I love my job

I don't normally talk about my work, and I have reasons for that, but I think it'll be alright to forego that rule this once. One of the best tasks I get to do for work is search for images for use in course materials (think background slides, etc.) Sometimes, (on days like today) I feel like I am getting paid to fuel my wanderlust. Today I was introduced to several new websites for finding free stock-images! There were so many beautiful visuals. My favorite so far is called UnSplash and it is a serious load of eye candy (and not like attractive men or anything like that) for an artist/dreamer/creator like me.  

eXPerience curating

I know I've posted a few book reviews lately. Here's another!

Awhile back, I came across Joel Zaslofsky's blog Value of Simple. What first intrigued me was his self-explorative tool, the Personal User Guide, but I was quickly sucked in by his ideas for living more simply. Now, he's coming out with a book Experience Curating. Since I'm an email subscriber, I got a sneak peak at some of the content, and It. Is. Awesome! Curating has roots in the Dewey decimal system, and of course museums, but Zaslofsky talks about curating in terms of experience. We are overwhelmed with information day to day, but what's the point if there's no way to filter through that information quickly so you can use it and make it available to others? Whether it's an online article, a book you read, a movie you watched, a restaurant you ate at, or a story your heard, how can one organize it so that the resources and experiences available to us can be made available to others? Joel's answer: Experience Curating!

Joel uses spreadsheets. He has a spreadsheet for everything which he can access virtually anywhere as long as he has internet access. He even used a spreadsheet to name his child!! Crazy right? I've found that spreadsheets are hard for me to integrate into my daily habits, but I've found them to be really useful for organizing scholarships, keeping track of my checking account, queuing up blog posts, and most recently, collecting responses for my survey! My enthusiasm for spreadsheets has definitely increased since Joel introduced them to me (and additionally, we use them all the time at work so I've been getting tons of practice); but of course this system is all about customizing it to suit your needs and goals and the things YOU want to keep track of and share. Maybe a bit of a radical concept that definitely requires a little discipline to implement, but his writing style is easy to grasp and the potential benefits far outweigh the initial effort of getting started.

*UPDATE* You know what's even cooler? Joel is offering the e-version of his book for free on Amazon through Saturday! Check it out!

Never Eat Alone

I'd been trying to get my hands on this book for awhile but then I got it for Christmas and now I've finally finished it!! It was an excellent recommendation from Joel Zaslofsky, one of the bloggers I follow and I really enjoyed it!

Keith Ferrazzi talks about networking in the business world in new terms, arguing that business is moving from a less competitive model to a collaborative one. And in a collaborative model, relationships matter.
"We can go through life...making shallow, run-of-the-mill conversation with strangers that remain strangers. Or we can put a little of ourselves, our real selves, on the line, give people a glimpse of our humanity, and create the opportunity for a deeper connection" (149). I love his emphasis on the art of relationships. Although he focuses primarily on networking in a business context, I think what he has to say, especially about helping others, can be used in any relational context. Great book with a lot of practical applications. I even got to practice while in the airport!