Prospective corporate strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Prospective corporate strategy - Essay Example This lust for new market has triggered a wave of competition which has necessitated the need for organization to differentiate themselves from its competitors in order to sustain themselves in the market (Brakman & Heijdra, 2004, p.413). Task 1: Strategic Positioning Central Arguments In order to take on the increased levels of competition firms have started adopting different strategies that tend to provide greater value to the consumers. Strategists and marketers are increasingly enhancing their focus on aspects like positioning and branding. Positioning is defined the image of a particular product or service in the minds of the consumer (Hiebing, Hiebing & Cooper, 2004, p.146). Value addition has become the prime aim of business organizations to sustain and differentiate themselves in the global market. Value proposition refers to the value addition that an organization provides to its customers by virtue of its business operations and product or service offering (Hax, 2009, p.42) . Michael Porter identified three basic generic strategies that could be used to create strategic positioning for a firm in the market. He stated that a firm can sustain itself in the business market by adopting one or a combination of the three generic strategies which are focus, cost leadership and differentiation. Strategic positioning involves selecting an optimum mix of the three generic strategies stated above to gain strategic and sustainable advantage while creating greater value for the stakeholders of an organization (Hansen, Mowen & Guan, 2007, p.377-378). The principles of strategic positioning as outlined by Thornton are stated below: 1. Concept based strategy formulation 2. Long term vision and planning 3. Diversification of thought 4. Strength based planning (Thornton, 2007, p.14). Adopting a strategic positioning would help a firm to pursue activities that would help them differentiate the product or service offering from the rest of its competitors in the business m arket. It would also act as a guideline towards new product development as well as enhancement of value addition to a product or service offering (Steinbock, 2007, p.273). Task 2: Internet and Strategic Positioning The twenty first century has also been described as the age of information technology. The backbone for this lies in the advancement in internet technology. Internet has reduced the distance between the individuals. This aspect has been largely used by business organizations to gain competitive advantage. The rise of dotcom sites and online web portals has been accredited with enhancing the business potential of business organizations. However, an article by Michael Porter strongly contradicts this view. The author in his article conveys his reservations about internet technology being used as medium to add value to a product or service offering. He states that internet has not generated a significant increase in the value offering of the products rather it has created a situation where value addition implies only cost based improvement. He further questions the business model of the dot.com companies as he believes that the present business model ignores the aspect of profitability and value. In this article it has been explicitly stated that the rise of internet in business organiza

The Two of a Great Artworks of Georgia O'Keeffe Essay

The Two of a Great Artworks of Georgia O'Keeffe - Essay Example The form of art used is Painting. Not being the portrait paintings, these two pieces represent Creative Painting form of art, wherein O'Keeffe's has used her imagination. The Sky Above The Clouds puts on canvass her imagination to bring out how the sky looks from a height above 30,000 feet from the aeroplane. The painting uses very few colours giving it a sombre look and is one of the most appreciated art pieces of O'Keeffe. The Gray Line puts on canvass a feeling of serenity. It is an abstract painting leaving it for the viewers to understand what it tries to speak. Most of the reviews written on it link it with the beauty of women and the tenderness of women. Both are essentially two-dimensional artworks. It is to be noted here that graphic designs, drawings, paintings belong to the two-dimensional art forms whereas the three-dimensional art form has length, breadth, and height which include sculptures, statues etc. Both the artworks of O'Keffee under discussion belong to the Abstr act form of art. This is so because the art itself on its look does not depict anything in the natural world in particular. Instead, it is making use of colours in a non-representational way. It depicts real forms, keeping just an allusion of the original subject that it wants the viewer's mind to hit. These paintings carry an intrinsic quality of od abstraction making them â€Å"non-figurative† â€Å"non-objective" as well as "non-representational†. Both the art pieces belong to Fine Arts indicating a form of visual art and are concerned with beauty that appeals to the viewer's mind.

The shape of the sixties

The shape of the sixties Abstract This essay is in essence talking about the idea of revolution. In the 60s there was a great deal of hardship, be it from the Civil Rights Movement to the war in Vietnam. The 60s were a very revolutionary time, people full of new ideas coming from different parts of the world. This essay will show you through music, film and speech how a revolution occurred in the 60s. The Shape of the Sixties Jefferson Airplanes co-founder, Paul Kantner once said â€Å"If you can remember anything about the sixties, then you werent really there.† Sure, â€Å"The Sixties† may have been just been a decade long party, but there was a different side to this era. The counter-culture that was the sixties undoubtedly revolutionized the world that we life in today. The music was edgy, and heavily drug influenced but marked the beginning of a whole new sound. The sixties also marked a new age of film production based on both technology and content. The speeches were controversial but shaped a better world. This era was heavily filled with controversy, scandal and crime but through this it changed the world. As Cat Stevens sings in the song Peace Train, â€Å"Ive been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one. And I believe it could be someday its going to come.† What Cat is trying to say here is that she can see change is coming, and the world is going to be a better place, a place of equality. However America in the sixties was a very uneasy time, with the Vietnam War as well as the Civil Rights Movement. Both of these were both huge catalysts for all of the protest in the sixties. At the end of the Civil War many groups were created in order to achieve this equality but the process was painfully slow. It wasnt until this era however that hundreds of years of work finally began to pay off. The hippie movement stood up in agreement with this change, and with them came the support of the music. In 1963 Bob Dylan released the song Blowin in the Wind a non-specific song but very related to the uneasy times. This song is essentially a universal plea for humans to learn from our mistakes and to have freedom. The song has being covered numerous times and is a staple for any anti-war song. The second stanza of the song goes â€Å"How many years can a mountain exist, Before its washed to the sea? Yes, n how many years can some people exist, Before theyre allowed to be free? Yes, n how many times can a man turn his head, Pretending he just doesnt see? The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind, The answer is blowin in the wind.† What Dylan is saying here is very clear, the people he is talking about is any group that has been oppressed or alienated should now be free, for everyone deserves freedom. The music of the sixties was not only groundbreaking and revolutionary, it was also changed the shape of music. Something happened in the sixties that was tokened as the â€Å"Britsh Invasion†, the British musicians essentially took over the American music industry and formed it into their own. This all started when The Beatles first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and took off into superstardom. In 1967 The Beatles released the album Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, a simply amazing record that was the anthem for the summer of 1967. This marked a new age and a new sound for what music was and will be. The sixties are when lyrics became edgy and people started to stand up against the government and oppression. In 1968 The Beatles released the song Revolution, a song with much apt to the current time. In the second verse it goes â€Å"You say you got a real solution.Well, you know. Wed all love to see the plan.† The Beatles are asking the government for their so called plan of action.1964, Dylan releasedâ€Å"With God on our Side† this is another protest song that traces the history of Americas conflicts dealing with all sorts of past wars. The lyrics are a vicious attack on the attitude that claims a war is vindicated. Music played a huge role in making the sixties a revolutionary time, and without these ext raordinary people much less would have been accomplished in this era. Through music you can see that media influence plays a lead role in bring about revolution, film in the sixties represented a decade of fun, music, fashion and countless social change. In the sixties was the first time that film began to really be about controversial subjects. The film Victim (1961) by director Basil Dearden was one of the first films to ever speak of the word â€Å"homosexuality†. This daring film was so groundbreaking and non-judgemental in that it talked about homosexuality in the early sixties. In fact when filming this movie Britain still had anti-sodomy statutes as law. Actions like these are truly the ones that make our world a better place, when people can stand up and fight against oppressive laws and belief. Without people who have the courage to stand up we would live in a painfully oppressed world today, things like slavery, alienation, segregation and even to the extreme, genocide, would still be very active in our world today. In the film industr y, just as in the music industry there was a â€Å"British Invasion† this came much from the new interest that Americans had in British fads, fashion and culture. The Beatles released three different films between 1964 and 1968, each of which was able to get across the music and its meaning to the viewer. Some of the controversial films that came out during this era are Billy Wilders satirical political farceOne, Two, Three (1961), Seven Days in May (1964), The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965). These films came out and really displayed a more bleak side of the war. These films allowed viewers to see a more realistic, less politically influenced perspective on what was truly happening. In the mid sixties a film company named (AIP) American International Pictures began to produce more youth orientated counter-culture films such as The Wild Angels (1966) and The Trip (1967). These films gave many a view of the counter-culture that was in America, it allowed people who were a part from the â€Å"hippie movement† to become a part of it. The Trip is about a television commercial director and his drug dealer; it is full of special â€Å"trippy† effects and is a truly psychedelic experience. Film in this era was unquestionably remarkable, it was a time of groundbreaking new ideas, and daring old ones that finally had the chance to come out. The sixties changed film for the better and allowed all audiences to view a different side to every story. If you ask anyone about the sixties one thing they will probably mention is one of the most remarkable men of all time. On August 28th, 1963 Martin Luther Kings â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech sparked a fire that would lead to the end of oppression against the black community in America. Mr. King is known today as one of the best orators and his speech was so successful because it dramatically increased awareness of The Civil Rights Movement. The third paragraph of Kings speech is this â€Å"But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we hav e come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.† King (1963). What king is saying here is very clear, blacks were promised freedom and oppression was going to be eliminated, as they stand there however, it is clear that this is not the case blacks are still being oppressed on a day to day basis. Martin Luther Kings power of speech was able to change this however, he confronted the world of its wrong doing and they realized it. King ends the speech on some of the most powerful words ever written, words of change, words that brought about a revolution â€Å"When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of Gods children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!†. King (1963). Wit hout this man, I wonder where the world would be today in terms of segregation. Would South Africa still have abolishment of the blacks? Would slavery still exist in America today? Would we still have political and social upheaval nearly every waking moment? Incredibly this was not Kings only subject that he talked on, he also delivered numerous speeches in an anti-Vietnam perspective. Martin Luther King was a man who really cared for everyone, he truly believed in equality. In a speech he gave to his church about Vietnam he says â€Å"Tonight, however, I wish not to speak with Hanoi and the NLF, but rather to my fellow Americans, who, with me, bear the greatest responsibility in ending a conflict that has exacted a heavy price on both continents.†King (1967). King believes that well in his words, â€Å"We must continue to raise our voices if our nation persists in its perverse ways in Vietnam.† King (1967). Sadly on April 4th, 1968 we were without this man, as he was assassinated in his soon to be free world. Martin Luther King was one of the most powerful speakers, he was able to use this to his advantage and could communicate his revolutionary ideas to a world-wide audience. Many of the people who made the sixties the incredible time that they were are no longer with us today. Sure, some people may even say that the sixties werent in fact a good decade. Be it the war, or the oppression the abundant use of illegal substances or the growing counter culture. Regardless this era was simply revolutionary, even through hardship and trouble the people who lived in this decade changed the world. Music developed a groundbreaking new sound full of meaningful and powerful words. The influence of the sixties still lives in some of the great music that is being produced today. The Films were controversial and courageous in their content. This is still prevalent in modern films in that you can produce a film on just about any given topic. The Speeches, although only powerful by few were able to change nearly an entire worlds view. Martin Luther King made the first groundbreaking steps in the Civil Rights Movement and was able to lead the way. Kings words and power sti ll live in some of todays speakers and he will always be respected by the world. The sixties was an era that was able to push its way through numerous obstacles and turn them into something better, this decade was a revolution.

