The Lost Practice of Resting One Day Each Week

2010-03-10T18:49:24Z 10 Google reader The Lost Practice of Resting One Day Each Week <blockquote>Shared by sharonhurleyhall There's something to be said for taking time off.</blockquote> <blockquote>He that can take rest is greater than he that can take cities. – Benjamin Franklin</blockquote> <h6>Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Joshua Becker of <a href="http://becomingminimalist.com">Becoming Minimalist</a>.</h6> Ask any physician and they will tell you that rest is essential for physical health. When the body is deprived of sleep, it is unable to rebuild and recharge itself adequately. Your body requires rest. Ask any athlete and they will tell you that rest is essential for healthy physical training. Rest is needed for physical muscles to repair themselves and prevent injury. This is true whether you run marathons, pitch baseballs, or climb rocks. Your muscles require rest. Ask many of yesterday’s philosophers and they will tell you that rest is essential for the mind. Leonardo da Vinci said, “Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer.” And Ovid, the Roman poet, said, “Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” Your mind requires rest. Ask most religious leaders and they will tell you that rest is essential for the soul. Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Baha’i, and Wiccan (among others) teach the importance of setting aside a period of time for rest. Your soul requires rest. Ask many corporate leaders and they will tell you that rest is essential for productivity. Forbes magazine recently wrote, “You can only work so hard and do so much in a day. Everybody needs to rest and recharge.” Your productivity requires rest. Physicians, athletes, philosophers, poets, religious leaders, and corporate leaders all tell us the same thing: take time to rest. It is absolutely essential for a balanced, healthy life. Yet, when you ask most people in today’s frenzied culture if they consistetly set aside time for rest, they will tell you that they are just too busy to rest. Even fewer would say that they set aside any concentrated time (12-24 hours) for rest. There are just too many things to get done, too many demands, too many responsibilities, too many bills, and too much urgency. Nobody can afford to waste time resting in today’s results-oriented culture. Unfortunately, this hectic pace is causing damage to our quality of life. We are destroying every sense of our being (body, mind, and soul). There is a reason we run faster and work harder, but only fall farther behind. Our lives have become too full and too out of balance. Somewhere along the way, we lost the essential practice of concentrated rest. We would be wise to reclaim the ancient, lost practice of resting one day each week. To get back into balance, just consider the countless benefits of concentrated rest for your body, mind, and soul: § Healthier body – We each get one life and one body to live it in. Therefore, we eat healthy, we exercise, and we watch our bad habits. But then we allow our schedules to fill up from morning to evening. Rest is as essential to our physical health as the water we drink and the air we breathe. § Less stress – Stress is basically the perception that the situations we are facing are greater than the resources we have to deal with them – resources such as time, energy, ability, and help from others. We have two choices, either reduce the demands or increase our resources. Concentrated rest confronts stress in both ways. First, it reduces the demands of the situation. We have no demands on us as long as we have the ability to mentally let go of unfinished tasks. Secondly, rest reduces stress by increasing our resources, particularly energy. § Deeper relationships – A day set aside each week for rest allows relationships with people to deepen and be strengthened. When we aren’t rushing off to work or soccer practice, we are able to enjoy each other’s company and a healthy conversation. And long talks prove to be far more effective in building community than short ones on the ride to the mall. § Opportunity for reflection – Sometimes it is hard to see the forest through the trees. It is even more difficult to see the forest when we are running through the trees. Concentrated rest allows us to take a step back, to evaluate our lives, to identify our values, and determine if our life is being lived for them. § Balance – Taking one day of your week and dedicating it to rest will force you to have an identity outside of your occupation. It will foster relationships outside of your fellow employees. It will foster activities and hobbies outside our work. It will give you life and identity outside of your Monday-Friday occupation. Rather than defining your life by what you do, you can begin to define it by who you are. § Increased production – Just like resting physical muscles allows them opportunity to rejuvenate which leads to greater physical success, providing our minds with rest provides it opportunity to refocus and rejuvenate. More work is not better work. Smarter work is better work. § Reserve for life’s emergencies – Crisis hits everyone. Nobody who is alive is immune from the trials of life. By starting the discipline