National Digital Inclusion Conference

Been watching the live stream from the Digital Inclusion conference in London, picked up that it was on from the Twitter feed. Interesting to listen to BBC and government ministers talking about policies and developments.... they're breaking for workshops, but may catch up with more later. Read more.

How to Demonstrate the Value of Social Media to Your Boss - Free Webinar with Chris Brogan

Free Webinar 

Delayed webinars - such a great tool, and this one was particularly helpful in my interview preparation!

J John: Find True Contentment

Winchester Just 10 (Wed 22nd April)

J John, famous entertaining Greek, has come to Winchester! Last night was the first in a series of 10 evenings addressing the 10 Commandments from a modern and applicable perspective. Beautiful music, and regular laughter also accompanied the talks, along with a guest spot from Linvoy Primus.

Introducing the Series
The 10 Commandments are not an exam "attempt 5", and this series is a chance to give our lives an MoT... only we can decide if we need a new spark plug or a whole new car! Re-assess the values and principles that underlie all our relationships: life, relationships, community and work.

As the list of commandments is generally framed as 'do not', this series reframes them in a positive way, with positive steps we can make to change our lives, so for this week "Do not Covet" becomes "Find True Contentment".

Memorable Quotes

• We're never so perfect as when we're on a CV.
• The biggest room is the one for improvement.
• Yearnings always exceeed the earnings
• There are 3 classes: the haves, the have nots, and the have not paid for what they have.
• Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without!
• We spend money we don't have on things we don't need to impress people we don't like.
• In the rat race of life, if you win, you're still a rat.
• We lose our health to make money, then spend money to sort out our health.
• If you cannot have the best of everything, make the best of what you have.
• Money/wealth are not evil, it is the love of money that is the root of all evil.

How do you find contentment?

1. Be grateful for what you already have, have "an attitude of gratitude".
2. Recognise the limitations of wealth (those who have money will never have enough)
3. Focus on people, not possessions. "If we love people, we'll use things, if we love things, we'll use people".
4. Look beyond what is temporary (70 years is but a blip on the eternal screen)
5. Be a giver (was often give to charity what we CAN afford, how about giving to someone who can't give back?) "What can we do to live simply that others can simply live?"
6. Find our security in Jesus Christ. (it doesn't matter how creased/dirty a £20 note is, it's still worth £20, if you're not sure HOW to let Jesus become your life manager, ask him to break the door down).

Next Week

"Hold to the Truth" (See the Just10 Website)

Facebook Bootcamp for PR

View more presentations from nicole.landguth.

John Lees

At the One Life show, I purchased John Lees careers cards (I'd missed an event he'd hosted with LICC in Manchester, I do believe) after going to an afternoon Masterclass... 

So, there's various stages, but at the end you come out with list of 10 top motivated skills, from which I still need to collate bullet points for my CV, but in brief they are (in no particular order):

1. Facilitating the Learning of Others (P)
2. Inspiring Others (P)
3. Encouraging Others to Communicate (P)
4. Building Community, breaking down barriers between people (P)
5. Using humour to communicate or build relationships (P)
6. Assessing situations or people quickly and accurately (P)
7. Developing & building on the ideas of others (C)
8. Making connections, seeing how things fit together (C)
9. Generating new ideas, challening assumptions (C)
10. Embracing a Challenge (E)

Wonder why I keep wandering back towards teaching/communications roles?! (P = people focused, C = concepts/ideas, E = entrepreneurial... no sign of T = Things or I = Knowledge).

Random Wanderings Around the Net...

Barbara Sher

My random wanderings around the web tonight started with an email from Barbara Sher... I picked up her "What do I do if I want to do everything?" before I went travelling, and it was a great revelation (I need to do the activities, although I read the book cover to cover!)... scanners are not diletantes, but exceptionally intelligent with a lively sense of curiosity! Listen to Barbara Sher (geniuspress) talking about ideas she's been working with for over 30 years (or follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/barbarasher):

Scanner Links

John Williams, aka "The Creative Maverick" (first came across in careershifters... yes, this man is a true scanner!) is the obvious man to follow. Inspired after a retreat with Barbara Sher, he set up Scanner Central in London (no, I've not made it there either). For the April event we've apparently just missed Beyond Chocolate (which I remember seeing on the TV at some point, if it's been around for a while).

Other Links

• Checked out "Gifted Adults" on Google, see also here, after Sher indicates that many scanners are also gifted adults... I fit quite a lot of the bulleted list, but I'm definitely no introvert! Is that a form of cyberchondria?.
  
• Yesterday I found myself on Martin Seligman's Authentic Happiness pages
• In December I went on a course with Chantal Cooke, Nick Williams, Niki Hignett
• Tonight I downloaded 'The Imposter Syndrome' article..., I can remember talking about this with one of my PhD supervisors (Professor Joyce Goodman) - it's very common amongst female academics, apparently! (Also on "Changing Course" with Barbara Sher and Barbara Winter... who works with Nick Williams!)
  
