Postcards from the Funny Farm

I’ve been in a situation recently where my physical body/animal brain was moving me to retaliate against someone who offended me (actually a couple people) and at the same time my intellect was telling me to relent, or hold off until I’d calmed down. I won’t get into specifics because that’s not my point here. I’ll tell you I did relent and I am so glad.

Once I calmed down and reassessed the situation, I realized that while my feelings were 100% valid, they were not a good determiner of action. In fact, if my feelings had determined my actions in the professional environment, in this case I could have severed (possibly permanently) networks with key people likely to be in my circle until I retire. When the hot cools down from work days like that, you have some amazing realizations reclining at home or jumping on your trampoline. You have no idea what they will be in the heat of the moment.

So what did I learn from this and why am I sharing? Well, as I have said over and over, I write about psychology and inspiration here in order to better your life. It isn’t therapy for me. If it were you’d read a lot of bad words etc. I am thinking and analyzing my life all the time for good lessons to share with you. I hope these lessons advance you in your journey. That is why I blog on psychology and inspiration. In this post, my lesson is simple: In the professional environment, let facts not feelings determine your actions.

When you feel upset, insulted, or angry, these are usually products of a bruised ego and not the real you (as Eckhart calls the “being”). Relenting when you feel badly can help you recover your sense of being and throw off your ego. So, here are the three things I did when I was offended/mistreated recently at work. Translated into your life, I hope they help you save yourself some grief and advance like I did:

1. Get the facts written down.
2. Write down a note (official in wording) to the offending party(ies) stating the wrong done to you and DONT SEND IT. Put it in your wallet folded tightly closed.
3. Forget about it and go about your day.
4. Later in the evening, pull out the letter. You may be ashamed you wrote it, but keep it for 3 days. If the issue does come up, you will be upset and you can take the note out for the facts that emotion may cause you to forget.

That’s it! As I have said (to the rhythm of something Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled,

I’m no expert on psychology but I have read more on psychology than some psychology experts :)

Now you’ve read some of that yourself, succinctly put in a blog post. At work, be a real man (or woman) and act on facts, not on feelings. Do what you have to do to stay cool. Another thing I do, and I have written on the value of a music CD, is make and listen to a CD of the best tunes I know.

Quick after thought: WATCH OUT! Something is at risk with this kind of talk, and it’s your job! You will be better off to use this approach but remember you should never forget any wrong done to you against the law or your contract. Write it down! All I am saying to do is to deal with it later.

How did I do in June of 2008?

Didn’t quite meet my goals in traffic and money, but publishing was a slam dunk. I think Social Media will save me in July.
Traffic
Goal: Traffic: 3,000 uniques
Actual: 2,554 uniques

I spent time playing and exploring ways “outside the box” to blog and you see the consequences here. At the same time, I feel my exploration was worth it. You’ll notice I now have all my top referring social media sites linked in my layout. I am investing more in them: ie; Chawlk, Blog Catalog, etc. We’ll see how that works for July’s numbers. I invite you to join my community at MyBlogLog and some of the other sites through the links at the top and in the sidebar. Networking is cool because the increased traffic works both ways!

Publishing
Goal: 3
Actual: 4

• Create Through Necessity a guest blog at Katelynjane’s Notebook.
• The Upside of Recession: Consciousness published at Blogcritics Magazine.
• Love Homework a guest blog at It Might be Love
• Playing through Diffucult Times a guest blog at Be Playful (Scheduled for an early July publishing)

Money
Goal: 200 bucks.
Actual: 115 bucks.

Due to not having PR, IZEA doesn’t give me the options I used to have as a PR4. This is very ironic since doing paid posts is likely why my PR was taken away, but I am not complaining. I feel like PR is going to change it’s ranking algorithm eventually and I intend to keep writing for hire when it makes sense. I’ll never publish what I consider a boring post. You have my word on that. And hey … 115 bucks is a lot of money! Incidentally, I just thought I’d throw in here that despite the recession, if you live in the area, the Boston jobs are flourishing. Thought I’d send the site out if anyone needs it.

Goals for July 2008 are:
Traffic: 2700 uniques
Publishing: 3
Money: 200 bucks

Final thought:

This month you will see me a lot in social media. I intend to use that more to try and meet my July goal of 2700 uniques. I think it is an untapped resource here at the Farm. I will report the results of this strategy next month. Maybe I’ll see you at the social media sites?

Thanks for following this series! Watch how I do in July 2008. -Damien

As some of you know, I’ve begun writing sponsored posts in the past year. They are excellent for making a small bit of cash for writing a post. Ideally, every blog post could make one money but most people like to intersperse them and keep most their blogging unsponsored. If you decided to seek payment for your blogging, it is important to know good sources to get these money-making opportunities and I want to tell you about one today.

Mommy bloggers out there who may read my blog, this post is tailored to you! (but anyone who can write to a topic should try it) SocialSpark is the latest wing of IZEA (parent company to PayPerPost) and this new site can really help you earn some cash while blogging. I’m a schoolteacher and when I am at work I don’t always have the chance to sit down and write 50-300 words, which is the average required by most opps. Nonetheless, I try to schedule my home time with my kids, wife, etc. so I can put in at least an opp a day. In doing so, I am able to supplement my monthly online income of about $300. Now for rich folks, that may not sound like much but to people in my income bracket (60-100K) that is a healthy chunk of change that I can use to take my kids out for ice cream, buy toys, or take the wife on a date! Mommy bloggers, could you use 50-300 bucks a month? Some people out there in the “sphere” report making much more than that, but that is my figure: combined with some other sources I mention on my blog, that is a very realistic quote you could be making.

