A Shift In Action

As the world is flattening, technology has given people and countries opportunity to compete on more comparable terms than ever before. We’ve seen offshoring and outsourcing pump new life into China and India and the convergence of personal computers and open source software has made information accessible to virtually anyone, anywhere at any time. So, is this a good thing or a bad thing?

In my humble opinion, it is great and absolutely fascinating. I am tempted to say that some of the products and applications created as a result of the world becoming flatter, (namely Google, my GPS and my BlackBerry) are not just ‘great’, but essential to my life.  Although I know they truly aren’t, I often ponder how people lived without these things…?  (more…)

Once you decide to actually take that leap of fate and make that change you’ve been wanting/needing to, (refer to last week’s post: Back to Basics) people around you are going to notice.  Regardless if it’s a big or little change, people close to you will see the transformation.  Some will probably be impacted by your change.  Unfortunately, most people like their comfort zones and are averse to getting used to something or someone different.  Uncertainty can be threatening and it breeds discomfort.  However, there is not a damn thing anyone can do about change.  It’s as natural as grass growing and ironically, it’s the only existing constant we can depend on.  Hopefully, before, during and after your transformation, the people closest to you are supportive .  If they don’t like the new you, hopefully they don’t give you too much grief.

And so what if they do? And what if “they” is hundreds and millions of people?  I don’t personally know what that feels like, but I have an idea of some folks that do: (more…)

Some people are resistant to change while others thrive.  Regardless of what category you fall into, the fact remains that the only constant is change.  If you believe that you are averse  to change, but have caught yourself thinking of ways to escape your current situation, now is the time to shift your actions.  Not sure if you are ready to make a move?  Here are some tell-tale signs there’s no time like the present to change your life for the better.

1.  You can’t seem to focus and you procrastinate more than usual.

If you find your mind wandering and daydreaming about what you’d rather be doing, take note.  People tend to rehearse through daydreams the changes they like to make in their lives and if you often fantasize about the same thing, you have clue to where you need to make a change.  When it feels much better to think about the way you wish things would be different, it makes it that much harder to apply yourself to real life.  Unsatisfactory reality breeds procrastination; it takes much longer to complete something you do not enjoy.

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I have worked on many web projects over the last hmmm… 13 years? Yep, I’m ancient where the web is concerned. Anyways, at first, the web was all about technology. Routers and servers, programming languages and bandwidth.  I’ve been wondering if there is really any more technology plays out there anymore (at least one where the barriers to entry aren’t thru-the-roof).

Today, innovation happens so fast and opensource development is so prolific that technology is ubiquitous. For you who are beginning to stream your life, connect with the online community and create your own personal equity, you are in luck. The cost of time and resources required to publish globally has fallen thru the floor; unless, of course, you have chosen to develop your own platform. (more…)

Web 2.0 is here and here to stay my friends. Realizing this phenomenon hit me like a ton of bricks. As a newbie to interactive marketing, I am absolutely blown away at the opportunities available.

These “e-opportunities” have been discovered by many, but there is so much more to do and learn. And truth be told, if you don’t get on your motor-scooter and start learning, you will be left in the dust.

One of the first things I learned about the fancy term “social media” is that it is bullshit. Let’s be honest- when you trim all the new terms, software and Web 2.0-ness from the concept of social media, it’s business. Good ol’ Business. And let’s be even more honest- in this day and age, your business needs a web presence and a popular presence at that. In addition to businesses taking advantage of the wonderful world of Web 2.0, so do you. (more…)

Hey! Any parents out there? You’ll probably agree that one of the most overlooked key metrics in schools is creativity. The fundamental shifts that have occurred over the last decade has all but left our education system and our students behind. What this means for the future cannot be overlooked.

Creativity is one of the three key quotients needed in today’s world, which is changing at an unprecedented pace. The amount of information we can pass on to students in the time they are at school is very limited. On the other hand, access to all kinds of information has become incredibly easy. So it’s not what we teach that matters so much as making sure pupils know how to learn, unlearn and re-learn. Businesses all over the world have repeatedly expressed what they expect from their work force. The new ’survival requirements’ are:

• confidence that we know how to learn;
• being able to deal positively with change (practically and emotionally);
• flexibility and creativity in the ways we think.

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we’re educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence. (more…)