WooThemes Launches - Wordpress Theme Club with excellent premium themes!

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Out friends from PremiumNewsTheme.com have rebranded themselves and relaunched today as WooThemes! The site and service that they have put together, a wordpress theme club, is an absolutely outstanding idea and I encourage you to check it out.

A collaborative effort by Adii, Magnus Jepson, Mark Forrester and Elliot Jay Stocks, I can only imagine what kind of success WooThemes is going to be. With some already great looking themes designed and out there, it is hard to think that they will be able to out do themselves and create something even better.

The concept of WooThemes is great also - you sign up and pay for three or six months membership and get access to any and all themes that are already available and then any that launch during your time as a member. Sounds good doesn’t it? The only better part is the reasonable price! A single user subscription will get you access to over 10 themes right away and more on the way, for only $150.00! Each theme was previously selling at $50+, so this is a great deal for you.

I sent a twitter out to @adii to find out what the hardest part of setting up and launching WooThemes was an his simple reply was “woothemes = blood, sweat, and tears” If you are looking for an indepth follow up on the process of launching WooThemes, keep an eye out on Adii’s site.

Congrats goes out to the guys for a successful launch today!

Focus on What You Want and Not What You Don’t Want - The Secret

I don’t know about you guys, but I never really followed all of the hype for the movie “The Secret” when it came out in 2006. But now that I use Netflix, I decided to add the movie to my list and got it over the weekend to watch.

IMDB gives the following synopsis for the movie:

The Secret is a feature length movie presentation which reveals The Great Secret of the universe. It has been passed throughout the ages, traveling through centuries… This is The Secret to everything - the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted. All the resources you will ever need to understand and live The Secret. The world’s leading scientists, authors, and philosophers will reveal The Secret that utterly transformed the lives of every person who ever knew it… Plato, Newton, Carnegie, Beethoven, Shakespeare, Einstein.

I think that is a pretty accurate description. What is “The Secret” then you are wondering? The Secret is taking advantage of the Law of Attraction and learning how to harness the power of it for your betterment. The Law of Attraction is the secret to the world and everything that you could want, which is what this movie tries to convey to you. Although not every detail and aspect of how to use the Law of Attraction to your benefit is unveiled in this movie, it is a great starting point to learn about it and see how you can benefit from it.

The movie breaks down into the following sections:

1. The Secret Revealed
2. The Secret Made Simple
3. How To Use The Secret
4. Powerful Processes
5. The Secret To Money
6. The Secret To Relationships
7. The Secret To Health
8. The Secret To The World
9. The Secret To You
10. The Secret To Life

From watching the movie, you can pick up many different ideas about how to use the Law of Attraction and what kind of changes you can make in your daily life to make your relationships, wealth, health, and yourself better. However, one of the main takeaways from the movie is to focus on what you want and not what you don’t want. This is illustrated many times throughout the movie with different examples such as someone who puts all their energy in focusing about how they do not want to be poor instead of focusing on how they are going to be rich and how they are going to get there. By focusing on not being poor, you are still focusing on the concept of being poor. This in turn does not help you become rich or wealthy because you are not focusing on that. Another example from the movie is to not be anti-war but to be pro-peace. Don’t focus on the war, focus on creating peace.

The best part of utilizing The Secret the experts say is that not matter what people focus on and no matter how much people get (either in their relationships, their health, or their wealth), there is always enough to go around. The worry of some people is that everyone used the Law of Attraction to their benefit than there eventually would not be anymore to go around, but that’s not true at all - there is more than enough to go around for everyone.

So, as you go into your business and your lives, be sure to focus on what you WANT and not what you don’t want. Focus on getting that next client, making your next $10,000 or $1,000,000. Focus on being healthy, seeing yourself as an active person and it will happen.

I know it has been a while since the movie came out, but has anyone else seen it? And what did you think of it?

Keeping Focused in IT

It is very safe to say that the modern work industry is not only fast-paced but also an easy place to find yourself distracted. Below are five helpful tips that help me throughout the week.

Don’t Take On Too Much At Once
This is something we’re all guilty of. We want to jump out, show we can take on a heavy workload and get the job done. What we don’t realize is that after time it takes a threatening toll on our health, focus, and ability to perform. Pay close attention to the amount of time you have and the amount of time it will take to complete the tasks you take on. Remember - sleep and time outside the office dictate how stressed you get in the long run!

When Stumped, Dont’ Google Solutions First
What? We live in a digital age and I’m not recommending to hit Google first? That’s correct! Yes - there are a ton of message boards out there you can find through Google that have probably come across the same issue that you’re having. Sadly though, by going this route first you put yourself into dangerous area for procrastination.

If you’re stumped, try walking away from the situation for five minutes or so to catch your thoughts. Then, once back in the office, try drawing out your project and how you think it should work. Trace your steps and go into more detail on the task at hand. Weirdly enough, this has usually helped me find areas that I may overlook to being caught up in finishing a project.

