How to Build a Brilliant Team

BY Katherine Duncan | March 15, 2012|

 

An innovative idea may inspire a new business, but it takes brilliant people to make that business a success. Michael Crom, executive vice president and chief learning officer of Dale Carnegie Training and co-author of The Leader in You: How to Win Friends, Influence People and Succeed in a Changing World, discusses the first step to startup success: assembling your team. Read on for Crom's advice on finding the best people and filling leadership roles--while still saving some cash. 

 

What's the most important position to fill at the outset?

No. 1, you need to assess your own competencies. As the founder, you really should have a very strong vision and clear goals for the company. If you're not able to meet that need, that may be the very first thing you have to fill in terms of leadership roles. You need to look at creating a competency map of what you need for your own company: Very often for startups, fundraising and relationship-building are going to be key. Selling skills, project and management skills--those are ones that come to my mind instantly.

What personality traits should entrepreneurs look for?

It's important to look for people who are real go-getters and are passionate about the goals you have for the company. Also, look for people who have past work experience that's relevant to what you're doing, particularly people who have worked in small companies, because they aren't used to having to worry about other people doing things for them. They're not used to worrying about corporate rules and regulations, which you may not have in a startup, so they can be more independent in their ability to do things, and they don't mind crossing over barriers and doing multiple tasks. Experience in a large company can be valuable, but save those hires for when you're beyond the initial startup phase.

Where can valuable team members be found?

New business owners tend to really love what they're doing and are so excited by it, they live with gusto. That enthusiasm will actually begin to attract people to your team and attract people who want to help--that's a great starting point. You also need to take some time to be active in your community. I even encourage you to do something for people who can do nothing for you; you'll be surprised by how many fellow business owners are attracted to that. Volunteering is a great way to get out and meet people to expand your network. In lieu of that, there are some great social networking resources online: LinkedIn and Facebook, for example, are tremendous tools to help find people with talent.

Do you have any tips for adding staff when the budget's tight?

A board of advisors may be the way to do that. By looking at your own social network, you can often find people who just enjoy being around the excitement of a startup entrepreneur. Look for a diversity of backgrounds when assembling your board of advi-sors; you might look for someone who has a financial background, someone who is a great marketer, a person who is strong on business context, etc.
Your first hires should be people who are different from you. The other thing that I would look for in my first group of hires, or the people who are going to help out at the onset, are people with multiple talents.

This article was originally published in the March 2012 print edition of Entrepreneur's StartUps with the headline: Build a Brilliant Team.

Why should I rank first for a query compared to the competition?

Ask yourself this. Do you deserve to rank number one?

Posted: 13 Mar 2012 03:44 PM PDT

One of the easiest things to overlook in analysing the on page SEO for a particular website it is added value. If there’s one thing I could strongly urge every online business competing with others it is this – providing users with additional value over your competition is always worth doing.

When we as marketers think about search optimisation, on page metrics are one of the first ports of call, but when you’ve ticked those boxes, you need to try and get into the head of Google who are consistently striving to provide better results for the queries your customers are using to find you. Adding additional features (and content) to your pages can separate you in established markets, and is especially important if you are engaged in marketing traditionally thin or duplicate content. For affiliate marketers, this is particularly relevant – but if you are in a market online with other players with the same content as you yet you are struggling. Read on. This is applicable to you too.

With the effects of Google Panda still ringing in many webmasters ears, we can all learn lessons. The site with unique content, and plenty of it in easily digestible chunks always wins hands down against the scraper site which is clearly lifting content and re-syndicating it elsewhere – and that trend is unlikely to change.  If you are syndicating content which is available elsewhere on the web, you need to think about what else you can bring to the table to not only attract visitors, but keep them there as well.
In my own recent experience with running a few affiliate sites, I’ve been looking around the web at other, more successful sites than my own – particularly in the e-commerce field, and continually trying to reverse engineer that success. One common element crops up across all of the sites I have worked on.

Quality and unique Content go hand in hand. 

Take Amazon for example. Whilst Amazon dominates across multiple niche items and categories in the search results, if you take their massive weight out of the equation, we can learn a lot about what is working for them. Have a look at this product page for the Kindle.

