Keyboard Shortcuts or Hot-Keys can save you time and speed up whatever you are working on.  I learned early on that the less keystrokes or mouse/trackball clicks you have to do, the more time you will save.  So, I wanted to present to you some handy tips that you can use to help save you some time.

Hot Key Menu

Keyboard Shortcuts or Hot-Keys work by using a combination of keys, usually the Control key and the letter of the key that you need to execute the desired command. Hot-Keys can be found in the menus of many programs. When you activate the menu, to the right of the command, you will usually see the keyboard shortcut that you are looking for. So, for instance, in the case of needing to cut something out of a document you are working on, instead of having to highlight the area, right-clicking your mouse/trackball, and clicking on Cut, you can simply highlight the area (and if it’s just one word you can double click on that word to highlight the whole word – another nice shortcut), and press the Control Key and then X. This may not seem very short, but in the instances of copying and pasting, it’s very handy not to have to open the menu up several times. Using the keyboard shortcuts makes the process a lot quicker. Highlight the area to be copied (or you can cut it if you no longer need it there) and press Control-C (or X for cut) and then place your cursor where you want the text to go now and press Control-V.

These tips will work in Windows on the PC (sorry Mac users, I’m not familiar with Macs so I’m not sure if these will work on a Mac as well.  Although from the little bit of research I did, they might, instead of the Control Key, I think it’s the Command Key on a Mac.)

Some of my favorite and most useful keyboard shortcuts:

Ctrl-X = Cut (places the cut portion into the clipboard so that it can be pasted if need be)
Ctrl-A = Select All
Ctrl-C = Copy
Ctrl-V = Paste
Ctrl-Z = Undo
Ctrl-F = Find
Alt-Tab = Switch between open windows
DEL = Delete selection or whatever is to the right of the cursor
HOME = Go to the beginning of the line
END = Go to the end of the line

I hope these tips have been helpful.

When considering a path to follow, heed these words…

Do not follow because your friends follow…
Do not follow because the masses follow…
You have your own path to follow…
Follow only if the path rings true in your heart and soul…

~Kelli Jacobson

After listening to several training sessions where they mention how important having a schedule is, it made me start thinking…

I’ve been such an easy going person, just going with the flow…  And I realized, that it was because I wanted to please everyone.  Well, I’ve also realized that you can’t please everyone.  Someone, somewhere, is going to be unpleased with you.  And that’s okay.  You don’t have to please everyone.  It’s a perfectionist way of thinking and you need to drop that like a hot potato.  Humans are not perfect.  The important part is just trying to get it right most of the time.

A quote from Andy Andrew’s The Traveler’s Gift: “I understand that God did not put in me the ability to always make right decisions.  He did, however, put in me the ability to make a decision and then make it right.”

The most important thing to gain from that quote is to just make the decision, and then go about the business of making the decision right.

Successful people make their decisions quickly and change their mind slowly.  Unsuccessful people make their decisions slowly and change their mind quickly.  Which group are you in?

Do you make your decision quickly and then go about taking the actions necessary to make that a successful decision?  Or, do you hem and haw about it, finally decide to do whatever you were making a decision about, and then the moment you do, you think “Oh, goodness, was that the right thing to do”?

If you want to get anywhere in life, you need a mindset that will help you keep on track.  If you are a mess in your mind, you will be of no value to anywhere else, so you need to get your mind squared away.  Then you need to follow that up with the appropriate action steps.  If you take no action, you can expect to receive nothing back.

So, back to my original thought.  If you are easy going and just going with the flow, can that actually be harming you?  I think it can.  Afterall, if you are just going with the flow, you have no idea where you are going.  And if you have no idea where you are going, how do you know if you’ve ever arrived?  Or are even close to where you want to be?

Think of it like being on a ship at sea.  You are just sailing aimlessly in the ocean, never knowing where the land is.  Eventually, you will run out of food, water, and supplies and you will perish.  But, if you know where the land is that you are aiming for, and chart a course to get there, your mission will be a success.  You will arrive before running out of the food, water, and supplies that keep you going.

Scheduling is a popular subject on the training sessions I have attended.  Scheduling your activities for the day gives you a road map to follow so that you know what you are supposed to be doing and when.  It helps you stay on track and get the activities done that you need to be doing in order to attain the goal that you are shooting for.

So, stop going with the flow and figure out where it is that you want to be going and then chart your course of how you are going to get there!  You can use a day planner, a spreadsheet, or perhaps Google Calendar.  Just use something and quit wandering around aimlessly.  Be a real captain on your voyage and know where you are going and what you need to do to get there!

One last thought to remember: It’s good to connect with others, but help others connect with you by sharing yourself with them through the uniqueness of YOU!

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Kelli Jacobson is a Networking Mompreneur. She is a Mom to a 1 1/2 year old son and has been involved in Internet Marketing now for over two years. Her specialties are blogging, social media, and free to low-cost marketing methods. If you would like to learn more about Kelli, please see Who Is Kelli Jacobson. See you on the inside!

Twitter Tip Of The Day: Are You A Chronic RT’er?

When people go to your profile, do they see a full page of RT’s? This may mean you are a chronic RT’er.

People want to see YOUR original thoughts and ideas too. It’s okay to RT fantastic tweets that mean something to you, but don’t make that the focus of your Tweeting. Make sure to pitch in some of your own ideas and thoughts. Afterall, people are following YOU and they want to get to know YOU.

If you absolutely must RT something someone else has Tweeted, space it out amongst your own unique thoughts and ideas. An easy way to do this is: When you find something you like, copy and paste it into a document (i.e. Word or Notepad) and then throughout the day you can copy and paste them back into your Twitter Feed, or if you use a scheduler to Tweet your Tweets for you (automation is cool) you can sprinkle them in along with your own Tweets. Just make sure your page isn’t filled with a constant line of RT’s, people deserve to know you and what you think.

One last thought to remember: It’s good to connect with others, but help others connect with you by sharing yourself with them through the uniqueness of YOU!

Have a Twitterific Day! =)

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Kelli Jacobson is a Networking Mompreneur. She is a Mom to a 1 1/2 year old son and has been involved in Internet Marketing now for over two years. Her specialties are blogging, social media, and free to low-cost marketing methods. If you would like to learn more about Kelli, please see Who Is Kelli Jacobson. See you on the inside!