Lilou Mace, a dual citizen of France and the United States, got the same bad news so many earnest, hardworking folk have gotten recently: You’re being laid off.

Her reaction was to fend off a serious funk  and turn things to her advantage by using the Law of Attraction. She kept a 30-day journal of her experiences and made it the basis for her new book, I Lost My Job and I Liked It.

One of the things I like about Lilou is that she’s not one of these bury-your-head-in-the-sand types who refuses to admit that the employment situation is scary, whether you’re in the US or just about anywhere else. It is, but she’s willing to work around it.

She’s not, however, willing to take the easy way out; i.e., move into her mother’s house in France or leave her flat in expensive London for a cheaper city. She also refused to take jobs she considered draining or soul-deadening. She wrote a mission statement:

“My mission is to enrol, create and produce positive forms of media that leave people inspired, joyful and fulfilled.”

To that end, she’s continued producing a series of extremely popular Law of Attraction videos on YouTube. She also takes great pleasure in organizing fashionable events for singles, one of which attracted 150 people to a rooftop garden in London.

Although she uses the Law of Attraction, she does run into obstacles along the way, which she resists being thrown by. It’s interesting to me how these obstacles ultimately bring her closer to her goals.

In my own experience with the Law of Attraction, I’ve seen this at work. Sometimes it’s like a wall comes up, and I can’t get over it or around it. The appointment falls through, someone’s stuck in traffic, the friendship I thought was rock-solid falls apart. And, in the end, it all works out (in the case of the rock-solid friendship, we spent entirely too much time together. I had been visualizing and affirming my perfect romantic relationship, but I hadn’t made space for it. The friendship temporarily — but very painfully — fell apart, leaving room for me to meet new people. I met a man and fell in love. The friend invited me to visit her afterwards, and we’ve been friends ever since).

Another interesting tidbit: At one point in her book, Lilou discusses wanting to talk to God. She writes:

“I don’t often use the word ‘God,’ but I really want to pray right now….”

Some people resist using the Law of Attraction because they believe it’s not “of God,” but I have found that LoA has brought me closer to God. It’s one thing to recite some begging, pleading, hopeless prayer and quite another to believe that I can talk freely to a loving force who has my back and wants what’s best for me. Using the Law of Attraction means stepping out in faith.

Lilou also writes of feeling conflicted about wanting money because she was brought up a Catholic. So was I, so I know what she means. But then at Mass one Sunday, it occurred to me that no priest is insulted when baskets of money are brought to the altar. Like every other earthly entity, the Church requires money to thrive.

I’m getting over my money guilt. If I have money, I can help others who need it.

Lilou’s a disciple of Esther and Jerry Hicks of Abraham-Hicks fame, but I prefer works by Catherine Ponder, Florence Scovel Shinn, Norman Vincent Peale, Joseph Murphy, and Shakti Gawain.

For more information about Lilou, check out her website. Her book is available at Amazon (better yet, order your copy from your favorite independent bookstore).

In the interest of casting my bread on the waters, the first US resident to comment on this post will receive my copy of I Lost My Job and I Liked It. It’s used, but I’ve treated it lovingly.

****Read and Win:  Be one of the first two people to comment on this post and receive a six-month membership to Andrew Morrison’s Small Business Camp Network!! ***

SWR is pleased to bring you Andrew Morrison. Founder of a multi-million dollar business that serviced Fortune 500 companies, and Small Business Camp, an entrepreneurial training and marketing services firm, Morrison’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur Magazine, Advertising Age and Oprah.  Yes.  Oprah.  On Thursday, Februrary 11, he’s giving a free teleseminar on how to pick your best business concept and turn it into cash. — Keysha

My Biggest Confession
By Andrew Morrison

I have a confession to make. Money does not really motivate me! I know some of you may be shocked but it’s true. I’ve helped thousands of people to make more money in their business, non-profit or career. But, money just doesn’t do it for me.

I’ve never really desired fine cars, clothes, jewelry and homes. I’m just real simple when it comes to material things. Several people have told me that, “Andrew you don’t dress to your power!” I know that I should be wearing custom suits with a pocket square but that’s really not me.

