The first thing in the day…
The first thing you do when you sit down at the computer
Let me guess: check the incoming. Check email or traffic stats or messages from your boss. Check the tweets you follow or the FB status of friends.
You’ve just surrendered not only a block of time but your freshest, best chance to start something new.
If you’re a tech company or a marketer, your goal is to be the first thing people do when they start their day. If you’re an artist, a leader or someone seeking to make a difference, the first thing you do should be to lay tracks to accomplish your goals, not to hear how others have reacted/responded/insisted to what happened yesterday.
This is now taped to my computer screen…
Source: Seth Godin
Search Plus from Google
Google just launched (at least for me) new integration between the SERPS (search results pages) and Google+ on google.co.uk.
Not sure what this means, or how it will affect search marketing, but I’m fairly sure that it’s not going to help much. I do know it’s going to focus attention to the echo chamber of your online contacts, probably diminishing the value of exploring the web for new information.
The concentration of information, and increased gatekeeping, by Google is worrying. Maybe a bit Orwellian?
2012 January Challenge – Day 5
Day 5 exercise
- 3 x biceps curls
- 3 x dumbbell military presses
Fitness feeling
A bit better than yesterday. Still sore all over though.
General feeling
Migraine overnight and most of the day. Thought I’d miss today’s workout because of it.
On giving free advice
There’s an interesting piece over at Forbes that I saw today, arguing against giving away free advice. After all, if you’re an expert, learning the knowledge that advice is based on took money, effort, and a lot of time.
Why give it away for free to those who will use it to leverage their own success?
The following are some really worthwhile points about free advice:
- The person receiving it will pay for advice if it really is valuable to them (just like your clients or employer already does)
- You can always use the advice to trade for something valuable to you, such as a fee-paying referral or advice in return
- If neither works, don’t be rude, but do send them on to other truly free resources. Yes, Google is your friend here
It’s worth reading the piece: Referenced article
2012 January Challenge – Day 4
Day 4 exercise
- 3 x dumbbell punches
- 3 x side lifts
Fitness feeling
Unbelievably sore everywhere. Really had to think about what exercise to do so I could allow the rest of my body to heal up. This is going to be a tough challenge, though I’m happy to go on with it. Things will get easier.
General feeling
Physically getting in a better mood and my focus is pretty good. Sleeping like the dead. Good stuff.
2012 January Challenge – Day 3
Day 3 exercise
- 3 x dumbbell lounges
- 3 x dumbbell swiss ball chest presses
- 2 x chin ups
Worst chin ups I can recall, but at least I did them.
Fitness feeling
Went OK. Still quite sore from Monday, which is pretty poor form. Felt good to lift a bit.
General feeling
Bit more pep today. Sleeping better already.
2012 January Challenge – Day 2
Day 2 exercise
Did 20 minutes on the stationary bike today.
Fitness feeling
Struggled a bit once warmed up, about 7-10 minutes in. Otherwise the session went really well and got a good sweat worked up.
General feeling
Not much change from yesterday. Still tired, in need of a holiday. Cleaned up flat a bit, that helped the mood. Looking forward to getting back into work tomorrow.
2012 January Challenge – Day 1
January sees the start of my personal fitness challenge: Some sort of exercise each day for the 31 days of January. This should help me kickstart my fitness for 2012 and finally get me back in shape.
The rules are simple, each day I need to do a minimum of:
- 20 minutes of aerobic exercise (stationary bike, swimming…)
- 3 sets of any weight lifting exercise (must be a single exercise, not 3 different ones)
Of course, these are minimums, so I should exceed these daily, or so I hope.
Day 1: 1 January 2012
- Swiss ball situps x 3
- Dumbbell military press x 2
- Dumbbell biceps curls x 2
- Dumbbell deltoid lifts x 1
- Dumbbell squats x 2
Fitness feeling
Tired and slouchy. Weak. Positive about the challenge. Lifts OK. Very stiff.
General feeling
A little nauseaus. Worn out in general. Need to find a way to recharge batteries better.
That’s all.
Cycling in London
There should be many more bicycle parking that’s secure in London. Here’s one near St. Paul’s Cathedral.
A great and simple conversion rate case study
If you’re looking to find out more about just how much Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) can really help, check out this article on optimizing a Twitter follower call to action. Dustin achieved a 115% lift by experimenting with his Call to Action (CTA) phrasing.