Does Your Tie Speak Louder Than You?

by Mark Bloom | Oct 26, 2014 | Small Business Advice

We’ve Been Called Fashionable… and Worse

A good tie choice… or a Rorschach tie?

First, we want to warn you that this article represents our personal opinions. We may well be wrong, given the constantly changing fashion trends, but we’re good at what we do, we think we know what works, and gosh darn it, people like us.

While we’re on the subject, let us state for the record that we are not staid, conservative types. We like color. We like fashion-forward trends. Other writers have even called us fashionable, although it’s debatable if that’s an accolade or something we should keep to ourselves. But we’ve been professionals for many years now, and we understand what’s appropriate for certain occasions.

Dressing for Success

If you want to make a positive first impression, whether you’re meeting a client or attending a networking meeting, dress appropriately. That doesn’t always mean wearing a suit and tie (for men) or a formal dress (for women). But if you have to dress up, make sure your tie doesn’t scream to people to avoid you.

Not everyone can wear a bowtie… or a false nose.

Your tie, believe it or not, tells people a lot about you. You don’t have to regress to those outdated alternating diagonal slants of color, but leave the Gustav Klimt print at home. If you’re an accountant, your tie better communicate that. We’ve seen more and more people these days pull off a bowtie, which isn’t easy to do. But accountants, doctors, and professors can do it with panache. So unless you’re an abstract painter or web designer, your tie shouldn’t look like Jackson Pollack had his way with it.

Go with something that’s colorful, attractive and most of all, matching. Successful people dress tastefully. Unsuccessful people wear ties that have been handed down from an older brother while he was still in high school. When you shop for ties, keep in mind it will reflect you, your personality, and your profession.

The Difference Between Your Town and Asheville

Asheville is known as a liberal, laid-back business environment. “Asheville casual” is a look that may include jeans or khakis with a button-down shirt. But even in Asheville, you’ll find that some business meetings are formal occasions. Whether you wear a suit or just a shirt and tie, make your tie a bit more formal too. Power ties are just to show off, so unless you’re running the meeting, keep it simple.

Your tie should match your personality.

Big cities often foster a more conservative business environment than Asheville, but that doesn’t mean businessmen wear suits all the time. Business meetings can still be casual, or more casual, especially in the summer months. Everyone appreciates a good tie, but remember what we said above: your tie will reflect you.

A Final Word of Warning

The line between complementary and outlandish can be a fine one. Ask yourself this as you’re getting dressed: Do you want people to remember you for your tie or for your sparkling conversation? Let your tie match your personality. A loud tie can make an extrovert entertaining, but it will make a shy, unproven writer seem like he’s trying too hard to be noticed.

Yes, Mark knows from experience. Now he leaves the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer tie for holiday parties and his Beatle ties for his friends and family events. You should too.

Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.

How to Write Your Own Bio

by Elle Ray | Oct 12, 2014 | Writing

No One Is Better Qualified Than You to Write It

can you capture yourself in a bio?

It’s easy to let a professional writer like Linda or Mark interview you so we can write your bio. It’s a valid way to fill in the “About” page on your website. But if you want to write your own bio, you need to keep a few things in mind.

A professional bio is not a resume. It serves a different purpose. For example, you can use your bio for the following:

For posting on your LinkedIn profile
For self-promotion in a brochure
For speaking engagements
For networking
For a book cover or guest blog
For media outlets at the end of a press release
For board applications
And yes, for job hunting

Do It Yourself

While you certainly can hire a professional writer, we’d like to share a few tips so that you can write your bio yourself. Remember that your bio is you on paper. It should present your achievements in the best possible light and help you open doors.

Write your bio in plain language that not only is easy to read, but also sounds like you. If you’re not in academia, for example, don’t make it sound like a droll professor wrote it. If you’re a musician, don’t make it sound like an accountant — although an accountant may want to spiff up his bio with a few musical references.

