Hey, did you hear that my blog turned two this past week? I wish I could tell you that I’ve been celebrating by stuffing my face with all sorts of metaphorical cake – but I haven’t. Instead I’ve been reading, and here is the best of that I encountered last week.

Babies can understand what you’re saying at just 6 months old by Robert T. Gonzalez on iO9

Read this because: You have babies, or you don’t, but you are curious about how the developing mind works. This article is about a recent study that shows that babies, as young as six months old, are able to identify nouns when associated to objects. Fascinating.

How Bad Do You Want It? By Sam Davidson on Sam Davidson

Read this because: You’ve heard the story about young business man who meets a guru on a beach, but you’ve never read it before – Sam shares this story on his blog with some advice:

“When a want is unmet, we may feel uncomfortable. We might get sad or upset. Life can continue. But when a need is unmet – we suffer. We cringe, react, and are thrown off course. Something is amiss and we have to set everything else aside until we fix it.

Get rid of your wants. Start needing your dreams. Until you can’t go another day without chasing a passion, you’ll never lace up your shoes and get going. Once it becomes crucial to your happiness and wellbeing, then you’re ready to run.”

How Social Media Can Makes Us Antisocial by Tac Anderson on NewCommBiz

Read this because: You believe that social media has changed the world for the better. But then why are you sitting at home on a Friday night surfing Facebook to see who’s doing what or who’s also online in hopes that someone will send you a Facebook message?

Social media, while it gives us access to the lives of our “friends,” isn’t really all that social. It gives the appearance of being social, but in reality, it distances us from them and them from us. You have over 500 friends on Facebook, but when was the last time you called one of them to wish them a happy birthday in real life?

What did you read this week?

Photo Credit: Casey David

There are some weeks when you cruise the Internet and find nothing of value. Nothing that tells you to think about something you never thought you’d think about, nothing that tells you how to turn your perspective and gaze into the eyes of the same thought for a new time.

This wasn’t one of those weeks. This past week, three gems floated across my radar that flipped three usual thoughts on their heads: we should never have admired Disney Princesses; the customer is always right; and why you will quit your day job to live your passions.

Plus, two bonus articles that will make you a grammar and email snob. Enjoy!

How to Defend Princesses, Give the Finger to Your Community, and Why You Won’t Quit Your Day Job

Day 125: In defense of Disney – At our house, princesses love yoga and disco. by Harmony Hasbrook on 100 Days or More

Read this because: You loved Disney princesses when you were little and have spent every day of your life since you were eight years old learning how these fairy tales that Walt Disney Studios capitalized on were bad for you. They set you up to believe that you would grow up like a dainty little flower and were nothing until Prince Charming came to rescue you.

They were wrong. To most little girls, we did not see them the way that we’re told to see them as an adult. They represent something more than that; they are something that only the world of child’s imagination can create.

Bonus reading material: I shared a link to Harmony’s post on Facebook this week, here were the responses:

Listen to Your Community, But Don’t Let Them Tell You What to Do by Jeff Atwood on Coding Horror

Read this because: As a community manager, one of the most awkward things you can do is ask my community what they think about a product or what features they can see. But what makes it awkward is asking that question if you know that there’s no way in hell that your development team will implement any feature request that comes from that community. So don’t ask the damn question.

This is a great blog post that shows a different side of community management. It’s a great read, for community managers and non-community managers alike.

Why You Won’t Quit Your Job by Daniel Gulati on Harvard Business Review Blog

Read this because: You hate your day job, or perhaps “hate” is too strong of a word. You’re not happy with this life, whatever this life is. And you know exactly what you want to be doing instead. You don’t want to work for them anymore. You want to work for yourself and do what you’ve always dreamed of doing. You want to set your passion free and chase it to wherever it’s going to take you.

Well, I’m sorry to say that if you were going to do that, you would have by now.

In this article, Gulati has revealed why most people described above will not make the leap that they really, really want to do. Since I heard the first person say to me – Quit your day job! Follow your passion! Live the life you want! – I’ve been skeptical as to why the majority of those people who cry and tell others to do it, haven’t even done it for themselves.

How to Become a Grammar and Email Snob

And we’ll cap of this week’s edition of Sunday Serial by linking to two articles with healthy tips on how to be a better you, through writing:

1. 20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes by Jon Gingerich on LitReactor
2. Want People to Return Your Emails? Avoid These Words by Sarah Kessler on Mashable

What did you read this week?

Photo Credit: Al-khairi

In the spirit of all things Sunday, here’s a list of some of the best I read this past week. Enjoy!

The Bookstore’s Last Stand: Barnes & Noble, Taking on Amazon in the Fight of Its Life by Julie Bosman in The New York Times

Read this because: If you’re an indie lover like me, you never thought that you’d vote for the “big box” bookstore, ever. Except for the very brutal fact that these big box stores determine things like the very existence of printed books, as we know it. Indies rock, have way better service than the larger guys, but all the indies combined don’t have the buying power of Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and the distant memory that was once Borders.

This is not the time or place to go into an endless saga about the world that could be if we only had one channel to receive our books from, but let’s imagine that, for a split second. What if one company was in charge of telling publishers which authors needed publishing and which didn’t? What if there was one retailer who said – um, yeah, I don’t think we’ll be selling that one?

9 Ways that You Can Build a Blog that Matters by Benny Hsu on Get Busy Living

Read this because: You’re a blogger, a blogger-in-training, or just curious. Benny does a wonderful job of sharing what he learned building Get Busy Living in a way that anyone can adapt to their own blogging venture.

Bonus reading material: Matt Cheuvront over at Life Without Pants wrote a response to Benny’s post on his blog (with additional tips, too!): The Friday Response: How to Build a Badass Blog.

