How To Establish a New Habit In the back of your mind, every day, there is a goal that you want to accomplish. Whether it’s a new strategy, a new business process or a personal change in your life; it sits back there, day after day, scratching at the door, wanting to be let out. We keep that goal locked away because if we let it out, we may need to care for it and help it grow. We may need to find a way to accomplish it. Let’s let it out. Let’s allow it to play. Let’s help it … [Read more...]
My Commitment To A Digital Disconnect
Two Thousand One Hundred Eighty Four Hours Per Year I spend much of my daily waking hours facing some type of digital device. Whether it’s managing email from my many accounts, or preparing CAD documents for our next construction project, or updating our business systems in Evernote. I could be working virtually with my team at Fivecat Studio, with members at EntreArchitect Academy, or staying connected with my mom and dad. It’s a rare moment when my fingers are not tapping a keyboard and my … [Read more...]
5 Steps to Unleash the Significant Power of Sleep
5 Steps to Unleash the Significant Power of Sleep I love to sleep, but the truth is that of all my many skills, sleep may be one of my weakest. I know it’s important and I know it has a direct effect on my health and wellbeing. It even has a direct effect on my overall success. Yet, night after night, I break the rules and my sleep suffers for it. But… I am getting much better. A few years back, I began to experience some concerning health issues. After months of tests and … [Read more...]
The Significant Power of White Space
White Space in Design White space is the empty space between and around the elements of design. Every graphic design has white space, but it is often ignored or used incorrectly. White space is often viewed as empty space ready to be filled with a photo, a headline or more information. You’ve seen white space used in some of today’s most successful ads. Apple is famous for their use of white space. They use white space so effectively, that even without a logo or ad copy, their designs are … [Read more...]
How to Develop an Email Management System for Architecture Firms Using Evernote
Every day hundreds of email messages arrive in my inbox. I recently moved all my email services (personal and business) to Google Apps. Today our email is powered by Gmail, which thankfully screens the inbox and reduces my SPAM from hundreds of unwanted messages to dozens. Some SPAM still found it’s way into the Mail app on my iMac, so I sent a call for suggestions to the EntreArchitect Community. My friend Neal Pann (founder of Apple for Architects and co-host of Archispeak Podcast) … [Read more...]
A Holiday Challenge: Full Media Blackout
The holidays are a beautiful time of year. We are invited to slow down and spend time with family and friends. Stories of love and giving are everywhere we look. We are reminded at this time that every day throughout the year, we are blessed. But, as we enter the final month of the year and the holiday season quickly approaches, our days get shorter, our task list gets longer and the demands on our time often result in us feeling overwhelmed. Cold weather is approaching and threatening open … [Read more...]
The Journey to Success Begins Within You
This is a guest post written by my friend Taylor Schaub, a 4th-year undergraduate architecture student at the Illinois Institute of Technology. She's pursuing a Bachelor of Architecture degree with a minor in Business. Although she does not have a website, she can be found on LinkedIn, Instagram, and as a previous guest on Life of An Architect Blog. Please leave a comment at the end of the article and share your thoughts with the author and other readers. nosce te ipsum: know … [Read more...]
6 Steps To The One Thing That Matters Most
Finding clients you seek to serve, who have projects with appropriate budgets and realistic schedules is very important. Understanding business fundamentals and building systems that will lead to a healthy profitable firm is critical. Developing an effective marketing strategy that provides appropriate leads and a sales system that converts those leads to clients, may make the difference between a thriving business and a endless loop of failure. As small firm architects, we have so many … [Read more...]
6 Changes I’ve Made To Reduce My Stress
Last week I attended the AIA Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a great week of inspiration, education and connection. After 20 years in the profession and almost as many as a member of the American Institute of Architects, I began attending the annual convention back in 2013. That year I was invited to speak at Architect Live, on a small stage at the floor of the convention expo. The presentations are each broadcasted live online and throughout the convention venue. Last year, I was … [Read more...]
Six Simple Acts That Make My Day
Each month, my friend Bob Borson over at Life of an Architect organizes a group of architect bloggers to coordinate a single post on a single topic released simultaneously on a specific day. We call it #ArchiTalks. Read posts from past topics on Google, Twitter and Facebook, by searching for the hashtag #ArchiTalks . For the past several months, I have been releasing my #ArchiTalks thoughts via podcast, but today I decided to come back to the keyboard. If you are interested, you can listen to … [Read more...]
The 12/12/12 Project: Two Years Later
This coming Friday is December 12th. Two years ago on December 12, 2012 I launched my 12/12/12 Project and announced my plans at the introductory episode of the Entrepreneur Architect Podcast. If you were following this blog "way back when,” I thank you for your continuing support. If you are newer to this platform and have not heard about my 12/12/12 Project, let me give you a bit of background. What is a 12/12/12 Project? First, I will tell you what it is not. A 12/12/12 Project is not … [Read more...]
Living Your Best Year Ever
Searching for success has always been a focus of mine. Even as a child, I would live my life years ahead, dreaming of the days of my future. I look at my kids today and remember myself at that age spending hours and hours sketching scenes of what my life would one day become. Fast cars and speed boats dominated my “gallery”. I lived in a loft bedroom that my dad and I finished in the attic together when I was 11. The “gallery" were the walls of the closet housing the pull-down attic stairs … [Read more...]