6 Tips for Tight Bio Writing

Write in the third person
Your professional bio should sound as if someone else is writing about you, even if you are the author. Introduce yourself right at the beginning with an opening line that spells it out: “Mark Bloom is a man of few words, few spoken words that is, because he’s a professional writer and words are his medium.”
Use a conversational tone
Even though your bio should sound professional, use a conversational tone. Readers should get the feeling that you’re talking to them. Read your writing out loud to check your tone. Refrain from slang and industry jargon unless your bio will be read only by your peers.
Rely on a backwards timeline
Don’t rewrite your bio every time one is needed, so start with your current job or position and your most recent achievements. While you want to include historical information, such as your education and previous accomplishments, write in much the same order as you would a resume.

Include your family in your bio.

Get personal
A professional bio should show off your personality. If you have a great sense of humor, for example, add a joke or pun to highlight your bent. If you’re an earth mother, use new age words to describe your characteristics and history. Include information about your hobbies, your place of origin and your family. Either sprinkle these facts throughout the bio or present them in a bullet format at the end.
Boost your bio with stats and quotes
Give your bio a boost with statistics about the number of sales you closed or the time it took to turn a profit in your last venture. Include quotes from important people in your industry or from former clients. (Ask their permission first.) These are items any professional writer would include; when you write your bio, you are the reporter.
Prepare a set of bios
A professional bio should be one page — about 400 to 500 words. This version goes on your website, in your professional portfolio and to other interested parties. We recommend creating a mini-bio and a micro-version to use with guest blogs and social media posts. Think of the little bios as your 30-second elevator pitch. Pull the most interesting and concise information from your original bio to create the mini-versions.

Look at yourself objectively when you write your bio. Make it interesting and compelling — a good read. Write a professional bio that you would want to read. Keep it current and polished. Review your bio every year or two just to make sure it’s still relevant.

For more information on writing your bio, refer to 10 Things to Include in Your Bio. If you just can’t get started, contact Ray Access. We’ll make you look like the star that you are with a professional bio that sings success. Finally, don’t forget to update you bio every once in a while, both to keep your website fresh and to alert your potential clients of your latest achievements!

Background Music and Productivity

by Mark Bloom | Oct 6, 2014 | Office

Does Music Help or Hinder Your Productivity?

music and productivity

Not everyone can listen to background music while working. Sometimes, it’s because you share an office with others. Sometimes, it’s because you work outside or you’re always on the go. Other times, it’s because you have to answer the phone constantly or deal with customers directly.

But if you work in an office or a coffee shop or even at home, you can control your work environment. Whether music increases or decreases your productivity often is a personal choice, though with just the right tempo or soothing audio background, you actually may get more work done with the music on.

Tastes Vary

We all have different tastes in music. We all have different work ethics. We all have different preferences in how we work. So you might not think a single blog post can address this complex issue adequately. And you’re correct, but this article can touch on universal truths about music and productivity.

It doesn’t matter whether you work on a computer, at an easel or in a garage. Most people work at a type of job that requires some creativity or problem-solving skills. Creating the best environment for encouraging creativity and mental focus is the best way to increase your productivity.

The Type of Music

earplugs listening to music at work It doesn’t matter what kind of music you like to listen to. According to the Mayo Clinic, the body responds to harmonious sounds like music. Pleasant music creates a very physical reaction; your body releases dopamine as you relax to the music. And when you relax, you become better able to solve problems or come up with new ideas.

While working, your mind might tend to wander or you might be distracted by what’s going on around you. You definitely react to loud noises or the constant drip of water from a faucet — things like that. Music, either piped in from overhead speakers or through your earphones, can help you ignore those distractions and focus more effectively.

Mood Enhancing

Music also helps improve your mood while you work. If you have a job that requires a repetitive task, music gives your mind something else to think about. If you have a job that requires careful concentration, then music soothes your mind while you work. If you’re in a good mood, you are better able to do your job.

