Turning negatives into positives is a tremendous habit to acquire. It's really looking on the bright side of life and finding what there is to be thankful for. The following newsletter reprint details what I did on "Outback Adventure" after the disappointment of having my hot air balloon flight over the Flinders Ranges cancelled.
Pilot Your Life #15: Turn negatives into positives
During my recent four wheel drive trip into South Australia’s Outback, I put into practice one of the tips I learnt on Oz Flight ’99, my flight around Australia’s coast.
I had to turn negatives into positives several times.
Staying at Rawnsley Park Station, in the Flinders Ranges, was going to give me another opportunity to fly in a hot air balloon. I rather like the serenity of floating with the breeze, like earlier in the year in Florida (see issue no. 9, March 2010).
In the evening before the flight, everything pointed to the right conditions for a balloon launch the next morning. We had to get up early and meet in front of the Woolshed Restaurant at 5.45am, while it was still dark. It was also very chilly so I had on my gloves, scarf and beanie (a sight to behold!).
The chief pilot wasn’t sounding very hopeful because even though there didn’t seem to be much wind at ground level, the small tester balloon, with a light attached, was floating up into the darkness quite rapidly. So the decision was made not to launch the balloons.
Very disappointing. It would have been a beautiful flight, seeing Wilpena Pound bathed in the early morning sunlight. That was the negative side, missing out on the flight. The positive side was that my cabin was only a few hundred metres away and I could go back to a warm bed. Others, unfortunately, had to drive back the 24 kilometres to their accommodation in Wilpena.
The most important positive was that the pilot had our safety in mind and chose not to fly (my kind of pilot – safety first, second and last). Later in the day, the pilots packed up their gear and headed back to Adelaide, with no hope of balloon flights later in the week. I’d previously booked another night at Rawnsley Park in a few days’ time just in case there was another opportunity to go ballooning. Not this trip, obviously.
However, I made the most of the situation since I was already up in time for the sunrise (like in issue no. 6, December 2009).
It was bitterly cold and my boots did get wet tramping through the dew-laden grass but it was worth it for what I heard and saw and photographed. The magpies were carolling away in the trees and in the distance was the faint bleating of sheep. An eagle was even soaring not far from Rawnsley Bluff.
As the sun gradually rose, the landscape changed from the windmill silhouetted against the night sky, to trees cloaked in gentle light and mist still clinging to the ranges. Not a bad start to the day as I chose to look on the bright side and turn a negative into a positive.
So, the next great tip for how to pilot your life (personal or business) is:
Turn negatives into positives.
In order to get rainbows
you have to put up with the rain.
Always look on the bright side of life…
Two of my presentation topics are:
Overcoming procrastination
Turning negatives into positives
Showing posts with label articles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label articles. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
3 Tips To Increase Traffic To Your Website Digitally
Increase traffic to your website or blog not only by posting good content often and by submitting articles to article directories but also by using digital methods.
Not everyone likes to read a lot of words. Some people relate more to photos or visual presentations, so why not make the most of the photos that you have. Direct people digitally to your blog or website.
I’m a relative newcomer to blogging, so I’ve learnt a lot from making mistakes. Photos tell a story much better than words sometimes and in nearly every post I use an image or two. I discovered that in a couple of my blogs (like this one), the traffic sources were mostly from people’s searches on images.
So here are three digital ways of increasing traffic that I’ve been learning to use.
1. Photos in blogs
I used to insert an image into my blog without actually naming it e.g. leaving it with the original upload identifier like “IMG_1234”. However, search engines also search on images, so imagine how many images there would be with “IMG_1234”.
Go to any blog or website with a photo on it, right mouse click on the photo, click on “Save Picture As” and you’ll see the title of the image, be it “IMG” or something else. When I first started, I just used the original photo identifier, but now I actually name the photo and add my name to it as well e.g. “Lake Powell, Arizona & Utah, USA – Fran West” (I still have a lot of photos to go back to and name properly).
Another thing that I do to the photo is put my name and website on it so that when people save onto their computer, my details are visible.
2. Slideshare
This is one of the free sites where you can upload various format files of your work e.g.
