From you, to me, to we.

Recently my girlfriend and I took the next step in our journey together.

It’s crazy how much she makes me be who I want to be. I wake up and I want to be the best person for her; I want to be her best friend and companion.

I’ve decided that moving forward in any relationship is a good time to look back and reflect on how much fun you are having together.

Being in a committed relationship is about waking up and making the decisions that will help both of us. It’s about moving the focus from yourself and the wants and needs of you as an individual, and past the selfish me, to we: together.

For Pix: You are the most beautiful and loving woman I have ever met. I can’t imagine spending my life with anyone else but you.

Photo by: Stephen Lackey

Mike Toner

Mike Toner is a freelance web designer from Arlington, Virginia. During the day he works as a Web Content Manager for CSC. By evening, he’s a husband, dog owner and runner. Toner writes about Social Media, SEO and overall online visibility as well as digital marketing trends.

    

I like to think of this as my MacBook’s point of view over the past year and all the faces it has seen:

Mike Toner

Mike Toner is a freelance web designer from Arlington, Virginia. During the day he works as a Web Content Manager for CSC. By evening, he’s a husband, dog owner and runner. Toner writes about Social Media, SEO and overall online visibility as well as digital marketing trends.

    

Welcome to the totally redesigned MikeToner.com! This is the third redesign I’ve been through. The first website I created back in June 2002 was a static iWeb site hosted via godaddy with a blog that was really hard to update. I was having to manually update blog posts to my site via FTP. This made things way too difficult!

I made the decision after graduating college to move my blog to a blogger site that was much easier to update. The link to my blog was sort of cheesy though. It was hosted on the static site (as shown above) but linked to the blogger website- http://mike-toner.blogspot.com/

It made my life easy, but I felt like I was sacrificing design for convenience. I wanted the ability to really customize it.

So, here we are… Welcome to MikeToner.com version 3.0. I have upgraded to wordpress, designed a logo and created a custom theme with the help of Tony at Razolution. Bascially, I wanted a design that demonstrates my unpredictable style but kept the business of the blog in the forefront. What do ya think? Did we accomplish that?

With the redesign comes a re-focus. I have “re-thought” my use of this site and made a conscious decision to be more involved with my friends, colleagues and clients via the internet. I have begun to realize a fusion of my work life and personal life and hope that I can help facilitate the integrations of work and play via my website.

I know that my positive outlook on life is something I want to share. I know that my relationship is something I want to be open about; I know that that I love my job and want to talk about the lessons I learn and share my knowledge of marketing and social media with you.

This is going to be a hard balance to achieve- so stick with me here. Perhaps think about signing up for the email subscription at the top?

On Thursday I’ve got a video which I think you’ll enjoy.

-Mike Toner

www.MikeToner.com

Mike Toner

Mike Toner is a freelance web designer from Arlington, Virginia. During the day he works as a Web Content Manager for CSC. By evening, he’s a husband, dog owner and runner. Toner writes about Social Media, SEO and overall online visibility as well as digital marketing trends.

    

Today my Mom came to D.C. to visit and we went to the FDR Memorial as well as the WWII Memorial on the National Mall.

I wish all Mother’s the happiest of days.

-Mike Toner

Check out her video, “Why I serve” and see how she is changing the world!

Now imagine this invisible sign every time you meet someone new. Allow it to function as a reminder that everyone you encounter wants to know that they matter and that their role matters. The only way for someone to feel important is for someone witnessing their work to tell them. Whether your outreach comes as a verbal complement or as a written encouragement, the message should be communicated. It is important to remember that this invisible sign does not say, ‘I want to feel important,’ rather it says, ‘MAKE me feel important.’ This means the job is yours. Let someone know how important their role is and without them, the job couldn’t be done. Encourage those around you.

Here’s your sign.

The legislation calls for

• stronger accountability for results
• more freedom for states and communities
• proven education methods and more choices for parents.

I argue that creating national standards of learning is taking the local control out of education. If local school districts want to receive funding for proven education tools and the recruiting of a quality teaching staff, the schools must first meet goals set by the federal government.

“The goal of the law was the right one, but unfulfilled funding promises, inadequate implementation by the Education Department and shortcomings in the design of the law itself have limited its effectiveness and undercut its support. As a result, the law has failed to provide high-quality teachers in every classroom and failed to adequately support and pay those teachers.”-Barack Obama

For more on the Presidential candidates and their stance on NCLB see: http://tinyurl.com/2w79vz

This goal is only supposed to be one thing, one goal. Many people concentrate their energy on creating multiple, often un-achievable goals, so much so that it seems the New Years Resolution has lost its way.

Think of one thing, one goal, something small that you can better yourself by over the next 365 days.

Happy New Year!

-Mike Toner
www.MikeToner.com

In any situation, think about the ideal goal and aim high. Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re probably right.” He makes it clear that you have a free choice to make. If you choose the latter you may be creating a self fulfilling prophecy and ultimately fall short of your goal.

Make a valid attempt every single day to stay optimistic about the future.

Tell yourself you can and believe you can.

That’s my suggestion.