Econimic Research :: essays papers

Econimic Research 1. During the 1960's, The Soviet economy may have been growing at a rate of growth much faster that the West, but the Soviet GDP would have provided a poor statistic for determining the welfare of the soviet people for several reasons. The first reason that GDP would be obsolete for determining the welfare of the people is that during the 1960's, the Soviet Union was in fact Communist, so the people were only allotted whatever property or privilege the government would allow, so there was no "free market" on which goods could be bought and sold by anyone. It is also of interest to know that during the 1960's and early 70's, the USSR did lead the world in a few industries(forestry, mining), but with such a larger labor force than the US, the GDP per capita would, all other things being equal (ceteris paribus), show that growth could have occurred solely due to larger population. 2. If the Instructor were to choose a fixed rate, he would hope that inflation would increase, so that he would be paying back money that has a lower purchasing power than the original principal amount the instructor would have financed, (just as in the scenario He had given about his Father in Maryland, and his mortgage held with the sinister bank who detests the fact that your Father has a fixed rate mortgage and pays around $300 a month). If our Instructor chose the adjustable rate, the instructor would think that inflation would decrease, and would also hope that interest rates would decrease as well. Since Alan Greenspan is somewhat unpredictable, I would advise the instructor to refinance for a fixed rate once interest rates take a turn for the better, so that it would be locked in at the lowest going rate available. 3. Changes in Production by Black Death(Bubonic Plague) in Medieval Times Land Land Labor(pre-Plague) Labor(post-Plague) B. Wages for the workers would increase due to the decrease in labor pools caused by death. C. The surviving workers benefited from this disaster due to the increase in wages available due to the untimely death of so many. The wealthy landowners would have been overall harmed by the loss in manual labor, which caused less productivity and yet higher wages could be demanded by the surviving workers out of necessity for needed labor, while the rental(capital) rate of the land decreased according to the isoquant.

Mainstreaming and Inclusion Education For Disabled Children

According to the Curry School of Education, approximately 80% of students with learning disabilities receive the majority of their instruction in the general classroom (â€Å"Inclusion.† http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/curry/dept/cise/ose.html. 10 Oct. 1999). That number is expected to rise as teachers and parents become aware of the benefits of inclusion. Because there are so many disabled students in regular schools, it is important to look at whether or not mainstreaming is necessary for their education. For parents, having their disabled children mainstreamed into regular education can be a difficult choice. Although disabled children†s education can be more challenging in regular schools, the benefits of inclusion include enhanced self-esteem, development of social skills, and exposure to regular curriculum. Many people believe mainstreaming only helps disabled children, but there are many challenges that hurt their education rather than help. Both faculty and students can be cruel to disabled students. Because they are not used to interacting with disabled children, faculty and students may be uncomfortable with the situation and be insensitive to the disabled children. By ignoring the disabled children or treating them badly, the children will lose self-esteem and may disrupt the class in order to show their unhappiness. Some teachers are not familiar with teaching disabled children, so the education is lacking for the children. Teachers may continue to teach their classes at an accelerated level, forgetting about the slower students. The students will then fall behind and get frustrated with the situation. All these factors hurt disabled children†s education and will hurt their chances at succeeding in life. Being in a regular school can help disabled children feel better about themselves and their accomplishments. When disabled children complete a more challenging task, they may receive praise from their teacher and fellow students. Kim Harries says that when learning disabled students are placed in classrooms with regular achieving students, higher expectations are placed on them. In turn, their desire to excel increases (â€Å"Mainstreaming.† http://www.psych.westminster.edu/medvin/psy46/inclus/mainstreaming.htm. 11 Oct. 1999). Disabled children know that they are overcoming great odds by attending a regular school. Because of that knowledge, they can be proud of their accomplishments no matter how small they may be. Because of their effort, disabled children can feel better about themselves in spite of the disability that ails them. Inclusion in a regular school gives disabled children the social skills needed to live in the outside world. Disabled children learn important lessons to help them adapt to the real world. They learn how to interact with other people and how they are expected to act in public. According to Scott Willis, â€Å"Advocates of mainstreaming, on the other hand, claim that the mainstreaming of disabled students results in better socialization skills for the disabled children† (â€Å"Inclusion Gains Ground.† Education Update. Dec. 1995: 1-8). Disabled children gain real life experiences when dealing with regular students. They deal with the everyday ridicule and challenges that only make them stronger against those that may put them down. Dealing with and learning from everyday problems now will only help disabled children as they grow up in an unkind world. Immersion in regular curriculum gives disabled children a chance to test their abilities. Disabled children can test their skills and see what areas they excel in. After children find something they excel in, they can use that talent in future aspirations. Disabled children are given a chance to challenge their minds and thus grow mentally. By doing so, they may increase their learning capabilities and advance in their education. Because children may only be disabled in certain areas of curriculum, immersion will give them a chance to keep up in classes they are mentally able to. By giving disabled children the chances they deserve, their mental and physical abilities are able to improve and thus improve their education. Even though education in regular schools can be challenging for learning disabled children, including them can enhance their self-esteem, develop their social skills to help them survive in the world, and give them a chance to be exposed to regular curriculum. Everyone at some point in their lives will be exposed to people with handicaps. If they learn to look past them at a young age, it will help them succeed in a mainstreaming world. Jennifer Pinland, a speech pathologist that works with disabled children says, â€Å"Children with handicaps cannot be ignored and pushed through the school system. They must get the help they need in order to avoid ridicule and defeat for the rest of their lives.†

