Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness.

Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.

— Louise Erdrich from The Painted Drum

Nobody knows its empty
this smile that I wear…
the real one is left in the past
because you have left me there…

Nobody knows I’m crying
they won’t even see my tears…
when they think that I am laughing
I’m still wishing you were here…

Nobody knows it’s painful
they think that I am strong…
they say that this won’t kill me
but I wonder if they’re wrong…

Nobody knows I’m praying
that you will change your mind…
they think that I let you go
when you left me behind…

Nobody knows I miss you
they think I feel set free…
but I feel like I’m bound with chains
trapped in pain, mystery and uncertainty…

Nobody knows I need you
they say that I can do it on my own…
but they don’t know I’m crying
when I’m all alone…

Avoid The Pseudo-Work Trap. Produce greater results using separate, focused bursts.

As he was doing research for his book, published author and Georgetown University Computer Sciences Professor Cal Newport discovered that many straight-A students spent less time studying than most people thought.

Newport breaks it down on his blog:

If this sounds unbelievable, it is probably because you subscribe to the following formula:

work accomplished = time spent studying

The more time you study the more work you accomplish. The more work you accomplish, the better your grades. Ergo, straight A’s imply more work. Right? Then how do you explain me and my interview subjects…

To understand our accomplishment, you must understand the following, more accurate formula:

work accomplished = time spent x intensity of focus

To further illustrate his point, Newport shares an example:

Intensity of Focus over Time for Marathon Session Approach

hour 1 : 10
hour 2 : 9
hour 3 : 5
hour 4 : 2
hour 5-10 : 1

[For math geeks, this is standard exponential decay.]

If we take the area under this curve, we see that the pseudo-worker has accomplished: 32 units of work.

Now let’s consider another approach. Assume, instead, that you break up the paper writing into two bursts. One burst you do for two hours Saturday afternoon. The other burst you do for two hours on Sunday morning. The long gap in between ensures your focus can recharge. Following the rates of focus decay used above, your chart looks like:

Intensity of Focus over Time for Short Burst Approach
hour 1 (sat) : 10
hour 2 (sat) : 9
hour 3 (sun) : 10
hour 4 (sun) : 9

Clearly, this work schedule is much less painful. Just two hours at a time. And a whole day separating the two sessions. However, when we calculate the area under this curve, we see that the short burst approach accomplished: 38 units of work!

Don’t expect better results simply by putting in more hours, and don’t do ineffective pseudo-work just because it makes you feel productive (or less guilty). Instead, work in short bursts in order to make sure your focus gets a recharge and become more effective and efficient.

This was a monumental birthday for me.

I did not make a big fuss over it. But I’ve decided now, it’s not too late. I’ve decided to make this a monumental year based on a prayer. I pray this year for release from all that will keep me small. It’s courageous because it invites the spirit to rearrange my molecules… and molecular redesign can be unsettling.

I pray that the spirit will release all my self-limiting beliefs, fears and footholds of ego. Each arises  to the surface begging to be nursed by remorse, guilt, or self-condemnation. I release them all. I realize that I don’t need to know how to fix what has kept me small.

I am being given the opportunity to gift it over to the spirit, in this monumental year. As the greatest recycling plant in the universe, the spirit will simply requalify what I no longer need. I am therefore decluttering for a glorious year – giving away all that has kept me small… grateful for the incredible decade ahead.

Deeply profound, if you can make it through the text.

Adapted from Em Pablo

Heart, no longer homeless

In the winter, my heart, such as drifting snow, misty and lonely, difficult settled.

A long period of time, I will hide mood, I would not want it put into words.  Beginning of spring, someone, something that really touched me, struck a chord.

I have to go slowly. I do not want to heart, wandering aimlessly.

Work too long, exercise too little, too little rest, find nourishment solely on four dollar Häagen-Dazs, wear discounted karen millen dresses. Passing a trace of panic in my heart. It seems, anxious, but not enough. I planned to quickly complete the tapestry “Love Eternal” cross stitch.

Some friends say you are so like the words of a woman, you put a lot of time in cross stitch, strange pity. I laugh lightly, do cross-stitch when I was very quiet. In the go-between, return to the original simple, trance, and I feel even thousands of years ago came through time and space, I am the embodiment of the inner woman to do embroidery. Heart, full of tenderness. Earth, being far away from me up.

