the 7 habits of highly effective bloggers

Communications Overtones has their interpretation of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Blogs.”

  • Develop content based on principles and values.
  • Have a vision or purpose statement.
  • Prioritize.
  • Think win-win.
  • Seek first to understand…then to be understood.
  • Synergize.
  • Renew yourself.

OK, I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve done none of these. I especially have problems with the last one:

You don’t have much to offer if all you do is sit in front of a computer. We all need to renew in the areas of physical health, social networks, spiritual renewal and mental improvement. When you do this you have something new and interesting to bring to the conversation.

All I’ve been doing lately is working, which leaves little conversation for my blogs.

scholarships

The Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations has a list of available scholarships that may prove to be helpful. The information provided includes:

  • Harvard Financial Aid Initiave
  • Hispanic Scholarship Fund, HSF
  • ¡Adelante!
  • Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, HACU
  • Bureau of Land Management Award
  • CLASE/Coors Light Academic Success in Education Award
  • General Motors Engineering Excellence Award
  • Lockheed Martin Scholarship Award
  • NASCAR/Wendell Scott Award
  • Office Depot Scholarship
  • Time Warner Scholarship Award
  • Wachovia Scholarship Award
  • Wal-Mart Achievers Award
  • National Association of Hispanic Journalists, NAHJ
  • Hispanic College Fund, HCF
  • ALPFA Scholarship
  • MasterCard Scholarship
  • Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, CHCI
  • Institute of International Education (IIE)
  • League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) National Scholarship Fund
  • BECA Foundation
  • Florida State University College of Communication
  • St Thomas University Communication Arts
  • National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, NHFA
  • Hispanic Scholarship Consortium, HSC

small town, big city

Metrobloggins has started a Houston Newbies series to help introduce new Houstonians to the delights of living in this city.

Small-town big city?” Yep. Houston is probably one of the few (and perhaps, the only) big cities in the United States that has a small-town feel to it. Regardless of where you live in this city, you probably know a good many people that live and work around you. Although you may not know them in depth, you can probably pick a face out of a crowd, and you may even know the name of your local grocery store clerk. It’s the fact that Houstonians are – in general – a personable bunch that gives this city of some 2.5 million a small-town feel.

Some of the essential info:

Houston is a city of some two million. We’re a very diverse population, consisting primarily of 37.4% Hispanics, 30.8% White (non-Hispanic), and 25.3% African-American. We’re pretty evenly matched across genders, and we have rated “significantly above (national) average” in regards to the number of African-Americans, Hispanics, and foreign-born citizens. All of this makes Houston an extremely diverse and multi-cultural city.

Houston has one of the lowest housing costs in the nation (according to current market data), and the majority of Houston renters average between $450 and $499 per month in rent.

Houston is not the safest city in the world, with 278 murders (that’s 14.2 murders for every 100,000 people), 738 rapes, and 10.985 robberies in 2003. Unfortunately, while the number of rapes has declined (slightly), the number of robberies and murders have risen. Houston is now rivaling New Orleans for the Murder Capitol of the United States. I’d just as soon let them keep that title. (Keep in mind, however, that these numbers only reflect within the city limits of Houston, and do NOT take into account the subhurbs and smaller towns.)

That’s certainly info I didn’t have before, and I’ve lived here for a while. The series will probably be worth keeping an eye on.

would you pay more taxes for better schools?

According to a recent poll, Texans would:

Poll: 52% of Texans would pay more for schools
— reported by KHOU CBS Channel 11

The majority of Texans, despite being tax leery and skeptical of government spending, are willing to open their wallets to provide more money for public education, according to a new statewide survey.

A poll conducted for The Dallas Morning News shows that 52 percent of Texans say they would pay more in state taxes if the money went to schools, while 39 percent oppose an increase.

[snip]

technology makes us less productive

Work More, Do Less With Tech
— reported by Wired

Most U.S. workers say they feel rushed on the job, but they are getting less accomplished than a decade ago, according to newly released research.

Workers completed two-thirds of their work in an average day last year, down from about three-quarters in a 1994 study, according to research conducted for Day-Timers, an East Texas, Pennsylvania-based maker of organizational products.

The biggest culprit is the technology that was supposed to make work quicker and easier, experts say.

[snip]

Unlike a decade ago, U.S. workers are bombarded with e-mail, computer messages, cell phone calls, voicemails and the like, research showed.

The average time spent on a computer at work was almost 16 hours a week last year, compared with 9.5 hours a decade ago, according to the Day-Timer research released this week.

Workers typically get 46 e-mails a day, nearly half of which are unsolicited, it said.

Sixty percent of workers say they always or frequently feel rushed, but those who feel extremely or very productive dropped to 51 percent from 83 percent in 1994, the research showed.

Put another way, in 1994, 82 percent said they accomplished at least half their daily planned work but that number fell to 50 percent last year. A decade ago, 40 percent of workers called themselves very or extremely successful, but that number fell to just 28 percent.

[snip]

Even if productivity increases, it’s constantly outpaced by those expectations, said Don Grimme of GHR Training Solutions, a workplace training company based in Coral Springs, Florida.

[snip]

Finally, there’s a trend among companies to measure job performance like never before, said Challenger. “There’s a sense that no matter how much I do, it’s never enough,” he said.

This explains a lot. I always feel like I’m not getting enough done. People expect an immediate response to emails. The expectations on performance are incredibly out of sync with reality.

I can’t get enough done. I just can’t get enough done.