“Everybody has accepted by now that change is unavoidable. But that still implies that change is like death and taxes — it should be postponed as long as possible and no change would be vastly preferable. But in a period of upheaval, such as the one we are living in, change is the norm.” — Peter Drucker
If you:
then this tip is for you.
I operated with one default signature for a long time. You can get by, but if you have a few positions that you juggle and are constantly corresponding with different groups of people, it is nice to be able to have a signature that corresponds to each respective role.
Rather than manually changing it every time, there is an great little Chrome extension that allows you to have multiple HTML signatures that correspond to different “from” addresses. Check out Autopen. If you change your “from” address when composing a message, the extension will automatically change your signature for you.
Take a look at an example from my Gmail account. This is my “Default” signature:
Then, when I change my “from” address to my Hoopla account:
The natural difficulty with browser extensions for web-based applications is that they reside on a single computer rather than within the application itself. With Autopen, however, they allow synchronization of signatures. Of course, you need to have the extension installed on the computer, but once you do, you just need to login and click “Sync” and you will have all your signatures delivered right to your email client.
This is just another yet another handy feature that allows Gmail to get one step closer to replacing multiple email accounts entirely. Plus, it make emailing a lot more efficient if you juggle accounts and signatures. If you combine this with some of my tips from my Gmail Tips post, you can turn Gmail into a virtual Outlook or Mail client!
The puck had barely touched your stick for a millisecond before you realized it was in the net.
Even though you were in a hurry, you paused for just a second with the door handle in your hand to let the elderly lady through first.
It was a dark shade of yellow, and before you realized what was happening you were through the intersection, unscathed.
We make subconscious decisions every single day without hardly a thought. Before we can even fully consciously comprehend what happened, it’s over and we are left with the results.
Subconscious decision making is largely habit. When left without time for the brain to process an event, the body simply does what it is used to doing. It completes what we have taught it to complete over many years.
While this is great for menial tasks and tasks for which we have taught our body positive habits, it is extremely detrimental when our habits happen to be negative or dangerous. The first two examples above are great - scoring an awesome goal and being polite at a doorway. The third one, however, is also a subconscious decision that is very habitual. What do you usually do when you see a yellow light or those flashing “Prepare to Stop” signs? Like most people, if you’re close enough to the intersection, you’ll accelerate a tad and get through with plenty of time. But what about when you’re a bit further than that?
Photo credit: fazen
Many habits last because they don’t cause any problems. Rather, problems haven’t been caused yet. Is that really worth the risk?
Everyday, think about developing positive habits that, in turn, positively affect the surrounding environment. It will pay off in the long-run, and eventually, in the short-run as well.
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Over the past 2 years I have discovered our beautiful home in an entirely new way. Growing up in Coquitlam, I rarely made it downtown, much less to the other areas of the city. Now, after 2 years at UBC, I can proudly say I’ve explored almost all of Vancouver’s best districts and destinations. I’m no longer a tourist in my own city and I’ve grown to love it even more.
I wanted to put together a Top 3 of my favourite things to do in Vancouver. This will be a few different blog posts of various types of Top 3’s - there’s just so much!
I’m going to start with views. Vancouver has one of the most amazing skylines in the world (the water and mountains help) and there are certainly some great places to see the beauty of the surrounding environment.
1) Spanish Banks
The first that comes to mind is Spanish Banks Beach. More specifically, right at the bottom of Blanca at NW Marine. The view all around from this spot is beautiful, and most importantly, is great all year round. It’s just as awesome to see the sunset reflect off the downtown skyline as it is to see the winter snow covering Stanley Park. If it’s a clear day or night, I’ll generally take this detour on the way back to UBC just to take a quick peek at the skyline. It never gets old!