• Presentations: pdf, ppt, pps, pptx, ppsx, pot, potx (Powerpoint); odp (OpenOffice); key, zip (Apple Keynote),
• Documents: pdf, doc, docx, rtf (MSOffice); odt, ods(OpenOffice); Apple iWork Pages
• Videos: mp4, m4v, wmv, mpeg, avi, mov, mpg, mkv, ogg , asf , vob , 3gp, rm, rmvb, flv
People search in this site but you can also copy the embed code and paste it into your blog. The transcript of the document is printed below your upload and you can also copy this and paste it into your own blog. Make sure that you include your name and/or blog URL somewhere in the presentation.
Here's my Slideshare page - http://www.slideshare.net/AdventurerFran
3. Flickr
I’ve just started uploading some of my blog photos onto Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/franwest. The photos have my name and also my website on them. In the actual description of the photos I include “This photo appears in (the URL of my blogs)” so if people like my photos they might want to read the blog posts which contain the photos. As a newcomer to Flickr, I still have a lot to learn but putting the photos into sets and joining groups related to the photos can lead to more people searching on your website.
These are just three ways to increase traffic to your site but in the end it does depend on how often you blog and what you blog about.
To prove a point, however, I stopped blogging on two of my websites to see if traffic was still coming to the sites and in what form. In both this blog and http://utahparks.blogspot.com, the traffic sources have continued to be image searches, so imagine how much more traffic I could have had if I’d kept posting regularly to the blogs and inserting more photos.
If you enjoyed this blog post then please share it with others.
Not everyone likes to read a lot of words. Some people relate more to photos or visual presentations, so why not make the most of the photos that you have. Direct people digitally to your blog or website.
I’m a relative newcomer to blogging, so I’ve learnt a lot from making mistakes. Photos tell a story much better than words sometimes and in nearly every post I use an image or two. I discovered that in a couple of my blogs (like this one), the traffic sources were mostly from people’s searches on images.
So here are three digital ways of increasing traffic that I’ve been learning to use.
1. Photos in blogs
I used to insert an image into my blog without actually naming it e.g. leaving it with the original upload identifier like “IMG_1234”. However, search engines also search on images, so imagine how many images there would be with “IMG_1234”.
Go to any blog or website with a photo on it, right mouse click on the photo, click on “Save Picture As” and you’ll see the title of the image, be it “IMG” or something else. When I first started, I just used the original photo identifier, but now I actually name the photo and add my name to it as well e.g. “Lake Powell, Arizona & Utah, USA – Fran West” (I still have a lot of photos to go back to and name properly).
Another thing that I do to the photo is put my name and website on it so that when people save onto their computer, my details are visible.
2. Slideshare
This is one of the free sites where you can upload various format files of your work e.g.
• Presentations: pdf, ppt, pps, pptx, ppsx, pot, potx (Powerpoint); odp (OpenOffice); key, zip (Apple Keynote),
• Documents: pdf, doc, docx, rtf (MSOffice); odt, ods(OpenOffice); Apple iWork Pages
• Videos: mp4, m4v, wmv, mpeg, avi, mov, mpg, mkv, ogg , asf , vob , 3gp, rm, rmvb, flv
People search in this site but you can also copy the embed code and paste it into your blog. The transcript of the document is printed below your upload and you can also copy this and paste it into your own blog. Make sure that you include your name and/or blog URL somewhere in the presentation.
Here's my Slideshare page - http://www.slideshare.net/AdventurerFran
Utah Parks
View more presentations from Fran West
3. Flickr
I’ve just started uploading some of my blog photos onto Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/franwest. The photos have my name and also my website on them. In the actual description of the photos I include “This photo appears in (the URL of my blogs)” so if people like my photos they might want to read the blog posts which contain the photos. As a newcomer to Flickr, I still have a lot to learn but putting the photos into sets and joining groups related to the photos can lead to more people searching on your website.
These are just three ways to increase traffic to your site but in the end it does depend on how often you blog and what you blog about.
To prove a point, however, I stopped blogging on two of my websites to see if traffic was still coming to the sites and in what form. In both this blog and http://utahparks.blogspot.com, the traffic sources have continued to be image searches, so imagine how much more traffic I could have had if I’d kept posting regularly to the blogs and inserting more photos.
If you enjoyed this blog post then please share it with others.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Take Time Out To Enjoy Every Achievement By Going Hot Air Ballooning In Florida
Take Time Out To Enjoy Every Achievement By Going Hot Air Ballooning In Florida. Here's one of my newsletters with Slideshare presentation and text below.
