The costs to you are the ones I want to focus on, even though there are larger costs to organizations, as well. If you’re underwhelmed because you’re consistently around people who are uncommitted, uninspired, and unworthy of your commitment, your inspiration, and your talents, one or more of these may happen:

• Cynicism creeps in until it’s your primary mindset.
• Sarcasm becomes your way of speaking.
• Others’ apathy seeps into your core until it’s become your core.
• Relationships with positive people fade away.
• Disillusionment with your work and living situation settles in…apparently for the long term.

Do any of these sound appealing? I don’t think so.

A Gentle Suggestion

If you have been feeling underwhelmed, take a look at the people with whom you interact on a regular basis. It might be your co-workers, your boss(es), your clients, your students, your external suppliers, your family, your friends, or anyone else that you frequently spend time around. Are you feeling drained after being with them?

If it’s just one or two people and/or if it’s on an infrequent basis, then that’s no big deal. If, however, the majority of the people you’re around the majority of the time are uninspired, uncommitted, and undeserving of your talents, then you’re going to have to make some changes or the underwhelm won’t go away.

Start recognizing it for what it is…that’s the first step – and an essential one.

And if ‘underwhelm’ is just part of what seems to be plaguing you – and you would like to be ‘just whelmed,’ then you’re invited to join others (worldwide) who receive Meggin’s weekly emails (free!) at **I Want to Be Just Whelmed (http://www.JustWhelmed.com).

Quote to Consider (and an action to take):

“You’ve got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you’re not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice.” ~Steven D. Woodhull

For the next 7 days, just observe how you feel when you get up in the morning.

If it’s a chore on the days you are “going to work” but not on the other days, then that’s something to notice.

If it’s NOT a chore on the days you’re going to work, but it is on the others, then that’s something to notice, too.

See if your face is comfortable going into a smile…and reflect on the last time someone said to you, “You are always smiling.” If you can’t remember the last time someone said that, then see if you can determine why.

See if you notice any patterns as you consciously observe your emotions and behaviors. Do you see any patterns, and in particular, do you notice a pattern that is more in your professional life or your personal life?

Once you have done your self-observations and considered the ideas in this article, then you may be able to identify ‘so what do I do?’ for yourself.  Or you may be looking for other resources to move away from ‘underwhelm’ to being ‘just whelmed.’

One of the free resources for moving toward being ‘just whelmed’ on a consistent basis is being part of the group (worldwide) who receive Meggin’s weekly emails (free!) at:

**I Want to Be Just Whelmed (http://www.JustWhelmed.com)

If you would prefer quick, short weekly tips, then the following site is another place to find suggestions and other tools to support you in your quest for peaceful productivity:

**Top Ten Productivity Tips (http://www.TopTenProductivityTips.com)

If you think you are only in “overwhelm” but not “underwhelm,” please don’t ignore this article.  Believe it or not, you may be in “underwhelm” part of the time or you certainly may know some others who are in “underwhelm” and they could use this information.

In thinking through the reasons why someone becomes (and stays) ‘underwhelmed’, I’ve identified the following three:

• Work (or a life) that doesn’t engage your talents, education, or passions.  Day in and day out, do you feel like you’re an “untapped resource?”  Well, that takes its toll.  

• Work (or a life) that involves people who are uncommitted, uninspired, and unworthy of your attention and talents.  Tell the truth…is the majority of your time spent working with and around people who ‘could care less,’ ‘have retired but still come to work,’ ‘are negative Nellies (or Neds),’ and just generally drain the energy and life right out of you?  

• Work (or a life) where you rarely get a chance to work on anything of importance.  Are you questioning–on a regular basis–why you’re even doing what you do?  Does it seem as if it doesn’t really matter to anyone, particularly in the ‘big scheme of things’? Do you wonder if you’re making a contribution?

If you are currently feeling underwhelmed, see if the feelings can be identified and put into one or more of the 3 categories listed above.  Think about it…right now, which of these is most problematic for you (if any of these are)?  And remember, it may be problematic for you if there are people around you who are underwhelmed.

In our next blog post we will talk about things you need to consider and observations you need to make.

And remember…

“It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” ~Joanne Kathleen Rowling

I am still mulling over Audio Acrobat vs. GoToWebinar. Due to limited resources I prefer not to buy both. It seems to me that GoToWebinar does everything Audio Acrobat does, plus it allows you to record the desktop. Why Audio Acrobat  over GoToWebinar?