Manuel Barkan and his contribution to art education

Contemporary generation of young art educators are being introduced to significant figures in the history of art education in their programs of study. In today’s fast-paced environment, it is natural that some of these figures are accepted without question and some are left languishing in history only to be revisited by those interested in revising that history. Manuel Barkan could be considered such a figure. An individual who emerges as a pivotal force in the development of ideas now infused in contemporary art education is Manuel Barkan who in 1965 advocated a then new approach to the curricular content of art education: the use of the roles of the art historian, the art critic, and the aesthetician as well as that of the studio artist. Today these ideas seem so commonplace that it’s difficult to imagine just how radical they were when they were first introduced. The purpose of this paper is to examine Barkan’s work and its effect on contemporary art education in order to understand current practice and philosophy of art education. About half a century ago, Barkan (1962) addressed the importance of historical reflection in an article published in Art Education titled â€Å"Transition in Art Education: Perceptions of Curriculum Content and Teaching† and asserted that he believed the next decade would â€Å"bring some truly fundamental changes in the theory and practice of art education† (Barkan, 1962, p. 12). He went on to say that â€Å"when basic ideas are in the process of transformation, there is and must be an inevitable grinding of opinions one upon the other. There must be inevitable controversy and debate, because old ideas by their very nature, cannot and do not change unless and until they are challenged by new ones† (p. 12). The transformation of which he spoke was the shift from the child-centered approach of the progressive movement to the disciplined-centered approach advocated for general education. Another essential Barkan’s point concerned the kind of behavior a person must learn in order to achieve understanding from the subject being studied. He stated that to learn through art, â€Å"one must act like an artist† (p. 14). Barkan (1962) also spoke of the need to treat children as artists and explained the characteristics of the artist as â€Å"immersion in a medium,† and â€Å"determination †¦ to achieve the discipline and the skills involved† (p. 18). He cautioned against organizing curriculum simply to give students experiences in a wide range of media, an approach he considered â€Å"detrimental to the purposes which art education ought to be trying to achieve† (p. 17). Instead, he thought students should engage is some exploration of media so that they could discover a medium they liked and be able to â€Å"use it to express their ideas† (p. 18). The art room should, in Barkan’s words in the 1962 article, re-create the â€Å"atmosphere of an artist’s studio† (p. 18). In 1965 Barkan proposed a research and development center for aesthetic education to the U.S. Office of Education; the plan called for a consortium of five universities each with research and curriculum development labs (Hubbard, 1971). According to Chapman (1993), the plan was not funded due to the federal government’s position that all of the arts must be included, making the initial plan too complex. Barkan continued to refine the idea. Barkan turned to television as a tool for disseminating resources and curriculum concepts for the teaching of art. By that time, he had begun to work with Laura Chapman, and together they developed Guidelines for Art Instruction through Television for the Elementary Schools for what became National Instructional Television. In 1970, he and Chapman published Guidelines for Curriculum Development in Aesthetic Education as a guide for educators working to develop curriculum materials in music, dance, theater, literature, and the visual arts. Elliot Eisner, writing in a 1971 issue of Studies in Art Education that focused on Barkan’s work, stated that â€Å"throughout his career in art education, Manuel Barkan concerned himself with both the development of more adequate theory and the improvement of the art of teaching art† (p. 4). In fact, Barkan believed that art education could promote a more sensitive understanding of social problems. His first book, A Foundation for Art Education, published in 1955, presented a synthesis of then â€Å"current concepts from psychology, sociology, anthropology, cultural history, philosophy and the arts† (Barkan, 1955, p. vi). According to Chapman (1971), Barkan was concerned with the growing number of sometimes questionable classroom activities that were being justified as forms of creative self-expression. He sought to better define the term in relation to â€Å"concepts about human behavior growing out of research in other fields† (Barkan, 1955, p. vii) and to develop â€Å"a foundation for art education that would rest on a synthesis of this information in the context of operational problems in teaching† (Chapman, p. 40). Barkan’s book was an effort to develop a strong philosophical foundation for art education built upon research in other disciplines. Today, the idea that the curricular content of art education should encompass artmaking, art history, art criticism, and aesthetics is generally widely accepted. Art teachers address these components of art education in a manner that takes into account the nature of the child and the importance of both making and responding to art. Art has become a subject for study, but it retains its ability to teach us about ourselves and the others with whom we share this world. That art education is still engaged in transition is without doubt, and, is in fact, desirable. Postmodern thought, feminist perspectives, and multicultural concerns are but a few of the contemporary issues that influence today’s emerging art educators. However, an understanding of the history of our field and the work of key individuals such as Manuel Barkan can provide insight and guidance as we continue the ongoing â€Å"transition in art education† that he addressed in 1962. Works Cited List Barkan, M. â€Å"A transition in art education.† Art Education, 15.7 (1962): 12-27 Barkan, M. A Foundation for Art Education. New York: The Roland Press, 1955. Chapman, L. H. â€Å"A second look at A Foundation for Art Education.† Studies in Art Education, 13.1 (1971): 40-49. Chapman, L. H. Reflections on the theory and practice of curriculum development in art. Paper presented at the National Art Education Association Convention Super-Session III, Chicago, IL, 1993. Eisner, E. â€Å"Media, expression, and the arts.† Studies in Art Education, 13.1 (1971): 4-12. Hubbard, G. â€Å"The professional leadership of Manuel Barkan.† Studies in Art Education, 13.1 (1971): 70-72.   

Check Out Famous Dr. Seuss Quotes

Check Out Famous Dr. Seuss Quotes Dr. Seuss, the pen name of Theodor Geisel, is the author of numerous classic childrens books such as The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, The Lorax and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Dr. Seuss books are special because of his unique style of rhyming, often with made-up words, and fascinating cartoon characters. Children who struggle with reading, or arent interested in reading, find themselves deeply engrossed in a Dr. Seuss book. Here are some of the most memorable quotes from Dr. Seuss. Quotes from Oh the Places Youll Go! Kid, you’ll move mountains! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So get on your way!    The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places youll go. You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. Youre on your own, and you know what you know. And you will be the guy wholl decide where youll go.   Quotes from The Cat in the Hat I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny, but we can have lots of good fun that is funny. Look at me! Look at me! Look at me now! It is fun to have fun. But you have to know how.   Quotes from The Lorax I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees for the trees have no tongues. Its not about what it is, its about what it can become. Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. Quotes from Other Dr. Seuss Books Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is  youer  than you.   - Happy Birthday to You! Don’t give up! I believe in you all. A person’s a person, no matter how small! - Horton Hears a Who. And the turtles, of course... All the turtles are free As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.  - Yertle the Turtle. Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try.  - Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! So you see! Theres no end to the thing you might know, depending how far beyond Zebra you go.  - On Beyond Zebra. I will not eat them in a house, I   will not eat them with a mouse. I will not eat them in a box. I will not eat them with a fox. I will not eat them here or there, I will not eat them anywhere.   I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam I am.  Ã‚  - Green Eggs and Ham. This fox is a tricky fox. Hell try to get your tongue in trouble.  - Fox in Socks. The time has come. The time is now. Just go. Go. Go! I dont care how.      - Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!

The Pleasure Drug in the Brave New World that is Only a Quic essays

The Pleasure Drug in the Brave New World that is Only a Quic essays The Pleasure Drug in the Brave New World that is Only a Quick Fix: Soma In the Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, most of the characters including Linda, Lenina, and even Bernard consume the perfect pleasure drug named soma to overlook their problems. This one-dimensional wonder drug has no real value and only temporarily disregards an unwanted feeling so that the character is not forced to confront the problem at that time. The drug spins the user into a hallucinogenic doze and takes all their worries away. In the Brave New World, soma is the religion of the people (Campbell 4). The characters depend on soma to get them through their hardships. The drug, however, does not solve their problems. Soma only creates a state of happiness with serenity and tranquility. Before somas purposes and effects can be revealed, soma must first be truly defined. Originated many years ago by the Iranians, soma has existed in earlier forms of hallucinogens and will continue to be developed in the future. Many suggestions have been made to what soma actually refers to. Some suggestions include the drugs opium, cannabis, and ephedra (Rudgley 1). Two bio-chemists actually suggest that Syrian rue is far more likely a candidate since its hallucinogenic effects are well-known in the Indo-Iranian homeland even today. (Rudgley 1). Although many suggestions have been made, the true identity of the drug Huxley uses in the story may never be discovered (Rudgley 2). Many synthetic drugs similar to soma are being produced today and more advanced pills will eventually be created in the future. Tomorrows neuropharmacology offers a much better form of soma than what Huxley uses in the Brave New World (Pearce 4). The exact history of the drug has not yet been found. Since pharmacology is rapidly advancing, chemists and pharmaceutical companies are very likely to create synthetic forms of soma in the future (Pearce 4). If the drug can be com...

