Strengths and Weaknesses
April 20, 2009
photo credit: Nessa Land
One of the first things they teach you about marketing is that you must know your own strengths and weaknesses in addition to those of your nearest competitor. For most of us, picking out the strengths and weaknesses of another is a piece of cake, but examining ourselves is a whole different story. Taking a peek under the hood of our own engine is a scary thought, perhaps even impossible for some.
One of our life-mottoes here at Blue Duck is that relationships matter. In fact, we believe life is all about relationships, everything else is just fluff or icing on the cake. That doesn’t make us relationship experts, or even mean that we get it right all the time. It just means that we expend considerable energy on improving and maintaining personal and professional relationships.
For those who don’t already know, I’m in the process of getting my Master’s Degree in Psychology in my spare time. In my studies, we took a look at Carl Jung and his theory on personality development, and I wanted to share that experience with you.
In my former life as an RN, I was responsible for providing a monthly inservice for employees, and I often chose to present an overview of differing personality types. When reading about Jung’s theories, I was instantly intrigued by the similarities and differences in Jung’s views when compared to what I had taught. So, I took the Carl Jung and Isabel Myers-Briggs typology test to see how I would score according to Jung’s categories. I was shocked to see such an accurate depiction of my complex personality. (Less than one percent of the population has the same personality type as I do.)
Empathy
All too often, we tend to view the world strictly through the rose colored glasses of our own thoughts and experiences and fail to infuse our relational interactions with a modest amount of empathy. We are often incapable of seeing things from another’s point of view.
In order to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, you must 1) get to know that person beyond the veneer of social fronts, 2) understand the motivating forces directing that person’s behavior, and 3) often take into consideration the major life events that helped shape that person’s view of the world.
Empathy is a powerful tool, in both personal and professional relationships. It can help you analyze your own strengths and weaknesses (as well as those of your competition) and strengthen the quality of your relationships. Empathy can help diffuse a confrontational situation, provide a connection to a new acquaintance, and produce insight into the behaviors of those around you. It is a crucial component of healthy relationships.
One tool that can help you increase your level of empathy is personality typing, like the one provided by Jung. You can take your own personality test for free here: Carl Jung and Isabel Myers-Briggs typology.
Understanding your own personality is often the first step in personal growth and professional achievement. It’s one of those little nuggets of truth in life that should be taught universally, at least in my opinion. If you would like to learn more about personality types, a popular view is the Four Temperaments. And for those of you familiar with Jung’s theories, I am not supporting all of his views. As with many of the major personality theorists that shape our modern view of psychology, he produced some insightful elements and some wonky ones. If you would like to read more about Jung’s personality theory relevant to the MBTI scoring, PeopleMaps has a decent post about the subject.
If you are interested, I scored as an INTP. My personality is that of a Rational Architect. If you’d like to comment on your own MBTI results, feel free to drop me an email or start a discussion below. You may be shocked at what your test results reveal. 
Road Map to More
April 6, 2009
photo credit: Dr Stephen Dann
Have you ever opened your eyes in the morning and realized you want more? (I’m not talking about wanting a Dr. Pepper or a ham and cheese omelet for breakfast here.) I do. I woke up this morning with a burning desire for getting more out of life. I want more from my business, more from my education, more from my relationships, and more from my spiritual life. I am no longer content with the ho-hum existence I’ve been living. I WANT MORE.
Now, I have no desire to acquire hordes of possessions, climb to the top of some corporate ladder, or become a rock star at 35. I think this is more of a spiritual nudging that I’m not living up to my full potential. I am capable of more; I was created for better things. YOU were created for better things, too.
So, where is all this borderline motivational drivel leading to, you ask? In my quest to plan out a course for achieving more, I found a wonderful little nugget of truth and wisdom, tucked away in a far corner of the Internet, and I’d like to share it with you.
You see, I have a small problem; I am not an entrepreneur by nature. Confidence and drive and persuasion do not come naturally to me. But I am an innovative thinker.
I’m looking for a new road map today. I’m planning a route for better personal and professional relationships, a deeper spiritual life, a robust education, and a solid, innovative, fulfilling online business. I’m doing a life make-over, an early mid-life crisis, reinventing the wheel- whatever it takes, and I found an excellent starting line today thanks to Sitepoint.com and WhitneyHess.com.
If you are looking for a starting point for your online business, or even if your focus has gotten a little hazy, this presentation titled Evangelizing Yourself will help set you back on track. Watch it more than once and take notes, because Ms. Whitney is about to provide your road map for success with a side serving of motivation and confidence.
Working Smarter
March 20, 2009
If you give me a choice between working smarter and working harder, I’ll take working smarter every time. Businesses that promote software and tools to streamline your efficiency are big business, for good reason. But finding worthwhile business tools can be a bit tricky.
Hidden Office Gems
One tool that can help you work smarter is most likely sitting on your hard drive right now, Microsoft Office. I use Microsoft Word daily, hourly, obsessively. The grammar and spelling checker is one of the best available, and overall, the program is easy to work with. To be honest, I bought Office just to get Word. Excel, Access, Power Point… those were just taking up space on my computer. Sure, I’d poked around a little when I first got them, and I had a vague sense that they could do much more, but was never motivated to take the time to learn what each program was capable of.
I recently finished a college course on advanced Excel and Access functions, and was I surprised at what these programs can do! I canceled my subscription to Freshbooks, gave away my Freelance management program, and streamlined my daily tasks enough to sneak in a nap in the afternoons (or a few minutes of quality time with a good novel). With an investment of a few minutes of my time I set up custom invoices, a database of my regular clients, a streamlined email list, custom reports and graphs, and a financial analysis of my business income- all in less time than I would normally spend managing paperwork with my old system.
