Here are 4 ways to finding purpose in life:
.1. Introspection..
Spend some time with yourself. Examine your life and get in touch with those thoughts and feelings that are important to you. Reflect on past experiences and ask yourself:
* When do I feel that my life is most meaningful?
* What do I enjoy doing the most?
* What activities bring me the most passion and energy?
* What are my true priorities?
* What is the deepest purpose I would like to express in my life?
Write down the answers to these questions. Just reading this is not going to cut it.
Find a quiet space and take 15-20 minutes to really answer these questions. Spend some time and really think about what brings you joy and happiness in your life. Reflect back on your life and write down the answers that come to you.
.2. Environment..
You see, you occur to people a certain way. The way you see yourself may be different than the way others see you. The way you occur to others is a reflection of your inner self.
The people in your life are reflective of your way of being. They see things that you don’t. The clues to finding purpose in life can be found in the people that are closest to you.
Consider 5 people in your life that are close to you: your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend or other important friends or family members in your life. Sit down with them and ask them these questions:
* What do you think comes most naturally to me?
* What do you think are my special talents and gifts?
* What do you think I am really good at?
* What do you think is really important to me?
* When do you find that I’m the happiest and what am I doing?
Again, just reading this is not going to cut it. Write out the answers and review them. Compare the answers you received from the introspection method to the environment method, then look for patterns.
* What are the similarities?
* What patterns do you see?
* What qualities, character traits and values seem to be repeated over and over again?
This is a clue. Your patterns are an indication of what is unique and special about you.
.3. Natural Ability, Not Skill..
When looking for answers, consider natural ability and not skills. Skills are those actions that you’ve perfected over time; they’re external and not necessarily unique to you. Skills are important to executing a well crafted life purpose but are secondary to natural ability.
Look for natural ability; this comes from the inside. Everyone’s got it - you’ve got it. Your natural ability is an act of creative contribution that ignites you. It’s natural to you because it’s part of who you really are. Look for natural ability when examining your life with the questions above.
.4. You’re Inspired..
When you’re inspired, your “in spirit,” and spirit is who you really are. Inspiration is the act of expressing that which is within you.
Again, your environment is a reflection of who you are. Consider the people, mentors, heroes and superstars in your life that are an inspiration. The reason they are inspiring to you is because you see some of yourself in these other people.
When I watched Rocky II recently it really touched me. It really stirred some strong emotions in me; emotions of love, passion and purpose. I love the Rocky movies because they demonstrate the power of the human spirit and the human heart. And that’s what I’m all about. My purpose is to teach and inspire others to love and live life by following their hearts desires.
What is your purpose? Consider these questions:
* Who are some of your heroes and what is inspiring about them?
* Who are the teachers, coaches or mentors that inspire you the most?
* Which movie stars, musicians or performers are inspiring to you?
Again, it’s all about recognizing the patterns. Look for those areas in your life where you see a common thread. These are the clues to realizing and finding purpose in life.
Friday
Boost Your Twitter Experience
The following is a list of 10 quick things you can do to boost your Twitter experience. When I say boost I mean essentially; increasing your followers, gaining more exposure, spending less time & effort, drawing more traffic and more. Let’s get started shall we?
#7.) Use Twollo, Tweet Later & Tweet Manager: Twollo especially here will help expand your Twitter following. If you still don’t know what Twollo is then check this blog post out here. Now Tweet Manager is fairly new and is still in beta stages but is also an awesome tool that works much in the same way as Tweet Later. Since Tweet Later limits many functions of their free users, having Tweet Manager along side really helps out. These 3rd party apps are essential and will serve as the building blocks for your twitter followers. This is why they are listed at the number ten spot.
#6.) Use a Proper Auto Message: Wow I cannot stress this enough. I cannot emphasise the fact that the auto message is an awesome tool, only when used properly. If you are including links, affiliate spam and other marketing crap in your auto message you are sending out the wrong first impression. Check out this blog post for more info on the auto message.
#5.) Manage Your Account With Huitter: Now Twitter Karma will also work here but I find that Huitter is the easiest to use and takes effect immediately. If you don’t know what Huitter does or haven’t heard of it before feel free to check out this blog post. Huitter basically keeps your Twitter account managed by allowing you to view those that don’t follow you back and the ones you aren’t following back. Then with the click of a button you are able to keep your profile completely updated and equal.