How To Publish Remarkable Content Every Week With Limited Time

How To Publish Remarkable Content Every Week With Limited Time Do you know why top bloggers like Neil Patel, Ramit Sethi, or Tim Ferriss are so successful? It’s because they create remarkable content. Every single time. Focusing on creating high quality content will: Turn you into a respected expert, like it did for Neil Patel or Ramit Sethi. Help you build a loyal fan base, like it did for and their 100k subscribers. Open up huge opportunities for your business. In this article, I will walk you through a step-by-step system to write remarkable content, from beginning to end, even if your time is limited. How to Publish Remarkable Content Every Week (Even if Your Time is Limited)It has become common advice nowadays that you should publish at least once a week. Less than that, people will forget you, and so will Google. More than that, people will love you more, meaning they’ll buy more from you. It is not true. First, publishing more can actually be counter-productive, as this study from   showed. Second, your publication frequency won’t matter if you publish crap. You watch Neil Patel and notice he publishes about three times a week. But every time it’s a compelling article filled with a ton of research and data. Each article he publishes is incredibly valuable, so it’s no surprise he gets hundreds of comments. So, if you have a lot of time, definitely go for publishing more. But if your time is limited, focus on quality rather than quantity. Are you committed to publishing only high-quality articles? Table Of Contents Make the Best of Your Limited Time Your Step-by-Step System To Virtually Guarantee Top-Notch Content Decide On A Topic Explain Your Topic Write A Detailed Outline Do Research Write Your First Draft Edit Your First Draft Polish Everything Create Great Content Faster With These Free Resources Download these time-saving resources to create great content easily and efficiently, every time you write. A Time Management Strategies checklist to make the most of your time. A Daily Task Planning template to plan your work each day. A How to Plan a Blog Post in 10 Minutes checklist to prep your posts fast. A Blog Post Writing Process Checklist to make sure your content is exceptional, every time. Make the Best of Your Limited Time Before jumping into the details of creating remarkable content, you need to make sure that you make the best of your limited time. This section is about setting yourself up for success for the system you will learn in the rest of the article. Think of it as the foundations: If you get this right, nothing can stop you. Recommended Reading: The Top 101 Marketing Time Management Strategies You Need To Succeed Back To Table Of Contents Pick a Consistent Time Let’s face it: writing is hard. That’s something we tend to postpone time and time again just because we’d rather do easier stuff for our business. But at the end of the day, you need to write. And if you want to create good content on a consistent basis, you need to be serious about it and write every day. The best way to write every day is to pick a consistent time in your day. The best way to write every day is to pick a consistent time.Think of it as non-negotiable, as if it were an appointment to the doctor. For example, every day between 6:30 and 7:30, I write. That’s my consistent time. I make sure I never miss it by waking up early and by never allowing anyone to disturb me. Pick a Consistent Place To write every day, you need to build a writing habit. To write every day, you need to build a writing habit.Habits appear when you repeat the same behavior in the same context. That’s why I recommend you always write at the same place to build your writing habit. This will make you a lot more efficient and also increase your chances to actually do it and don’t get distracted by external factors. Build Your Own Writing Routine To help you stick to the habit, try to take a few steps before starting to make it more enjoyable. It could be: A special music playlist for writing. Making yourself a cup of tea or coffee before starting. Any specific set of actions you will always do and enjoy before writing. Make sure you enjoy doing it and that you can do it every day. This will act as the trigger of your writing habit. Doing it time and time again will help get in the mood for writing. After a while, it makes your brain switch in writing mode a lot faster. Set up a Robust Automated System I don’t know many habits that are harder to stick to than writing daily. While the previous points will help you do it more consistently, you need to build a solid system around them to make sure they won’t fail you. What does it mean? First, it means writing it down. For example, since I’m working during the day for my day job, I schedule my writing time in the morning, with the other tasks of my business: This is non-negotiable time that I will NEVER give to anyone. Second, I track my writing by writing every day how many words I wrote and about what. I do this in a Google Spreadsheet and then automatically create a simple chart to show how much I’m writing week after week. This helps to quickly see when you’re falling off your habit. For example, you can notice two weeks near the end of the graph where I was busy doing other stuff. Fortunately, I caught myself up and fixed it. I find this is a good way to stay motivated and create even more content. Get an Accountability Partner You could try to do by yourself, but there is nothing better than someone else to kick your a** when you’re slacking off. Slacking off? Get an accountability partner to kick your a**.With my accountability partner, we both fill up a spreadsheet with all our weekly tasks (including writing): For each day, we write whether the task is â€Å"TODO†, already â€Å"Done†, or has been â€Å"Failed†. It’s a great way to not only focus on the right tasks, but also to have someone else look at what you’re doing and give you honest feedback on how you could do better. Schedule Your Writing Tasks You know that creating a blog post is not just about writing. Creating a blog post is not just about writing.It’s also researching, editing, polishing, making pictures, brainstorming headlines, etc. But then, you may stop writing for a few days for those non-writing tasks. It breaks your habit and makes it harder to start another article then. There are two solutions for this problem. The first is to use a schedule that allows you to work on multiple articles simultaneously. When you edit your first article, start the second one at the same time. That’s exactly what they do at Buffer: The second solution is to write other things than blog posts: newsletters, sales pages, email funnels, video scripts, etc. This is a good way to not be overwhelmed by too many articles at the same time, and it breaks the routine of only writing blog posts. Recommended Reading: This Is The Ultimate Blog Writing Process To Create Killer Posts Make Sure You Never Run Out of Ideas Let’s say you’ve been writing every day for a while and never missed a day. What if, for tomorrow’s writing session†¦ You have nothing to write. No more blog post ideas. Not good ones, at least. Meeting such an issue could mess a lot with your writing habit and call it an end. You can anticipate this problem by generating enough ideas to never run out. There are two approaches. Generate enough ideas to never run out.The first one is to generate one idea per day. One idea. It’s easy, right? It takes 5 minutes, you do it every day, as a habit, for example right before you start writing. By doing so, you will generate more ideas than you can write about. James Altucher, the master of finding ideas, wrote that â€Å"Quality is a byproduct of Quantity†. From your list of ideas, you can extract only the best ones, and get rid of the rest. The second approach is to take one day per week (or per month, depending on how many ideas you find) to generate a huge list of ideas. Same principle. It depends if you’re better at batching your task all at once, or making small progress every day. These were the foundations for your writing habits. You have all your systems in place to make sure you never fail and make the best out of your limited time. What follows is how to create top-notch content ... the easy way! Recommended Reading: 150+ Blog Ideas That Will Absolutely Kill Writers' Block Back To Table Of Contents Your Step-by-Step System To Virtually Guarantee Top-Notch Content Writing top-notch content can take dozens of hours if you don’t systematize your approach. The most common mistake beginners do is to write, iterate, iterate again, and keep iterating again until satisfied. This leads to perfectionism and makes you waste hours. Perfectionism wastes hours.Instead, in this article, I will give you a step-by-step system that will: Make writing a lot easier  for you. Make writing a lot faster  for you. Make sure that at the end of the process you have an article that stands out from the competition. The big picture of the system looks like this: Decide on a topic. Explain your topic in simple words. Write a detailed outline for your topic. Make research. Write your first draft. Edit your first draft. Polish everything. Make a picture out of this? Notice how different it is than what most people are doing. Most bloggers decide for a topic, write the article, fix the grammar mistakes, and publish. With my system, you will take the time to front-load the work. This will not only make you gain a lot of time but also and also make sure you create really great content. I won’t make you wait longer, so let’s jump right in with step #1: Decide on a Topic Your first step is to decide on a broad topic. It might start with an idea of yours, a question from your readers, or an article you’ve read on another blog. You don’t know yet if this will be a really good article or not. It’s just a topic that popped in your mind, and you wonder whether it’ll be good or not. Here are some examples of topics I have in mind: How to use guest blogging to grow your email list from 0 to 1,000 subscribers. What cold showers and writing have in common? Why you don’t need to be a creative person to be a good writer. Notice they look like headlines, though I haven’t taken the time to optimize them. We’ll take care of that only when the article is done. By the way, I strongly recommend you keep a list of all your topic ideas somewhere in your computer. Ideas come and go, so you better write them down if you want to remember them and make sure you don’t run out of it. Recommended Reading: The Skyscraper Technique May Actually Improve Your Content Marketing Back To Table Of Contents Explain Your Topic Call a friend and explain to them what you want to write about. Explain it to them in plain English, with simple words. It should take about 5 to 10 minutes. Call a friend and explain to them what you want to write about.At the end of the discussion, they should have learned something valuable and know what to do to apply it in his business or life. What will this discussion do for you? First, you will quickly notice whether your idea is good or not. When the idea is still abstract, it’s hard to imagine what the article will look like exactly. But when you start putting words on the idea, you bring it to life. You may realize after two minutes of babbling that the content sounds bland, or that it looks like rehashed content. In this case, it’s better to move on and focus on a different idea. Second, it will give you a rough outline of the article. Record the discussion with friend, so that you can listen to yourself and take notes of what you said. These notes will be of a great help when it comes the time to write your outline. Finally, you will get a quick feedback from your friend. Ask him to be brutally honest with you and tell you what he thinks of this idea. If you don’t have any friends, you can just create an imaginary friend and still record yourself. Try to imagine questions they might have and reply to them. Back To Table Of Contents Write a Detailed Outline This step is the most important one of the system. If you take the time to write a long and detailed outline, you will gain a ton of time down the line. Not only will you gain time, but you’ll also make your life a lot easier. A good detailed outline allows you to: Write your first draft easily and quickly. No risk of writer’s block. Avoid wasting time  iterating again and again on your article. Make sure your article is compelling  before even starting to write it. I’m not talking about a short outline with five bullet points and you move on. For example, the outline I wrote for this article  is 1,500-word long and it took me about an hour to write it. More if you count previous failed attempts. I was really unhappy with my first outlines, I knew it would end up with a crappy article, so I restarted, until I was satisfied with it. I would rather waste one hour rewriting a good outline than crafting a poor article, or waste five hours on a bad first draft. I would rather