This is a key product in Amazon’s inventory considering a huge proportion of their future business relies on its success. When you break it down, its absolutely huge in terms of the information contained therein, and deserves to rank at number 1. If any of you are running an e-commerce site, Amazon is a great example of added value product pages. The guys over at HallamInternet have used and explained how Firebox dominate their niche in a similar vein.  Here are just some of the key value added aspects to those pages:

Reviews – User generated content adding value to the page.
Video – Used to enhance the click through rate in organic search
Information above and beyond the manufacturer description.
Photos from customers being used to enhance the listing
Number of ‘likes’ the product has received
Humour hook where appropriate.

“So what!” I hear you say – “I don’t run a product based website”

Regardless of what your chosen site may be, there’s always room for adding additional features that enhance the user experience. For example, if you run a blog – do you share related posts? Do you showcase trending information for those posts? Do you link out heavily to others? In analysing the competition, its easy to become blinkered into looking solely at their URL structure and site architecture, but yet fundamentally missing the features that provide user benefit.

There are a number of user engagement metrics that can be measured through Google Analytics. Do you know which of these are working on your site? How many do you think Google know about?

• clicks on internal links
• clicks on outbound links
• clicks on download links
• clicks on mailto: links
• clicks on key buttons
• member vs. non-member status of visitors
• logged-in status of visitors
• user- provided demographic info
• marketing campaigns- source, medium, campaign, term, ad copy, and any “intentional” medium
• clicks on social shares
• content rating
• comments
• watching video
• interacting with Flash
• conversions- forms, funnels and transactions

I’ve also seen Amazon include information on other pages which is less relevant for visitors, but is included anyway as it adds more data to the page. ‘Date first appeared on Amazon’ would be one such field, ‘Manufacturer Reference’ and ‘ASIN’ number another couple which are increasing the on page weight for a result which would otherwise be seen as thin content.

For all of us, there’s a take-home point from that. Whilst search optimisation is more than just on page related metrics its obvious that Google wants to serve the page with the most value for a visitor attached to it. As they move toward engagement metrics more and more, this is where I firmly believe site owners should concentrate.

Ask yourself one simple question, (and leave your ego at the door)

Why should I rank first for a query compared to the competition?

Forget how big you are offline, forget that you pay Google more money in Adwords, forget that your design is prettier, forget that your other half is more attractive than any of the Google team. It’s simply not enough.
Bite the bullet and work out where you can make the users life easier, or where you can provide them with additional on page value.

Fundamentally, this is the same question Google algorithms ask of your content every day, and if you can’t answer it whole heartedly aren’t giving them enough reasons to put your site number one.

Ask yourself this. Do you deserve to rank number one? is a post from: Webdistortion

Basic Negotiating Tips Anyone Can Use

During a negotiation, it would be wise not to take anything personally.  If you leave personalities out of it, you will be able to see opportunities more objectively.  Brian Koslow

From deal making to buying Gucci purses in the streets of New York, negotiating is a part of life.  And yet, many of us are so uncomfortable with it that we cave in and agree to anything!
Some cultures are trained to be ruthless negotiators, and certain areas of America contain more skilled negotiators than others.

I have never been very comfortable with negotiating.  Shopping trips to Mexico would have me paying more than I should just because I don’t enjoy the game of talking someone down on a price.  After all, I don’t mind paying a little more for a box of Chiclets if it means a poor street kid will eat better that night.
But, when it comes to survival in business, I’ve had to learn to negotiate.  I’ve read books such as Getting to Yes and I’ve taken negotiating workshops through Karrass, Inc.  And though I’m not the most aggressive negotiator, I have learned to keep up with the best of them. Just as there are guidelines to cooking a turkey, there are guidelines to negotiating.  These basic guidelines will help prevent you from making a big mistake during your next business deal:
NEGOTIATING MUSTS:

• Research Before the Negotiation:  Do your homework.  In a business deal, you want to find out as much as you can about the company and the people you are dealing with.  This will aid in your negotiation.

