407 Shares There are no two ways about it: learning a foreign language is a lot of work. There is grammar to master, vocabulary words to memorize, and the culture behind the language that adds context. That’s a tall order. For that reason, so few people actually learn a foreign language. It’s demanding — and lots of people speak English anyway, so it falls off the radar. However, the payoff is huge. Speaking another person’s language creates a bond, and it demonstrates a respect and interest that is compelling. It also sets you apart,... More »
261 Shares The world is an amazing place. I am in awe of all the miracles every day. On a special day like today, it’s important to just take a moment and reflect on all the amazing things that have happened in your life so far. To give you a starting point, just think about this: The exact person you are, born to your parents, on the date and time you were born, with the DNA structure you have has about a 1:400,000,000,000 (that’s one in 400 trillion!) chance of existing. If you don’t call that... More »
166 Shares In some parts of the world, today is a day set aside to remember those who have fought for the freedom that their citizens enjoy. It is a day where these nations reflect on those who have died for a cause and those who fight for it even to this day so that peace can prevail over war. But there will be so much “noise” coming at us today – a day where we seek quiet so that we can properly remember what this day represents. Our minds will have a difficult... More »
212 Shares Recently, a friend posted 1 + 1 = 1 on Facebook, which caused a flurry of replies to her “silly” post. I replied with a number of different answers to 1+1, as I have always considered the Philosophy of One to be a litmus test of how someone looks at the world. It was fun to watch her other friends (predominately of high school age) come up with answers and proofs on why each answer could be true. The curiosity shown was inspiring, and curiosity is important. The Philosophy of One test is one... More »
186 Shares Food, glorious food … or is it glorious? Is it even food we are eating? I believe many of us have struggled with that question as we down processed McDonalds hamburgers and fries. What about margarine or other such creations? Graduate school is great for getting a degree, but not so much for maintaining an ideal weight. For me, it was a burrito place down the street that gave a discount for students. It was quick, and I could take it to go. However, I knew I wasn’t as healthy as I... More »
3.2K Shares Some of the toughest lessons that we face are from our failures. But it’s also these same failures that can provide the most useful lessons if we only allow them to be. I’m going to be brave to share with you one of the biggest failures and resulting lessons from my own life. In 1990, I became certified as a Level 1 ski instructor by the Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance, which is the governing body for professional ski instructors here in Canada. I always wanted to become a Level 2 instructor. The... More »
87 Shares As director of product marketing at Adobe, I speak with customers everyday about how they can better maximize their productivity in the workplace. They often tell me they spend more time figuring out how to do their jobs than actually doing them. Regularly faced with the staggering volume of information, they have difficulties keeping everyone on the same page, keeping track of lost data, information and IP. And today, professionals across industries use a variety of devices such as smartphones and tablets to get work done. We rely on technology to make... More »
If you’re looking for a way to level up your productivity at a fraction of the price and you want to help out a good cause in the process, check out The Web Productivity Bundle assembled by Bundlelytic. It’s available for just $25, and 100% of the money will be donated to the Flinders Medical Centre Foundation in South Australia. The proceeds will help their respiratory team upgrade their current invasive lung cancer diagnostic method to endobronchial ultrasound. While the new unit costs well over $100,000, every little bit helps. With endobronchial ultrasound, the diagnosis of lung cancer... More »
63 Shares National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for all you crazy kids, starts today. Mike wrote yesterday about how to be mentally ready for NaNoWriMo, giving you the mindset to succeed. But what about the tools? Here is what gear you can use to get your 50k words down this November. The Shortlist Here are some of the great writing tools that I can’t recommend enough. These include tools for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. Evernote Evernote is the much-loved ubiquitous note taking, writing, and personal memory database tool that is used by... More »
103 Shares I write more than the average bear and I try to write every single day no matter what. Whether it be a couple of sentences or my 750 words habit, writing is something that I enjoy doing. With the release of the iPad in 2010 there have been a slew of writers taking to its portable and sleek design. It can easily be taken anywhere and is quick to hook up to a Bluetooth keyboard, open a writing app, and go to town. Because of this we have also seen a ton... More »
19 Shares For the longest time, I was too scared to publish anything on my blog. I had the debilitating fear of making a mistake – a simple error. What if somebody catches my mistake, corrects it and lets the world know? I would agonize over this problem. I thought my credibility as a Business Writer would be shot to pieces. When you write, you constantly feel the pressure of mastering the art of using commas. You are required to understand the difference between a colon and a semi one, the misplaced modifier, and the... More »
299 Shares Imagine two people starting identical companies with the exact same resources, network, and time at their disposal (gender randomly assigned for brevity’s sake): Person #1 wakes up every day with anxiety, stressed about his mounting to-do list. He immediately buries himself in reactive work — striving to please everyone else but himself by responding to emails, taking meetings and delivering what others ask of him. He gets whipped around by his moods — one minute he’s happy and excited, the next he’s tired, anxious, unmotivated and depressed. His productivity on any given... More »
70 Shares In a recent TED talk, activist Jeremy Gilley discusses his inspiring mission of “Persuading the world to try living in peace for just one day.” Adhering to a single day of peace allows for the immunization of rural populations, aid to be distributed, freedom to travel and the transmission of information. Most importantly, it relieves a person of the stress and anxiety that comes with continuous violence and hate. This mission should inspire people to dedicate themselves to peace on a global, local and emotional level. Perhaps, people can take the initiative... More »
109 Shares TRIZ — the Russian acronym for Theory of Inventive Problem Solving — is a toolbox of techniques for solving problems and generating ideas. It was created in the 1950s by a Soviet naval patent clerk named Genrich Altschuller. Altschuller believed that it was possible for people to learn to become inventors. He studied hundreds of thousands of patents and found that there are only about 1,500 basic problems to be solved. In addition, all of these problems can be solved by applying one or more of 40 universal principles. Although TRIZ was... More »
2.4K Shares Mindfulness has become a popular and fashionable activity in recent times. The act of focused awareness on the flow of the present moment. It brings us into the here and now so that we are conscious of what we are doing when we are doing it. It may seem both simple and obvious but when we focus our awareness on our thoughts we will find that we spend most of our day thinking about past and future events. Or if we are lucky enough, sitting around day dreaming rather than focusing on... More »