today of concentrated rest, you will build up reserves for when the unexpected emergencies of life strike… and rest is no longer an option. Properly developing a discipline of concentrated rest requires both inward and outward changes. Consider these steps to reclaiming the lost practice of weekly rest in your life: 1. Find contentment in your current life. – Much of the reason we are unable to find adequate rest is because we are under the constant impression that our lives can and should be better than they are today. This constant drive to improve our standing in life through the acquisition of money, power, or skills robs us of contentment and joy. Ultimately, rest is an extension of our contentment and security. Without them, simplicity and rest is difficult, if not impossible. Stop focusing on what you don’t have and start enjoying the things that you do. 2. Plan your rest. Rest will come only from intentional planning and planning rest will come only if it is truly desired. Schedule it on your calendar. Learn to say no to any tasks that attempt to take precedent. Plan out your day of rest by choosing creative activities that are refreshing and encourage relationships. Understand that true rest is different than just not working. As the Cat in the Hat wisely said, “It is fun to have fun but you have to know how.” Avoid housework. Plan meals in advance to help alleviate cooking responsibilities. And by all means, turn off your television, e-mail, and blackberry. 3. Take responsibility for your life. You are not a victim of your time demands. You are the creator and acceptor of them. Refuse to complain or make excuses and start changing your habits. Remember, you are only as busy as you choose to be. Leave “if only” excuses to the kids. If needed, alert your employer about your desire for rest and tell them you will be unavailable on that particular day. 4. Embrace simplicity. Embrace a lifestyle that focuses on your values, not your possessions. It is difficult to find rest when the housework is never finished, the yard needs to be mowed, or the garage needs to be organized. 5. Include your family. It is much easier to practice the discipline of concentrated rest if your family is practicing it too. The fact that this gets more difficult as your kids get older should motivate you to start as soon as possible. 6. Live within your income. A debtor is a slave to his creditor. It is difficult to find rest for your mind when you are deep in debt. The constant distress of your responsibility to another may preclude you from truly enjoying a day off. It is possible; it’s just more difficult. Don’t overspend your income, live within it. 7. Realize the shallow nature of a results-oriented culture. If you live in a results-oriented culture where productivity alone is championed on every corner, rest is counter-cultural. And thus, the saying goes, “If you rest, you rust.” Rest may even be seen as a sign of weakness by others. Unfortunately, that view of humanity’s role in this world is shallow. It is true that many of the benefits from concentrated rest are not tangible; but then again, only a fool believes that all good things can be counted. Rabbi Elijah of Vilna once said, “What we create becomes meaningful to us only once we stop creating it and start to think about why we did so.” The implication is clear. We could live lives that produce countless widgets, but we won’t start living until we stop producing and start enjoying. Capture again the lost practice of resting one day each week and start truly living. Read more from Joshua at his blog, <a href="http://becomingminimalist.com">Becoming Minimalist</a>, <a href="http://www.becomingminimalist.com/feed/">subscribe to his feed</a>, or check out his new ebook, <a href="https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?cl=78094&c=ib&aff=10747">Simplify</a>. <iframe src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~ah/f/lcgh7k1021bojfpq89g4gh093k/300/250?ca=1&fh=280#http%3A%2F%2Fzenhabits.net%2F2010%2F03%2Frest-one-day%2F" width="100%" height="280" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0"></iframe><div> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/zenhabits?a=1oIE7-6MAwM:P0ugMDovURE:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/zenhabits?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/zenhabits?a=1oIE7-6MAwM:P0ugMDovURE:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/zenhabits?i=1oIE7-6MAwM:P0ugMDovURE:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/zenhabits?a=1oIE7-6MAwM:P0ugMDovURE:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/zenhabits?i=1oIE7-6MAwM:P0ugMDovURE:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></a> </div> <div style="margin-top:17px"> [extracted from <a href="http://zenhabits.net/2010/03/rest-one-day/">The Lost Practice of Resting One Day Each Week</a> via <a href="http://www.feedly.com/">feedly</a>] </div> http://zenhabits.net/2010/03/rest-one-day/ 2010-03-10T18:49:24Z 7054549 http://www.iminta.com/people/shurleyhall shurleyhall 3140678709 Sharon 2010-03-10T18:49:24Z 10 Google reader The Lost Practice of Resting One Day Each Week <blockquote>He that can take rest is greater than he that can take cities. – Benjamin Franklin</blockquote> <h6>Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Joshua Becker of <a href="http://becomingminimalist.com">Becoming Minimalist</a>.