• Checked out "Anybody", which looks to challenge the links between culture and body image.
• Rechecked Serenergise, where I gained my ICF-Accredited coaching certification.
• Rechecked PALS, which I need to see if I can unzip now I have a laptop that works... David Lett and John Evans, who have a vision to get more life-coaching style skills into schools.
• Checked out "The School of Life", where you're being asked to rebel against APPLYING for jobs, and to create your own job spec, and see if employers pick up on it. Well, why not?
• Read an article on Eric Gill, recommended by @tonywatkins on Twitter.... for whom I'm supposed to be writing an article tonight, instead of which I'm surfing. I'll get there!
  
• This morning I read C.S. Lewis's "The Screwtape Letters" - thought-provoking stuff (see p.46, where Screwtape encourages Wormwood to let the humans think that 'religious' is just another phase to go through...)

I dress to impress in RED, RED, RED

Red tulips Wrangels 30 april

Well, if it's an interview, clearly it's going to be a nice pinstripe suit, with lots of RED, nice powerful and confident read... all nicely cleaned and pressed. Always looking for the ideal pair of shoes to go with... bit of a heel for confidence, but not so high that you end up walking like you have blisters all over your feet (which is of course quite possible!).



If I'm going out for the night, quite possibly something similar - maybe less pinstripes, but a nice bright red top, or sometimes purple, or bright green (I don't really DO pastels)... anything to brighten up the evening... similar dilemma in the shoes - particularly if there's not a lot of money in the kitty for taxis!

Holiday Walking Thoughts

It's my holiday week, although I still seem to be spending an incredible amount of time online, but this morning refused to get up until I'd finished reading Teri Hatcher's Burnt Toast and Other Philosophies of Life (yes, I read fast, it's a both a pleasure and an expensive hobby!)... which I found in the charity shop yesterday.

I was intrigued by the idea that the choices you make about eating burnt toast say so much about how you value yourself (or not) [big ideas that interest me are valuing, engagement, expectations, choice, learning!]. She questions whether you try to scrape off the black, smother it with jam to hide the taste, throw it away or eat it "because you're willing to settle for less? Maybe you don't want to be wasteful, but if you go ahead and eat that blackened square of bread, then what you're really saying - to yourself and to the world - is that the piece of bread is worth more than your own satisfaction."

Found the book really interesting, if over-emphatic in its desire to demonstrate that Teri is an ordinary woman... well, I guess she is, but there's certain stories in the press that she's taken the opportunity to squash! Found a lot to empathise with, and some practical ideas for moving forward! Don't be prepared to spend another 10 years eating burnt toast...

Women & Cycling
I went for a beautiful walk in my favourite weather - sunny and breezy - and thought through some of what I'd read in the book, then generally emptied my mind! No chance to cycle as my bike is back in Winchester and I'm currently in Suffolk, but going through Monday's Guardian (finally), and seen a big story which is pushing forward cycling as a new 'fashion' for women... even Top Shop are coming out with a range of cycling accessories! Sustrans has recently launched bikebelles.org.uk, to encourage women on bikes, and Bird on Bikes had it's inaugural event earlier this year. The Guardian has definitely got people talking!

Georgette Heyer: The Historical Holiday Read

I have loved Georgette Heyer's regency novels since my mum lent me 'Frederica' many years ago (I know most people think I'm only about 25, but I'm considerably older than that!)... that copy of Frederica has long since disintegrated, but no worries, I tracked down another one!!! In fact, with much diligent searching I have tracked down all her regency romances, and most of her other texts excluding the detective novels, which, never being so popular as her regency romances were (at least not since, although they may have been at the time). I could do a bit more research and make this a scholarly entry, but I'm supposed to be on a week's break, hence the Heyer's come out and the brain switches off!! Not managed to get one off the shelf yet, but I will.... and meantime was checking out how far Georgette Heyer appears on the web:

• Georgette Heyer.com (long established, passionate about the subject).
  
• Some links I posted to her books.
• A book for all reasons
• Historical Tapestry
• The Georgette Heyer Challenge
• Forgotten Authors No. 27: Georgette Heyer (The Independent, 15th March 2009)
  
• and I still want to read Jay Dixon's book, not on Georgette Heyer, but on Mills & Boon, with whom Heyer is often classed (but much classier)

Stephen Fry: Guilty Pleasures (go to around 2:40-3:50)

Go Jenson Button....

As the National Anthem rings out again, it's another win for Jenson Button! Awesome... watching it on the BBC news site! Until 4-5 years ago I used to avidly follow qualifying, races, follow-up and read F1 magazine, then decided it was just taking up too much of my life, but I still maintain an interest in it. Was great to see Lewis Hamilton's victories last year... although as I was abroad I missed most of it, but maybe this year it'll suck me back in...

ww2poster Blog

I've added a new, more specialist, blog on WordPress: http://ww2poster.wordpress.com/. I will be back with this one too... but I have lots to say on posters, and with the whole furore over the Keep Calm and Carry On posters, it seems people are interested!