waste one hour rewriting a good outline than crafting a poor article, or waste five...Once you get your outline right, all the rest is easier. Writing the first draft, which most writers dread to do, becomes automatic. I just open my outline, look at where I am, read a few lines, expand them for the draft, and that’s it. Simple. There are three steps to writing the perfect outline: Write down the structure. Explain what each subsection is about. Write down all the examples/stories/pictures you want to add. Getting your outline right makes writing easier.Step #1. Write Down the Structure. The first step is basically what everyone else do when they draw an outline. They write bullet points that look like headlines, and that’s it. It’s important to get it right because the structure is what your reader will try to identify right when they discover your article by skimming through it. Are there logical steps between the sections? What order are they in? Is this a step-by-step system, or are there chronological events? Are the sections balanced? Should you break them down into subsections? Most of the time, this step won’t be a problem, but don’t rush it. Step #2. Explain What Each Section Is About. Now we do the extra work that will make you gain a ton of time down the line. For each section, describe in a few paragraphs what it is about. What will you explain in it? What are the key pieces of information you need to write? Can you describe your solution in a few lines? What problem is it solving? How would you describe it to your friend? You’re basically putting on paper all the information that your article will contain. Someone reading your outline at this point should need precisely what you will talk about, and even what you will teach to your readers. But information alone is useless if you can’t get people to take action. That’s why you also need to †¦ Step #3. Write Down All the Examples/Stories/Pictures You Can Think Of. Each piece of information you give in your article needs to be illustrated by at least an example, a story, a picture, or at least an explanation in plain English. This will help you reader: To understand better what you’re talking about. To relate  to your writing thanks to the stories. To get inspired to take action. Think of yourself as an interior designer. You could spend hours describing a bedroom to your client without them really getting it. Or you could show him a picture and make a sale right away. As Michael Ellsberg put it, "Your competitive advantage is not information, it’s transformation."  And transformation happens with stories. I like to think of this of my articles as 20% information, 80% transformation. For each information you give, write down as many examples, stories and pictures ideas as possible. They might not all end up in your article, but for now, more is better. Once you have done these three steps, you have a structured and highly detailed outline of your article. In fact, you might feel the post is almost already done. All you need is to fill in the holes, but really, all the creative  part is done. That’s why you won’t have any issue with writer’s block. It’s now time to expand your outline and make it even better with some extra research. Recommended Reading: This Is The Marketing Research Process That Will Take Your Content To The Next Level Back To Table Of Contents Do Research You may be surprised to see research appearing in step #4, after we draw the outline and already placed all the elements of our article. Here is the thing: Research is not supposed to help you know what to write in your article.  It is only supposed to help you enrich  what you have already written. When you draw your outline before doing any research, you make sure that what you write is from your unique perspective and that you bring something new to the internet. If you do the research before and start reading dozens of other related articles, chances are that your final article will be a mix of everything you just read. Say goodbye your personal experience and unique perspective, because it just got spoiled by everyone else’s wisdom. So, how to do your research without wasting hours browsing endlessly? To make research efficient, you need to have a specific question to answer. Before even starting the research, I will go through each section of my outline and ask naive questions out of curiosity. I put myself in the mind of my reader and try to imagine everything he could ask himself: â€Å"How can I do that concretely?† â€Å"Why is this true? I don’t understand.â€Å" â€Å"How many are there?† â€Å"Are there any tool to do that?† Of course, those questions are highly context-dependent. You need to have an open mind, like a curious child who wants to know everything. This is the first part of the research. A second part involves backing up your claims. Every time you claim something, you need data, research, or at least a reference that supports what you’re saying. Make a list of all your claims, and come back to Google to find research that supports them. At least, try to find another blog post from a recognized expert that says the same. This will also help you later to promote your post. By doing targeted research on a specific question or claim, you make sure not to browse the internet for ever. Save time researching by asking specific questions. Back To Table Of Contents Write Your First Draft This is normally the hardest step of the process for any common content marketer. But if you’re here, you’re not that common, especially if you start using this system. Because you wrote such a detailed and complete outline, writing your first draft will be one of the easiest step. You already have the structure and all the information written. The only thing that’s left is expanding on the list of stories and examples you already provided. Explaining a single example or telling a story is easy. You do it all the time all day long with your friends. Replicate the process and you’ll be done in no time. The only difficulty you might face is not succeeding in finding the right words to explain your point. It happens. But don’t worry about this too much. When you write your first draft, don’t try to be perfect right away. Simply write, expand, explain as much as possible, ramble, and just put your own words on things. The end result is not supposed to be your final version. When you write your first draft, don’t try to be perfect right away.We will edit the article in the next section. There are two essential rules for writing your first draft if you want to make it quick and easy: Write as much as possible without ever stopping. Don’t stop. Don’t hold yourself. Never edit. Never come back. Here is a tip: Never use the backspace key. When writing your first draft, focus exclusively on getting the writing done, no matter what. Don’t care about quality and don’t edit at the same time. If you apply this advice, not only will writing be a lot easier, but also a lot faster. Keep writing, don’t worry about grammar mistakes or rambling, just keep writing, until done. With this technique, you can easily write 1,000 words in 30 minutes. Once you get used to it, you can write even faster. Back To Table Of Contents Edit Your First Draft After finishing your first draft, your article will not be beautiful to see. Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird, calls it the shitty first draft. That’s exactly what it is. You let your creativity shine and created everything you needed for the article. Maybe even a little bit too much. Here are the steps for editing: Open a new blank document. Filter out each paragraph with a set of questions and rewrite it better. Pass the article in an editing tool. Print the article and read it out loud. Step #1: Open a new blank document. This step as rather self-explanatory. I noticed that when I don’t do it, I start to get bored in the middle of the task and skip entire paragraphs to finish as fast as possible. So, now, I open a new document and make sure I go through everything. This is a bit longer, of course, but it’s worth taking the time, as the step is what will make your article flawless. Step #2: Filter out each paragraph and rewrite it better. The goal of the editing part is to remove any unessential part and to rewrite better what’s essential. You probably know that longer articles perform better in general, but it doesn’t mean you should look for writing the longest possible articles. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Your final article should be shorter than your first draft, not longer. Try to cut your article as much as possible, to make it dense, comprehensive, without any rambling or unessential explanation. Make your point, illustrate it, and move on quickly. For each paragraph I ask myself the following questions: Is this essential  in my article? What would happen if I remove this paragraph? Am I just rambling too much on this story? If it happens the paragraph is an essential one, then I try to improve it: How can I make myself clearer? Can I add a picture or an example to illustrate it? How could I tell this story in a shorter and more compelling way? Am I using simple words that normal people use? Once I have answered them, I can rewrite the paragraph. Notice that it looks like a long process, especially if you have hundreds of paragraphs. If you’re not used to it, it will take you some time at the beginning, but you will quickly learn to automatically ask these questions and decide in seconds if you need to remove the paragraph or improve it. Recommended Reading: 6 Super Easy Content Editing Tricks That Will Save You Oodles Of Time Step #3. Pass the article into an editing tool. In the previous step, you made the major work of editing. You rewrote everything and now the article is a lot better. If you want to go the extra mile, you can copy/paste your article into an editor such as Grammarly  (you will need to paid version to get access to the editing tools) or the Hemingway App. The goal of this step is to make edits you couldn’t easily notice before to improve the readability of your article: Are you writing too complex sentences? Are you using too many adverbs? Are you using passive voice too frequently? Are you repeating the same words too often? (Use WordCounter  for that) This step should be a lot quicker, mostly because the tool tells you exactly where to look at and what to do. Step #4. Print the article and read it out loud. Finally, the last step may surprise you: Print the article and read it out loud. Editing Tip: Print your articles and read them out loud.There are two reasons for this. The first is that when you read an article on paper, you have a different view on it that when reading on a screen. Especially, you can spot the grammar mistakes a lot more easily. The second is that by reading out loud, you will immediately spot the awkward or too complex phrasing. On the internet, we want to keep the writing simple and quick to read. Basically, you almost want to write as you’re speaking. So if it sounds weird when you say it out loud, it might just sound as weird for your readers. That’s it for the editing! I must admit I don’t do all four steps for every article. They’re a little bit long, so it’ll depend on how much time you want to invest in your article. Back To Table Of Contents Polish Everything The last step is for the last details. Improve your headline. When we started the article, we picked a headline and didn’t really work on it. I don’t recommend doing it before writing the article, as the content might change as you make progress on it. Now is the time to perfect it. I won’t go into details on how to write a good headline, but aim for a score of 70% or higher with the Headline Analyzer. Pick a feature image. You will need one to show up when people share your article on social media. It’s usually a good idea to put the title of your post on it to catch people’s attention. Build a content upgrade. A content upgrade is a lead magnet you offer as an incentive for people to subscribe to your email list. It is something built especially for the article and is a logical add-on to the article that people who liked the article will want to have. It could be a checklist, a cheat sheet, a spreadsheet, a system, a PDF version of the article, etc. There are many ways to build content upgrades. Craft your CTA. You will also need to craft a compelling CTA to sell  your content upgrade. It’s worth taking the time to write a really good one, as it can be the difference between a successful and a failed article. Recommended Reading: How To Write A Call To Action In A Template With 6 Examples Take care of SEO. I’m usually not highly focused on SEO, but before publishing an article, I try to get as many green lights as possible with the Yoast SEO plugin. Hit publish. And you’re done! We’ve now gone through the entire system to publish a top-notch article. The good thing about this system is that the simple fact of following it virtually guarantee that your article will stand out from the rest, as almost nobody else