I came to this confession by having to state my own 16 Week Challenge goal.  (February 24th is the last day to join at http://16weekchallenge.com . After that date the group will become private.)

My 16 week goal is to generate $5,000 per month from a small business membership website.  As I pondered the goal, it just did not feel right.

Make sure your goals feel right.

For some reason. I was not motivated to make an extra $5,000 per month.  Sounds crazy, but I’m being honest.

<- - - - - - - ->
Tele-Seminar: How to Pick One Thing!
Date: Thursday, February 11th
Time: 12:30pm-1:30pm EST
Phone: 718-290-9983 pin 149924
Webcast: http://attendthisevent.com/?eventID=11276967
<- - - - - - - ->

What’s your goal? When you say it, does it really motivate you? If not, then we have to re-examine the goal and maybe say it a different way.

Hmmm…. how else could I say $5,000 per month?

Oh, I know …  how about inspiring and supporting 200 entrepreneurs a month with the Small Business Camp Network. You can join at http://smallbusinesscamp.com/small-business-camp-network/

Now, we are talking. This new goal really motivates me!

I value service over money. The goal began to make sense to me once I clarified my values and then re-stated the goal within my value. This small SHIFT is critical if you want to place your goals on automatic pilot.

Let me say that again …

Clarify your values and then re-state your goals within your values. (That’s some good stuff!)

Take a few minutes with me and participate in a values clarification exercise. Read more »

Sticking Your Neck Out: Discover the Top 7 Ways to Reach Your Peak Performance
By Nikki Stone
Author of When Turtles Fly: Secrets of Successful People Who Know How To Stick Their Necks Out

As a motivational speaker for Fortune 500 companies and an Olympic gold medalist, I have seen what makes an individual most successful in the boardroom and on the slopes. Over the last five years, I have researched the similarities of forty different highly-successful individuals — including the likes of Tommy Hilfiger, Prince Albert of Monaco, Dr. Stephen Covey, Shaun White and many more. And no matter the field or endeavor, I have found The Turtle Effect philosophy at the core of everyone’s success. 

This philosophy was taught to me by my mother, who told me that I could achieve anything I wanted. I always held it close and adapted it to every situation I encountered. I’d like to help people breathe in this confidence and share the secrets that are common to those at the top of their given field. 

1. Have a Soft Inside – let your heart drive your actions

Find Your Passion: Do the things you hate first so you can truly get pleasure from the parts of your job and day that you are most passionate about.  First thing in the morning write down five things you don’t like to do. Do each before 11:00 a.m., and check off that you’ve done them. Doing the thing you hate most will allow you to spend the rest of the day or week focusing on the things you enjoy the most.

2. Develop Your Hard Shell – stay strong against life’s challenges

Enhance Your Focus: Try to complete a task or project today as well as you can — without looking at others for approval. Can you bring something to fruition without worrying about the outcome?  If you do feel you have to see your “results”, compare them to your own past efforts rather than to what someone else has achieved.

Be Committed: Either give yourself a challenge or challenge a colleague, teammate or friend to decide on a certain goal with you. Write the challenge down on an index card and tape it to the wall to remind yourself of your goal. This commitment will make you accountable to your goals and responsible for your actions.

Overcoming Adversities: Ask yourself, “If I knew I couldn’t fail, what would I try?” After you answer this question, ask yourself why it would be so awful to fail at the task or activity. We learn much more from our failures than we learn from our accomplishments.

3. Be Willing to Stick Your Neck Out – put yourself out there and find the support to make sure you follow through

Build Your Confidence: We all have our strong points and we need to remind ourselves of these attributes. Create a list today of all the personal traits that give you confidence. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and knowing your strengths will help you compensate for your shortcomings.

Start Taking Risks: We can’t be afraid of failure. If you don’t try, you have already failed. Why not give yourself the chance to succeed? Pick something that scares you a bit, and decide you are going to take the risk to follow through with it today.