• Know your Numbers Before the Negotiation:  Go into a negotiation knowing what you want.  If you don’t know what you want, you’ll never get it!   Write down on a piece of paper three things:

1. Your desire outcome;
2. Your drop dead lowest outcome that you will agree to if you have to; and
3. Your Deal Breaker, which is the outcome that will cause you to walk away from the deal.

• Ask for What you Want:  Often, a client will pay or give more than you thought.  Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want.

• Talk less, Listen More:  Understand where the other party is coming from.  Ask a lot of questions so that you know what their concerns are and their needs are.  Sometimes it’s not what you think.

• Concessions should be Tit for Tat:  Make sure that if the other party asks you to make a concession (give something extra or take less money), that you are given something extra in return.  In business deals, you can get very creative with this.  Ask for free advertising or extra products or plane tickets, etc.  Avoid granting concessions without anything given to you in return.

•  Change your Offer if Need Be:  Often we are wary of changing our offer in the middle of the game. But sometimes it’s necessary, especially when the deal has changed and new information is gained during discussions.  Don’t be afraid to withdraw something you offered earlier, if it makes sense to do so now.

• Brainstorm to make the deal fair to all:  The best deals are ones that have never been done before, so says Seth Godin.  Get creative;  if you reach a point in negotiations where you can’t agree, think up a new way to get you what you want and to get them what they want.

• Follow up in Writing:  Always follow up a discussion with the points agreed to in writing.  Email this to the client and make sure that you both have clarity on what was discussed.

NEGOTIATING NO-NO’s:

• Never Negotiate Against Yourself:  If you gave an offer or a price and the other person didn’t accept it, DO NOT offer them a lower number.  This is called negotiating against yourself.  Instead, ask them to make you a counter-offer.

• Don’t Fall for the “Hurry up and Sign!”  If your new business partner is giving you the rush-rush to sign a contract before you are ready or have time to think about what you are agreeing to, Don’t Do it!  Ask them to slow down and to allow you the time you need.

• Don’t Negotiate with Someone Who Doesn’t Make the Decisions:  If the person you’re dealing with says “I have to go ask my boss now if he agrees” insist that you deal directly with the person making the negotiating decisions.  Don’t fall for this game.  It’s a negotiating tactic.

• Don’t Agree to Something That Feels Wrong:  Look out for Red Flags.  If the deal feels bad, worries you or turns your stomach, don’t agree to it.  Period.

• Don’t Regret your Decision Later:  Learn to trust your decision making.  Once you make a decision on a negotiation, look forward, move ahead, and never look back with regret.  Learn from mistakes, but don’t feel regret.

• Don’t fall for the “But it’s great Promotion for you” Line:  When negotiating a business deal, the price you are paid should have absolutely nothing to do with how well the product will sell or how many famous people are involved or anything else like that.  When a client uses the “But it will be good promotion for you” line , ignore it.  Don’t give it any merit or consideration.   It’s irrelevant 99% of time.

• Don’t be afraid to walk away if it goes badly:  A bad deal is a bad deal.  Don’t agree to one.

I hope these tips are helpful.  If you have any to add in the comments, please do.   You may want to check out an article on this topic that I really liked titled Negotiation Tips for the Beginner

by Man Vs. Debt. Basic Negotiating Tips Anyone Can Use

How to Let Go of Perfectionism: 7 Powerful Tips

"Certain flaws are necessary for the whole. It would seem strange if old friends lacked certain quirks."

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

"Some of us (perfectionists, especially) fuss so much over making the 'right' choice, but in life, all that's really needed is to make any' good' choice, believe in it, go through with it, and accept the consequences."

Unknown

"People throw away what they could have by insisting on perfection, which they cannot have, and looking for it where they will never find it."

Edith Schaeffer

One of the most common problems people seem to have - based on the email and other feedback I get - is perfectionism.

And I'm no stranger to it either. Once in a while I feel old thought patterns pop up. Perfectionism rears its unsettling and distracting head.

At such times I redirect my focus. I use a couple of techniques and strategies and remind myself of a few things to be able to avoid procrastination, stop the polishing and get things all the way to done. In this email I'd like to explore what has worked for me in such situations plus a few habits that greatly decreases the perfectionism over time.

