We all think we know what success is and how to achieve it. But sometimes we don’t know what success is until it bites us in the face and nips at our nose. Usually (because nothing is 100%) success is based on our personal goals and achievements that are uniquely our own and are shaped by our individual personalities.

   Where is your success? Examine your own ideas about success, then;

Learn to recognize your success. What will your success look like or feel like? Will you be able to recognize it when you reach it? (Trying to keep up with this one or that one is not the way to success.) When you do the best to your ability isn’t that success too? The truth is you can’t do more than you can do.

Define success in your own terms. Forget about other people and their vision of success. Think about what you value, not what others value or say you must or should do.

What do you need to do?  Identify specific things that must be achieved before you reach your own goal. Select one thing that you have already done, and two or three things you can do right now, that will bring you closer to your ultimate success. Then start working on them–today.

Are you close to success now? Take a look at what you’ve already accomplished, and compare your current situation with your position when you started working toward your goals. If you are not closer, maybe you are allowing excuses to get in the way of accomplishment.

After looking at your accomplishments are you closer to your success than you thought?

Kudos.

When answering questions or giving advice, be as open and honest as you can be without your advice or response turning into a lecture.

  1. Be sure you understand the question.  Miscommunication often occurs when you don’t pay close attention to what others are saying. Make sure you understand what you’re being asked before trying to answer. If you do not understand the question, repeat to clarify what you think you heard.

2. Please don’t ramble.  If you know the answer, provide it quickly and succinctly. Don’t spend a lot of time discussing irrelevant information. (“That reminds me of . . .”)

3. Keep in mind that you are the expert.  Don’t be intimidated when someone who has more responsibilities or may know more in a different area asks you a question. Give the answer then back it up with facts and details. You may want to put them in a note or memo to memorialize them.

4. Give facts and data, not opinions.  If you’re asked for facts or data, give that. Refrain from adding observations to your answer. If asked for your opinion, then give it.

5. Don’t guess at answering the question.  If you can’t immediately answer a question, don’t try to fake it. Let the questioner know that you will get the information and get back to him or her. Get the answer as soon as possible, when you have it, respond immediately

6. Never be condescending.  Do not respond to a question with a condescending remark. That includes facial expressions, ie; a credulous look with eyebrows raised, shaking of the head, deep sighs. This may make the person hesitate to communicate further with you. You will lose a valuable source/resource.

7. Admit what and when you don’t know.  Being an expert can sometimes mean that you don’t know the answer to the question, but you do know who does. Refer the person to good and proper sources who can be of better help.

Are you an online shopper or a hold out? If you are a mall shopper you will notice a few empty stores. While I have no plans to give up mall shopping, I do like the convenience of shopping online, especially comparison shopping. To add to the lure of online shopping, there are coupon sites that give you coupon codes for $$’s off purchases at certain online stores. One such site is Sherpa Coupons, they have compiled this shoppers online information :

• 63 percent of online shoppers are female; mothers are the fastest-growing demographic group.
• Americans spent more than $115 billion online in 2008; some forecasters say online shopping will hit almost $330 billion in 2010, or about 13 percent of total retail sales.
• U.S. consumers aren’t the world’s most prolific online shoppers. South Koreans are, with 99 percent of Internet users in that country making online purchases. Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan run a close second, with the United States at No. 8.
• The most popular online product? Books, followed by clothing, videos and games, airline tickets, and electronic equipment.
• 60 percent of consumers confine their shopping to a single site. The most popular shopping site is Amazon.com.

Sherpa not only gives coupon code information about online shopping; it has a blog and a free weekly coupon newsletter that gives you the 411 on shopping. The site also offers coupons that can be downloaded. I realize that some people are hesitant about using computer printed coupons, for the most part they are trouble-free. I have used them for a couple of stores and have used several for TGI Friday’s without a hitch. However, you should keep in mind that no all stores and restaurants will accept computer printed coupons. You may want to call before you head out with your coupon.

Visit the Sherpa Coupons site. Don’t forget visit its blog and sign up for its newsletter.

When shopping online, check out Sherpa or your favorite coupon code site before you hit the purchase icon, you may save anywhere from five to twenty percent off the final cost. Remember to search as many coupon code sites as possible as the savings vary.  Just type “coupon code” to start saving dollars.