Find Your Teamwork: A support system is crucial in helping you develop a strong character. Go out today and ask a few close friends how they would describe you. If they define you only in terms of your accomplishments, take the time to show them who you are in terms of your relationships. Think about the things you may be doing to project a title rather than a personality, and correct that.

I find that the same factors work to put someone at the top of their game, whether you are a triumphant athlete, Fortune 500 CEO, an accomplished politician, successful educator, or even an effective parent. 

I hope these tips help you find your Turtle Effect and encourage you to strive for levels once thought impossible.

©2010 Nikki Stone, author of When Turtles Fly: Secrets of Successful People Who Know How To Stick Their Necks Out

Author Bio
At the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, Nikki Stone became America’s first-ever Olympic champion in the sport of aerial skiing. What made this performance so unbelievable was the fact that, less than two years earlier, a chronic spinal injury prevented her from standing, much less walking or skiing off a twelve-foot-tall snow jump that launches aerialists fifty feet into the air. She overcame the injury and went on to earn 35 World Cup medals, 11 World Cup titles, 4 national titles, 3 World Cup titles, a World Championship title, and membership in the Ski Hall of Fame. Nikki is also a magna cum laude graduate of Union College and a summa cum laude masters graduate of the University of Utah. Her aerial retirement is less than restful as she trains Olympic athletes and business professionals in speaking/media skills, coaches personal and professional development courses, hosts group skiing adventures, sits on five different charitable committees, and writes articles and columns for many magazines, newspapers, and websites. Nikki’s career focus is now on traveling around the world working as a sought-after motivational speaker, sharing her secrets to success by inspiring her business audiences to “Stick their necks out.” Every spare moment is spent with husband, Michael Spencer, and daughter, Zali, in Park City, Utah. 

Nikki is the author of When Turtles Fly: Secrets of Successful People Who Know How To Stick Their Necks Out. For more information, please visit www.WhenTurtlesFly.com.

Affirmations. That’s a bunch of hokey pokey bullshit.

Or is it?

An affirmation is a statement that expresses – or affirms – your intent to create a desired change in your life, either personally or professionally. Many great teachers (like Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, Susan Jeffers, Louise Hay) swear by the power of affirmations. When I first started Single Women Rule, back in February 2005, it was called EVE’s Society. EVE is an acronym for Energy, Virtue, and Excellence. I created three statements I wanted the members of EVE’s Society to repeat daily to change their lives:

I approach my career and life goals with Energy.
I maintain Virtue in all my relationships.
I strive for Excellence in all my daily activities.

I didn’t know it then but the statements were “affirmations” – a term I became familiar with in November of 2006 at T. Harv Eker’s Millionaire Mind Intensive Conference. T. Harv used affirmations to change his money blueprint – his habitual and learned thinking on success and wealth – and become one of the highest paid motivational speakers today. That’s when I began my grand tour through the self-help aisle - The Power of Intention by Dr. Wayne Dyer, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers, Ph.D., Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra – each author stressed the importance and power of writing and speaking your intentions on a daily basis.

The only problem with affirmations is that you have to do them. Science tells us it takes at least 30 days to create a habit or break one, 30 days for our brain to adopt new thinking patterns. I couldn’t get past day five.

The next year, I met Terry Hernon MacDonald. She ran a bi-weekly women’s business networking group that still meets in Shelton, CT. I read her e-book, How to Attract and Marry the Man of Your Dreams. Terry used affirmations to change her mind set about herself and the love she wanted, ultimately attracting her husband. I partnered with Terry to form SingleWomenRule.com because her message of changing your life by changing the way you think was my vision to empower unmarried women through EVE’s Society.

But I still couldn’t get past day five.

A few weeks ago, I met a friend for lunch and we lamented watching our dreams fade faster than a spray-on tan. Maybe we just didn’t want it bad enough? Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be? Why was the success we wanted eluding us while other folks, no smarter, prettier, fatter, or skinnier than us, enjoyed it? Read more »

Happy New Year Everyone!

It’s 2010 already! May 2010 bring you lots of love, joy, health, and prosperity.

This month marks the start of my new blog life with you! I would love for you to post comments regarding what you would like to know about life in Tokyo. If you have any places that you would like me to visit and write about, just post it!

