Erich Stauffer

Author: Erich Stauffer

  • Analyzing Actions

    youtube-diggI decided to do a little research on how this blog was doing.  I went to Google Analytics, which records data on what keywords visitors use to find this site and exported the data into Microsoft Excel.  Data has a funny way of changing your realities from what your gut thinks to actual reality.  What we intended this blog to be about can be summed up in one sentence:

    Thoughts lead to actions and actions lead to results, so to change your results, you must first change your thoughts.

    This meant that Zac and I wrote mostly about thoughts, actions, analyzing the way you feel and think – basically changing the insides in order to affect the outsides, the results, in order to achieve success.  What the analysis told me is that even though we are writing about all that, most visitors only care about one of two things, “How to Delete a Digg Submission,” and “Youtube Query String Parameters.”

    Both of these subjects, or posts, are in the “Programming” category, which, out of all the categories (Actions, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Job Hunting, Life, LOST, Management, Marketing, Pop Culture, Small Business, Startups, Success, and Technology), Technology is probably the only one that is remotely close to being like it.  All the others, besides LOST, are mostly homogeneous.  So what we really have here is a kind of identity crises.  It’s a question of who we are.  It’s also an opportunity to innovate and make some changes.

    Blog Analysis

    Most popular posts and keywords are just one metric of the success or current state of a blog.  For each keyword there are, “Pages per Visit, Average Time on Site, Percent New Visits, and Bounce Rate.”  For example, the keyword which resulted in the most page views was, “youtube embed querystring parameters,” at 17 pages, whereas the keyword resulting in the lowest bounce rate, “creative avoidance,”at 42% also had 3 more page views per visit.  This tells me that out of all Managing Actions blog posts, the most popular post that also captures the essence of this blog, “manage your thoughts in order to manage your actions”, is “Creative Avoidance,” by Zac.

    I recommend breaking the “Programming” category off into its own blog and focusing on “Creative Avoidance“-type subjects along with the other popular trends in this category, “Purpose,” “Actions,” and “Confidence.” [Update: I have since started blogging about query string parameters (1,2) and how to stay alert. 9/15/2009]

    If you would like an analysis done on your blog or help with Internet marketing, please use the comment box below to leave your name and email address and we will contact you shortly.  Thank you for visiting Managing Actions – and may your thoughts lead to action!

  • Google Video Uploads with Comcast

    Comcast Users Experiencing CONNECTION INTERRUPTED at Google Video

    Google VideoComcast users trying to upload video to Google Video lately have experienced a CONNECTION INTERRUPTED message. If you are upset about this, please contact Comcast. It is not Google, it is Comcast or your Internet service provider.

    But just to be sure, in Windows XP, check your “hosts” file located in: C:WINDOWSsystem32driversetc
    Replace “C” with whatever drive you have Windows installed on. The Windows host file should look like this:

     

    # Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
    #
    # This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
    #
    # This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
    # entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
    # be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
    # The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
    # space.
    #
    # Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
    # lines or following the machine name denoted by a ‘#’ symbol.
    #
    # For example:
    #
    # 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
    # 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

    127.0.0.1 localhost

    More > Learn about query string parameters.

  • Google Talk Notification Extensions

    This document describes the XMPP extensions that notify clients about email in their Gmail account. Google does not intend for this extension to become a standard and so it is subject to change.

    Element or Attribute

    Translation
    <mailbox> Outer wrapper element for all email information.
    result-time The time these results were generated, in milliseconds since the UNIX epoch. This value should be cached and sent as the newer-than-time attribute in the next email query.
    total-matched The number of emails that matched the q attribute search string in the email query, or the number of unread emails if no query was specified. If total-estimate is 1, this will be just an estimate of the number of emails retrieved.
    total-estimate A number indicating whether total-matched is just an estimate: 1 indicates it is; 0 or omitted indicates that it is not.
    url The URL of the Gmail inbox.
    <mail-thread-info> Element that wraps an email thread.
    tid The thread id of this thread.
    participation A number indicating the user’s participation level in this thread: 0 indicates that the user has not participated; 1 indicates that the user is one of many recipients listed in the thread; 2 indicates that the user is the sole recipient for messages in this thread.
    messages The number of messages in the thread.
    date A timestamp of the most recent message, in milliseconds since the UNIX epoch.
    url The URL linking to this thread
    <senders> Contains one or more <sender> elements, each of which describes an email.
    <sender> Describes a single email.
    address The email address of the sender.
    name The display name of the sender.
    originator A number indicating whether this sender originated this thread: 1 means that this person originated this thread; 0 or omitted means that another person originated this thread.
    unread A number indicating whether or not the thread includes an unread message: 1 means yes; 0 or omitted means no.
    <labels> A tag that contains a pipe (‘|’) delimited list of labels applied to this thread.
    <subject> The subject of this email.
    <snippet> A snippet from the body of the email. This must be HTML-encoded.

