March, 2007

Have you heard about "The Secret"? It's is about the law of attraction.

Like a magnet, the thoughts and images held in one's mind determine what is attracted to them and, ultimately, the quality of life they live.

For example, go anxiously through the day with a negative loop of thoughts in your mind, anticipating bad things will happen, and they will. Approach that same day with positive thoughts, anticipating good things, and they'll be drawn to you.

A large element of "The Secret" is to be thankful about what you already have. By giving thanks, you attract more good positive things in your life. You're telling the Universe what you like and the Universe in turns knows what to give you.

 Here are 10 things that I'm thankful for:

1. Friends and family that get me
2. An exciting and changing career
3. Travels across the globe to interesting places
4. A good education and speaking different languages
5. A comfy home with a good kitchen
6. Money in the bank
7. Growing up on a farm
8. Living in a city
9. My sense of adventure
10. Today is the first day of Spring

I start each day by expanding on this list. I have to admit, it makes a world of difference to the rest of my day. I notice the good instead of the bad, and as a result, more good comes to me. So this "Secret" thing just might be working. 

Here's another installment of some white board doodles Colin left in my office. Are you beginning to recognize a theme here? His doodles tend to be about the topic of the day. And yesterday it was Ajax. It's the hot topic at the moment — hence the chili peppers. And a lot of what people are saying can be a load of (blank), which is what the toilet paper is all about. 

Here's Colin's first and second white board doodles if you care to see more. 

I recently came across something called The Secret. It's a book and a movie that has people around the world buzzing. I'm guessing most of you may already heard of it (Oprah is a big fan). I was given the CD and movie and listened with a very open mind. 

The basis of "The Secret" is the Law of Attraction - what you get is what you think about. Your energy mixes with the energy of the world and brings it to you.

For example, I'm thinking about this awesome eco-friendly house from a company called Living Home and that one day (soon!) Colin and I will own. The incredible architecture, the views, the gardens. Every day I meditate on this thought, and my million dollar home will happen. 

Positive thinking has worked in my favour often in the past, so I will happily give "The Secret" a try. The world can only benefit from more positive vibes. 

If you have a "law of attraction" story you'd care to share, I'm all ears. In the mean time, I'll keep you posted on how I get on. 

My best mate, Colin, strikes again with more funky doodles on my office white board. He left these while I was in a meeting. What a sweet little surprise to come back to. No wonder I married the man.

That's suppose to me and my lead developer, Drzycimski. He's constantly wearing his headphones, coding away. I'm not sure what the pooch is all about.  

It all started with this doodle board. I can't wait to see what his next work is all about!

The iA Trend Map shows all the big players, the current Internet trends and how they’re connected, using the Tokyo Metro map. It’s totally unscientific and almost useless, but definitely fun to look at.

Visit the folks over at iA website and download yourself a nice postcard format copy of this nifty map.

With any luck, your site will be on there next year (if it isn't already there!).

The most important thing on your site is your web copy. If your words are carefully chosen, custom crafted, arranged for maximum search-engine appeal, and regularly updated, your ranking and search return position will dramatically improve. So why is it that content is the number one reason for project delays? And what can we do about it? Here's a little tool to help get you started.

This is a free Content Collection Map that will help smooth the content audit process. Content is broken down by section, the next action assigned (delete, keep, modify), and who is responsible for what.

This map will help organize and focus the content collection process. It should be reviewed with the entire team on a weekly basis until all content is collected.

My free content plan won't guarantee the content will be delivered on time. You still need to plan for it to be late and be sure to charge for it. Hopefully this will make the content auditing process just a little more smooth and enjoyable.

(click on the icon below to download your free copy.)

A good client survey is the ticket to any successful web project. It's critical clients are engaged in the project from the start — but not overwheled at the same time.

This free customer survey has been designed to accomplish just that. It's easy to understand, simple to complete and will impress those busy clients of yours.

I spent days reviewing various surveys, pulling in the best bits from those that impressed me most. The bulk of the content if from GoTo Media.  Their free customer survey has great questions, but when I put it in front of clients, it scared them. Not a good start to our relationship. 

Too often I was chasing clients to get the survey completed. And normally I had to hand-hold them through the process.  

I rewrote the client survey and put it into a nice user-friendly PDF form. I broke down the questions into nice chew-able bits, added some eye candy. And the results are amazing.

Clients often comment on how much fun it is to complete because it really gets them thinking and the creativity juices start flowing. They also say how professional it looks and that its a great indication of the good things yet to come.

To use the form, simply download and open in a PDF viewer. There is space on the first page for your email and web address (left column). Enter it, save the form, then submit the survey to your client to complete. 

 Coming up next — "The Creative Brief" form. Watch this space.