Every handbag has a story

jam-az.com

Have you ever thought about the story of your handbag?  A handbag is one of the things most girls always carry with them.  They see, hear and feel everything you do. 

Even though I have like about 15 handbags I have this one bag who goes everywhere with me, even if it has to stay in the car when it does not go with my outfit.  The main reason I take it everywhere is because everything a girl can possibly need except for clothes even though it does sometimes carry shoes or a jacket is in there.  Also if you want to see how hectic my life is you can simply look at my handbag. 

This handbag specifically I got last year September on my birthday from my x boyfriend.  At first I did not like it, but I just needed some time to bond with it.  It is almost a year later and time to get a new one.  A handbag only last me a year.  I was devastated when I realized it is time to shop for a new bag.  I haven’t found one yet though.

I am sad to let it go.  Just to think about what I have gone through in the last year and my handbag was always there.   At least a handbag is one of the easier things in life to get over it lol.  Now it is time to start a new story with my new handbag.

List your top 200 achievements

newageselfhelp.com

Wow 200 achievements.  That sounds like a lot.  Have I achieved 200 achievements?  Well if I think of it, I probably achieved a lot more.

We do not always realise how many we do actually achieve. Even the little things count.  You do not have to come first to achieve something.  Even the little goals you set for yourself count as achievements.    

We are all unique and all have different talents.  In order to achieve something you need to set SMART goals for yourself.  Your goals need to be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.  A goal is not just a beginning of the year resolution which you forget about before the end of January.

It is so important to set goals for yourself.  How will you achieve anything without setting goals for yourself? You will feel good about yourself if you set goals and achieve them.

Start today and set long term and short term goals and before you know it you will have 200 achievements.

How do you utilise your social networks?



socialcomms.com



The great thing of social media is that there is that there are no rules.  You can say what you think and how you feel.  It gave us a bigger voice.  You can find people out there who feel the same as you and are upset by the same things you are. 

It also opened a huge door for especially the PR, Media and Marketing industry.  It is interesting to see who use which social media portal for what. 

For me facebook is a bit more personal.  I for instance am only friends with people on facebook which I have personally met.  I do have my favourite bands and companies on facebook, but I mainly browse facebook to see what my close friends are up to.  For twitter on the other hand I use it to get information from.  Not really from persons’ but of my industry and also general news. Google + I am unsure of as I am still busy exploring.

I do not think there is a right or wrong way to utilise your social networks.  This is how I use it but how do you use it? 

What motivates me?

officearoow.com

Recognition; Achievement of a goal whether personal or business related; Seeing the end product; Making a difference; Great teamwork; Good music; Rewards; Chilling with good friends and family; Hobbies...

This list can go on and on.  We all have different things motivating us.  We need things motivating us to get out of bed every morning and to take on the day.  It is important to know what motivates you.  We need to be thankful for what we have.  Sometimes we forget about all the things we need to be thankful for.  Make a list and keep it somewhere and every time you have a down moment read that list.

It is important to live a balanced life.  If you do not have a hobby, find one and make time for the things that motivates you.  You will enjoy your life so much more.

Life in a PR agency

farbetweenproductions.yolasite.com

For those of you who do not know, I started working for a PR agency on 1 June 2011.  Coming out of a kind of corporate environment it was and still is a huge adjustment getting used to work for an agency.  You work very long hours most of the days and have so much more work and responsibilities.  Having a few clients makes it interesting but at the same time it is a huge challenge.  You need to know your clients, their target audiences, competitors and relevant media by heart. 

PR is also a hugely competitive industry.  If you do not keep your client happy they can open it up to pitching at any time.  I recently experienced two cases where other companies tried to take our clients. It is a dog eat dog world out there and we need to be on our feet at all times.

I have so much respect for people opening their own agencies.  It maybe looks like it is all fame and fortune but it is so much hard work and lots of stress that goes into building a business. 

Yes life as a PR is hard, but I still love it.

Write a list: The 10 most unexpected consequences of being online



connectingsingles.com



The web has truly opened a lot of doors for us since it started.  Even though we think the web has changed a lot we actually just started to learn how to use it. 

It is much easier being online these days.   Most people in South Africa have a phone with which they can go online.  We all go online whether it is for work, social networking, to download games, music et cetera.   

Have you ever thought about the consequences of being online?