</h6> Ask any physician and they will tell you that rest is essential for physical health. When the body is deprived of sleep, it is unable to rebuild and recharge itself adequately. Your body requires rest. Ask any athlete and they will tell you that rest is essential for healthy physical training. Rest is needed for physical muscles to repair themselves and prevent injury. This is true whether you run marathons, pitch baseballs, or climb rocks. Your muscles require rest. Ask many of yesterday’s philosophers and they will tell you that rest is essential for the mind. Leonardo da Vinci said, “Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer.” And Ovid, the Roman poet, said, “Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” Your mind requires rest. Ask most religious leaders and they will tell you that rest is essential for the soul. Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Baha’i, and Wiccan (among others) teach the importance of setting aside a period of time for rest. Your soul requires rest. Ask many corporate leaders and they will tell you that rest is essential for productivity. Forbes magazine recently wrote, “You can only work so hard and do so much in a day. Everybody needs to rest and recharge.” Your productivity requires rest. Physicians, athletes, philosophers, poets, religious leaders, and corporate leaders all tell us the same thing: take time to rest. It is absolutely essential for a balanced, healthy life. Yet, when you ask most people in today’s frenzied culture if they consistetly set aside time for rest, they will tell you that they are just too busy to rest. Even fewer would say that they set aside any concentrated time (12-24 hours) for rest. There are just too many things to get done, too many demands, too many responsibilities, too many bills, and too much urgency. Nobody can afford to waste time resting in today’s results-oriented culture. Unfortunately, this hectic pace is causing damage to our quality of life. We are destroying every sense of our being (body, mind, and soul). There is a reason we run faster and work harder, but only fall farther behind. Our lives have become too full and too out of balance. Somewhere along the way, we lost the essential practice of concentrated rest. We would be wise to reclaim the ancient, lost practice of resting one day each week. To get back into balance, just consider the countless benefits of concentrated rest for your body, mind, and soul: § Healthier body – We each get one life and one body to live it in. Therefore, we eat healthy, we exercise, and we watch our bad habits. But then we allow our schedules to fill up from morning to evening. Rest is as essential to our physical health as the water we drink and the air we breathe. § Less stress – Stress is basically the perception that the situations we are facing are greater than the resources we have to deal with them – resources such as time, energy, ability, and help from others. We have two choices, either reduce the demands or increase our resources. Concentrated rest confronts stress in both ways. First, it reduces the demands of the situation. We have no demands on us as long as we have the ability to mentally let go of unfinished tasks. Secondly, rest reduces stress by increasing our resources, particularly energy. § Deeper relationships – A day set aside each week for rest allows relationships with people to deepen and be strengthened. When we aren’t rushing off to work or soccer practice, we are able to enjoy each other’s company and a healthy conversation. And long talks prove to be far more effective in building community than short ones on the ride to the mall. § Opportunity for reflection – Sometimes it is hard to see the forest through the trees. It is even more difficult to see the forest when we are running through the trees. Concentrated rest allows us to take a step back, to evaluate our lives, to identify our values, and determine if our life is being lived for them. § Balance – Taking one day of your week and dedicating it to rest will force you to have an identity outside of your occupation. It will foster relationships outside of your fellow employees. It will foster activities and hobbies outside our work. It will give you life and identity outside of your Monday-Friday occupation. Rather than defining your life by what you do, you can begin to define it by who you are. § Increased production – Just like resting physical muscles allows them opportunity to rejuvenate which leads to greater physical success, providing our minds with rest provides it opportunity to refocus and rejuvenate. More work is not better work. Smarter work is better work. § Reserve for life’s emergencies – Crisis hits everyone. Nobody who is alive is immune from the trials of life. By starting the discipline today of concentrated rest, you will build up reserves for when the unexpected emergencies of life strike… and rest is no longer an option. Properly developing a discipline of concentrated rest requires both inward and outward changes. Consider these steps to reclaiming the lost practice of weekly rest in your life: 1. Find contentment in your current life. – Much