Medicine/Medical. a regulated course, as of diet, exercise, or manner of living, intended to preserve or restore health or to attain some result.

–

Hmm. Not really where I was trying to go…#fool.

Okay, I’m not exactly a fool. I was going for a word similar to “systematic”, and when broken down that’s what regimen seems to mean… All the same, I could have found a better word. My bad. Henceforth, I will call it the #TweetMethod.

(Lessons Learned: Thesaurus.com is a godsend and should be used frequently.)

–ANYWHO–

After a week a few weeks, I quickly realized I could not keep up with the pace of my old #TweetMethod for a few reasons.

• I am only human and finding that much info that often turned out to be a lot harder than I thought.
• I quickly realized I didn’t care as much about some of the subjects I’d chosen versus the others.
• I hadn’t utilized HootSuite for all my scheduled tweeting pleasures.

That being said, after a bit of analysis and realizing what I was truly interested in, I’ve narrowed the field and changed up the rules a bit. I’m going on a #daily basis:

1. #dailyTUNES will concentrate on new music or music I’m listening to currently. I tend to have my headphones on 98.3% of the day, so I really hope with this hashtag I can bring some great music your way.
2. #dailySTARTUPS is more of a passion of mine. I’m a big fan of following the Startup community both locally and nationwide really because of the people involved. They tend to be problem solvers that have a desire to improve the environment around themselves through creativity and rationality combined, and I’m a huge fan of that approach.
3. #dailyFINDS could be anything from videos to links to interesting articles I’ve read…anything that catches my eye that I think may catch yours.
4. #dailyZOMG is sort of my equivalent of… BREAKING GEEKY NEWS. Maybe it won’t always be geeky but I’m going to warn you that most of the time it will be. Just saying.

Hopefully with this new #TweetMethod, I do my part in sharing what I find to be intriguing and just plain cool.

Music Inspiration

Think about it.  How often does the music you choose to listen to affect your day? Do you find yourself in a better mood? Working harder? Relaxing? Dancing?.. I’ve found that by allowing music to dictate my mood, I can turn a bad day into a great one.

With SO MUCH great music out there, the possibilities are endless to finding something amazing. All from the comfort of your home, cubicle, car, what have you.

Family Inspiration

At an early age I was introduced to music and how it can affect/change your life. My grandma was an incredible woman who knew over 3,000 songs by heart on the piano. She started playing the piano after contracting Polio at the age of 5 which limited her ability to participate in outdoor activities. Through music she stayed positive about life and its possibilities.

Grandma Bonnie in Fall 2007.

Aside from my Grandma Bonnie, my brother Ross Clark and my Uncle Bob have made music their fulltime gig and really have opened my eyes to the world of music.

Listening Habits

BUT there is something I’ve been noticing lately about my habits – I don’t always listen to the lyrics. At least, not initially. I’m very focused on the musicality of the song that sometimes, I forget to listen to the message.

I think this is partly due to our radio culture today. I’ve noticed that when I listen to the songs  on the local radio station, the songs played are more about the beat and less about the message (I admit, I love me some bad music at times).

Habits like this are meant to be broken. And I fully intend on breaking this one by committing myself to listening more often to the lyrics of the great artists that I listen to because I think it will lend to an overall better and more interesting listening experience.

How do you listen? Are you a lyrical or musical listener?

So many activities!

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Once again, props to Instagram.

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Should the DSM Zoo invest in a nicer fence? How do you think this could help?

Wait, that’s the Army…

Rome gave me the tools to be greater (cheese).

PS Instagram rocks.

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I joined the business world and all of its glory.

This occasion, as with most my age, was a huge turning point in my life. I mean – how often do you start your first job? If my math serves me correctly, that answer would be once. Just once.

Admittedly – my time came a little later than most of my peers. After graduating college I was going through the phases of questioning what it was I truly wanted to do with my life…as all college grads can attest to, a degree in hand does not point you in that direction magically.

A quick summary of the next year and a half:

New York > (Omaha) > DSM

Yeah…the details aren’t that important, you get the general idea.

Once moving back to Des Moines, I got a job in a restaurant while doing a bit of freelance on the side before I had an opportunity open up to me through a mutual connection. After going through the wonderful interviewing process – I landed myself my first big girl job, and started in September.

It’s been a great experience so far – through small bouts of Cubicle Fever, I’ve been able to wear a lot of different hats working for a smaller company and in 9 months I can say the experience this job has given me so far has been outstanding. I’m excited to share more of my experiences on this blog and hope you enjoy reading!

…L

In the last few months, I’ve really started to build up my Twitter presence. Why, you may be asking yourself? It’s pretty simple to me…I really enjoy conversation. I enjoy listening, learning, and sharing. So Twitter is just a natural step in that direction.

My Twitter Page

So what’s the point?

