Bloggertone

Anyone who has read my Bloggertone posts for the last year will know that I have a keen passion about productivity and making oneself more effective. A few weeks ago I posted a video in my Tumblr blog, about a productivity method called the “Pomodoro Technique”. The Pomodoro Technique is a productivity approach that focuses on overcoming what many see as the biggest barrier to productivity, namely multitasking. Implementing the Pomodoro Technique in 5 steps Decide what task you…

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I was asked today by a business associate, and friend for some pre-blogging advice. So rather than e-mail back an answer, I thought I’d share my thoughts here by way of a blog post. Let me start by saying that I don’t consider myself a blogging expert, in fact, I consistently find how little I know each day, in how much more there is left for me to still find out. That said I have learned some lessons over the years that I believe are pretty solid advice for anyone starting out, so here…

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I took up running recently and joined a club. Now, I’m pretty much hooked on it. Running has all the advantages one would expect: fitness, weight loss and general sense of well-being. One distinct advantage that I hadn’t expected though, is how sociable it is (provided you join a club of course). My business model is one of self employment, supported by a network of associates. It’s working extremely well for me. It keeps costs and admin time to a minimum, and a small but…

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I have no doubt that many of you, like myself have encountered ‘unconscious’ behaviour in others. A major step towards recognising such behaviours is being ‘reflexive’. Although a strong buzz word in the world of education and facilitation, I truly believe this is a useful tool to have knowledge of in the business world also. What does it mean? I hear some of you say. Basically being reflexive means owning your own ‘stuff’.  This entails becoming familiar with your own living…

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The book I’m currently reading is called “When Pride Still Mattered”, which is a biography of Vince Lomabardi, one of the most successful and famous American Football coaches, in the history of the game.  During the 1960s he coached his team (The Green Bay Packers) to 5 championship titles, including a famous three in a row in 1965, 1966 and 1967. In the book you get a real insight into the man, his character, what made him a great leader, and how he was able to successfully motivate his…

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The word “competition” conjures up an unforgiving testing concept where there can be only one winner and everyone else involved is a loser. “Competition” applied to a business setting creates a similar negative impression and is a view that tends to forget running a business is about servicing and meeting customers’ needs and not about your business being the best player in the field. Collaboration on the other hand – defined as joint working arrangements…

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As a small business owner, you ARE your business. If you have ever seen any of the worldwide Dragon’s Den type programmes on the TV, you will observe that the dragons invest in the person behind the business as much as the concept itself. It is important for the business owner, to constantly watch trends, be familiar with their market, and adapt to the changes that invariably happen. We also need to keep an eagle eye on what the competition is up to, and notice what they are changing, and are…

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Don’t think about white bears. We hear a lot of goal setting and, as a coach, this is one of the most common activities I do with my clients. So how could goal setting be bad? There is an interesting post from Psyblog that discusses the downside to goal setting. So what’s the big deal? Goals are necessary. They show us the way to go. If my business needs more clients or I need to get administrative tasks done, it helps to focus the thought into a mini-action plan. However, the…

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I labelled this post a little dishonestly, simply because my week is blurring in distinction between “work week” and “weekend”. Through tried and tested measures (which I will not share here), I have discovered my most creative time of the week, is Monday morning. I do not dedicate this time to “work” but doing creative things that I love that indirectly generate income. I tweet a lot about “Hump Day”, simply because some of my clients are M-F, 9-5 workers, and Hump Day is the…

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Mykidstime’s mission is to be the best listings website for parents looking for information on activities and classes for their children in their local area (in Ireland). Disclaimer: I have been helping them with their Facebook presence. Growing your Facebook fan base is about nurturing and caring for your community, providing them with content, conversations and activities that are especially for them. The following are some of the ideas we’ve implemented at Mykidstime to help grow…

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