Boosting Office Morale When You ARE the Office

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As a freelancer, I wear many hats and essentially I am the entire office staff for my business.  Just me, myself and I.  I’ve written before about when the boss (me) gets sick and now, the boss is in crisis.  I have playfully referred to my dog as my coworker and over the weekend, he passed away.  I have been grieving all weekend and now it is Monday; I am trying to throw myself into my work; but my morale is low.  The mood in my office is somber and I am doing my best to try to boost my morale.  In my typical fashion, I made out a list of reasons to be happy and a list of things to do to stay happy.

Reasons to be Happy:

  1. He is no longer suffering and had a full life.
  2. He silently supported and sometimes participated in all of my silly antics.
  3. I have a lot of things to be grateful for:  health, life, business, family, etc.
  4. I was lucky to have had him.  He was great support.

Things to do to Stay Happy:

  1. Dance around the office.
  2. Play music.
  3. Work insanely hard for a half day and then take the rest of the day off to go to the park.
  4. Look into taking golf lessons (a suggestion from Twitter).
  5. Go for a run.
  6. Clean/Rearrange the office.  A change of scenery would be nice.

Today may be a bit rough for me, but I know that with time I will heal and bounce back to my normal bubbly self.  In the meantime, I will be working on office morale.  Have you ever faced a crisis that left your office morale in the dumps?  How did you rally back?

 

boosting-office-morale

Social Media Superlatives

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Flipping through an old high school yearbook (shout out to Pine Forge Academy!), I stumbled upon the superlative’s section and it made me smile.  “Most Likely to Succeed” and “Best Looking” were a couple of the normal ones you see and “Most Likely to Return and Teach” was one of the unusual ones we made up.  For some reason, taking this stroll down memory lane made me think of ways superlatives could be applied to social media.  The following is what I came up with:

 

Most Likely to Flood Your News Feed

When you view their feeds, large chunks of their postings are within minutes or seconds of each other.  These are then followed by large gaps of time, only to be followed by another chunky slew of back-to-back posts.  You may also notice very little engagement with anyone other than themselves.

 

Most Likely to be a Spam Bot

Their profile bio reads “I will give you [insert number] of [follows/likes/links]” and they are following a ton of people, but have very few followers themselves.

 

Mostly to NOT be a Real Guru or Ninja

They do no possess a high intellect that is visible in the content they are posting; are not a spiritual or religious guide; and the extinct of their martial arts skills lie within the phrase “wax on; wax off.”

 

Most Likely to Scream at You

Their profile bio is written in ALL CAPS.  It is safe to assume without glancing at their feeds, that most if not all of their posts will also be in all caps.  Either they really are excited about everything they have to say; do not understand emphasis over usage; or their caps lock key is permanently depressed and stuck with a sticky substance.

 

Most Likely to Indirectly Talk to You

This person is probably new to the social media platform they are using or to social media all together.  On Facebook, they will post a comment or direct message as their status, but without tagging the person they are speaking to.  Example:  “Thanks Janet, I agree.”  On Twitter, LinkedIn, G+, Instagram, etc. they will forget to @mention in a comment or update.  Essentially, they are whispering to the person next to them at a crowded club.  They will not be heard.

 

Can you think of any superlatives that should be added to the list?  I must admit, I had a bit of fun coming up with these!

 

social-media-superlatives

Look What I Found: Monday Motivation

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It’s amazing what a simple Google search can turn up.  Well, that’s not really what is amazing; me not thinking to do it before is what is amazing.  On to one of my favorite topics: Mondays.  I talk about them a lot and this morning I performed a Google search for “Monday Motivation.”  What I turned up was a Pinterest board by The Little titled, “Monday Motivation.”   The board is full of quotes meant to inspire and motivate.  I thought I would share a few of the ones that jumped out at me.  She also has a board titled, “Friday Fun,” and I am including a few from that board as well, since I like a little humor in the mix.  🙂

Source Links:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/166914729908957444/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/166914729908957437/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/166914729908957305/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/166914729908957290/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/166914729908957449/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/166914729908956168/

Have you found Pinterest to be a good source for motivation, inspiration, etc?  I don’t know why, but I never thought to look there before.  What are some of your favorite Pinterest boards for inspiration? Share them in the comments below!

