Probably the best way to answer these questions is the book “How to REALLY use LinkedIn“! Together with Jan Vermeiren, I wrote the second edition of this international bestseller.

With this book you will learn:

• 10 powerful ways to find new customers, employees or a new job
• 42 tips to make your profile stand out
• 11 strategies to apply LinkedIn at an organizational level
• 31 answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs)
• 30 lesser-known functions and opportunities
• Plus 53 new pages, including extra tips and timesaving tools

Discover also the free “Video & Tools Library”! It has a vast collection of how-to-videos and extra tools, including several Genius Shortcuts.

“How to REALLY use LinkedIn” is available in English, Dutch, French and Spanish. For more info check out www.how-to-really-use-linkedin.com

What most people don’t know (yet), is that Jan and I decided to

give away

1 million books

for FREE!

Why?

To actively stimulate the economy! Too many people are looking for new customers, new employees or a new job. They are hardly using LinkedIn, because they don’t know the platform well enough!

At the same time, we are raising 1 million dollar for charity! Check out our website www.how-to-really-use-linkedin.com for more info. And remember to download the book for FREE as well! (English and Dutch versions!)

To your success!

-Lenny Kravitz-

Wise words indeed, from Lenny’s song “Can’t Get You off of my Mind”. What I particularly would like to ask is, how do you feel your soul? When do you know you are feeling your soul?

Interesting, right? Let me know if you have found the answer…

We sometimes do things that really fulfill us or are so in line with who we are. Does this mean we are feeling our soul?

I told you the Banana Man Kevin‘s story already. When he watched the BBC documentary, was his soul touched? Was that the reason he would spend all his savings on feeding starving children. The drive to do that was much higher than himself. He told me he could not think of anything else. It was impossible to do something else…Does this mean he was feeling his soul?

What about that indescribable feeling you get when you meet your soulmate? By the way, what is a soulmate? Wikipedia tells us: “A soulmate or soul mate is a person with whom one has a feeling of deep and natural affinity, love, intimacy, sexuality, spirituality, and/orcompatibility. A related concept is that of the twin flame or twin soul – which is thought to be the ultimate soulmate, the one and only other half of one’s soul, for which all souls are driven to find and join.”

So, are we now talking about our own soul or that of our soulmate too? Are we 1 soul? Can we touch it? How?

I am doing research on this. If you have any answers, I invite you to share them. We might get a feeling for it

As part of Crew 11, I was in charge of interviewing drivers about their awareness of e-waste issues. Here where my questions :

• How did you hear about eDay?
• What is the main reason for bringing your computer waste here today?
• If there was no eDay, how would you dispose of your computer waste?
• What other e-waste do you have that you would like to recycle?
• Would you like to hear about today’s results and eDay updates via email?

By giving back to the community and in this case a project that fits rather well with what I do. My public speaking, training and coaching about Genius Shortcuts is mainly focused on using the computer in an easier, more efficient way. So, it makes perfect sense to contribute some of my time to an event like eDay.  Most of you already know that I dedicate about 10% of my time to charities and good causes. Our main project is Go Bananas, which will get a kiwi chapter in the near future…

Although we had rain and quite some wind, lots of people where bringing in their e-waste. These are the results of our eDay : 1,128 cars bringing in 46 tonnes of e-waste! In total 16,391 cars delivered 966 tonnes of e-waste! An awesome result! If you want to know more about e-waste and eDay in particular, I recommend you to visit eDay’s official website.

Oh, did I tell you several famous Kiwis attended this event? One of them was Peter Fox (Olympics – Sailing), who participated at our North Shore City event.

So, what did you do this weekend to contribute?

According to the United Nations, 25,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger-related causes, most of them children. FreeRice.com was founded in October 2007 by John Breen and he donated the site to the UN World Food Program in March 2009. In making the donation, Mr. Breen expressed his hopes that FreeRice will be able to grow over the coming years, helping to feed and educate as many people as possible throughout the world. A great example of how 1 person make a real difference! FreeRice.com donated 66,849,742,200 grains of rice so far.

If FreeRice.com has the rice to give, why not give it all away right now? Great question. Well, FreeRice.com is not sitting on a pile of rice. All the players are earning it 10 grains at a time. Here is how it works. When you play the game, sponsor banners appear on the bottom of your screen. The money generated by these banners is then used to buy the rice. So by playing, you generate the money that pays for the rice donated to hungry people.

Though 10 grains of rice may seem like a small amount, remeber there are thousands of other people playing at the same time (easily 40,000 users/day). It is everyone together that makes the difference. And so can you… Imagine if you start the day with answering 1 question right…

So, my advice is to play this game once every day. You’ll extend your vocalubary and help the UN World Food Programme to end hunger.

PS : There are a number of other subjects available like Art, Chemistry, Geography, Math and Languages (French, German, Italian, Spanish).

