Postcards from the Funny Farm

It’s probably overly judgmental of me to note but: don’t you think there are too many frantic, fake people in the workplace?  I run across people every day it seems who have a face for you and probably go home revealing another.  Why can’t people be themselves?  In my career I have learned that being frantic and putting a happy face only gets you so far.  Why not try being quieter and more of a listener?  If you blog for a side or full career as I do, an example might be reading blogs of friends you have been neglecting.  Your “grandiose” product will wait. ;)  Success at work can come through humility.

Eventually, people don’t want to be around you for your frantic profile.  You might think you are doing the right things working late hours to get ahead but in reality you are only distancing yourself from the real leaders who are not putting on a face.  They don’t respect workaholics.  Here’s a crazy idea from the Funny Farm: use your sick days!

I actually have made real advances in my career by simply doing nothing extra. Now, wait just a minute … that sounds really bad.  You must always do things at work and strive to do them well.  At the same time, you should go home when it’s time to call it a day .  The real rewards in life come to those who make their sense of calm and mental well-being a #1 priority.  You don’t want people noticing you because you are manic.  You want them to observe you over time being calm, cool and collected at work. Eventually they will call on you to solve the problems of work.  Of course, we all know that pays better!  My dad told me when I was about 18:

Work a lot for a little pay when you are young and you will work less for a lot of pay when you get older.

I have found this to be true.  I might also alter it this way:

Do your work well and more will seek you!

Instead of finding a way to impress the boss, find a way to keep your head calm, cool, and collected at work.  (Test it with a blood pressure monitor, it’s that important) Create a mantra to remember throught the day and help you focus.  She/he will notice.

Today I feel like I am writing the manual on how to succeed at my life. It may not be the manual for anyone else, but smart people oughta find some carryover ;) The working title I think is: “Create. Innovate, and Integrate.” Like a tv plugs into a HDMI cable, plug into this message and get inspired!

I’ve gotten to used to being the one to do the job right. If you knew me, you’d know that isn’t self-congratulatory … it’s the truth. I’m a teacher and I have seen half-wits come and go from the profession like moths to a flame. Some people (many people) just don’t have what it takes. I’ve been watching a bit of The Academy on the Fox Reality Channel lately and seen the same thing happening with their recruits. Some just can’t do what is necessary to get to be cops. In teaching, you can usually see right away the ones who can’t cut it. They flip out on kids, lose kids, fail to raise test scores, they offend other teachers, etc … These folks come passing through the profession but never really take it by the reins and make it their own. I hope I’ve done that. It feels like I have. I worked my first day of summer school today and I have to tell you I am WORKED OVER! These 28 6th graders are going to give me a test like I may never have felt before. In the second six weeks, I teach 7th grade for another three. At that point don’t be surprised to read the confessions of a depressed teacher … that very well may be my state of mind. Nahhhh not me. But seriously, stay tuned to read those accounts, it should be a drama-filled challenge of a time.

Okay, now onto my point. If you are one of the “frozen chosen” in your field, as I have already shared I am, make sure you create, innovate, and integrate your ideas while you are in your working years. You owe it to the next folks to make the profession better after having passed through it. It’s a heavy burden but you can do it. More importantly, if you don’t, no one else will. My point today is this: If you want to have an impact and be successful in your trade, DO IT THE LONG WAY, no short cuts. Seek out books and trainings to be better at what you do and when you get home, make sure you have a jacuzzi (LOL). -Or- some way yo know to relax and get away from thinking about work.

Now, get your rest (if you are reading this from home). If you are at work: GO BE THE STAR THAT YOU ARE! Here’s an example of what it might look like in my job:

Create: Write your rules on the board

Innovate: Develop a foolproof way to teach them, be unique.

Integrate: Get up there and teach it and have success.

Are you creating, innovating, and integrating your profession?

I made more money in March than I have made blogging to-date. In this post I show how. So, without any further ado, lets get to my March 2008 goals and results.

