Human Lifestyle

                                                                                 Style at Home
Always getting what you ask for in a negotiation--always hearing yes and never risking no--means that you never ask for enough. Excessive caution, rather than protecting you from rejection or losing face, can actually prevent you from getting all that you're worth, all that you deserve, and all that's available...When you aim high in a negotiation, you adjust other people's perceptions of you...You communicate that you expect to be treated fairly and that you're willing to stand up for yourself...Life will open doors a little more easily to you, and it's worth hearing no now and then for that, isn't it?
                                                                                -Linda Babcock & Sara Laschever,
                   Ask for it: How Women Can Use The Power of Negotiation to Get
                                What They Really Want (excerpt from O Magazine)

                                                                              Perfectly Chic

Those three things--autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward--are, most people agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying. It is not how much money we make that ultimately makes us happy between nine and five. It's whether our work fulfills us.
                                                                                                    Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers

                                                          Design: Atmosphere Interiors
We all have two choices: We can make a living, or we can design a life.
                                                                      -Jim Rohn

I came down with a really, really nasty virus earlier this week, but I'm finally back on the mend. All I can say for this Friday's TGIF, is thank God it's Friday--for real.  I thought I was going to die (I wasn't close to death, though I did end up in the hospital), and all I could think about was what it felt like to be "whole", and what a blessing it is to be healthy.  So let this week's TGIF serve as a friendly reminder to take care of yourself, because your health is truly priceless.

I'll be back on schedule for next week. Have a great weekend :)

                                                                            Kevin Kelly Interiors

A friend sent me this amazing video, and I thought it would be fitting to share it with you all on this first Friday of 2011.  Many people start the new year off with resolutions and to-do lists (I've been known to do it too), but this year I'm doing something completely different.  This year I'm working with an aphorism--a battle cry, a catchphrase, a motto--and using it to shape my year ahead. My aphorism for the year is success, because for me it's not just about accomplishing specific tasks, but more about staying focused on my goal throughout the year, which is to be a successful entrepreneur.

I know how readers feel about blog videos--if they're more than 1:00, most of you won't watch, but I only share things that speak to me, because I know that they'll speak to one of you too.  I say that to say...this video is good. If you're in business for yourself, it will really speak to you. If you don't have time to read it right now, bookmark it and read it before you go to bed--it might be just what you need to stay focused.



Stay on the grind & have a great weekend!

Enhancing your strengths, rather than your weaknesses, is the path to an accomplished life.  No one has ever been successful doing something they didn't like and no one has ever been successful doing something they can't do well.  So make sure your life is leveraging your strengths.
                                                                                 -Via Success Magazine

(it's easy to forget that it really is that simple!!)

What we are today is a result of our own past actions; Whatever we wish to be in the future depends on our present actions; Decide how you have to act now. We are responsible for what we are, whatever we wish ourselves to be. We have the power to make ourselves.
                                                                                      -Unknown

In 1997, I had just graduated from law school (with tons of student-loan debt) and was interviewing for high-paying positions at big firms. The problem was, my heart wasn't in it. So I took myself out of the running in order to build a small Internet publishing company with a friend. After a year of barely staying afloat, our venture went the way of a 404 ERROR message. I was broke and unemployed, and Sallie Mae was hot on my tail. I wondered what endeavor I should try next.
It sounds crazy, but once again I decided I should just throw caution to the wind and do what I wanted.  I began working as a trial attorney for the US Department of Justice. Over the next few years, I held a wide array of fascinating jobs that I took because they captured my imagination: serving in the military, reporting from Iraq for the Washington Post, and, most recently, becoming a full-time author. Some might consider me flighty for changing careers so often, but I contend that they key to professional happiness is asking yourself two simple questions everyday: Are you passionate about what you do? And if not, what are you going to do instead?
                                                                            
                                            Bill Murphy Jr., author of The Intellegent Entreprenuer (via Real Simple)

What I know for sure is that no matter where you stand right now--on a hilltop, in a gutter, at a crossroads, in a rut--you need to give yourself the best that you have to offer in this moment. This is it. Rather than depleting yourself with judgements about what you haven't done, who you could have become, why you haven't moved faster, or what you should have changed, redirect that energy toward the next big push--the one that takes you from enough to better.  The one that takes you from adequate to extraordinary.  The one that helps you rise up from a low moment and reach for your personal best.
                                                                                       -Oprah Winfrey

Please take a moment to read this excerpt from Darren Hardy, publisher of Success magazine, about perspective & failure.  It's a great reminder to be thankful for what we do have--life.

Too many vacations that last too long, too many movies, too much TV, too much video game playing - too much undisciplined leisure time in which a person continually takes the course of least resistance gradually wastes a life. It ensures that a person's capacities stay dormant, that talents remain undeveloped, that the mind and spirit become lethargic and that the heart remains unfulfilled.
                                                                                                                  Stephen Covey

                                                                                         Sasha Emerson

"There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts." 
                                                                                                                               — Elizabeth Gilbert

The really potent part of love is that it allows you to carry around beliefs about yourself that make you feel special, desirable, precious, innately good. Your lover couldn't have seen [these qualities] in you, even temporarily, if they weren't part of your essential being.
                                                                                     Martha Beck