Photo credit: ozonetragic
Speaking of the skyline, Fraiche has a stellar view from the opposite side of the city. Nestled in the hills of West Vancouver, Fraiche is a fine dining restaurant with a great wine list. I’m not going to lie, it is expensive, but it is one of those restaurants you go to once a year (or two years) for a special occasion. You can follow the view of the Lions Gate through Stanley Park all the way into downtown and beyond. The daytime view of the water to the west is stunning, and as the sun sets, you get to watch the city light up below.
Photo credit: barabanov
I’ve walked by this location many times before finally grabbing drinks with my good friend Raul. They had some great beers on special, but the view really made the experience. The patio looks out all the way across the harbour to North Van, with a great view of Stanely Park as well. During the Olympics, this was one of the best spots in the city to see the Olympic rings on the water! (see below) Because of it’s location, some of the servers will tell you that the tourists might have put this one on the map for Vancouver! It’s popularity has grown exponentially as of late and for good reason. It’s a great place to hang out after a seawall walk or a boat adventure (there are a few boat rental locations right on the harbour). As with the other 2, it’s a perfect view day or night!
Photo from Mill Bistro’s website
Vancouver’s views are a perfect fusion of natural and manmade beauty - from the downtown skyscrapers to Stanely Park. These 3 spots provide just a few of the thousands of amazing angles of our city.
When it comes to programs and apps, updates are constantly delivering “what users want.” And generally, “what users want” is interpreted as more features, updated features, more connectivity, etc, etc.
These sound like good things, and occasionally, they are. But when you break down every successful program and app ever made, they were created to address a fundamental user need or want. Unfortunately, among all the innovation and additions, that fundamental purpose can be lost.
There are two huge examples: Facebook and Gmail. Facebook was created to stimulate online connectivity among peers at Universities, providing a forum for communication. It then expanded to other market segments, growing at an exponential rate. Now, my even my Grandma is on Facebook. I’m not kidding.
However, It is not the size that is the problem. It is the attempt by Facebook to accomodate every want of every user in these market segments. There are apps, games, photos, videos, tagging, and even a marketplace. Of course, with all that data comes a lot of responsibility, and we all know what happened recently in terms of privacy.
Facebook is trying to be everything, when really, it is designed to connect networks of people and provide a forum for communication. If that was still at the core of Facebook’s purpose, I personally would find it a lot more useful. Instead, it is saturated with all of these other side projects that do not connect to the fundamental need it originally addressed.
Gmail, on the other hand, has taken a very different approach. Google, just like Facebook, was addressing a fundamental user need: a simple, effective online email application. When it was released, it was as barebones as possible. It was lacking in many areas, but it caught on almost immediately. I think I even paid a friend $5 to receive a Gmail invite!
Gmail was simple and it worked. Now, Google has added hundreds of features to Gmail. Everything from Multiple Inboxes to Undo Send to Themes, yet it is still addresses it’s original purpose brilliantly and generating just as much buzz (pun intended) as ever!
Why have Google’s additions to Gmail been effective whereas Facebook’s have caused chaos? It’s simple: they’re optional. Sure, technically you don’t have to subscribe to all of Facebook’s features either, but you experience all of the side effects anyways. As for Gmail, they have allowed users to use absolutely every feature possible, yet still send a perfectly legible and effectively simple email to another user that employes no features whatsoever.
Of course, Google is no stranger to providing for a fundamental need. Hopefully Facebook can learn something from Google’s experience on the web and make their way back to their roots.
“In theater, the process of it is the experience. Everyone goes through the process, and everyone has the experience together. It doesn’t last—only in people’s memories and in their hearts. That’s the beauty and sadness of it. But that’s life—beauty and the sadness. And that is why theater is life.” — Sherie Rene Scott
Over the past few years we have seen Vancouver, along with many other cities across the world, experience a huge rise in concert traffic. Artists I never thought could sell out the Coliseum, GM Place, the Orpheum, etc, have been able to do so with ease. Today on the radio I heard shows announced at GM Place for this December!
This is largely due to the rapidly changing music industry. I hear it first hand from my uncle (an independent Canadian country music recording artist) all the time - records are not selling (at least, not in stores), there is no music video industry on TV, and radio spins are not paying what they once did, nor are the stations supporting local artists nearly as much.
