Developing expertise can often lead to extraordinary success in your career, business or organization. Not only will others turn to you for the latest news, but you will likely edge out the competition by being more substantive during meetings, interviews and networking events. It will also help you understand, fulfill and predict client or consumer demands. Here are a few things you can do to become the go-to guy or gal about a certain topic!

Know the Issues: Developing expertise is more than just learning about something; immerse yourself in the subject’s past, present and future. Expertise can be about your industry, specialty or field, or even something social or cultural. Stay on top of today’s news but research the subject’s history, analyze its evolution and try to predict its relevance over time.

Develop Credibility: Create an e-newsletter, e-mail links and articles to your contacts, or join discussion forums and blogs. Tom and Dave Gardner, founders of “Motley Fool,” posted investment advice online and it snowballed into a premier financial education company. You can also pitch articles to publications or websites like About.com or eZineArticles.com, create a profile and post How-To articles on eHow.com, build your own website or blog (try Blogger or Wordpress), or start blogging here on Waste Time Wisely!

Incorporate it into your life: Join associations, unions, charities or organizations, and attend events, seminars, conferences and networking opportunities. Find a mentor and become a mentor when you are ready.

Join or Start the Discussion: Share your expertise with coworkers, friends, colleagues and even strangers at events or parties. Find out what other people think about the subject to help develop and strengthen your opinions. Collect business cards from anyone who shows interest in the subject so you can contact them if you hear or read anything exciting or new. And, of course, if you have a blog or website, be sure to include links in your email signature.

Jovie Baclayon is the editorial director for YSN.com and an expert in the experiences faced by emerging adults. To learn more, check out Jovie’s YSN portfolio and feel free to e-mail her! She blogs every Wednesday and Friday on Waste Time Wisely.

What exactly is going to happen this weekend? I am going to run the L.A. Marathon.

Traveling across the United States has its perks but now that I’m back, I’m both ready and nervous for this Sunday’s event.

If you see me on television, I’ll be the guy they take on a gurney to the ambulance after collapsing on the 15th mile, I’m kidding… The fact of the matter is, I’ve been training all this time and it should pay off. If it doesn’t then there’s something wrong with how I’ve trained, plain and simple.

The intention is not to break any record; it’s not ego trip either. I believe that everyone should do one extraordinary thing at least once in their lifetime. Push yourself to the limit and see how far your mind and body can take you. I don’t mean jumping in blind and acting stupid; what I’m emphasizing is taking calculated risks, the kinds that might have a long-term positive impact on you.

Do something out of your comfort zone from time-to-time and survive to tell the story. It will not only make you a well-rounded, interesting person, but it will also boost your confidence, which be helpful in every aspect of your daily life, from work and school, all the way to relationships.

But enough with trying to sound like a wannabe motivational speaker. I am first and foremost a movie buff and in celebration of the thousands of people who are about to run 26.2 miles, here are the Top10 movies that I think have the coolest running scenes in the history of cinema.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): Who can forget the part where our adventurous hero Dr. Indiana Jones realized that stealing the artifact meant releasing a big boulder that was aiming to run him over?! His running scene has been spoofed by millions ever since.

Run Lola Run (1999): This is one of those cult hit movies that’s famous by word of mouth and those who’ve watched it have a similar reaction: “That was awesome!” A game of chances, in this movie you see our heroine Franka Potente running through three different scenarios, every one of them was to save her boyfriend from doing the dumbest mistake of his life. But not every way lead to a happy ending.

The Running Man (1987): This is how you know that reality shows can take a deadly turn. Long before there were Survivors, Amazing Race and today’s so-called “unscripted” shows, there was one game show which had our governor Arnold running for his life. If he could escape those who were paid to hunt him down like an animal, then he would have his freedom. It doesn’t sound like a good deal to me.

The Marathon Man (1976): The title speaks for itself. Dustin Hoffman began the movie with him running, a skill which proves to be very useful when eluding the bad guys.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991): Actor Robert Patrick as T-1000, liquid metal cybernetic organism, capable of morphing into anything he touches and what made him even more dangerous was that he could run faster than a cheetah. Shooting him wouldn’t do any good.

Rocky (1976): The classic scene of running up the Rocky steps. That’s the nickname people give to the step of the Philadelphia Art Museum where the greatest underdog ever raised his arms in triumph at the end of his training.

And Justice For All… (1979): I have to put Al Pacino in the list; he’s my role model when it comes to acting. His performance in this movie is definitely one of his best. In one of the scenes, he experienced some sort of epiphany, and for a brief moment, while in full suit and tie he decided to run with a group of joggers who seem confused about their surprise guest.

Chariots of Fire (1981): A bunch of British sprinters who run in slow motion. Inspirational movie, but what’s even more memorable is the original score, the amazing music that has a certain melody you can never forget, every time you hear it, you feel like doing something silly in slow motion.

Casino Royale (2006): The thrill of the opening scene left everyone speechless in awe. No words can describe the adrenaline rush we felt when James Bond (Daniel Craig) was struggling to catch up to the bad guy who was able to run like the wind, literally.

Forrest Gump (1994): From the famous line “Run Forrest Run!” to the 3 year run back and forth across the country, our naive hero is an example that nice guys don’t have to finish last.

