Beyond the Rhetoric

With the rising popularity of social media and social networking, some people are struggling to define their boundaries. What is fair game to disclose online and what should be kept private? This is a question that is largely a matter of personal preference, but there are a few general guidelines that you may want to keep in mind.

The Personal is Public?

Speaking for myself, I tend to vary my Twitter updates to include both professional and personal interests. I’ll talk about the business of freelance writing, but I’ll also send out the occasional TwitPic with a shot of what I made for lunch. I feel this helps to reinforce that I am indeed a real person and not just an online persona.

This may make it seem like I am living and describing the entirety of my life online, but that’s not completely true. There are obviously still some aspects and areas in my life that I’d like to keep private.

This exact sentiment was expressed by Darren Barefoot a while back on his blog. He’s much less likely to discuss the most personal areas of his personal life, but he’ll gladly blog about the conferences he attends or the international traveling he enjoys.

Only You Are Online?

In general, one rule that I try to follow is to keep my tweeting to myself. What this means is that I may talk about my own observations, but I minimize any specific mention of friends or family who are not as involved in the social media world. The same can be said about Facebook updates too.

The exception to this rule is when I talk with or about other social media enthusiasts. This is a part of my marketing strategy, but it’s also to interact with the online community. Mentioning some of the other Dot Com Pho regulars is perfectly acceptable, for instance, but if something is said to me in confidence, I will respect those wishes accordingly.

An Indelible Mark on the Web

Remember that the Internet is forever. Even if you choose to delete that update or remove that picture, it has already been archived some place. Without too much effort, just about anyone can dig it back up.

Don’t post anything online that you will regret down the road. Naturally, you’ll want to avoid posting information that could lend itself to identity theft too. That’s not something that you’d like to experience, I’m sure.

How do you manage your public and private lives? What do you post and what don’t you post?

We’ve all been there. We’ve all been overwhelmed with our work at times, wishing that there were more hours in the day so that we could get more accomplished. Unless the Earth suddenly starts to slow down, we’re still going to have only 24 hours in a day, so the onus is on us to improve our productivity.

I came across this three-step solution a while back and, for the life of me, I can’t recall its exact origin. If you know the source of these productivity tips, feel free to let us know through the comment form below.

No matter the source of your motivation, let’s figure out how you can accomplish more with your life.

1. One Thing at a Time

Contrary to popular belief and widespread practice, it’s usually not in your best interest to keep as any balls in the air as you can. In fact, it turns out that multitasking stunts your productivity. By trying to do more, you end up doing less.

This is partly because you were never wired to do more than one thing at a time. Even though you think you’re multitasking, you are only focusing on a single task at any given time. The reason why multitasking doesn’t work is that you take momentary breaks when switching between tasks.

Be like a dog in the hunt. Stay focused on the goal at hand and get the job done.

2. Most Important Thing First

So, we’ve learned that the most productive strategy is to focus on a single task at any given time. The trouble is that many of us get distracted with tasks that don’t really matter.

How much of your day is wasted on playing games, surfing Facebook, and checking your email? These are pleasant distractions, to be sure, but they aren’t doing anything for your productivity. Instead, you are much better off spending time on the things that truly matter.

Yes, you should definitely still take breaks. They exist to save your sanity and can help in the long run, but when you are working, work on the tasks that are most important to you.

3. Start Now

And this is the productivity tip that seems to give people the most trouble. They may know to focus on one thing at a time and they may know that the most important things should come first, but they may not be quite as inclined to make that first step. Nothing will get accomplished if you do nothing at all.

Do you hope for brighter days? Do you wish for a better job? Well, stop hoping and wishing. You need to start doing and you need to start doing right now. There is no time like the present. Go. Change the world, one task at a time.

Are you ready for some football?! Today’s the big day that will see the New Orleans Saints take on the Indianapolis Colts, almost perfectly mirroring the Super Bowl prediction I made two months ago. It’s going to be a great game and we’re going to be bombarded with all sorts of sweet commercials too.

To help prepare for the final game in the NFL post-season, I thought I’d dedicated this edition of the Sunday Snippet to a series of quotes from football personalities. It would impossible to list all the great football quotes from over the years, so I had to select just a few. If you have a favorite football-related quote to share, feel free to let everyone know about it through the comment form below!

