Multitasking

I signed up for the bluefeet newsletter because I like it and I learn from it. Bluefeet was founded by Lilli Cloud "to help people achieve their potential by capturing and communicating what makes them and their work extraordinary." Scroll to the bottom of any page of the bluefeet website and sign up if you want to get the newsletter, too.

This time around, Lilli and her staff sent a newsletter entitled, "Getting Your Flow On." They included a link to an article about multitasking. It says multitasking is bad for your brain.

I don't know if that's true. I get my flow on in multiple ways, all at the same time.

When John comes home and I'm nowhere to be found—the bed is half-made, some of the dishes are put away, the bathtub is squeaky clean but not the bathroom floor—I'm probably in the garage because that's where the filing cabinet is.

If multitasking is bad for my brain, that could explain the roots of my noun problem. I often have to grapple to find the word I'm looking for. I always stumble over "Brussels sprouts" and "sideboard," for example. I have no idea why these in particular give me trouble. Sometimes when I write and the word I want is not available, I write OWTTE (or words to that effect) or FABW (find a better word) and move on, hoping it'll come to me while I'm editing. It usually does. (It has to. I'm not finished until it does.)

I had a little trouble understanding the multitasking article because I had to switch screens between paragraphs to read another article I was reading about  the dwarf planet Ceres. Did you know it gets up to -28 degrees Fahrenheit up there? Hey, I've spent winters in Chicago. -28F is livable! Or it would be, if Ceres had an atmosphere. I don't remember anything else about the article but it gave me something to do between paragraphs in the multitasking piece.

I used to think my multitasking was a talent but now I know it's frenzied (FABW). It's time for me to buckle down, concentrate and focus (OWTTE), or I'll never GTD (get things done).

Re:Launch

Once upon a time you learned a profession, you got a job, you worked hard at that career and you retired with a pension at the age of 65.

THE END.

And I do mean, "the end." It's the end of that kind of career. The internet and the recession have radically changed the workplace and we have to change with it. We will have several careers in our lives. Many people who've been laid off or downsized (same, insidious thing) have turned to entrepreneurship or small business ownership. Many of us come from a background of working for companies that had departments for accounting, planning, marketing, IT, acquisitions. Now we run all the departments. At least I do.

Did our 20th century educations prepare us for the 21st century work force?

You may remember last year I participated in a Business Builders' Boot Camp. I loved it and promised to let you know if there was another. Now the same people who ran Boot Camp are holding a two-day strategic planning retreat March 4th and 5th at the Historic Blinn House, home of the Women's City Club of Pasadena (pictured above). Men are most welcome, by the way.

The retreat is called Re:Launch, as in relaunch your business. Donna Chaney, of Chaney Financial Services (my one and only advertiser!) and Lilli Cloud, marketing and personal branding expert at bluefeet, are the warmest, most engaging business aces you will ever have the pleasure of learning from. And for their Friday lunch speaker they've got Karen E. Klein, the Smart Answers Columnist from Bloomberg  BusinessWeek, Q&A Columnist of the LA Times Business section and all-around business brainiac.

You can waste time and money figuring this stuff out as you go, or you can learn it all at Re:Launch. For more information, click the links. Or contact Lilli Cloud at 323-466-3518 or lcloud (at) yourbluefeet.com

I think I'm in the wrong career. I should be writing ad copy.

Tomorrow: I'm excited to host Pasadena Daily Photo's first ever guest post! Stop by and meet Altadena author Des Zamorano.

Too Popped to Pot

I attended an event at the Pasadena Convention Center last Sunday--a seminar called POP! Your Book, Brand, Business and Career.

On the lower level, the Los Angeles Pottery Show was happening. We had this great view coming and going from the conference room, as we crossed over the lower level on bridges set with tables and chairs.

All that colorful pottery was tempting. I thought I might check it out after the seminar was over.

Once inside the packed room I forgot about pots. The POP! seminar was absorbing before it even started, because the speakers came early to network with participants.

I was there to learn, not to blog, so I didn't take photos. I listened, scribbled notes, laughed and scribbled more notes. The organizer, business writer Karen E. Klein, did a nice write-up of the event and posted shots of speakers Sam Horn and Lilli Cloud on her blog, Financially inKleined.

The two brilliant branding/marketing experts kept us riveted for three hours. You can see by their websites that they're tops in their field. We were lucky to have them together.

When we came out, the pottery show was closing down.

Ah, well. I got what I came for. I didn't need pots. I needed to pop!