As a fan of a football team which gets much of its inspiration from the Song of the same name - Blue Moons mean a lot to me.
But I never really understood what it meant until a week ago. You see a Blue Moon - isn't actually blue (but you knew that, didn't you...)
It's all about how many times the moon becomes full in a month. Normally, its once but once in a blue moon - it happens twice - hence the saying.
The second full moon of the month in August will occur today on Friday, Aug. 31, a phenomenon which only happens seven times every 19 years or roughly once every two and a half years.
It takes the moon 27.3 days to complete its full orbit around the Earth. In order for two full moons to land during the same calendar month, one must be at the very beginning and the other at the very end.
Interesting huh? So Mashable (where the above explaination comes from) asks a good question - what are you going to do to celebrate this Blue Moon.
Well, myself, my answer came in a dream. I kid you not.
So I am going to do something for charity - I am going to create an application, a social application, maybe become a mobile application which will incentivise people to give more money to charity.
Not a light task - but one inspired by FreakEconomics - which I watched last night.
And one also inspired by a good friend of mine, who last week, asked in a way only a good and old friend can (over a heart to heart over a beer.)
"Dan what happened to you man....all this clever marketing stuff is all very well, but I met someone better than that, its very clever, but where's the heart?"
I paraphase but you get the idea. And you know what I couldnt answer him.
I tried with the fact that my trainings empower people especially young and new business owners and small business owners who want to make their lives better and with them the world.
I spluttered something about how my new idea with Massmob would help the app ecosystem and give part time mobile developers more money which helps our economy.
I challenged him with how I used to work for charities but they barely listened and didnt change quick enough and were annoying!
I did lots but in the end I knew he was right - "Where was the heart?"
So here's the heart - here's the idea. Here is me using some of my talents and time to do something to give something back - to do something purely for charity.
And so I need your help - as this idea might be genius, rubbish, illegal or just plain stupid. All I know is that it comes from the right place.
We can all be Altruistic - once in a blue moon.
Find out more and give me your thoughts here.
Friday 31 August 2012
Thursday 30 August 2012
Hmmm. Interesting. Perhaps both is best. Having a job and making a business.
According to the survey results from the recent EVG Research Survey, nearly half of their members and subscribers own a business in one form or another.
Let’s take a closer look at the survey results...from 5000 of their members.
• 25% make under $30,000 per year (USD)
• 21% make between $30,000 - $50,000 per year
• 34% make between $50,000 - $100,000 per year
• 18% make between $100,000 - $250,000 per year
• 2% make MORE than $250,000 per year
BUT...when you break it down to those who identified themselves as “employees” only, or employees who also run a part-time business, and those who run full-time businesses, there are some interesting trends:
As having at least a part-time business helps you easily move up an income bracket ... If you just want to boost your chance at making over $100K per year, hanging on to your job AND starting a part-time business appears to be the best bet.
BUT ... if you want to have a chance at making at least $250k per year or more, owning your own business more than quadruples your chance.
So having your own business is a good idea. But having a part time business as well as a job is a better idea. Hmmm. Interesting.
But are there businesses out there you can do part time, from your laptop, after your job from 9-5? Are their businesses you could run and make money from, from your mobile phone. The mind boogles.
Let’s take a closer look at the survey results...from 5000 of their members.
• 25% make under $30,000 per year (USD)
• 21% make between $30,000 - $50,000 per year
• 34% make between $50,000 - $100,000 per year
• 18% make between $100,000 - $250,000 per year
• 2% make MORE than $250,000 per year
BUT...when you break it down to those who identified themselves as “employees” only, or employees who also run a part-time business, and those who run full-time businesses, there are some interesting trends:
As having at least a part-time business helps you easily move up an income bracket ... If you just want to boost your chance at making over $100K per year, hanging on to your job AND starting a part-time business appears to be the best bet.
BUT ... if you want to have a chance at making at least $250k per year or more, owning your own business more than quadruples your chance.
So having your own business is a good idea. But having a part time business as well as a job is a better idea. Hmmm. Interesting.
But are there businesses out there you can do part time, from your laptop, after your job from 9-5? Are their businesses you could run and make money from, from your mobile phone. The mind boogles.
Thursday 23 August 2012
How much does the first hour of every day matter? As it turns out, a lot.
It can be the hour you see everything clearly, get one real thing done, and focus on the human side of work rather than your task list.
All of which will make us happier human beings... rather than human doings (or human goings...sic Bart Simpson)
Ask motivational speaker Tony Robbins, career writer (and Fast Company blogger) Brian Tracy, and others, and they’ll tell you it makes a big difference.
Here are the first items on their daily to-do list.
Don’t Check Your Email for the First Hour. Seriously. Stop That.
Tumblr founder David Karp will “try hard” not to check his email until 9:30 or 10 a.m., according to an Inc. profile of him. “Reading e-mails at home never feels good or productive,” Karp said. “If something urgently needs my attention, someone will call or text me.”
Not all of us can roll into the office whenever our Vespa happens to get us there, but most of us with jobs that don’t require constant on-call awareness can trade e-mail for organization and single-focus work. It’s an idea that serves as the title of Julie Morgenstern’s work management book Never Check Email In The Morning, and it’s a fine strategy for leaving the office with the feeling that, even on the most over-booked days, you got at least one real thing done.
If you need to make sure the most important messages from select people come through instantly, AwayFind can monitor your inbox and get your attention when something notable arrives. Otherwise, it’s a gradual but rewarding process of training interruptors and coworkers not to expect instantaneous morning response to anything they send in your off-hours.