YSN member and movie aficionado Rama Tampubolon runs the movie review and discussion blog, Rama’s Screen, and was featured in “United 300,” which won for “Best Spoof” at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. He’ll discuss the latest hot topics and movie reviews every Thursday on Waste Time Wisely.

Hollywood might be filled with a bunch of self-absorbed, fame-whoring, talent-deficient “celebrities” these days, but just do your best to ignore them. If you focus on the talented, proven individuals who never had to work on stretching their 15 minutes, there are a lot of positive lessons about success we can extract from their careers.

Celeb or not, no matter what you’re doing for work, make sure it’s something you really enjoy, or get a strong sense of fulfillment or purpose from. Every so often, ask yourself “why” you do what you do. Are you there for experience, money, status or because you love it? What’s important to you? To help answer those questions and many more, take the FREE YSN Self Assessment and start sculpting your own ideal career path and putting these lessons to good use!

Persistence pays off… and often requires humility: They may not have won at last week’s Academy Awards, but octogenarian actors Ruby Dee and Hal Holbrook worked hard for 83 years before getting their first Oscar nods. The next time you need a little inspiration for your career, take heart in knowing that Whoopie Goldberg once put makeup on corpses at a funeral home, Chris Rock was a server at Red Lobster and Brad Pitt donned the costume of the El Pollo Loco chicken.

Sometimes starting a company is the easiest way to get a job: In a television interview, actress Drew Barrymore said she hated the auditioning process so much that she opened her own production company so she could just hire herself. Think she was kidding? Her company Flower Films produced Never Been Kissed, both Charlie’s Angels movies, Fever Pitch, 50 First Dates and Music & Lyrics – all of which Drew starred in! Also, when Jay-Z first started out, he made the decision to start his own record label instead of signing with an established label like most musicians. The decision paid off and his Roc-A-Fella label became very successful.

Take your success to the next level by constantly improving your skills: Why do movie stars like Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington and Billy Crystal forgo their million dollar salaries to give their regards to Broadway? Many consider performing the same lines in front of a live audience for weeks at a time as the ultimate test of an actor’s strength. Also, Madonna took singing lessons when she was cast in the film adaptation of the musical Evita, despite already being the Material Girl. The payoff? She won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical in 1997.

True success comes from helping others achieve their dreams: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon became stars by winning an Oscar for writing Good Will Hunting so they founded Project Greenlight to help aspiring screenwriters jumpstart their careers. And among her philanthropic achievements, Oprah opened a leadership academy for girls in South Africa, and created the Oprah Winfrey Foundation to support programs for women and children. What good is having money if you don’t use it to benefit others?

Jovie Baclayon is the editorial director for YSN.com and an expert in the experiences faced by emerging adults. To learn more, check out Jovie’s YSN portfolio and feel free to e-mail her! She blogs every Wednesday and Friday on Waste Time Wisely.

Organization: Zico, LLC (click here to view its profile)

Why We Love It: Since its debut in August 2004, ZICO has sparked worldwide interest among health-conscious, active consumers and leading retailers alike and has ignited a new beverage category.

Interesting Fact: The company is headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, but they love to escape to their office in El Salvador or the plantation in Brazil! (Sweet!)

Who Should Work There: “If you’re looking to become an important part of a rapidly growing beverage company and are up for wearing multiple hats in a very entrepreneurial environment then we may be a great fit for you!”
Click here to find out more!

I have a proposed [rev-o-lu-tion] to start for yourself that can help to change the world. As I was watching Current T.V. this evening, I saw a clip about a concept that I had not been aware of. The concept of micro-financing is a way of making small loans to low-income entrepreneurs that combined add up to a large enough loan to get the entrepreneur started in his or her new business. The clip was about a website that allows people to log on and make small donations, as low as $25 to the entrepreneur of their choice. I was quickly inspired, so I logged onto the site, www.kiva.org to see what it was all about.

The following is an excerpt from the kiva.org website, explaining what kiva.org is.

“Kiva allows individuals to make $25 loans to low-income entrepreneurs in the developing world (microfinance). By doing so, individuals like you provide affordable working capital for the poor (money to buy a sewing machine, livestock, etc.), empowering them to earn their way out of poverty. It’s a new, direct and sustainable way to fight global poverty, and the way I see it, I get a higher return on $25 helping someone build a future than the interest my checking account pays. Please check out the site: http://kiva.org. If you need more “reputable” validation than my recommendation , know that they have received great press in publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal to NPR to BusinessWeek.”

(Kiva was also written up in YS Weekly)

If you ever wanted to make a difference in someone else’s life, but never had the opportunity, now is your chance to take that step and be a part of something bigger than yourself. If you would like to start your own [rev-o-lu-tion] which involves not only changing yourself, but helping to change the world, $25 can get you started. This is not a money making venture for yourself, but a self building venture. This can be the beginning of your own revolutionary change. I have heard from many visitors to myrev.org and some have not found what it is that they are passionate about or what it is that makes them feel successful. I am here to tell you that the simple act of helping another person realize their own dreams, can spark you to realize your own dreams in return.

Chad A. Armel is the author of the book “Stepping Stones,” a collection of motivational and inspirational poems. Chad is also the founder/editor of myrev.org, a website dedicated to motivating visitors to make a change in their lives.