For me, the issue with Audio Acrobat  is that it’s cheap and easy….GotoWebinar/GotoMeeting is more expensive – and yes, it has lots of extra things it does, like record the desktop, but for just pure teleseminars, it seems the extra expense wouldn’t be worth it…And another piece is that they don’t ‘house’ or ‘store’ your recordings whereas Audio Acrobat  does. So when I do a webinar with GotoWebinar, I need to save it to my computer and then I have to either send it out via YouSendIt or I can put it up on my site (and then it’s housed on my host’s server).

Not sure if I’m making sense on this…But the main thing I would say is this, What do you really plan to do? If you think you’ll be doing a bunch of webinars, then go with GoToWebinar, but if you think you’ll be focusing mostly on teleseminars, then I’d start with Audio Acrobat . No need to buy more than you need.

Here’s a definition: 

Information marketing is getting your knowledge, expertise, and experience ‘out there’ where others can find it and benefit from it.  (Meggin McIntosh)

Anyone reading this blog knows a great deal, has expertise in one or more areas, and has experienced a fair amount of life (I’m assuming I don’t have any 6 or 16-year old readers).  I believe you want to recognize the knowledge, expertise, and experience you have – and then find ways of making it accessible to others.

You can do this in a multitude of ways including:

1. books
2. articles (check out 30 Articles in Just 30 Days)
3. teleseminars (check out Countdown to a Teleseminar)
4. audio programs (e.g., www.HowtoRecordAudio.com)
5. face-to-face classes
6. consulting
7. coaching
8. blogging
9. special reports
10. and at least another 30 possibilities…

For a great book to help you learn more about information marketing, I recommend Start Your Own Information Marketing Business:  Your Step-by-Step Guide to Success.  I just re-read it this past weekend and found MANY ideas that I want to put into practice.

I just ordered a 6-pack of his new book – and downloaded some of his latest interviews (all available on the site for free). 

Take a peek.  Lots of learning and inspiration.

Meggin

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, my original use for creating this list was as a warm-up activity in a workshop. Since then, many others have also used this list to help get meetings, workshops, college classes, church functions, or other combinations of people ‘warmed up’ and ready to interact and learn. Here are some options you might consider for your situation:

• Hand out the entire list to groups and have participants find the words that best describe them. There is a lot of laughter that goes on as people ‘test out’ different words on themselves. No one ever just chooses one word. Of course, this is because none of us is only describable in only one dimension.         

• Give individuals or small groups just one page of the list and have them find the word that they have NEVER used to describe themselves. Again, you can expect people to be laughing and talking about the various words that both describe and don’t describe them. It’s a great deal of fun – and yes, the ice is broken, which is what you’re going for in this kind of activity.         

• Print out some (or all) of the words on cards and have people pick up a card when they enter the room. You can also just hand them out randomly to people as they come into a room (or just have a card with a word on each chair in the room). Then, once everyone is seated, give them a task with the word, e.g.,  

Could this word be used to describe some aspect of our organization?

Would you ever use this word in describing some of the people we are trying to work with?

How would this word come into play if you wanted to approach a problem from a different perspective?

And so on, depending on what the purpose is for your meeting, workshop, or strategic planning session.    

• Print all or some of the words on labels (I usually use the Avery 5160′s with 30 labels on one sheet). Then, when your participants arrive (or later when you need to energize and ‘warm up the group,’) you can either distribute an entire sheet of labels, one column of labels – or even just one label for each person. Depending on your intentions for the activity, you can have people choose the labels from the sheet and put them on themselves or arrange them in some other way, e.g., a mindmap or the like. Just the fact that people have to peel off the labels and place them somewhere gets them more involved than just looking at the list. You can also use your printed labels to put on index cards,

In all cases, the idea is to have people share what they are choosing so that they are interacting with one another and thereby getting “warmed up.”

And if you want a PDF copy of the “1001 Descriptors,” just go to

** http://www.OwningWordsforLiteracy.com and click on the Downloads tab.

You’ll see a variety of items there (and most are free) to access for your classroom or other use (PowerPoint shows, Word documents, and PDFs).

Busy professionals (sort of redundant, isn’t it) need every bit of support that can be mustered. Another resource that will help increase professionals’ overall sense of peaceful, predictable productivity are these free weekly emails:

**Top Ten Productivity Tips (http://www.TopTenProductivityTips.com)

(c) 2009 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., “The Ph.D. of Productivity”(tm)

Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do via seminars, workshops, writing, coaching, and consulting.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Meggin_McIntosh

http://www.telestream.net/flip4mac-wmv/overview.htm 

Since I record webinars in Windows Media Player format, Mac users need an option to allow them to download the webinar recordings…and apparently this is one such option.

Check it out if you are a Mac user.