Questions about Facebook - help please!

This isn’t the blog that I was planning to write today, but …

I am hoping that someone in the blogosphere will read this and help me with a problem which, I suspect, affects a lot of others, not just me!

I have a Facebook personal page and my avatar is an image of my cat Coco:

I have now set up a separate page for The Mid Life Opportunity, using a picture of me, to show that I exist…J

When I ‘Like’ other people’s Fan Pages, Coco appears as the avatar, not me. This shows that I am visiting the page as my Personal profile not my Page profile.

Is there any way that I can amend my settings so that I can keep my personal ‘Likes’ separate from my business ‘Likes’?

Similarly, my blog updates appear on my personal page as well as my Fan Page, despite me having adjusted the privacy settings (as far as I can see).

If any of you Facebook experts could help me with this, to separate what my personal 'friends' see and my business 'friends' see, I’d be very appreciative!

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Changing Jobs in Mid Life

I recently had a slightly surreal experience which set me thinking about the way that we each view our world.

We arranged to take a long weekend break in Europe that involved getting a taxi to the station, arriving at 4am – an early start! The taxi duly dropped us off just before 4 and we were blearily taking our cases out of the car when a 20something lad wandered up and asked the taxi driver if he could take him home.

So here we were, talking to the same taxi driver about the same taxi but from a completely different perspective – we were starting our day and looking forward to going to France and our 20something friend was ending a long night out and looking forward to his bed.  We were in the same place but viewing the situation from a completely different perspective.

The same is true of politics – I can see it’s the government’s fault, you blame the world crisis. We’re both looking at the same situation.

And music – we listen to the same song – you love it, I hate it.

What about the mid life relationship crisis? Let’s say that your friend becomes involved with a young bride or a toy boy. Whether the new love interest is from Russia, Thailand or from the same country as your friend, do they really think that it’s all going to have a happy ending? You don’t, they do …

So what do we learn from this? That we all view the world with different eyes? This probably indicates that Mid Lifers typically see things differently to younger people. Mid Lifers have more experience to draw on, more real life examples of what works and what doesn’t – the generation gap, if you like. In the world of work, does this prejudice younger people (the hiring managers) against Mid Lifers?

If you’re looking to change jobs, or need to find a new job because you’ve been made redundant, ask yourself where you are most likely to be successful and happy. You will probably have a lot of transferable skills but that doesn’t mean that they can be transferred everywhere. Think about where you are most likely to be happy – that is probably going to be where you can also add most value. If you’ve worked in the customer service department of a big company and you like gardening, working in a large garden centre might strike the right notes for you. If you’re in your 40s, worked in local government for the last 15 years and play in a band at weekends, you’re very unlikely to be happy working in the media. Do you see the difference?

Working in a garden centre ticks the ‘gardening’ box, the ‘customer service’ box and the ‘midlife’ box.

Working in the media ticks the ‘music’ box but most definitely doesn’t tick the ‘mid life’ box – the media is populated with young, thrusting ‘metrosexuals’ who are unlikely to share most of your midlife views of the world.

So understand that we all view the world from different standpoints and that this may affect your chances of landing that new job and ultimately, your likelihood of being happy and productive in your new role. Think about the working environments in which your views and those of your potential new boss and colleagues are likely to coincide rather than conflict – this is where you will find happiness and fulfilment in your work.

Sounds obvious? Maybe, but how many Mid Lifers think they know better!

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The Mid Life Opportunity (www.MidLifeOp.com) is a community for Mid Lifers. Advice and Guidance will soon be available from The Mid Life Coaching Panel. It’s free to join so what are you waiting for? Join here FREE!

Please take 1 minute to complete the 2010 Mid Life Survey: Click here

Selling the Video Sizzle …

We all know that incorporating a video in a blog or website is beneficial. It is another medium with which you can interact with your followers. It adds movement and interest to your site and a professionally produced video can increase your standing as a high profile expert in your niche.

These days, there are two types of video. The first is the ‘home produced’ video which is uploaded to Youtube, Bliptv, Dailymotion and the rest and then embedded into your site. This type of video allows you to record your own video, on any topic you choose, to extend your reach and increase the impact of your message. If you aren’t doing this, you should be!

The second type of video is the ‘high production’ type of video which is generally used to advertise a business or brand. These look far more professional and really add a quality feel to your site. But they can be expensive.

They can be expensive, but they don’t need to be. Here is a video that I produced to promote The Mid Life Opportunity:

Not bad?

