Take your networking game up a notch!

If you've ever tried networking, it's not easy. It can be intimidating, overwhelming and sometimes really awkward.

I've attended a couple of networking events in the past, and while I'm no expert, I've noticed some tricks and tips that make the process a little bit easier.

1. Do your research: know who is attending, who you want to speak to, and read up on their bio. You'll be able to ask better questions and make conversation if you know a bit about them. People love talking about themselves!

2. Know what you want to see. You know that you're interesting, unique and smart, and you want professionals to know that too. Practice your story - what are three things you would want someone else to know about you? Practice with a friend if need be?

3. Be aware of your body language. If you feel shy, it's easy to want to make yourself smaller and sit in a corner. Feeling cornered? You may put your arms in front of your chest as an instinct. However, you want to appear relaxed, friendly and open at a networking event. Stand up straight, keep your shoulders back and look people in the eye when you speak.

4. If you haven't already heard of this amazing site, be sure to check out Ten Thousand Coffees. It's a great professional networking site that allows you to connect with professionals in your city and industry. It's easy to make a profile and ask an expert out to coffee.

Good luck at your next networking event!

How addicted are you to your smartphone?

Do you love your smartphone? Yeah me too. But how much is too much?

I heard about a fairly shocking study on the radio today. Apparently, the average person picks their phone up 1500 times per week! That's about three hours per day of staring at the screen, adding up to almost one entire day per week of doing stuff on your phone. And that doesn't even include all the time we spend on our computers! Dizzy yet?

Here's a nifty infographic displaying some of the study's finds:

From  Custard, info by Techmark via https://www.yahoo.com/tech/new-study-says-we-pick-up-our-smartphones-1-500-times-a-99412542979.html

The Power of Positioning

I recently watched a fantastic TEDTalk by social scientist Amy Cuddy called "Your body language shapes who you are." In the video, Cuddy describes the idea of Power Positioning. According to research in the lab, your body language and how you carry yourself can literally change your life.

Think of the kind of body language you have when you're celebrating something - a personal success, a team victory or just feeling confident. Maybe your arms are up in the air, your shoulders are back and you're looking outward.

Now think of what your body does during times of low self-confidence. You might be huddled in on yourself, hunched over and trying to make yourself appear smaller.

It turns out, you can trick yourself into confidence. According to Cuddy's research, adopting a Power Pose (think of how Wonder Woman stands) for just a few minutes a day can actually increase your testosterone (giving you a boost of confidence) and lower your cortisol (the stress hormone).

How incredible is that? I'm definitely going to try out Power Positioning before my next presentation!

You can watch Amy Cuddy's fantastic TEDTalk here.

Rediscovering Twitter

I've been a Twitter user, both personally and professionally, for a while now. However, I had been feeling like I still didn't really "get" the platform totally. Taking a social and digital media course this year has provided me with some of the most insightful information on using Twitter strategically.

I thought I'd share some tips from my class!

1) Twitter is best when you use it regularly. I know it's easy to tweet something one day, and then not sign back into your account for a week or two - but it's hard to build that coveted community when you haven't been engaging with your networks. My goal is to engage with at least a few people on Twitter each day.

2) Be authentic. Follow what you like! Post and retweet and favourite things that you personally find interesting. This will allow you to connect with people who are excited by the same things as you.

3) Have brand awareness. Some people think the idea of a "personal brand" is corny, but it's actually quite useful. Potential employers can easily look you up on Twitter, so why not use that to your advantage? Think about what message you want to get across on Twitter and how your profile, pictures, tagline, and posts can help you achieve that.

4) Consider cleaning up your Twitter profile. Have any tweets or pictures posted that may not reflect favourably on you in the future? Maybe it's time to take them down. This can easily be done by visiting tweetdelete.net.

5) Have fun with Twitter! It's not supposed to be drag or stress you out.

Happy tweeting!

Finding Joy in the Small Things

This has been one of the busiest summers, for me and a lot of people. People always talk about the "lazy days of summer", but for me, July and August have been pretty packed and now it's nearly September.

At the beginning of the summer, I had a whole list of things I wanted to accomplish, and even a few trips I wanted to take. With one thing and another, I didn't get around to doing everything I wanted to. at the same time, it's been a productive and fulfilling few months.

Although I didn't get around to doing everything I wanted, there have been a lot of happy moments this summer. The more I think about it, the things that have given me the greatest joy over these past few months have been, somewhat surprisingly, the small things.

Here's a list of some of the things that stood out from my summer:

-the feeling of jumping into a cold, but refreshing lake at a friend's cottage
-sipping a cup of tea on my balcony in the morning before work
-watching dogs, kids, and families play together on the beach
-reading a book in bed on a drizzly day
-taking the time to write more often, even once or twice a week
-feeling the days get cooler and thinking about autumn on its way

What kind of little things give you joy?

What Ever Happened to Curiosity?

I'm curious - what makes you curious?

A recent Toronto Star article about waning curiosity in the age of iPads, smartphones, and constant access to Google has got me thinking about this essential human trait.

George Leslie, author of the book Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends on It, argues that Google "is curiosity's best friend and worst enemy at the same time". When getting information is just too easy, such as typing a word or query into the Google search box and getting an immediate answer, our natural human curiosity can dampen. Perhaps we click on the Wikipedia page, scan the opening paragraph, and then walk away with an immediate but superficial answer.

Great thinkers in the past like Leonardo Da Vinci, Charles Darwin, or Benjamin Franklin were men of great curiosity, but without the existence of Google in their time, they would have had to go to much more extreme lengths to find the answers to their questions - it was definitely not as easy as searching something on the web!

Leslie is not totally opposed to Google and its capabilities though - he asserts that the search engine does have its upsides. For naturally curious people, he says,  Google can enhance their thirst for knowledge - but, if you're naturally lazy, Google can make you lazier.

I think that there are other ways to ignite our curiosity and search for knowledge - methods that don't even involve the use of the internet. What about fiction? Nature? Sports? Art?

So, what makes YOU curious?

The Importance of Quiet

I recently spent a few days in Ontario’s cottage country with some friends. It was freezing cold, we had rain on and off, and there were gusts of winds that almost left me shipwrecked in the middle of the lake when I went out for a kayak paddle. It definitely wasn’t the week of fun in the sun that we were expecting – but surprisingly, what I enjoyed best about the trip was the quiet, and the escape it provided from city life. But what I appreciated most was the fact that we had no internet connection.

The terrible weather on our vacation forced us to remain inside the small cabin. As a result, I spent my time doing something I rarely have the time or attentiveness for: reading (and not an e-reader, an ACTUAL book). In our age of digital overload, it’s easy to spend the majority of your waking hours staring at a screen of some sort.

Contemporary studies have suggested that overexposure to digital screens is causing attention deficit problems and diminishing our interpersonal and intellectual abilities. Researchers and scientists are now promoting the importance of quiet time, and the absence of screens, when possible, to allow for important, but increasingly neglected brain functions such as daydreaming and creative thinking.

I think that the biggest reward of this drizzly, chilly week up north was the lack of buzzes, beeps, pop-ups, and alerts that we have become accustomed to receiving on our various devices. Instead, I got the time read, think, and reflect for a few days.

The first thing I did when I got back home? Checked my email.