I went through all that to say that: I do not believe mommy bloggers have a lot of time on their hands BUT they do have access to a computer enough to blog. Hey … moms out there, seriously … could you blog a sponsored post a month? a week? a day? I think you could and SocialSpark wants you to know they are right around the corner.

I’m published today in a post at the official FuelMyBlog Blog. The topic there is one you might do well to check out. It could be the cornerstone issue in the future of blogging. Here are some responses to that post on defining blog value over at the the FuelMyBlog Blog:

sylvied said: “You are totally right here we can rate our own blogs and add value to it.”

KevinD said: “I think a new wave of blogger is coming, the realists …”

Claire said: “I find this intriguing as my site visitor stats are actually quite low although feed subscribers stats are 6 times as high. As most of the requests are for text tag links, I’m assuming the attraction is ‘google juice’ rather than reaching my subscribers or readers …”

belinha said about my quote: “To define your own value is to declare independence from parent companies like Google that thrive by assigning value as they see it.”
Very good point!

If you get enough money through blogging, you can take amazing vacations (among other luxuries)  wouldn’t learning about those be more valuable than “bearing your soull” in a diary no one reads?  I am already looking into my favorite vacation fantasies:

The myrtle beach vacation packages are cheap and almost as good as san diego vacation packages. Still they are not the vacation packages that get sold the most. The most selling ones are the cancun vacation packages and the caribbean vacation packages.

These are great comments. Some really smart people hang out over there. Maybe one day we can all take one of these vacations together, sort of a blogfest!  I have a method that includes money tracking that seems to be improving my ability to buy things.  If you want to know about this self-made method for testing a blog’s value, check out my post (series of posts) called V.A.L.U.E.
It’s not perfect but it’s a start.

Now for your take on all this: Google thinks they know the value of a blog, and the world listens. Knowing how to measure your blog’s value can mean the difference between a shack and one of those Hilton Head rentals. What do you have to say about defining blog value?

If there is one post worthy of you slowing down to read today, it is this one. The writing contest results are in and posted here. It was a truly enjoyable time gathering the posts for this writing contest. Congratulations to the winners. To all who participated I say thank you for sharing your amazing visions with me, my readers, and the interweb.

I chose this topic for my contest because I have always been fascinated by Amazing Visionaries. They range from Walt Disney (photo: wikipedia) to Pat Rodgers (my grandfather). By watching their moves, I have been able to recreate some of that success in my own life. And I have written about it.

I heard a story many years ago about how the new tellers at banks get to spend a week handling money … nothing more. The reasoning behind this was so that the tellers could detect a fact having been made so familiar with the real. When we study the look of a successful person’s moves, we too can avoid being duped by false success stories. Just like the well known authorize.net spots fraudulent consumers, so these posts will help you spot the bad examples as well as the ones to follow.

The stories mentioned here are the “real deal.” By collecting them and putting them in one place, hopefully it will rub off on us. If you enjoyed the links, please bookmark this page, as well as the permalinks individually, and share them with others. In my opinion, now more than ever, the world needs more amazing visions! I think you will be inspired by what you read here.

Below are the 6 winning urls for “Amazing Visions: Blog Carnival Edition 2.” After that are links to all the entries. Why hold them back when inspiration is so lacking in our times! I hope you enjoy reading all of them as much as I did. Stay tuned to Postcards for Edition 3 in the near future.

TOP 3

1. How I got Started with Blogging and Freelance Writ... by Michael Kwan
2. Mother Teresa on Love by Chelle
3. How to become what you want to become, in about tw... posted at I Will Not Die.

Honorable Mentions

1. An Entry from Torri’s Travels by Torri
2. Nick’s Entry on Randy Pausch posted at Romandock
3. Amazing Vision - Mahatma Gandhi posted at Growing Happiness.

Though they didn’t get in the top three, these highly well written posts are the rest of these amazing visions . . . Please read them, you will find strength and inspiration. (Thank you again to these bloggers!) -in no particular order …

Josh Waitzkin an Inspiring Performer by Isabella Mori

A One Man Peacekeeping Force by Alexander

She’s Inspiration by Katelynjane

How Hokusai can Inspire Designers and Bloggers posted at Designer Daily

The Los Lunas Decalogue Stone - How In The World D... posted at Shattered Paradigm.

Privilege to Be with a Loved One at the Time of De... posted at Andy, saying, “My dad was one of my greatest heroes. This is my tribute to his legacy.”

(and one of my own I just threw in at the end!)

Amazing People and Things by Damien Riley

I was out by the pool this weekend and spent some time in between swims with my best friend Eric Stefani and my son “flying” on the trampoline.

This was an excellent “exercise in play” and as a result my mind is filled with creative possibilities. Anyway, I picked 8 to post. Just click on the photo to see the album.

If you have a trampoline, you should do a little flying whenever you can. If you’re like me, it will do wonders.

A realistic note on play: We obviously can’t play every day of our lives. For many people, their home office is where they spend the most time. If that’s the case for you, I have an excellent resource to recommend. You can shop on line for the best “most playful” if you like office furniture. In any case, get your environment the way you want it: then play!