There are posts we enjoy reading and for which a thumbs up in our StumbleUpon toolbar makes sense. But what happens when no one stumbled it before us? A window pops up and you need to select a category, some tags and then maybe ad a review. If we’re in a hurry or didn’t want to write a review in the first place, we might be tempted to click the Cancel button.

I advise you to at least take the time and select a proper category and a few tags, than press submit. Why? Because otherwise, SU will display something like this: Someone discovered this in “category”. If you were too rushed to pay attention, it’s always the bad category.

So what happens when you hit cancel? No benefit for the blog owner who’s article you liked. The story is practically lost and tons of thumbs ups and reviews will hardly compensate the damage. Instead of showing appreciation for something you like, you harm the blog owner, article writer or who every owns the site where you’ve seen something you like.

Such accidents have happened to lots of us. I admit I canceled a few submissions in my StumbleUpon beginner days. But when I found out what actually happens, I chose to never do it again. That’s why I am sharing this, so that all who don’t know what the consequences are can make an informed decisions

Keep well and enjoy the weekend!

Confidence is about knowing what you’re worth and showing it to those around it. It’s not showing off, it is just discovering your qualities, getting to know what your good at an believe in that and your dreams.

Why is it important to believe in yourself? Because that will help others believe it to, if they also have the results to prove. Unless you are confident you’re good for the job, the results will get to others much harder, and it will be more difficult to convince them you have the needed qualities.

Sometimes however, the behavior of those who should motivate us is not what it should, and one can start doubting their value. You might even get to feel like an impostor, waiting for others to discover your great results were a lucky mistake.  As confidence is important to then promote a positive image of yourself, this is what you can do to compensate the lack of encouragement or recognition:

• reanalyze your results, reacquaint yourself to how you obtained them and how hard you worked for each of your goals
• talk to those who believe in you, not necessarily for reassurance, as to see yourself through their eyes. More perspectives can lead to an objective view on yourself. They can lead to your true identity.
• remind yourself why you love what you’re doing
• if all else fails, start working on a personal project where you’ll put your skills to good use and get equally great, quantifiable results.

This might sound a bit like a self-improvement post, but it’s not entirely. Promoting your personal brand effectively requires you to believe in what you’re selling. Would you be able to sell a food that makes you feel sick? Maybe. Would you be better at selling your all time favorite dish? Definitely!

Remeber yesterday’s challenge? Well, this is the first review I’m publishing, with high hopes of turning this intro a weekly habit.

“On Beauty” is the type of book that you start reading, just to get a feel of it, and wake up 100 pages later. It intrigues you, it saddens you to tears, it makes you smile, it makes you laugh, it makes you angry. The states characters are in are described in such detail their imaginary feelings are passed on to you.

It’s a story of a half white, half black family and the world they live in, a small town built around a university - Wellington. The personal tragedies of each member of the family are interlinked with those of their friends, enemies and of plain strangers.

Political debates, family problems, art, culture, drugs, sordid affairs, theft and love, all are part of this book’s world. And everything seems to be treated in pairs of opposites: the intellectuals and those less interested in academic debate; those entitled to an education, but who lack talent, and those who have the talent but lack the right or means to an education; the beautiful and the less good looking, the wifes and the mistresses; the popular and the hated.

Zadie Smith’s book will take you from the cultural issues of a US small town, to the political hassles of Haiti, and to the poor neighborhoods of London. It will make you think of the human condition, of what big messes we can make at times, of how easy it is to hurt people or to make them happy, of how fragile lies and lives are.

Some passages of the book are so common, they are predictable, but they are described in a way that does not bore you. It all seems so natural, so human, a part of our souls that we cannot reject.

My favorite character is Kiki Belsey, the black wife of a university professor forced to live in a world where the only black people are those she hires to clean her house, mother of three, each child with their difficult problems. An extremely strong woman, with an incredible will and sense for what’s right. An amazing friends that we’d all want around.

If anyone has read the book, I’d appreciate your thoughts on it. If you haven’t, consider this on your list of book recommendations.

Thank you and see you all next week,
Alina

What I think you shouldn’t have missed last week…

Welcome everyone to a new weekly roundup of great posts spread around the blogosphere. There’s been quite a lot to read and most articles were great (something good in the air it seems), but I had to make a selection in the end.

Barbara Rozgonyi of WiredPRworks reviewed a great tool provided by Youtube, insights. It helps you understand who exactly is watching your videos so that you get to know your audience a little better.

Chris Garrett has publishes results of a blog survey he’s been working on. Here a little on blogger demographics, but make sure to also read the related posts.

Matt Jones of Blogging Fingers has analyzed the effect the right music can have on your blogging, more precisely on your creativity.

Greg of 10e20 published a great how to article on maximizing current events for social media success. He also explained why others fail to get the best out of their submissions.

Dawud Miracle discussed the impact of too many choices on customers. Having multiple choice is a good thing, while having too many is tiring and annoying.

Steven Snell explained on VandelayDesign which differences should set premium themes apart from free themes. Take a look before deciding to purchase.

Phil Butler opened an interesting issue to debate: what our conduct should be, regardless of how famous we are. Pointing out the good and bad examples, he reminded us all it’s all about being kind and never thinking you of all people are too busy to ignore others.

Debra Mastaler of LinkSpiel pointed out a few aspects we should consider before deciding to submit our link to a certain directory.

In a previous Monday Roundup, Blogging Bits recommended cutting the middle man and selling our own ad space. Tibi Puiu of Lost Art of Bloggingcame up with a comprehensive article describing how to actually sell the ad space.

Brad Shorr of Word Sell, Inc. showed us how to put our business blog to work. Blog posts can easily become marketing and sales materials that you can direct potential customers to.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this weeks reading list and invite you all to add your own links in the comment box. Until next week, have an excellent 7 day period

Last week, while browsing the blogosphere, I found an interesting post on a very catchy challenge, at least for me. Reading one book every week. That would be 50 to 100 pages per day. Unfortunately I can’t share the post, as copy-pasting the link into an unsaved notepad and then having Vista crash and restart wasn’t such a great combination

But the challenge remained in the corner of my mind and still seems like a great idea. I have been trying to read more in the past two years with temporary results only, so a new impulse does not hurt. But just reading doesn’t just cut it for me. I got to thinking and realized that on Words of a Borken Mirror, Mondays are for reading recommendations. So I book review would work well with my Monday Roundup.

So starting tomorrow, I’ll tell you all about the book I’ve just finished each Monday afternoon. If you like the challenge, I’d love to share it with you! You can post your own reviews on your blogs or just tell us about what you have been reading in the comment box. What do you say, are you in?

See you on Monday,

Alina

P.S. If anyone has read the post I am referring to, please share the link, I’d love to give the author proper credit. Thanks!

UPDATE!

I have identified the original source of the writing challenge: Put Things Off

Joanna and Martin, thank you for your help!