Chris Mower» Productivity

Fancy Interview Styles Using CSS and Shortcodes

Chris Mower — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 18:53:46 +0000

One of my favorite things to do online is read the massive amounts of interviews available. There’s always a ton of information to be gleaned from them, and good interviews are full of brilliant ideas and tips. My favorite part about them are when they include life stories and lessons learned. One thing, though, that I’ve noticed is that the majority of people do not take the time to make their interviews look good. In my opinion, this is almost as essential as conducting a good interview.

There have been times when I’ve been lost (especially in 3-4 person interviews) about who’s talking and have to scroll around the page to figure it out. When I started giving my own interviews I decided to break the bad trend of poorly styled interviews.

Sometime in the middle of 2010, I came across this post by Nicolas Gallagher. When I saw it, I realized it was the answer to the poorly styled interview problem. I immediately began to work with what Nicolas had demonstrated and came up with a handy and good-looking way to style my interviews.

You can see the final result on one of the finalized interviews on my Interviews page. Keep in mind that IE users won’t see the sweet looking styles, but it will still look good.

So, let’s get started.

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Post tags: css, How To, Shortcodes, WordPress

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Customize Your WordPress Image Captions

Chris Mower — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 02:01:09 +0000

I love WordPress. It’s powerful, mostly efficient, and super easy to use. Every client I’ve ever had has always asked for one thing in particular: “I want to easily change things without going into the code.” WordPress lets them do that.

Today as I was building a client site who wanted to use image captions, I realized that I didn’t like the way WordPress handles their captions. And from what I can tell, most theme developers overlook image captions in their designs as well, I suppose it’s because most bloggers provide the image description in the paragraph leading up to the picture, or in a paragraph right after.

Well, for those of you who want to use image captions and give them a new look, this post is for you…

Code after the break.

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How to Brainstorm for Success: Part 3 – Let the Rain Come Down

Chris Mower — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 20:16:47 +0000

This is the third post in Brainstorming series. Read the first two posts here:
1. An Introduction to Brainstorming
2. Preparing for the Storm

Guatemalan Rain Storm (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) http://bit.ly/dkrB1H

Before the first rainy season in Guatemala, the locals would tell me that I had never seen rain before. I, of course, was hesitant to believe seeing how I’ve been in some torrential downpours. When the first rains hit; however, I realized what the locals meant. Within minutes, the cement-lined streets quickly turned into rivers, filled with water. Within minutes, I was soaked. Not even the gargantuan paraguas (umbrella) that I was holding could save me from the storm. I must have gone through at least 5 paraguas during each rainy season–maybe more.

I learned that I never seen rain before, and any “torrential downpour” I’d previously experienced suddenly became moot. I’ve been searching through boxes at home looking for the pictures I took, but haven’t found them yet. When I do, I’ll post them.

As you begin your brainstorming session, you’ll need a way to document your ideas. I’ve written down different methods that I use, I hope you find them helpful.

Now that you’re all set up and ready to go, you can focus on technique. Remember, brainstorming is about idea generation, not idea examination and organization. Once again, these are all techniques I’ve used at various points and over time have found them quite useful. You can an experiment and find which one you like best. They’re great for different situations. (Explanations and visuals after the break; the visuals were created for this post only–no top secret information in them… unfortunately…)

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How to Brainstorm for Success: Part 2 – Preparing for the Storm

Chris Mower — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:17:39 +0000

This post is the second post in the “How to Brainstorm for Success” series. If you missed the first post, check it out here: “How to Brainstorm for Success: Part 1 – An Introduction to Brainstorming” where we briefly discuss different brainstorming stages.

Have you ever been laying down at night waiting to go to sleep, or been on a nice afternoon walk and the ideas just kept rushing into your head? I’ve been there way too many times. I love it when this happens, but what really drives me nuts is when it happens and I’m not prepared. I’ve since learned to always keep a notebook and pen on my bed stand, and I usually have something to take notes on when I’m out and about.

With that in mind, I’ve prepared a few simple preparation ideas that can help you be prepared for brainstorming. To effectively brainstorm, you don’t need to meet all the criteria I lay out below. These are merely instruments and ideas to cater to an ideal mood and mindset that lets the lightning come down.

Gather the appropriate materials.

Technically speaking, all you need to brainstorm is something to write with and something to write on. I have a legal pad holder and a pen set aside for brainstorming, it doubles as my idea book and a brainstorming book.

I prefer brainstorming with a pen and paper so that my mind is free to roam and write ideas down as they come to me, and some of my ideas come as sketches, shapes, or equations or something that is not easily and quickly recorded on the computer. Working with pen and paper lets me quickly sketch those down. I occasionally use a computer to brainstorm, but I’ve found that it’s too distracting and limits what I can add to my brainstorming paper (more about this in part 3).