Does the type of music matter? This is the reason grocery stores and shopping malls pipe in soothing music during business hours. That’s right: music puts people in the mood to buy. It’s not manipulation; it’s just good business. And if it’s good enough for Harris Teeter and the Gap, it’s good enough for other businesses. Like ours. Like yours.

Distracted by Lyrics

Another question about listening to music while working is whether or not lyrics get in the way of you doing your job. If you’re listening to the lyrics, you can be distracted from your task at hand. Listening to music without lyrics stimulates a different part of your brain than listening to music with lyrics. Lyrics stimulate the part of the brain that processes language.

So the best music to listen to when you’re working is music without lyrics (or perhaps music with lyrics in a foreign language that you don’t speak). Jazz, classical, and world music are all good choices. Music from jam bands could be effective if that’s the music that does it for you. Country music, because it’s usually lyrics-heavy, can be an annoying distraction, although that’s partly our prejudice.

The music you listen to while working is up to you, but remember that it does affect you. Music and productivity can get along, as long as you’re conscious about your choices.

3 Decorating Ideas for Promoting Creativity

by Elle Ray | Oct 1, 2014 | Office

All Blog Writers Get Inspired in a Creative Space

creative room decorating

As professional blog writers, we continually need to create fresh new copy. If our bonnets buzz with busy bees looking to sting our creative ability out of existence, we’re in trouble. We have to come up with new ideas every week for our clients — it’s what makes them stand out from a crowded marketplace.

Feng shui aside (that’s another blog topic), how you decorate your office or primary workplace can illuminate your creative spirit — or conversely damper your efforts at generating fresh ideas.

Try these tips to increase blood flow to your brain and boost your creative energy:

Color Counts: Paint your office (all four walls or just one wall in your main work area) or decorate with colorful accessories to stimulate creativity.
- Pale Blue: You see pale blue in many schools because it’s known to have powers of creative stimulation. It’s also very calming, which can help you focus. Furthermore, believe or not, it’s an appetite suppressant — an added bonus when you’re dieting or just trying to work past lunchtime.
- Earthy Orange: Orange is a blood stimulator that increases sexual energy and brain power; when the two mental activities merge, blog writers, graphic artists and project developers get plenty creative. Orange also energizes and puts you in the mood to accomplish great things.
- Bright Yellow: When added in small touches, yellow boosts creativity, activates your memory recall and helps you concentrate. While dark yellows can cut off your creative juices, bright colors used as accent pieces give just the right incentive for new ideas.
Helpful Reminders: Success breeds success and creative success breeds the same. Surround yourself with reminders that you are creative.
- All around your office, post pictures and copies of past campaigns or closings that make you particularly proud to remind you that you have what it takes.
- Decorate your office bulletin board with testimonials from clients and pictures of celebrations.
- Make a copy of your first check from your business and hang it up. It’s a ploy that’s been used in restaurants for years to remind owners how far they’ve come. The boost in confidence will boost your creativity and help to dispel doubt.
Promote Collaboration: Oftentimes, the best bouts of creativity are sparked in brainstorming sessions with friend or partner. One person’s ideas spur the creative juices in another, leading you both to greater creative heights. Blog writers and project teams are particularly in need of brainstorming time and space.
- Create open spaces in your office where employees automatically run into each other on a regular basis.
- Make the break area clean, inviting and full with coffee machines, bowls of candy, flowers and snacks so that workers want to spend time there and are comfortable sitting around.
- Place meeting rooms and break rooms in places that allow plenty of outside light to enter the space. Light spurs creative juices and the outside scenery also serves as a kick-start to ideas, whether you’re looking at nature for ideas for blog writers or out on a busy street for fresh people perspectives.

Blog writers need inspiration and creativity. Blog writers need ideas. Even if you’re a lone writer, you can still help yourself be more creative. Here at Ray Access, we take creativity seriously. We depend on it, and our clients depend on us.

