Start a Business for the Win, Part 1: Yes, YOU Can
Originally published by DC EcoWomen on April 15th, 2015. If you’re thinking about starting a business, congratulations! Anyone can start a business. All you need is your idea, your goals, and a business model (and probably a website). Here are some things to consider as you plan your business: Find your niche – No market is […]
Constructive Criticism Isn’t Everything
Why is criticism, even constructive criticism, hard to hear? An Iranian friend said, “the first thing I learned when I moved to the United States is that you never admit that you’re wrong.” Whoa. It made me think about our tendency to defend ourselves when we receive criticism. For many of us it takes intention, […]
Rings Are Just Things: Letting Go
I grew up around my grandparents. My mom’s parents and my dad’s mom lived close, and we saw them often. It was wonderful to have them nearby: I had two homes-away-from-home where I knew I belonged; where there were adults other than my parents ready to play with me, cook with me, and as I got older, […]
Know Your Limits
This post is (mostly) for introverts. Everyone has limits. Your mind and body can only handle so much before you become useless to the world. Across the introvert-extrovert scale, people’s limits vary. Introverts “may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas.” (Susan […]
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel: Create Templates
At a lot of jobs and in life, there are tasks you will have to do over and over – emails to send, meetings to run, presentations to write, events to plan. Often these tasks will be months apart from each other. As you design the meeting or event in the present, it’s obvious how to do […]
Are Your Dreams Actually Goals?
I recently said the following: “I’m leaving my position at this company to pursue my dream of starting a business.” Then I read Bullish: Some Dreams Are Stupid and realized that starting a business isn’t a dream. It’s a goal. People say dream when they mean goal. Maybe it’s because dreams are unintentional – you can’t […]
Weekly Tweaks: Break Down Big Projects
Monday – post tweaks, write, read book; Tuesday – write before work, draft pitch; Wednesday – write, update website, post; Thursday – write; Friday – write before work; Saturday – post. Thursday and Friday were days with social plans after work, no reason to schedule those days heavily. Success rate 80% Don’t set up the impossible […]
Strive for Kindness
Being nice is fine. It’s good to be agreeable in new situations. It’s good to be polite to people you don’t know.
Except when it’s not. Except when you need to look out for yourself, or someone is being a creep, or smiling feels fake because it’s a serious situation.
Weekly Tweaks: If You Didn’t Do It, Maybe It’s Not Important
Tweak It 1/26 – 2/1: Monday – write, email Pam, type up notes; Tuesday – write, send pitch, tally rent and groceries; Wednesday – no computer, finish Assassin; Thursday, write, send silent auction info; Friday – write, research. Success rate 77% Be flexible! I did most tasks on different days than I planned. Although Tweak It encourages you […]
Just Don’t Do It
You probably have a To Do list(s). Perhaps you keep it on scraps of paper, or in your phone, or in task management software, or (bad idea) in your brain. At any given time…