Shu seen my persistent effort, he was afraid I was tired, and he was a bit distressed, advised me to give up; Shu said, “you should not have, you do not do a stitch! “He knows me, knows my biggest pains and passion. I have my own ideas, I would like Shu birthday, gave him this tapestry. Such a gift would be so special ah,  karen millen dresses discount where each stitch, all loaded with my deep love, with my best wishes!

So I work on, sewing up cross stitch. My hands sweat easily, too hot, needs to be cooler to continue, to do cross stitch, simple and bright and clean. But, away from the normal hustle and bustle, far away from friends and the familiar because of cross stitch, and my heart something missing. I’m afraid to become no feeling, no thought, no reflection, no self, no connection of the people.

Things like Love not given, I am still somewhat a touch of melancholy and a little empty feeling.

Women’s tenacity and passion red arm bands, infected me, ideas of perfection moved me. I like finding beauty, seeing joy, understanding sadness, listening to the philosophical words of friends.  Reading other people’s writing, running my own life. I can be ordinary, but I do not want nothing to do; I can be small, but I can’t stand no pursuit; I can be alone, but I don’t want to spend the night with me … Simple. Desolate. Lonely.

Leave yourself lightly. Your heart will find quiet peace, the beauty of bloom, from the impact of seasonal cycle, this is my persistence, the source of my efforts. Hard wind and rain came and I wonder if I have enough courage and wisdom to deal with.

I always seek strength from the words and inspiration. Contradiction, indecision, wandering, struggling in the inevitable course of my life, I always tried to control myself, laughing tears, tearful smile. I want quiet, quiet heart, happy calm. To feel the pace of time become light and beautiful.  A certain period after an uncertain day. Different ages, different seasons, different state of mind, read the same text, see different sentiment.

Network too much, read many books that the scent of ink pervaded. I’m not uptight, except in books, I pay attention. I cherish books, get four times more online. Holding books to read, free and leisurely; online, convenient and comfortable. Always feel like I’m searching for that one cherished gem to place by the pillow. I can lean on it. I can hold it into sweet sleep.

In this life, I will forge deep affinity. I can not live up to the edge. I wish my heart, no longer wandering, no longer homeless to happiness in the text, in the arms and quiet.

My heart, this settled

Radio DJ discusses our new exclusive social media program for businesses, individuals and organizations.

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If I could play “Startup Angel” for a day and could accomplish whatever I wanted, one of my chief goals would be to reduce the barriers that make it unnecessarily difficult for small and innovative businesses to succeed. Such entrepreneurial companies are the lifeblood of our economy, so anything we can do to help them rise to a sustainable level of success is of utmost importance.

In a world of changing business practices, social media and digital technology, many of these businesses need practical and proven systems to leverage new media easily and effectively.

I’d provide a simple easy-to-use platform to bridges the gap between the current business practices and the digital system of the future, with practical features all crafted to improve one’s success in social media. I would help businesses win in an environment where being in the game is not enough.  Success lies in being ahead of the game.

I’d help these entrepreneurs understand what resources are available to them, like this great site, Weebly.com, that enables small business owners to build and host a website or blog free with a simple drag and drop interface and online Reputation Management tools for monitoring your  brand, like Google Alerts which are email updates of the latest relevant Google results based on your choice of query or topic, Backtype for monitoring blog comments and Yahoo! Pipes another good tool for aggregating and combining feeds into one central repository.

I’d let them know they can conduct a name search, or find various topics they are interested in and then subscribe via RSS on Twitter. Or they could use Twilert and TweetBeep to receive email alerts.

I’d help them find great content on Social Mention, a social media search engine that searches user-generated content such as blogs, comments, bookmarks, events, news, videos, and microblogging services. And FriendFeed, a social aggregator that takes all of your social accounts, such as YouTube, Delicious, Twitter, blog, and Flickr, and pull them together into a single (Friend) feed.

I’d tell these entrepreneurs about Scribd & Docstoc which have brilliant powerpoint presentations on every topic imaginable, document sharing, and knowledge exchange.

I’d make sure they new about  Entrepreneur Assist where they can get business templates to build a business plan, schedule events and reminders, create text documents, spreadsheets and presentations, and hold live online meetings with customers and colleagues.