Gain Awareness, Be Grateful
One smart, simple question on curated Q & A site Quora asked “How do the most successful people start their day?”. The most popular response came from a devotee of Tony Robbins, the self-help guru who pitched the power of mindful first-hour rituals long before we all had little computers next to our beds.
Robbins suggests setting up an “Hour of Power,” “30 Minutes to Thrive,” or at least “Fifteen Minutes to Fulfillment.” Part of it involves light exercise, part of it involves motivational incantations, but the most accessible piece involves 10 minutes of thinking of everything you’re grateful for: in yourself, among your family and friends, in your career, and the like. After that, visualize “everything you want in your life as if you had it today.”
Which is odd as this is what I do - but at the end of the day - perhaps I will change that.
Do the Big, Shoulder-Sagging Stuff First
Brian Tracy’s classic time-management book Eat That Frog gets its title from a Mark Twain saying that, if you eat a live frog first thing in the morning, you’ve got it behind you for the rest of the day, and nothing else looks so bad.
Combine that with the concept of getting one thing done before you wade into email, and you’ve got a day-to-day system in place.
Which is all very well - but how do you actually do it. I know my frog already. It's been sitting looking at me from my to do list for over 6 months now.
Here’s how to force yourself to stick to it: Choose Your Frog
"Choose your frog, and write it down on a piece of paper that you'll see when you arrive back at your desk in the morning, Tripani advises."If you can, gather together the material you'll need to get it done and have that out, too."
Ask Yourself If You’re Doing What You Want to Do
Feeling unfulfilled at work shouldn’t be something you realize months too late, or even years. Consider making an earnest attempt every morning at what the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs told a graduating class at Stanford to do:
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
“Customer Service” (or Your Own Equivalent)
Your own version of customer service might be keeping in touch with contacts from year-ago projects, checking in with coworkers you don’t regularly interact with, asking questions of mentors, and just generally handling the human side of work that quickly gets lost between task list items.
I love all the above - so watch out world. Tomorrow morning I am going to call some people, get my book up on Amazon and finish off the websites ;) Now that is quite some FROG :)
All of which will make us happier human beings... rather than human doings (or human goings...sic Bart Simpson)
Ask motivational speaker Tony Robbins, career writer (and Fast Company blogger) Brian Tracy, and others, and they’ll tell you it makes a big difference.
Here are the first items on their daily to-do list.
Don’t Check Your Email for the First Hour. Seriously. Stop That.
Tumblr founder David Karp will “try hard” not to check his email until 9:30 or 10 a.m., according to an Inc. profile of him. “Reading e-mails at home never feels good or productive,” Karp said. “If something urgently needs my attention, someone will call or text me.”
Not all of us can roll into the office whenever our Vespa happens to get us there, but most of us with jobs that don’t require constant on-call awareness can trade e-mail for organization and single-focus work. It’s an idea that serves as the title of Julie Morgenstern’s work management book Never Check Email In The Morning, and it’s a fine strategy for leaving the office with the feeling that, even on the most over-booked days, you got at least one real thing done.
If you need to make sure the most important messages from select people come through instantly, AwayFind can monitor your inbox and get your attention when something notable arrives. Otherwise, it’s a gradual but rewarding process of training interruptors and coworkers not to expect instantaneous morning response to anything they send in your off-hours.
Gain Awareness, Be Grateful
One smart, simple question on curated Q & A site Quora asked “How do the most successful people start their day?”. The most popular response came from a devotee of Tony Robbins, the self-help guru who pitched the power of mindful first-hour rituals long before we all had little computers next to our beds.
Robbins suggests setting up an “Hour of Power,” “30 Minutes to Thrive,” or at least “Fifteen Minutes to Fulfillment.” Part of it involves light exercise, part of it involves motivational incantations, but the most accessible piece involves 10 minutes of thinking of everything you’re grateful for: in yourself, among your family and friends, in your career, and the like. After that, visualize “everything you want in your life as if you had it today.”
Which is odd as this is what I do - but at the end of the day - perhaps I will change that.
Do the Big, Shoulder-Sagging Stuff First
Brian Tracy’s classic time-management book Eat That Frog gets its title from a Mark Twain saying that, if you eat a live frog first thing in the morning, you’ve got it behind you for the rest of the day, and nothing else looks so bad.
Combine that with the concept of getting one thing done before you wade into email, and you’ve got a day-to-day system in place.
Which is all very well - but how do you actually do it. I know my frog already. It's been sitting looking at me from my to do list for over 6 months now.
Here’s how to force yourself to stick to it: Choose Your Frog
"Choose your frog, and write it down on a piece of paper that you'll see when you arrive back at your desk in the morning, Tripani advises."If you can, gather together the material you'll need to get it done and have that out, too."
Ask Yourself If You’re Doing What You Want to Do
Feeling unfulfilled at work shouldn’t be something you realize months too late, or even years. Consider making an earnest attempt every morning at what the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs told a graduating class at Stanford to do:
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
“Customer Service” (or Your Own Equivalent)
Your own version of customer service might be keeping in touch with contacts from year-ago projects, checking in with coworkers you don’t regularly interact with, asking questions of mentors, and just generally handling the human side of work that quickly gets lost between task list items.
I love all the above - so watch out world. Tomorrow morning I am going to call some people, get my book up on Amazon and finish off the websites ;) Now that is quite some FROG :)
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