1. Go for good enough.

Aiming for perfection usually winds up in a project or something else never being finished. So go for good enough instead. Don't use it as an excuse to slack off. But simply realize that there is something called good enough and when you are there then you are finished with whatever you are doing.

So find a balance for yourself where you do good work and don't slack off but at the same time don't get lost in trying to improve and polish something too much. How to find that balance? I have found it through experience.

2. Have a deadline.

A deadline can be useful. For example, a bit more than a a year ago, I set a deadline for when my second book should be finished. I had realized that just working on it and releasing it when it was done would not work. Because I could always find stuff to add to it. So I had to set a deadline.

Setting a deadline gave me a kick in the butt and it is generally good way to help you to let go of a need to polish things a bit too much.

3. Realize that you hurt yourself and the people around you by buying into myths of perfection.

By watching too many movies, listening to too many songs and just taking in what the world is telling you it is very easy to be lulled into dreams of perfection. It sounds so good and wonderful and you want it.

But in real life it clashes with reality and tends to cause much suffering and stress within you and in the people around you. It can harm or possibly lead you to end relationships, jobs, projects etc. just because your expectations are out of this world.

I find it very helpful to remind myself of this simple fact.

Whenever I get lost in a perfectionistic headspace I remind myself that it will cause me and my world harm. And so it become easier to switch my focus and thought patterns because I want to avoid making stupid choices and avoid causing myself and other people unnecessary pain.

4. Accept that you are human and so is everyone else.

Set human standards for everyone and accept that life is like that.

Everything and everyone has flaws and things don't always go as planned. You can still improve things but they will never be perfect. And realize that you won't be rejected if things or you aren't perfect. At least not by reasonably well-balanced human beings, like most people actually are in reality.

5. Compare yourself to yourself.

Comparing yourself to other people on a regular basis can easily lead to feeling inferior. There will always be a lot of people ahead of you in any area of life. So compare yourself to yourself. See your improvement, see how far you have come. Appreciate yourself and focus on what you have done and are doing rather than what everyone else is doing.

6. Do what you think is the right thing.

So you realize that perfectionism will harm you and you try to avoid it. But people and media and the society around you have an influence over how you think and feel.

One of the best ways I have found to practically lessen that influence is by doing the right thing as much as possible. When you do that other people's expectations have less and less power of over you and you get in control instead.

Because by doing the right thing your esteem of yourself goes up and other people's opinions about you and life will matter less to you. Instead of their influence being like a tsunami flooding over you it flows right over you. Or bounces off you. Because now you have become stronger, more certain in who you are and you are not so easily swayed by external forces.

7. Live in an environment of human standards.

Emotions are contagious. So is perfectionism. Even though you can lessen the impact that your environment has you can also work at the other end of things and shape your environment to lessen the influence of perfectionism.

Read magazines with realistic expectations. Reduce the perfectionism in your world by reducing or cutting out the media sources that every week try to reinforce it in you.

Spend less time with nervously perfectionistic people and more time with people who are trying to improve themselves and/or are living a good life in a positive, healthy and relaxed way.

I hope this email will help you to overcome or decrease the perfectionism in your life,

Henrik

 

 

Want to learn much more about living a simpler, happier and less stressful life where you dare to follow and achieve your dreams in 2012? Then have a look at my four premium courses and guides:

- Stop feeling lousy about yourself and start living a life of self-happiness where you live up to your potential and dare to follow your dreams today - with The Self-Esteem Course.

- Get rid off the clutter and start living a simpler, more focused and meaningful life filled with inner peace - with the Simplicity Course.

- How to triple your productivity, minimize stress and free up more time for yourself starting today - with The Art of Relaxed Productivity.

- How to become a more mindful, motivated, action-taking optimist - with The Power of Positivity.

 

Louis Tremblay is one of the many men hitting the auction block in support of our community hospital.

Louis Tremblay Artist; President of the Smiths Falls & District Arts & Culture and Manager of LH studios was rounded up for the  "Smiths Falls Man Auntion" The Proceeds will go to the Smiths Falls Hospital Foundation.