This uses a software package called Animoto. Upload your images, add your text, choose your backing track, click next and sit back and wait for the result …

There is a free option – produce videos up to 30 secs in length – or two levels of paid versions.

Animoto produces excellent website content, I think you’ll agree, that adds high production values to your site.

For more details of how you could use Animoto videos in your blog or website, click on the logo below:

Happy video production!
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The Mid Life Opportunity (www.MidLifeOp.com) is a community for Mid Lifers. Advice and Guidance will soon be available from The Mid Life Coaching Panel. It’s free to join so what are you waiting for? Join here FREE!

Please take 1 minute to complete the 2010 Mid Life Survey: Click here

The Best Way to Get Through Life

Many of the roads in The New Forest (where I live) are single track roads, which means that two vehicles have difficulty in passing each other because the road is so narrow. One or both vehicles have to drive partly on the verge to allow enough room to get by each other.

Everybody know this, but it is interesting to see how different people approach the situation. Some people see a car approaching and look around for the best place to pass (which may mean reversing back a little way). Other people just keep driving until they meet the other car, then try to pass in a very difficult spot.

Everybody gets by each other in the end but some people seem to take the difficult way when the simpler way (a wider section of the road) would be so much easier.

We see this in life don’t we? Some people plan ahead and are prepared for what life throws at them. Others live by the day and ‘muddle through’ or rely on the goodwill of others to help them. Some don’t plan at all and seem to be equally successful. We all get by and we all view the world through different eyes so there’s no right and no wrong way, just different ways.

Some people are more arrogant than others; some are more selfish. You are unlikely to change them, so you need to learn to live with them.

We all think that our way is the best way (particularly if we’re religious or into politics). We all need to understand that there are a number of ‘best ways’ and a bit of ‘give and take’ is required to ensure that we all able to pass each other on the single track roads of life.

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The Mid Life Opportunity (www.MidLifeOp.com) is a community for Mid Lifers. Advice and Guidance will soon be available from The Mid Life Coaching Panel. It’s free to join so what are you waiting for?

Please take 1 minute to complete the 2010 Mid Life Survey: Click here

Six Midlife Career Change Tips – an Unconventional View

There is an increasing amount of advice available to people in midlife who are looking to find a new job or change careers. Rob Bennett, of PassionSaving.com offers six career change tips which are less conventional than most of the advice on offer. See what you think.

1.       Unconventional midlife career change tip 1: Each day you remain at a job you don’t love because the money is good you fall farther behind on your long-term quest for financial freedom.

Rob contends that remaining in a job because the pay and benefits are good overlooks the importance of recognising ‘what you learn’ from your job. If you aren’t learning in your current role you will be falling behind your peers who are in jobs where training and learning are considered essential. The financial risks of staying at a job where you are not continuing to learn are often greater than the financial risks of making a well-planned move to something you enjoy more.

2.       Unconventional midlife career change tip 2: Don’t take the “Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow” maxim too seriously.

Whilst this may be true, in most cases, it does not establish WHEN the money will follow. A sound financial plan is required to ensure that the new job or project is given enough time to mature and provide the expected financial rewards.

3.       Unconventional midlife career change tip 3: Focus not on work issues but on money issues.

However much you plan, however much you feel you are suited to the new job, you have not done enough to take the risk involved in handing in a resignation from your current job in pursuit of a mid-life career change.

You must put a financial plan in place to smooth out both the current and future transitions. If you don’t, there is a good chance that a few years down the road you will be back in the same sorts of circumstances that caused you to want to make the first midlife career change.

4.       Unconventional midlife career change tip 4: Understand that the real reason for your job dissatisfaction lies within.

Rob’s view here is that it isn’t a bad boss or a bad company culture that causes you to want a midlife career change – it’s you!

There are of course outside forces that play a role in causing you to be dissatisfied in your career and there are bad bosses and some pretty awful company cultures. But those outside forces are not usually the primary factor in causing job dissatisfaction, and it is important for you to understand what the primary factor is if you hope to pull off a successful midlife career change.

It is natural and good to feel dissatisfaction about a job after you have been in it a number of years. It is the desire to learn and grow that is causing you to become dissatisfied with a career that no longer provides the challenge it once did. The surprising thing would be if you never felt a need to pursue a mid-life career change.

5.       Unconventional midlife career change tip 5: Be wary of quick solutions to the problems causing your feelings of dissatisfaction.

It makes perfect sense to seek a new career after mastering an earlier one or finding that one is not suited for the earlier one. The issue to beware of is that there is a good chance that the frustrations experienced in the earlier role will recur, this time when you are older and have fewer fresh-start options open to you.

