I was challenged today by the thoroughly flawed WordPress 2.3 upgrade process. For those who do not know, WordPress is a personal blogging platform/CMS that powers this site and millions worldwide. Generally, I am extremely satisfied with Matt Mullengweg’s product, and somewhat pleased with how he treats his customers. This morning’s surprise, was a horse of a different color.

For security purposes and potential flexibility, I upgraded from 2.23 to 2.3. This process should have only involved deleting the previous php files and upping the new ones. Key phrase here… should have. Murphy’s Law kicked in and put me through a test of skill and mental toughness, which tested my self-management skills.

Now, in situations like these frustration can rise to the surface and blood can begin to boil. That being said, it never helps the situation. Keeping my cool, I documented each error/issue, and strolled over to the WordPress support forums to confirm what I believed to be the cause of my site’s schema-related illness.

After some coding, FTP use, and plug-in deletion, I had accomplished a successful upgrade to WordPress 2.3 from 2.23 within a manageable amount of time. Lesson here was to self-regulate for positive results when faced with an unexpected batch of problems.

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Today is Blog Action Day and Modern-Worker.com is doing its part to support the growth of environmental knowledge.

Many celebs have gone “green” lately as a trendy fashion statement, but I urge you to be smart in the use of office products and in your personal lives to save not only cash, but our environment as well.

I’m all about using power, pens, and paper when necessary but often times these resources can be held off on, with just a little extra planning.

“Think before you print” could easily become a successful slogan around your office by asking yourself these questions on a daily basis.

• Will printing more effectively communicate information than electronic mail or messaging?
• How long will this time-sensitive print stay relevant?
• Will anyone actually look at what I’m about to print out?
• Can I write down what I am thinking of printing?
• Do I need to print all of some of this document?

By thinking through these thoughts and questioning the importance of the print process, you’ll surely notice that ctrl+p can be significantly cut back on. Are you laughing hysterically? Understandably this may seem fabled, but I assure you that I speak the truth here on print conservancy.

I work in an office environment dealing strictly with electronic communications via the web and e-mail, and I have not printed a single piece of paper within the past 6 months. There are other means of sharing the information with co-workers that I need to besides the laser jet, and I take advantage of them on a daily basis.

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Out with the old and in with the new…design. You might have noticed the weekly radio show has been napping for the past couple weeks. This is because I have been spending my extra time on formulating a new design here, which takes elements from the old layout but incorporates a better color scheme and hopefully more intuitive flow when reading.

I’ve love to hear you feedback on what you like about the current blog design here and what you feel can be improved. I spend the time and effort on these types of things here at modern-worker.com to continually provide an optimal reading experience for you, my readers.

I thank you for your loyalty thus far and am committed to providing quality content that sparks personal development in the tech-centric workplace.

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Today I’d like to share with you a young man I learned of this morning who truly inspired me. I’m sure you’ll be just as touched as I was, by University of North Texas senior John Bramblitt.

Bramblitt, blinded years ago by epilepsy has found painting to be an increasingly enjoyable avenue for expressing the powerful imagery in his mind. Set aside five minutes of your day when possible, and enjoy a glimpse into the positive, productive, joyous life this literature expert leads.

Blind Painter John Bramblitt Will Inspire You

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The personal computer in combination with the Internet has revolutionized the workplace in so many obvious ways, but these great advancements have potential pitfalls for the end users in professional settings. No matter the caliber of the employee toiling away in front of the monitor, there lies the possibility that the following three mistakes can be made on a fairly regular basis.

1. Losing track of your main goal.
2. Producing effort, not results.
3. Not relying on other members of the team.

Working on the web can be distracting with rampant ads and the ease of surfing over to non work-related sites with just one click. Even if all entertainment portals are shut off by either the employee or workplace, electronic work can ball up into a tangled mess of skewed priorities…unless you understand how to avoid such circumstances.

Losing track of your main goal generally occurs when there’s just “too much to handle” on the plate. Everyone can feel overloaded from time to time, but if use is made of effective technologies and work practices, then success will follow. Mixing and match assignments leads to a dangerous form of multi-tasking. Tread those waters with caution!

Producing effort and not results generally grows from not staying true to one’s job description. Stop exploring all sorts of new software updates and focus on the task(s) at hand. Sure, it’s fun to upgrade and dive into new features of whizbangwhatever v1.234, but in the end the only thing that matters is if the work gets done, properly. If there is time enough to cruise the web for new applications that could increase productivity, then go for it, but never lose sight of priorities and remember that workers are paid to produce work, not act as a casual web user.

Not relying on other members of a team at work can be quite damaging to one’s profile and reputation on the job. Even introverts have to learn eventually to plan, communicate and execute with fellow co-workers if they wish to create professional success and advancement. The more collaboration an employee is involved with over time, the more comfortable that person will be in such settings. Of course, comfort is conducive to confidence.

Keep it simple and stay focused, to avoid these three professional errors.

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