Pilot Your Life #9: Take time out to enjoy every achievement
This year has been particularly busy for me as I’ve already set in motion and achieved some of my goals.
In January and February I went trekking in Patagonia in southern Chile and Argentina. Then, after a week back at home to partially recover, I set off for North America to speak at the Women in Aviation International conference in Orlando, Florida.
Another speaking engagement followed that with the invitation to participate in the Women Fly! program at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
Not a bad start to the year.
While in Orlando, I experienced the joy of flying in a much slower mode than usual – a hot air balloon. The flight ended up being both a time of reflection and a time for reflection.
At the Boggy Creek field, with a definite nip in the air, six balloons launched in the blinding light of the early morning sun. The biggest balloon headed off with two smaller ones, then ours took off with two others following behind.
The launch was so gentle that we hardly realised that we were aloft. Very different to taking off in a light aircraft. No roar of the engine with the plane speeding down the runway before lift off.
Apart from the occasional noisy burst of flame from the gas cylinder to adjust the balloon’s height, the flight was so peaceful. Just drifting along without a care in the world and having a bird’s eye view of the land below.
Quite amazing really that I could look out and down and not feel the fear of heights, particularly as the basket wasn’t very deep and there were no seat belts.
As we floated over the swamp, we saw the reflection of the other balloon below. That in turn sparked another reflection.
I reflected back on my holiday in South America. It involved some quite arduous trekking to reach many of the stunning scenic spots in Torres del Paine and Fitzroy National Parks. Once again this was partly to prove that I could complete the walk despite the knee, feet and back injuries from the car accident a few years ago. But I really just wanted to achieve another goal that I’d set myself. Satisfying yet exhausting.
Consequently, the balloon flight, where I relaxed, did nothing (except take photographs), and just enjoyed the experience, was my reward to me for my achievement in South America.
So, another great tip for how to pilot your life (personal or business) is:
Take time out to enjoy every achievement
Treat yourself to something special and enjoy the moment.
It’s great to achieve goals, but remember to reward yourself as you go.
It encourages you to keep striving for the next goal and success does breed success.
Two of my presentation topics are:
Setting and achieving goals
Success
Pilot Your Life #9: Take time out to enjoy every achievement
This year has been particularly busy for me as I’ve already set in motion and achieved some of my goals.
In January and February I went trekking in Patagonia in southern Chile and Argentina. Then, after a week back at home to partially recover, I set off for North America to speak at the Women in Aviation International conference in Orlando, Florida.
Another speaking engagement followed that with the invitation to participate in the Women Fly! program at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
Not a bad start to the year.
While in Orlando, I experienced the joy of flying in a much slower mode than usual – a hot air balloon. The flight ended up being both a time of reflection and a time for reflection.
At the Boggy Creek field, with a definite nip in the air, six balloons launched in the blinding light of the early morning sun. The biggest balloon headed off with two smaller ones, then ours took off with two others following behind.
The launch was so gentle that we hardly realised that we were aloft. Very different to taking off in a light aircraft. No roar of the engine with the plane speeding down the runway before lift off.
Apart from the occasional noisy burst of flame from the gas cylinder to adjust the balloon’s height, the flight was so peaceful. Just drifting along without a care in the world and having a bird’s eye view of the land below.
Quite amazing really that I could look out and down and not feel the fear of heights, particularly as the basket wasn’t very deep and there were no seat belts.
As we floated over the swamp, we saw the reflection of the other balloon below. That in turn sparked another reflection.
I reflected back on my holiday in South America. It involved some quite arduous trekking to reach many of the stunning scenic spots in Torres del Paine and Fitzroy National Parks. Once again this was partly to prove that I could complete the walk despite the knee, feet and back injuries from the car accident a few years ago. But I really just wanted to achieve another goal that I’d set myself. Satisfying yet exhausting.
Consequently, the balloon flight, where I relaxed, did nothing (except take photographs), and just enjoyed the experience, was my reward to me for my achievement in South America.
So, another great tip for how to pilot your life (personal or business) is:
Take time out to enjoy every achievement
Treat yourself to something special and enjoy the moment.
It’s great to achieve goals, but remember to reward yourself as you go.
