Connect-IMCAZ

Speed-Reading Our Blog

Want to make it easy to keep up with Connect-IMC-AZ.org (or any blog for that matter)? Use the blog's RSS Feed.

Every blog is published is two formats. One is the familiar HTML that you see here in your web browser. The second format, called RSS, strips out all the graphics, styling, and formatting and delivers pure text. The interesting part is that MSIE 7 (Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7) knows about RSS, and it will tell you if there are any new posts on this blog since the last time you visited and how many.

It gets better. MSIE 7 (as well as most other RSS Feed Readers) can aggregate the feeds from multiple blogs onto a single page. The beauty of this is that at a glance you can see if there are any new posts here (as well as new posts on any other blogs you read), and you can also see the first few sentences of each new post. The result is that you can quickly keep up with what's going on here.

In a recent post on my own blog I called it a Bicycle for Your Blog.

Here's how to use RSS in MSIE 7:

1. Look on MSIE's toolbar over on the right and locate the small orange square icon shown here. Click on it.


2. Connect-IMCAZ.org's RSS feed will be displayed. Near the top of the page there is a yellow box with Connect-IMCAZ and the words 'You are viewing a feed that contains frequently updated content...'.
   
3. Just below that paragraph is Subscribe to this fed link. Click on it. A pop-up dialog box will apppear. Leave the 'Name' and 'Create In' fields as is and click on Subscribe. There. That's all there is to it.

To check and read a Feed:

1. Locate the Favorites Center icon (the gold star) on the tooobar. Click on it.
2. Click on the Feeds tab near the top of the Favorites list.


3. Mouse over Connect-IMCAZ and the tool tip will show you how many posts have been added to this blog since the last time you looked.


4. Click on Connect-IMCAZ and the new blog posts will be displayed.

Want to Have New Blog Posts Delivered to Your Inbox Instead?

Look for the 'Subscribe via Email' box in our blog's sidebar and enter your email address into the field.

Choose to be Optimistic

Dave

Thanks for inviting me to be a guest-author for the IMCAZ blog. I'd like to share a recent article I sent to friends and clients regarding the value of being optimistic. Since consultants can easily find themselves on an emotional roller coaster, this little article may help my friends and colleagues in this wonderful profession. Enjoy!

Choose to be Optimistic
When people ask me what I do for a living, I say, "I help individuals and organizations improve performance and productivity." Their response is often, "So, are you a motivational speaker?" That response always causes me to bristle because one, I'm not a motivational speaker and two, helping people and organizations improve performance involves much more than just giving a pep talk.

I have to be careful though because motivation is an important factor in performance improvement. Someone once said "I don't believe in motivation, it doesn't last." Well, neither does bathing, Bucco, that's why we do it every day.

Rather than talk about motivation, I'd like you to give some thought this week to the value of being optimistic. We live in a very negative world and, in order to get past the constant barrage of negativity, optimism can be a very useful tool for improving or maintaining a high level of performance and productivity.

Studies by the American Psychological Association show that there are some real advantages to being optimistic, whether you're in sales, managing a business or raising children. As a matter of fact, studies show that our (general) outlook on life came from the way our parents looked at life. That's a good reason to be real careful what we say and how we respond to life's difficulties around our kids.

Here are four reasons why it pays to be optimistic:

1. Being optimistic enables us to better handle and/or receive negative information when it has the potential to be useful. We can learn a lot from failure - if we approach it with the right attitude.

2. Optimists tend to realize that not every problem can be solved. As a result, they're better able to recognize the problems they can't solve and stop devoting time and effort to a loosing cause.

3.Optimists tend to have better coping skills than pessimists. They try multiple solutions to problems, ask others for help and recognize what's not in their control.

4. Optimists tend to behave in ways that provide them with more information. Ever hear "there's more than one way to skin a cat?" That's an optimistic approach.

So, on a scale of 1 to 10 were do you stand in terms of being optimistic or pessimistic? How do you handle negative situations? How do you approach a problem? Do you face a difficult issue head on and look for multiple solutions, or do you give up and walk away if the first solution didn't work?

Here's the good news, being optimistic or being pessimistic is a choice. You can choose to see the glass half full or half empty. And, you can choose to not react to life's difficulties the same way mom and dad did. Unless of course mom and dad were the most optimistic people you ever met.

Now, that's motivating!

Les Taylor
www.achievement-solutions.com

Guest Author Invitations have been Sent!

I just finished sending 'Guest Author Invitations' to all IMC-AZ members. You should first download the Getting Started Guide because it contains step-by-step instructions on how to proceed.

If you have any questins please don's hesitate to contact me at dbarnhart@BusinessBloggingPros.com

A Comment about the January Meeting

Two comments about today's meeting:

I really got a lot out of John Goodman's presentation this morning. I am not a lawyer and I've never played on on TV, but I've always had an interest in constructing agreements that were understandable yet covered the bases. Thanks, John.

Second, I don't think we say 'Thank You' enough to Lisa. Lisa, you bring an energy and upbeat attitude to these meetings that is infectuous. You make them fun. Thank you.