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!

Although a writer’s block could fade away with time, it is better take some immediate measures to battle it as it strikes and get started with writing without significant loss of time. This article talks about how to overcome writer’s block by temporarily shifting your attention to something else, possibly unrelated.1. Stop Thinking and Write Anything

The thinking process can sometimes prolong the block. A better way out is to stop thinking and start writing…anything. Just anything. It doesn’t need to center around the topic you need to write about. At the moment your primary aim is to get into the flow. So just start churning out the words without thinking.

2. Leave the Computer and Go Out

Shut down the computer for a day and take a trip to a local destination of your choice. Take a small notebook and a pen along with you so that you’ve got something to jot down in case the ideas begin to show up.

3. Listen to Podcasts

Download some podcasts that relate to the topics you love and listen to them. You could also put them on your iPod or mp3 player and listen while on the go.

4. Listen to Music

Listening to music is something you should do as often as possible. Research has it that music tickles the brain to increase the flow of creative juices. It might help you get rid of writer’s block too.

5. Watch TV

Admit it, you hardly watch TV. Who needs it when you’ve got services like Hulu? Well, try something a little different. Watch TV on a TV.

6. Read a Book or Magazine

Wipe the dust off those books in the shelf and start reading. Another thing you could do is to go out and get an issue of a magazine like Wired, instead of visiting the online version.

7. Surf Aimlessly

Browse the web aimlessly. Read stuff on Wikipedia, political sites, tech blogs, news…whatever. Just browse and read.

8. Chat With a Friend

Talk to a friend. Better if he’s a writer too, or someone who knows enough about what you do. Tell him about your situation. Discuss various topics related to your work. And you might just start getting those elusive ideas.

9. Check Stuff in Your Hard Disk

I’m sure you’ve got a lot of stuff – like pictures, documents, books and all stored in your hard drive. This is the time to scour through them.

10. Check eBooks You Never Read

If you are like me, you’ve tons of ebooks downloaded on your PC. And you never got the time to read them. Now, when you’ve got nothing to write, why not check those ebooks and start reading them.

11. Go Through Your Email

Dig into your email account and re-visit the conversations you had with your contacts, the ideas you shared and the things you discussed. Reply unread emails, if any.

12. Check Your Browser Bookmarks

This is a good time to take a look at the long list of bookmarks you’ve got saved in your browser. It’s likely that you never visited them again after saving. Check them out.

13. Check Your Del.icio.us Account

Why spare your neglected Del.icio.us account. It has a huge list of bookmarks too, isn’t it? Check them out too.

14. Mind Your Social Networking Sites

Not the time to look down upon these services as mere distracting tools. You need them now. You need them to provoke the idea-generating portion of the brain (which one-left or right?). So login and start interacting. Also, see what your friends are sharing.

15. Browse Videos on TED and YouTube

Videos, especially those on TED, make you think differently and thus produce ideas you’ve never had before. YouTube isn’t bad either.

16. Browse Photos on Flickr

A picture can tell a story. And you need to write that story. Hence seeing that picture is essential. Flickr will help you do exactly that.

17. Browse Your RSS Feed Reader

Got 1000+ unread items in your RSS reader? Got some blogs which you never happen to check? Go through them now.

18. Browse Comments on Blog Posts

If any of you wonderful folks have been following my WorkAwesome articles, you would find that I tend to pick up ideas from blog comments. And it’s a good practice because in you end up writing about what the reader wants to read.

19. Organize Your Stuff

Organize your workspace and declutter your desktop. You might come across ideas while doing it.

20. Draw Charts, Diagrams, Mindmaps

Brainstorming through charts and mindmaps could be a nice way to get into the flow.

21. Take it Easy…Ideas Will Come Eventually

Done all of it, and still can’t find anything to write about? Don’t worry, take it easy. Just let go. Give your mind the time it needs. The flow will come eventually.

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.

Sadly, this happens way too often here in my house. While I feel a bit guilty when I “forget” to tell my wife that I made a chocolate cake – I feel more so when there isn’t any left to share with her.

So I was delighted to come across this recipe – as it’s a personal-sized cake (well, really – what cake isn’t personal sized?).  And the best part is it will probably take you longer to eat it than it will to cook it!

This is a “Freelance Favorite” called Cup o’ Cake – but you don’t have to be a freelancer to enjoy it.  If you’ve got a microwave at work, you can bring the ingredients and mix them up for your afternoon coffee.  Why buy a $5 cupcake when you can make something like this?