The best approach is to gain some level of financial freedom before making the switch to a new role. Not always possible, of course, but if this can be attained, then the pressures on you will be greatly reduced. It is by reducing the extent to which one needs to work for money that one obtains the best possible long-term assurance of being able to spend one's time doing soul-satisfying work.

6.       Unconventional midlife career change tip 6: Understand that what you really need is not career planning alone, but a combination of career and financial planning.

Financial planning on its own doesn’t work. Career planning on its own doesn’t work. It is a combination of the two which works best. If you can build a nest egg you have more control over your career options.

Yes, you need to change careers. But you might want to slow down in your implementation of the plan and make sure that the solution you come up with is one that will serve you well for a long time to come. To make a successful mid-life career change, you need not just a job-change plan, but a money-change plan too. Let’s call it your Life Plan!

Read the full article here: www.passionsaving.com

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The Mid Life Opportunity (www.MidLifeOp.com) is a community for Mid Lifers. Advice and Guidance will soon be available from The Mid Life Coaching Panel. It’s free to join so what are you waiting for? Join hereFREE!

Please take 1 minute to complete the 2010 Mid Life Survey: Click here

Do you believe the Weather Forecast?

It was already late autumn (fall) and the Indians on a remote reservation in South Dakota asked their new chief if the coming winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was a chief in a modern society he had never been taught the old secrets. When he looked at the sky he couldn't tell what the winter was going to be like.

Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he told his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect firewood to be prepared. But being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the
national weather service and asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?" It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold," the meteorologist at the weather service responded.

So the chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more firewood in order to be prepared. A week later he called the national weather service again. "Does it still look like it is going to be a very cold winter?" "Yes," the man at national weather service again replied,
"It's going to be a very cold winter."

The chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of firewood they could find.

Two weeks later the chief called the national weather service again. "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"
"Absolutely," the man replied. "It’s looking more and more like it is going to be one of the coldest winters we've ever seen."
"How can you be so sure?" the chief asked.
The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting firewood like crazy.

The story (apart from being funny) also reflects the way in which we can get ‘carried away in the moment’. If we see an item that we like at an auction house (or bid for an item on eBay) we can easily end up paying more than we wanted because other people also want the item. They want it, we want it. They bid, we bid. They bid again, we bid again and so on, until one of us cracks. If we win, we’re pleased that we now own the item but worried about the cost. If we lose, we’re disappointed. The Indians in the story collected far more wood than they actually needed because of the supposed threat of a very cold winter. At least they won’t have to collect so much wood next winter. If we pay more than we should have for our auction item, at least we’ve got it to use or admire for as long as we want.

What else does this story illustrate? Check your sources? Understand the assumptions that are being made when someone gives you advice? That the weatherman (probably an experienced midlifer) was using his local knowledge to find the best answer?

It’s probably all of these. It also demonstrates how easy it is to believe that something is true because ‘that’s the way it’s done around here’. So when someone tells you that ‘it can’t be done’ or ‘it won’t work here’, try it anyway!

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The Mid Life Opportunity (www.MidLifeOp.com) is a community for Mid Lifers. Advice and Guidance will soon be available from The Mid Life Coaching Panel. It’s free to join so what are you waiting for?

Please take 1 minute to complete the 2010 Mid Life Survey: Click here

The Rocks and Sand of your Life

The tutor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty glass jar and proceeded to fill it with big rocks. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.


So the tutor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the big rocks. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.


The tutor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous - - yes.


The tutor then produced a can of beer from under the table and proceeded to pour it into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.


"Now," said the tutor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognise that this jar represents your life. The big rocks are the important things - - your family, your partner, your health, your children, your friends, your favourite passions - - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full."


"The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car.
The sand is everything else - - the small stuff."


"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the big rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.


Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Fall in love. Spend time with your friends. Take your partner out for a meal. There will always be time to go to work, go to the gym, give a dinner party and clean the car.


Take care of the big rocks first - - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."


One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The tutor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a drink!"


Mid Lifers are often confused over their priorities - should I change my job? Should I take early retirement? Do I really still love my partner? Am I saving enough for retirement?


Sort out the 'Big Rocks' in your life before you make any big decisions. The results of your prioritisation may make the difference between a big win and a succession of regrets!

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The Mid Life Opportunity (www.MidLifeOp.com) is a community for Mid Lifers. Advice and Guidance will soon be available from The Mid Life Coaching Panel. It’s free to join so what are you waiting for? Join hereFREE!

Please take 1 minute to complete the 2010 Mid Life Survey: Click here