uses such a complete framework. How To Publish Remarkable Content Every Week With Limited Time Do you know why top bloggers like Neil Patel, Ramit Sethi, or Tim Ferriss are so successful? It’s because they create remarkable content. Every single time. Focusing on creating high quality content will: Turn you into a respected expert, like it did for Neil Patel or Ramit Sethi. Help you build a loyal fan base, like it did for and their 100k subscribers. Open up huge opportunities for your business. In this article, I will walk you through a step-by-step system to write remarkable content, from beginning to end, even if your time is limited. How to Publish Remarkable Content Every Week (Even if Your Time is Limited)It has become common advice nowadays that you should publish at least once a week. Less than that, people will forget you, and so will Google. More than that, people will love you more, meaning they’ll buy more from you. It is not true. First, publishing more can actually be counter-productive, as this study from   showed. Second, your publication frequency won’t matter if you publish crap. You watch Neil Patel and notice he publishes about three times a week. But every time it’s a compelling article filled with a ton of research and data. Each article he publishes is incredibly valuable, so it’s no surprise he gets hundreds of comments. So, if you have a lot of time, definitely go for publishing more. But if your time is limited, focus on quality rather than quantity. Are you committed to publishing only high-quality articles? Table Of Contents Make the Best of Your Limited Time Your Step-by-Step System To Virtually Guarantee Top-Notch Content Decide On A Topic Explain Your Topic Write A Detailed Outline Do Research Write Your First Draft Edit Your First Draft Polish Everything Create Great Content Faster With These Free Resources Download these time-saving resources to create great content easily and efficiently, every time you write. A Time Management Strategies checklist to make the most of your time. A Daily Task Planning template to plan your work each day. A How to Plan a Blog Post in 10 Minutes checklist to prep your posts fast. A Blog Post Writing Process Checklist to make sure your content is exceptional, every time. Make the Best of Your Limited Time Before jumping into the details of creating remarkable content, you need to make sure that you make the best of your limited time. This section is about setting yourself up for success for the system you will learn in the rest of the article. Think of it as the foundations: If you get this right, nothing can stop you. Recommended Reading: The Top 101 Marketing Time Management Strategies You Need To Succeed Back To Table Of Contents Pick a Consistent Time Let’s face it: writing is hard. That’s something we tend to postpone time and time again just because we’d rather do easier stuff for our business. But at the end of the day, you need to write. And if you want to create good content on a consistent basis, you need to be serious about it and write every day. The best way to write every day is to pick a consistent time in your day. The best way to write every day is to pick a consistent time.Think of it as non-negotiable, as if it were an appointment to the doctor. For example, every day between 6:30 and 7:30, I write. That’s my consistent time. I make sure I never miss it by waking up early and by never allowing anyone to disturb me. Pick a Consistent Place To write every day, you need to build a writing habit. To write every day, you need to build a writing habit.Habits appear when you repeat the same behavior in the same context. That’s why I recommend you always write at the same place to build your writing habit. This will make you a lot more efficient and also increase your chances to actually do it and don’t get distracted by external factors. Build Your Own Writing Routine To help you stick to the habit, try to take a few steps before starting to make it more enjoyable. It could be: A special music playlist for writing. Making yourself a cup of tea or coffee before starting. Any specific set of actions you will always do and enjoy before writing. Make sure you enjoy doing it and that you can do it every day. This will act as the trigger of your writing habit. Doing it time and time again will help get in the mood for writing. After a while, it makes your brain switch in writing mode a lot faster. Set up a Robust Automated System I don’t know many habits that are harder to stick to than writing daily. While the previous points will help you do it more consistently, you need to build a solid system around them to make sure they won’t fail you. What does it mean? First, it means writing it down. For example, since I’m working during the day for my day job, I schedule my writing time in the morning, with the other tasks of my business: This is non-negotiable time that I will NEVER give to anyone. Second, I track my writing by writing every day how many words I wrote and about what. I do this in a Google Spreadsheet and then automatically create a simple chart to show how much I’m writing week after week. This helps to quickly see when you’re falling off your habit. For example, you can notice two weeks near the end of the graph where I was busy doing other stuff. Fortunately, I caught myself up and fixed it. I find this is a good way to stay motivated and create even more content. Get an Accountability Partner You could try to do by yourself, but there is nothing better than someone else to kick your a** when you’re slacking off. Slacking off? Get an accountability partner to kick your a**.With my accountability partner, we both fill up a spreadsheet with all our weekly tasks (including writing): For each day, we write whether the task is â€Å"TODO†, already â€Å"Done†, or has been â€Å"Failed†. It’s a great way to not only focus on the right tasks, but also to have someone else look at what you’re doing and give you honest feedback on how you could do better. Schedule Your Writing Tasks You know that creating a blog post is not just about writing. Creating a blog post is not just about writing.It’s also researching, editing, polishing, making pictures, brainstorming headlines, etc. But then, you may stop writing for a few days for those non-writing tasks. It breaks your habit and makes it harder to start another article then. There are two solutions for this problem. The first is to use a schedule that allows you to work on multiple articles simultaneously. When you edit your first article, start the second one at the same time. That’s exactly what they do at Buffer: The second solution is to write other things than blog posts: newsletters, sales pages, email funnels, video scripts, etc. This is a good way to not be overwhelmed by too many articles at the same time, and it breaks the routine of only writing blog posts. Recommended Reading: This Is The Ultimate Blog Writing Process To Create Killer Posts Make Sure You Never Run Out of Ideas Let’s say you’ve been writing every day for a while and never missed a day. What if, for tomorrow’s writing session†¦ You have nothing to write. No more blog post ideas. Not good ones, at least. Meeting such an issue could mess a lot with your writing habit and call it an end. You can anticipate this problem by generating enough ideas to never run out. There are two approaches. Generate enough ideas to never run out.The first one is to generate one idea per day. One idea. It’s easy, right? It takes 5 minutes, you do it every day, as a habit, for example right before you start writing. By doing so, you will generate more ideas than you can write about. James Altucher, the master of finding ideas, wrote that â€Å"Quality is a byproduct of Quantity†. From your list of ideas, you can extract only the best ones, and get rid of the rest. The second approach is to take one day per week (or per month, depending on how many ideas you find) to generate a huge list of ideas. Same principle. It depends if you’re better at batching your task all at once, or making small progress every day. These were the foundations for your writing habits. You have all your systems in place to make sure you never fail and make the best out of your limited time. What follows is how to create top-notch content ... the easy way! Recommended Reading: 150+ Blog Ideas That Will Absolutely Kill Writers' Block Back To Table Of Contents Your Step-by-Step System To Virtually Guarantee Top-Notch Content Writing top-notch content can take dozens of hours if you don’t systematize your approach. The most common mistake beginners do is to write, iterate, iterate again, and keep iterating again until satisfied. This leads to perfectionism and makes you waste hours. Perfectionism wastes hours.Instead, in this article, I will give you a step-by-step system that will: Make writing a lot easier  for you. Make writing a lot faster  for you. Make sure that at the end of the process you have an article that stands out from the competition. The big picture of the system looks like this: Decide on a topic. Explain your topic in simple words. Write a detailed outline for your topic. Make research. Write your first draft. Edit your first draft. Polish everything. Make a picture out of this? Notice how different it is than what most people are doing. Most bloggers decide for a topic, write the article, fix the grammar mistakes, and publish. With my system, you will take the time to front-load the work. This will not only make you gain a lot of time but also and also make sure you create really great content. I won’t make you wait longer, so let’s jump right in with step #1: Decide on a Topic Your first step is to decide on a broad topic. It might start with an idea of yours, a question from your readers, or an article you’ve read on another blog. You don’t know yet if this will be a really good article or not. It’s just a topic that popped in your mind, and you wonder whether it’ll be good or not. Here are some examples of topics I have in mind: How to use guest blogging to grow your email list from 0 to 1,000 subscribers. What cold showers and writing have in common? Why you don’t need to be a creative person to be a good writer. Notice they look like headlines, though I haven’t taken the time to optimize them. We’ll take care of that only when the article is done. By the way, I strongly recommend you keep a list of all your topic ideas somewhere in your computer. Ideas come and go, so you better write them down if you want to remember them and make sure you don’t run out of it. Recommended Reading: The Skyscraper Technique May Actually Improve Your Content Marketing Back To Table Of Contents Explain Your Topic Call a friend and explain to them what you want to write about. Explain it to them in plain English, with simple words. It should take about 5 to 10 minutes. Call a friend and explain to them what you want to write about.At the end of the discussion, they should have learned something valuable and know what to do to apply it in his business or life. What will this discussion do for you? First, you will quickly notice whether your idea is good or not. When the idea is still abstract, it’s hard to imagine what the article will look like exactly. But when you start putting words on the idea, you bring it to life. You may realize after two minutes of babbling that the content sounds bland, or that it looks like rehashed content. In this case, it’s better to move on and focus on a different idea. Second, it will give you a rough outline of the article. Record the discussion with friend, so that you can listen to yourself and take notes of what you said. These notes will be of a great help when it comes the time to write your outline. Finally, you will get a quick feedback from your friend. Ask him to be brutally honest with you and tell you what he thinks of this idea. If you don’t have any friends, you can just create an imaginary friend and still record yourself. Try to imagine questions they might have and reply to them. Back To Table Of Contents Write a Detailed Outline This step is the most important one of the system. If you take the time to write a long and detailed outline, you will gain a ton of time down the line. Not only will you gain time, but you’ll also make your life a lot easier. A good detailed outline allows you to: Write your first draft easily and quickly. No risk of writer’s block. Avoid wasting time  iterating again and again on your article. Make sure your article is compelling  before even starting to write it. I’m not talking about a short outline with five bullet points and you move on. For example, the outline I wrote for this article  is 1,500-word long and it took me about an hour to write it. More if you count previous failed attempts. I was really unhappy with my first outlines, I knew it would end up with a crappy article, so I restarted, until I was satisfied with it. I would rather waste one hour rewriting a good outline than crafting a poor article, or waste five hours on a bad first draft. I would rather waste one hour rewriting a good