Blissdom Recap + Life Lessons from Brilliant People

Posted on March 29, 2013 13 Comments

So, I told y’all last week I was going to the blogging conference Blissdom. Well, it was incredible! Seriously. It blew away my expectations.
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The speakers…awesome!

The tips and ideas I picked up about marketing, blogging, balancing blog/family, etc. were well worth the price of the ticket. But, don’t just take my word for it…

  • If you have to market anything–either personally or for business–I highly recommend you check out Scott Stratten and John Michael Morgan.
  • Need a general pick-me-up or encouragement as you follow your dreams? Read Jon Acuff.
  • Want first class writing advice? Jeff Goins is your man.
  • If you want to feel good about being an introvert. Watch Susan Cain.

The people…super friendly!

I’m an introvert and kinda shy. I hate networking-type events or going places where I don’t know a soul. I’m also not a fan of idle chatter. So, you can imagine me feelings about walking into a huge conference room filled with hundreds of people I don’t know, including numerous big-time bloggers and authors. Fortunately, my fears were baseless because I met some of the coolest ladies at Blissdom–people I genuinely want to keep up with.
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The swag…fabulous!

Our conference bag was filled to the brim with goodies. Throughout the weekend we scored books written by a couple of the speakers, blinged out drinking cups, jewelry, snacks, candy, beach towels, children’s medicine, sleep masks, and so much more. Here’s me tossing pizza crust at the Sbarro booth.

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The life lessons…brilliant.

I have to tell y’all. Don’t sleep on blogging and social media. There are people out there effecting incredible change through the online word. It’s mind boggling. That’s not to say in real life relationships are irrelevant–far from it. But bloggers are certainly a force to be reckoned with.

Since I know not everyone is into blogging, I thought I’d share some of the killer life advice I picked up from some of the speakers. some of the brilliant speakers at Blissodm that apply to anyone else who wants to do something brialliant.

You want to be successful? Work hard. Stop looking for shortcuts. -Scott Stratten

Your visibility gets you in the door. Your ability keeps you there. -John Michael Morgan

You want to be seen not as being better than your competition, but as being the only option. -John Michael Morgan

We need time alone to think and generate ideas. – Susan Cain

In order to do important work, you have to do irrelevant work first. – Jeff Goins

Do you want to chase your passions or a paycheck? – Jeff Goins

Being ready is a myth. You’ll never be enough of anything. You just have to start. – Jon Acuff

Punch fear in the face. – Jon Acuff

I really want to live by these mantras, so my goal is to turn a few of these into some cool printables. If you’re interested, I’ll be posting them to my Words to Live Pinterest board and sharing them with our newsletter subscribers.

Happy New Year!

Posted on January 1, 2013 5 Comments

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I’m always excited about the prospects of a brand new year. While I know you don’t have to wait for the start of a year to start working on goals or resolutions, there’s something rejuvenating about knowing that we get to start over at Day 1.

As excited as I am, this new year has been unusually different. I’m a planner. So about this time last year and every other year, I’d already settled on and written out a long list of goals and resolutions related to everything from health, family, finances and everything in between. I even listed out about six months of blog posts in a detailed spreadsheet. I tried to script as much of the year as I could.

This year, I have barely anything. I have a couple of goals in mind, but certainly nothing on paper. Not even two weeks of blogging content planned. No detailed plans.

I feel completely unprepared…but also at peace because I feel this is where God would have me to be. Nothing against planning at all. However, as I’m learning, we can sometimes plan out everything so much that we leave no room for God to move. This year, I feel a call to silencing the noise and creating a whole lot of margin–that extra space that we leave unscripted and completely free of appointments and commitments. The goal is not to be lazy but to create an environment where I can be led rather than doing all the leading (and manipulating, creating, fixing, directing, etc).

It’ll be an interesting year, that’s for sure. However, you can’t pursue big God-sized dreams without first shaking things up a bit.

What’s your dream for 2013?

Stuff I Like: Cool Apps

Posted on September 21, 2012 4 Comments

It’s been awhile since a Stuff I Like post, so I decided to share a few of my favorite cell phone apps. I sometimes go on app downloading binges, so all the apps made it hard to narrow down my list. It was hard, but I finally managed to narrow it down to my top 16 apps:

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Apps I Like

  • Evernote (free) – One of my hands-down fav productivity tools. With this app, you can take notes, scan receipts, record interviews, track checklists, clip internet pages and so much more.
  • Kindle (free) – This is a great way to carry around a bunch of books, magazines and documents without all the bulk and weight. I also like that it syncs reading progress between all mobile devices and PCs.
  • WordPress (free) – This is a great app for bloggers because you can write and edit blog posts, respond to comments and update your blog design from anywhere.
  • YouVersion (free) – I love this Bible app. Not only does it offer numerous Bible versions, but it also has a huge selection of Bible reading plans and devotionals.
  • Redbox (free) – Look up the selection of DVDs at specific Redbox locations and even reserve DVDs before getting out of the car.
  • U-verse (free) – Even though I don’t watch a lot of t.v., I really like this app because I can record shows when I’m away from home, delete recordings and watch t.v. on my phone.
  • Find iPhone (free) – If you have an iPhone, this is a must-have. As someone who occasionally misplaces her phone, I can tell you first-hand that it works (even if your ringer is off).
  • Fluent News (free) – This app compiles top news stories in different categories from a wide range of news publications. I’m not really a news person, so it’s a quick way for me to get a pulse on what’s going on in the world. If you buy the premium version, you can also select which publications you want to see.

Apps I Just Added (But Can’t Wait To Use)

Here are a few apps I recently scooped up that I’m really excited about testing out:

  • Better Homes & Garden (free) – I’m always on the look out for new recipes, so when I saw that BHG, the standard in homemaking for generations, had a free recipes app, I had to pick it up.
  • Nike Training Companion (free) – This app is like having your own personal trainer without the cost. You can pick your exercise level and training program to get a customized training program with pics and explanations of each exercise. Is that not cool? Just take a look at this screenshot if you don’t believe me. (Warning: If you’re running tight on memory, this one is a space hog.)
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  • Key Ring (free) – No more forgetting or losing my store rewards cards. This app lets me scan them all in. (Update: I just downloaded the new iPhone update and see that it now includes a similar app called Passbook. I guess I’ll have to check it out, too.)
  • Prayer Notes (free) – This app lets you keep track of prayer requests, as well as answers to prayers. You can even group prayer requests into categories.

Kid Approved Apps

  • Disney XD (free) – My boys often grab my iPad and phone so they can watch videos. At first, we’d just pull up cartoons from YouTube. However, you can quickly end up on inappropriate movies on YouTube. I like the Disney app because I know what they’re going to be watching.
  • Clean Up ($1.99) – Teaching kids how to clean up, YES! The kids have to determine whether items belong in a shopping cart, toy box or closet. I don’t remember paying for this one, so it must have been free at some point.
  • Candy Count (free) – There are so many great teaching apps. This is one of the many that we have which helps the boys with their counting skills.
  • Phone4Kids (free) – It’s a phone in a phone for kids. It has a lot of different activities and games to keep the kids entertained.

Your turn…What are your favorite apps. Does anyone else stockpile apps? Have you come across any duds?

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