Photo via FFFFOUND!

I so knew this.

A new research report revealed that two-thirds of Gen X women chose Gen Y women as the most influential age group when it comes to defining trends in popular culture. Gen Y women, in turn, are discovering new brands and getting most of their style inspiration and product recommendations from blogs and social media…

The survey found that 92% of Gen Y women consider themselves to be the trend leaders, while 67% of Gen X women identified Gen Y as trend leaders too. Gen X women cited reasons such as, “This age group tends to discover things first” and “They’re more creative in terms of selection in fashion, pop culture and cuisine.”

Why Y Women on Media Post (h/t Sam Davidson).

My favorite thoughts from a recent interview with LinkedIn Co-Founder Reid Hoffman:

When you pursue an academic path, you basically write books that only 50 people will read. I wanted to have a much broader impact on the world, which you can do through software entrepreneurship. If you can create a piece of software that improves people’s lives, it’s infinitely replicable…

But one thing I learned in ‘97, when I thought the right time to found a company was during a swing-up, is that it’s much better to start during an economic downturn. Partnerships are easier; hiring is easier; and the competition starts later…

One of my theses is that every individual is now a small business; how you manage your own personal career is the exact way you manage a small business. Your brand matters. That is how LinkedIn operates.

Via The Wall Street Journal.

Turn Here is a guest column on Wednesdays by Caitlin McCabe who blogs over at Smile Like You Mean It and is into architecture, social media, and irreverence.

I am not nor have I ever been an organized person. It’s not like I ever set out to simply ignore the rules of being organized….. it’s just not something that comes naturally to me. For example: remember “clean out your cubby day” when you were in 4th grade? That was my nightmare. I was the kid with 100,000 papers jammed into their cubby so that they had to start a “clean your cubby day” to get the kid to take it all home. I’m not proud of it, it just is.

The worst part is I don’t really want to be organized I just want it to be ok. I just want it to look like I am the type of person that doesn’t have 100,000 papers jammed somewhere.

Over the years I have learned enough tricks to seem like I’m organized enough that people actually tell me “you’re such an organized person” which makes me chuckle because it’s worked. I have enough tricks now to make it seem like I’m not the “clean out your cubby day” kid.

I’m not endorsing being unorganized but here are a few tips in a pinch.

1) Be on time. I can’t stress this enough. Being on time for a meeting sets the tone that people’s time is valuable and you respect that. My trick for this is to set every clock in my house and my car clock ahead at least 10 min. The person who is late always looks unorganized even if they aren’t. Forewarning: No one else in your household will enjoy the clock trick but you.

2) Send follow ups. People who send an email after a meeting with a client, interview, whatever will look well put together. Bonus points if you write the deliverables or next steps in the e-mail.

3) Carry your things in a nice folder. I like those folders that are leather and have pockets for business cards and a notebook. Don’t carry a junk notebook unless you take really good notes otherwise it will look sloppy. If you take few notes (I have a really good memory and I don’t take notes because I can’t pay attention and take notes) you’ll need something more professional.

4) Use Google calendar. I’m not a calendar person and have been beaten by so many calendars I’ve lost count. Not writing dates down means you’ll miss appointments so if you go into Google Calendar you can set up a million reminders for each appointment. I usually have at least 2 emails and 1 pop up and have managed to miss no calls or meetings in the last 6 months.

I am not funny. Maybe sometimes I am. I try to be. I often laugh at my own jokes. All good reasons why I found it fascinating to take a peek into the delightful and devious minds behind The Onion in a recent NY times article.

The Onion newspaper was originally founded right here in Madison, Wisconsin, and I occasionally wheeze past the offices that still remain here on my even more-so occasional runs. And back when I had a different job and no car, a co-worker would drive me home and I would make wild faces and gestures towards the Onion conference room window every evening around 5. We’re pretty sure they never, ever saw me. Or they did a really good job of ignoring us.

They must have just been working really hard, because as the Times reports, the process for coming up with insanely entertaining headlines is actually quite regimented:

The staff devotes the first two days of every week to composing headlines, then assigns the articles that will run beneath them and provide a body of supporting jokes…

A Tuesday in October found Mr. Randazzo and nine writers and editors gathered around a conference table in the SoHo offices of The Onion for a headline meeting. Each had a printout of 101 headline contenders, which had been submitted —mostly by one another, with some support staff and freelance contributors also allowed to pitch in — the day before.

“It’s a very specific, regimented format,” said Dan Guterman, the head writer. “You sort of learn the Onion language by rote. We spend hundreds of hours in the room deconstructing the jokes. I don’t think there’s anything comparable to the amount of material we generate and reject just to come up with the week’s headlines.”

