Archive for women

10 Things Effective Women Do To Feel Great About the Outcome

There is a BIG difference between getting things done and feeling great about the outcome. Instead of judging ourselves in terms of how many things we got done, perhaps we can become more effective by asking ourselves how much was done with intent and presence of mind… Think about the great connections you made today, how many bursts of laughter you evoked, or how many times you successfully put out fires. What great idea did you propose that changed someone’s life today? Which actions did you take today that might bear amazing results tomorrow?

The effective woman realizes that there are more important things to accomplish than just accomplishing things.

  1. Effective women know to consider all angles of a situation before answering questions; only after careful consideration and when completely ready, they speak confidently and make sensible and firm decisions.
  2. Effective women know that competition is healthy, but teamwork is more strategic. Daring to create something “different” is better than becoming stagnant with something that stays the same without improvement.
  3. Effective women are capable of being accepting and compassionate, and being demanding and displeased, often in the same breath.
  4. Effective women are teachers, mentors and students of life. They learn more from each other than from technique, and more from work ethic than from procedure.
  5. Effective women learn how to finesse, how to influence, and how to manipulate because they are constant observers.
  6. Effective women might be afraid, but they are brave. They stretch their limits by risking failure and pursuing areas they lack experience in. They always trudge forward declaring, “Yes I can.”
  7. The effective woman seeks more than a negotiation win. Ever deliberating and astute, she seeks a “win-win-win” wherever she can find it.
  8. Effective women are as genuine and forthcoming with compliments as they are with critiques, even when they’re jealous or even when it hurts.
  9. Effective women know that time is a commodity and not to recreate the wheel. If it’s been done before they’ll strive to improve on it.
  10. 10.  An effective woman practices the kind of focus and presence of mind that engages people to talk to her with complete certainty that she’s really listening.

Being an effective woman is much more than accomplishing a purpose or getting things done. It’s about accomplishing that purpose to the best of your ability while feeling good about it and learning how to do it better the next time around.

So after all is said and done, would you call yourself an “effective woman”?

Has Book Reviewing Become a Female Dominated Industry?

So I’m at the book blogging convention at the Javits Center in Manhattan Friday (which had immediately followed the Book Expo America) and made an interesting observation.  As I sat, hour after hour and session after informative session, I’d look around and see that, at any given moment, there were no more than 5 men in a room packed with attendees.  As the day progressed, it became evident that 2 of those men were there to be speakers/panelists, while 2 more of them were event sponsors.

Hmmmmm….

From what I learned, being a Book Reviewer in an online world is an often thankless, arduous job, yet droves of people embrace the activity every day, whether it’s a paid gig or not. What can this tell us about the industry of blogs that review books and the commitment with which women have embraced the opportunity? A few things came to mind;

  • Women are natural communicators.  Their interest in sharing opinions is innate and driven.
  • Women are compassionate. Countless comments were made about being direct, but sparing negativity in the review process.
  • Women are multi-taskers. They live life with a voice from inside that screams, “Sure I can fit this into a day ‘cuz I want really to”, when that day is already jam packed with other essential crap to do.
  • Women are pioneers motivated by passion.  For the majority of attendees & speakers, the love of books (not money) is the sole reason for becoming the next big literary critic.

Consequently, as I sat for lunch, the lone author at a table crammed with professional women from book industry giants like Random  House, Osprey Publishing and Penguin Books, these observations only became more evident.  Discussions revolved around the love of the task itself and the commonality with which each individual pours herself into her work. Inevitably, cards were exchanged and future business connections made, but not until the conversation’s end. The graceful way that women perform these acts of connection-making is more a stealthily executed afterthought than it is a WIIFM (what’s in it for me) format. The exchange of thoughts & feelings comes first, business is a natural outcome.  You go girls.

Not for nuthin’, but I was the first person to sit down at an empty table for lunch – the others who joined me afterward were totally unsolicited…or were they?  Mental note, write a post about ‘The Power of Intention‘.

So I pose the question…has this viral movement of online book reviewing been claimed by literary femme fatale contributors?  Or were the men simply at home with the pets & kids this week?