outline than crafting a poor article, or waste five...Once you get your outline right, all the rest is easier. Writing the first draft, which most writers dread to do, becomes automatic. I just open my outline, look at where I am, read a few lines, expand them for the draft, and that’s it. Simple. There are three steps to writing the perfect outline: Write down the structure. Explain what each subsection is about. Write down all the examples/stories/pictures you want to add. Getting your outline right makes writing easier.Step #1. Write Down the Structure. The first step is basically what everyone else do when they draw an outline. They write bullet points that look like headlines, and that’s it. It’s important to get it right because the structure is what your reader will try to identify right when they discover your article by skimming through it. Are there logical steps between the sections? What order are they in? Is this a step-by-step system, or are there chronological events? Are the sections balanced? Should you break them down into subsections? Most of the time, this step won’t be a problem, but don’t rush it. Step #2. Explain What Each Section Is About. Now we do the extra work that will make you gain a ton of time down the line. For each section, describe in a few paragraphs what it is about. What will you explain in it? What are the key pieces of information you need to write? Can you describe your solution in a few lines? What problem is it solving? How would you describe it to your friend? You’re basically putting on paper all the information that your article will contain. Someone reading your outline at this point should need precisely what you will talk about, and even what you will teach to your readers. But information alone is useless if you can’t get people to take action. That’s why you also need to †¦ Step #3. Write Down All the Examples/Stories/Pictures You Can Think Of. Each piece of information you give in your article needs to be illustrated by at least an example, a story, a picture, or at least an explanation in plain English. This will help you reader: To understand better what you’re talking about. To relate  to your writing thanks to the stories. To get inspired to take action. Think of yourself as an interior designer. You could spend hours describing a bedroom to your client without them really getting it. Or you could show him a picture and make a sale right away. As Michael Ellsberg put it, "Your competitive advantage is not information, it’s transformation."  And transformation happens with stories. I like to think of this of my articles as 20% information, 80% transformation. For each information you give, write down as many examples, stories and pictures ideas as possible. They might not all end up in your article, but for now, more is better. Once you have done these three steps, you have a structured and highly detailed outline of your article. In fact, you might feel the post is almost already done. All you need is to fill in the holes, but really, all the creative  part is done. That’s why you won’t have any issue with writer’s block. It’s now time to expand your outline and make it even better with some extra research. Recommended Reading: This Is The Marketing Research Process That Will Take Your Content To The Next Level Back To Table Of Contents Do Research You may be surprised to see research appearing in step #4, after we draw the outline and already placed all the elements of our article. Here is the thing: Research is not supposed to help you know what to write in your article.  It is only supposed to help you enrich  what you have already written. When you draw your outline before doing any research, you make sure that what you write is from your unique perspective and that you bring something new to the internet. If you do the research before and start reading dozens of other related articles, chances are that your final article will be a mix of everything you just read. Say goodbye your personal experience and unique perspective, because it just got spoiled by everyone else’s wisdom. So, how to do your research without wasting hours browsing endlessly? To make research efficient, you need to have a specific question to answer. Before even starting the research, I will go through each section of my outline and ask naive questions out of curiosity. I put myself in the mind of my reader and try to imagine everything he could ask himself: â€Å"How can I do that concretely?† â€Å"Why is this true? I don’t understand.â€Å" â€Å"How many are there?† â€Å"Are there any tool to do that?† Of course, those questions are highly context-dependent. You need to have an open mind, like a curious child who wants to know everything. This is the first part of the research. A second part involves backing up your claims. Every time you claim something, you need data, research, or at least a reference that supports what you’re saying. Make a list of all your claims, and come back to Google to find research that supports them. At least, try to find another blog post from a recognized expert that says the same. This will also help you later to promote your post. By doing targeted research on a specific question or claim, you make sure not to browse the internet for ever. Save time researching by asking specific questions. Back To Table Of Contents Write Your First Draft This is normally the hardest step of the process for any common content marketer. But if you’re here, you’re not that common, especially if you start using this system. Because you wrote such a detailed and complete outline, writing your first draft will be one of the easiest step. You already have the structure and all the information written. The only thing that’s left is expanding on the list of stories and examples you already provided. Explaining a single example or telling a story is easy. You do it all the time all day long with your friends. Replicate the process and you’ll be done in no time. The only difficulty you might face is not succeeding in finding the right words to explain your point. It happens. But don’t worry about this too much. When you write your first draft, don’t try to be perfect right away. Simply write, expand, explain as much as possible, ramble, and just put your own words on things. The end result is not supposed to be your final version. When you write your first draft, don’t try to be perfect right away.We will edit the article in the next section. There are two essential rules for writing your first draft if you want to make it quick and easy: Write as much as possible without ever stopping. Don’t stop. Don’t hold yourself. Never edit. Never come back. Here is a tip: Never use the backspace key. When writing your first draft, focus exclusively on getting the writing done, no matter what. Don’t care about quality and don’t edit at the same time. If you apply this advice, not only will writing be a lot easier, but also a lot faster. Keep writing, don’t worry about grammar mistakes or rambling, just keep writing, until done. With this technique, you can easily write 1,000 words in 30 minutes. Once you get used to it, you can write even faster. Back To Table Of Contents Edit Your First Draft After finishing your first draft, your article will not be beautiful to see. Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird, calls it the shitty first draft. That’s exactly what it is. You let your creativity shine and created everything you needed for the article. Maybe even a little bit too much. Here are the steps for editing: Open a new blank document. Filter out each paragraph with a set of questions and rewrite it better. Pass the article in an editing tool. Print the article and read it out loud. Step #1: Open a new blank document. This step as rather self-explanatory. I noticed that when I don’t do it, I start to get bored in the middle of the task and skip entire paragraphs to finish as fast as possible. So, now, I open a new document and make sure I go through everything. This is a bit longer, of course, but it’s worth taking the time, as the step is what will make your article flawless. Step #2: Filter out each paragraph and rewrite it better. The goal of the editing part is to remove any unessential part and to rewrite better what’s essential. You probably know that longer articles perform better in general, but it doesn’t mean you should look for writing the longest possible articles. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Your final article should be shorter than your first draft, not longer. Try to cut your article as much as possible, to make it dense, comprehensive, without any rambling or unessential explanation. Make your point, illustrate it, and move on quickly. For each paragraph I ask myself the following questions: Is this essential  in my article? What would happen if I remove this paragraph? Am I just rambling too much on this story? If it happens the paragraph is an essential one, then I try to improve it: How can I make myself clearer? Can I add a picture or an example to illustrate it? How could I tell this story in a shorter and more compelling way? Am I using simple words that normal people use? Once I have answered them, I can rewrite the paragraph. Notice that it looks like a long process, especially if you have hundreds of paragraphs. If you’re not used to it, it will take you some time at the beginning, but you will quickly learn to automatically ask these questions and decide in seconds if you need to remove the paragraph or improve it. Recommended Reading: 6 Super Easy Content Editing Tricks That Will Save You Oodles Of Time Step #3. Pass the article into an editing tool. In the previous step, you made the major work of editing. You rewrote everything and now the article is a lot better. If you want to go the extra mile, you can copy/paste your article into an editor such as Grammarly  (you will need to paid version to get access to the editing tools) or the Hemingway App. The goal of this step is to make edits you couldn’t easily notice before to improve the readability of your article: Are you writing too complex sentences? Are you using too many adverbs? Are you using passive voice too frequently? Are you repeating the same words too often? (Use WordCounter  for that) This step should be a lot quicker, mostly because the tool tells you exactly where to look at and what to do. Step #4. Print the article and read it out loud. Finally, the last step may surprise you: Print the article and read it out loud. Editing Tip: Print your articles and read them out loud.There are two reasons for this. The first is that when you read an article on paper, you have a different view on it that when reading on a screen. Especially, you can spot the grammar mistakes a lot more easily. The second is that by reading out loud, you will immediately spot the awkward or too complex phrasing. On the internet, we want to keep the writing simple and quick to read. Basically, you almost want to write as you’re speaking. So if it sounds weird when you say it out loud, it might just sound as weird for your readers. That’s it for the editing! I must admit I don’t do all four steps for every article. They’re a little bit long, so it’ll depend on how much time you want to invest in your article. Back To Table Of Contents Polish Everything The last step is for the last details. Improve your headline. When we started the article, we picked a headline and didn’t really work on it. I don’t recommend doing it before writing the article, as the content might change as you make progress on it. Now is the time to perfect it. I won’t go into details on how to write a good headline, but aim for a score of 70% or higher with the Headline Analyzer. Pick a feature image. You will need one to show up when people share your article on social media. It’s usually a good idea to put the title of your post on it to catch people’s attention. Build a content upgrade. A content upgrade is a lead magnet you offer as an incentive for people to subscribe to your email list. It is something built especially for the article and is a logical add-on to the article that people who liked the article will want to have. It could be a checklist, a cheat sheet, a spreadsheet, a system, a PDF version of the article, etc. There are many ways to build content upgrades. Craft your CTA. You will also need to craft a compelling CTA to sell  your content upgrade. It’s worth taking the time to write a really good one, as it can be the difference between a successful and a failed article. Recommended Reading: How To Write A Call To Action In A Template With 6 Examples Take care of SEO. I’m usually not highly focused on SEO, but before publishing an article, I try to get as many green lights as possible with the Yoast SEO plugin. Hit publish. And you’re done! We’ve now gone through the entire system to publish a top-notch article. The good thing about this system is that the simple fact of following it virtually guarantee that your article will stand out from the rest, as almost nobody else uses such a complete framework.