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp flour (all purpose is ok, cake flour is better)
• 3 tbsp Cocoa powder
• 4 tbsp sugar (haven’t tried it yet – but you could probably use your fav. flavor Quik and skip the cocoa)
• 1 med egg
• 3 tbsp milk (evaporated milk might be pretty good, too)
• 3 tbsp oil (or melted butter if you want to be decadent)
• 2 tbsp chocolate chips
• 1 large mug

Add the dry ingredients and chocolate chips to the mug

Add egg, then milk and oil.  Mix very well. (A large mug is handy here, or this might be a bit messy)

Put the mug in the microwave, and cook on high for 3 minutes

Take out of the microwave, empty mug into a bowl.  Smother cake with canned chocolate sauce, ice cream, whipped cream or all of the above

Hide bathroom scale.

Enjoy!

1. Take a Hike.

I have always been a nature lover and either climbing a mountain or just walking a trail on the weekend is a great way to relax and unwind from the workweek.  It is such a stark contrast from sitting in a cubicle and that is what makes it so enjoyable.

2. Visit a Farmers Market.

My wife and I are lovers of great food.  To make great food you need to start with fresh ingredients.  We oftentimes visit local farmers markets on the weekend where we get to see fresh produce from farms in the surrounding area.  You tend to pay a little bit more than the non-local produce in the supermarket but you are 1) supporting local farms and 2) purchasing the freshest produce you can get for your scrumptious nightly meal.

3. Try a new specialty drink.

These days, finding a recipe for a specialty alcoholic beverage is a few clicks away.  I love to explore the variety of different recipes that I can find for frozen margaritas, cosmopolitans, or, better yet, a drink that I have never even heard of.  Add some spice to your weekend and try something new.  It could even be a new wine from a local vineyard.  You’d be surprised at the quality of wines you can purchase from local vineyards, even if you don’t live in Napa or Sonoma.

4. Day Tripping.

As I write this article, I am on vacation.  This time I did not have anything planned, which was different from my typical vacation.  As a result, I was able to take day trips to unfamiliar locations.  Sometimes we just get stuck in the same routine and don’t explore surrounding areas that may be an hour drive from our home.  Venture out and explore your surroundings.  You may just find that it is a lot more interesting than you had assumed.

5. Visit your local library. Really!

OK this one may sound boring to most of you but recently I have really started to take advantage of my local library.  Until I actually checked it out, I didn’t realize that there are a multitude of movies and CDs available for free.  And don’t think that you can’t get the latest books to read.  I can even go online and check out books from my local library which makes it very convenient.

Weekends can go by very quickly but if you fill them with exciting and interesting activities you may find that, by the time Monday morning comes, you just may be ready to tackle the upcoming workweek.  At the same time, you may start planning what your upcoming weekend may entail.

Today marks the relaunch of our sister site, The Netsetter. Along with this site and FreelanceSwitch, the new Netsetter creates a “triple threat” in terms of getting better at what moves you.  All three sites offer practical tips that cover topics that can help those who want to get better at what they love doing.

The Netsetter was a blog started by Envato’s CEO, Collis Ta’eed in 2009 as a place to discuss start ups. The second iteration of the site doesn’t stray too far from the initial concept, but has been retooled by the Netsetter team to appeal to a wider audience.

If you’re a true netsetter then you’re already on your way to doing something that you truly love doing.  With The Netsetter, FreelanceSwitch and WorkAwesome, you have an arsenal of resources available to you that can enable you to do what you love at a whole new level.

Are you a netsetter? Then head on over to the newly-revamped Netsetter today!

Just think about the times when you spent hours trying to find that one super-important note in the huge pile of documents, notes, files and what not. Had that note been stored somewhere on your computer, it would have taken seconds to locate it, isn’t it.

This article explores various aspects of going paperless; why you need to do it, what tools could help you do that and the process to follow. People working at big corporations might not be able to go paperless completely, because companies have their own rules on use of resources. But, I suggest them to read it nevertheless.

So…Why Go Paperless?

Digital is omnipresent.
Digital technology has come a long way. You can store an entire movie in that small cellphone of yours. And the good thing is there are tools and apps that can sync your information across various devices. Your data is safe.

It reduces clutter.
A clean and clutter-free workspace not only looks good, but, also has a positive impact on the mind of the person who’ll work there. With no clutter around, you tend to be more focused towards your work and get more done.

Better data protection and security.
It’s hard to recover information from a piece of paper once it’s destroyed (unless you know people who work in forensic labs). But data can be recovered if your computer goes haywire. You could also store everything on the cloud and not worry about data loss ever.

