The theme this week is THINK BIG! We watched a fascinating National Geographic show called “Madness in the White City.”

It’s actually a dark tale of how serial killer H.H. Holmes targeted victims during the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. However, the stories that stuck out to me were about two other people who thought big.

Architect Daniel Burnham, designed and built the amazing “White City.”

“Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men’s blood.” he said.

Then there was George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., who was 33 years old when he designed and built the first Ferris Wheel for the Fair. The original Ferris Wheel had 36 cars, each fitted with 40 revolving chairs and able to accommodate up to 60 people, giving a total capacity of 2,160!

Tragically, he died at the age of 37.

I was reminded of a song that always makes me wonder about the possibilities of life: “World” by Five For Fighting. What kind of world do you want? What can you be doing to make it happen? Sometimes I need to think bigger.

In the world of the Daily PlanIt, there was a new post about the 6th Skill Employers Want, complete with resources for learning it. I also worked on organizing all the free tools I’ve been creating and collecting for many years. They had gotten a little jumbled up, kind of like tools thrown randomly into a toolbox. Hopefully now it’s a little easier to find the ones you need. The Free Tools page has always enjoyed the greatest popularity here. The free tools are now organized into productivity and goals, and I created new pages for Home Helpers and Personal Development tools. In other news, I let go of my first electronic organizer, a Palm T3 Tungsten pda. It was very cool in it’s day, but I was no longer using it. Finally, this Irish Proverb (fitting for St. Patrick’s Day) “You will never plow a field by turning it over in your mind” is a good reminder that nothing happens just by thinking about it!

Have a great week!

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This week I shared How I Created My First eBook, complete with helpful links. I hope this is helpful to those who wish to tackle this project. On the Daily PlanIt Facebook page, I shared a great free tool from David Meerman Scott, a Free Marketing Strategy Template. Plus a lot of other neat stuff, like the Happy song by Pharrell Williams.

During the past week I took a quiz to determine if I am left brain or right brain dominant, and was shocked and dismayed by the results! Let’s just say that it said I’m strongly left brain. Sure, I get that I like to make lists and organize things, and that’s a left brain function. But I highly value creativity and art, and like to think I’m at least a little bit creative. So I was very disturbed to see this result.

It bothered me so much I decided to re-take the test, and then take a closer look at what it is based on. The second time it came out a little better: 69% left, 31% right. I looked at the explanation of the test which came up after the test was completed.

Later I found another article that reassured me that brain dominance is not something to get worked up about. As long as you have a functioning brain, that’s the main thing! Still, I may try to spend some more time exercising my creative side.

Have you heard comedian Jeanne Robertson talking about her left-brain husband? She is one funny lady!

Smead has an article on how to set up an office based on brain dominance. See also Brain Basics. Have a great week!

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Has this ever happened to you? You are thinking of that perfect article or website you saw recently that you now want to share or write about…but you can’t remember exactly what it was or where you saw it? Did you save it in the bookmarks on your computer? On Delicious? Did you pin it on Pinterest? Did you add a post on Facebook? You do searches on keywords in Google and spend hours browsing through the results. You spend more hours browsing through the history on your computer. Where oh where is that bit of information you need? We are so inundated with information it can be extremely difficult to keep track of it all. This is the kind of thing that can drive me completely bonkers.

And that is how I spent some (okay, a lot) of my time this week! And I finally found it! (it was hiding in my Facebook feed) I was looking for the most intriguing incentive to sign up for email I’ve seen: an invitation to the Procrastinator’s Anonymous Newsletter at alphaefficiency.com. (Ironically, I still haven’t gotten around to it. Why do you think I write about this stuff?)

While Pinterest is great for visual things, and Facebook is great for connection, they aren’t wonderful for organizing information, or finding it again. How do you keep track of information you might want to refer to again?

Marketing an eBook is quite a challenge and learning experience. Find out why you should take these steps, how to do it, and tools for getting it done in my post “Checklist to Market an eBook.” There’s even a free printable checklist. I shared a free marketing plan at KCSourcelink on the Daily PlanIt Facebook page this week. If you don’t want to miss this stuff, like us!

This week I’ve been learning a little bit about Mailchimp as a way of collecting emails. I still have a lot of things to do on eBook Marketing checklist, it is definitely a process that takes time! I’m considering ideas for a wonderful incentive to offer, is there something you would really love to see? I’m thinking of offering a free email course on Exploring Talents. Perhaps a Creativity Prompter or Telephone Tips? What would be most enticing to you to sign up?

I’ve also had a major cold this week, which has had an effect my productivity. I kept optimistically buying small bottles of cold remedy when I should have said “Super Size me!” It’s hung on awhile, but I think I’m finally getting over it. I did learn a little more about video as I filmed my husband James and our cat PT. James is an expert at “cat fishing!” and PT is an amazing leaper. Just for fun: Check out the short video (.07) or the longer version (2 min.) Note to self: next time turn off the television.

Have a great week!

Want to see more? I invite you to “like” the Daily PlanIt Facebook page and follow me on Pinterest!

We all know the importance of a Weekly Review, right?!

I’m beginning a new feature to provide highlights of the past week at The Daily PlanIt, with tools and information to develop work and life skills. You can view the highlights on Flipboard, and read the summary below.

In the past week, we celebrated Valentine’s Day, a good time to reflect on choosing love, whether we are single, or in a relationship. Single people can appreciate family and friends, and those in a relationship can express gratitude for their special person as well. Everyone can “Practice love until you remember that you are love.” – Swami Sai Premananda.

At a time when I was single, I read a lot of books trying to understand love. Two were especially helpful to me. Find out what they were by reading this post from a Year of Personal Growth with the weekly activity:  Choose Love.

Some of the things I learned were:

Love begins with loving yourself. Only when we love ourselves are we able to give love. Know that you are loved and lovable, just because you are here.

An infinite supply of love is available: “Love is a treasure for which we never can pay, the only way we keep it is to give it away.”

Last week my husband and I went on a trip to visit a place we love, the beautiful island of St. Thomas, and spent some time doing something we both love: snorkeling in the ocean and swimming with the fish. What a blessing it was to escape the cold weather and enjoy the warm sunshine for awhile! And how thankful I am to have this wonderful man in my life!

This week I found an awesome quote from Kid President: “Create something that will make the world awesome.”

 

I believe so strongly that it is important to do what you love! I recently published at course at Udemy called “Gain Incredible Focus with a Personal Mission Statement” that will help discover the intersection between what you are good at, what you love, and what the world needs.

Turn ideas into assets for the fun and excitement of creating something that adds value.

That was one of the main points I got from a book I read last year that had a big impact on me: “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki:

To get started, you can can Learn Entrepreneurial Skills with these links. There’s some amazing stuff here, and it’s free!

Have a great week!

Want to see more? I invite you to “like” the Daily PlanIt Facebook page and follow me on Pinterest!