PodJam.tv Now Live!

Yesterday marked the beginning of a new adventure for me.  After a month and a half of planning and preparation for a site designed to be a hub for people to jam, my partner and co-host @mistygirlph have launched PodJam.Tv.  We started out with two posts here on my site.  We had so much fun writing and sharing with our audience that we pushed ourselves to move forward and create a place for people to learn, and share with our passion.   Our goal is to be able to post videos, audio podcasts and written  articles full of helpful tidbits of information that deals with different aspects of a person’s digital life.

L to R: Misty Belardo and Marty McPadden

We hope to bring our personal views, reviews and tips about photography, social media, technology and life. Take you to our travels and  allow you a peak into our online and offline life.  What will happen to my site you may ask.  Well, it will still be here, please feel free to browse around and share if you like.  But my efforts and concentration will be on PodJam.Tv, creating content for the new site is now my priority.  I invite you to check out PodJam.Tv, come and have fun with us, engage and learn with us.  

You can also find PodJam.Tv on Facebook and please follow us on Twitter for updates, cool contests and giveaways.

Five Simple Words

Please, thank you, you're welcome. Sound familiar to you? If your answer is no, you're not alone. When is the last time you've said "thank you?" How about "you're welcome?" I rarely hear those words anymore. Many people seem like they can't be bothered. Five simple words.

I always make it a point to say "please" when asking for something or "thank you" when receiving something. I would expect most people make it a point to say "thank you" or "please" when interacting with friends and family but how about people you don't know? Just because we don't know someone on a personal level, does it mean they deserve any lesser respect than people we know and love?

Recently I've started to pay closer attention to my everyday interactions and have observed a particularly interesting phenomenon when interacting with strangers and; in particular, with service employees. This includes wait staff in restaurants, store clerks, box office staff, flight attendants to name a few. What I've observed is a noticeable reaction of surprise as a result of our interactions. This is usually followed by a smile, like I made their day just by having a conversation with them. It's subtle but definitely noticeable; in a good way.

I've thought about why people seem to be reacting to me in this way and then it dawned on me. Most people, particularly people you don't know, aren't used to hearing any of the "five simple words." To say "please," "thank you" and "you're welcome" takes about one second per phrase. One second of your time and effort that can make a person's day seems like a simple and easy thing to do. For me, it's as natural as breathing.

I remember hearing somewhere that it takes 21 days for something you do to become a habit. If it's not already habit for you, I challenge you to start today using the "five simple words" as part of your normal, everyday conversations. This applies to online interactions as well. It's easy once you get started. How about it?

Five. Simple. Words

Photo Credit: graur razvan ionut

Posted via email from Marty McPadden