Archive for the ‘Articles of Interest’ Category
Turning Productivity into Passion, Part 2
A while ago I wrote about one of the greatest benefits of increased productivity: the extra time it allows you to give back to a cause you believe in. I am fortunate to be on the board of an Austin non-profit called GENaustin (Girls Empowerment Network). GEN’s mission is to foster healthy self esteem in girls by engaging them to explore and define their personal values and to build skills that empower them with confidence and the courage to make wise choices. They do an event every year called Career Week, where they invite professional women in to share information about their career path, with middle school girls. It’s a great opportunity to meet some fantastic girls, learn a bit about the work that GENaustin does, and share wisdom. This school-year the events are being held the weeks of October 25th and February 14th. The only qualifications are that you are a woman, that you live in the Austin area (or will be here during either of those weeks) and that you can speak about your career in a way that is engaging to middle-school girls (GEN staffers will give you tips and information to help you prepare). It takes only about 90 minutes of your time and can be scheduled at an Austin-area middle school that is convenient for you. GENaustin is targeting some professions specifically because they have been under-represented in the past, but anyone is welcome. And if you know any fabulous women in the following industries, we’d love to invite them to speak: financial/banking, doctor/nurses/medical professionals, STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) careers/high tech professionals, veterinarians, teachers, business owners, women in uniform (police, fire, military, etc).
If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to be a volunteer for a worthy cause, now is your chance! If you’re interested, please contact me directly at maura at regainyourtime dot com, or the Career Week Coordinator at GENaustin, Tiffany Merkel, at tiffanym at genaustin dot org.
Here is a little more about my involvement in GENaustin, and please check out their website!
Guest Post: Breakfast Fairies by Steve Harper
My dear friend and fabulous “Ripple Guy” Steve Harper put up a post on his blog yesterday that was just so touching, I wanted to share it. I’ve had the honor of meeting Steve’s dad several times on his trips to Austin, and yes, he is as sweet and special as he sounds. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did. Thanks for visiting!
Breakfast Fairies Revisited, By Steve Harper
Dad spent the last ten years caring for my mom as she battled Alzheimer’s Disease. The last three or four Mom was unable to care for herself and Dad took on the role of serving all of her needs. Morning, noon and night he cared for her. He bathed her. He dressed her. He fed her. His entire life was consumed by the care he gave my Mom. Taking on both the physical and emotional stress and refusing to never once consider raising the white flag and agreeing to put her in a facility.
I can not imagine how he summoned the courage to do it day in and day out. His only breaks were quick jaunts to Austin while my sister Debbie cared for my mom so he could get a few days away. That was his life and I imagine for a lot of people they would have considered it a most miserable existence for both of my parents. Somehow I don’t think either of of them felt that way. In fact the lessons in love that were learned if you watched those two over these past few years would soften even the hardest of hearts.
I used to worry that my Dad was alone in his care for my mom. None of us kids live exactly close to Albuquerque where they live. I worried that Dad’s almost daily constant push to get mom out of the house was taking a toll on them both physically. After all it would take quite an effort to get mom in and out of a car and into a restaurant.
However I now know it was those quick trips to Starbucks or those lengthy trips to their favorite breakfast, lunch and dinner spots was exactly what was needed. Although it took mom forever to eat a meal (2 hours would not be unheard of), my dad would sit there patiently feeding her one fork or spoonful at time all the while chatting away about this and that – despite no return conversation.
It was during these many times that something incredible happened. Mom and Dad inspired people along the way. Countless people came up to them and offered stories of their own battles with an aging spouse, parent or grandparent. They would shake my dad’s hand and offer a gentle pat on Mom’s back. They would let him know he was not alone and how lucky my mom was to have such a caring and loving steward at her side.
Rarely a month went by without Dad calling excited to share a story of their meal magically being bought by some stranger. Sometimes the strangers would reveal themselves but more often than not they didn’t. Endless numbers of waiters, waitresses and even bus boys would buy my parents dessert with their tip money. Not to mention those restaurant owners and managers that would just end up tearing up their check and telling Dad “Your money is no good here!”