Analyzing your value to the organization can help to protect yourself from being laid off. If you are laid off, getting another comparable job–or a better one–will be far less of an ordeal you can document your contribution to the company’s bottom line.

Ask yourself a few questions to test whether your work makes a difference to your company.

How are your technology skills? Have you taken any new courses to stay abreast of technology? Network with others in your field to identify industry stars to compare yourself with. What skills do they have? What do their job descriptions look like? Search consultants can tell you what organizations demand when seeking candidates for a job like yours. If your job was created specifically for you, you should be sure to keep your tech skills high and broaden your scope. Often when  there is not a market for your specific skills, or you can’t find others who do approximately what you do, you may be in a trouble spot. Expand your skills.

Is your role essential? What impact does your job have on the big picture? Does your work exclusively benefit internal departments? What would happen to your department or division if the company got into a financial bind that forced it to cut back? Would profits or customer satisfaction be damaged if your department disappeared?

Can you be replaced easily? Assume that your managerial and technical skills are top-notch and cutting-edge. Could someone years younger who has the ability to perform equally well as you; and at half your salary take your place? Perhaps. However, if you have something extra, something that puts you steps ahead of the young dynamo, you can secure your place. Make it your business to show that your knowledge is essential. It does not matter what it is, do you have a great memory? Use it to show that you have a full grasp of your company’s history. Are you good with graphs and forms, use that expertise to help remove a cumbersome step in a process. Good event planning may be considered gold at your business. While no one is indispensable, make it harder for your boss to get along without you.

Update your resume. Do you keep your resume up-to-date? If someone wanted to see your resume today, would you be able to pass it on without apology? If you can’t do that, then it is time to update your resume and keep it new updated. A resume should be new employer ready at all times.

Some great quotable quotes from well-known people. It all boils down to, “Persevere to reach your goal. Find happiness.” Now that sounds like a plan, I wish good health and good fortune to everyone in 2010.

~~ “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” —Marie Curie

~~ “The road to happiness lies in two simple principles; find what interests you and that you can do well, and put your whole soul into it—every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have.” —John D. Rockefeller

~~ “Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.” —Winston Churchill

~~ “The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one often comes from a strong will and the other from a strong won’t.” —Henry Ward Beecher

~~ “The discipline you learn and character you build from setting and achieving a goal can be more valuable than the achievement of the goal itself.” —Bo Bennett

~~ “One only gets to the top rung of the ladder by steadily climbing up one at a time, and suddenly all sorts of powers, all sorts of abilities which you thought never belonged to you suddenly become within your own possibility, and you think, ‘Well, I’ll have a go, too.’” —Margaret Thatcher

~~ “If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity, it would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye, and say: “I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.” —Ann Landers

~~ “For every failure, there’s an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.” —Mary Kay Ash

~~“It’s a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy.” —Lucille Ball

~~ “Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” —John Barrymore

I came across yet another group calling itself “Wednesday’s Child…” I am familiar with the term “Wednesday’s child” and know there are numerous children’s help organizations, etc., called by that name in some manner or another, “Wednesday’s child is full of woe.”

Now this got me to wondering about the poem and the actual day of the my birth. I searched for a retro calendar and found one, it turns out I am a Monday baby. Next, locate the poem. It is titled Monday’s Child.

MONDAY’S CHILD 

Monday’s child is fair of face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child is full of woe,
Thursday’s child has far to go,
Friday’s child is loving and giving,
Saturday’s child works hard for its living,
And a child that’s born on the Sabbath day
Is fair and wise and good and gay.

If you do not know the day of your birth and are curious, check out this site, Time and Date and for some background on the poem, see Monday’s Child at Wikipedia.org.   

Mmm–I think I have just proved  that you can research anything The computer makes it quick and simple.

As companies try to stay afloat in a choppy economy, employees are being pushed for new ideas. However, managers should note and consider the studies conducted by Teresa Amabile, professor at Harvard Business School and head of its Entrepreneurial Management Unit. She has explored creativity for nearly 30 years and her comprehensive research has uncovered some myths:

• Money and rewards does not inspire creativity
• Tight deadlines and pressure to produce don’t foster innovation
• Competition does not induce creativity
• Fear does not fuel creative breakthroughs

In order bring creativity to fruition, people must  be deeply engaged in and with their projects and skilled enough to accomplish the project without:

• unnecessary distractions
• office (or any) politics
• resource roadblocks
• unwarranted critical feedback

Teresa Amabile is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

I have “lived” with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) since I was in my 20’s. No, I do not suffer from it, but one of my best friends does. At this point she is in remission, but I have seen her at low points. But not the lowest, because she would not allow anyone to see her. Her strength and resolve amazed me when we were twenty-somethings, it still does decades later. I do not know her pain first hand, but I do remember that she sometimes let her guard down and the pain that showed in her face almost undid me. And yet, she did not complain, nor did she want sympathy.