of the reason we are unable to find adequate rest is because we are under the constant impression that our lives can and should be better than they are today. This constant drive to improve our standing in life through the acquisition of money, power, or skills robs us of contentment and joy. Ultimately, rest is an extension of our contentment and security. Without them, simplicity and rest is difficult, if not impossible. Stop focusing on what you don’t have and start enjoying the things that you do. 2. Plan your rest. Rest will come only from intentional planning and planning rest will come only if it is truly desired. Schedule it on your calendar. Learn to say no to any tasks that attempt to take precedent. Plan out your day of rest by choosing creative activities that are refreshing and encourage relationships. Understand that true rest is different than just not working. As the Cat in the Hat wisely said, “It is fun to have fun but you have to know how.” Avoid housework. Plan meals in advance to help alleviate cooking responsibilities. And by all means, turn off your television, e-mail, and blackberry. 3. Take responsibility for your life. You are not a victim of your time demands. You are the creator and acceptor of them. Refuse to complain or make excuses and start changing your habits. Remember, you are only as busy as you choose to be. Leave “if only” excuses to the kids. If needed, alert your employer about your desire for rest and tell them you will be unavailable on that particular day. 4. Embrace simplicity. Embrace a lifestyle that focuses on your values, not your possessions. It is difficult to find rest when the housework is never finished, the yard needs to be mowed, or the garage needs to be organized. 5. Include your family. It is much easier to practice the discipline of concentrated rest if your family is practicing it too. The fact that this gets more difficult as your kids get older should motivate you to start as soon as possible. 6. Live within your income. A debtor is a slave to his creditor. It is difficult to find rest for your mind when you are deep in debt. The constant distress of your responsibility to another may preclude you from truly enjoying a day off. It is possible; it’s just more difficult. Don’t overspend your income, live within it. 7. Realize the shallow nature of a results-oriented culture. If you live in a results-oriented culture where productivity alone is championed on every corner, rest is counter-cultural. And thus, the saying goes, “If you rest, you rust.” Rest may even be seen as a sign of weakness by others. Unfortunately, that view of humanity’s role in this world is shallow. It is true that many of the benefits from concentrated rest are not tangible; but then again, only a fool believes that all good things can be counted. Rabbi Elijah of Vilna once said, “What we create becomes meaningful to us only once we stop creating it and start to think about why we did so.” The implication is clear. We could live lives that produce countless widgets, but we won’t start living until we stop producing and start enjoying. Capture again the lost practice of resting one day each week and start truly living. Read more from Joshua at his blog, <a href="http://becomingminimalist.com">Becoming Minimalist</a>, <a href="http://www.becomingminimalist.com/feed/">subscribe to his feed</a>, or check out his new ebook, <a href="https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?cl=78094&c=ib&aff=10747">Simplify</a>. <iframe src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~ah/f/lcgh7k1021bojfpq89g4gh093k/300/250?ca=1&fh=280#http%3A%2F%2Fzenhabits.net%2F2010%2F03%2Frest-one-day%2F" width="100%" height="280" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0"></iframe><div> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/zenhabits?a=1oIE7-6MAwM:P0ugMDovURE:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/zenhabits?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/zenhabits?a=1oIE7-6MAwM:P0ugMDovURE:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/zenhabits?i=1oIE7-6MAwM:P0ugMDovURE:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/zenhabits?a=1oIE7-6MAwM:P0ugMDovURE:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/zenhabits?i=1oIE7-6MAwM:P0ugMDovURE:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></a> </div> http://zenhabits.net/2010/03/rest-one-day/ 2010-03-10T18:49:24Z 7054550 http://www.iminta.com/people/shurleyhall shurleyhall 3140678709 Sharon 2010-03-10T16:49:49Z 10 Google reader Blog Security: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Scares Me Into Taking It Seriously. guest post by <a href="http://www.kellydiels.com">Kelly Diels</a> warning: there are lessons and even actionable advice in here, but it is buried inside a story. I write stories because I love you and don’t want to bore you and because if you laugh then chances are that you’ll remember the educational bit, too. There’s actual research that this works – it is not just because I am in love with <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bloviation">bloviation</a> but hey, tomato tahmahto. I have big love for tech. You could not pry my dishwasher out of my house without bloodshed and death, most likely yours. And the internet? Don’t even get me started. I want to french-kiss the web. