Welcome to the Philippines!

If you're thinking about having fun, you might want to check out our 7,107 islands. The top 10 beaches are scattered from tip to tip:

1. Boracay - the party beach (white sand)
2. Pagudpud - the Hawaii of the North, for those who like the quiet (white sand)
3. Mactan Island - where the night life is alive and kicking
4. Panglao - great for divers
5. Camiguin - great honeymoon spot
6. Dakak - beauty, serenity, and another honeymoon destination (beach resort)
7. Honda Bay - for those who loves island hopping and diving
8. El Nido - another premier honeymoon destination, where the peace is paradise
9. Pearl Farm - secluded, quiet, panoramic (beach resort)
10. Siargao - created especially for surfers

Procrastination and Productivity: The Twin Devils of the Work-at-Home Life [Video]

Working from home can get quite lonely. Yes, you can dictate your work hours and you don’t have to commute—in 2 seconds flat (for me, at least), you’re in your ‘office’ and ready to start the day. But then, there are two evils that you have to contend with when freelancing from home: procrastination and productivity.

Yep, the two Ps of work-at-home life. And if you can’t conquer one, you can’t have the other.

Here are two videos that may shed light on the science of both and how to master procrastination and improve your productivity...and of course, increase the dollars that you can rake in. :) 

The Science of Procrastination

Indeed, there’s a scientific reason why we put off things that we can do today. It has something to do with rewards and dopamines. Here’s how AsapSCIENCE, one of my favorites on YouTube, explains it:

Takeaways:

1. Temporal discounting has everything to do with our tendency to procrastinate...something about getting rewards nowe—and having that rush of the pleasure hormone dopamine—versus getting our rewards later.
2. The Pomodoro technique...which is simply breaking down your work into 20 minutes then a 5-minute break...definitely helps.
3. Acknowledge that you will procrastinate so best do something about it from the start. Create a deadline. An externally-imposed deadline is more effective.
4. Enjoying the process of doing something will prevent procrastination. Make a list of the reasons why you want to achieve a goal.
5. Work somewhere else if you can't remove the distractions. That way, the things that encourage procrastination is far from you.

After knowing what makes procrastination tick, let's see how we can overcome each and every distraction by increasing our productivity...

Work-at-Home Blog Carnival, Volume 3

Yes! Right on schedule: the third volume of the Work-at-Home Blog Carnival…and a Blessed, Prosperous New Year to y'all! I hope you've had a peaceful and fun time celebrating the Yuletide holidays with your family and loved ones.

It's 2013! Another year, another fresh start. I'm betting that you've all got your Goals for 2013 written down, your Action Plans outlined, and your Rewards To Self drafted. Not to mention a set of New Year's Blogging Resolutions, heh.

Good for you because I'm still in the process of completing my 5 Doable Must-Do Things To Achieve This 2013. I know, it's a measly 5-item list…what's so difficult about it? More than you can imagine when you're trying to prioritize the "most desirable" from the "no worries" stuff, heh.

Anyways, my sincerest thanks to those who participated in this month's blog carnival. Overall, you were all good boys and girls, selecting categories and providing brief summaries to your submissions. (Cue enthusiastic clapping from the Maven.)

There were still some stragglers but you could count them in one hand. Much as it pained me, I had to set aside these submissions.  To those who didn't find their stories included, please check if yours is within the ambit of this blog carnival. Otherwise, your effort would've been in vain.

Volume 4 of the Work-at-Home Blog Carnival will go live on February 4, 2013. Happy reading!

Blogging & Writing

Biz Tips on Top Ten Sizzling Ways to Improve Your Ad Copy: Ad Copy needs to be insightful and respectful of its audience without sounding trite. While there’s no one way of writing copy correctly, there are some general tips that can help you sharpen your advertising.

American Christmas Spending Trends to Look Forward to in 2013 (Infographic)

It's a little late in the day to feature the holiday shopping and spending habits of our friends over on the other side of the Pacific Ocean...but this infographic on American Christmas spending is something I'm sure you'll find right handy when you start planning this month for 2013's holiday offerings.

Last time, I shared something on the online shopping habits of our friends in America. This time, the Christmas gift giving opportunity for businesses focuses on overall spending.

Some things to think about when designing your holiday offers for the coming Christmas 2013:

Power Quote #4 - On Risks and Big Mistakes

There's one thing I've discovered about people who learned how to hard code HTML: they eventually develop an obsessive compulsive  behavior…or a propensity for it. Hours of hunting for open tags and bugs can do that to you. I really can't find fault in that. After all, you want your website to look good and run well.

I must confess to that OC tendency...after creating old school websites in the late 90s. One of the more undesirable consequences of that is being leery of changes - sometimes I just can't take a chance on a new way of doing stuff because I didn't want to rock the boat.

Happy New Year and #MyWishIn2013 For Your Business Blog

It's the first day of the rest of our lives…well, 2013 at least, and this is the best time to greet you and your business a surfeit of clients and profits in the new year.

To that end, we both know your business blog will continue to figure in your online marketing strategies this 2013 (hopefully!) so I've a handful of wishes for it.

They're not exactly wishes, heh. More like To Dos to boost your business' (and blog's) authority and rankings both with your market and the search engines.

For 2013, I wish your business blog will have more of these:

1. Targeted traffic! 

Of course, it's what every business blog wants - people who're looking for information that only you can provide, and people ready to buy whatever you have on offer.

2. Useful, remarkable, unique and new product/service information. 

People (and search engines!) look for knowledge that will help take the pain away from whatever headaches they're having in their lives. With the proliferation of websites offering the same solutions that you're recommending, the best way to attract potential clients to your site and keep them coming again and again is one-of-a-kind advice that specifically hits their emotional hot buttons as well as nukes each one swiftly and satisfactorily.

Holiday Shopping Online in the US (Infographic)

Last time, the Work-at-Home Maven suggested 12 Christmas blog post ideas to write for your business blog this season. In it, I included some Christmas shopping statistics that bear thinking about.

Well, while I was researching for that blog post, I found a great infographic that distills the historical predilections of online shoppers during major holidays--Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas shopping--from 2005 to 2010.