A couple of years ago I met someone online who has become a very dear friend, she too has RA. Once more I am amazed by the fortitude and resilience she seems to have found as she battles RA.

Just recently my dear friend has become a champion and advocate for positive thinking about RA, and how not to let it control your life. She has a Blog that has changed mid-stream and has become a symbol and testament to her struggle and her courage with RA. I continue to be proud to call this lovely lady a friend. If anyone here has RA or knows of someone who has it, take a look at her Blog Arthritis Is a Journey and pass it on. Be inspired by her open and honest observations as she shares her trials and tribulations of living with RA.

 I first talked about Twitter when I joined at the end of June 2009. It has now been one month and a couple of days. This morning awakened and found that I had 200 followers. I am amazed, stunned and just don’t get it. I love it though. I don’t know if the readership numbers have gone up for my two Bellaonline.com sites, Hot and Spicy foods and Work & Family. I won’t check this month, but I will come the end of August. It is my hope that the numbers have increased.

Sharing some stuff and things:

I have found that my bio has brought target people to me and that’s a good thing. Originally I showed Work and Family as my primary site, but I talk about food so much that I have found that I get more folks who are interested in food than family. So I went with the flow and changed my primary site to Hot and Spicy foods at BellaOnline.com.

Early on, I made a decision not to push my any of my sites or the products I sell. Instead I decided to do as I do here, that is, a soft offer rather than a hard sell. Having 200 followers does not make me an expert or even knowledgable by any means, but I do think that showing a biography that shows who I am and tells exactly what I do has helped me acquire this cool following. I also post Tweets concerning the the subjects I list in my bio and I think that has helped me. As a newbie I am still learning my way around Twitter, I have left my messages open so people can contact me. I contact people as well. I have already hooked up with an author who is new to me, I have ordered two of his books and read one. Joseph Finder is his name and he is an awsome writer, if you enjoy mystery novels I urge you to check him out, especially his book, PARANOIA. Finder writes the way John Grisham did in the early Grisham days.

When someone starts to follow me, I check out their Twitter page to see if they offer good advice or just tell me what they ate for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I do that too but I am a foodie , I also sell herbs and spices, so decided that it was O.K. especially since I offer food and spice, herb tips.   

While checking to see what I could do to continue to grow I found an online magazine called SMALL BUSINESS TRENDS, in it is an article is titled “Top FIve Types of Twitter Messages to Grow Your Business”, written by Margie Zable Fisher. It is interesting and informative. Here is the link to the article.

I think the bottom line is be yourself. I have not been a terribly aggresive entrepreneur, so decided not to be on Twitter. That being said, I am aggresively consistant in updating, posting and blogging; just as I am in promoting and tending to my business.

Please don’t forget to follow me at http://twitter.com/Vannie_Ryanes

Happy Tweeting.

   Gift Elephant is a free gift service and organizer. It is almost like having your own assistant to nudge and remind you that it is Aunt Sally’s birthday, etc. 

Here are some of the things you can do to organize your gift-giving:

__Keep track of the gifts you’ve given.

__Receive reminders for any occasion.

__Know who gave you what for your birthday, holidays, wedding, etc.

__The Gift Elephhant will also create & mail real postcards we’ll print, stamp and mail them for you. Plus, manage your thank you notes.

Did I say like having having your own assistant to nudge and remind you of occassions? It’s better, cuz it won’t say, I don’t why you can’t remember this, it happens every year at the same time, or I reminded you of this last week. See, no back-talk or eye-rolling.

There is an extra benefit if you regift–you will never make a mistake and return the gift to the person who it to you. (groan)

As always read the fine print before you sign up for the free service. People often do not read the privacy or terms of use information, but it is there for your protection as well as the company’s protection. You can check them out here http://www.giftelephant.com/