Is modern-day society leading to the extinction of free time? It seems that the days of having plenty of time to accomplish all of the normal day-to-day responsibilities and having a bit of free time are virtually gone.

How did this happen? All of the new technological advances should be providing an abundance of free time. Nearly everything has been automated in some way. There are fast cars to transport us quickly to our destination, dishwashers and robotic vacuum cleaners to take care of household tasks, cell phones for immediate communication and problem resolution, and computers to speed up previously tedious tasks.

The problem seems to be that because we are capable of doing so much, the expectations are higher. The bar has risen. Our employers, our families and even we have ever-increasing demands on our time. What can be done to draw the line and hold on to a bit of sanity in our lives?

One technique is to take a “vacation” every day. That is not to say go away on a literal trip every day, but rather take a break and do something enjoyable each day. Allot some time each day whether it be thirty minutes or even ten to do something truly enjoyable and satisfying. For some this may mean doing nothing at all. For others, it may mean doing something meaningful that normally is not given full priority over other obligations.

A sense of well-being can be accomplished with thirty minutes of reading a good book, playing with the dog, or simply relaxing under a big shade tree. Even ten minutes of a relaxing activity can be extremely beneficial in this day of non-stop constant on-the-go activity. A ten minute rest for the eyes can really add a spark to a dragging energy level. A quick walk around the grounds can also offer a much needed break and a chance to clear the mind.

Occasionally, when a greater amount of time can be set aside, mini-vacations or outings should be planned. It is important to include some fun in everyday life. Extreme work schedules can ultimately lead to burnout and other serious problems. Amazingly, time off spent doing enjoyable activities can actually lead to more productivity in work and family responsibilities.

It is reported that many in Corporate America are not taking their earned vacation time in full. And, if they do manage to take a vacation, they are taking their cell phones and personal digital assistants with them. It is important to find a way to take advantage of this valuable time off. In terms of value, it is a matter of health rather than dollars and cents. The health of the country depends on utilizing time off for personal relaxation and pursuits.

With a little planning and discipline, a balance between work and life can be realized.

You’ve probably heard the famous saying “I know that half of the money I spend on advertising is wasted: if only I could figure out which half it is!” Well, now you can. By eliminating the common mistakes many businesses make with their advertising programs, it’s easy.

Here’s a checklist of mistakes many companies make with their advertising:

1) Not focusing enough time and effort on their advertising

Most business owners spend far more time and effort on mundane things that don’t really affect their bottom line than on advertising. This is the first huge mistake. Without effective advertising, almost all businesses will fail.

If you feel you don’t have the time or desire to handle the advertising for your business, consider hiring a consultant or agency - but with caution. It’s almost more difficult to find an ad agency that knows what is effective than it is to study it yourself. Many agencies are far more focused on winning awards than creating profits for their clients.

If you do feel you need to hire an agency, find one that will work on a results compensation basis vs. a straight commission for all the media they buy. This gives them an incentive to provide results and not pad the budget to justify a larger commission for the agency.

2) Relying on advice from friends and relatives

If business owners do handle their own advertising, many times they let their friends/wives/husbands or other various employees who have no idea whether or not advertising is effective make the decisions about their advertising plan.

Would you ask your dentist for advice about fixing your car engine? Of course not - that’s not their expertise. So why in the world would you base something as important as decisions about your advertising on a relative who has no idea what he’s talking about?

3) Being led by pushy or aggressive media sales people

The reason media companies pay their sales people big bucks is because they can influence you to buy space, air or time (in the newspaper, radio or television) and give you no guarantees if it doesn’t work. Sounds kind of crazy, doesn’t it? Your customers probably wouldn’t buy from you and not expect the product or service to perform the way it should. But ad sales reps do it all the time.

Now sometimes they really mean well, and they have lots of experience and some fluke event or problem comes up. But for the most part, ad sales reps will do virtually anything they can do to get the sale.

If you feel like you’re being bullied by an ad sales rep or that they really aren’t looking out for your best interest, but really feel you want to work with that station/newspaper, etc., then ask for a new rep. They want your business and you’re the one calling the shots, so if they want your business, they need to find someone you’re comfortable working with.

4) Allowing your creative delivery to be ineffective

You can buy the best media schedule in the world that reaches 100% of your market 100 times, but if your message is not well created, it won’t bring you the results you want. Most companies rely on either their ad agency or the media company themselves create the ads for them. This is a very difficult thing because most companies acting on your behalf don’t take the time to learn about your business, your customers and what makes you different in your market.

To be effective, your commercial or ad must give the potential customer a compelling reason to buy your product or service. That means you have to come up with a better slogan than “we have the best service and we’ve been in business for 112 years.”

No one really cares….well they do, but they don’t believe you. If that’s what you want to convey to your market, then give them a story that tells them that you have the best service. Make your company stand out.

You also have to include some sort of call to action. If you have a wonderful warm and fuzzy commercial that makes people 1) notice the ad, 2) actually read or watch it without being distracted by one of a million other things going on in their lives, and 3) become compelled and engaged by the message to have a positive feeling about your company and don’t ask them to do something as a result of that - you’re wasting your time and money. This is something that many ad agency creative types don’t get.

If you don’t ask them to do something specific within a certain time period, there’s no way to measure the response. You may say that you can compare last year’s sales for the same time period with this year’s, etc., but that doesn’t take into account a myriad of other possible reasons that your sales went up or down.

By giving your ad viewers/listeners/readers a specific action to take, you know that the reason they did that is because they were motivated to do so by your ad.

5) Always doing the same old thing because that’s what you’ve always done.

If you’re not growing, you’re dying - and the same goes for your business. If you’re happy with the same old returns on your advertising (assuming that you’re measuring it in some way), then continue to do the same thing. Most business owners aren’t though, so it’s important to try new things.