Coordinate
Sometime’s it is tough to build a routine in the IT industry. If you can, try to implement certain elements of your day into a set schedule. Maintenancing your e-mail early in the morning, reviewing your calendar for tomorrow’s activities in the late afternoon, finishing projects in the early morning can all be effective ways to combat procrastination and loss of time. Try tackling projects early on in the day while you are the most awake and energetic. Finish your day off with the least important activities or the ones that require the least amount of energy.

Read Up!
It’s rather nice to keep up with all of the news in your related field. Although it may not relate to your company at large, a lot of what happens in the industry can either help or disrupt you in the long run. Keep up-to-date with whats going on. As cliche as it sounds, knowledge truly is power.

Retouch Your Skills
In this industry, it is impossible to use your entire skillset in one single day or week. I’ve found that retouching certain skills, techniques, or software can maintain your knowledge of the respective area. Who knows, you may even learn more about it than you knew before.

As you can see, these are 5 random points of advice. The IT industry is truly growing and with that comes with responsibilities that will only grow in time. Keep your mind healthy, knowledgeable, and free to think and you will find much more comfort in your abilities and career.

Bobby Hash is a Systems Developer & Business Analyst for The Results Companies / CAI.
For more information, check out www.bobbyhash.com.

Time to change your time management strategy?

After reading the chapter in The Four Hour Work Week about managing your time more effectively, I have decided to implement a couple of the different tactics to see if I can make my use of time more efficient and effective as opposed to just wasting time on seemingly unimportant tasks.

One of the points that Tim Ferris makes in The Four Hour Work Week (4HWW) is that if you stopped doing things during your working hours that were unimportant or that had no real effect on your actual work, you would therefore be able to get your actual work done a lot quicker and be able to take the rest of that time off – the idea being that you could cut your work load of a normal day to by a few hours a day and get the same amount of work done if not more. His suggestion includes to stop reading newspapers, watching TV, or surfing the internet and looking on sites like Digg.

Now, I do not know how far I would actually be able to take this to stop randomly surfing the internet because I do love watching hilarious YouTube videos or reading good stories on Digg.

So, what am I going to do you may be asking. Another suggestion that is provided in the book is to set time limits for activities that you work on. For students, this would be say the amount of time that you spend knocking on some homework, working on a project, studying for a test, or relaxing. My method to be more productive, on top of having a to-do list, is going to be to rank the tasks by the importance and group them into different categories. Then, I will be able to dedicate certain amounts of time to each category. My to do list may look something like this then:

School Work

1. Homework assignment due by Tuesday
2. Homework assignment due by Friday
3. Paper due by Friday
4. Project research (on-going)

eBay Related Tasks

1. Sort through eBay listings and update any old information
2. Relist any unsold items and adjust the listings if needed
3. Take care of packing any sold items

Website Design Tasks

1. Complete concept design for client A
2. Contact client B about starting work on project

Now if I devoted an hour each day, when needed, to knock these tasks, I would be able to easily complete everything that I needed to for that day or couple days at a time. The catch to making this technique work is eliminating all of the other distractions that you have going on – TV, email, phone calls, instant messages, friends, etc.

If you can disconnect yourself from everything else for an hour straight and focus solely on the task at hand, you should be able to find yourself much more productive and also find that you have a lot more free time to do the things that you want to as opposed to the things that you have to. These might include spending more time with your friends, spending time with your family, traveling, enjoying your surroundings, etc.

Give this technique a shot and see if it works for you. Dedicate at least a week to making this work so that if the first couple days that you try it different things come up that you could not predict from the start, you will have more chances to plan for those distractions and eliminate them in the days following. I would love to hear how this time management technique works for some of you.

I will be sure to report back about how it works for me in a week or two!

Integrity - Leadership Qualities Series

The most important quality of leadership is integrity, understood as honesty, strength of character, and courage.

Without integrity there is no trust, the number one element in the leader-follower equation. Integrity leads to trust, and trust leads to respect, loyalty, and ultimately, action. It is trust coming from integrity that is needed for leading people form the boardroom, to the shop floor, to the battlefield. A model of integrity was George Washington, about whom it was written:

Endowed by nature with a sound judgment, and an accurate discriminating mind, he was guided by an unvarying sense of moral right, which would tolerate the employment only of those means that would bear the most rigid examination, by a fairness of intention which is neither sought nor required disguise, and by a purity of virtue which was not only untainted but unsuspected.

As a leader, ask, Do my people trust me? Do they know that I seek the truth and that I am true to my word? Do they see that I possess strength of character and courage of my convictions?

*********

“Integrity” concludes this series on leadership qualities. If you missed any of the previous posts, check out the introductory post for the series and you can find links to all the different posts! I hope you were all able to pull something from this series and think about the different qualities that leaders should strive to have and how you can try to reach them all yourselves!