#4.) Don’t Be So Serious: Quickest way to get ignored is with boring business pitches and faceless advertising. If you come on Twitter and treat everyone like a pair of potential eye balls for your blog, shit is the only thing you will get out of your Twitter experience. The best you will get are half glancing skim through of what ever link you are throwing out there. You need to be fun and entertaining on Twitter. Anything you can do that draws attention to yourself and sets you apart in any way is a huge plus.
#3.) Be Unique: If you haven’t noticed already, my profile picture is fairly unique. It is a moving animated .gif image which are far and few between nowadays. Since Twitter does not allow any more .gif to be uploaded you will have to seek unique outlets to express yourself elsewhere. This doesn’t mean you can’t have a cool looking picture. Be creative and have something that again, sets yourself apart. It is all about being able to distinguish yourself amongst the huge matting crowd of new Twitter users coming on every day.
#2.) Be Personal and Active!: This is the 2nd most important thing you can do. Remember that all of these 3rd party applications and automated programs out there are all designed to work withnot replace them. No amount of automation can bring in as many followers as simply being active. When you see people Tweet, use the @reply feature. You need to be as personable as possible. Social Networking is about… being social! Duh right? your efforts and
#1.) Have Some Fun: My number one tip for you to increase everything you get out of Twitter is to have fun with it. The bottom line is this, Social Media is all suppose to be like one big party. Have fun, be interactive, be personal and be yourself. The more it all feels like work the harder it will become. I have a ton of fun with Twitter, and because of that my following has grown tremendously and I have seen more success out of it than I ever thought I would.
Tuesday
"The measure of our success and happiness lies not in controlling what happens, but in how we handle and respond to what happens. Constantly trying to control what can't be controlled is a recipe for stress."
Don't send anything that you wouldn't say to the person face to face while looking them in the eyes. There is safety in talking with kindness in our high tech world. By doing this, you are representing the REAL you.
Don't send anything that you wouldn't say to the person face to face while looking them in the eyes. There is safety in talking with kindness in our high tech world. By doing this, you are representing the REAL you.
Monday
YOU MATTER
You matter
- When you love the work you do and the people you do it with, you matter.
- When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself, you matter.
- When you leave the world a better place than you found it, you matter.
- When you continue to raise the bar on what you do and how you do it, you matter.
- When you teach and forgive and teach more before you rush to judge and demean, you matter.
- When you touch the people in your life through your actions (and your words), you matter.
- When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter.
- When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter.
- When you inspire a Nobel prize winner or a slum dweller, you matter.
- When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter.
- And when the legacy you leave behind lasts for hours, days or a
Friday
"The difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next. The difference between the two is the difference between living fully and just existing."
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--Michael E. Gerber |
Tuesday
My Wordpress Plugins Currently Running on Friday Traffic Report
I’m a reductionist. A simplifist. I’m on a kick to “Semper Fi” my plugins to only the most crucial I can’t live without. Here’s what’s activated right now for this blog:
- Akismet: I don’t know how people can blog without this spam comment eliminator. I’ll never turn it off. Never!
- All In One SEO: One of the most popular Wordpress plugins right now, this puppy is a staple on the Friday Traffic Report.
- BackType Connect: I love this plugin. I switched quickly from Disqus to this because it captures all the Tweets about my posts as well as comments and conversations from practically everywhere on the web.
- Cross-linker: Absolutely essential for turning keywords and phrases from anywhere, anytime on your blog to links. Link to affiliate products, change them when you find a better product later, and control the flow of your traffic as well as imrove your internal link structure from pages and posts to each other.
- Did You Pass Math?: For the spammers who can fool Akismet.
- Do Follow: Removes the evil no-follow default Wordpress sticks you with on install. Thanks Dennis!
- Exec-PHP: Because I like to run php scripts in posts sometimes. We all have our little quirks.
- FeedBurner FeedSmith: I believe “DUH” is the best way to describe why I use this one.
- Optimal Title: Because it makes sense.
- Ozh’ Admin Drop Down Menu: Because Wordpress 2.7 really, REALLY pisses me off with that side menu. This puts the admin menu back where it belongs. Please stop drinking and coding, developers!
- PingPressFM: Because the entire world is entitled to my opinion, no matter where they surf.
- PostRank: There’s no accounting for individual taste. That’s why I average what you like to come up with what readers seem to like best.
- Related Sites: One of the best damned link building tools for bloggers that no one talks about. Fight Club style!
- Smart Update Pinger: Upgraded from Dumb Update Pinger which really wasn’t adequate.
- Subscribe To Comments: The original “poke” feature on the web for bloggers.