Dad eventually ended up calling these folks his Breakfast Fairies thanks in part to a note that he received after one meal. It read, “caregivers need care too!” signed the Breakfast Fairy.
Yes I was worried my dad was alone in his care for my mom but have since come to realize he never really was.
As I went home for my mom’s funeral we went to all of their old eating spots. One by one I watched dad share the news of my mom’s passing. Waiters, waitresses, regular customers at more places than I can count gave hugs, told stories of Dad’s care for Mom and just how inspired they were by him and mom. It was then I realized these people whom were strangers to most were more than that to my parents; they were family.
I have no idea how many meals along the way were purchased for my parents but it was a lot. I know Dad was at first unnerved by this outpouring of kindness, not exactly knowing how to respond, especially when the Breakfast Fairy preferred to remain anonymous. Eventually he grew comfortable with these gentle but ever so meaningful Ripples offered by others and he soon jumped in becoming a Breakfast Fairy for others himself.
As the days and weeks have passed since Mom’s funeral, I know dad has found comfort in going to his old haunts. The outpouring of love and care that people have showed him these past few weeks and ultimately these past few years has to warm and heal his heart. That makes the distance between us almost bearable in my mind.
It doesn’t take much to make a indelible impact on someone’s life. If you take nothing more from this post than this…know you have the power to make someone feel special and loved. It just may be exactly what they needed to know.
Be a Breakfast Fairy and pick up someone’s check next time you are at breakfast, lunch or dinner. The Ripples you create will undoubtedly come back to you!
Heck if we all do it, we may really start something here!
Ripple On!!!
Here are links to a few previous posts on the Breakfast Fairy topic.
What I Learned as a SXSWi Newbie
o I’m still trying to come down after attending my first South by Southwest Interactive Conference. I learned a few things about the conference in general and I learned a TON from the sessions I attended.
The first thing I learned is that the conference is, in fact, attended primarily by “techies.” (If you’d like to know what led me, a mostly non-techie, to attend, read this post first). These people are definitely the hard-core technology fans and early adopters. So it seems to me that paying attention to what’s going on here can give me a glimpse into the future. And following that logic, the future is:
- Macs & iPhones
But aside from that, there are sort of three parts to SXSWi: the education, the connections, and the partying. I couldn’t do all three. In fact I found it kind of exhausting to do just one. I was there for the learning. I packed my days full of sessions, and I went home every night feeling simultaneously completely exhausted and completely motivated. I learned so much to apply to my business that I wanted to get started on all of it right away…but first I wanted a nap. 
In the last couple of years I had jumped on the Apple bandwagon so at least I was caught up there. I fit right in when I took notes on my MacBook and whipped out my iPhone to check my calendar for the next session. But one thing I couldn’t NOT do was Tweet. Luckily I had been toying with the idea for a couple of weeks so I was ready to jump in at SXSW. It was really interesting how Twitter was being used to take questions at panels, to alter people’s schedules when they heard what was going on in real time, to follow other panels that you weren’t at, and to meet up with your friends (to see what I learned about Twitter specifically, read this post.)
Some new services debuted and they look really great. Here are the ones that look the most exciting to me:
- Otherinbox (I’ve actually been using this for months since they launched in beta and I’m LOVING it. The cure for email overload!)
- PeoplePond: Search Engine Optimization for People
- Animoto: Automatically produce your own professional-quality videos
- Digital Chalk: Rapidly deliver multi-media courses online
I also attended some really great sessions and learned a lot from some very smart people. Many of these are available for podcast so I suggest you check them out. My top 3:
- Change Your World in 50 Minutes: How to Make Breakthroughs Happen (Here’s a great blog post about the session, and I suggest you check out Kathy Sierra’s blog. Her talk was fantastic.) I also enjoyed the opening remarks from Tony Hseih of Zappos.com and the presentation Social Engineering: How to Scam Your Way into Anything (podcast).
I’ll be watching my email for news that tickets for SXSW 2010 have gone on-sale. Hope to see you there!