Some other good materials to have on hand but that are not necessary are sticky notes, rulers, different colored pens (or colored pencils), and a ~~whoopie cushion~~ soft chair. In my point of view, the fewer distractions you have, the more effective your brainstorming session will be.

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Post tags: At Work, Brainstorm, Creativity, How To

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Why Doing Nothing can be Doing More

Chris Mower — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:56:17 +0000

I’m amazed at how many work-a-holics there are in the world. Just today I read a blog post about a guy who was aggravated because he’d heard another man say he was just killing time. “How dare he!” the blog author thought as he considered clobbering the other man. “Doesn’t he know that time is precious, and I don’t have any of it? How dare he be unproductive and do nothing!”

The blog author then proceeds to discuss all the things he does and how he as a serious businessman doesn’t even have the time to sleep. His plan? Free up as much time as he can to do what he wants do and go where he wants to go. But to “waste” time or “kill” time? Forget it. I’m afraid this man is on the road to burnout.

Here are my issues with this type of thinking and why I believe sometimes it’s best to, yes, do nothing.

If You Don’t Take a Break, You’ll Burn Out

To live your life never wasting a moment, but always doing something is tough stuff. We all love a hero, and we all love the stories of people who accomplished great things. Those stories and people are inspiring and they push us to do more and be better people. We assume that to be like these people, we have to work harder and be better than the next guy. We believe that we don’t have any time to waste. To some extent, it is true. You don’t want to sit on an idea forever. Ideas don’t create income. Action creates income.

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How to Brainstorm for Success: Part 1 – An Introduction to Brainstorming

Chris Mower — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:00:48 +0000

This is the first article in a 3-part (or more, YTBD) series about learning to brainstorm.

When I was a kid, my siblings and I would frequently ride our bikes to the local store to buy penny candy (hooray for penny candy!). The store wasn’t too far from us, maybe an 8-minute ride one way. We’d hop on our bikes and tear down the country streets. We lived in a small town, and I loved it.

On a rather sunny afternoon the moisture hung in the air, signaling that a storm was on its way. My siblings and I rode to the store anyway, thinking we’d have plenty of time. As we purchased our penny candy, the rain drops began to fall, lightly at first. A few waves of thunder sounded over the falling rain, and we decided to ride home before the real downpour struck.

As we pedaled like mad toward the second street corner–and the last home-stretch before arriving safely home–the rain poured down endlessly, splatting on the pavement, kicking up more water. As we pedaled like maniacs, our bike tires spit streams of water behind us and onto our backs. Our bags full of penny candy were drenched.

Just moments before reaching the second street corner, we were met with a giant “kablam!” as lightning struck a nearby tree, blowing bark off the tree’s trunk and nearly knocking us off our bikes.

At nearly the same time, my parents pulled up in the pickup truck, literally threw our bikes in the back and us in the cab. We all shook and looked at each other with wide eyes, knowing that we were feet from being struck with lightning.

It was a scene fit for the movies (or at least YouTube), and a storm we will all remember.

The storm that sizzles and jumps around in your head while brainstorming isn’t much different than those few insane moments of ours playing “dodge the lightening.”

Let’s look at a few similarities.

» Finish reading How to Brainstorm for Success: Part 1 – An Introduction to Brainstorming at ChrisMower.com. »

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Post tags: Brainstorm, Creativity, How To, Thoughts

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How to Recognize if You’re a Bottleneck, and How to Change It.

Chris Mower — Mon, 17 May 2010 20:22:14 +0000

Among the many things that keep businesses and ideas from succeeded, one of the most obnoxious and frustrating ones are bottlenecks.

The bottleneck in your organization might be a person. It might be a process. It might be your equipment. It might even be a condition in which you work. I’ll be focusing on the aspect of people acting as bottlenecks.

Bottlenecks are good for regulating information—slowing it down. If it weren’t for bottlenecks on our drinks, we’d be forced to guzzle it at a pace we couldn’t handle. Or would we? Wait a second, that’s what cups are for.

It’s amazing that when given a cup, we have the ability to regulate how much liquid we consume at any given time. Every once in a while, the cup spilleth over and you get a juice stain on your nice white shirt, but it doesn’t happen often.

Bottlenecks seem like a good idea, after all nobody likes a juice stain on their shirt. They’re crossing every t and dotting every i. They’re making sure the next guy who receives the information is not going to be drinking from the fire hose. Often, they’re also intent on making sure the product is of top notch quality. It sounds good, doesn’t it? That’s why it’s so easy to become one without knowing.