Most of my blog will be my thoughts, reflections, and experiences of my life where ever I am in the world. For now, let’s explore Tokyo! I look forward to your postings. - Nicole

November 25, 2009
Thanksgiving at India’s was great! India is my new African-American friend that has been living in Japan for 10 years. She teaches English at a local university and is getting married in April. Congrats India! In Japan, Thanksgiving is not a holiday marked on the calendar, for obvious reasons. However, I don’t think there is any culture that can turn down another day to eat! So we had a great turkey, macaroni and cheese, and a few Korean dishes made by guests.

 

December 13, 2009
My closest friend in Tokyo is Nana. She invited me to Kamakura, a beachtown nearly 2 hours from Tokyo. We visited the temple to pray for good health and prosperity in 2010. Apparently, most Japanese participate in this tradition especially on New Year’s Day. We decided to go early and beat the crowds. Entering the temple requires protocol. Visitors must cleanse their hands and face at a nearby fountain, then take a coin and throw it into the pit in front of the temple before praying. One must bow, clap 2 times to awaken the spirits, pray, then bow twice to complete the ritual. I guess I’m all set for the new year!

 

December 18, 2009
I put up my own Charlie Brown Christmas tree in my apartment in Tokyo! Isn’t it cute? The holiday season in Tokyo is wonderful. Every metro stop has a town square that is decorated with lights and Christmas music plays in the air while everyone shops. The temperature is about 45 degrees Fahrenheit and the nip in the air reminds me of my hometown in Connecticut. I’m packing for my early flight tomorrow! USA, here I come! Pleeease no delays in the airport!

December 20, 2009
I made it to Las Vegas! My friend’s wedding was fabulous and Las Vegas luxury hotels are beautiful! I visited the Venetian and Belaggio hotels on the strip and attended the George Wallace comedy show at the Flamingo hotel. He is hilarious! For the night prowlers, Club Prive is the bomb!!! Would I visit Vegas again? Probably not. Somehow it gave me the creeps. I didn’t see what the hype was about. I think Miami provides great entertainment and the hot nightlife of Vegas, but throws in pretty people and great beaches. Here’s the scoop on my travel plans. I leave Vegas today, spend Christmas week with my folks in Connecticut and then ring in the New Year in Washington, D.C.! Whooo hoo!

December 25, 2009
This is the REAL Christmas tree at my folk’s home in Connecticut. There is nothing like home.
Today, I remembered the true reason for the season. Happy Birthday Jesus!

December 31, 2009
I ended 2009 remembering where I was just 12 months prior (Benin Republic) and how quickly life changes. It is important to live life to its fullest. I’ll leave you with my New Year’s Eve reflections: Enjoy every moment with the people that are around you. Never overlook the little things. Love hard. Eat what you want in moderation. Take risks. Life gives back what you put into it.

Almost every year until this one, I’d dedicate an entire day to scribbling pages of life-altering resolutions. I managed to keep a few of of them (I stopped smoking in 1993, lost weight in 1997, wrote novels in 2000 and 2008), but I blew others (I didn’t find an agent, publish a novel, or double my income).

A few weeks ago, I sat down with my notebook to write out 2010’s slew of goals, which included — once again — find an agent, publish a novel, double my income, and then on Saturday morning, as I got ready for my aunt’s annual Epiphany party, I had an epiphany:

KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID.

I have to admit, this revelation came to me after checking out a site called 43things.com that my friend, V, loves and swears by. The idea is to list 43 things you want to accomplish and tick them off as you do. Well, this year I don’t have the ambition to tackle 10 things, let alone 43 (history shows that I’m easily overwhelmed), but the cool thing about this site is that some of the people who’ve actually done the things I want to do offer tips on how they did it.

So, I want to publish a novel, but I’m an unknown (the award I won in college for a bunch of short stories doesn’t count). One of the published novelists on 43things recommends doing what he did: Writing and publishing short stories in small markets.

Which led me to the first of my two resolutions for 2010:

Before I get out of bed every weekday morning, I will write for one half hour with the goal of having one short story worthy of submission at the end of the month. (Then I’ll follow through by actually submitting it.)