Linkedin Understanding a Statement of Rights and Responsibilities Case Study

Linkedin Understanding a Statement of Rights and Responsibilities - Case Study Example The user agreement clearly specifies that agreeing to the terms of the user agreement constitutes a legally binding contract, which is governed by the laws of California. However, whilst the LinkedIn user agreement confers jurisdiction over California, California law and jurisdiction may not be appropriate to intellectual property disputes. Additionally, the user agreement specifically highlights that some jurisdictions and countries do not permit the use of disclaimers in contracts and therefore in some countries, the disclaimers will not be applicable. There is also an exception from California being the appropriate choice of law and jurisdiction where parties have specified an alternative â€Å"competent jurisdiction† in an Arbitration Agreement. Additionally, LinkedIn users have the right to withdraw consent to the collection and processing of personal information at any time under the terms of the privacy policy. However, the withdrawal of consent is not retroactive, which means that any data collected up until the time of withdrawal of consent can still be processed by LinkedIn. However, if a user is under the age of 13 then under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act 1998, the website privacy policy must ensure that parental or guardian consent is obtained for the processing of data collected on the site. As issues impacting commerce and social networking continue to evolve, this, in turn, leads to continuous changes in legal issues impacting the networking environment.  Accordingly, the user agreement is subject to continuous changes and users are bound by changes to the LinkedIn User Agreement.

War on terrorism vs. Human Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

War on terrorism vs. Human Rights - Essay Example When the truth was finally revealed by Miliband, questions were raised about the honesty of the government. And because the public already knew that there were two cases of renditions that have happened, there were doubts that maybe out of the 170 stopovers in the United Kingdom, there might have been more than two renditions that have transpired. As Tom Porteous, the Human Rights Watch' London Chief would put it, "We now know that in at least two cases, the U.S. didn't ask permission. How many other times did the U.S. fail to inform the British government" 3 The said confession on the controversial matter thus stained the trust of the people to their leaders in the government. But what was more disturbing on this matter is that there were human rights violated in the said extraordinary renditions done by the CIA. group, both locally and internationally, which firmly believe in the possibilities that there were rights violated in the said measures of renditions. ... about kidnapping and secret detention."4 And even if one views such matter in so many ways and in different perspectives, it will never look all right. Just the thought of detaining and torturing the suspects is already unfair and discriminatory. Though it is given that "Extraordinary rendition violates the universal declaration of human rights,"5 it is still not enough reason to physically abuse the suspects. They are called as suspects because they are not yet convicted to have committed the accused crimes. Now, if justice would always be done in this way- people without even undergoing the proper court proceedings, we might as well disregard the promulgated laws because the reason that the laws exist is for the people to be protected. In this case, these people- the suspects- are not protected. It is stated under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights that there is a "fair trial before an independent tribunal, andsuspects are innocent until proven [sic] guilty." 6 In this light, suspects, no matter what, are still human beings entitled with their own rights. And for that reason, I believe that they too have the claim to exercise their civil liberties and human rights. These norms then that protect people from various places around the world against 4BBC News,"UK Apology Over Rendition Flights"; available from http://www.khilafah.com/kcom/index2.phpoption=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=2005; 5 David Weissbrodt et al., "Extraordinary Rendition: A Human Rights Analysis," Harvard Human Rights Journal 287, Vol. 19 (2006), http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/hrj/iss19/weissbrodt.shtml. 6Sabina Zaccaro, "Rights: European Parliament Turns Policeman Over Renditions, http://ipsnews.net/news.aspidnews=36499. several forms of abuse, torture, and

Gifts for Her in the Local Target shop Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gifts for Her in the Local Target shop - Essay Example Customers of the shop have an opportunity to choose any gift from the wide range of presented goods. They are arranged at shelves by category so if customer knows category he or she needs, he or she may select more gifts from this category. Also there is a website www.target.com where customer can find suitable for him or her gift in electronic catalogue. There is a Gift Finder tool at the website that helps customer to find appropriate gift by price or by category. It is possible to get to know if any definite gift available in specific local Target store. There is a Wal-Mart supermarket not far away the local Target shop where a lot of gifts is sold. Also there are a lot of small souvenir shops in this quarter and in neighbor quarter where customer also can buy gifts. The supermarket is direct competitor of the local Target shop, while small souvenir shops are indirect competitors. However, a distinguishing feature of the local Target shop is special section of gifts especially for girls and women. Wal-Mart does not have specific section of Gifts for Her, it has only Gifts and Flowers section. So Target's competitive advantage is that customer will be sure that gift he or she select is suitable for girl or women. The target audience is habitants, tourists and personnel of numerous offices from this quarter, and from neighbor quarters. Also staff and students from the university are customers of the Target shop. Target market segments Target market of the local Target shop is people from 16 to 80. The research had shown that 60% of the customers are people mostly from 16 to 35, while 25% of the customers are people mostly from 36 to 50 and 15% of the customers are people mostly from 51 to 80. Students, post-graduates, tourists and staff of nearby offices are included in the first category of the customers. Customers of the second category are tutors, habitants of the quarter, tourists and personnel of nearby companies. Pensioners and tourists are mostly included in the third category. All these customers are people, who have female friends or relatives. The first category of the customers (students, post-graduates and staff of nearby offices) are most likely to buy strong gifts from Fashion+Beauty category. Tourists and businessmen prefer gifts from Electronics category. There are also returning customers who buy gifts from Hobbies category; they are mostly pensioners and staff of the university. Advertisement Currently the local Target shop is advertising in order to reach customers or to be seen by customers through: Mass media: advertisement on the local radio station Display: location, building, signing, window/counter/shelf display, environment, decoration, printed materials One-on-one: in person, by letter, and telephone

Acquiring Business Communication Skills Necessary for Business Essay

Acquiring Business Communication Skills Necessary for Business Graduates - Essay Example From this study it is clear that at the same time, in the process of effective communication, all participants who take part in this process must possess proper and equal knowledge, after completion of the process. So, success of information distribution and evaluation, after a communication process, implies adequacy of the concerned communication skills. Good communication skills enjoyed by an individual helps him or her to experience an enhancement in all domains of life. The context of the paper will first identify and evaluate the types of general communication skills and then, will analyze the types of business communication skills. After this, the paper will state some empirical cases, which shows that business communication has significantly helped in improving the business of certain organizations. Finally, the researcher would precisely recommend the required communication skills for students of the University.  This paper outlines that  interpersonal communication skill s are attributes required when individuals are in a face-to-face communication process. It involves two or more individuals. Verbal communication is a type of interpersonal skill. This skill elaborates effectiveness of the speech of an individual.  Non-verbal interpersonal skill comprises God-gifted attributes like, personal appearance and self presentation. The effectiveness of such a communication process depends on body language, gestures, facial expression, signals and physical outlook of the communicator.

Music Appreciation ( classical) Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Music Appreciation ( classical) - Term Paper Example In the impressionism period, the artists used light and water themes in their artworks which used to give an abstract look to their paintings. Music composers of that period also liked to imitate the sounds of water. The two most popular mediums used by the impressionist composers were orchestra and piano. Claude Debussy, also known as one of the great pillars of musical modernism, is considered to be a very dominant personality in the field of composition and music. He was born in northwest Parisian commune in 1862. If we talk about his educational career, we come to know that Debussy was deprived of public education because the government of France took away all civil rights from his father due to his involvement in the Paris workers’ uprising. But when his parents found musical talent in Debussy, they sent him to his relatives to start his music education. Debussy did not have any regular schooling but he showed his extraordinary skills and abilities in composing. He was awarded with Prix de Rome in the year 1884. Here we must mention that he started his work in music industry as a pianist but he did not get much success as a pianist which made him divert his mind towards composing. If we talk about one of the major forces behind Debussy’s success, we can say that Ernest Guiraud, a quintessential French academic composer, played a great role in Debussy’s success as a composer. It was Debussy’s orchestral work La Mer and the opera production Pellà ©as ET Mà ©lisande which made him one of the most prominent and leading composers of the twentieth century. Printemps and the cantata La demoiselle à ©lue were very famous poems by Debussy which not only played a great role in Debussy’s success as a composer but also symbolized a far-fetched advance on Lenfant prodigue. Under the influence of poets and painters from Rome, Debussy fell under Wagner’s charm and attraction. This was the reason why Debussy’s style was found