It’s a great day to be a woman! Melinda Garvey here as your voice, with the mission to give women everywhere a place to be heard and tell their stories. We’d love to hear from you!
FIRST THOUGHT: Taking Time to Simplify
Email is a blessing and a curse. While I’m thankful we don’t live in a time when a handwritten letter would take a month to be received, it’s hard to not feel pressured to read and reply as soon as possible.
It’s gotten to the point that some restaurants are offering discounts to customers who set down their phones and actually sit and enjoy their meal. They’re trading high-tech apps for edible apps!
Is this need for constant communication stressing you out? When our jobs are increasingly bleeding over into our personal lives, shouldn’t we disconnect for a moment and figure out how to simplify?
WOMEN IN NUMBERS: 59 Percent
There’s nothing more frustrating than scrolling and clicking endlessly on a website and being unable to find what you’re looking for. It comes as no surprise that this happens behind the scenes at many companies too.
Out of 1,000 middle managers of large companies, 59 percent reported being unable to find key information in their companies’ own internal systems almost every day.
We’ve probably all come across some archaic technology in our jobs. (One time, my “H” key was permanently stuck, requiring me to forgo a polite email greeting like “Hello” or “Hi.”) Imagine how far those middle managers could excel if they were able to navigate software with ease.
WOMAN TO WATCH: Patti Rogers, Founder of Rallyhood
Patti Rogers has come up with a genius concept to streamline our web experience. When faced with breast cancer, this veteran marketing entrepreneur observed how unnecessarily complicated it was for friends and family to collaborate and communicate about how they’d support her.
Rogers says cancer didn’t change her life; her support system did. That got her thinking. If you’ve ever been in a situation in which you were experiencing a loss or health issues, you know that you don’t have the time or energy to send individual updates to your friends and family. Oftentimes, your friends don’t even know each other, making it difficult for them to coordinate.
So Rogers created Rallyhood. Launched after a couple years of beta testing, Rallyhood combines all your favorite tools into one easy-to-use location. It features a calendar, messages, photo gallery and more. There’s also a sign-up tool perfect for figuring out when to bring a loved one meals, as well as a place for giving donations.
You can also use Rallyhood to organize a group you’re in, like your book club or daughter’s Girl Scout troop. It’s also perfect for businesses. No more feeling overwhelmed when your email is buzzing and your messenger is pinging and your co-worker hands you an old-fashioned sign-up sheet.
Rogers values each and every day, and spreads that message into her business. In a 2014 Huffington Post article, Rogers writes a thoughtful sentiment about how cancer gave her a chance to pause, simplify her life to be more in tune with what matters most.
QUITE THE QUOTE
Feeling tired already this morning? The great philosopher Socrates has an idea for you. He said:
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new.”
That’s all for now. Be sure to share this so more women can have a voice! Thanks for getting ready with us.
To learn more about our conversation, check us out at OnTheDotWoman.com and talk to us @OnTheDotWoman on Twitter and Instagram. We’d love to hear your voice.