Many Ways to Serve Being relatively new to a freelance/entrepreneurial lifestyle, I'm thrilled to see many in the editing committee also value service, or at least giving, in their approach to content marketing. Giving generously and graciously builds relationships. That's what it's all about. Relationships. People. Connecting. Holiday Traditions An annual tradition for us is to volunteer with Wreaths Across America. We donate wreaths to be placed on graves at a local National Memorial Cemetery. We also spend time volunteering to place wreaths on the graves of our heroes. Check the organization's website to find a cemetery near you! You can also request wreaths be placed at cemeteries far from you where family members may be interred. Stories Matter This annual tradition reminds us of a big "reason for the season" - service. Honoring the stories of those who came before us. Stories are important. The Wreaths Across America organization asks volunteers to pause a moment when placing a wreath and say the name. There is strong power in names. They say there are actually two deaths: when we leave our bodies and when our names are no longer said. That's powerful. Proud of Stories I'm honored to be a part of sharing the stories of others! I do so by (proof)Reading, (copy)Writing, and Engaging the world we share. I've been firmly grounded in the importance of stories in the nonprofit organizations I've been drawn to. Serve Others My family and I hope you have a lovely holiday season and even a bit of down time from your daily routine! Sprinkle in a bit of service when you can. It brings joy and light to others, and you feel amazing. Serve yourself as well. Self-care is critical. Breathe. Enjoy the space. How will you be spending your holiday? May you treasure the memories made! I look forward to working with you in the coming year. Here's to an amazing 2024! Let's Chat! ![]() Business Plans Have you begun to set those goals yet to transition to the new year? I haven't had an official session yet, but this is definitely rumbling on a simmer in my brain. There are as many ways and suggestions of how to do this as you can imagine. I'll touch on just a few here that I'm gravitating toward. Year in Review Before we can look ahead, it's useful to review what's been. I appreciated a post from Austin Church on LinkedIn (link to his website) describing his December Zero process, and it may resonate with you as well. "Make a list of your loose ends, open projects, and any heartburn...Define the next step for each" to end the year well. MAP Out Your Editing Business SD/PEN (San Diego Professional Editors Network) had a great blog post that could easily be appropriate as we head into a new year. This is from a course at UCSD Extension where students create a MAP (Marketing Action Plan) as their final assignment. A number of task heading ideas are noted. The author recommends creating a new MAP every 90 days to make forward progress in passive and active marketing. Business Goals Melanie Padgett Powers notes in podcast episode #174 five questions to wrap up your year. You definitely want to listen to ALL of the podcast, but she lists the questions on her show notes. This is a combination year in review and goal setting.
Work/Life Balance + Income Goals As expected, Jennifer Goforth Gregory has some amazing suggestions in two different posts - work/life balance and income. Refer to her great blog posts for details, but here is a short list to get you thinking:
I hope some of these ideas resonate with you! Each offers a different approach or way to look at your upcoming business year. Austin and Melanie's ideas are great for some reflection as you prepare to set new goals with Jennifer and SD/PEN's ideas. Are you a goal setter or prefer come-what-may? Have you found any great year transition questions? Do you reflect and goal set in a single session or take your time to give each their due? I look forward to hearing your approach! If I may be of assistance to help your vision come to life, Let's Chat! ******************* My passion is chatting strategy to bring your project and vision to life. I offer a number of services to fill in your skillset to make your dream a reality. Let's Read, Write, and Engage for your target audience! ![]() Meet Louise Louise Harnby is an amazing resource for authors and editors alike. She's been in publishing over 30 years. I first discovered her earlier this year starting my business, looking for resources for marketing. I knew it was going to take lessons in marketing to take my entrepreneur's spirit where I wanted to go. It was all well and good to learn rules about proofreading (that I'd been doing for 15 years already), but content marketing would be how to connect with customers. Content Marketing Is for Everyone According to MailChimp, an Email Marketing Service (EMS), Content Marketing is a strategy to "attract, engage, and retain an audience by creating and sharing relevant...media." I like to think of it as a way to simply be real and engage with your audience or future customers. Louise offers a number of resources through her website, including a Resource Library, courses, books, podcast episodes, blog, and newsletter. Her Resource Library takes topics that interest both authors and editors and rounds up multiple resources on each topic. (ah, the benefit of over 30 years' experience!) Content Marketing for Editors I highly recommend her course "Marketing Toolbox for Editors" which includes a pdf copy of her comprehensive book, Marketing Your Editing & Proofreading Business, or you can purchase it on Amazon. Her course, "Emotional Marketing that Gets Editors Work," truly resonates with my style. "Branding for Business Growth" has amazing worksheets to help you identify your "angel" and "monster" client as you identify your niche. While Louise markets her content to editors, the information is truly applicable to most freelancers and entrepreneurs. Louise Harnby is An Amazing Resource I highly recommend following Louise on her socials. Check out her many blog posts going back for years with relevant content. All of her books are included in courses or available on their own on Amazon. I've listened to nearly all of her podcasts with Denise Cowle. While Louise is an amazing resource, I've been blessed to find many. I'll be happy to share them with you so we can all learn together and grow our businesses. What resources have you discovered that you recommend? If I can be of assistance to your business plans, Let's Chat! |