As the popularity of online communities continues to spread, it's becoming big business - and not just for the 20-somethings selling their creations to the likes of Google for 10 figure sums. (Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in a stock for stock transaction.)
Now, as MySpace and Facebook continue to grow, a new community has emerged over the last two years as the leading online forum for business people: LinkedIn. With the basic account settings coming free, your LinkedIn profile is basically an online resume. What's more, is it shows your "connections" - that is, not just who you know, but who they know. Call it two degrees of separation.
What makes these connections that much more important to collect is that it's been proven that more job opportunities come from "soft" contacts (people you've only met once or twice) than "hard" ones - either friends or past colleagues. A recommendation from a past employer, also visible on your profile, will help you that much more.
Check out LinkedIn... because if you're not in touch, you're out of touch.
Showing posts with label Friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Friends. Show all posts
Jun 4, 2007
May 29, 2007
The B-School Balance
By our very nature, students are known to live their lives in a convoluted sort of punctuated equilibrium. It's not unusual for students to go on three-to-four hours of sleep per night... and then cozy-up in bed for an entire weekend to catch up. We party until 3:00 in the morning... and then drag ourselves to the gym the next day. We flood ourselves with friends (some real, some otherwise)... and yet yearn for time alone to think and be one with ourselves.
This is the life of a student. It's works, but it's far from sustainable.
That's why I recently decided to start getting up earlier. I've always been a morning person, but frequent late nights throughout university (either at my desk or at a bar) have started to eat (err, drink?) into my mornings. And, for me at least, less morning means less productive.
No more. Two years ago, fellow blogger Steve Pavlina wrote an article on how to become an early riser. It has since become the most turned to article on the topic. He suggests going to sleep "only when too sleepy to stay up" and getting up at the same time every day. I'm giving it a try, and so far it's working.
Different things work for different people, though. What's important is that you find what works for you. It's easy to fall into the same patterns as our friends - but are those patterns best for our own health? ...productivity? ...social well-being? Probably not.
Alas, my point: to be most effective as students - as professionals - we must start thinking for ourselves. Gone are the high school days where you go to a party because your friends are going, or where you pull all-nighters because that's what it takes. No, it just takes a little time management and the ability to think for yourself.
Start setting goals, and figure out what you value. I'm not advocating leaving friends behind; they matter - a lot. But by reminding yourself of what's most important to you, you'll not only get more done, but - more importantly - you'll be a happier person.
And when you're a happier person, everybody wins.
This is the life of a student. It's works, but it's far from sustainable.
That's why I recently decided to start getting up earlier. I've always been a morning person, but frequent late nights throughout university (either at my desk or at a bar) have started to eat (err, drink?) into my mornings. And, for me at least, less morning means less productive.
No more. Two years ago, fellow blogger Steve Pavlina wrote an article on how to become an early riser. It has since become the most turned to article on the topic. He suggests going to sleep "only when too sleepy to stay up" and getting up at the same time every day. I'm giving it a try, and so far it's working.
Different things work for different people, though. What's important is that you find what works for you. It's easy to fall into the same patterns as our friends - but are those patterns best for our own health? ...productivity? ...social well-being? Probably not.
Alas, my point: to be most effective as students - as professionals - we must start thinking for ourselves. Gone are the high school days where you go to a party because your friends are going, or where you pull all-nighters because that's what it takes. No, it just takes a little time management and the ability to think for yourself.
Start setting goals, and figure out what you value. I'm not advocating leaving friends behind; they matter - a lot. But by reminding yourself of what's most important to you, you'll not only get more done, but - more importantly - you'll be a happier person.
And when you're a happier person, everybody wins.
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