It encourages you to keep striving for the next goal and success does breed success.
Two of my presentation topics are:
Setting and achieving goals
Success
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Be Passionate About What You Do
"Be Passionate About What You Do" is the February issue of the "Pilot Your Life" newsletter. Just email me at fran@franwest.com if you'd like to subscribe to the free monthly email newsletter (or use the "Subscribe by email" link at the bottom of this post). The newsletters usually have photos to illustrate the point and often a free destop wallpaper is offered when emailing a comment back to me.
Pilot your life newsletter no. 20
If you’re going to succeed in life, or business, you have to believe in what you’re doing and do it with gusto. Half-hearted attempts just aren’t good enough. Passion is what’s required.
I love my country, Australia.
I love travel, taking photos, doing adventurous activities, meeting new people and I particularly love flying.
All these things that I have a passion for I managed to combine in the goal that I had set myself, flying around Australia’s coast in a light aircraft.
During my trip, Oz Flight ’99, people could sense that I was passionate about and committed to the journey that I was undertaking.
They wanted to be a part of it too by helping me, giving me good information and advice, providing new experiences and having a lot of fun together.
If you aren’t enthusiastic about or don’t believe in what you’re doing, then other people won’t waste their time with you either.
When people read my book, Plane Reflections, or hear me speak about my flight, they can relate to what happened to me because of my enthusiasm. I can make them feel that they're in the plane with me experiencing the same highs and lows.
And with the photos, they can see what my eyes saw.
But best of all they realise that I'm just an ordinary person who made a dream reality and that they can also do that for themselves.
They too can achieve their full potential.
It’s truly amazing that we have the power within us to motivate other people and to change lives merely because of what we do.
So, my next tip for how to pilot your life (personal or business) is:
Be passionate about what you do.
Your passion and enthusiasm will also inspire others,
not only for your benefit but also for theirs.
Two of my presentation topics are:
Follow your dreams (at any age)
Success
Pilot your life newsletter no. 20
If you’re going to succeed in life, or business, you have to believe in what you’re doing and do it with gusto. Half-hearted attempts just aren’t good enough. Passion is what’s required.
I love my country, Australia.
I love travel, taking photos, doing adventurous activities, meeting new people and I particularly love flying.
All these things that I have a passion for I managed to combine in the goal that I had set myself, flying around Australia’s coast in a light aircraft.
During my trip, Oz Flight ’99, people could sense that I was passionate about and committed to the journey that I was undertaking.
They wanted to be a part of it too by helping me, giving me good information and advice, providing new experiences and having a lot of fun together.
If you aren’t enthusiastic about or don’t believe in what you’re doing, then other people won’t waste their time with you either.
When people read my book, Plane Reflections, or hear me speak about my flight, they can relate to what happened to me because of my enthusiasm. I can make them feel that they're in the plane with me experiencing the same highs and lows.
And with the photos, they can see what my eyes saw.
But best of all they realise that I'm just an ordinary person who made a dream reality and that they can also do that for themselves.
They too can achieve their full potential.
It’s truly amazing that we have the power within us to motivate other people and to change lives merely because of what we do.
So, my next tip for how to pilot your life (personal or business) is:
Be passionate about what you do.
Your passion and enthusiasm will also inspire others,
not only for your benefit but also for theirs.
Two of my presentation topics are:
Follow your dreams (at any age)
Success
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Have a Go: Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained
"Have a go" is the August issue of the "Pilot Your Life" newsletter. Just email me at fran@franwest.com if you'd like to subscribe to the free monthly email newsletter (or use the "Subscribe by email" link at the bottom of this post). The newsletters usually have photos to illustrate the point and often a free destop wallpaper is offered when emailing a comment back to me. My own desktop wallpaper for this month has been of course the horse and rider "flying" over the jump.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Take Every Opportunity That Comes Your Way
"Take Every Opportunity That Comes Your Way" is the July issue of the "Pilot Your Life" newsletter. Just email me at fran@franwest.com if you'd like to subscribe to the free monthly email newsletter (or use the "Subscribe by email" link at the bottom of this post). July's issue has just been published in www.ezinearticles.com. The newsletters usually have photos to illustrate the point and often a free destop wallpaper is offered when emailing a comment back to me. My own desktop wallpaper for this month has been of course Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
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