» Finish reading How to Recognize if You’re a Bottleneck, and How to Change It. at ChrisMower.com. »

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Post tags: How To, Leadership, Self Improvement

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A Networking Casestudy with Northwestern Mutual

Chris Mower — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:30:20 +0000

The other day I met with a financial representative from Northwestern Mutual. I’d like to share this “case study” with you as part of my ongoing series on how to network.

I’m happy with my financial situation right now. My wife and I have taken great measures with our finances to accomplish what we consider priorities in our lives–part of which includes living on a cash budget since September with a mere $20 personal spending money each month. Needless to say for someone who likes to spend mula, it’s been a big challenge in self control, but it feels good to bend money to my will instead of money bending me. Moving on…

First Move

At the beginning of last month I received an email from a friend saying he’d given my name and contact information to a financial representative and to expect a call. No issues there, really. I respect my friend and know that he wouldn’t do anything without my best interests in mind. I appreciated the gesture and found that I was a lot more willing to meet with the financial representative because of the email.

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5 Ways to Trim the Fat from Your Next Project

Chris Mower — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 05:56:55 +0000

If you regularly work with clients you understand how easy it is to let a project spin out of control and wind up fatty and huge… we call it scope creep, and before you know it the project’s over budget and shipping late. Avoiding scope creep is a topic in itself, so instead what I offer here are a few ways to counterbalance scope creep and bloated projects.

Most projects start innocently enough. Parameters are set, goals are defined, and work begins. The fat begins when someone says, “Oh wait, what about this…?” and a new feature is added. Then a little while later it happens again and yet another feature is added. Before too long you’ve got a project that should be 150 pounds weighing in at twice its healthy weight: a whopping 300 pounds. That’s the heavy-weight, out-of-breath division. And now you’re dealing with some unhealthy problems:

Your project is sluggish, dragging on and on.
You miss your deadline and it ships late.
You’ve spent more money than you like and earned less than you wanted.
You’ve added a lot of extra fat that’s hard to shed.

Imagine yourself at twice the weight you should be. I’m already a chunky dude… all of a sudden I can’t get out the door. Feeling panicked? That wouldn’t be so uncommon. Those bloated projects create panic in lots of people. So now the goal is to rescue the project and trim off the fat. Do this and watch its metabolism increase–almost overnight!

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Are You Prepared for Layoffs?

Chris Mower — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:11:15 +0000

About a month ago the company I’m working for gathered all 60 of us into a tight meeting room and announced that there would be layoffs in July. It’s not because we’re shrinking or doing poorly, in fact–it’s quite the opposite. It’s because we’re growing. Perhaps on another day I’ll tell you how that works. Those of us who are in management positions already knew what was coming, and it made the meeting all the more interesting because I could sit back and observe the reactions of everyone else.

It helped that the company purchased giant breakfast burritos for everyone and passed them out before the meeting (my idea). Mine was filled with bacon, potatoes, sausage, cheese, and eggs… This of course sounds to you like a tactic to butter people up and soften the blow. And maybe it is… but so what. The truth is at our company, it’s not unusual. Upper management always treats us extremely well with tons of perks, and they’re always transparent about the company’s health.

The burritos were a nice touch, one of those perks. And sure, it probably did soften the blow for a few people.

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The W8 Formula

Chris Mower — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:27:09 +0000

In high school and part of college I competed on the forensics team in debate, oratory, humor, drama, and poetry and (pardon me for tooting my own horn) did really well at it. Actually, I lied. I did well in all areas except debate. Debate was a giant thorn in my side and I’d leave the debate floor feeling like I wrestled a hippopotamus in the wallow. So after a couple years, I decided to leave debate behind. But that’s not what this is about; this post is about working towards a goal, and working hard.
Enter the W^8 formula (imagine cool theme song here).

Just in case the image burns your eyes out, here it is in plain text:

The W8 Formula
Working Will Win When Wishy Washy Wishing Won’t.

Okay okay, I admit that it’s a little cheesy (cheesy enough that I gave it it’s own goofy motivational poster). Cheesiness aside, I like it, and it’s easy to remember. My high school forensics coach, Mr. C, taught me the W8 formula and oddly enough, it’s one of the few lessons I remember from high school. The W8 formula works for any goal or ambition.

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Make Yourself Someone with Whom Others Want to Network

Chris Mower — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:00:47 +0000

Another aspect of networking that I didn’t cover in “How to Network: Getting Started with the Basics” is the importance of being a strong node in someone else’s network.

That’s right, more than just networking with others, you should try to be someone that others want to network with. Sometimes fish do jump in the boat.

Three tips to start you off are being generous, hooking people up, and helping others find opportunities.

You don’t have to spend every last dollar to lure people to you, but don’t be so stingy that your come across as prudish.

