Monday November 12th, 2007: Issue #857
It is a beautiful sunny morning here in Sidcup, but the sunshine is all on the outside - inside of Delia and I there is a storm a-brewing!
This is the time of year when kids have to apply to Universities (for entry next October). It is a really important and stressful time for them - and their parents - with endless visits to university open days and lots of soul-searching about which university and course is the right one.
Part of the application is a personal statement by the applicant. The universities set a lot of store on what the applicants say about themselves and you can’t send in your application without it. Kids spend a huge amount of time crafting the best statement they can.
There is one teacher in a school - usually the head of 6th form - who is responsible for collating all the applications with the personal statements and sets of references. It is then that teacher’s job to send the whole lot off to the universities on each pupil’s list. The pupil cannot send it themselves - the school has to do it.
And therein lies the problem. At Lauren’s school, the head of 6th form appears to be completely incompetent. Although Lauren gave her everything she required over 3 weeks ago, she still has not sent anything off to the universities. She claims to be held up because another teacher hasn’t provided a reference yet.
So why has she not chased him up - if that is true? The teacher involved told Lauren that he has done what was required.
Lauren has been chasing the useless head of 6th form every day, and is now being told to ’stop bothering me about it.’
Meanwhile, other friends of Lauren, from other schools, have already started to receive offers from the universities they have applied to. As a result of the delay, Lauren (and presumably other pupils at her school) are now likely to be at the bottom of their chosen universities lists.
This is the most important time for pupils and the prompt actions of their supposedly responsible teachers can have huge effects on their long term future.
There is no place for incompetence and inter-teacher squabbles. They need to knock their heads together and get moving.
Unless we hear from Lauren by the end of the day that something has at long last been done, Delia and I will be making camp in the school’s reception tomorrow morning - there being seemingly no other way for parents to get any contact with the staff.
I hope it doesn’t come to that.
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Sorry about that. You might get a clue that I’m not best pleased this morning!
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Over the last few days I’ve been working hard on a few new websites. I decided it was time to get back to my roots and start building niche websites and actively using private label articles and ebooks again.
A few weeks ago I bought an expensive program that builds sites for you. it isn’t by any means an automatic process, you have to put quite a lot f work in to customize the site to be exactly how you would like it, but the promise is that the result will beloved by the search engines and long lasting in their indexes.
Quite a promise!
Although there is a generous affiliate program connected with this software, I will refrain from telling you its name yet. I would like to get some proof of its effectiveness before I give it my seal of approval!
Consequently I’m monitoring the sites that I’ve built (and am continuing to build) and if and when they start to receive SE attention and ongoing income, I’ll let you know.
Meanwhile, you can see one of the sites that I’m working on at http://yoga.reviewandopinion.com
Normally I am very reticent to divulge any of my niches, but I think yoga is general enough to not worry about! 
Let me know what you think.
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As a result of all my site building, my favorite program has been getting a lot of use this weekend. Niche Inspector is, for my money, the easiest tool I’ve yet found for unearthing great niches and building excellent, usable lists of keywords.
Myleena Phan, Niche Inspector’s developer, has had a lot of personal problems recently, but she has still managed to issue updates to the software whenever they have become necessary. The latest of which was only last week.
If you already have Niche Inspector, get using it. It’ll pay for itself in no time.
If you haven’t yet bought a copy, check out my demonstration video review at http://www.kickstartdaily.com/nicheinspector/
And yes, if you buy it through my link, let me know and I’ll send you the list of seed words that I mention in the video.
Incidentally, a lot of people who have already bought Niche Inspector and have used the bonus keyword seed list that I sent them have been asking if they can get hold of more seed lists.
As a result of that I’m planning to release a very limited number of the complete set of all 10 seed list packs, plus a bonus list or two on top. They won’t be cheap and there won’t be many available, so watch out for a special announcement very soon.
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An Inspirational Thought
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Talking about children (I should be more PC and call them young adults) writing personal statements to get into university, I wonder why it has to be just the kids who do it?
We have talked before (and will again) about goals and goal setting, but there is another aspect of life planning that is equally important - but rarely practiced.
Take some time today to write your life’s mission statement.
Successful businesses have mission statements that publicly announce what they stand for and (in theory at least) guide their actions.
Why should you and I be any different. If we really want success, then we certainly should set out our values like a torch to guide our way through the dark.
One dictionary definition of ‘mission’ is: that for which one has been sent into the world.
Before you start to set goals, create your personal mission statement. Write down what it is that you think you have been put on Earth to do.
Then, when you do set your goals, you will be able to judge them against a clear benchmark. If your goals contradict your mission statement you will need to change your goals, or rethink your life’s mission.
Only when both are aligned will success be within your grasp.
It’s not quite the stuff that universities would expect, but in the real world it is likely to be highly effective.
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Who do you know who would love Kickstart Today?
Don’t keep it to yourself - send them to
http://www.kickstartdaily.com today!
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The Quote of the Day
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Charles William Eliot said,
“All business proceeds on beliefs, or judgments of probabilities, and not on certainties.”
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Today’s Power Thought
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A lot has been written and taught over the years about efficiency.
Now, I’m not going to say that all that stuff is wrong - doing things right is important - but I am going to say that this ‘efficiency is king’ mantra sometimes misses the point.
You can be super-efficient, get everything done to perfection in a wonderfully timely manner, and still fail to achieve anything much.
The Internet is a great case in point. How many people spend every hour that they can spare, and many that they can’t, desperately following every piece of advice that they receive to the letter. And yet, they are still lucky to cover their costs, let alone see the fantastic rewards that were promised.
They are wonderfully efficient at doing everything that is asked of them, but there is something missing.
That missing ingredient is that they are efficient without being effective.
Effectiveness is rarely taught with the same fervor as efficiency, but it always HAS to come first.
Effectiveness is about doing the right thing.
And unless you are doing the right thing, all the efficiency in the world is never going to get you any closer to your goals.
But what ARE the right things? We know if we are being efficient, but how do we know if we are being effective?
The only true way that I know of is to ask yourself the honest question - ‘Does this really MATTER to me?’
If the answer is no or maybe, the task isn’t truly effective. Re-examine it. Refine it. Review it. Re- write it until you can honestly say that yes, this now matters to me.
And when it truly matters - to YOU - when you know that it is an efficient use of your time, then, and only then, should you strive to be as efficient in its execution as you possible can be.
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Fascinating Facts
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The first cat imported into Paraguay was bought for one-pound of solid gold.
Cats have 100 vocal sounds.
All tortoiseshell cats are female except for a rare sterile male.
Cats have 32 muscles in each ear.
Although dogs are mentioned 18 times in the Bible, cats are completely ignored.