    Check out Google’s Gmail and Google Talk Notifications page for examples of how to use Google Gmail extensions.

  • Youtube Query String Arguments

    These are the query string parameters (also called arguments) that get tagged at the end of a Youtube URL.

    They are the ampersands (“&”) and text at the end of a web address (URL). In the case of Youtube, this string of of code is the query string parameters and it adds functionality to what is presented. This is a comprehensive guide of Youtube’s query string arguments.

    Query

    Translation
    &hl= hl stands for Host Language (thank you MapKi!) It is followed by “hl Parameter Values” which correspond to “Language/Locales” ex. en-US means English (United States and Canada).It also can stand for hoc loco, which is Latin for “in this place” or hl stands for “human language”, but not in this case.
    &video_id= Youtube video ID – used in conjunction with &get_video? to embed a Youtube video into another application. Not supported by Youtubes terms of service and may no longer work.
    &t= Youtube video tag – used in conjunction with Youtube video ID.
    &fmt= &fmt=6 is good quality, &fmt=18 is better, and &fmt=22 is the best. Video must originally be in high definition (HD) to work. May not work regardless as this feature is in beta and not available for all videos.
    &rel= Rel stands for related. In relation to youtube, rel=1 means show related feeds and rel=0 means don’t.
    &fs= Allows the fullscreen button to show up or not. 1 means it will show up, 0 means it is disabled.
    &start=225 Starts the video 225 seconds into the video.
    &end=230 Stops the video 230 seconds into the video.

    I recommend this extensive post on Youtube plugins and tools for more information and for advanced users, check out the Youtube Reference Guide.

  • Google Mail (Gmail) Query String Parameters

    Gmail Query String Parameters

    To pass these Gmail query string parameters on to Google Mail, simply paste the query into Gmail’s search box.

    Query

    Translation
    from: Used to specify the sender.
    to: Used to specify a recipient.
    subject: Search for words in the subject line
    OR Search for messages matching term A or term B (OR must be in all caps).
    – The hyphen (the “minus” sign) is used to exclude messages from your search
    label: Search for messages by label (There isn’t a search operator for unlabeled messages)
    has:attachment Search for messages with an attachment.
    list: Search for messages on mailing lists.
    filename: Search for an attachment by name or type.
    ” “ Used to search for an exact phrase (Capitalization isn’t taken into consideration)
    ( ) Used to group words or used to specify terms that shouldn’t be excluded
    in:anywhere Search for messages anywhere in Gmail (Messages in Spam and Trash are excluded from searches by default)
    in:inboxin:trashin:spam Search for messages in Inbox, Trash, or Spam.
    is:starredis:unreadis:read Search for messages that are starred, unread or read.
    cc:bcc: Used to specify recipients in the cc: or bcc: fields (Search on bcc: cannot retrieve messages on which you were blind carbon copied)
    after:before: Search for messages sent during a certain period of time (Dates must be in yyyy/mm/dd format.)
    is:chat Search for chat message.
    deliveredto: Search for messages within a particular email address in the Delivered-To line of the message header.

    Check out Google’s Advanced Gmail Search page for examples of how to use Google Gmail search.

  • Google Video Query String Parameters

    Google Video is no longer a supported Google product, but it’s videos can still be edited by changing their query string parameters.