Collecting Headlines Funnier Than This via The New York Times.

Paying the bill is something I’ve debated at length with Ryan - not the act of paying it, but how to do it. For instance when I first started dating him, I never knew if he was picking up the bill because when it came, he would just let it sit there. And while I always offered to pay or split the bill, he would always brush me aside and end up paying it. Mystifying.

Later, I asked him about why he let the bill sit on the table and he argued that by paying right away when the bill arrived, we had to leave shortly thereafter. I argued the opposite. By paying when the bill comes, we’re free to stay as long as we want with the added benefit that both myself and the waiter aren’t confused and anxiously awaiting whose credit card will be placed in the black folio.

During hard times however, who pays the bill can be even more confusing when you’re dating, out with friends or on business. The Guardian offers some tips:

Unless I know that someone around the table is really hard up, and has chosen accordingly, I favour just splitting the bill equally – after all, everyone had the option of choosing whatever they wanted, and to nitpick about your risotto being cheaper than his steak can spoil the atmosphere remarkably swiftly. Non-drinkers, of course, should be automatically excused the cost of the claret.

If you are trying to save money (and let’s face it, if you’re going out to dinner, it’s probably not a question of being on the poverty line, more that you’d prefer to spend your cash elsewhere), you can do it subtly.

Economists suggest that people are more likely to order extravagantly when they think others will be sharing the cost, so it would be sensible to explain early on (without fuss) that you’re on a bit of a budget, so you’re only going to have a main course, and then put down what you owe, plus a reasonable tip, as soon as the bill arrives, before anyone can mention splitting it. But unless you’re in dire straits, don’t be mean about it, and ask for the 50p change you’re owed – leave it for the waiter.

Modern Manners via The Guardian.

First things first. I know, I know. I said I would do a special mid-month reminder for the meet-up and then I neglected it entirely. I just got caught up in other blog stuff, so I’ll save the special reminder for another month. Let’s jump into what I did do:

October Goals

1. Run! Yoga! Elliptical! Twice a week = happy life. (Um…)
2. Stick to completely realistic budget. (… not so much)
3. Develop and implement 3-month Alice PR plan. Yes!
4. Write twice weekly on Modite. Woot!
5. Throw an appetizer and wine party. Go me!

We can start with the bad news. I most certainly did not exercise this month, and might have even done less than the previous month. Ugh. But! I did lose a couple pounds, so I’m not feeling too guilty about it. And I did stick to my completely realistic budget… until the end of the month when I went on a shopping spree. Since I go on a spree every Fall and Spring, I should have planned for it, so I’ll live and learn for next time.

I’m excited that I delved right into my new responsiblities at Alice, and I’ve been updating Modite religiously. Speaking of, I’ve been reorganizing and redesigning the blog a lot, as you may have noticed, and that’s actually been a huge stress reliever for me. More on that next week. Finally, I threw a rocking party for the Brazen guys and some of my girlfriends. It was a pumpkin potluck, where everyone brought a dish that was pumpkin or Fall related, and it was delicious! The company wasn’t too shabby either. I highly recommend the idea.

So! What am I’m going to tackle for November? Here we go:

November Goals

1. Exercise as if my life depended on it. Because it does.
2. Stick to budget. Don’t overspend for the holidays!
3. Spend quality time with Ryan, friends and family. Be thankful.
4. Continue writing twice weekly for Modite.
5. Secure two to three pieces of “big” coverage for Alice.

Since I’ll be traveling a lot in November, I wanted to mostly maintain what I’ve been doing right and focus on things that matter. I’m really looking forward to the holiday season in fact. And while I didn’t accomplish all of my October goals, I’m starting to feel a lot happier lately and near the end of my “dip.”

Alrighty then. What’d you all get done in October? What will you be cranking on in November?

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To participate in the meet-up:

1. Post a list of your career/life related goals for November, along with your checked off October goals if you’d like, on your own blog.
2. Come back here and leave a link to your post in the comments (*If you don’t have your own blog, feel free to share your list here in the comments to join in!)
3. Then, check out everyone else’s lists as they leave comments - click their links, visit their blogs, say hello, meet, greet and support each other because that’s what it’s all about!

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The next meet-up will be Monday,  November 30th so that we can set goals for December. I’ve already marked my calendar for it and am wishing you lots of success for the month!