1.       It cost money

2.       It takes up a lot of time

3.       It can ruin relationships

4.       We do not use our brains as much as we did.  Anything we want to know we can google

5.       People have lost a part of their personalities and do not know how to communicate in person anymore

6.       Professionalism has fade away as people are much more informal with each other when communicating online

7.       A lot of people do not know how to act online

8.       Life is much faster as most business people have access to the internet 24/7

9.       There are lots of viruses out there

10.   Employees waste a lot of their time online and are thus not that productive as they can be

Nevertheless I think a whole new world is out there and we have only started to discover it.

Fail to prepare – prepare to fail

stickylearning.com.au

Preparation...  What a key word for any task or activity no matter how small or big it is in life and business.  You need to make a habit of preparing and you will start making a habit of achieving success.

I came across an interesting statement by Abraham Lincoln:

‘If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my ax.’

I learned through experience that preparation is also a very important part of time management.  No matter how much you have to do, if you first take a few minutes to plan and prepare you will achieve so much more.

It is always a good idea to be prepared, even if you think it is not necessary.  If you fail to prepare yourself you can really prepare to fail. 

Before you do something or make an important decision first analyze all the factors which can have a possible effect on the outcome.  Consider all your options and weigh the pros and cons. This does not only apply to general life, but is extremely important in PR.  You can never be unprepared in anything you do in PR.  At least our PR people can think off our feet, but we should plan so well to always expect the unexpected.

The Elephant in the room



uri.org

All of us have come across ‘The Elephant in the room’ at least once in one stage of our lives.  Some of us have come across it a few times.  But have you been ‘The Elephant in the room’?  You probably won’t even know as no one said something. (LOL)

Why do people just keep quiet with an elephant in the room?  I think it mostly happens in rooms full of people who are not comfortable with each other or something has happened in the past which make them not talking about it. 

We find silence and denial everywhere in life but can we really ignore the elephant?  I think in some situations we can but in others it will keep haunting us until we say something. The sooner you say or deal with it the faster you can move passed it.

Living in the fast lane but slowed down by traffic

For me one of the most annoying things in life is to be stuck in traffic.  Don’t we all hate it and we all have to deal with it?  Some just have it worse than others.

One pro though is that it gives me time to check my phone, but still.  If it is so bad in 2011 how bad will it not be in a couple of year’s time?  Something needs to be done and fast. 

A few weeks ago I had to live with my boyfriend for two weeks because I was moving into a new apartment.  He lives in Paarl and I work in Cape Town.  It is only 60km apart, but in traffic 60km can feel a lot further.  I had to wake up at 5:30 to leave at 07:00 to be at work by 09:00.  In the evenings I never got home before 19:00.  I know there are a lot of people doing this, but seriously I do not know how especially if you have a family to take care off.

The point that I would like to make is that there are 1000’s of people stuck in traffic each day.  South Africa can be so much more productive if its citizens did not have to sit in traffic for hours every day.  But it does not help to complain and not give suggestions.  Future plans can be to build highways on top of each other but for now I think governments’ idea of increasing the use of public transport is brilliant.  Two important things for this are security and reliability.

I haven’t used the Gautrain yet but apparently it works really well.  Hope they have a similar plan for Cape Town?



houseintohome.co.za



Every day is a good day

sayingimages.com

We only live once and it is so important to cherish each and every single moment no matter how bad day it is.  Every day is a good day and if it is not, make it a good day.   

Somewhere I have read some interesting stats about our lives. If you are 70 years old your life would have looked something like this:

·         You slept for 23 years

·         You worked for 14 years

·         You spend 8 years in front of the television

·         You ate for 6 years

·         You were on the road for 4 years

·         You spend 4 years in conversation

·         You read for 1 year

·         And if you went to church every Sunday and spend 10 minutes with God each day you only gave 5 months of your time to God.

Isn’t it shocking?  I am so glad I am still young, but the way my live fly past me now before I know it I will be 70 years of age.  If I get there and look back at my life, what will I see? 

Make the most of every day!

Cards on the table - Berry addiction



cp-africa.com



Aren’t we all guilty of this addiction?  Although there are a few outsiders who refuse to become part of us, eventually they will give in.

I only got my blackberry in October and it did not even take a month to become totally addicted.  I literally can’t go five minutes without checking my phone, even though I know I do not have any new notifications.  My addiction started when, with the click of a button I could be in facebook .

I am also busy studying my Btech in PR and the first task we received in our media class was to open a twitter account and need to tweet a minimum of three times a day.  Twitter really opened a whole new world to me and if it was not for my lecturer I would not have experienced it the way that I do.  But then I did not only have to my 500 facebook friends to check on but also about the 200 people I’m following on twitter.  