“Reasonable” Usually Means “Unreasonable”

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This is a bit of a vent…

rea•son•able  adjective \ˈrēz-nə-bəl, ˈrē-zən-ə-bəl\ a :  being in accordance with reason <a reasonable theory>

b :  not extreme or excessive <reasonable requests>

c :  moderate, fair <a reasonable chance> <a reasonable price>

d :  inexpensive

According to Merriam-Webster, that is the definition of reasonable.  However, in the business world it seems to meet this definition:

un•rea•son•able adjective \-ˈrēz-nə-bəl, -ˈrē-zən-ə-bəl\

: not fair, sensible, or appropriate : not reasonable

a :  not governed by or acting according to reason<unreasonable people>

b :  not conformable to reason :  absurd <unreasonable beliefs>

:  exceeding the bounds of reason or moderation <working under unreasonable pressure>

For example, when someone says that they are looking for ABC service at a reasonable price, it usually means at an absurdly low price or free.  I understand that a reasonable price is relative to what that person perceives the cost should be, but it seems that most people that use the word “reasonable” perceive the cost to be well below industry standards.  In my personal experience, it seems to be the perceived cost is low because a) the person does not see the value in the service to begin with; or b) they do not understand the amount of effort, time and energy that may be put into such a project to achieve their desired result.  Either way, when someone uses the word reasonable when inquiring about my services, a red flag is waved.  More than likely, they have received other quotes and did not like the pricing or did not feel them to be reasonable.

Time constraints seem to be another area I often hear the word reasonable used.  For example, someone needs a project/service completed in a reasonable amount of time.  Usually this tends to mean an unreasonably short amount of time.  Sometimes the offender is the service provider with an unreasonably long amount of time to complete the project.  Again, I understand that perception may play a large role in what someone deems to be reasonable or unreasonable, but I have to believe that deep down they know it may be a bit absurd.

Have you had a similar experience with the use of the word “reasonable?”

 

reasonable-usually-means-unreasonable

Writers Block Tips

What To Do When You Have Nothing To Write About

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They say every great writer experiences writer’s block…well; I’m not a great writer.  I enjoy writing and I see it as a creative outlet for my brain to dump out its contents.  However, sometimes it’s content is empty and I cannot think of anything to write about.  That is my writer’s block.  It seems to happen more often when I am feeling stressed or approaching a potential burn out.  I have to admit that I place a bit of added anxiety on myself by stressing about not having anything to write about.  Today has been one of those days and I decided to turn to my favorite source for inspiration, motivation and ideas:  the Internet.

Here are some helpful tips to get past writer’s block that I found from around the web:

“7 Ways To Overcome Writer’s Block”, by Chuck Sambuchino
Notable tip:  Write while you are sleeping by using your mind’s night activity to problem solve a writing solution.

“Writing Tips:  Strategies for Overcoming Writer’s Block,” The University of Illinois – The Center for Writing Studies
Notable tip:  Try freewriting, a method of writing everything about your topic that comes to your brain for a specified period of time.  Try doing this for 10 minutes.

“How to Get Past the 10 Most Debilitating Sources of Writer’s Block,” by Corey Eridon
Notable tip:  If you are not in the mood to write, try creating a bit of competition for yourself with the laptop trick.  Unplug and move into a room free of distractions with just the laptop and its battery pack.  Your challenge is to finish writing your post before your battery runs out.

I thought that these three articles had some great tips on working past my writer’s block.  It would help if I could get myself to relax a bit more and release some of this stress, but I’m working on that element.  In the meantime, it gave me some great fodder to write this post and excellent strategies to use when I sit down again to write. 🙂

 

Writers Block Tips