Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Ann Wilkinson
How much time do you spend thinking about the ways your job annoys you? How much time do you spend listening to friends and family as they grouse in great detail about how much they dislike their work? We complain and then we envy others who seemingly do “what they love” for their livelihood and wish we could be more like them.
What would it be like to design the kind of job we truly want? We don’t always have that luxury. So, it’s up to us to take the framework we have and make it work for us to love what we do on a day-to-day basis. Read More »
Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Marie Monroe
Effective communication helps listeners feel comfortable, on equal footing, and willing to continue listening and talking. A presentation that holds its audience’s attention throughout is a successful one. Yet a fluent discussion is one in which opportunities have opened and relationships are cultivated.
Many things are possible when communication flows well: learning, teaching, understanding, resolution, persuasion, collaboration, negotiation and intimacy, just to name a few. This is the stuff of which good relationships are made – business and personal. Read More »
Article and Photograph by Make The Days Count Contributor Ann Wilkinson
What do you conjure up in your mind when you think of the word “creativity”? Do you think of an artist wielding a paintbrush or a charcoal pencil? Do you think of an actor on stage interpreting her lines? Do you think of a master musician creating a complex piece of music? Do you ever picture yourself in any of these scenes of creativity?
You are a creative person by nature. We all are. Perhaps you have let this aspect of yourself go with your busy day-to-day life of work, bills, commuting, children and their priorities. But have you considered that you can continue to explore your creative side, even in the midst of the day-to-day? And, if you can add little bits of creativity to your daily routine, you may find that you become increasingly creative and gradually more satisfied with your life. Read More »
Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Tamara Belinc
When Norris Carden of Tullahoma picked up a camera after a 10 year break from photography, he wanted to create images that matter to people, not editors, as he had in his past career as a photographer. Now, he is doing just that by volunteering his time to Operation: Love ReUnited, a non-profit group of photographers who lend their creative energies to raising the morale of men and women serving in the military. He heard about the group on a forum on the Internet.
“I wanted to join to give back to the military,” he said. “I was in the military, also, but because of an injury at my civilian job, I wasn’t able to serve in Desert Storm as a combat photographer.” Norris was also a member of the Tennessee National Guard with the 278th out of Knoxville. His other work included video production out of Nashville for other states and the Pentagon. He was working in Shreveport, La., as a news photographer when he was in a helicopter crash resulting in shattered vertebrae. “Within a few weeks of the accident, they wanted me to carry a camera in the desert, and I couldn’t,” he said. “I want to give back to the people who served in my place.” Read More »
Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Marie Monroe
Finding balance in a busy life is difficult. Often we make temporary sacrifices in one area of life to focus on another more intensely. It’s important to be flexible enough to do this from time to time. However over the long haul, especially if work is our chief focus, very real problems can arise.
Don’t get me wrong. A passionate approach to one’s work is great. It’s workaholism I am talking about here – working instead of attending to other parts of life. Read More »