Men are being rounded up to take part in this first-time event, being planned by a small committee of dedicated local business owners. The group of small businesses working hard to put this fun evening on for you and to help an amazing Foundation and the team include Chuckles Jack, The Rideau Winery, Dan Peter's Auction and Appraisal and Vickie's Specialty Shop and Chuckles Jack

Louis Tremblay is one of the many men hitting the auction block in support of our community hospital on May 26th. We've got carpenters, lawyers, mechanics, painters, chefs, and more to auction off - one of them could be yours - "like" Smiths Falls Man Auction on facebook and then check out the website for details as they're added 


So far, several prominent figures from the community have come forward, willing to be sold off for a good cause. Those wishing to take a peek at some of the men who will be offering up their services (for example carpentry work or other trades which the men are involved in), can visit Facebook and look up Man Auction.  

The Smiths Falls Community Hospital Foundation is the fundraising arm of the Smiths Falls site of the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital.


A registered charity, the Foundation was established in 1981 to help meet the growing financial needs of the hospital. The Foundation works with generous community donors in order to provide the hospital with necessary funds for medical equipment, and to modernize inpatient and outpatient facilities in Smiths Falls which are not provided by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

The Smiths Falls Community Hospital Foundation is managed by a Board of Volunteers from Smiths Falls and the surrounding Townships. Office staff takes care of the fundraising and administrative details to ensure that donor needs and wishes are met. Volunteers are always welcome at the Foundation.

I invite you to follow he following link to see "YOUR DOLLARS AT WORK" 

Set for May 26, taking place at Chuckles Jack (33 Centre Street, Smiths Falls), dinner will commence at 5:30 p.m. and the men will be auctioned off at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30.

But I know what you're asking yourself  "what will you do for me if I purchase you at the man auction?"

The lucky individual that will win the biding war will win a photo shoot and will get up to 2 hours of shooting time on location with with Louis Tremblay (300$ value). The concept is to be discussed with the winner. Also included in the prize package is Louis Tremblay's "dream team" 

• Hairstylist to be announced in a few weeks
• make-up artist with Lyz Plant (value: 200$)

Lyz is a freelance makeup artist based in Merrickville. She has been with the Toronto Fashion Week team with L'Oreal for ten seasons, working with many of Canada's top designers. Including: Andy The-Anh, Evan Biddell, Bustle Izzy Camilleri, Joeffer Caoc, Wayne Clark, Common Cloth, Comrags, Diesel, David Dixon, Zoran Dobric, Joe Fresh, Ed Hardy, Denis Gagnon, Ginch Gonch, Greta Constantine, GSUS, Mango, Lucian Matis, Nada, Alfred Sung, Pink Tartan and Carlie Wong.  

Therefore we will see you Saturday May 26 2012 at Chuckles Jack, Smiths Falls  Buffet Style Dinner Starts at 5:30 PM Live Man Auction begins at 7 PM Sharp, and Proceeds to Smiths Falls Hospital Foundation and to see the full list on mean please follow the following link Man Auction

 Sponsored By The Following Local Retailers:

Terms of the Auction: Cash, Debit, Mastercard, American Express. (2% fee applies when paying by Visa, American Express & Mastercard only) Must be 19 to Attend this event .Owners / Auctioneers are not responsible for lost or stolen items. Owners and Auctioneers are not responsible for accidents occurring on the premises.

Is Social Networking Bad for You?

Using part of your other 8 hours on social networking websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter can build your human capital, but social networking has a dark side that can stifle creativity and foster narrow-mindedness if you're not careful.

Once upon a time if you had different opinions, interests, or views from the norm, you were considered odd or maybe even weird. Then the Internet came along and changed all that. No matter how different you are, and no matter how strange your beliefs, you can find a million others just like you.

On the surface, there's nothing wrong with this. No matter what you think or what you like, there's an online community just a few clicks away where everybody knows your name. The internet is now one big high school cafeteria. Jocks over here, nerds over there, brainiacs back there, stoners over . . . uh, stoners?

Do you remember how good it felt to "fit in" to feel connected to a shared belief, purpose, or enemy (or how alienating and lonely it felt to not fit in)? But do you also remember the prejudice and the close-mindedness of belonging to a clique? The term for this is groupthink.