The way society changes the way it uses media and as quickly as those changes happen, you need to keep up or lose out. Many business owners are afraid to try something new because it takes them out of their comfort zone - especially if no one in their industry has ever tried the new idea. This is a huge mistake and robs them of potentially huge profits.

6) Falling into the price trap.

This is another huge one! Unless you’re Wal-Mart and can guarantee that no other business can sell for a lower price, don’t use that as your main selling point. Once you start down that path, it’s virtually impossible to stop.

If you can’t come up with another reason for your potential customers to choose you instead of your competitor, you really need to find one (or more)!

7) Not using publicity or events in their advertising plan

It’s amazing how few businesses even try to use publicity or special events in their advertising. It’s often the best advertising you can get - not only because it’s free, but because it cuts through the clutter. If the newspaper runs a story or a TV station is covering something during their newscast, it has automatic credibility that you just can’t buy.

Of course you can’t control the message 100%, but if you learn solid techniques of creating your publicity or press event, you can have a great deal of influence about how a story is covered.

If you can eliminate only 1 or 2 of these mistakes, assuming you’re making some of them, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do so earlier! In business, if there are enough of the right customers buying your products and services, many of your problems seem to disappear.

First of all, what is a blog trackback? A trackback is a type of blog feature that is used to associate blog posts on different blogs - or a way to notify a website or another blog that you have published an entry that references it. The result of this is that two or more different blogs are able to share readers.

The description above is a little hard to fathom so here is an example. Say you just posted an article to your blog about Pit Bull dog training. Now, as you are surfing the internet, you run across a similar or related post on another blog. So, you could use the trackback feature to notify the person who posted the other post about Pit Bulls that there is a similar post on your blog.

When your trackback, which is the permalink to your post, appears on the other blog’s post, that blog’s readers find out that you have something to say about Pit Bulls and may even pay your blog a visit to find out more.

In order to create a trackback, you have to get the trackback URL from the post where you want to send your trackback notification. It will be shown on the blog as a Trackback URL or possibly a Permalink. Once you have found it, copy the URL into the correct place in your blog’s post. Your blog software will have some notation like Trackback URL identified for where the Trackback URL would go.

Once you have done this, save and republish your blog. Your blog software will automatically send the Trackback ping to the target blog’s post. So now your trackback, which is the permalink to your post, will be listed on the other blog’s post after that blog owner has approved it.

The trackback feature works by actually sending a ping from your blog to the blog you are trackbacking to notify them of your post. This also causes your post to be listed on the other blog, after it has been approved of course.

Trackbacks should be used to elaborate on or add to a related post. So if your post is on Pit Bulls, your trackback on another blog should also be about that related subject and not one like pet care in general or something like that. Blog comments can be used for posting non specific comments on blogs where trackbacks are topic related specific posts.

You may have noticed that by trackbacking you are essentially placing your link (permalink) on another blog, which creates a backlink to your blog. For this reason, when you set up your blog, modify the permalink structure to be more search engine friendly. This can be done a few different ways, but you want a structure that ends up having keywords in it as opposed to having more dynamic looking links.

By having the backlinks to your blog and by having them relevant to the content of your blog, you now have the ability of improving your blog’s page rank. Those backlinks will strengthen both your link popularity and your link relevancy which will bring your blog more organic search engine traffic.

It should be noted that trackbacks should be used with care and not used as methods for spamming other people’s blogs.

How do you measure success? It’s probably not exactly the same for any two people. While athletes measure success by wins or their personal best, a business owner may measure success by the amount of money their business nets every year.

Regardless of how you measure success, it all starts in your mind….. your subconscious mind, to be exact. While most people are familiar with the concept of the subconscious mind, few truly understand how to use its power to create the success (and happiness) that they desire.

To take advantage of this incredibly powerful tool, you must first program your subconscious mind for the success you are seeking. Without a clear, consistent “picture” of the results you seek, your subconscious mind can actually sabotage even your best efforts.

Any time there is confusion, your subconscious will struggle to help you achieve your goals. That’s why the more concise your goal and your mental image of its results, the better the chances you’ll achieve it. By creating and focusing on this concise concept of what you want to achieve, you’re helping your subconscious mind manifest that result in your reality.

It’s very important to monitor what you tell your subconscious verbally and silently. Most people are surprised to find when they actually start to “listen” to the words they use on a daily basis that they are issuing counterproductive “requests” to their subconscious.

Make sure to use positive descriptions when speaking aloud or to yourself silently about your goals. Instead of saying “I won’t be overweight anymore”, phrase your request in a positive way: “I am thin.”

Also, it’s important to use a present tense, not a future tense like “I will be thin” as your subconscious takes everything literally. If your request is in the future, it will think that it doesn’t need to change anything now. It lives in the present.

Be careful not to use negative words accidentally: such as “I’m not going to be poor any more.” Your subconscious mind doesn’t understand words like “not”, “doesn’t” or “won’t”. It will automatically delete those words from your request which will almost always create the opposite meaning and results of your goal!

There are many techniques you can use to create clear pictures of your completed goal. Most find that imagining a movie in their mind of what it will be like when you achieve your goal to replay in your thoughts to be very effective. For example, if you’re trying to wipe out your credit card debt, imagine yourself receiving statements from your credit card companies with a $0 balance on the payment section.

Remember, what you focus on expands. If you constantly see yourself overweight, or in debt, that’s what your subconscious mind will continue to create for you in your reality. It’s very simple and takes very little time to mentally produce a “movie” that gives your subconscious a clear idea of what results you want. With consistent attention and effort toward what you DO want, you’ll be amazed at the results you can create with your mind!