Rick Klau points to a lawyer who has rebuilt his web site using Movable Type. This furthers the notion that Movable Type can truly serve the content management requirements for a web site – not just a weblog.
Filed under: Careers
To love what you do and feel that it matters – how could anything be more fun?
Filed under: Careers
Here’s a list of the conferences that I’ve either been invited to attend or have plans to attend for the balance of the year. There are simply too many. It’s decision time!
Where are the real values?
| Conference/Activity | Dates | City | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interviews/Meetings | 5/29 to 6/4 | Seattle | n/a |
| Realcom | 6-4, 5 | Chicago | $700 |
| Clickz Weblog Business Strategies | 6-9, 10 | Boston | $895 |
| Tedmed | 6-11, 12 | Philadelphia | $3000 |
| World Technology Network | 6-24, 25 | SanFrancisco | $1950 |
| 802.11 Planet | 6-25 to 27 | Boston | $1195 |
| O’Reilly Open Source Conf. | 7-7 to 11 | Portland | $945 |
| Supernova | 7-8, 9 | D.C. | $1495 |
| Gnomedex 3.0 | 7-25, 26 | Des Moines | $99 |
| PMI | 9-18 to 25 | Baltimore | $? |
| Council of Logistics Mgt. | 9-21 to 24 | Chicago | $1025 |
| APICS | 10-6 to 9 | Las Vegas | $999 |
| PopTech | 10-16 to 19 | Camden (ME) | $1495 |
| INFORMS | 10-19 to 22 | Atlanta | $310 |
| Comdex | 11-15 to 19 | Las Vegas | n/a |
| CDXPO | 11-17 to 21 | Las Vegas | $? |
| ASQ Six Sigma Conference | 2-2, 3 | Phoenix | $? |
Filed under: Careers
If you (and the other reader of this site) have been watching for any length of time at all, you’ve seen numerous links to Po Bronson’s book, What Should I Do With My Life? Since its first mention here in December, it has steadily climbed all the major bestseller lists.
Some things simply bear repeating.
After reading about Dan Miller’s 61-year old client, I recalled a chapter titled The Once-Angry Minister in Bronson’s book. It’s about a lawyer-turned-minister and it is so fitting:
What are we to do with this enhanced story of ourselves? Can what-we-do really be in alignment that deeply with who-we-are? I think it can, if we let ”I’m going to be truer to myself” be the principle that drives our decisions every time we come to a crossroads. Through trial and error, we are pushed to greater recognition about what we really need. The Big Bold Step turns out to be only the first step.
Through the past fifteen years of my career, this notion of alignment has been prevalent. Most often it’s the alignment of activities in a business to achieve a certain end. However, more often than not, it’s also about what the business is doing to really provide the intrinsic rewards that the owner(s) thought s/he might get when they started or bought the business.
It takes an outsider to both see and ask the kinds of questions that haven’t been getting answered for too long. Whether the questions are asked of an individual as s/he focuses on life or whether they are asked of a management team in a small, closely-held company, the goal is the same. ”Please help us find the meaning and significance in what we’re doing or help us get to things that do provide meaning and significance.”
Filed under: Careers
This site is supposed to be about getting out of the rat race and finding meaning and significance in all that you do. For the past few weeks, I’ve been distracted by my own learning curves in some technical areas as well as a few thousand other fires.
Today, we’ll face reality once more.
The cold, hard dash of reality that too many people are facing is summed up in the first article from Dan Miller’s weekly newsletter:
1. CRUSHED SPIRITThis week I saw a 61 yr-old gentleman who lost his job back in October. When a long period of time has passed without a job I always suspect more life issues to be lurking in the sidelines. Yes, his wife left him four months ago, his daughter (”the joy of my life”) got married and moved away five months ago, his investments are now worth less than half what they were 3 years ago, he had worked for the same company for 36 years and now they let him go with a small severance package, he’s unconnected at his church and feels ”rejected on all sides.” He made the last mortgage payment three weeks ago on his dream house that now must be sold to settle the divorce and he’ll likely move into an apartment in town.
Where do we go from here? Proverbs 18:14 tells us ”A man’s spirit sustains him in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?” Or in the Living Bible ”what hope is left?”
Each area of our lives requires that we are making deposits of success. Tiny withdrawals with no deposits will lead to bankruptcy in relationships, physically, spiritually, and socially as well as in jobs and finances. I know that in crisis the area of most pain gets most of our attention. But often it is by making extra deposits in other areas that a person can springboard back to success in even the most critical ones.
My advice: Set aside time for vigorous physical exercise. Walk 3 miles – the feeling will help cleanse and stimulate creativity. Seek out a Godly mentor. Much of the success of AA has been in having another person to call in the lowest times. Read the Bible and other inspirational material at least 2 hours daily. Volunteer for a worthy cause. Helping someone else in need is a great way to ease the inward pain. Get a job – even if it’s not your dream job or a great career move. Deliver pizzas or work in the garden department at Home Depot – to get moving in a positive direction while you continue to build for
long term success.Unfortunately, some losses are irretrievable and some pain is debilitating. If you recognize too many withdrawals in your life, take drastic measures to stop the hemorrhaging – today!
Filed under: Careers
Foxtails, mudflaps and curb feelers for your life!