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s my job or at least my blog’s mission statement. Still, I’m more of install (or pay someone to install) and hope-it-works kind of gal. I want the fuss without the muss. And I have this theory about tech: some key pieces of hardware and software make a huge difference and everything after that amounts to tweaks and hacks. But the good tech, like a great love, (initially) inspires awe, affection, and respect and make your life much better on a daily basis. You think: how did I ever live without you, front-loading washer? We wasted so much time. And then, after the infatuation fades, you get on with your happily functioning and newly-enhanced life and start taking your love, machines, shockingly-white-whites and programs for granted. I like it like that. I like low-maintenance relationships (don’t tell anyone) and I LOVE that electricity just works and I don’t have to think about it. I like finding the right things, that work, and let them do that in the background. Nearly invisible function is hawt. WordPress is one of those key pieces of tech that made a big difference in my life. It is like a long distance lover. I don’t quite understand it and I should probably spend more time with it but damn I like it a lot. It does me right, mostly virtually. Actually, let’s be honest: I LOVE WORDPRESS. My blog is my boyfriend. I adore it. I spend all my time with it. Because of all the fabulous people who love me up in the comments, my blog sates my unabashed lust for attention – which, in turn, has started saving me from terrible IRL relationship decisions. (Wordpress is saving the world from needy girlfriends. Someone call the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.) So the thought of someone getting their sweaty, malicious hands on my boyfriend blog and doing dirty things to it makes me nauseous. It happened to a friend of mine, <a href="http://aronetworking.com/">Kelly Livesay</a>. One of her blogs was hacked and posts and theme modifications deleted. It happened to journalist <a href="http://thedoodlemaiers.wordpress.com/">Helen Mosher</a>. If you Google her name, the first search result is now “Cheap Viagra Online”. This is not – perhaps obviously – what she intended for her blog. It happened to <a href="http://scobleizer.com/2009/09/05/i-dont-feel-safe-with-wordpress-hackers-broke-in-and-took-things/">Robert Scoble</a>, who lost two months of blog posts and gained a very serious sense of personal violation. And that sense of violation is exactly the prompt for this post: the movie <a href="http://dragontattoofilm.com/">The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo</a> completely FREAKED ME OUT (capitalization absolutely appropriate and required). Do you know The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo? It is the first of a trilogy of books by Swedish author Stieg Larsson who completed this epic series and then promptly dropped dead. It is a gripping book and it almost killed me, too. I read it in five hours. And then I got my hot little hands on the movie. Lisbeth, the main character and dragon-wearer, is one tough chick. You don’t want to mess with her. She’ll hack you. Because that’s what she does. Lisbeth is a freakishly talented hacker. She works as an investigator and conducts her investigations from the convenience of her laptop. She gets into your computer and reads your naughty e-mails, your work memos, your sexts, your bank statements, your browsing history, and then uses that information as she sees fit, for her clients, or herself. And if you’re on her side – I mean, who doesn’t want her to catch the lady-killing villain? (the villain) – then you’re with her, all the way, as she uses her scary powers for good. So: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Wrenching read, haunting movie. Great entertainment, especially if you’re looking for a new reason to become deeply paranoid about all the ways people can screw with you online. Robert Scoble’s not kidding when he says that he feels his virtual house was burgled. Thanks to this paranoid movie, I now feel his paranoia pain and I’m deeply worried about my boyfriend blog. Still, I don’t understand the point of hacking blogs, so I asked my friend Dave Doolin (<a href="http://www.website-in-a-weekend.net/">Website In A Weekend</a>), who knows Serious Stuff about WordPress, code, programming and How Things Work. Kelly Diels: What’s the point of hacking a blog? Why would someone want to break into a blog and make it say BUY VIAGRA! instead of just building a sex blog to sell Viagra? Dave Doolin: Honestly, I’m not really sure, but I’ll hazard a guess: it’s cheaper to spray spam by the trillions than it is to create your own site and work at building traffic. It costs next to nothing to hire people to send a e-mails, so even a really tiny conversion rate generates profit. Kelly Diels: So how do we keep hackers out of our blogs? On your site, <a href="http://website-in-a-weekend.net/website-security/wordpress-simple-security-replace-the-admin-account/">you recommend that bloggers change “Admin” to something specific and then delete the Admin user</a>, so I did that, and <a href="http://www.violetminded.com/">Amanda