Displaying All Posts from September, 2010

What’s Your Favorite Communication Channel?

Do you ever email a co-worker who is just down the hall from you? It’s one thing if you are sending over an attachment or have a quick comment to make, but what about those other times when you end up having long discussions back and forth? It can feel strange, knowing you are both choosing to type responses into a screen rather than actually talk to each other face to face.

Email seems convenient, but sometimes it’s a counterproductive communication channel. When you rely on email, discussions that might have taken fifteen minutes can get drawn out over the course of an entire day (or days). Plus, it’s hard to build good rapport over email. No matter how many emoticons and exclamation points you add in there, you just can’t communicate tone in the same way as you do in person.

When you communicate with co-workers, do you mostly rely on email or is personal interaction preferred? Where do you draw the line?

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Personal Branding Tips from Dan Schawbel: A WorkAwesome Interview

In the constant quest that we undertake to showcase our work in a truly awesome way, personal branding is a topic that becomes more relevant daily.  Who you are online is becoming less distinguishable from who you are in the real world.  One of the best examples of personal brand management is Dan Schawbel, the brilliant mind behind Personal Branding Blog, founder of Millennial Branding, Personal Branding magazine, and the author of Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future, a #1 international bestseller published in 4 languages and was rated the #1 career book of 2009 by The New York Post and the #1 Amazon bestseller in Japan.

Oh, and Dan just turned 27. Click Here to Read Article …

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4 Effective Email Spam Filter Tools

It is amazing how much spam ends up at my work email address. At least I’m assuming it’s spam—I can’t imagine that that many Eastern European women really want to marry me. The email spam filter at my work does a pretty good job, but it certainly doesn’t catch everything.

I never get spam in my personal Gmail account (thanks, Google!). And while I don’t spend a lot of time deleting spam from my work email, I do have to do it. – and it annoys me. It annoys me a lot. Especially the offensive, raunchy stuff. In the three minutes or so it has taken me to write this, three spam emails have appeared in my junk email folder. Sheesh. Click Here to Read Article …

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Memo:Random #42 – The Finale

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Awesome Links #15: Mobile and PC Sync Tools, Virtual Secretary Tips

How to Keep Your Workflow in Sync Across Computers

A pretty useful article at Lifehacker to help you keep your work data in sync across multiple computers.

8 Tips for Using Virtual Assistants and Personal Outsourcing

If you use a virtual secretary (a.k.a virtual assistant or VA) or planning to use one, then this article at Six Revisions is worth a read. Click Here to Read Article …

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Productive Kitchen Gadgets #3: Immersion Hand Blender

Being productive in the kitchen is a priority in our household. The next productive kitchen gadget that I would like to feature is the immersion hand blender. How often have you had to quickly blend up something? I use this gadget for mixing up a quick smoothie or a protein shake. It is also great to puree solid food into a liquid mixture for a baby’s digestive system. It’s also handy when you want to whip up some heavy cream into whipped cream for your dessert. Click Here to Read Article …

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3 Quick Ways to Tune up Your Workspace

You know you’re supposed to declutter your desk and workspace. It’s going to boost your productivity. While you’re at it, here are three ideas to tune up your productivity:

Clean your keyboard

You shouldn’t be eating or drinking at your computer. But who has time for lunch? Here are 10 ideas for getting the dust and snack particles out from between the keys.

My favorite: Get a keyboard protector that covers the keys while you type. Click Here to Read Article …

Busting Your Performance Bottlenecks at Work

As a boss, I sometimes have to listen to a member of my team explain why something went horribly wrong. As as a business owner, I also have to ease the concerns of clients who have been burned by vendors in the past. And as a human being, I hate being on the hot seat myself. Worrying about things that could go wrong on a project can seize your brain. Just as Steven Covey counsels professionals to get task lists out of their heads and on paper, I’m finding my head has more room for creativity if I know that I’ve got a “Plan B” for any situation. Click Here to Read Article …