Groupthink is when individual creativity, uniqueness, differences, and independent thinking is secondary to the group's cohesiveness and mission. The stronger and tighter the group, the easier it is for groupthink to rear its ugly head. In other words, groupthink is what happens when its members check their individuality and ideas at the door and succumb to the will of the group. At the extreme, groupthink is what is required for cults to form and function. See my related post, "How to Use Herd Behavior to Get Others to Follow."

One of the main contributors to groupthink according to Dr. Clark McCauley is "isolation of the group from outside sources of information and analysis." So how are groupthink and social media related? If I looked at your website bookmarks, reviewed your browser's history, and analyzed your RSS feeds, what would I find? I'd probably find an eclectic mix of information (e.g., sports, politics, self-help), but would I find varying perspectives within a similar interest?

All learning doesn't increase your human capital. If you limit your focus to a narrow band of information while sheltering yourself from other ideas and perspectives, you are preventing growth. For example, I'm into learning how to maximize my productivity and increasing my efficiency. For a time, I followed a very narrow technology-based view of how to do this. I read all of the "life hacks" blogs such as Lifehacker and Stepcase Lifehack and became obsessed with downloading the latest gadgets and implementing the latest tips and tricks. I listened to tech-focused productivity podcasts and audio books. I learned a great deal (and still do) from these websites and programs, but my mistake was not that I went deep into a topic (i.e., how to use technology to get more done), but that I stopped searching for learning new strategies outside of my narrow focus. Even though I was trying to build my human capital, I was actually decreasing it by having tunnel vision.

How to Avoid Social Networking Groupthink 
 
Will you expand your mind and increase your creativity more by talking to people just like you or with people who are different? If you're always nodding your head in agreement, you're not exposing yourself to unique or contradictory ideas. Here are a few ways to maximize creativity and limit groupthink:

• Join groups and communities that are completely different/opposite from what you believe. You don't have to agree, but try to at least understand their perspective and why they believe what they believe. If the O'Reilly Factor is your homepage, consider perusing the Huffington Post for a different view on the same topics.
• Become Facebook friends with people who think differently and who will surprise you and cause you to question your ideas.
• Read blogs and websites that don't recycle ideas.
• Get into disagreements and friendly arguments by posting comments on blogs. Just make sure you do it respectfully. I've found using "What if we think of it like this..." to be a non-confrontational approach that can lead to a healthy exchange of ideas.
• The more you are a fan of someone, the more often you need to question their assumptions and ideas. We tend to let our mental guard down around those we trust.

Break away from digital cliques by using social networking to expand and enrich your perspective and to grow your human capital. It's easy to find a million others who think just like you, but if those are the only people you are searching for and interacting with, you will be limiting your creativity and thinking. Your homework: Seek those different from you and ask yourself, "Is there another way to look at this?"

(Image of crowd by shoothead, Image of question authority by Mira Hartford, CC 2.0)
Are you ready to create more money, time, energy, and passion in your life? Learn how to live your best life now with these free resources: Get the "Achieving Peak Performance" ebook and video now! (free for a limited time)
 
You can also join a community of passionate people at Richer Life who want to achieve more in life and at work. With your free membership, you can participate in conversations I have with experts, celebrities, authors, and thought leaders that are laser-focused on practical ways to drive more money, motivation, and meaning into your life. Take the first step toward creating a better life by joining Richer Life for free now!

To acquire a more positive attitude, all you really need is a more powerful vocabulary. Try these linguistic shifts.

Become More Optimistic: 6 Smart Tricks

 

Posted: 13 Feb 2012 09:36 AM PST

Written by Geoffrey James

 

To acquire a more positive attitude, all you really need is a more powerful vocabulary. Try these linguistic shifts.

Some people see the world through a filter of optimism: They always make lemonade from the lemons, no matter what happens. Others see the world through a filter of pessimism; they always find the cloud in the silver lining.

It’s a truism of life that the optimists are always more successful than the pessimists, but that raises a crucial questions: how can you change your attitude to be more optimistic? The answer? Change the words that you use every day to describe your experience.