Let’s get started. Huddle up!

Brett Favre:

“You’re never guaranteed about next year. People ask what you think of next season, you have to seize the opportunities when they’re in front of you.”

Yes, many people aren’t happy with Brett Favre’s decisions to retire, unretire, retire, and then unretire again, but you have to acknowledge that he is easily one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. He knows to seize every opportunity, because you can’t know when you’ll have another chance.

Bill Belichick:

“You can play hard. You can play aggressive. You can give 120%, but if one guy is out of position then someone’s running through the line of scrimmage and he’s going to gain a bunch of yards.”

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick got all caught up in that Spygate scandal leading up to Super Bowl XLII, but he is still an expert strategist. At the same time, he also knows that you can’t control everything. The entire team has to be on the same page and put in the same exceptional effort.

Drew Brees:

“You can’t give the other team an opportunity when we have them 21-3 to come back and make it almost a 21-17 game…. Our offense played winning football. We didn’t play championship football.”

Will the former Chargers QB lead the Saints to their first ever Super Bowl victory? This is the first ever Super Bowl appearance for New Orleans, so they’ve already outperformed all expectations. Now they need to show that they can play championship football.

Peyton Manning:

“You hear about how many fourth quarter comebacks that a guy has and I think it means a guy screwed up in the first three quarters.”

The Indianapolis Colts quarterback has been to the big dance before, so he has a slightly different perspective than Drew Brees. Remember that a single great act may not be able to negate several poor efforts. Don’t be a victim of “too little, too late.”

Vince Lombardi:

“If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, why do they keep score?”

Or, as Homer Simpson once so eloquently paraphrased, “Remember what Vince Lombardi said. If you lose, you’re out of the family!”

It’s easy for freelance writers to pigeon-hole themselves into one particular type of writing within one particular niche. This may be work for some people, since they can better position themselves as experts in their fields, but I’m more inclined to diversify my interests.

In an effort to further legitimize my position as a professional writer, I took the leap into print. Yes, the rumors are true: I co-wrote a book with a certain Internet marketer.

Roadmap of a Dot Com Mogul

In case you didn’t catch the most recent episode of Dot Com Pho or read about it on his blog, John Chow and I partnered up to produce a book that talks about the business of making money from a blog. It’s called Make Money Online: Roadmap of a Dot Com Mogul and it’s being published through Morgan James Publishing, the same people who published The AdSense Code by Joel Comm.

Two Heads Are Better than One

They say that you should stick with your strengths and outsource all the rest. That is the fundamental philosophy behind this book. John Chow is well-known as a successful Internet marketer and he knows more than a couple of things about how to make a buck. However, his writing skills leave much to be desired. I, on the other hand, happen to be a better writer, but I’m not as well versed with the marketing and money-making aspects of running a successful blog.

So, Make Money Online is largely from John’s perspective, talking about his particular journey and outlining some very specific advice, but it is actually written by me. We combine our respective strengths for the best possible product.

While there is plenty of freedom that comes with working at home, many freelance writers still find themselves trading hours for dollars. By co-writing a book like this, I hope to find a respectable source of passive income. This publishing process has taken a lot longer than we expected, so it’d better be worth it.

Coming to a Bookstore Near You

The book has been sent to the printers, but the actual release date has not yet been confirmed. Follow me on Twitter for the latest updates and you should be able to find Make Money Online: Roadmap of a Dot Com Mogul through major retailers like Chapters and Amazon. Wish us luck!

The day will soon be upon us. While there is certainly a lot of attention being paid to the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts for Super Bowl XLIV, there is a lot of attention paid to what happens between snaps too. There’s a lot of money to be spent (and made) with Super Bowl commercials.

It is during the Super Bowl that some of the biggest names in their respective industries come forward with new ad campaigns. We’ve seen everything from the Budweiser frogs and the Budweiser horses. I’ll be watching the game, to be sure, but I’ll try to catch some of these new television commercials too.

From what I hear, the price of a 30-second ad spot is slightly lower this year compared to last year. In 2009, a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl fetched about $3 million a piece. This year, it’s expected to be “only” between $2.5 million and $2.8 million. What a bargain!

One of my favorite Super Bowl ads in recent memory has to be the E*TRADE baby. Hilarious. What about you? What’s your favorite?