- Tweet This: Making it easy for my excellent ideas to spread. But it’s mostly my bad ideas that get Tweeted the most. What’s up with that?
- WishList Member: Runs the Friday Traffic Report Insiders Club where are my beautiful and most talented readers are. Are you beautiful and talented? Want to be? Then test this plugin out by joining the FTR Insiders Club!
- WordPress Database Backup: Unless you’re intent on memorizing everything you’ve ever written and planning to type it all back in when you blog crashes, and it will eventually, you should use this plugin.
- WordPress Link Directory: A good link directory script for Wordpress. Dump your best resources here and be a hero. The world needs more of us.
- WP-ContactForm: At some point people are going to figure out where you actually get your mail. Head them off at the pass and install this plugin so you don’t get stalked, spammed, or otherwise bothered by the weirdos of the web. Some weirdos have figured out how to use forms now, so be warned.
That’s it! Some people say I still use too many plugins. I usually tell them to bite me.
Mass Wordpressing
- Wordpress MU: When you want to start your own evil empire of blogs, nothing less will do.
- BuddyPress: Tweaks your Wordpress MU into a social networking platform.
Let’s see. What else can we do to make this the longest post in history? I think I’m done for now.
So what kinds of Wordpress tools, plugins, and resources have you found lately?
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According to eMarketer, 34 Million moms log onto the web each month. That makes them one of the largest user groups online today. They’re powerful too. I call them the “momfia!”
They may look unimposing. But just cross them in the wrong way and you’re in a whole heap of trouble! Ignore them and you’re missing out. Get on their good sides, respect them, and just see what can happen!
What’s the big deal about moms?
- They know more about what the kids are doing online - so they know more about the web in general.
- They make the bulk of household purchase decisions.
- They chat it up - mommy blogs have some of the highest comment counts of any blogs on the web today.
- They network. Mommy blogger groups are everywhere. And they are some of the most networked people on the web today.
- They take each other seriously. Their brand of networking is not just casual. They are pretty hardcore about using their groups to help each other a lot more than other groups do.
Here are 10 misconceptions about Mommy bloggers from a mommy blogger who knows.
What do moms have to do with you?
Well, the household purchase decisions should have you sitting up in your seat. What can you do to make sure you are “mom friendly” in your marketing? How about how you describe your products and services? Do you sound like someone a mom would follow, buy from, or blog about?
Mom’s have a language of their own online. They have special keywords that evoke meanings that are different for them than other people.
Knowing these things can help you reach out in more meaningful ways to this powerful, savvy demographic. Because another thing moms do is buy from each other! Trust is everything for them, like with most people. But they are so well-connected, they don’t often have to go outside their circles to buy stuff they need or want.
They trust each others recommendations and buy according to what their circle likes.
Being recommended by a “hub mommy,” (someone who, by simply nodding in your direction, could send you tons of traffic and send sales soaring), is a big deal. Any advertiser can tell you that. More ad dollars are spent on mommy blogs than probably any other type of blog on the web! Advertisers know moms are one of the very most valuable audiences to get in front of on the web.
Learn about the mommy craze. This large group deserves your respect and attention when you are working to impress some of the most powerful people on the web!
Get to know mommy (or Mom) bloggers to get a feel for the Momfia
- Heather Armstrong - Dooce.com
- Amy Amy Lupold Bair - Resourceful Mommy
- Elizabeth King Humphrey - (no relation) :) Coastal Carolina Moms
- Laurie Turk - Tip Junkie
- Melanie Edwards - Modern Miami
- Jessica Smith - Jessica Knows
- Renegade Moms - Don’t Call It A Mommy Blog, Dammit!
Need More Mommy?
Check out Radical Parenting’s list of top 50 mommy bloggers.
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I’m very proud to announce a major upgrade to the Friday Traffic Report Insiders Club: 51 SEO Tools that do everything from link checking, directory submissions, rank checking, spider simulation, meta tag generation, keyword tools - you name it.
Every thing you need to do SEO and keep your site humming is included. Check the pics below to see just some of what’s inside:
Want access to all these tools? Join FTR Insiders Club!.
Members, access the tools right now, below. (Must be logged in to see the link…)
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This guide will help you get set up and using Mashable to generate traffic and links back to your site. Mashable.com is a massively popular site on social media and tools. It offers many opportunities to network with other bloggers and grab important links from your profile.
Download the guide below: (Insider’s Club Members Only)
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Competitor Ninja is a basic script that will return any site’s meta details like title, keywords, description and links. Click on any link and get more information deeper in the site or on sites the page points to.
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