Farough</a> told me to make a unwieldy, ridiculous password that is actually a sentence with random capitalization and characters. Dave Doolin: Yeah, those two things are a good start. You do want a long, complicated password. The other thing that everyone should do is read the WordPress Development Blog and Other WordPress News. They’re both in your dashboard, and they’ll keep you up to date on the latest hacks and security threats. (I studiously ignore those two boxes in my WordPress dashboard but now, as of right this minute, I’m going to pay attention.) And, now that I’m paying attention, I checked in once again with Amanda Farough, who is my designer/developer/chief-cupcake-sharer/coder-extraordinaire. She takes care of my site, because, as I mentioned, I like my tech to work but I’m not really inclined to make it work myself. Kelly Diels: So, Amanda, what are we doing to keep my site secure? And by “we”, I mean you. What advice do you have for bloggers to keep their blogs on the unhacked side? Amanda: Here’s my security short list: <ol> <li>Change your .htcaccess to protect your database name and password by adding the following line of code: <FilesMatch ^wp-config.php$>deny from all</FilesMatch>. In the event of someone hacking your blog, they won’t be able to determine where your tables are, protecting you from losing everything.</li> <li>WP-DB-Backup is your new best friend. Get it emailed to you once a week or, if you’re really paranoid, once a day (note: Dave Doolin said we should do it once a day and I heart paranoia. That’s totally where I’m living right now. Thanks, Dragon Tattoo conspiracy). Don’t trust your server or your email server. Save copies of the database to your local drive as soon as you get the email. That way, you’ve got two copies: one on your email server and the other on your local drive.</li> <li>Update Wordpress every single time you’re prompted to. These releases are the blogger’s equivalent to driver updates: they fix holes in security, functionality, and usability. If you’re running 2.8 when we’re on 2.9.2, then run that update. You’ll be glad you did.</li> </ol> And that – according to my friends in the know, because trust me, I didn’t know – is the short story of how to keep your blog safe and out of the sweaty, dragon-tattooed hands of malicious hackers itching to delete your hot copy and sell us sex aids in your name. <h2>WordPress Security Summary:</h2> <ul> <li>Get rid of your Admin user account</li> <li>have a long, complicated password</li> <li>keep up to date on WordPress tips and news by reading WordPress Development Blog and Other WordPress News</li> <li>BACK IT UP, baby</li> <li>Protect your database name and password</li> <li>UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE</li> </ul> __________________________ Join the Dragon Tattoo Blog HUNT - an internet wide scavenger hunt tied to the feature film launch of bestselling book The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Win great prizes – free movie tickets, books, movie soundtrack, posters and more. To join the contest, start at the beginning of the HUNT by visiting <a href="http://www.dragontattoofilm.com/contest">www.dragontattoofilm.com/contest</a> for full details and the first clue. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is in theaters near you starting March 19th. THE NEXT CLUE: This site explores everything Apple, but don’t tell Steve Jobs because this weblog is officially unofficial. Kelly Diels writes for ProBlogger every week. She’s also a wildly hireable freelance writer and the creator of <a href="http://www.kellydiels.com/">Cleavage</a>, a blog about three things we all want more of: sex, money and meaning. Post from: <a href="http://www.problogger.net">Blog Tips at ProBlogger</a>. <a href="http://www.problogger.net/31dbbb-workbook/"><img src="http://www.problogger.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/468x60.jpg" width="468" height="60" alt="468x60.jpg"></a> <a href="http://www.problogger.net/archives/2010/03/11/blog-security-girl-with-dragon-tattoo-movie/">Blog Security: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Scares Me Into Taking It Seriously.</a> <a href="http://www.problogger.net/?p=10646&akst_action=share-this" title="E-mail this, post to del.icio.us, etc." rel="nofollow">Share This</a> <img src="http://www.problogger.net/?ak_action=api_record_view&id=10646&type=feed" alt=""><div> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney?a=ubmqHa7Ri6U:TP4JEFq1EAU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney?i=ubmqHa7Ri6U:TP4JEFq1EAU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney?a=ubmqHa7Ri6U:TP4JEFq1EAU:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney?i=ubmqHa7Ri6U:TP4JEFq1EAU:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney?a=ubmqHa7Ri6U:TP4JEFq1EAU:guobEISWfyQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney?i=ubmqHa7Ri6U:TP4JEFq1EAU:guobEISWfyQ" border="0"></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney/~4/ubmqHa7Ri6U" height="1" width="1"> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney/~3/ubmqHa7Ri6U/ 2010-03-10T16:49:49Z 7053377 http://www.iminta.com/people/shurleyhall shurleyhall 3140678709 Sharon 2010-03-10T16:49:49Z 10 Google reader Which Social Websites are