I know that this post isn’t quite related to marketing or design issues, but it is something that as a business owner or manager would help in your dealings with others on a day-to-day basis.

What do you do when confronted with a problem? Do you panic, freak-out, curse, blame someone, focus on solving it, pretend it doesn’t exist, or try and solve it but leave it after a while because it gets to hard? Which one of these reactions best fits you?

Personally, I have done all of them. But problem-solving, or challenge-solving, is the reason we have the society and conveniences we have today. The Light bulb was a challenge that Thomas Edison was determined to overcome. (Granted, it was a self-made challenge, but a challenge none-the-less).

Our ability to effectively challenge-solve comes about from solving challenges – just as with lifting weights results in higher weights lifted in the future. But we must tell ourselves to respond differently to challenges, instead of relying on our present programming to deal with things. It will mean more than one event of thinking differently – it will mean a whole shift in approach to daily challenges.

In the future, stop yourself (when possible) before you sub-consciously react to a challenge. Ask yourself how you might be able to solve it. Get your brain thinking ‘outside the square’. Ask for support. Try something new. For every new method or approach to a challenge (even if the challenge comes up again and again), write down what you did in your journal, so you can learn from your actions.

The point is to expand your brain’s awareness about different solutions to a challenge. In doing so, you will increase your confidence and ability to cope with different problems as they arise. You will also become more aware of your own brain’s ability to come up with an answer, rather than taking an easier, less challenging option of possibly giving up, blaming someone else or pretending the problem doesn’t exist.

Blogs, weblogs, or web journals are terms that have sprung up in the past 4-5 years. In more recent months, the act of blogging has grown in favour with many businesses, as companies are realising the potential that this new online tool provides them.

But, what exactly is a blog?

The definition of blogging is something that is very much in flux, as the new technologies that appear every day redefine what a blog is, what a blog can be, and what a blog should do. For many years, blogs were defined as text-based websites that kept records of days, similar to a captain’s log on a sailing ship. However, this started to change as the group of people who kept blogs became more diverse. The more bloggers began to explore the limits of the medium and of the technology that made it possible, the more the boundaries of what could be called a “blog” expanded.

Since blogging has become more and more popular, various blog categories have developed. For example, many video blogs have appeared, with the advent of online video and the ease at which many people can create their own video and post it online. Picture blogs are another category that has grown in popularity, with many people sharing their photos with the World, and building a growing fan-base on various picture topics.

People often have confused blogs with forums. There is a distinct difference between the two.

Blogs are sites that allow you, or another blogger, to write content and post it under a given category, where it will be automatically archived. Readers of your blog can leave a comment on your article or post, and you can decide if the comment should be published for other readers to see.

A Forum is a site where you, and others with the necessary access rights, can post a comment or article, and others have the opportunity to interact and share their thoughts on that issue.

The difference is that the Blog is your platform for sharing, and provides minimal interaction. A Forum is your platform, PLUS a platform for others, so the control and focus of the forum is not a tight as a blog.

Now you know what a blog is, it is time to see how it can benefit your business.