How to Reach That Proverbial Finish Line

Well hello Friday! Nothing quite like that last stretch before the finish line, that last breath of air you take to get you to there. You muster up all your courage and forget pain or how tired you are, you gather up all your strength and scurry up to break that bow at the end of the line. That's pretty much the general feeling on Fridays. Fridays are the proverbial last stretch on our way to that glorious finish line that is the weekend. Some of us reach for that last bit of strength to get through the day and others reach for inspiration or humour to pass the time. Luckily the Internet provides both, be it in the form of a great article about the new marketing trends or tweaks that help take your campaigns to the next level, or a funny panda trying to get on a swing relentlessly without succeeding. We all have our secret weapons. These things are pretty easy to find, seeing as how the Internet is pretty much that all you can eat buffet that provides everything you could need. Then again some materials are better than others, so I'm going to share some of my favourites.
How about that cute panda trying to make                          Or the little pug playing with his owner?
it on the swing?
            

There's no shortage of funny gifs that will keep you laughing while you wait for the day to pass. You can't really go wrong when browsing the 9gag gallery or thehumourtrain.
There's also those buzzfeed articles, you know the ones that don't really do much for your career but do wonders for passing the time. Like when start searching for something random and get lost in all the "noise" so you end up on one of these somehow?
http://www.buzzfeed.com/shannonrosenberg/love-you-more-than-pizza#.tsg8WZxg5, though let's face it, we all kinda wanted to read that one. In the end I leave you with an uplifting motivational message to kick start today. "You're one in a melon."
Geek out!

How Social Media Became the New Normal

Starting with the morning news - leading up to the daily Facebook posts, to ending the night with an Instagram stalking session, I think it's pretty clear what the one big common factor in every one's day to day life has become. Social Media.
Long gone are the days when you stopped at the corner kiosk for your morning newspaper that you read while sipping your coffee at the office or on the subway, train or whatever means of transportation you preferred. It was the universal morning ritual. This has now been replaced by your phone, tablet or even laptop and you scrolling through hundreds of headline news. Preferential reading pretty much sums up the morning news experience today. While the "hard copies" are still available, aka the newspaper, it's reign has sadly taken a back seat to that one site where all the world news can be found or the gossip sites that make sure everyone is up to date with their "crucial, life changing" latest starlet scandal.
The mid day break was replaced by a constant Facebook presence. Securely running in the background it makes sure to notify you of every little detail happening while you are away or to busy to keep staring at your screens, both on your phone and computer. It's become an hourly habit, *and I'm low balling here*, to check your feed and notifications, putting the original purpose of Social Media to the back burner. Connecting with people. That's where it all started, the original purpose and idea of the online world. To be able to connect with people all over the world. Great idea, great purpose and even great results. The only problem, it's lost sight of that and has gone on to become a hungry online content monster that consumes everything within seconds and creates the need for more and more content.
And right about now you're sitting there reading this and thinking, ok well you're from a different generation,you don't get this or you're too old to get this. I'm not, trust me, I'm in my twenties, and I'm just as addicted to the online world as the next person. Even though I try to turn my phone off or plan "offline" weekends if you will, I do end up checking my Instagram or my Facebook. It's become human nature. And that right here, is my problem and the reason for this post. Social Media has become human nature. How absurd does that sound? That an app or a platform could have such hold over us that we let it become the new normal. The online world has became the new world, keeping us plugged in and listening at all time.
It does of course offer it's benefits, don't get me wrong I'm just as addicted as the next blogger, Instagrammer or online marketer. The world is constantly changing, it's part of life. So we take the good with the bad, like with everything else.
Geek out!