Here are some quick language tricks that can change your attitude.

1. Stop using negative phrases … such as “I can’t,” “It’s impossible,” or “This won’t work.” Such statements program your mind to look for negative results.

2. When asked “How are you?” … respond with “Terrific!” or “Fabulous!” or “I’ve never felt better!” rather than a depressing “OK” or “Getting by.”

3. Stop complaining … about things over which you have no control—such as the economy, your company, or your customers.

4. Stop griping … about your personal problems and illnesses. What good does it do, other than to depress you and everyone else?

5. Substitute neutral words … for emotionally loaded ones. For example, rather than saying “I’m enraged!” say “I’m a bit annoyed”—or, better yet, “I’ve got a real challenge.”

6. Expunge profanity and obscenity … from your vocabulary. Such words are always signs of a lazy mind that can’t think of something really witty to say.

Rules 1 through 4 came from Jeff Keller, author of the bestseller Attitude Is Everything. Rule 5 come from Tony Robbins. Rule 6, as it happens, comes from Geoffrey James mother

 

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Internet Addiction? Or Social Evolution?

Written by Michelle Marie

I’m sure the thought has crossed your mind before, “I’m addicted to the Internet”. Stop! You are no more addicted to the Internet than a crackhead is addicted to a crack pipe! The Internet is the tool not the drug. It’s the information highway to our interests, our desires, our hopes, and our dreams. The Internet gives us pleasure; it feeds our imagination, strengthens our knowledge, and connects us to people we share commonalities with all across the world with whom we would not otherwise be able to connect with.

The evolution of socialization.

Robert W. Sussman, Ph.D., a professor of anthropology for the Arts and Sciences at Washington University states that animals and humans benefit from being social and believes supporting evidence exists to back up his claim. According to Dr. Sussman there are two areas of the primate and human brain that are stimulated when we cooperate (socialize) with each other. Dr. Sussman believes we’ve evolved to gain pleasure form socialization through the release of hormones such as serotonin and oxytocin which play a large role in social recognition and trust.

We must stop and ask ourselves an important question; are we becoming less social or are we becoming more social? I think most of us can agree that we’re defiantly becoming more connected through emerging technologies resulting in new ways we humans interact with each other. Can the expansion of connections between people occur with a decrease in socialization?

Many people will agree that the growth of technology in the last couple decades has lead us to be a lot less social. We’re texting instead of talking, joining Hangouts instead meeting in person, and socializing on virtual networks instead of our local coffee shop with our real world friends and neighbors. But socializing doesn’t have to occur in face to face, person to person, and voice to voice situations for us to continue being social, it’s just become a lot more convenient since the rise of all the wonderful technology gadgets and social media sites that bring us together.

Humans are not retreating away from our nature of being social creatures we’re moving forward evolving into something much bigger and more complex, a place where we feel more socially connected right from the comfort of our own homes, offices, libraries, and smartphones that can be taken just about anywhere and still receive Internet access. The world itself evolved through the process of making things more convenient and efficient. It’s nature finding its way.

Yesterday I rode in the elevator with someone who was fixated on his cell phone just as I was. He looked up at me and said “what would we do without our cell phones?” I thought for a second, “I have no idea”. But later on it dawned on me that we could question the same for just about everything that has become a depending part in our lives. What would we do with out cars, air conditioning, refrigeration, or indoor plumbing if it they were taken away? The only difference now is that we’re from a generation where we didn’t always have cell phones or the Internet. We can look back in a time where things were done in a less convenient and efficient way, but back then it was the most efficient and convenient way of doing things. To take away our cell phones and Internet access would be just the same as taking away the light bulb two decades after Edison invented it.

Change isn’t always viewed as a good thing. Change is often scary when no one knows the direction their heading and every step taken is taken blindly. But to condemn a direction that’s happening naturally would be no different than condemning the evolution of mankind.

Are we addicted to the Internet? Or are we something else – genetically hardwired with pleasure releasing hormones pushing us to invent ways in which we can socially connect in the most convenient and efficient ways possible? It seems to me we’re in the midst of a social paradigm shift rather than an Internet addiction epidemic.

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