Category: career
Zen Habits is one of my favorite blogs, and the author offers full permission to share his content. So today I’m reposting one of Leo’s recent articles that really got me thinking, about what discipline really is. Enjoy. The Myth of Discipline Post written by Leo Babauta It’s one of the most prevalent myths of our culture: self discipline. The…
Timed to Cirque du Soleil bringing its new show, Zarkana, to New York this summer, the New York Times offers up a lengthy profile of its creative force, who is described as a “very nice bulldozer.” With the caveat “analyzing his character is challenging since he has few close friends, and even his longtime associates say they hardly know him,”…
Earlier this year, I launched Newvine Growing as a marketing communications consulting firm, with offerings including media training, social media coaching and strategic planning. One of my next steps is providing coaching to those who don’t have the budget for one-on-one consulting but would benefit from a cookbook with guidance on press releases, marketing materials and email newsletters, for example.…
I’m a big fan of setting goals but writing down what I want is not the same as achieving it. My friend, Sara, and I have agreed to hold each other accountable for moving forward on our high-flying aspirations, since creative types often excel at using our creativity to procrastinate in new and interesting ways. That’s why I loved this…
My piano teacher has instructed me that I’m to have a glass of wine before I practice piano. He’s constantly reminding me that it’s OK to make mistakes, that as a beginner I need to make mistakes to learn, and he wants me to give myself permission to be imperfect. Thus the wine, to chill out a bit about whether…
My blogging to-do list includes several stories I’m excited about, so I hope you’ll stop back in the weeks to come for: a profile of Brook Eddy, a single mother of twins who made the unlikely move from nonprofit fundraising to starting a chai tea company that’s approaching $2 million in sales. Brook is an old friend of ours from…
Five years ago, I packed up and moved to Manhattan for my first post-MBA job. John followed about a month later, after managing a speedy sale of our house, thanks in part to our fortuitous timing before the real estate crash. I think five years is long enough to consider myself a real New Yorker. Obviously not a native, but…
I got my first job when I was 16, and before that, I’d been babysitting since middle school. Working for other people is something I’ve had decades of practice doing. Working for myself is new. So I was glad to stumble onto Lorena’s Epiphany, a blog by a Lebanese freelancer with good pointers on how to be successfully self employed.…
I stumbled onto this satirical post recently on Cassie Behle’s blog. It says in part: Because the onset of case of the Mondays’ symptoms almost always appear like clockwork Sunday, some workers often confuse a stubborn hangover for the disease. Doctors nationwide have seen a rash of workers coming into the office and mistaking the two, and are urging workers…
Since arriving in New Orleans Friday, several people have asked us what our goal is for the next six weeks here. Depending on who it is, I might quip back that my goal is to have no goals — to just be, which is the opposite of hyper-achievement oriented New York. But that’s not actually true. My biggest goal is…
When I recently returned from South by Southwest Interactive, I couldn’t quite put my finger on why the 20,000-person tech festival fires me up so much. Sure, there’s a lot going on — compelling speakers, rockin’ parties, huge crowds on the sidewalks. But for a woman who lives in New York, it’s not like I couldn’t access those things any…
A few days ago I offered a list of Newvine Growing’s greatest hits — the posts I’ve written in the last two years that have gotten the most traffic. Today I’ll do the opposite and serve up a list of some of the least-read posts. I’m curating these to look for posts I actually liked that never got traction, as…
I’ll be in Austin for the next several days at the geek spring break known as South by Southwest Interactive — all manner of people interested in the Web, mobile, social media and video games, among other things, descend on a city with the unofficial motto “Keep Austin Weird.” It’s an excellent experience because you almost can’t help but have…
I have always been a girl with a plan. I lived life like a chess game, thinking through how my current move will ripple through three moves ahead: Getting good grades in high school would help me get into college Doing internships during college would help me land a job after graduation Taking a job at a small newspaper would…
I’m not the biggest sports fan but I do think sports offers some excellent life lessons. For example, I’ve always liked the saying “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” Babe Ruth, considered one of the best baseball players of all time, hit 60 home runs in 1927, breaking his own record as the all-time single-season HR…
This has been a week of a deep dive into farmers, farming and the food supply — I spent Monday-Friday in Baltimore at the North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association convention, then Saturday watching the live stream of TEDxManhattan, an all-day seminar called “Changing the Way We Eat.” This is all education in support of launching my new marketing…
“Feel the fear and do it anyway” ~ Susan Jeffers I’m blessed to have some fabulous people in my life, including career coach Kim Ann Curtin. Kim met with me recently to help me strategize about where my career is headed and how to get there. As we talked about various possibilities, Kim asked what I was afraid of. My…
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back — concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.…
Now you have to know I’d love a story that starts like this one in the Brooklyn Paper recently: Mavis Staples is the queen of reinvention. The Chicago-based singer and civil rights icon has been a staple on the gospel circuit for over 50 years, making her name foremost in spirituals with her family’s group, the Staple Singers, who added…