Let’s face it; there’s a virtually limitless selection of news and information sites on the internet. It’s gotten to the point that even casual web users can refer to 10s or 100s of websites in order to stay current on the topics that interest them. Doing so on a daily basis can take quite a bit of time unless the process is streamlined.
It was probably 2 or 3 years ago that I realized that surfing from site to site to site took too much productive time out of my day and often resulted in my missing information I could have put to use. The answer? Real Simple Syndication, or RSS, coupled with a good feed reader. After experimenting with a variety of readers and feed sources I was able to put together a collection of news and information feeds that keep me up to date on the topics that are important to me.
Don’t know what I’m talking about? You should, and David will help you out with a simple tutorial on the subject. You’ll see that he uses Bloglines, one of a growing number of feed reader options that includes my personal favorite - NewsGator - and relative newcomer Google Reader.
Once you get a handle on the basics (and have added my feed to your reader) you might want to explore the possiblities of using RSS to share everything from your pictures to your favorite websites. And after you’re really comfortable with RSS on your computer you might want to check out some of these possibilities.

I’ve a question for the politically astute - would removing party affiliation from general election ballots have a positive or a negative effect on governance and politics in the United States?

This is possibly the most important personal development passage you will ever read -

There is an implied assumption when you are pursuing your dream. That assumption is that reaching your outcome is the only valuable part of the process. Being the famous actor, owning the billion dollar empire, selling the best-selling novel. Realizing the dream is what matters most.

There is only one problem with outcome-based thinking. It doesn’t work! When you ask most hugely successful CEO’s what the best part of their journey to success was they will tell you it was when they were still young, optimistic and struggling. Achieving goals doesn’t make you happy because achievements on their own hold no lasting emotional value. Only growth, fullfilment and passion has value.

The entire article is well worth a read, especially if you’re considering charting a new course for your life. If nothing else it provides some much needed balance to a seemingly never-ending stream of success-centric self-help books and articles. And that can only be a good thing.

Zig Ziglar, the Dean of Motivational Speakers, is preparing to celebrate the 59th anniversary of his 21st birthday (that’s his 80th birthday for those of you who aren’t good with numbers) on November 4th and you’re invited to the party! As an added bonus the event is also a fundraiser, with 100% of the net proceeds going to The Zig Ziglar Center For Ethical Leadership at Southern Nazarene University. Commitments at my day job will keep me away from the festivities, but I’d darn sure be there if I could.

I expect a complete report if you do go, of course.

That’s the title of the new Keynote that I debuted this evening. In it I take a look at how carefully chosen words can impact pivotal moments, using as a primary example one of the most famous tiny words that ever influenced a battle. The presentation still needs a bit of polishing, but for the first time out of the gate I thought it went fairly well.
I’d love to tell you the whole story, so feel free to contact me about presenting the speech for your organization.

You do have the Coudal Partners Website bookmarked, don’t you?  And a subscription to their RSS feed?  They’re absolutely invaluable resources for discovering new and wonderful experiences all around the internets.