In a previous article, I supplied you with a recipe for the world’s best frozen margarita. Along this same spirituous vein, I am here to unveil another killer recipe – but this time for a cosmopolitan. Cosmos are extremely popular these days, and if you follow the cooking and drinking scene you’ll note that a very popular fruit which has been gaining more and more notoriety is the pomegranate. Pomegranate juice is readily available in stores and is one of the ingredients for this drink. So, without further adieu, I present an awesome Pomegranate Cosmopolitan recipe.

Add the following ingredients to a cocktail shaker:

• Add plenty of shaved or cubed ice (3/4 full)
• 3 oz of your favorite vodka
• ½ oz of Grand Marnier
• ½ oz of triple sec
• the juice of one fresh lime
• 100% pomegranate juice (add as much as you like, or just fill the shaker)

Shake thoroughly and strain into a glass of your choice. This recipe should make at least two decent size cosmos. I like to use the stemmed triangular glasses for this drink. I also like to serve it with ice in the glass, but that is your choice. You could just use the leftover ice that is in the shaker.

No matter which way you choose to serve it, relax and enjoy…and let me know how you like it! Keep Reading…

“I don’t have time for this!”

How many times do you say that every day? Likely too many. Many of us keep wondering how we can squeeze in some extra time during our 24/7 work schedule to help reduce the long list of pending tasks.

Well, the number of hours in the day are not going to increase. So, it’s up to you to create that extra time you need. The following six tips will get you started on making the most of the time you do have.

1. Stop Multitasking

If you think multitasking will get things done faster, think again. Focusing on one thing at a time is a more productive thing to do. You’ll end up finishing tasks faster.

2. Outsource Your Non-Core Tasks

Learning how to delegate work is something I’ve already recommended. Don’t try to do everything yourself. Get help.

3. Outsource Chores

Outsourcing chores and errands would be a good idea as well. There are services like DoMyStuff that help you with it.

4. Simplify

Try to simplify all the areas of your life – be it your home, your office, the tools you use everyday, things you consume…everything. Focus on eliminating non-essential items that suck up your time.

5. Focus On Quality

As James Chartrand mentioned in a previous WorkAwesome post, being productive in the real sense means focusing on quality instead of quantity.

6. Work from Home

If your commute time is significant, you could ask your boss to let you work from home. If you can convince her that you’ll be more productive, she might agree. Keep Reading…

Being “good at what you do” is an asset to your career, and it fosters a great attitude and a solid self-esteem boost.

But, unfortunately it’s not enough to get you a promotion. In fact, if you’re excelling at your current position, it might be a good reason to keep you where you are instead of promoting you. It’s quite the conundrum; if you’re great at your job, your company might never dream of putting you anywhere else.

So, if it isn’t excelling at your work, then what makes someone “promotable”?

Quite a bit of research has been done on promotability.  We’ve also discussed different strategies to move your way up.  Although it’s difficult to conduct fact-based research on it, they have come to a few general conclusions on how to get promoted:

• An employee can develop skills for higher-level jobs if they are regularly faced with “challenging” work. “Challenging” work is defined as work where the current rules and routines won’t suffice in getting the job done, forcing the employee to innovate new routines.
• An employee who does non-challenging work (mundane work where the current rules and routines are sufficient) never develops higher-level job skills, and thus may be less “promotable.”

So, how do we get promoted? Ironically, it sounds like we have to break a few rules. Keep Reading…

Moving into a new house or apartment is stressful enough. But when you work from home, and you’re moving both your household and your home office, things get a whole lot hairier, as I discovered during my own move earlier this summer. It’s been a few weeks, and things are finally (!) starting to settle down and I’m getting settled in my new home.

Here are some of the strategies I picked up during my recent move: Keep Reading…

Hi, I’m Carl, and I’m a blogger.

I really started blogging back in 1997 when I created an e-mail newsletter for the newspaper. I would start each daily e-mail with some personal insights then list the day’s headlines. I didn’t know it but it was blogging.

I thought I could quit whenever I wanted. But I kept posting updates. And that led to Facebook and Twitter accounts.

So now I’m very comfortable sharing personal aspects of my life with complete strangers. But some people I share my life with aren’t social media exhibitionists. They don’t blog, tweet, friend or check in. And they’re not thrilled to be part of my social networks by associations.

We talk a lot about balancing work and life. But how well do we balance internet life with real life? Do you need to keep your personal relationships quarantined? Here are some tips for achieving harmony:

Disclose

On your first date, confess your blogging and social media habits. Your date needs to know that this may be the subject of a blog or Facebook update. Better yet, give them veto power. They need to be able to express discomfort and keep their private life private.

Discuss

Set up ground rules with the people in your life. Understand what they don’t want revealed to the world.

Ask permission

No matter what the rules are, your friends and family will appreciate if you ask before you blog.

Create pseudonyms

Your personal life can have a lot impact on what you write. You can use personal anecdotes to add punch and protect the shy members of your life. Instead of using their names, identify them as “My Better Half” or “No. 1 Son.” Give them a little bit of cover.

Don’t ambush

We’ve all thought of the perfect comeback after losing an argument or point in a debate. Social media offers a chance to make that point after the fact. Which really isn’t fair. And don’t write anything you wouldn’t say to someone’s face.

Extend these courtesies to coworkers

Even if it’s totally professional, you want to consider the people at work and clients part of your private life. They may not appreciate reading about themselves in your blog or Facebook timeline. Ask.

Do you have rules to separate your real and social media lives? Keep Reading…

Being a software professional for the past 20 years or so, I have found that I cannot leave my work at the office.  I am constantly trying to figure out answers to problems that I may have at work.

In fact, more often than not, on the drive home, I tend to solve a problem that I may have been having all day long.  Even though I do bring my PC home with me, I may not even turn it on while I am at home.  Simply the process of leaving the office, and getting away from the workplace environment, stirs something within my mind that allows me to figure things out.

Where do you find is the best place for solving work problems? Keep Reading…

I mentioned Evernote in my post on tools for productive online writing and I am sure almost all of you have heard about it – if not used it. It is probably the best note-taking software out there.

Just a few days back, Evernote announced a new section on their site called ‘The Trunk’. Being a long time user of the tool, I was immediately interested in knowing what it was all about and hence decided to check it out. This article sums up what I’ve discovered about this new offering from the folks at Evernote. Keep Reading…

Envato is one of a small number of companies that has learned how to make money from blogs. Today, we gross well over seven figures a year from our blogs.

So it’s no small announcement that CEO Collis Ta’eed has released a book packed with the company’s secrets, detailing a road map you can use to navigate your blog business to success.

How to Build a Successful Blog Business is a straight forward guide to building a publishing business online that covers everything from choosing a niche to hiring staff, registering a business to selling it, finding traffic to monetizing it.

Whether you are interested in creating an additional income stream or building a fully-fledged business, this is an essential read for web entrepreneurs and online publishers. Keep Reading…

According to a recent article on CBS MoneyWatch, office romances are becoming increasingly common. In a way, it makes sense, because if you’re working crazy hours trying to keep your boss happy, it’s tough to find time to meet people outside the office.

Of course, dating a coworker can seriously backfire because if you break up, you’ll still have to see them every single day. And if you’re dating a superior (or your company has a strict anti-fraternization policy), that introduces a whole other can of worms!

I’ve never dated someone in my office, and it’s unlikely that I will in the future; I now work from home at an office of one (even when I reported to an office, I didn’t have much exposure to potential boyfriends, my coworkers were predominantly female). But I’d be interested in your take on this topic.

Have you had an office romance? Or are you strictly against it? Keep Reading…