The 5 Best Places to Write Outside Your Office

by Mark Bloom | Sep 21, 2014 | Writing

When You Have to Get Out of the Office

Working from home has its advantages and disadvantages. Sure, it’s possible — although not always desirable — to work in your pajamas. We’ve found, at least through our own experience, that to be at our best, we want breakfast and a shower first. Then the words flow!

Professional writers can write anywhere!

Yes, our job is writing. While we often work in a home office, we also can work in other places. Here is a list of our top five favorite places to write outside of those rooms, out in the wilds of Asheville. Maybe you’ll find your creativity in one of them.

1. The Old Standby

The coffee shop has been a writer’s hangout for decades. Since most coffee shops now offer a free Internet connection, their popularity among writers has only grown. What do writers need to craft their magic? A laptop computer or just a pen and pad of paper, a table or desktop, a fairly comfortable chair and a good cup of coffee. A coffee shop provides all of the above.

2. Pack Square Library

The greatest advantage of working in the library is that it’s quiet. You can find a comfortable out-of-the-way spot — whether it’s in the reading room, by the main desk or even in the stacks — to do your writing. Surrounded by all those books, you don’t have to look far for inspiring words to keep you focused and busy.

3. Your Backyard

If you happen to live in a house, you may have a backyard that’s somewhat private and most likely comfortable. As long as you can find a spot that supports your body and your writing tools, you can enjoy the sunshine while doing your writing work. Because you’re outside but haven’t left home, you can go get a snack or a tissue or whatever you need without interrupting your workflow. Best of all, the bathroom is right inside.

4. The Wedge Brewery

Some writers thrive on coffee while others work best after one or two sudsy beverages. The Wedge Brewery offers lots of outdoor seating, including a few tables that are away from the crowd. As long as your laptop can stay charged without power, you can work outside. It’s best to go when it’s not swarming with clientele, but you can always disengage with an iPod and a set of earplugs.

5. Pritchard Park

Not all writers are social beings. Some prefer to write in a broom closet than out among the seething mass of humanity. But we like the occasional distraction that being out in public provides. We can disengage when we need to, but we’ve found that people don’t bother you while you’re typing intently away at the keyboard. And being in the middle of downtown has its advantages when you want something to eat or drink or when you need to find a restroom.

The Occupational Hazards of Writing

by Elle Ray | Sep 11, 2014 | Writing

We Have to Sit at the Computer During Summer

We work in all kinds of weather, so you don't have to.

Ray Access is a content provider and content marketing business. That means we are writers and editors. In order to earn our income, we write. On a computer. At a desk. Inside an office. Regardless of the weather, the day of the week or even the time of day.

Fortunately, both Linda and Mark work at desks in rooms with windows that look out onto views with lots of green. We can see the sun shine and the clouds roll in and the rain begin. We can see the world pass by. Then it’s back to work.

Trapped in a Job?

That makes it sound as if we were chained to our desks, but the truth is far from that. We take frequent breaks. We stretch. We stroll around the room while thinking how best to help our clients. We do what we need to do to keep our bodies healthy and our minds sharp. Because we are writers, we get paid to write. If we’re not writing, we’re not making money.

So Linda and Mark of Ray Access have developed a term for the time we’re working. OK, actually, it was Linda who came up with the term, but now we both use it. It’s “B.I.C.” or “Butt In Chair.” If we don’t have our butts in the desk chairs, we’re not working. In other words, work starts when butt meets chair.

We All Sacrifice

Some people have to rise early to commute to a factory job where all the windows are 30 feet above them. Others drive around all day, stuck behind a wheel. Still others toil under the hot sun attaching shingles to wooden frames. Everyone has something to do for the job. Working — earning money to put food on the table — often entails some form of sacrifice.

So that’s how it is for us. Even on a gorgeous day, we’re usually inside typing away on a keyboard. Is it Saturday? Sunday? It doesn’t matter; you can still reach us on our cell phones, because we’re often still at our desks. Now that it’s September, we look up and realize summer has passed us by. It’s one of the occupational hazards of writing for a living.