Even though I’m addicted I love my addiction.  I cannot imagine my life without my Berry.

Our greatest strength is our greatest weakness

Do you know what your strengths and weaknesses are?  It is hard if you think about it.  It is so easy judging other people but if it comes to yourself it is not that easy.  I do think that it is important to know yourself and know your weaknesses and strengths to be able to work on your weaknesses and be cautious of your strengths not to turn into weaknesses. 

I believe that with hard work any weakness can be turned into a strength.  You should just be careful to not only concentrate on your weaknesses that you forget about your strengths.  Think of it as a sport.  If you practise really hard you can become really good at something but as soon as you start to relax and stop practising you will not be good at it anymore. 

You need to constantly evaluate your weaknesses and strengths to find out what you still need to work on.  No one is perfect and no matter who you are or how good you are at something there will always be someone better and poorer at it than you.



becomeatranslator.com



Just because boys do not show their feelings doesn’t mean they do not have feelings



facebook.com 41798_2403162124_8120794_n.jpg

I realised this tonight as I chatted to one of my guy friends whose girlfriend just left him.  One of the major differences between boys and girls are that girls show their emotions while guys will rather keep it for themselves.  There are various reasons for this.  One of the reasons I think that is the most common one is the stereotype where boys are seen as the protectors and girls as the soft and faint hearted ones.  Boys are expected from a very little age to be the strong ones who are never a loud to show any emotion or feelings whereas girls are expected to play with dolls and be soft hearted. 

I think in any relationship both need to make compromises.  A relationship comes from both ways.  If your boyfriend does not say he miss you all the time does not mean that he do not miss you.  He probably misses you more than you can imagine.  And guys if your girl irritates you all she wants is a little attention.  Just give her a hug or tell her ones in a while you also miss her or are thinking about her.  Even though it does not come natural for you it can safe your relationship.  All the small things count.  We need to understand where we come from and why we act the way we do. 



Try a cliché



prorev.com

Although Cliché’s are totally taboo in PR and most people say it is over rated I love using cliché’s.  It makes life interesting and exciting especially if you know a few and know when to use them. 

Sometimes when I just do not have an idea how to express myself there is always a cliché.  Most of the time a cliché can explain something like no other word or phrase can.  I think it is kind of witty to use cliche’s.

There are thousands of clichés and sometimes we do not even realise that we are using a cliché.   Some clichés I often use are:

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind

All is fair in love and war

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Actions speak louder than words

All dressed up and nowhere to go

Any friend of yours is a friend of mine.

Are you a man or a mouse?

Next time if you do not know how to say something try a cliché..



When you can’t write something write anything

Anyone who is in PR will know how big part writing is of PR.  The truth is that writing is not one of my strengths although I want it to be.  I think that some people are born writers and I am just not a born writer.

If you know my story you will know that I really love PR and started my career in a non-profit organisation.  All I wanted was to get a proper PR job.  That is why I am doing my degree part-time but in one year.  I thought that if I have a degree my chances of getting a proper job will be better.  Unfortunately everyone is looking for experience.  I was so blessed and started the perfect job on the 1^st of June 2011. 

Although it happened much sooner than I expected it was a ride to get there.  In one of my interviews I realised how important it is to be a good writer in this industry.  It scared me.  After that interview I told my media lecturer that I am looking for a job but I know my writing is not up to scratch and don’t know what to do.  She told me to write more.  I will never forget those two words –write more-.  The more you do something the better you just have to get at it.  This is the reason why I love to blog.  My main problem was usually that I do not know where or how to start.  The thing that I learned myself is that if I can’t write something I just write anything. 

rusvw.net

Feelings follow behaviour

Everything you do and every choice you make in life has an effect on how you feel.  There is a reason for every feeling you have even if you do not always realise it.  Whether it is eating a piece of cake when you are on a diet, giving something to someone in need or taking your loved one’s hand, no matter what you do there will always be a feeling following.  

The good news is that if you think before you act you can determine the outcome.  Attitude also has a big influence on your behaviour.  Winston Churchill said that ‘Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference’. 

It is never too late to change your way of thinking or doing.  You can colour in your life the way you want too.  You can choose to make it black and white or colourful.  If you are not happy with the way you feel, do something about it and change your behaviour.

archann.deviantart.com