Do you have an extra ticket to a game or performance? Use it to hook someone up. Do you know of a job opening? Let others know about it freely without them coming to you. I’ve done this multiple times and it’s been interesting how people will naturally come my way to establish connections.

Help others find opportunities. Opportunities can be anywhere: work, community, schools, volunteer projects, etc.

Evaluate yourself. Are you someone that others want to network with? You can be that person, and when you are, a whole new networking door opens.

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Working Long Hours vs Productivity

Chris Mower — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:54:35 +0000

Working long hours doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll accomplish more.

If you’re excited about a project and have personal interest, you’ll most likely utilize all the time you’re allotted, but what about those projects that you don’t have a personal interest in that are required because of work?

When you’re not jumping at the gun to start a new project, you often find excuses to not start until later. A couple hours later a project that you said would take 8 hours can be done in 6. A project that you said would take 5 days is done in 3.

Why?

Because you procrastinate until the last possible moment and then you have no choice but to buckle down and get to work.

Because you purposefully bid a longer amount of time to give you time to “think about the project.”

Because you just can’t start the day before reading every news article on Yahoo!, MSN, and BBC News.

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Be Proactive: Return and Report

Chris Mower — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:54:57 +0000

If you’re looking for another attribute to separate you from the masses, returning and reporting is the answer.

Returning and reporting is a simple communication principle that increases productivity by leaps and bounds. It’s unfortunate that most people don’t follow it because this simple behavior would increase their indispensability.

Fortunately for you though, you’re going to start today, right?

In most businesses or organizations the leaders give out instructions and don’t hear back from their team until they ask for a report. Is this a problem? No, not really, it seems to work just fine for most businesses, but it slows down productivity for everyone on the team. And you might be okay with that, and your boss might be okay with that too. In fact, based on personal observation I’d guess 90% of today’s employees and bosses are okay with that.

And that is why you shouldn’t be.

To return and report shows that you are a responsible person, capable of handling tasks and challenges. It’s a display of foresight and willingness to contribute. Your manager perceives it as going the extra mile, working hard, and being proactive. It also lightens your manager’s load by relieving the burden of small management tasks which drain valuable time.

Find a balance as you implement returning and reporting into your work habits; you don’t want to return and report every 10 minutes or half an hour. Start with milestones and completions and experiment from there.

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30 Minutes. 6 Changes. 6 Letters.

Chris Mower — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:16:48 +0000

This story has a long history, so long that I’m starting at the end.

There’s always room for process improvement, especially in corporate America. Even well-oiled machines need tweaking to keep them running smoothly. Comcast, my home telephone provider–yes, I said home phone, not cell phone (and yes, they still exist)–made changes to their customer’s online account management system. This change inadvertently locked my online account keeping me from accessing my monthly bills which took 4 different customer support sessions and supreme patience to fix. During the last session the support rep discovered a way for me to re-access my account. This fix required him to change my password.

Reunited with my online identity, I changed my password, email, secret question, and secret question’s answer away from factory settings. Two weeks later I received 6 Comcast snail mail letters. I opened them thinking their mail system probably choked and spit me out 6 identical letters. Nope.

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© Chris for Chris Mower, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Streamline, User Friendly, Utilities

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How to Network: Getting Started with the Basics

Chris Mower — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:11:25 +0000

Do you remember that guy you spoke to who knew everybody? Or that one lady who could find anything with just a few phone calls? What about the friend who always has the hook ups? Those people are networkers, and it makes their lives easier. You can be one of them.

It’s impossible to capture all networking facets in a single blog post, but I’ve created some networking fundamentals to get you started. The most important part is that you start networking today–don’t wait. The sooner you begin networking the sooner you can reap the rewards.

Benefits of Networking

Goodbye comfort zone.

This reason alone will turn many of you away from networking, which is too bad. If you’re not naturally outgoing, networking provides an opportunity to stretch yourself and advance past your comfort zone. The more you do it, the easier and more natural it becomes. But you occasionally have to push yourself past nerve-wracking barriers. Do this enough, and networking will become second nature.

Increase social skills.

Networking doesn’t require spectacular social skills. I know plenty of socially awkward people who have excellent networks. Turn off ye ole television and shutdown ye ole computer and instead spend time in some social environments. Those great social skills will sharpen and develop as you interact with others.

Find hidden or unpublished opportunities.

All but one of my jobs I’ve found through networking. I don’t recall any of them being advertised, or if they were, I didn’t know about it. I’ve also found ample opportunities through networking, like having my car fixed free of charge and fantastic discounts. Networking opens the door to a whole new world. According to ABC News, 80% of jobs are found through networking (see the video here).

» Finish reading How to Network: Getting Started with the Basics at ChrisMower.com. »

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Post tags: How To, Networking, Relationships

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