Innovating the Library Way by Grant McCracken on Harvard Business Review Blog Network

Read this because: Libraries have been around since the fourth century BC, and therefore, librarians can teach us businesses people a thing or two about acquiring new customers because, let’s face it, they’ve lasted the test of time.

This article is a great case study about how one library looked beyond the usual promise of adventure within its products (books), and found a way to renew the value proposition of what is and what could be found within a library.

Read it. And let me know this library’s marketing campaign would have worked on you.

Why Some Startups Succeed And Others Fail: 10 Fascinating Harvard Findings by Alyson Sontell on Business Insider

Read this because: It has a damn good title, and you’re as curious as I am about finding out the scientific, secret sauce between success and failure.

Best Business Books of 2011: For every entrepreneur and intra-praneur by Sarah Peck on It Starts With

Read this because: You’re an entrepreneur-in-training like me. Or you’re not, and you’re just looking for the next book to add to your nightstand. The best part is Sarah breaks up her recommendations in categories like: Marketing & Advertising, Design, Business & Entrepreneurship, organization, and psychology. It’s like your own bookshelf, curated by Sarah.

What did you read this week?

Photo Credit: Hamad Saber

If you’re reading this, then that means you made it through the first week of 2012 – congratulations! Now, let’s get over setting goals, making plans, and get some real shit done. Who’s with me?

But before we go out and conquer the world, here are four blog posts that left the most impressions on me recently.

Day 100: The Top Ten Things I Learned In the Last 100 Days by Harmony Hasbrook on 100 Days or More

Read this because: In October, my friend Harmony quit her job to take a break of at least 100 days from the work force. And the best part is she blogged during her entire journey and this weekend she reached day 100 and shared the top ten things she learned along the way. And it’s good.

20 Bloggers to Watch in 2012 by Jade Craven on ProBlogger

Read this because: Even though we all know that I’m the best blogger in the world (wait a minute…), here’s a list of 20 bloggers who are going somewhere and the best place to keep track is on their blogs.

My top picks:

1. Stratejoy
2. Life After College
3. It Starts With

The Five Must-Dos for CEOs in Social Media by Chris Perry on Forbes

Read this because: Whether you’re a CEO or not, you’re the CEO of your own life. Whether or not you tweet from a profile that discloses that your tweets are your own, everything you say on social media is an extension of your life, your personal brand, your professional brand, and even the company who employs you. Be smart about what you say.

The Worst New Year’s Resolution: Network More by Dana Hughens on Clairemont Communications blog

Read this because: You want to know the real cost of that casual coffee date, lunch meeting, or that time when someone asked to ‘pick’ your brain.

You will benefit from reading this article because: You are a service provider or are job hunting and want to contact some people for ‘informational’ interviews.

Additional reading material: No You Can’t Pick My Brain. It Costs Too Much by Adrienne Graham on Forbes

What did you read this week?

Photo Credit: Brendan Lynch

It takes thirty days to form a habit and three days to break it. In other words, life happened, so get over it.

And even though my week was sans blogging, it doesn’t mean that others were not. So here you are four articles of substance and two that are (mostly) just for laughs.

Princesses, Courage, more Hipster Entrepreneurs, and Highly Connected People

Totally Stupid Shit I learned from Disney Princesses by Therese Schwenkler on the Unlost

Read this because: You grew up watching Disney movies and devouring teen magazines to tell you that you were normal and not a unique freak.

Spoiler alert: It’s okay. But Ms. Schwenkler is here to help you unlearn all that (and still appreciate the beauty within the beast).

Courage isn’t always glamorous. Actually, it almost never is. by Jenny Blake on Life After College

Read this because: You live in a world where you are required to embrace what you’re passionate about, give your finger to ‘the man,’ and make your dreams real. You are supposed to push your own envelope, do one thing every day that scares the shit out of you, and come out on the other side smiling. Right?

Wrong.

And Ms. Jenny is here to set the record straight: “Courage is earned . . . through tears, fears, heartbreak, and failure. It’s messy. Ugly. Rocky. And you find your courage when you have no choice BUT to trust it.”

Bonus: Jenny’s blog is jam-packed with advice on how to keep the post-college journey on the right track. And the best part? This advice comes from a person who’s in the thick-of-it herself.

Millennials are Born Entrepreneurs. Wait, Really? Commentators are claiming that Gen Y-ers and Millennials are start-up naturals, and great salespeople. Or are they just victims of circumstance? by Jessica Stillman on Inc.com

Read this because: The hipster entrepreneur conversation keeps going and each writer is going one step further. Instead of exploring what they are and if they are entrepreneurs or not, this article is starting the obvious – what if there isn’t anything special about millennials, but they’re just victims of a shitty economy and the end of the traditional job market that our baby boomer parents knew and thrived in?

My question to the writer: Aren’t all generations victims of the circumstances that are happening around them?

The 12 Habits of Highly Connective People by Valeria Maltoni featuring wisdom of Anil Dash on Conversation Age

Read this because: You’re an open or a closet connector who gets giddy when you get the opportunity to introduce one person to another. Bonus if the two had no idea the other existed or why they needed to know each other (but thank you profusely for the connection after).

May the 90s Rest in Peace and White Girls on Facebook

10 Things 90s Kids Will Have To Explain To Their Children by Chelsea Fagan on Thought Catalog

Read this because: You grew up in the 90s and you forgot about the Tamagotchi, Topanga, and how much you “wanna really really really wanna zig a zig ahh.”

Now slam your body down and rub it all around.

15 Things White Girls Love To Do on Facebook by Mary on 25 Pills a Day

Read this because: It went “viral,” is hilarious, and no, I won’t admit to which items I enjoy doing.

Warning: Mary’s a firecracker, and her rants about life may turn into your new guilty pleasure.

What did you read this week?

Photo Credit: zandwacht