In February’s post, I broke down my March goals into three categories. This worked so well that I will be doing the same for April. You may recall the three categories are:

1. Traffic Goals,
2. My Web Publishing Goals, and
3. Monetization Goals.

First, let’s look at last month’s stats:

March 2008

1. Traffic Goals:
   3,532 Visits: Goal exceeded! (was 3500)
   114 Visit/Day avg.: Goal of 100 visits/day exceeded!
2. My Web Publishing Goals:
   Just to reiterate: One of my main goals with my blog is to establish more of a name and an online presence through multiple online locations. These also help with backlinks, Google PageRank and Technorati authority. I went on a publishing field-day to put it mildly! I hope to do even more next month.
   
3. Monetization Goals:
   Feeling a little jaded after Google smacked my page rank from a PR4 to a PR2 because I used IZEA, I decided to set my PayPerPost goal low in March at $30. I exceeded that goal with an income of $65 from PayPerPost in March. Also, I was able to make $20 from Loud Launch and an incredible first month of $70 with PayU2Blog. The PayPal payment just went into my bank account an hour ago. Can you say Sarah and I go to Chili’s for lunch today??? ;) Oh, one more money item: I gained 2 125×125 paying advertisers this month. It is a pleasure having them and I plan to do all I can to keep them happy.

Okay, now it is time to list my future goals for April:

1. Traffic:
   3750 Visits.
   175 Visits/Day (I know it is almost doubling last month’s goal, but I am networking through 9Rules and BlogCatalog much more as well as some sources I’m choosing to wait to mention in case they don’t work).
2. My Web Publishing Goals (10 published articles in April): Publish on …
   BlogCritics (2)
   Associated Content (1)
   FuelmyBlog (2)
   GuestBlogging as the coveted offers come in. I would anticipate a minimum of 5 offers, but we’ll see. If I don’t get that many, I may approach YOU! ;)
3. Monetization Goals: I’m making a goal to make $100 minmum on PayPerPost and PayU2Blog. We’ll see what the ads bring in as well but I am not setting an ads goal at this time.

Think I can pull it off? I am confident I can. You might consider subscribing to my feed so you don’t miss an update! This month should be an exciting month of meeting these new goals. Oh, and if you are interested in getting traffic from this blog, I would like to do a guestblog or interview for you on your blog. Let’s talk! Thanks for reading Postcards from the Funny Farm.

I’d say there are three main types of bloggers:

1. Online Authors
2. Service/AD Promoters -and-
3. Purely Personal Bloggers

I am a mixture of 1 and 3 and I am working daily to become mostly a 1. I would say for types 2 and 3, online publishing is not really a necessary concern. But if you are trying to develop on online name as an author, then it should be a priority in your blogging week.

A commenter asked me today the following question that I am choosing to answer in this post. She wrote:

How do you go about getting published on the web? Do you approach people, or do they approach you?

Great question. The answer is: BOTH, but mostly you ask them. Lately I have been working on guest blogging on sites I respect and that I feel have a similar audience to my blog. In doing so I have the chance to attract new readers and give the host blog my traffic for the day I have the guest blog up. They get a link from my announcement of the post and I of course get a backlink from the post in the short bio credits. Guest blogging is the best way I have found to publish on the web. I recommend you frequently let your readers know you are interested in doing it and then that you approach specific bloggers through email with your proposal. If they say no, don’t be crushed. But mostly they say yes in my experience.

In addition to guest blogging, there are many web publishing blogs and ezines that will publish your writing. Two that I write for on a regular basis are:

BlogCritics -and-

Associated Content (AC)

You must apply to BlogCritics and AC approves on a post by post basis.

As I said, there are many many services and blogs you can publish online to. Have a look around the web and see what’s right for your style. In publishing your work other places than your primary blog you get your name around the web. These create backlinks to your blog thereby giving it better seo authority (ie; your posts come up higher in the searches) and advertisers see you as a better value when they consider paying you to show off their products.