The exciting thing is all these tools were designed and built by entrepreneurs just like us.

While it’s a safe bet that I’ll never be “Startup Angel” for a day, the good news is I do have the opportunity to share these ideas with entrepreneurs. And so do you.

Shoot me a message on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or  send me an Email. What other tools do you use that have really helped you take your game to another level?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Our sexuality is all of the ways we strive to reconnect with our world, with each other, and with God. You can’t be connected with God until you’re at peace with who you are.

Lust promises what it can’t deliver.

Lust comes from a deep lack of satisfaction with life. This is why we have to slow down and reflect on our lives before we’ll ever begin to sort out the significance of this. Lust often starts with a thought somewhere in our head or heart: “If I had that/him/her/it, then I’d be …”

This is why gratitude is so central to the life God made us for. Until we can center ourselves on what we do have, on what God has given us, on the life we do get to live, we’ll constantly be looking for another life… trampling on whoever we must to get it. When a human being is mistreated, objectified, or neglected, when they are treated as less than human, these actions are actions against God. And as you ensare another in your lust, you find yourself trapped in the captivity of your own desires.

Often freedom is seen as the ability to do whatever you want. But freedom isn’t being able to have whatever we crave. Sometimes, freedom is going without whatever we crave and being fine with it.

Whatever it is that has its hooks in you, you will never be free from it until you find something you want more. It’s not about getting rid of desire or toning down and repressing your God-given life force. It’s about giving ourselves to bigger and better and more powerful desires. It’s about channeling it and focusing it and turning it loose on something beautiful, something pure and true and good, something that connects you with God, with others, with the world.

How you treat the creation reflects how you feel about the creator.

– Profound Quotes from Rob Bell’s Book

In many countries including the U.S., more Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers. In fact, according to a Google Study, 82% of smartphone users turn to their phone to influence a purchase decision while in a store.

Source: Consumers in the Micro-Moment, Google/Ipsos, US, March 2015, n=5,398, based on internet users

Beating consumer tune out is all about being useful.

Today, consumers are increasingly suffering from information overload.  In the endless stream of tweets, texts, emails, news, interesting articles, stories in our  Facebook feed, constant sales pitches from vendors etc, customers have learned to tune out anything that does not satisfy their needs.  Thus, whenever a consumer goes online to research a product, they expect brands to be there, providing useful, relevant information in real time.

In a recent study on micro-moments, Google discovered that:

• 51% of smart device users have bought goods and services from a brand other than the one they intended because they found more useful information on its site.

• 73% of consumers say that the most important consideration when selecting a brand to buy from is whether the brand provides regular and useful information when they advertise.

• Only 9% of consumers will stay on a site if it does not satisfy their needs. The rest will just move on to a better site. Of the ones that move to a different site, 66% will take steps that may impact your brand negatively i.e.

• 40% will be less inclined to visit that particular app or site again.

• 28% will be less inclined to buy from that brand in future.

So how do you ensure that you are remaining useful to consumers at all times? Google found there were 4 key ways to be useful, influence consumers on their purchase journey and win their decisions:

1. Provide answers to questions your consumers are asking

Most people will go online to find more information about something they saw or heard on TV or in a magazine. These people are just curious and will generally prefer those brands that offer them useful, snackable content, as opposed to those brands strictly giving them a hard sell. If consumers can find all the answers to their questions on your app or site, then then consumers will be more inclined to buy from you.

2. Provide location-based solutions

Google found that 61% of smart phone users said that they were more likely to buy from a brand whose sites and apps provided customized information based on the location of the user. For example, the app could show the consumer a nearby store where the product they searched for is in stock.

3. Teach consumers to do something new

Google found in their study that there were I-want-to-do moments which are all about helping the consumer learn how to do something new. This year, more that 100 million hours of how-to content has been watched in North America alone. Google learned that 48% of consumers will be more inclined to buy from brands whose sites and apps include more instructional video content.

4. Make purchasing faster and easier

Google found that 58% of users are more likely to buy from brands whose sites and apps make purchasing faster and easier. Including online payment options like Google wallet instant buy or Paypal will go a long way to making it easier for consumers to buy from your brand.

In conclusion, in order for brands to win the hearts and minds of consumers, they have to be there, accessible on mobile and providing real-time, relevant solutions that take into account a customer’s needs as well as location.