My second resolution is to become a good salesperson. Even as I write this, I feel a little ashamed to admit it. My mother always distrusted salespeople, but the truth is we’re all selling something, whether it’s refrigerators or short stories or ourselves (for a dream job or a dream date). If you work for a corporation, you’ll notice that the sales force is better compensated than the folks in Human Resources. The key, for me, is to sell things honestly, for the benefit of the buyer as well as myself. I’ve found the product, now I just have to get out of my own way and do it.

To that end, I’ve come up with a list of prospects and a not-too-daunting schedule to call them. I’ve also committed to maintaining enthusiasm by attending sales meetings and watching the seminars the company offers online.

That’s it for me, but if you’re more ambitious (or you just want ideas on how other people did what you want to do), take a look at 43things. And if you’re not ambitious at all, you’ll probably enjoy this essay by Mary Elizabeth Williams about an easy way to change your life for the better in less than an hour.

I never get it when people, particularly women, worry about their age.

I don’t understand why they consider themselves less attractive or less valuable or less anything as they get older. It’s been my experience that people with a few years under their belts are funny, smart, and interesting (well, usually).

So when a book comes along to assure me that life begins at 40, I’m like, “No kidding.” You’re preaching to the choir.

But then I read my mail. I get email from women who tell me they might as well have dropped dead at 40. Men don’t want them. Employers don’t want them. The only person who does want them is the plastic surgeon.

(Again, personal experience shows me something else. A good friend, who’s 44 with two children, attracts a ridiculous number of men ranging in age from 20 to 60. Two years ago, she set her sights on a certain position in a certain location - and got it. Still has it, too.)

But if you’re a woman who fears 40, I do recommend Linda Franklin’s Don’t Ever Call Me Ma’am! The Real Cougar Handbook. The first Canadian woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, the woman’s got a winning attitude whether she’s writing about success or relationships.

Here’s Franklin’s take on men:

While it may be true that more women over 40 are enjoying relationships with younger men, they aren’t putting themselves on the auction block to do it. Don’t believe for a minute that a Real Cougar is a lonely predator skulking in dark bars preying on younger men. She is definitely not the cartoon character that too many make her out to be. Undoubtedly, this negative image was concocted by the overly testosteroned fantasy world of our male population. Let’s face it: Women are still the prime target for the good old boy’s double standard. And the only way we’re going to change that is to continue to excel doing it our way.”

The book includes a how-to chapter on dating and relationships, guest-written by dating coach and author Ronnie Ann Ryan (full disclosure: Ronnie’s a competitor of mine who’s now a friend). The book also features Franklin’s easy-to-follow advice on managing one’s finances and her success plan for achieving goals (with a very inspiring story about how one woman set out to become a best-selling author and became one). There’s also a chapter on sex, amusingly titled, “Sex Is Not a Job.”

Fore more information on Linda Franklin and Don’t Ever Call Me Ma’am!, check out The Real Cougar Woman.

Right now I’m reading The Gospel According to Chanel by Karen Korbo (and hope to get around to reviewing it at some point). It mentions The Daily Asker, a blog by a woman who set out to make a habit of asking for things. Apparently, it’s a wildly popular but somehow escaped my notice.

The Asker, who calls herself ‘La Roxy,’  asks for perks, upgrades, two-for-one deals, better seats in restaurants, pay raises, and so on.  She got the idea to ask-and-blog after getting to page seven of  Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever’s Women Don’t Ask: The High Cost of Avoiding Negotiation–and Positive Strategies for Change, which maintains that we females leave millions of dollars on the table over the course of our lives because we avoid negotiating. (I think I need to read this book. Check out more stats about how we hurt ourselves by not asking here.)

The Daily Asker’s motto: “It can’t hurt to ask.” On one occasion, she decided to ask random New Yorkers for suggestions for fun things to do in the city.  She ended up having a lovely and surprising evening.  She asked for the raise and got it.  And, for those who would emulate her, she explains the difference between asking and complaining.