The other benefit, which is to me most paramount, is it gets you more familiar with the worldwide audience that is the web. I like to get out of my blog comfort zone and challenge myself to write for new audiences. Ultimately, the “writer” type of blogger, as opposed to the commercial or strictly diarist type, should be challenging him/herself with new writing situations as this will improve her/his ability to attract and engage readers for the lifetime of their blog. (I hope mine is as long as my own lifetime ;) Actually one of my secret dreams is to make enough money through online publishing to be able to buy some Briggs and Riley fine luggage and take my wife to Ireland on a romantic vacation. Who knows, stranger things have happened right? If nothing else, whether the online publishing pays out or not, I know I’ll be a better writer and since I started, that has always been what it is all about for me.

Do you know of some other online publishing avenues out there I haven’t mentioned?

I have learned this lesson once again, that most of life’s bummers work themselves out in 24 hours or less. Therefore I have come to this conclusion: I will put worries on the back burner for 24 hours before I start to stress and worry about them. Let me explain:

Yesterday my wife was supposed to receive her first paycheck for substitute teaching. It was to be a substantial amount (by our standards) and we were depending on it to pay some bills that remained after the first as well as for food and misc. expenses the rest of the month. To make a long story short they told her the time card was never turned in and the person responsible was at a conference for three days. This did not make us happy. We left messages for a few people and then began to scowl in our reality that we wouldn’t be paid until the following month. It was definitely a “bummer” evening in our house yesterday.

But what a difference a day can make!

Today, my wife received a call apologizing for the glitch in the system and the District cut her a check right there on the spot. The end result? We got our money and everything was as it was before “the dark times.”

The reason I am sharing this is not to say we should never stress over things. If we hadn’t stressed a little, we wouldn’t have contacted anyone to get it resolved. What I am saying is that problems have a way of working themselves out on their own so you’d do well to put a time limit on these issues before you get bothered about them. 24 hours is a nice numbers, it gives the people involved a chance to sleep and theworkday to roll over once. The next time I have an issue like this, I will try it and report back to you the results!

What do you think of the 24 hour rule?

I’ve officially become a “regular” contributor over at Edublogs magazine which is edited by Lorelle VanFossen. This is an enormous sense of arrival for me in my writing career since education is my life and coming up fast behind is blogging.

Lorelle has been a hero of mine in blogging for quite a while now. She has designed some amazing themes that I have copied and learned form. She has offerred challenges to the blogging community to certain topics. These have helped me create some of my best posts at Postcards. Now, I have fallen into working with her at edublogs magazine: dedicated to furthering the cause of blogs in the classrooms. It is one of those senses of arrivals that one never forgets.

I have started a series today there on technology in the classroom. My second post is now up:

Powerpoint as Teaching Tool
I encourage you to read it and leave your comments over there. We’re trying to create buzz for this new magazine. even if you aren’t in education as a profession, your comments and opinions are valuable there and very welcomed to building a community! If you do comment there, I will stumble-review a post on your blog by way of thanks. This will bring you some nice traffic stats.

Respectfully requested by,

Your Damien Riley (the guy from the funny farm sending you postcards each day)

Have you ever had to ask for one of these on your own behalf? It’s a real drag for me because I hate to ask for someone to take time out of their busy day and write a letter for me that will do nothing for them whatsoever. I’m more into reciprocal favors, that way both sides benefit. I’ve probably had to ask a dozen or so people in my career to write me these letters and it’s always been uncomfortable. But today, I am starting to think maybe it was just me feeling uncomfortable.

An aide here at work asked me for one and even though I was quite busy, I enjoyed writing it for her. She’s a very hard working sub and aide and it made me happy to help her get into the workforce in a new job she is looking for. I suppose I am now the experienced one in the field being asked to do the writing and I can tell you, I don’t mind it at all!