Vitality - Leadership Qualities Series

Even if the spirit is willing, strength and stamina are needed to fulfill the tasks of leadership.

Effective leaders are typically described as electric, vigorous, active, and full of life, no matter how old they are or if they are physically disabled. Consider Franklin Roosevelt, who had polio, and Helen Keller, who was blind. It is interesting to note that at one point in recent history, the American president Ronald Reagan, the Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II, and the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran were all over 70 years of age - and more vital than many people half their age. At all ages, leaders require tremendous energy and stamina to achieve success. The caring leader must have health and vigor to pursue his or her goals. Physical checkups and physical fitness are common-sense acts.

Leaders must ask, Am I fit for the tasks of leadership? Do I have sufficient energy? AM I doing everything I can to keep physically strong?

If you are just starting to read the Leadership Qualities Series, check out the first post about it and then read the other entries in the series.

Persistence - Leadership Qualities Series

The leader must have drive and determination to stick with difficult tasks until they are completed.

According to Niccolo Machiavelli, “There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain as to success, than to take the leader in the introduction of a new order of things.” Former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir referred to the quality of persistence when she advised that things do not just occur in one’s life. She encouraged people to believe, be persistent, and struggle to overcome life’s obstacles. Leaders from Walt Disney to Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s, have shown the importance of persistence for business success, and military leaders from Ulysses Grant to George Patton have proved its importance on the battlefield. However, no better example exists to show the importance of fierce resolve as a leadership quality than that of Winston Churchill. Historians agree that his leader, with his bulldog will, was a determining element in the success of the Allied nations in defeating the Axis powers in World War II. In the face of impossible odds and seemingly certain defeat, Churchill rallied his people. Simply, he would not give in: he would not give up.

If you are the leader, ask, Do I have self-drive and unflagging persistence to overcome adversity even when others lose their strength and their will?

If you are just starting to read the Leadership Qualities Series, check out the first post about it and then read the other entries in the series.

Self Confidence - Leadership Qualities Series

OK I got a little behind in this one. Sorry!

Confidence in one’s ability gives the leader inner strength to overcome difficult tasks.

If leaders lack self-confidence, people may question their authority and may even disobey orders. Researchers at the Center for Creative Leadership have found that successful leaders remain calm and confident even during intense situations. By demonstrating grace under pressure, they inspire those around them to stay calm and act intelligently. According to football quarterback Roger Staubach, the key to self-confidence is how hard the leader works: “Confidence comes from hours, days, weeks, and years or preparation and dedication. When I’m in the last two minutes of a December playoff game, I’m drawing confidence from windsprints I did the previous month. It’s just a circle: work and confidence.”

A leader must ask, What is my self-confidence level? Do I show confidence in my actions? Have I done the homework and preparation needed to build self-confidence?

If you are just starting to read the Leadership Qualities Series, check out the first post about it and then read the other entries in the series.

Concern for others - Leadership Qualities Series

At the heart of caring leadership is concern for others.

The leader must not look down on others or treat them as machines - replaceable and interchangeable. The leader must be sincerely and deeply concerned about the welfare of people. The character of caring stands in clear contrast to the character of bullying. The caring leader never tears down, belittles, or diminishes people. The leader must also possess humility and selflessness to the estent that, whenever possible, others’ interest are considered first. Concern for others requires patience and listening, and the result is trust, the bedrock of loyalty. Loyalty to followers generates loyalty to the leader; and when tasks become truly difficult, loyalty carries the day.

Leaders must question, Do I truly care about my employees as people, or do I view them more as tools to meet my goals? DO I ever demean people, or do I always lift them up? If I value my employees, do they know it?

Following concern for others, comes having self confidence as a leader, tomorrows entry will be on just that!

If you are just starting to read the Leadership Qualities Series, check out the first post about it and then read the other entries in the series.

Stability - Leadership Qualities Series

The leader must understand her or his own world and how it relates to the world of others.

One cannot solve the equation of others when preoccupied with the equation of self. Empathy for employees cannot be developed if the leader is emotionally involved with personal problems. Problems with alcohol, problems with money, and problems with relationshiops are fertile fields for emotional instability. A display of emotional instability places the leader in a precarious position with regard to employees, because they will question the leader’s objectivity and judgement. Leadving personal problems at home allows the leader to think more clearly and to perform more effectively on the job. One can see the consequences of loss of stability with examples raning from the fall of Alexander the Great to the fall of Captain Queeg in The Cain Mutiny.

The leader must ask, Do I possess objectivity? Do I convey stability to my employees? Do they trust that personal problems will not interfere with my judgment?

If you are just starting to read the Leadership Qualities Series, check out the first post about it and then read the other entries in the series.

Tomorrow’s entry will be on ‘Concern for others‘.