Excel Features
Did you know that Excel can:
- Automatically find inconsistencies in your spreadsheets
- Import and export data to and from other Microsoft programs like Outlook, Word, and Power Point
- Sort data without altering the original information
- Perform complex calculations like displaying the names of employees eligible for a 401K program with the requirements of more than one year of employment, less than $200,000 yearly salary, and full time status
- Add long columns of figures without errors
- Record repetitive functions to be performed with a single click
- Calculate loan payments
- Figure the amount of interest and principal paid each month
- Determine the break even point for your business
- Figure the best possible price for a product or service based on your operating costs
Microsoft Office online has pre-made Excel spreadsheets for popular tasks like balancing your checkbook, creating a budget, tracking grades, and planning events. I even created a special Excel workbook for analyzing keyword profitability.
Access Discoveries
Entering customer information into Access was quick and painless with the import feature that took my information straight from my Outlook address book. In a matter of minutes, I was able to create custom invoices and generate reports such as outstanding payments and projects due in the next week. The switch-over was quick and painless and produced professional quality results.
It may seem like a no-brainer, but I was really pleased to find a few hidden gems already in my software library. Microsoft offers online classes for Office products, and your local library carries lengthy manuals covering all the simple and complex functions of each program if you’d like to learn to take advantage of your Office programs.
If you’ve discovered other hidden gems to help you work smarter, please drop me a line in an email or in the comments below. I could really use a few extra minutes to work on my fiction writing. 
Burn While I Laugh, Ryan
February 20, 2009
photo credit: AlexDixon
Ok, so the title seems a little sadistic, I know, but after you read this post, you’ll get the point. I’m not being cruel or sadistic, or even demented, I promise.
This post is a shameless promotion for Ryan D. Scott’s latest foray into the online community, because I think Ryan is awesome and he tapped me on the shoulder for a little link love. MakeComedy is the brainchild of Ryan, formerly known as Oktober5 and sometimes seen hanging out with that bad boy, Matthew Dryden.
Ryan’s new niche site gives readers tips on how to “create better comedy.” Okay, so SEO isn’t very funny, and most of my posts about Christianity and business ethics lean more toward practical. I’m just a practical kinda girl, but I’ll admit, I could use more funny. We could all use more funny, more smiles.
People like to laugh, and no matter what your reasons for hanging out on the Net, a little funny can help. And Ryan knows comedy.
Take for example his description of Matthew for the About Page of TheCompletists:
Matthew is the kind of man that you usually hear referred to as “a quiet guy” by neighbors being interviewed in front of a yellow police tape festooned house, buzzing with police, and several authorities removing numerous large, bulky bags while a backhoe operator jumps from his vehicle yelling, “I think we found even MORE in the back yard!”
Actually, Matthew is an up-and-coming writer and spoken-word poet, who loves to violate the dictionary in many different ways.
Okay, so that one is mostly funny because it is true.
The website is fairly new, but I’ve already bookmarked it so I don’t miss out on any of the great posts that are sure to come in the following weeks. One of my favorite thus far is Ryan’s feature post about comedian Damon Scott. If you only click through on one link today, make it this one. You’ve got to see Damon’s act. (I just LOVE that monkey!) It will make you smile, guaranteed.
A New Perspective
February 18, 2009
photo credit: relapsed nun
Hard times are staring most of us in the face. Heck, some of us are sharing the covers with Hard Times- he’s moved in and refuses to leave. He’s eating your lunch and stealing your joy. So what’s a guy or gal to do?
Chartrand mentioned a post by Dave Rhodes that I needed to read tonight. (I’ve been buried under database management projects lately and my feed reader has gone neglected, but this is one I’m glad I took time to read.) It was a real eyeopener.
You see, here I’ve been whining because someone stole several thousand dollars from my bank account. My hairdresser screwed up my last haircut and my husband now says I could qualify as a butch lesbian. I’m considering changing my major in college and have been whining because I don’t know what to do. My extended family is driving me nuts, and the roof is leaking- again. I’ve got more complaints than a mutt has fleas.
But the truth is, the bank is going to cover my losses, my hair grows fast, and I haven’t been hit on by any pretty girls lately. I’m a year and a half away from getting my next degree, my family loves me, and I’m warm, mostly dry, and have food in the cupboard. My kids are happy and healthy, my husband still has a job. I have it pretty good compared to many.
It’s all about perspective.
You see, Dave and Dorian are struggling, maybe more so than the rest of us. And they helped me put things back into perspective. I needed that today.
We’ve gotten used to a fairly cushy life and now circumstances are pushing us out of our comfort zones. We have to scrape together bus fare for a job interview, stand in line for hours to earn $6.50 from recycling that we would normally stuff into the garbage can for someone else to dig through. We eat macaroni and cheese. We walk to work. We feed the cat leftovers instead of tuna. The cable TV gets shut off, we learn to tell each each other stories and play Monopoly for cheap entertainment. We remember to cling tightly to what matters most in life.
Stop by and give Dave and Dorian your support if you have time. Pray for them and take the time to thank God for all He provides. If we hold each other up, we just might make it through.
It’s all about perspective.
By Your Side
February 16, 2009
“To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue.
All man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighted by the Lord.
Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.
The Lord works out everything for His own ends-”
~Proverbs 16:1-4