Writing Is Our Passion

But it’s not that much of a sacrifice for us because writing is what we love to do. This blog post is evidence, since we don’t get paid for writing for our own blog. We do it out of love.

We like to think we’re adding value to our website by educating our readers about our business. But like most dedicated writers, we’d do it even if no one read our words. We’re writers; we have to write.

And that’s why we’re so perfectly poised to help your business. Because we love to write, because we’re so good at it after years of practice, we are the best options to rewrite your website, to create content for your business blog and to turn your company newsletter from a ho-hum read to a compelling one. Discover the difference professional writers can make to your business. Act now, you get not one, but two writers working for you, all for the same price!

3 Guidelines for Blog Writing

by Mark Bloom | Sep 4, 2014 | Blog Writing

Keep Your Blog Great: Avoid the One-Note Blog

The purpose of a business blog is to attract an audience. A well-written, well-considered blog can educate your customers and potential customers. It can answer in-depth questions. It can explain the ins and outs of your industry. If successful, a business blog can show up on related keyword searches organically, ready to bring new visitors to your website.

This road, while it does work, is fraught with peril. If you turn your blog into a sales pitch, touting your products and services at every turn, announcing new offerings and sales events, or going into detail about your quality, your audience will tune out. Only a small percentage of the visitors to your website are ready to buy right now!

reading your blog

Rule #1: Inform, Don’t Sell

The worst thing a business blog can do — aside from not having a blog at all — is to bore its audience. We see this often, both in blogs and in social media. The subjects tackled, the writing style, the stock photos … everything points to a lack of commitment. If you’re trying to sell your products or services on your blog — as your first priority — you will drive your readers away.

Your blog is your opportunity to explain what your readers don’t already know about your industry. If you are a new car dealer, don’t use your blog to boast about the new models. Instead, use it to describe the new features on those models and why customers should want them. Instead of advertising sales events, use your blog to explain how to get the best deal.

An article on getting the best deal on a car lot is likely to attract a lot more readers than an article announcing your seasonal sale. In addition, if you add value with your blog writing — with educational topics, tips or interesting facts — customers will remember you when they are ready to buy.

Rule #2: Don’t Beat a Dead Horse

If you find you’re writing about the same topic over and over, your audience will soon tire of it. Stop beating that dead horse. Your blog isn’t just about finding different angles to explore about the same topic. Regardless what your business or industry is, you can find thousands of topics to write about.

For example, if you’re an accounting business, stop writing about the advantages of hiring an accountant or providing QuickBook tips. Take a step back. Consider your readers (if you have any remaining). Why would they even be on your site? Write about something else that would interest them, which brings us to…

Rule #3: Diversify

How does your business tie into food? Water? Interpersonal relationships? The environment? Entertainment? These are topics people care about in their daily lives. If you can find an intersection between what you do and what people want to learn more about, you’ve struck gold. You can write about something people will want to read … and share.

Other tips for diversifying your blog:

Find a topic in the news and write about that
Consider your own passions and write about what brought you into your business
Every once in a while, take a broad look at the state of your industry
Focus on your customers’ wants and needs outside of your business

In fact, do this last one all the time. Put yourself in your readers’ place. Why are they reading this? Why are they here? What do they want? You’ll succeed if you can answer these questions. If you get stuck, we’re in the business of answering questions.

The Difference Between Morning and Night People

by Elle Ray | Aug 28, 2014 | Small Business Advice

Why the Distinction Matters in Your Business

not a morning person

Are you a lark or a night owl? Do you get your best work done before noon or after five? Whichever answer you give, you may not have much say in the matter and may in fact become more productive and happy with your work if you just go ahead and honor your circadian rhythm.

There’s no reason to disrespect co-workers and business partners who happen to land on the opposite side of the spectrum. There’s new evidence that much of our energy preferences actually are programmed in our genes, creating actual physical differences in brain structure between morning and night people.