The point for me is that I can tune in and follow (and just as easily tune out by ‘unfollowing’) any conversations that I want! I can #follow my favorite bands (Alex Winston, Ray LaMontagne, St. Vincent) and see where they are on tour or if they have anything cool going on. They also love sharing new music they’ve found (if there is one thing you should know about me – I love getting recommendations on new music…hint hint). I can follow companies like Groupon and see what deals they have going on, local restaurants (Des Moines, IA) like Dos Rios and Gusto, who BTW (a little text lingo there, LMAO OMG) have excellent social media presences and see what they’re doing or offering up to customers. If I want to keep up on news, I can follow NPR, CNN. I can follow some great music festivals such as SXSW in Austin, TX or 80/35 here in Des Moines. I can create, participate, and/or listen into a live conversation by using a # (hashtag) and see what others have to say on that subject (example here).

There’s really just no end in sight to the benefit I’ve gotten from using Twitter. I have a lot of skeptical friends…but what I wonder is are they skeptical of the product itself and the value it could bring to their life, or are they skeptical to the fact that they’ll have to admit that they use Twitter (in their minds, Twitter is where Beiberites unite).

A New Twitter Regimen

I’ve been thinking about doing this for awhile. Last night I finally sat down and cemented the process.

One reason why Twitter is easier for busy/lazy folks (yup, just said folks) is that it allows you to say a thought in a sentence. It takes some practice to write in 140 characters, but once you catch on…sometimes the idea of writing a blog post with 300-400 words can be ‘whelming.

Anyways, here’s my plan…in Twitter language.

#monFINDS

- Where I share any odd/fun/cool link that I’ve found. This one will most likely spread throughout the week, as well.

#tueTUNES

- I’ll share a lot of the music I’ve found in the last week (and would appreciate some suggestions as well!)

#wedSTARTUPS

- I’ll spotlight some fantastic StartUp Companies I’ve noticed throughout the week.

#thuTHOUGHTS

- I assume this is where random thoughts will spring to life…

#friQUESTIONS

- Surveys, questions, polls, etc. on current news/events of the week.

#satHEALTH

- Usually my laziest day of the week, I want to get motivated and start sharing health ideas, tips, thoughts or questions I may have to get healthier.

#sunFOODFINDS

- I’ll share the restaurants I’ve eaten at or would like to visit pending the location of my body.

Now, these are subject to change as I tweak the process. The idea behind these #hashtag ideas is to create daily conversations.

So let’s do it!

The Planning Stage

I started with a markerboard (I find that I work best when my first draft of the development is either on a sketchpad or markerboard) and this is what I initially sketched up..

(I know, I know…you’re impressed by my Photoshop skills. They really are magnificent.)

By doing this, I was able to think of what projects I’d like to get done in the next month or so. Then I broke it down into what projects could get developed or finished in the next week. From there, I was able to build that daily time block, with 2-3 hours of leeway for other things that may come up along the way.

The Final Product

Now, rather than shoot a video (since I’m at the office…on my lunch break though!) I decided I’d take a screen shot of the final product.

Isn’t she pretty?

Wit this set in place, my goal is to do this project breakdown monthly, and every Monday develop a weekly time block accordingly…by doing so I hope to keep myself accountable and finish projects on time or even ahead of schedule.

How do you block your time? I’d love to hear some more ideas…

Thanks for tuning in!

-LC

Alright 2011, let’s dance.

Chris Brogan wrote a great post about coming up with three words to guide you through the coming year. What I really liked about this idea is that rather than think about the small things and getting lost in those details, it allows you to focus on the big picture. As a whole after writing out my 20 or so resolutions that I want to accomplish over the coming year, I started to notice a recurring theme for a few of them. After Chris wrote about his 3 words for 2011, it suddenly clicked in my head that if I want to truly attack these resolutions with the intention of accomplishing them, I need to look at them from a broader perspective.

In saying that.. here are my three words for the New Year by which I hope to better myself.

Focus, Ship, Attitude

Focus

I struggled a bit with this word. I initially started with Learn, but soon realized what I really want to do is focus my energy on learning at a better rate than I am now. I want to focus my efforts on reading more, on writing more about things that interest me, on engaging with those that have the same interests as me so that I can learn from them. I want to focus on learning the best budget and healthy lifestyle for me. So in essence…I want to learn to focus on learning.

Ship

This word could confuse some, unless you’ve subscribed to Seth Godin‘s blog, where he often brings up the idea of “shipping” a project. Here’s The Truth About Shipping, where Seth breaks the surface on this idea. Also, here is a video where he breaks it down.

After watching those, it may give you a great idea of what my goal is with this word. I want to work on my shipping. I want to work on finishing a project on time and on budget. Less perfection, more finishing.

Attitude

Not that I have a bad one…I just know that at times it could definitely use some work. I want to work on waking up every day realizing it’s a fresh start and I get to make the most of it. I’d like to look at how I react to situations, and gauge whether or not I reacted in the best way for myself and anyone else involved. I want to be aware that my attitude could make or break anything that I’m involved in, with either a personal goal of mine, interacting with people or a current project that I’m trying to ship.

–

While writing these, I think I’ve already come up with my 3 words for 2012….

Thanks for tuning in.