I was frankly surprised at the response on my anxiety post. I didn’t expect so many people to understand where I was coming from… so thank you. Here’s some great follow-up posts to mine:

When did I become incapable of spontaneity? I used to be capable of it, pretty sure about that. In fact, I used to be really darn good at it! But recently, anything “off plan”, whether it’s a food item on a menu, a trip somewhere, or even a drink with the girls, has become a chore, another thing on the list, something that requires its own mini plan of how to get there and enjoy it. And that can be fraught with anxiety…

I find myself ‘nesting’ my way out of anxiety, staying home or ducking out to avoid the stress related with erm, having fun… I’m a highly productive member of the workforce, can be counted on to do the right things by my friends (remember, I always have a plan!), and I’m sure I’m enriching my life by ticking off things on the big, fat to do list. Only, it would be nice if sometimes I could switch off the list making freak in my brain, and just chill out.

- Via Life Beyond List.

With anxiety, you really do feel like you’re being threatened, but anxiety is a threat in and of itself. So many times I would tell my dad I was going for a walk and would make it to the end of my driveway before I turned back around. So many times I passed on going somewhere with friends, afraid that those same emotions would blindside me and I wouldn’t be able to get home, get back to my comfort zone. I was afraid that I couldn’t control life, couldn’t stop change from happening.

Anxiety is a change itself, though. It changes your life, turns it upside down, turns you inside out, threatens to keep you a prisoner in your own house, your own skin.

Until one day you push through it.

- Via twenty(or)something.

Turn Here is a guest column on Wednesdays by Caitlin McCabe who blogs over at Smile Like You Mean It and is into architecture, social media, and irreverence.

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.” -Vincent van Gogh

“You ever notice that they don’t make TV shows about people that watch TV shows?”  - My friend T

One of the absolute worst things that can happen to a creative person (and aren’t we all?) is the dreaded times when we feel uninspired.  We want to write, create, and play, but it’s no use.  Nothing is happening.  It’s doubly hard when it’s part of our jobs to be creative…. then you get stressed out about not being creative and get even less creative.  If you’ve ever had to write ad copy for a really boring kitchen appliance you know what I mean.

I used to think inspiration was like a little fairy gift that came when it wanted to and had to be coaxed out, appreciated, and thanked.  Sometimes, when you get an unforeseen burst of inspiration, this is true but fortunately you can also train yourself to be better at it.

Becoming more creative can be like yoga or an exercise routine at first, in that you’ll have to make some time and you may feel awkward or annoyed with it.

For example, the part where I tell you that you have to carry a notebook and that you have to use it can be awkward when you are looking crazy scribbling things down in the checkout aisle of the grocery store.  You’ll think “I’ll just write it down later.  I’ll remember,” but you won’t remember; you’ve got to write ideas down as they come.

The purpose of the notebook portion of the inspiration boot camp is not to write down all of the things you think of because they are all nuggets of genius.  You will be writing down ideas so that you start noticing when you have ideas.  You have ideas all the time every day but if you are not taking a moment to recognize them and bring them to the front of your brain you won’t remember the majority of them.

The next step in the inspiration boot camp is to watch less TV and listen to more music.  Instead of one show a week, turn on Pandora.com and listen to something that is instrumental (I recommend Juan Serrano which is Spanish Guitar) for the duration of a TV show.  Doctors and creative genius’s like Shakespeare and Plato state the powers of music in healing and creating.   No one, to my knowledge, has made such claims about TV.

Play more.  At work, it’s important to be more efficient.  During the rest of life, it’s not.  Arranging things, moving things around, and playing with things  can help train your brain to seek other uses for things before you immediately think of a way to deal with it and move on.  I’ve been playing with bouncy balls in checkout aisles and arranging food on my plate to look interesting for years.  It’s also kind of fun to look for faces when you walk down a street or sit on a subway.  You spend a lot of time at work telling your brain to streamline, streamline, streamline and these are good ways to break away from that process.

Another way to start training yourself to be inspired is to start collections.  If you give yourself a reason to slow down and notice what you’re doing you will notice a lot more.  I’ve been collecting marbles and rocks and while I was looking found earrings, beads, phones, and even an engagement ring while I was walking around!

One of the worst things to do is stress out when you can’t be creative (again, pretty tough if you’re paid to do it) but simply walking away and doing something else can be a huge help.  I once sat in a room for 8 hours trying to come up with an idea for a client and came up with nothing.  8 hours.  Instead of waiting for the inspiration fairy to come I should have started doing some simple inspiration techniques like pull out your idea notebook and read through it to bring your mind back to a moment when you were feeling inspired.  The point is, the more you are familiar with that feeling the easier it is to recall it when you need it.