Good for your own Site? <img style="display:inline;border-width:0px" title="Which Social Media Site?" src="http://img.labnol.org/di/social_media_sites.png" border="0" alt="Which Social Media Site?" width="540" height="869"> Will Facebook help drive more traffic to your website or Twitter? Are incoming links from Digg more valuable for improving your site’s organic rankings than than from YouTube or Flickr? Which is the best social site for engaging with people who are already in love with your brand? For answers and ideas, check this <a href="http://www.omniture.com/go/26899">handy chart</a> (PDF) from <a href="http://www.cmo.com/social-media/cmos-guide-social-media-landscape">cmo.com</a> that compares the benefits of sharing content on various social media websites and whether they are worth your time or your (limited) <a href="http://www.labnol.org/internet/social-media-marketing-for-businesses/10095/">social media marketing</a> budget. Some of the points mentioned in the chart aren’t valid anymore like your site won’t derive any SEO benefits from Flickr or delicious.com as they nofollow all external links. On the other hand, Facebook has a huge potential for driving traffic especially if you have a public page (<a title="Facebook Page - Digital Inspiration" href="http://www.facebook.com/digital.inspiration">example</a>) that is indexed by search engines. Thanks <a href="http://crenk.com/social-media-cheat-sheet/">Steven Finch</a> for the tip. <a href="http://www.labnol.org/internet/good-social-media-websites/13006/">Which Social Websites are Good for your own Site?</a>Originally published at <a href="http://www.labnol.org">Digital Inspiration</a> by <a href="http://www.labnol.org/about/">Amit Agarwal</a>.<a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.labnol.org/internet/good-social-media-websites/13006/"><img src="http://img.labnol.org/files/fcbk.png" alt="Facebook" width="84" height="32"></a> <a href="http://twitter.com/home?source=digitalinspiration&status=Which%20Social%20Websites%20are%20Good%20for%20your%20own%20Site?%20http://labnol.org/?p=13006%20-%20via%20@labnol"><img src="http://img.labnol.org/files/twtr.png" alt="Twitter" width="81" height="32"></a> <a href="http://www.labnol.org"><img src="http://media.digitalinspiration.com/v1/di-mobile.png" vspace="5" width="161" height="23" alt="Technology Blog"></a> http://www.labnol.org/internet/good-social-media-websites/13006/ 2010-03-10T16:49:49Z 7053375 http://www.iminta.com/people/shurleyhall shurleyhall 3140678709 Sharon 2010-03-10T16:32:57Z 7 Twitter Three Reasons You Need to Convince Newbies They Need a Website http://bit.ly/a0VkrD - from @menwithpens http://twitter.com/SHurleyhall/statuses/10273022401 2010-03-10T16:32:57Z 7053185 http://www.iminta.com/people/shurleyhall shurleyhall 3140678709 Sharon 2010-03-10T16:49:49Z 10 Google reader Three Reasons You Need to Convince Newbies They Need a Website <a href="http://menwithpens.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Fed-Up-Search.jpg" rel="shadowbox[post-4728];player=img;"><img title="Fed Up Search" src="http://menwithpens.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Fed-Up-Search.jpg" alt="Fed Up Search Three Reasons You Need to Convince Newbies They Need a Website" width="425" height="282"></a>We recently started a side project working with people who have never had a website, a blog, or anything that requires more than opening an email – and sometimes they can’t even do that. They’re all small business owners. When I spoke with them about their business, they all had one common question: “Why is having a website such a big deal?” Most people asking this question smile and nod when you tell them they really need a website, but most of them are thinking, “This person is trying to sell me something I don’t need. I’ve been doing fine for the past 10 years. Now this whippersnapper comes along and thinks his little internet thing is the next big revolution? I don’t need that. Never have, never will. Been doing fine without it.” Well, they’re right, to a certain extent. The people I’ve spoken to have managed to be successful in their business. Many of them started with nothing 10 years ago and they’re still around running their business today. And frankly, we ‘net-savvy people do talk about the virtual world and technology like we really can’t imagine how those businesspeople ever managed without it. But these people really do need the internet. Should you ever be in a situation where you’re trying to explain to someone why getting online is a really, really good idea, tell that person this: People Don’t Use the Yellow Pages Anymore When was the last time you hauled the business directory off the shelf and looked up a business when you needed one? I’m betting it’s been a long time. The last time I needed a plumber, I looked one up online. The last time I needed the phone number, I looked online. The last time I went to a restaurant, I checked online for a menu before calling to make reservations. If you’re not online, people won’t be able to find you – period. The majority of searches for new businesses, especially local businesses, take place online. The best damn plumber in the world might live in my town and be working in the building right next to mine (which, as a matter