Social media as a whole is a lot more informal than any other form of marketing. But how informal should it be? Remember, even though it’s informal, you’re still using it as a business tool. Therefore, it’s important to keep your target audience in mind and avoid doing anything foolish that might turn them off.

via Mind Your Social Media Manners.

Amanda Alexander outlines advice to get control of your stress, including these smart tips:

Walk down the memory lane of your previous worries. Can you remember what you were worried about this time last year? If you can actually remember them, which were worth the worry? Remember the old saying: “Today is the tomorrow that we worried about yesterday.”

Play with your worry voice. Give the voice a character with a life. For the sake of illustration, I like to call mine Dobby (after the negative little house-elf from Harry Potter)…. Turn the volume on the worry voice up and down, change the pitch of the voice, get it to sing. How about getting the voice to sing its lyrics to the tune of Kylie Minogue’s “I Should Be So Lucky”? Once you’ve had a good old play, go back to the volume and turn it right down until you can’t hear that worry voice at all!

Perform a worry autopsy. Write down what you are worried about in a notebook. What is the worst that could happen because of these worries? Think about how you would handle this worst-case scenario.

via 3 Tips to Silence Your Inner Worrywart | BNET.

The wage gap is getting worse, even though women are choosing higher paying specialties. In 1999, the gap between men and women was only $3,600, even though women are choosing higher-paying specialties now than they were ten years ago. In 2008, only about 30 percent of women doctors went into family medicine, compared to about half in 1999. If the wage gap is due to women choosing lower-paying specialties, you would think that the decreasing number choosing family medicine would mean that the wage gap would shrink.

via A Scientific View of Why Women Earn Less | BNET.

Imagine two people on a cruise.  One person understands how an all-inclusive cruise works and enjoys scrumptious meals throughout the cruise day and night.  The second person is not aware that the food is included and since they are on a limited budget, spend most of the cruise eating crackers and water.  On the last night of the cruise the two happen to chat.  The one who is aware shares how wonderful the food is and remarks, “I love these all-inclusive cruises; it’s great to be able to eat anything we want and not have to worry about money.” The second guy almost passes out.  “You mean the all the food is included and I’ve been starving myself and eating only crackers and water?”

I had the privilege of training alongside  Clif McKnight, author of “If you can’t calm the waters, Learn to ride the waves’ for the past two days.  He brought in a guest speaker Mark Holland. Mark  shared the story above.  Life is an all-inclusive event, yet some are content with crackers and water.  Let me put it this way, many people are starving themselves and surviving or barely surviving when life offers an abundance of possibilities and opportunities.  We are here on the ship of life.  We can pick and choose according to our gifts and talents and make life an adventure of a lifetime.  Or, we can settle for life’s crumbs.  It’s our choice!

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out: What Does Barbara Do? or visit  my website.