La Roxy’s not blogging much lately (she posted most recently on October 5th), but to be fair, she meant the daily asking experiment to last just a year, and she’s already exceeded that. Maybe I’ll leave a comment to suggest she start up again.

It can’t hurt to ask.

Even though the only French thing about me is my first name (Marie-Therese), I’m intrigued by French women: the way they dress, the way they comport themselves, and how they seem to know things I don’t know.

I realize that French women who defy the stereotype of having it together exist (I once had a French penpal who wrote me long letters, mooning over a man who clearly had no interest in her), but I enjoy reading books by pragmatic women who know what they want and know how to get it.

So when I saw Mireille Guiliano, the former CEO of Clicquot, Inc. and author of the bestselling French Women Don’t Get Fat, appear on some talk show to promote her new book, I called Dorothy at Written Words Bookstore to order it for me immediately.

The book is called Women, Work & the Art of Savoir Faire, and it encompasses everything from the value of finding a career mentor, to how to dress well, to how to entertain for business at home and in restaurants. Some of the advice is well-worn, to be sure, but I relish Guiliano’s perspective. Here’s what she writes about women making apologies:

“I have witnessed this countless times in business at every level. For example, at a staff presentation or major speaking engagement, one sort of apology goes something like this: ‘I am sorry but I’m very nervous speaking in public’ or ‘this is my first presentation, and I am sorry if…’ Do men ever apologize?”

I especially enjoyed her advice for entertaining for business at home. She recommends that you “avoid catering” (who knew?), and that you make at least two-thirds of the meal yourself. “The dishes have to be simple,” she writes, “which means a short list of ingredients that are easily and quickly put together, and the cooking has to be fast and last-minute, or long and slow so it is literally just taken out of the oven as guest arrive and doesn’t take you away from guests and the table during dinner.”

To that end, she features several menus for what she calls her “signature meals.” For example, Tout au Chocolate, includes recipes for an appetizer of chestnut veloute (soup) au chocolate, duck breasts with apples and chocolate sauce for the main course, and mousse au chocolat with ginger. I think I could make a few fans serving that.

While I appreciated Guiliano’s tips on seating arrangements, I could’ve done without the comment about leaving your fork and knife in a five o’clock position to signal you’ve finished eating is “dying table-and-utensil etiquette. ” She believes that she may be “the last person to remember this nicety.” She surely is not.

Oh, but how I wished I’d had this woman at my side when I looked for my first job (or any job, for that matter). She offers guidelines for choosing the right company, the right position, and I loved the story she tells about Maria, a highly-qualified woman who didn’t realize her value and wanted help in negotiating a salary for a new job. “Don’t think of taking this for anything less than three times [what she was already earning],” Guiliano counseled. “They won’t respect you if you are willing to accept a cut-rate salary, and this company can easily afford to pay the going rate and more.”

Did Maria get the job? Yes, she did. Not only that, the company sent a car to take her from the airport to the apartment they’d rented for the month she’d spend training for it.

But, while I admire Mireille Guiliano, apparently some others do not. A Google search directed me to a Gawker post that named her one of New York’s worst bosses, not to mention a bad cook. I wonder if she’s truly a rotten boss (it’s possible), or if a couple of sad people just happen to have it in for a successful woman.

Last night, David Letterman revealed he was blackmailed by a CBS producer who knew he’d had sex with staffers from his show. My first reaction to the sex part was, “Big deal.” I mean, I’ve worked in places where even married coworkers had affairs. It wouldn’t be my thing, but I understand that some people do it.

But other people (and more than a few of them are men) feel that Letterman exploited the women who worked for him (Late Night With David Letterman is his show, of course, and he is the boss).

What’s your feeling? If you haven’t already seen the clip from last night’s show, it’s a bit — well, I’ll let you see for yourself. Check it out and let us know what you think.

In the dentist’s office the other day, I came across the October issue of More, which featured a helpful article about women who left dull careers to strike out on their own.

More is really pushing “reinventing yourself” these days, and even though the pub targets the over-40 crowd, you certainly don’t have to wait if you’re not there yet. The article referenced a website, Changing Course, founded by Valerie Young, who has been specializing in helping people do their own thing since 1995. (Her tips have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today Weekend , The Boston Globe, The Irish Independent, and other places).