Add Lifestyle to the Mix

Studies by German scientists in 2013 found that people who stayed up late and slept in later than their counterparts had less white, fatty tissue in their brains. The white matter is associated with communication and links certain nerve cells together. Reduced white matter also is associated with depression and anxiety.

When you follow your genetic desire to stay up late and sleep in late, you often find yourself at odds with the rest of the working world, which then exacerbates the alienation that often leads to depression. You may find yourself sleep-deprived on a regular basis as you try to maintain a “normal” schedule to fit in with society’s expectations. Night owls also have a tendency to eat, drink and smoke more than naturally early risers.

Good News for Night Owls

night owls struggle during the day But this kind of lifestyle also has its upsides. The chronically jet-lagged set also tends to be much more productive and energetic than their counterparts who get to bed early and rise with the sun. You usually have more stamina during your waking hours and end up getting more done. It’s very often the night owls in a business who drive the ultimate success of a company.

Night owls also tend to be more analytical, making it easier for them to see the big picture and figure the ways and means to achieve objectives. Their reasoning skills often are far superior to the early risers. The trick is to balance and fine-tune those extra advantages so they don’t get lost in the mood swings more common among night owls.

Nurture Over Nature

Just as the discussion rages on about nature over nurture when it comes to child-rearing, the conversation also is relevant to business people struggling with the natural biological pull of an internal alarm clock. To avoid the mood swings, anxiety and depression commonly associated with people who work best at night, you can regulate your sleep habits consciously.

Night owls hoping to make those early breakfast meetings and avoid all-nighters can rely on mechanical alarm clocks set on a regular basis. Avoid alcohol before going to bed and artificial light when it’s dark outside to make it easier to stick to a regular sleep cycle. When you control your sleep patterns, you won’t experience the manic highs you may enjoy in the middle of the night, but you will be much more even-tempered and easy-going like your early bird friends and co-workers.

For night owls, it’s a trade-off. For early birds, it’s a blessing. Which time of the day do you work best?

The Best Blog Topics

by Mark Bloom | Aug 23, 2014 | Blog Writing

Because You Want Your Blog to Be Read

People sharing your blog post

Undoubtedly, the best blog topics are those that get read. And read a lot. These blog posts:

Get passed around
Generate a buzz
Keep visitors on your site longer
Get readers to look through your website
Turn readers into customers
Are great reads
Result in high search engine visibility

Finding Readers

So the big question is: “How do you create those kinds of bust-out blog posts week after week?” That’s what we at Ray Access aim to do, and we know that it isn’t always easy. But there is a method to the madness. By following our own advice, we have seen the results. You can too. Try these tips to turn your blog into a must-read for your clients and potential customers:

Tap into the news of the day. If, for example, you are a doctor who treats mental illness, write about depression in the week following a celebrity death due to the disease. The celebrity’s name will get you noticed in search queries. If you teach dance, focus a blog post on the big dancing shows on television when they go into their final competitions. Financial bloggers, tap into current events about the Federal Reserve or big Wall Street happenings. Be nimble and ready to post shortly after the news happens.

Create great titles. The title of a blog post is like the front window at Macy’s. If it’s not compelling and inviting, it won’t draw in shoppers. Good titles also help search engines seeking relevant data to post. Great titles aren’t long, but convey what’s in the article clearly. Beware of humorous or ambiguous titles that may be misleading or misunderstood. Be catchy, but be clear.

Give your readers something to take away. Pay your readers for completing the article. This is one of the reasons that “tips” and “how-to” blog posts are so popular. Readers expect answers and leave a well-written article with those answers, smarter and wiser.

Review popular events, movies, products within your industry. Find the connection between the entertainment and your products or services. Make the comparison apply to your intended audience.

Make recommendations for other services and products, as well as for those that you sell. When you make a recommendation, follow it with a solid argument that goes beyond the typical marketing-speak. Quote users and experts to back up your suggestions.