Of course, in some ways this is good. Copyright infringements and moral arguments aside, the new challenging nature of the industry pushes artists to innovate and find new ways to get their product out there and generate revenue. And for a lot of artists, the revenue stream that replaces platinum album sales is ticket sales for concerts.
It’s great to hear artists live and actively promoting their albums across the world. But I generally walk away from a stadium concert quite disappointed. It’s normally a mediocre production with an attempt at a temporarily heightened energy level that myself and 17,000 other people just stood and watched.
I want to see the music industry get even more personal. A few nights ago myself and some friends went to The LIbra Room on the drive. We had the pleasure of hearing the Werewolves of Creston perform live. They played an incredible, energetic set in the small, quaint bar with around 30 people. What’s more, during their break, they walked around and chatted with the patrons! I had a great conversation with their lead singer about musical theatre.
I don’t know how much money they made, but I know that it generated a lot of positive energy about their band from myself and my friends, as well as many others in the venue that night. At one point, we had all agreed to buy their CD’s if they were for sale! I know for sure I have never thought that for a moment at a stadium concert.
It was the personal connectivity we gained with the band that really made our experience, and hopefully, that is the direction the music industry is moving. Of course, I’m not suggesting that any of the huge names today would ever play a 30 person venue, but they do need to interact with their fans (and potential fans) in a more personal way to find true success. Through social media, online networks, and revenue generators such as live performances, musicians have a challenging but rewarding path ahead.
The small things in life may feel insignificant. A minor group project, one of hundreds of final exams, or an administrative task at work. While it may be true that one can get away with a mediocre level of effort the majority of time, that doesn’t matter. The point is that positive change and development can occur when applying a large level of effort.
When going through these motions, it is common to experience the “10-years-down-the-road” syndrome. In 10 years, will this matter? Will I remember the outcome? So far, those are fair questions. It is the subsequent thought process that is problematic. Since it won’t matter in 10 years, it doesn’t really matter now.
Not true. The small things can make a huge difference. They can make THE difference, and oddly enough, they can provide the solutions to huge problems.
As Rory Sutherland illustrates in the following TED talk, it is time to start taking the small things seriously. What he doesn’t touch on is that paying attention to detail is a habit. It comes with practice. If you delay, it simply becomes harder and harder to master. I am starting today - join me?
I know I’m on a bit of a New York rampage, but I love the city too much to stop talking about it already!
We all have to do the tourist-y things when we travel to new cities. It’s almost a rite of passage. “You haven’t been to New York unless you’ve been to the top of the Empire State Building.” While I would argue that’s not necessarily true, I too have visited the top of the extremely popular tourist destination. Tourist attractions are there for a reason - sure they’re cash cows, but they are neat and most of them are worth seeing.
But what about the REAL parts of cities with strong tourism industries? Where is the REAL New York that the locals frequent and tourists don’t even know about? Well, I may not have hit those places yet, but in my visits I’ve definitely been to a few places that you won’t find in every guide book or on any hotel tour. Here’s my Top 5 “UN-CityPass” places to visit in New York City.
Broadway is great, and in some cases, off-broadway performances can be even better. But it doesn’t get any more grassroots than Amateur Night at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Harlem? Isn’t it dangerous? Well, sure, if you go in the middle of the night walk down poorly lit streets. But that’s true of any city. Harlem is a beautiful historic neighbourhood that cannot be missed.
As for the Apollo, Amateur Night has been running almost every Wednesday night since 1934. It is a forum for new talent to showcase their skills in front of an audience that will not take any BS. They’ll rub The Tree of Hope for good luck as they head on stage. The performer will remain on stage if there are enough cheers from the audience, but as soon as those “boos” start resonating, they will be pulled off stage. It’s all up to the audience! Tickets are reasonably priced, too.
Amateur Night at the Apollo has been the kick start for the careers of talent such as Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, and many more.