of fact, he does), but unless I knew him personally, I wouldn’t know it. He doesn’t have a website. And he doesn’t show up on Google Maps. People Have Become Lazier We’re the instantaneous generation. We want to know what we’re getting before we go to the trouble of getting in the car and driving five miles to find out. We want to see a website that shows us pictures. We want to hear about what we’re in for and be able to find reviews. We want to learn more about the people we’re going to hire services from. We don’t want to have to call to ask. We certainly don’t want to drive out there and risk being disappointed. Going all the way to the home renovation warehouse the next town over only then to find it’s a complete pigsty and that the selection is really lousy? No sir. An internet search is free and requires no effort. We make choices where to buy, what to buy and who to buy from before we even leave the house. People Believe No Website = No Credibility A few people I know are very good businesspeople. They’re awesome to work with. They have good stuff in their store. They get along without a website just fine. There’s certainly no reason to assume that a business isn’t good just because it doesn’t have a website (unless the person is advertising some sort of web-related service, in which case it’s a warning flag). But think about an online dating site for a minute. You must have heard that people with pictures on their dating profile are 90% more likely to be contacted for a date. Not having a picture doesn’t mean that person is ugly. But it could. And we’d rather choose a person with a presentable photo versus someone who might be a better match. The same goes for business. Not having a website doesn’t mean that you don’t have a professional business. But that’s the assumption most people make. Think about it: You’re looking for a therapist. One friend refers you to someone who only has an email address, a generic address like annepottertherapist@mail.com. Would you search online for Anne Potter before writing her an email? And if you didn’t find her, would you do a few searches for other therapists before contacting Anne? Most people would. Small businesses need a website, even if they’re never going to use their website for blogging or selling or anything of the kind. These three reasons aren’t an exhaustive list, either. They’re just the beginning as to why getting online is a must. Can you think of other reasons? <center> <a href="http://menwithpens.ca/books/write-for-the-web"><img src="http://menwithpens.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/ebook-ad-468x60.jpg" title="Three Reasons You Need to Convince Newbies They Need a Website" alt="ebook ad 468x60 Three Reasons You Need to Convince Newbies They Need a Website"></a> <a href="http://menwithpens.ca/three-reasons-need-a-website-2">Three Reasons You Need to Convince Newbies They Need a Website</a> Another rockin' post from the Men With Pens! Copyright 2006 - 2010 30 Sous Zero Inc - All Rights Reserved </center> <div> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MenWithPens?a=nrnG_N-ATaM:6O3SwJs0MeA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MenWithPens?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MenWithPens?a=nrnG_N-ATaM:6O3SwJs0MeA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MenWithPens?i=nrnG_N-ATaM:6O3SwJs0MeA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MenWithPens?a=nrnG_N-ATaM:6O3SwJs0MeA:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MenWithPens?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MenWithPens?a=nrnG_N-ATaM:6O3SwJs0MeA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MenWithPens?i=nrnG_N-ATaM:6O3SwJs0MeA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MenWithPens?a=nrnG_N-ATaM:6O3SwJs0MeA:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MenWithPens?i=nrnG_N-ATaM:6O3SwJs0MeA:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MenWithPens/~4/nrnG_N-ATaM" height="1" width="1"> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MenWithPens/~3/nrnG_N-ATaM/three-reasons-need-a-website-2 2010-03-10T16:49:49Z 7053376 http://www.iminta.com/people/shurleyhall shurleyhall 3140678709 Sharon 2010-03-09T22:20:36Z 7 Twitter After my assessment today, I know what I need to do to free up more time for other projects. More on that on the blog soon. http://twitter.com/SHurleyhall/statuses/10239174409 2010-03-09T22:20:36Z 7046203 http://www.iminta.com/people/shurleyhall shurleyhall 3140678709 Sharon 2010-03-09T22:20:36Z 7 Twitter @freelancerant You're welcome, and thanks. :) http://twitter.com/SHurleyhall/statuses/10239135223 2010-03-09T22:20:36Z 7046204 http://www.iminta.com/people/shurleyhall shurleyhall 3140678709 Sharon 2010-03-09T22:20:36Z 7 Twitter @jonbuscall Anytime. Also rectified an error and added you on Twitter :) http://twitter.com/SHurleyhall/statuses/10239125775 2010-03-09T22:20:36Z 7046205 http://www.iminta.com/people/shurleyhall shurleyhall 3140678709 Sharon 2010-03-09T22:20:36Z 7 Twitter RT @jonbuscall Business blogging burnout avoided - Guaranteed! http://bit.ly/acO0Vd - great tips (via @freelancerant) http://twitter.com/SHurleyhall/statuses/10234318979 2010-03-09T22:20:36Z 7046206 http://www.iminta.com/people/shurleyhall shurleyhall 3140678709 Sharon