It saves money.
You’d realize how much you are saving when you stop buying those files and A4 sheets.

It helps you go green.
Saving the environment isn’t bad either. When there’s so much talk about going green, why not try to contribute as much as you can towards preserving natural resources.

Okay, so now that you are convinced going paperless is the way ahead, lets talk about the main tools you’d need to begin with the process.

Tools That Will Help

Your computer.
Your computer is where it begins. You gotta transfer the data and organize it there. You should also decide what are the applications you’d need that’d replace your need for using paper.

Your mobile phone.
You’d use your cellphone to store important notes, contacts and other small bits of information, which you usually write in stickies.

Your iPad or iPod Touch.
Didn’t we tell you that you could also use your iPad to lower your carbon footprint. Make use of it in the process of going paperless.

An external drive for data backup.
Although there are online storage options available, it is important that you back it up on an external hard disk too.

A scanner.
A scanner would help you quickly transfer data from paper to PC, especially if you’ve got a huge number of files and documents.

A paper shredder.
Finally, you would need a shredder to dispose of the paper. Well, you could also do that manually, but in case you have access to a shredder, using that would be a better option.

How to Go Paperless

Set aside time.
Going paperless is easier said than done. You should set aside time, in fact, a day if possible to get this work done.

Choose and organize.
Now begins the cumbersome (and boring) part. You need to carefully divide the documents into useful and not necessary. You’d be surprised to find how much trash you’ve got once you start organizing the stuff.  You would also need to create different folders on your computer, and other devices so that the clutter isn’t transferred from your desk to your hard drive.

Start the upload and backup.
Done organizing? Great, now start the process of transferring data and making it go digital. Also, back it up on the external drive as you save it on your computer. No point delaying the backup.

Do a final check.
Go through the papers as well as the data on the computer/cellphone/iPad to see if they match and you haven’t missed anything. Also, check the non-essential list of items again to confirm that all of it is useless.

Shred what’s not needed.
Pat yourself on the back, you have successfully accomplished the herculean task of going paperless and de-cluttering your workspace. Now, just get rid of all the useless documents to give a sparkling clean look to your workspace! Make it look beautiful!

Feel free to share your tips, suggestions and how going paperless has helped you below.

Boredom and not feeling challenged by job duties is a popular gripe among employees, but very few of us have the option of leaving to find something more stimulating or that would be a better use of our skills. Every job – no matter how unconventional it may be – has its own patterns and routines, whether it’s certain follow-up procedures for particular duties or other day-to-day tasks that must be done. Without new problems to solve or challenges to rise to, it’s very easy to have this routine turn into more of a rut.

So what motivates you? What keeps you showing up fresh every day?

Zen Habits explores what it calls the “Clean Slate Method” to simplify your life by getting rid of things you don’t need.

7 Deadly Blog Writing Sins

A must-read for bloggers, this article talks about the common mistakes bloggers make that causes a decline in their readership.

How Google Works – Infographic

A detailed infographic on the steps Google’s spiders go through before returning you those accurate results for your search queries.

20 Quick Tips For Better Time Management

Use Stepcase Lifehack’s quick tips on time management to make more effective use of your time.

7 Social Marketing Strategy Mistakes That Cripple Your Reputation

And lastly, our sister site Freelance Switch asks you to avoid these social marketing mistakes while finding work online.

Put those quick recipes aside for a moment and relax with an ice cold beverage.  Take the time…you’ve earned it.

My drink of choice is the frozen margarita.  I’ve been drinking them for years and I’ve put that experience to good use; I have come up with the perfect recipe.  This is an awesome drink to have at the end of a hard week at the office.  Here, ladies and gentlemen, is my frozen margarita recipe:

Pour the following ingredients into a blender.

• 3 ounces of your favorite tequila. I swear by Jose Cuervo Gold.
• 1 ounce of your favorite triple sec.
• 1 ounce of Grand Marnier.
• 1 ounce of Rose’s Lime Juice.
• The juice of one fresh lime.
• Load up with ice.

Run your blender until the liquid is a frothy mixture.  Make sure you add enough ice so that there is a decent thickness to the liquid.  Slice a small wedge of lime and coat the rim of your margarita glass with the juice.  Pour some sea salt onto a dish and place the glass upside down so that the salt adheres to the glass rim.  When your drink is through blending, pour into the glass and enjoy!

I believe that this will be the best margarita you have ever tasted.  Take it from what my friends call me: Margarita Man.