    Query

    Translation
    alt= The “alt” parameter specifies the format of the feed to be returned. Valid values for this parameter are atom, rss, json and json-in-script. The default value is atom and this document only explains the format of Atom responses.
    author= In a search request, the “author” parameter restricts the search to videos uploaded by a particular Google Video user. Note that if you use this parameter when requesting a standard feed, then Google Video will retrieve the standard feed and then filter the response to only include videos uploaded by the specified author. For example, if you request the “Top Rated” feed for user GoogleDevelopers, the API will retrieve the top-rated feed and return a response containing videos in that feed uploaded by user GoogleDevelopers. The API will not return a list of that user’s videos ordered by rating.In a request for a user activity feed, the author parameter contains a comma-separated list of up to 20 Google Video usernames. The API response will contain activities performed by any of those users.
    max-results= The max-results parameter specifies the maximum number of results that should be included in the result set. This parameter works in conjunction with the start-index parameter to determine which results to return. For example, to request the second set of 10 results – i.e. results 11-20 – set the max-results parameter to 10 and the start-index parameter to 11. The default value of this parameter is 25, and the maximum value is 50. However, for displaying lists of videos, we recommend that you set the max-results parameter to 10.
    start-index= The start-index parameter specifies the index of the first matching result that should be included in the result set. This parameter uses a one-based index, meaning the first result is 1, the second result is 2 and so forth. This parameter works in conjunction with the max-results parameter to determine which results to return. For example, to request the second set of 10 results – i.e. results 11-20 – set the start-index parameter to 11 and the max-results parameter to 10.
    strict= The “strict” parameter can be used to instruct Google Video to reject an API request if the request contains invalid request parameters. The default API behavior is to ignore invalid request parameters. If you want Google Video to reject API requests that contain invalid parameters, set the strict parameter value to true. For example, Google Video would reject the following request because “foo” is not a valid request parameter.
    v= The “v” parameter specifies the version of the API that Google Video should use to handle the API request. Your request can specify the desired API version using either the v parameter or the GData-Version HTTP request header. All Google-provided client libraries always select a major API version. If your request does not specify an API version, Google Video will handle your request using API version 1. Please see the API versioning section for more information about specifying an API version.
    q= The “q” parameter specifies a search query term. Google Video will search all video metadata for videos matching the term. Video metadata includes titles, keywords, descriptions, authors’ usernames, and categories.
    time= The “time” parameter restricts the search to videos uploaded within the specified time. Valid values for this parameter are today (1 day), this_week (7 days), this_month (1 month) and all_time. The default value for this parameter is all_time.This parameter is supported for search feeds as well as for the top_rated, top_favorites, most_viewed, most_popular, most_discussed and most_responded standard feeds.
    tab= “tab” stands for ?.
    docid= “docid” stands for the document ID number.

    Check out Standard Google Data API parameters for more information about how to use Google Video query string parameters with Google’s API.

  • Are you just going to stand there?

    Tipton Pork Festival ParadeI was standing with my family, talking and waiting for the parade to start.  It was that time of year again.  The Pork Festival had come to town and today was the big day.  On Saturday, there is a big parade and everyone who wants to see it lines up along the parade route for a view of the action.  My family had decided to set up under a tree and so I was hanging out in between the tree and the road.  You can see from this picture that I was basically riding the yellow line.  I was going to head back to the house either at the start of the parade or before in order to be at the house in case guests arrived early for my son’s first birthday party, but as I was standing there, the guy to my left said:

    Hey buddy, are you just going to stand there? I don’t mean to be rude, but I won’t be able to see the parade from here if you’re standing there.

    I replied, “No, I’ll be leaving before then.”  It was rude, but I didn’t really mind.  It made me think, “Erich, are you just going to stand there or are you going to do something about the situations you find yourself in right now?”

    I’m a big fan of the ability to change your outcomes based first on changing how you feel and think on the inside.  However, in practice this is not always easy to do, nor sometimes does it seem to be effective.  The Law of Attraction would tell you that the reason things don’t always seem to improve is because I say they don’t. This may or may not be true, but the result is the same.  I am going through the motions: I am limiting negative thoughts, I don’t listen to the news, I only read or listen to positive and/or educational material, I focus on what I want, not what I don’t want, and I take action.  I have been sleeping less and working more.  I am focused on Internet Marketing as my primary business model. And the results are starting to show.  I now have blogs that make money daily, but there are still those which are not.  The Law of Focus says that whatever you focus on, expands.  That is why T. Harv Eker says not to complain, but to act instead.  Acting is what I am doing, I just wish it was happening faster.

    So what are you going to do about it?

    Successful people never quit.  They are experienced at overcoming obstacles because they view themselves as bigger than any obstacle.  I will double-down and refocus my efforts, to ensure success.   And…my parents just showed up.  Let the party (and the rest of my life) begin!

  • Generation X, Y – Two Letters, Two Jobs

    I’ve noticed a trend in our generation (the subset between Generation X and Y, The MTV Generation): two jobs. Almost everyone I work with and everyone in my family has two jobs. I have two jobs and even my wife has two jobs [Edit: She had two jobs before having kids, now she has one paying job.]. Why is this? Aren’t we supposed to be doing better than our parents? Therein lies the answer, I propose. Our generation expects to live like the generation before it, in the way they’ve grown used to: immediately. Everything is immediate in our generation: Microwave dinners; CDs instead of Tapes (DVDs instead of VHS – learn how to do DVD conversion) mean no waiting for the next song, just skip; and of course, the Internet. All of this leads to wanting to instantly have what we had while living with our parents (Generation Jones – Gen X). To get this we either have to work two jobs or max out our credit (usually both). If you have noticed this trend too, let me know.

    Does it feel like the generations are getting smaller, or at least the names for the generations are getting named more often? A generation is generally defined as 20-30 years as this is the time it takes one person to grow up and have a new family. After Generation X (1961-1981) the names for generations began to take off. First there was Generation Y (1976-1997). In general, Generation Y is the offspring of Generation X, but since Generation X and Generation Y overlap by five years, both my older brother and I are both Generation X and Generation Y and our parents are part of neither generation. So what generation are my parents?

