Perform Super Stretches At Your Desk

Posted by Denise Griffitts on Jun 29, 2012 in Internet Mastery, Musings of the Author | 1 comment

Office Chair Stretching Exercises

I talk a lot about desk-bound fitness as this recent post about stretching like a cat on Denise Griffitts.com shows. We all know that being at a desk and in front of a computer monitor for hours on end is just not healthy and can cause some serious back pain that if not alleviated, can become chronic.

Stretching helps promote flexibility, ease tension, and improve circulation. And, the great thing is that you can do all of this in your office chair.

Try to incorporate these moves into your work day and do them every few hours. You will notice immediate improvement!

Seated Knee Hug

1. Sit with knees bent and left heel on the floor.
2. Grasp right leg just below knee and pull it toward your chest. Hold for 10-20 seconds.
3. Repeat on opposite side.

Seated Spinal Twist

1. Cross right leg over left, knees bent and left foot on floor.
2. Grip right side of chair with right hand and grip right knee with left hand; rotate torso to the right. Hold for 10-20 seconds.
3. Repeat on opposite side.

Seated Chair Boat

1. Sit with knees bent and feet hip-width apart on floor.
2. Place hands on side of seat behind you.
3. Life chest as you arch your back. Hold for 5 seconds; return to starting position. Do 5 reps.

How To Keep Track Of Your Progress and To-Do List

Posted by Denise Griffitts on Feb 25, 2012 in Musings of the Author | 0 comments

To-do lists are dynamic documents. Today’s list probably looks very different from one you made a year or even a month ago. If it doesn’t, it’s probably time to revisit your goals!

By looking back on previous to-do lists, you can learn a lot about yourself, your goals, and your habits – good and bad. But when you are finished with a list, don’t toss it. Instead, file it away and when you’ve got a month or two worth of lists stored up, pull them out and go on a backwards journey. And actually, I do things a little bit different with my “to-do” list by tying my working lists to to my digital journal.

It is very important to me to journal as this is how I keep track of where I have been, what my thoughts and dreams were and are, what was happening on any particular day or period of my life and what my business gains and goals are.

However, keeping a traditional journal has never really worked well for me as I think and type at a lightening speed, but actually writing it all down means I can’t really keep up with my own thoughts on paper. Very frustrating for somebody like me who is a logical, linear thinker and just wants to get things done in the most efficient manner possible.

Happily, some years ago I found a fabulous digital journal that I have referenced on several of my recent radio broadcasts on Your Partner In Success Radio and am getting a lot of people sending me notes to say thank you for the great idea. I use and HIGHLY recommend The Journal by DavidRM Software. He offers a 45 day free trial and  if you want to upgrade to the paid version it is a one time fee of $49.95.

I recently had a massive computer crash and to be perfectly honest, the thing I worried about most was losing my years worth of journal entries. Fortunately for my sanity, I had backed everything up (it prompts you do do so on a regular basis) and was able to restore my journal. Whew!

The Journal can store anything in an entry: digital photographs, spreadsheets, word processor documents, and more. I use the meta keyword search tool to find out what was going on with my “do-do” lists going back several years. It is an enlightening journey, I promise you! These are some of the features that I love the most:

• Powerful word-processing features
• Store anything. (text, digital photographs, videos, files…)
• Find what you’re looking for with the powerful search features
• Print your entries for binding or sharing
• Set reminders for appointments, events, tasks & special days
• Import entries from other journaling software quickly
• Post your entries (including entries with images) to your web log (blog).
• Security – password protection

So when making your “to-do” lists and goal lists be sure to ask yourself the following questions and then check out The Journal to see if it will aid you in keeping track of yourself. And by the way, I am not an affiliate because David doesn’t currently have an affiliate program but if he ever does create one, I will be first in line. This is a tool that I simply can’t praise enough! I also need to mention here that David is tremendously helpful if you have a problem with your journal and will immediately return your email.

• What items have changed on my list? Did they go away because you accomplished a big project, or because you gave up?
• What has stayed the same? Are these repeats still there because they indicate an ongoing habit (exercise, for example) or because you still haven’t finished what you set out to accomplish some time ago?
• What continually falls to the bottom of your list? Are there items that were carried over from day to day, or even week to week? What were they, and why did you keep procrastinating? Did you finally finish the task, or did it just go away?
• What patterns do you see? Are there seasonal or other patterns you recognize, such as you always start revving up to capture new business in the fall and work on product creation in the spring? Are these the best times for those tasks?
• How many items do you typically write down, and how many do you typically accomplish, each day? Use this information as you move forward to make your current lists more effective.
• How do you feel when you look back over your lists? Are you struck with how much you’ve accomplished, or are you depressed by how much you never did? How can you use those feelings to motivate you now?
• In retrospect, were the items you thought were the most important turn out to really be the most important? If you had to do it over, would you place your emphasis, time, and resources elsewhere?

Your past lists are valuable clues as to your working style, preferences, and personality. Just as an archaeologist would review pieces of pottery and ancient artifacts for clues about that ancient civilization, you can review your own clues to make your present-day effectiveness the highest it can be.

Russian Hacker Selling 1.5 Million Facebook Accounts

Posted by Denise Griffitts on Apr 25, 2010 in Internet Mastery, Musings of the Author | 0 comments

There is late breaking news that a Russian hacker claims to have 1.5 million Facebook accounts up for sale, which could potentially compromise your account.

According to Mashable, Verisign iDefense has uncovered a “cyber-crook on an electronic fraud forum selling 1.5 million Facebook accounts at a price of $25 per 1,000 accounts.” If the hacker’s claims are true, the 1.5 million accounts represent approximately 1 in every 300 Facebook users.

It is not yet known who the Facebook account holders are, but just to be safe, ReputationDefender recommends that you change your Facebook password immediately.

Here’s how:

1. Login to your Facebook account.
2. Click the Account tab in the upper right hand corner of your profile and select Account Settings.
3. Select the Change option next to Password and you will be prompted to input your old password and select a new one.

Facebook Privacy Settings Have Changed

Posted by Denise Griffitts on Dec 15, 2009 in Internet Mastery, Musings of the Author | 0 comments

In the past couple weeks  Facebook has made a few changes that may have altered your Privacy settings and those of 350 million other users.

Depending on whether your Facebook profile is personal or used largely for business, you need to look at your privacy settings and determine just what you want other people and the search engines to see.

I recommend you take the following steps to update your profile and account privacy to the level that you want:

1. Click on “Settings” in the upper left-hand corner of your screen, near the Search box.
2. Click on “Privacy Settings” from the drop-down menu.
3. Click on “Profile Information” and set each item listed to your preferred privacy level.
4. Click “Back to Privacy” above the list of items.
5. Click on “Contact Information” and repeat choosing your level of privacy for all the items listed, as you see fit.
6. Click “Back to Privacy” above the list of items. And now Click on “Search” to edit who can search you, as well as if you want your profile at all to be indexed by search engines.

Read Facebook’s Privacy Policy here.