Good luck!

Here’s what that’s like for me: Imagine, you’re a crumb and you fall onto the sidewalk and an ant discovers you. His tiny ant friends are soon alerted and before you know it, you’re swarmed! A disgusting black blanket moves furtively and anxiously to completely and methodically chew through your every last morsel. The very thought makes me sick.

And more than anything, this is what it’s like when things are outside my locus of control. And I love control, especially in all of its anxiety-ridden devastation.

“Anxiety is not fear, exactly, because fear is focused on something right in front of you, a real and objective danger,” reports the New York Times. “It is instead a kind of fear gone wild, a generalized sense of dread about something out there that seems menacing — but that in truth is not menacing, and may not even be out there. If you’re anxious, you find it difficult to talk yourself out of this foreboding; you become trapped in an endless loop of what-ifs.”

For me, the what-ifs appear with even the simplest of situations. Ryan will inquire, for instance, if I would like to attend a concert last-minute, and my chest will immediately be gripped with all of the possible unknowns, and how all of these unknowns make it impossible for me to go.

Where is it? What time does it start? Are we going to get there late? Do we have to pay a cover? Will I have to walk in heels? I don’t have a cute outfit without heels. It’s going to be cold outside. Will I have to stand at the concert and carry my coat? Will it be hot? Will there be a lot of people? Are the people going be younger than me? Will they be boring? Will the band be good? Who’s going with? Are we going to get drinks after? Will the restrooms be clean? I can’t stand public restrooms.

No, I don’t want to go. I can’t go. Rationality urges me to do my make-up and try on clothes while anxiety grips my heart so tightly that I’m dripping with angst. By the time Ryan arrives, I’m paralyzed into doing everything I can not to burst into tears.

I distinctly remember my first such outburst in a sixth-grade hallway. After an elementary school of calm, I peeled back the doors on middle school to discover inequalities, insecurities and the bulging wart of worry – a reoccurring blemish in my otherwise untarnished path towards happiness.

Taken together, panic, social anxiety, phobia, obsessive-compulsive, post-traumatic stress and generalized anxiety disorder, make anxiety the most common mental illness in America, affecting an estimated 40 million adults, reports the Times. That’s not even counting the garden-variety worriers like mothers who fret when their daughter doesn’t call, or husbands that believe a phone call in the middle of the night signals a terrible occurrence.

My coping mechanism is to nest as methodically as anxiety chews. Withdrawing further perpetuates the vicious cycle of shrinking into comfort, into habits, into a place that is safe and away from criticism or mistakes or hurt or anger. I crave the days that are built around everything going according to plan.

Research shows that I’m good for the human race. Without those who are hyperviligant, we wouldn’t be able to leap into action so quickly. High-reactive kids are “less likely to experiment with drugs, to get pregnant or to drive recklessly.”

The Times also reports we’re “generally conscientious and almost obsessively well-prepared. Worriers are likely to be the most thorough workers and the most attentive friends. Someone who worries about being late will plan to get to places early. Someone anxious about giving a public lecture will work harder to prepare for it. Test-taking anxiety can lead to better studying; fear of traveling can lead to careful mapping of transit routes.”

But for me, the mental anguish of wearing myself ragged “with a brain that’s always on high alert” is suffocating. I long to be laidback. To be the kind of person who doesn’t wring their hands under the table. The kind of person who “gives up any notion of being guarded or protected” in order to be intimately known. A person that can arrive effortlessly to a concert.

We’ve all heard that how tall you are at work can help and being overweight can hinder you. But did you also know that being short is a big part of the mix as well? The New York Times reports:

The shorter you are in America, the more likely your chances to develop coronary heart disease, diabetes or stroke... A decrease in a man’s height to the 25th percentile from the 75th — roughly to 5 feet 8 inches from 6 feet— is associated with, on average, a dip in earnings of 6 to 10 percent…

And like obese people, short people are less likely to finish college than those of average weight. A paper from the July issue of the journal Economics and Human Biology used survey data from more than 450,000 adults to conclude that male college graduates are, on average, more than an inch taller than men who never finished high school…

The economist John Komlos has shown that the United States is losing height relative to other developed nations, and some American demographic groups are even shrinking in absolute terms. Yet we tend to discount shortness as a mere byproduct of genetics and early-life experience, while treating the obesity epidemic as if it were a grave danger to public health. Why can’t our campaign to reshape the American body have two fronts? If we really want to make our country healthier, let’s have a war on shortness too.

The Fat and Short of It via The New York Times.