Get seasonal. Readers look for relevant articles about Christmas, summer vacations, Fourth of July and Thanksgiving topics. Find a topic within your area of expertise that relates to the season and add it to your blog when the time is right.

Shout out to other companies or people. No man is an island, and you don’t work in a vacuum. Mention others who have made significant contributions to your industry or to the business community you’re trying to reach. If a business organization you belong to recently made a significant contribution to a local charity, use your blog to give them accolades of appreciation. (Let them know when you post, and maybe they’ll put a link on their website back to your blog!)

Finally, write for blog readers. Make it engaging and easy to read. Let your readers know right from the start what they can expect if they keep reading. And then give it to them. If you promise tips, give them tips; if you’re writing a “how-to,” make sure it’s complete. And if you come to the end of your idea rope, contact us — we love to brainstorm titles and do it as well as we write the articles.

How to Prevent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

by Elle Ray | Aug 18, 2014 | Office

Carpal Tunnel Can Strike All of Us… Even You

For nearly 20 years, I owned a business that relied heavily on my two hands. I cleaned and reconditioned boats. Waxing and scrubbing, holding vibrating sanders, mops, buckets and rags and climbing all over 25-to-65-foot motor yachts and sailboats. It was exhausting. Eventually, I could barely open my hands. If I didn’t stop, carpal tunnel and arthritis would leave me with constant pain and little use in my hands.

I had to quit that business. I wasn’t going to become crippled for any amount of money.

Carpal tunnel developing? Not if you follow this advice.

Advice from a Keyboard Junkie

Now I sit at a computer for hours on end, hands poised on the keyboard and fingers moving very little as they fly over the keys. Some days, my hands ache. But I’m doing everything I can to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome from developing. Because of the research I’ve done and the steps I follow, the pain never lingers. So if you find yourself in a similar situation, take my advice and take these steps, which are based on thorough, reliable research:

I set up my desk and work station to conform to my body’s needs. My chair is adjustable, with movable arm rests so I can change the angle at which my hands reach the keyboard and change up the pressure points. Some days my elbows rest on the armrests, other days they hang free and I rest my wrists on the wrist-rest attached to my keyboard.

I use an ergonomic keyboard that’s split so that my fingers hit the keys in a very natural position. The keyboard tray is low because I’m short. It pulls out from below my desk. Everything about my arms and hands feels natural, even when I’m working the mouse, which I use constantly while researching. My mouse pad has a nice, cushy wrist support too.

I type with easy taps. I make sure my keys are loose and respond instantly to a light touch. The Mayo Clinic reports that striking keys with force creates additional, unnecessary pressure that, over time, can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome.

I take a lot of breaks. At least once every hour, I get up from my desk and get a glass of water, walk around the office, check the mail or go to the bathroom. While up, I stretch my fingers and my wrists. I move them to work out any kinks. Making a fist and opening my hands wide four or five times does wonders. When short breaks don’t relieve any beginning signs of pain, I do something different, like make phone calls, read or write to-do lists with pen and paper.

I pay attention to my posture and straighten my spine when I start hunching over. When your neck and shoulders slump forward, that cuts off the nerves that feed fresh blood down your arms to your hands. It helps that we have a spine specialist and a pain management practice as clients, because I’m constantly reminded of the importance of proper posture.

About Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Be careful when typing The main cause of carpal tunnel syndrome, a condition that causes hand and arm numbness and tingling, is pinched nerves. Weakness and the inability to hold objects is another symptom that could signal the onset of the condition. Treatment may consist of:

Wrist splints
NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), like ibuprofen
Steroid injections
Ultrasound therapy
Physical or occupational therapy
Endoscopic or open surgery

But the best treatment for carpal tunnel is prevention. After a lifetime, my favorite jobs — those that I’m good at and give me the most pleasure — involve my hands. So I want to take care of them. As a professional writer, it behooves me to follow my own advice, something I’m not always ready to do. As one of the partners at Ray Access, I both want and need to take care of my hands. They are the tools from which my creativity and my soul flow through.

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