I’ve written on this blog before about how asking for help can really further your career, and maybe now I am closer to accepting my own advice. There are some things I have learned that I must relearn and relearn again. For me, asking for something like a letter of recommendation is one of those really hard things to do: I know it’s my right and privilege to do, but I still hate doing it.

How do you feel about asking for letters of recommendation?

I wanted to let the blog know that I had my observation and post-conference today. It went very well. I received a passing score in all domains and some very nice things were said about me in the write-up.Okay I can breathe now.

I’m not one to hide fear, I think it helps the world to show your weakness. It helps people more than pretending you are always 100% confident.

You may recall I published an article on BlogCritics this month about the whole process I was going through:

My article on BlogCritics on how to survive and th...

(esp. note my response to the first comment about inequity in some evaluation pr... for teachers … Amidst my optimism it’s important to note my view on that.)

-Damien

This is a screenshot from my son’s favorite game, Soul Caliber II. Since I promised him an hour just me and him doing stuff once a week in attempt to bond more, this game has become a weekly endeavor. The beast reminds me of the beast of sleepiness attacking me right now: unyielding, ferocious, unmerciful.

I think the worst torture we do to ourselves is sleep deprivation. Why is it so hard sometimes to just lay down and take a nap? When we’re tired it’s hard to stay positive. Usually there are times in the day we can sleep more and we just don’t. And then of course there are the many times it just isn’t possible with all we have to do. Spain and Mexico used to have a siesta in the day when all the stores closed and everyone taking a nap. I love the Hispanic culture, you can read more on that at my Cheese Enchiladas article here. In Soul Caliber II you have to strike the beast down to kill him. In the case of the sleepiness beast, you have to stop and do nothing do defeat him… why is that so hard to do?

Back to what I was saying: The tired feeling when you have things to do but keep nodding off is the single-most brutal beast in my life. It makes me cranky, impatient, grouchy, and uncomfortable. Maybe it’s because I spend too much time working, maybe it’s because I have recently been cutting way back on coffee … whatever the reasons, I’m a tired dude today and I think it’s probably mostly my fault.

I need to face it: It’s not possible to be a possibility thinker when I am too tired to think.  See you on the other side of a much needed nap.

Have you come face to face with the most brutal beast?

Occasionally on this blog, you’ll have private access to the inner workings of a very complex and simple and often quite Bozo-like blog author’s brain. I try to be real, and sometimes I achieve it. (LOL) This is one of those posts, I hope you can relate, maybe learn what I have from it, and hopefully get a chuckle or two as you go.

My 2 year old rarely lets me guide her hand in an activity. She wants to make, build, cut, play, and everything else all on her own. Today when I think about it, I’m the same way about accepting help. Sometimes I say inwardly:

“I don’t need anybody, I can do it all by myself while training everyone else as well.”

Next year my grade-level-team is embarking on a monumentally different method of planning and teaching. Because we’ve never done this before, I’ve had a hard time outlining how it’s gonna work. I need help to lead my team. I contacted a teacher at another school across town and I am going to meet with her today to get the “help” I obviously need in this situation. Still, I can’t ignore my loud conscience saying:

“I am completely useless because I don’t know how to do this thing myself.”

For me, this is huge growth to have asked for help. I’m positive this meeting today will strengthen my knowledge, but until then I still feel reticent, hesitant. I feel like I will be bothering her, which is odd because I am always eager to help anybody who asks me. I should be entitled to help right? Why do I still feel this way? My inner voice says:

“I feel guilty for not being able to figure this out without bothering anyone.”

Help is an odd yet wonderful word. It signals weakness and ignorance when one needs it, and at the same time strength and wisdom when one asks for it. I think one ought to get as much as she/he can, and then offer the same to others throughout life. Maybe as I adapt more to this mindset about help, it’ll be easier to accept. I’d like to feel a new positive affirmation inside saying:

“I’m an accomplished teacher brave and wise enough to ask for help and by doing so I become better.”

Hmmm. That’s the ticket!