    My parents are Baby Boomers (1946-1964). Generation X, also known as Echo Boomers, Cold War Generation, or Baby Busters, is the offspring of Baby Boomers so by definition my brother and I are from Generation X even though we fall into the potential range of Generation Y. Because our parents were Baby Boomers (the 12th Generation of Americans), we are by default, Generation X (the 13th Generation of Americans). But if I am definitively Generation X, and by definition my children are Generation Y (1976-1997), I had my children seven years too late. So what generation are they and what went wrong?

    They are officially Generation Z (2001-2???). Did we skip a generation? Yes and no. To answer this question, we need to defined sub-generations. These are much more specific and this chart does a great job of explaining it. I am a member of either the Baby Busters (1960-1981) who are defined by experiencing Vietnam War/Cold War or a member of the MTV Generation / Boomerang Generation (1974-1985) defined by the Rise of Mass Media/End of the Cold War. Being that those generations overlap by 4 years, I am going to go with the MTV Generation because culturally, that is what I identify most with. What then, is the sub-generation of my parents?

    Even though my parents could be considered Baby Boomers, they themselves have never identified with that generation and so I think them better fit to be in Generation Jones (1951-1971) and within the sub-generation called Beat Generation. Beats are considered the first modern sub-culture, but my parents were not “Beats”. They are simply the lost generation between Baby Boomers and Generation Xers which probably highlights why I feel lost between Generation X and Generation Y. My children’s generation will probably be more defined due to better tracking with technology such as the Internet and the World Wide Web.

  • 7 Ways to Grow the Action Habit

    People at the top of every profession share one quality — they get things done. This ability supercedes intelligence, talent, and connections in determining the size of your salary and the speed of your advancement.

    Despite the simplicity of this concept there is a perpetual shortage of people who excel at getting results. The action habit — the habit of putting ideas into action now — is essential to getting things done. Here are 7 ways you can grow the action habit:

    1. Don’t wait until conditions are perfect     – If you’re waiting to start until conditions are perfect, you probably never will. There will always be something that isn’t quite right. Either the timing is off, the market is down, or there’s too much competition. In the real world there is no perfect time to start. You have to take action and deal with problems as they arise. The best time to start was last year. The second best time is right now.

    2. Be a doer – Practice doing things rather than thinking about them. Do you want to start exercising? Do you have a great idea to pitch your boss? Do it today. The longer an idea sits in your head without being acted on, the weaker it becomes. After a few days the details gets hazy. After a week it’s forgotten completely. By becoming a doer you’ll get more done and stimulate new ideas in the process.

    3. Remember that ideas alone don’t bring success     – Ideas are important, but they’re only valuable after they’ve been implemented. One average idea that’s been put into action is more valuable than a dozen brilliant ideas that you’re saving for “some other day” or the “right opportunity”. If you have an idea the you really believe in, do something about it. Unless you take action it will never go anywhere.

    4. Use action to cure fear     – Have you ever noticed that the most difficult part of public speaking is waiting for your turn to speak? Even professional speakers and actors experience pre-performance anxiety. Once they get started the fear disappears. Action is the best cure for fear. The most difficult time to take action is the very first time. After the ball is rolling, you’ll build confidence and things will keep getting easier. Kill fear by taking action and build on that confidence.

    5. Start your creative engine mechanically – One of the biggest misconceptions about creative work is that it can only be done when inspiration strikes. If you wait for inspiration to slap you in the face, your work sessions will be few and far between. Instead of waiting, start your creative motor mechanically. If you need to write something, force yourself to sit down and write. Put pen to paper. Brainstorm. Doodle. By moving your hands you’ll stimulate the flow of ideas and inspire yourself.

    6. Think in terms of now     – Focus on what you can do in the present moment. Don’t worry about what you should have done last week or what you might be able to do tomorrow. The only time you can affect is the present. If you speculate too much about the past or the future you won’t get anything done. Tomorrow or next week frequently turns into never. As Ben Franklin said, “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”

    7. Get down to business immediately – It’s common practice for people to socialize and make small talk at the beginning of meetings. The same is true for individual workers. How often do you check email or RSS feeds before doing any real work? These distractions will cost you serious time if you don’t bypass them and get down to business immediately. By becoming someone who gets to the point you’ll be more productive and people will look to you as a leader.

    It takes courage to take action without instructions from the person in charge. Perhaps that’s why initiative is a rare quality that’s coveted by managers and executives everywhere. Seize the initiative. Be a crusader. When you have a good idea, start implementing it without being told. Once people see you’re serious about getting things done they’ll want to join in. The people at the top don’t have anyone telling them what to do. If you want to join them, you should get used to acting independently.