To quote the great people at Trendwatching.com :

“GENERATION G captures the growing importance of ‘generosity’ as a leading societal and business mindset. As consumers are disgusted with greed and its current dire consequences for the economy—and while that same upheaval has them longing more than ever for institutions that care—the need for more generosity beautifully coincides with the ongoing (and pre-recession) emergence of an online-fueled culture of individuals who share, give, engage, create and collaborate in large numbers.

In fact, for many, sharing a passion and receiving recognition have replaced ‘taking’ as the new status symbol. Businesses should follow this societal/behavioral shift, however much it may oppose their decades-old devotion to me, myself and I.”

I couldn’t have said it more beautifully. The true spirit of contribution! I love it! And I recommend you to read the complete article. Next to a full explenation it also gives in-depth info about the 3 trend-drivers for Generation G:

1. Recession and Consumer Disgust
2. Longing for Institutions that care
3. For individuals, giving is already the new taking and sharing is the new giving

They also provide insights in 8 ways for corporations to join the Generation G :

1. CO-DONATE
2. ECO-GENEROSITY
3. FREE LOVE
4. BRAND BUTLERS
5. PERKONOMICS
6. TRYVERTISING
7. RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS (RAK)
8. (F)RIGID NO MORE

You see, it is worthwile to create a difference… a whole generation is on it now! So, what will you do to become part of Generation G? Or will you be stuck in your current one? Time for action! Why don’t you start with reading the full article and get inspired by it?

Or why don’t you have a look at this outstanding slideshow by Neil Perkin, I am sure there is something interesting for all of you…

Oh, by the way, Sage is one of the leading hotel management and business development companies with strong partnerships with Marriot, Hilton and Starwood, in case you didn’t know them…

So, what is “Give a Day, Get a Night” all about? When you GIVE 8 hours of community service to a registered 501(c)3 non profit organization (USA), you’ll GET a complimentary night stay or 50% discount on hotel rooms at all 53 Sage hotels across the USA.

At the check-in you simply  show a letter from a registered non-profit organisation that proves you have undertaken 8 hours of voluntary work. This entitles you to 50% off the published price of any night in the hotel or when available a complimentary room.

Personally, I am convinced that this initiative is building a lot of goodwill and positive branding, which is an excellent approach in these challenging times for the hotel business. Andyes, I’d Give a Day if I where in the USA. Probably even a couple…

I wish more (business) people would step up and support charities in such a positive way. So, what would you do? What campaign do you have in mind? Let us know!

First watch this movieclip and experience how this girl silences the world with her remarkable speech:

Now, think about being a leader and sitting in that conference. How would you feel? Did her message come across? Did she touch your heart? I am sure it did. So, why has so little been done about it afterwards? Why are our leaders still doing so little today? Remember this speech was given back in 1992!

So, what can we do about it? How can we make a difference?

By the way, did you know that Go Bananas was voted as the number 1 charity at Computer Support? Fantastic!

Besides this great news, I  would like congratulate Computer Support with their 30th Anniversary last week! I don’t know a lot of IT companies, specializing in bespoke administrative software solutions, who exist this long! Well done!

Oh, and did I mention that we have won 200 € with Quizt’t, a radio quiz on Radio 2 at Easter? Yes we did!

I am so grateful that we can help so many children and give them a chance for living a “real” life. Do you want to contribute too and do good for others? Get in touch now!

Let’s all Go Bananas,

Bert Verdonck
Lifehacker & Life Coach

- Voltaire -

Wise words from François-Marie Arouet, also known as Voltaire. Initially this quote was about how ministers should rule France. Today, I use it to inspire friends and clients to contribute to good causes. Being honest, I also apply it to myself. What can we do today to do good for someone else? It may be something big or small. What good did you do lately? What’s your excuse for not doing it everyday?

I am dedicating a percentage of my time to charities, like “Go Bananas“. On top of that I am giving away a percentage of my profit to local charities of the countries I visit to deliver speeches, trainings or seminars. For my trip to New Zealand, I am talking to volunteers of a Maori village. I’ll visit them and besides providing resources will discuss with my team what we can do to help them even more.  Get in touch if you want to contribute too

Of course, it’s easy to give away when you have plenty, but even when you have little it’s important to do good and help others too, even if that means sharing with others. A lot of people have excuses for not sharing with the needed. This is where my quote fits in : “By letting go and through effective giving, we get whatever we want”.

The thing is, can you afford not to give to others? What happens if you don’t do your part? What impact does it have on their lives? Did I tell you not to take yourself so seriously?

So, instead of focusing on myself, I now look at what it is I can do to help others. Not just by giving absurdly, but also by always looking for doing things better, so there is more to give away. If I settle for mediocracy, I am guilty of not creating enough wealth and good for others, denying them of a better life. By stepping up and playing my game at a higher level, the world becomes a better place. Everyone can make a difference! The question is: are you up for it? Or are you guilty?

Give absurdly, start today,

Bert Verdonck
Lifehacker & Life Coach

XL Nation: Welcome to our world!

XL Nation : Who we are and what we do

Are you stepping up? Are you contributing? Now’s the time!

We are the ones we have been waiting for!

Bert Verdonck

Lifehacker & Life Coach
Founding Citizen of XL Nation