Changing Course provides a wealth of information, including a list of “cool business ideas, money making opportunities, and ideas for multiple income streams.” You can also download a free ebook at the site to help you get started.

Acccording to the Wall Street Journal’s Sarah E. Needleman, Twitter is more than just a means of being continually informed of Ashton Kutcher’s activities. The site is also emerging as a tool for companies with positions to fill.

Needleman writes:

With so many people looking for jobs now, some employers say they like that Twitter yields just enough job leads—but not too many. Job boards have ‘become saturated,’ says Mike Rickheim, vice president of global talent acquisition for Newell Rubbermaid Inc., a global manufacturer based in Atlanta.

‘With Twitter, we don’t have to go through that huge pile of résumés.’ Mr. Rickheim says the company uses Twitter to fill positions that tend to attract tons of applicants on job boards, such as administrative roles, as well as to share company news.”

Read the full article here.

I’m a big fan of Karen Salmansohn, author of The Prince Harming Syndrome and Even God is Single So Stop Giving Me a Hard Time, and her method for taking life by the horns and being happy no matter what. (Read my review of her book, Enough Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Finally Getting What You Want Out of Life here.)

Salmansohn is no dreamer. She writes:

…my techniques/ theories are a hybrid of modern cognitive psychology, Aristotle’s timeless happiness philosophies, brain science, and energy theories on thought from quantum physics - all delivered with feisty humor.”

For 30 days, Salmansohn will post updates to purposefully strengthen your brain’s positive neural pathways on love, happiness, and achievement, along with free excerpts from her latest release, Prince Harming Syndrome.

Take control of your life with Karen’s free workshop on her blog (starting with yesterday’s post of September 14th). I have used the method she describes in this particular post. I assure you it works.

So says an woman who came out to see Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, who appeared at the opening of a new documentary that takes viewers behind closed doors of the fabled fashion magazine.

And I’d say that’s certainly encouraging for women who stumble through their careers afraid to take a stand (”Don’t make waves,” my first boss,  a man, warned me).

A lot of us still want to be liked at all costs.

But, apparently, Wintour is not one of us. Today’s The Daily Beast features an article by another successful woman, Tina Brown (former head honcho at Vanity Fair, the now-defunct Talk, and The New Yorker)  who details how Wintour’s job was on the line only months ago (she wasn’t selling too many ads in this economy, and her boss, Conde Nast Chairman Si Newhouse wanted a replacement).

The ‘bitch’ managed to turn things around. Three months after the crisis, she’s back on top.  Read Brown’s article here.

I don’t have strong feelings about the occasionally seemingly disoriented American Idol judge, Paula Abdul, but I know one thing: She got people talking. While much of the audience tuned in simply to watch a singing competition, a segment watched the show simply to see what nutty thing she might come out with. And, then, the woman has a major fan base that’s followed her throughout a long career as a singer, dancer, and choreographer.

If AI producers were  to lose Paula’s colleague, Randy Jackson, I wouldn’t notice. If they replaced emcee Ryan Seacrest with, say, Lorenzo Lamas, I probably wouldn’t care. But if Paula were to disappear, I’d say, “Hey, something’s very wrong around here.”

Who wouldn’t?

Sadly, due to producers refusal to meet Paula’s salary expectations (notice I say “expectations,” instead of “demands,” which would wrongly suggest she’s a prima donna), she has chosen not to return to American Idol next season. Turns out Ryan’s new contract gives him about 15 million a year, Simon makes a good deal more than that, while Paula pulls in a mere two million (nobody’s talking about what Randy makes). Paula asked for a more equitable 12 million. Producers told her no.

So I’m telling them no by not tuning in next season. Apparently, I won’t be alone in this. According to a report on Today this morning, many Abdul fans will protest by tuning out American Idol.

The bottom line: Pay the woman fairly.

To hammer it home, Ramin Setoodeh of Newsweek listed 7 reasons why American Idol needs Paula.